The school infirmary lay at the end of a very long corridor on the third and last floor of the building. It was pretty spacious, with an interior consisting of two beds, a few chairs and other expensive furniture, all identically the same color: white, the type of white that reminds you of an empty hospital room.

Maddy, however, was sat on a black leather chair outside the infirmary, facing the freshly painted wall of the corridor. She had just arrived there, right after getting lectured about not submitting her assignment in literature, thinking: Give me a break, you people... It's literally the first time I was late and forgot an assignment, and here comes the lecture and a frickin detention...

Other students were already there, waiting patiently outside the infirmary to get vaccinated, completely expressionless, like a bunch of not-so-alive androids from Star Wars waiting for a quick oil and filter change.

Maddy never liked Star Wars, by the way.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sucked in a deep breath, trying to convince herself she wasn't scared out of her wits to get in there and have a pointy, stinging syringe shoved in her flesh. She hated injections and vaccines and needles from a very young age and never really got used to them, although she would come across them on a daily basis at home...

Old memories struck her with the force of a billion-volt lightning, memories of her mother shoving the syringe in-

A scream ripped through the air, coming straight from the infirmary, and Maddy jumped up like a spring. A muffled whine followed.

"Let go of me!" a girl cried.

Shit. Holy shit. Maddy froze, raw terror overtaking her.

Pause.

"Stop! No!" Another cry.

And then silence.

Rusty hinges creaked sinisterly, and the next thing she knew the heavy double door of the infirmary was wide open. Maddy turned around swiftly to face the girl who just got vaccinated.

And the blood in her veins turned into ice.

The girl's skin was a whiter-than-white hue, pale as a ghost. Her scared eyes looked enormous, bloodshot with inflamed whites, and plump drops of cold sweat were flowing down her forehead. Rope-like veins ran along her right upper arm, pulsing and visible even under her white shirt. Her teeth were uncontrollably snapping open and closed, her whole body trembling like a leaf, especially her hand holding a large band-aid, identical to Clarke's.

"Oh my God, Lia, are you okay?" asked another girl who had been waiting outside the infirmary this whole time, and she quickly wrapped a hand around her friend's waist to prevent her from collapsing.

A faint smile appeared on Lia's dry, beige lips. "I'm fine, I just freaked out... You know how much I hate needles and stuff... Plus it hurts more than I thought." The girl's voice could barely be heard.

"It's okay now... It's over." The other girl patted Lia on the back as the two of them walked down the corridor in slow, yet stable steps, whispering words of comfort to each other.

Maddy watched them with her mouth having fallen open to the polished floor from the shock.

"Who's next?" shouted a mellifluous voice from inside the infirmary: the nurse's voice.

Okay, but how could such a sweet voice cause... that? Deep down, Maddy was convinced that the nurse was a demon disguised as an angel, that the honey dripping from her lips was actually poison. She was always so kind, but Maddy always found it... fake.

A boy wearing a pair of huge, nerdy glasses got up from his chair and sheepishly walked towards the infirmary room, squeezing his fists nervously. Maddy wished she could call him a coward, but she was too scared herself to even think about it.

It's just a vaccine, Maddy... Chill. It's nothing you've never done before, she told herself, but her body just wouldn't listen.

Her palms were sweaty, she nervously pressed them against her thighs, sucking in breaths of air that scratched her throat. She could hear her heart beating fast between her lungs, threatening to jump out of her chest in any moment. Maddy inhaled deeply, but all she could smell was the unfamiliar scent of fear, a bizarre fragrance tickling her nostrils, suffocating her. Like a panic attack.

She was scared, and she could smell it.

"D-Does it hurt?" asked the boy inside the infirmary, his voice reaching Maddy's ears as if he was standing at the end of an insulated tunnel.

"No, sweetheart, don't worry," the nurse reassured him.

Hesitant and a bit creeped out, Maddy leaned closer and stretched her neck to eavesdrop.

The boy muffled a cry -or was it a sob? "Ouch! Wait a second, Mrs. Jane... No, wait! Ouch! W-Wait!" He was putting in a sisyphean effort to keep his voice low, but Maddy could almost see his face contort in pain and agony.

Ok, I'm out of here.

Maddy stood up and rushed through the corridor, eyes fixed on the floor without really seeing anything.

I'll just go later... probably.