Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation (40 page)

She shuffled out to collect the other cassettes and headed into the smallest room, which was the film developing closet. After another twenty minutes of dipping the exposed films in chemicals and reloading the cassettes, with only a dim red light to see by, Evelyn exited the developing room and stuck the first film up on one of the viewers on the wall. By this time, Clem and Nicolas were both in the open treatment area, Clem perched on a counter and Nicolas seated on a rolling stool. Both men got up and approached Evelyn as she examined the films in turn.

“You missed his head.”

“The skull’s too thick. I probably wouldn’t have been able to see anything.”

Evelyn turned from the image of Nicolas’s skeletal legs and feet on the viewer to face Nicolas.

“Do you have a tracking implant in one of your teeth?”

She thought that he would answer right away, but Nicolas hesitated and looked thoughtful. He ran his tongue over his teeth and then a finger over them as well.

“Not to my knowledge…And I’ve not known this to be done.”

Evelyn nodded. “Well, that’ll have to be good enough. I don’t think an implant would really work well after multiple transformations anyway. It could dislodge and get stuck…I think you’d be able to feel it.”

“So he’s clean?”

“As far as I can tell.”

Nicolas faced Evelyn and his voice grew soft. “You doubted me so much?”

Evelyn couldn’t bear the hurt in his eyes. She looked to the films and pulled them down from the viewer. “It’s not just me; the Wahya,
everyone
needs reassurance. If you did want to hurt us…”

Nicolas grabbed Evelyn’s arm. “I would never hurt you.”

Clem stepped forward and gripped Nicolas’s arm in turn. “But I
would
hurt you, Nicky, so you best let go of Evie right quick.”

Glancing from Evelyn to Clem, Nicolas’s face reddened. He removed his hand from Evelyn’s arm. “I didn’t mean to cause offense…Clem?” He turned back to Evelyn. “I just wished you could trust me.”

*

Evelyn ran Roberto’s credit card through Raul’s machine and left generous payment for the time they’d spent at the clinic, as well as for the radiograph film they’d used, then returned the keys to the metal box on the door after locking up. Clem got behind the wheel again, but Evelyn insisted that Nicolas sit in the middle seats of the Explorer with her so that he could translate for her while they drove, but first she needed some immediate answers from him.

“So you’ve defected?”

Nicolas nodded. “I was caught copying files for you. I…I had to leave.”

“But you don’t think that you were followed?”

“I had to take certain…precautions, they might suspect something, but should not know that I have copied the files. Or where I have gone.”

Evelyn frowned. “But you said that you were caught.”

“Da, but only by one. He is not a concern anymore.”

Deciding that details would only upset her, Evelyn moved on. “Is this everything? All the research files?”

The corners of Nicolas’s eyes sagged. “No. There was not enough time. There are still many more. I am sorry.”

“That’s alright, I probably wouldn’t have time to go over more anyway.” She paused and bit her lip. “Um, Nicolas, there’s something that I should tell you about your asylum.”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t…I don’t…we haven’t worked out all of the details yet, so we’re going to keep a low profile for the time being.”

Clem snorted from the front seat, but she wasn’t sure if Nicolas had heard it as well.

“Fine.”

His eyes bore into her again and Evelyn shivered, though the sensation wasn’t all bad. Dropping her gaze, she picked up a stack of papers from the satchel and handed them to Nicolas. “Start with those.”

62

The late afternoon had slipped into evening then into night by the time they arrived at the condo. Evelyn, concentrating on taking notes off Nicolas’s translations, hadn’t even thought to call ahead to prepare David and Kim for Nicolas’s arrival. She almost had the two men wait in the car while she went in, but then elected to have Clem by her side instead. Pushing the door open, she poked her head inside and called out before walking in with Nicolas.

“Hello! We’re back. And we have a big surprise.”

David was not amused by Evelyn trying to make light of the matter. His shock rapidly transformed to anger and finally to something colder.

“It’s going to be awfully cramped here with five people.”

Evelyn conceded the point with a shrug. “I’d like Nicolas here so that he can help translate the research notes, but I figured that we could set up a place for him in that odd room in the basement. Not too much privacy, but it does have a door, so would be a separate space at least.”

