“Alright guys, I’m finally here,” declared Brandon as he pulled up to the hospital. They were all on a group video chat while he drove. Everyone else had already made it to their respective hospitals. He hated being last. Even Dan had beat him.

Dan: “So tell us again about this dream, Cade. What exactly are we looking for?”

Cade: “Well, in the dream I saw this huge demon fighting this old guy with a caduceus. The demon literally ate the snakes’ heads right off the staff. The fight lasted for a while. The old guy looked pretty bad. That’s when a whole hoard of demons descended on him and that’s the last thing I saw.”

Dan: “Not to be that guy but the use of the caduceus here was because God knew you would see it and think medicine. But in fact, the actual symbol used in medicine is the rod of Asclepius, a Greek god of medicine. There are actual a lot of terms we use from him including the name of one of his daughters, Hygieia, the goddess of cleanliness, which we get the word “hygiene" from.  The rod of Asclepius only has one snake though. The caduceus was actually the staff of Hermes, the messenger god in Greek mythology and actually symbolizes trade, travel, and commerce. The US uses both symbols interchangeably though.”

Ricky, jokingly: “You never miss a chance to show off do you Dan?”

Dan: “It’s not my fault I’ve been studying different mythologies since I was nine. God had to instill all this knowledge into someone. I’m personally glad it was me.”

Cade: “Yeah but isn’t Matt supposed to be the religious scholar here?”

Matthew: “I tend to stick to knowledge of Christianity and history of scriptures and doctrine. Other religions don’t really pique my interest.”

Dan: “See? All things and people work together for the good. We each have our roles to play and offer unique specialties to the team.”

Ricky: “Dan’s right. God uses all of us to make this work possible. I even think this mission is an example of that. After Cade told me about the dream, I got the feeling that it was one of those prophetic ones, so I sought God for interpretation and instruction. He told me it was a warning. That a demon would arrange an attack on a hospital. We are both lucky and kinda unlucky that there are a lot of hospitals in the area. So, I figured the best way to protect them would be to send each of us to one. I tried to be considerate of where everyone lived. Except of course for Dan.”

Dan: “Yeah, you sent me to the biggest one. This is a compound. There are like 2 full hospitals here.”

Kat: “Hey, there are two here as well.”

Dan: “Technically yeah, but your second one is smaller. It doesn’t even have an emergency room. My second one has one and it’s all the way on the other side of this campus.”

Ricky: “Well you are the only one really fast enough to traverse that kind of ground.”

Matt: “Hey I’m pretty fast too man.”

Brandon: “Mane how many times does Dan have to prove that he is way faster than you mane?”

Cade, low and matter-of-factly: “He has won every single race and spar y’all have had. I don’t see why you keep trying personally.”

Matt: “Alright, alright. Point taken.”

Brandon: “So how long do you think we’ll be out here? I don’t want to spend one of my few nights off staking out a hospital.”

Ricky: “Look, we just need to stay long enough to catch the demon and send him back. Moreover, once the demon attacks, the rest of us should be fine to leave.”

The seven of them kept talking about different topics for hours. Eli kept popping in and out of the chat due to people coming in the chapel of his hospital. Eli always tried to find the holiest spot whenever they went on a mission. He was more powerful if he could tap into the light already present at a place. Hospital chapels were a two-edged sword though. It was a place that was consecrated but also one usually filled with lingering feelings of hopelessness, desperation, and despair. He found that he kept getting interrupted by people coming in to pray for their loved ones. But truth be told, he didn’t mind too much. He got to help people and ease their worry. He was a good fit for this kind of work. He was compassionate and encouraging. It also helped that he was adorable. A trait he could never seem to use to help his love life though.