Never Judge

"How?" Ray asked as he looked around the room. "I thought you said he wasn't supposed to gain consciousness until much later?" 

"He isn't, well he could, but it depends." Miguel said as he looked around in a panic.

"Quick, I'll check the bathroom you go ask if Cedric went out." Ray ordered Miguel who quickly left the room.

As expected Cedric was not in the bathroom, Ray looked around the room, there was no sign of a struggle. But if Cedric was unconscious he could have been kidnapped easily.

Ray walked back outside to find Miguel sending out several guards to look for Cedric. They hadn't stationed bodyguards outside the room, only at exits and entrances to the VIP floor.

"Did anyone see him?" Ray asked as he approached his friend. 

"A nurse saw him walking out, but he thought it was fine since I didn't give any instructions to keep Cedric inside." Miguel said, shaking his head.

"Well at least we know he hasn't been kidnapped." Ray said with a shrug.

"Well that's good, but we still need to find him." Miguel said desperately. "I'm worried about both his injuries and his state of mind. It's possible for persons who have lost a lot of blood to suffer from temporary amnesia. I don't even know if his injuries are healing properly, I was supposed to check it when we visited him."

"Well he can't have gone far." Ray said as he looked around. "Did the nurse say when he saw Cedric leave the room?"

"Yeah, while we were talking to Alexi." Miguel said with a shrug.

"Then that means he's probably still in the building." Ray said as he thought of where Cedric could have gone. "He couldn't have taken the elevator, there are guards stationed there, they would have sent him back."

"Let's check the CCTV, it should show us where he went." Miguel suggested.

"Where are the monitors?" Ray asked.

"Upstairs, in the connecting room to my office." Miguel said as he started to walk away toward the staircase that connected the management floor to the VIP ward.

Ray followed Miguel as they broke into a sprint as they climbed the stairs and ran down the hall to Miguel's office.

"Damn, why did you have to pick the furthest office on this floor?" Ray asked as he panted when they finally entered Miguel's office.

"I don't like being disturbed." The doctor said with a shrug as he opened an unsuspecting closet.

Ray was surprised to see it open up into a high tech room with multiple screens, the room looked like an evil villain's lair from one of the movies they used to watch as kids. 

"Like it?" Miguel said with a grin as he walked up to a keyboard and started typing. 

"It's like a man child's dream come true." Ray teased, when in fact he was actually impressed by his friend's set up.

"You're just jealous." Miguel said, rolling his eyes at Ray.

Ray's phone suddenly began to ring, it was Alexi again.

"Alexi?" Ray asked as he watched Miguel search the videos.

"We're on our way to the hospital." Alexi announced, worrying Ray. If they didn't find Cedric by the time everyone arrived he was sure it would cause a panic.

"Oh good." Ray managed to respond.

"Adrianna is nagging me to ask you how Cedric is doing." Alexi said over the phone.

"Ummm. . . well. . . " Ray began as he continued to look at Miguel's search.

"Something is wrong, isn't it." Alexi said in a worried tone.

"No, no, no. Everything is fine." Ray lied. "Miguel is just checking Cedric's vital signs and I got distracted."

"Oh, so what are the results?" Alexi asked, it was clear that Adrianna was urging him to keep asking.

"Well, he is healing." Ray managed to say. He didn't want to use any complicated words in case his lie was caught.

"That's good." Alexi said over the phone. "We'll see you guys soon then, hopefully by the time we arrive Cedric regains consciousness. I really want to know what he and Aiden spoke about."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Ray said as he kicked Miguel, he had spotted Cedric on one of the screens but Miguel had missed it.

"See you then." Alexi said as he finally dropped the call.

"They've left the cemetery." Ray told Miguel. "How could you not have seen the image of him leaving his room?" Ray asked as he pointed at the specific screen."

"There is a lot to look at." Miguel said with a shrug as he continued to play the video. 

They watched as Cedric looked around to see if the coast was clear then eventually stepped out of his room and walk away from the camera.

"Where is he going?" Ray asked as he watched his friend remain vigilant in his escape. 

As Ray asked this the video was cut, it took another few seconds for Miguel to find the camera that captured the next moments. 

In this one you could see Ray and Miguel enter Cedric's room as he pushed the emergency stairs open.

"Are there cameras there?" Ray asked.

"We don't need cameras. There were men inside that stairwell, but they were positioned a flight below the door, so the only direction Cedric could have gone is up." Miguel said with a shrug.

"So he is on this floor?" Ray asked.

"Not necessarily." Miguel said as a worried look crept up on this face. "There is another floor after this, the rooftop."

"Quick, check the cameras if he's there." Ray said in a panic.

Miguel quickly pulled up the live footage from the Saints Hospital rooftop. 

The sight that greeted them made Miguel and Ray both dart out of Miguel's office and climb up to the roof.

When they finally got there, Cedric was still standing by the ledge, looking out at the distance with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Cedric, don't do this." Ray called out as he walked closer to Cedric. "Come down and talk to us."

"Cedric, your injuries have not fully healed, you need to step down so I can check on you." Miguel said as they walked closer. 

Cedric on the other hand did not move, he didn't even turn to acknowledge their presence.

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