The Donor | A Short Story

By Zachary Holbrook

       The doomed boy could’ve been Udric’s son. Tonight, the dream had him reading in a corner, sunlight spilling through the window and splashing across his blond hair. Udric tried to cry out a warning about the approaching shadow, but he was powerless to intervene, as always.

       The boy looked up in terror. The shadow hefted a bloody ax and stepped forward, his face becoming clear.

       Udric’s face.

       Clammy hands crumpled sweat-soaked sheets. Udric’s eyes shot open. His heart raced like a mad jackrabbit, each beat spiking pain through his chest. He gasped for air, only to have his breathing disintegrate into a dry, racking cough.

       Stay calm! Panic will only make it worse.

       His private hospital room remained sterile, every corner illuminated by incandescent light. No innocent children. No darkness where murderous shadow-impersonators could lurk. Just his bed, a table with his laptop and pills, and a grandfather clock ticking a steady, unstoppable countdown. As reliable as it had been a decade ago when he’d contracted the virus.

       If only his heart beat with the same precision.

       Udric banished all thoughts of his recurring nightmare and tried to focus on his future. Three days until the transplant. That’s how long he needed his heart to last. After that he could rejoin the legislative assembly. He could—

       A weight settled over him. Udric let out an empty laugh. What was the point of going back to his job as one of Chairman Zell’s toadies? Days spent nodding at every policy enacted by the Emerald Party leader, nights spent tormented by the same phantasms? All while waiting to see which killed him first— his heart troubles, or the virus lying dormant in his lungs?

       The door creaked open, and Madison entered. Udric scowled to hide the little bit of the weight that lifted. She should let him rest— this wasn’t time for one of his checkups. Was she coming to push her morality on him again?

       Madison walked stiffly to his side and looked down. Fear wormed into Udric’s heart. Her face was grim— no trace of her usual quiet joy.

       “What is it?” Udric snapped. 

       Madison glanced away. “Your old party speeches claimed that you wanted to use your life for good. Was that true?”

       Udric scoffed. “You realize I could turn you in for harassing a government official with your morals, right?”

       “Why haven’t you? You’ve mocked my beliefs but you’ve still listened to me.”

       The answer caught in Udric’s throat. Memories of the epidemic surged before him. Bodies thrown into the streets. Hospitals overflowing. Patients hacking up blood. And a nurse that served rich and poor alike, working tirelessly, pouring compassion on the needy.

       Because you’re real.

       Udric shoved the thought aside, as he’d been doing for the past decade, and shrugged. “I need something to amuse me in this depressing place.”

       Fear crept into Madison’s eyes. “Not because any part of you wants to change?”

       Udric fell silent. Then, “Why are you bringing this up now?”

       Madison heaved in a deep breath and withdrew a photograph from her pocket. “Because I need you to make a choice. Right now.” 

       She slammed the picture against Udric’s chest, shaking his bones. Udric coughed— and then looked at the person in the photo.

       The boy from his dreams.

       Udric’s heart stopped. For a moment, he thought this was the end— then it quivered back to life, weak and irregular.

       “The government knows him as Donor 3211.” The ghost of a stifled sob haunted Madison’s words. “He was brought to this facility at six months old. Raised for his heart, a sacrifice so that people like you could extend their lives. His name—” Madison swallowed. “His name is James. My son.”

       Udric’s eyes widened. He shook his head. “No. Organs come from willing donors. The government can’t just—”

       Madison clenched a fist. “You’ve worked for the Emerald Party your entire life. How reliable is their propaganda?”

       “What do you expect me to do?” Udric threw up a hand, knowing the answer, refusing to acknowledge it.

       Madison was silent. The clock kept ticking.

       “He—” Udric forced the words out. “He has my heart.”

       A tear slid down Madison’s cheek. “They kill him in three days. I— I can get him out. I need your access card to infiltrate the facility’s lower levels.”

       The clock kept ticking. 

       Three days. One of them had to die. The donor— no, the boy. Madison’s son.

       Or Udric.

       The nightmare had become reality, but with one critical, terrifying difference. Udric pushed it aside, but it assaulted his mind again with greater strength.

       He was not powerless. He could stop that axe from falling. No— he could direct it toward himself.

       A meaningless life, stolen from that boy. Or a good death, allowing James to live.

       Udric reached a trembling hand into his back pocket and withdrew his access card. “Take it. Before I change my mind.”

       Madison froze. Then wonder bloomed on her face, and she bent down and embraced Udric. Strength flooded into him, strength to do what he’d spent his whole life avoiding thinking about—strength to face his own end.

       “Thank you,” Madison whispered. “James and I will always remember you.”

       She broke away, hope dancing in her eyes, and turned to leave.

       “Wait,” Udric said. “Hand me my laptop. I’m not dead yet.”

       Madison hesitated, then gave him the device. Udric opened it and began to compose an email addressed to the Assembly, calling for an investigation into Chairman Zell’s authorization of illegal organ harvesting.

       Udric nodded toward Madison. “I’ll do everything I can to make sure James is the last child taken.”

       Madison beamed, then hurried out, clutching the access card as if it were life itself.

       Udric hit send. This would get him dismissed from the Assembly, maybe even arrested on trumped-up charges, but what did it matter? At last, he was free.

       The clock kept ticking. Udric turned to face it.