Clem picked up Evelyn’s conversational thread. “And my leg’s much better, so I’ll bunk in the basement too, on the couch.”

David crossed his arms. “Absolutely not. Sorry, Clem, but you still have your cane. There is no way I’d let you climb those basement stairs to get to the bathroom. You’ll stay in my room again and I’ll take the basement couch.”

Evelyn couldn’t imagine a worse scenario than David and Nicolas sharing the basement, but she couldn’t come up with any excuse to prevent it, so she excused herself to make up the basement beds. Kim followed her upstairs soon after, and helped her assemble sheets, blankets, and spare pillows from the upstairs closet and bedrooms. As they put fresh sheets on David’s bed, Kim spoke for the first time since greeting Clem and Nicolas.

“Evie, why didn’t you tell us about Nicolas?” Kim’s voice wasn’t accusatory, rather it was soft with hurt.

Evelyn smoothed out the fitted sheet. “I just didn’t feel like we had time to argue about it. We need the information that Nicolas has on
Languorem luporum
, and you two didn’t have the same…experience with him. I
know
we can trust him, and right now we need to. Time is running out, and we have nothing. If I don’t come up with something to stop the Vulke soon…” An unintentional sob broke Evelyn’s voice. Kim padded to her side and placed a warm hand on her shoulder.

“I think that you underestimate us Evelyn. You aren’t the only one who understands the stakes here. Give us a little credit.”

Blinking back tears, Evelyn leaned her head on Kim’s shoulder. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Do you think that we can chalk my behavior up to the temporary madness of impending doom?” Her laugh only had a hint of mirth.

Kim hugged Evelyn. “I sure can…but, Evie, David…”

“I know.”

*

When the women went downstairs again, arms loaded with linens, Evelyn noted a sudden silence at the dining room table where the men were seated. Nicolas was propped up like a marionette and David was eviscerating him with his eyes.

“Why don’t we continue the interrogation in the morning, fellas? Nicolas, there is a bathroom at the top of the stairs and also a half-bath just inside the front hall. You are welcome to use either, then I’ll meet you in the basement off the kitchen here and show you your room.”

His head drooping in a nod, Nicolas stood slowly. “Da, thank you.”

Once Nicolas had disappeared into the smaller bathroom, Evelyn thought that David might start railing at her, but he didn’t even glance at her as he got up from the table and headed upstairs. His reaction was a knife right through her heart. Her eyes found Clem’s and his reflected her pain. In that moment Evelyn truly regretted her decision not to tell David that she was going to not only meet Nicolas, but to bring him here. She saw in Clem’s eyes that they’d lost David, maybe for good. Trying to convince herself that the agony she was feeling would all be worth it if they found a cure hidden in the Vulke research that Nicolas had stolen for them, Evelyn turned from Clem and headed into the basement.

She let Kim make up the couch for David as she put down several layers of blankets for padding on the tile floor of the strange windowed room of the basement, and arranged a sleeping area for Nicolas. Putting the pillow in place, Evelyn grimaced down at the bedding. They’d have to buy him at least a cot tomorrow. Someone behind her cleared their throat softly. Evelyn turned to face Nicolas in the doorway.

His eyes didn’t leave hers, but he gestured to the room. “What room is this?”

Evelyn felt her cheeks color. “We think it might have been a grow room…you know? For drugs, marijuana.”

His eyebrows lifted and his gaze flicked to the room then back to her. “Oh. Da.”

She broke away from Nicolas’s stare and glanced instead down at the sad excuse for a bed she’d made for him. “I’m sorry, it’s not much, but we’ll buy you a cot or something tomorrow.”

Nicolas walked closer to her. “I have had worse.”

Evelyn’s thoughts flashed back to the scars she’d seen on his body the night after the fire, and her insides twisted at the thought of what “worse” might be inside the warped society of the Vulke. The windowed room abruptly felt like a prison. She brushed past Nicolas towards the door.

“Well, I should let you get some sleep. Please feel free to eat anything in the kitchen if you get hungry. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Evelyn…”

She didn’t look back, but her name seemed to echo around Nicolas’s makeshift bedroom and follow her up the stairs as she fled to the main floor. At the top of the stairs she literally ran into David.

