FOUR WEEKS, SIX DAYS INTO THE CONTRACT - THURSDAY, 6:15 AM THIRTY MINUTES SINCE SEPARATION
The pain started small.
Just a dull ache in Eve's chest, like someone had pressed their thumb against her sternum and forgotten to remove it. Uncomfortable but manageable. She could breathe through it. Could function through it.
Dr. Thorne had finished attaching all the monitors....electrodes on her chest tracking her heart rate, a blood pressure cuff on her arm that inflated every fifteen minutes, a pulse oximeter clipped to her finger, and a thermometer patch on her forehead that provided continuous temperature readings.
"Baseline vitals are good," Dr. Thorne said, making notes on her tablet. "Heart rate slightly elevated at 89 beats per minute, but that's to be expected given the stress of separation. Blood pressure 128 over 82.....again, elevated but not dangerously so. Temperature is normal at 98.6. Respiratory rate is 16 breaths per minute."