“Oh, David, I’m sorry I—“

“Of course you are.”

David didn’t look at her as he stepped around her and continued down into the basement. The chill of his words sunk into her chest. Though she knew that their relationship had been over for a while, she never expected that they would lose their friendship too. Sighing, she thought that perhaps in time she could convince him of her muddled judgement in the face of a desperate situation, but it wasn’t as important now as fighting the Vulke. For that’s what they were doing now. Not finding a cure for the sake of a cure, but trying to find a way to unmake monsters so they had a chance of winning the war.

The siren call of sleep beaconed to Evelyn, but she ignored it and instead put a pot of coffee on to brew, then sat at the dining room table with Nicolas’s satchel and the notes that she’d made in the car based on his translations. Unlikely as it was that she’d make a breakthrough that night, she opened up her laptop and settled in for a long night of technical reading and Google Translator.

*

Evelyn hiked through a forest of burning trees. Clouds of smoky viral code filled the air and she swatted them aside with irritation. Sara stepped out from behind a smoldering oak and joined Evelyn. The last time she’d seen Sara, her mouth had been bloody, but now it was clean, though her skin was sallow and peeling in places. She wore a long, silky black dress instead of her normal punk garb, but her hair was still spikey where it wasn’t falling out.

“Not far now.”

Evelyn tried not to stare at Sara’s corpse.

“Where are we going?”

Sara shook her head and pointed.

“Not we, them.”

Evelyn glanced up and saw a pack of red-eyed Wolfkin charging towards them through the fiery woods.

“Oh god, Sara, what are we going to do!”

Sara shrugged.

“Not my problem, not my department.”

“Quick, Evelyn, in here!”

Evelyn turned and spotted Nicolas peeking out of a door between the trees and frantically motioning her to join him.

“Will you come?” she asked Sara.

“Nah, I’m good.”

Evelyn didn’t want to leave Sara behind, but the snarling, howling Wolfkin were getting closer, so she let Nicolas drag her through the mysterious door. The door led to the lab at the veterinary school, but the place was in shambles. Shattered glass covered the floor, the fridges and freezers were open and their contents strewn about, and nearly every machine was smashed exposing guts of circuitry.

“What happened?”

Nicolas’s smile was joyous and carefree.

“I cured him.”

“Who?”

Nicolas pointed to the closed door of Dr. Jonson’s office. Through a small window, Evelyn could see David inside tearing the tiny room apart with bloody hands. Wide-eyed with horror, Evelyn drifted closer to the window. David’s eyes rolled, and thick, white foam drooled from the corners of his mouth.

“What have you done?”

Nicolas sidled up beside her.

“I give him rabies!”

Upon hearing Nicolas’s voice, David noticed Evelyn staring at him. He growled at her and threw himself at the window. Glass shattered. Evelyn screamed.

63

Evelyn woke up thrashing and felt strong hands on her arms.

“Evelyn, stop, you are dreaming.”

With threads of the dream still weaving into reality, Nicolas’s voice did not calm her. She tore out of his grip, knocked over the chair, and stumbled into the living room. Confused and shaking, Evelyn backed away from an upset and befuddled Nicolas. When David burst from the kitchen to the dining room, Evelyn shrieked, backed into the couch, and fell onto it, but the fall brought her to her senses and out of the waking nightmare.

“What did you do to her?!” David’s voice was like broken glass.

“I—“

Pushing herself up so she could see over the arm of the couch, Evelyn saw David grab Nicolas by the shoulders.

“No, David! it wasn’t him, I was having a nightmare. I’m sorry, you both just…startled me.”

Nicolas shook out of David’s grasp as David reluctantly loosened his grip and turned to face Evelyn. “Must have been some nightmare.”

Evelyn tried in vain to erase the horrors of the dream from her mind’s eye. Weariness sped into her on the heels of her fading pulse of adrenaline. “Yeah…I’m surprised that I don’t have more of them actually.”

The fierceness in David’s face softened, but his words still held an edge. “Well, if everything’s fine here, then I’m going back to bed. Let me know if you really need me.”