Fallen

by J. Dursky

  Chapter 21

   

  Dr. Hunter walks in the room.  "Never mind, we’ll do the blood test and CT scan now."

  "What?"  I ask, rubbing my eyes and sitting up in bed.

  "The tests, I can get you in right now.  We had the next slot open up for the equipment.  Hide your sidearm though, and you may not want to bring that radio either.  If someone sees it they will take it from you." 

  I put the gun and radio under the mattress.  I’ll call Lila as soon as I’m alone again. 

  "You say all this like you just left the room. What time is it?"  I ask.

  "You aren't going crazy on me are you?  I was only gone for like 45 seconds.  It's umm, 10:55 AM."  He laughs and checks his watch. "Oh, by the way, there’s a storm outside right now and it has apparently knocked out our communication tower, so that radio is useless until they get it fixed.  If they can get it fixed.  The satellite we use to communicate long range is not receiving signals from the tower any longer.  Plus, if you want to keep that thing, you better keep it hidden." 

  The only part I really listen to is how long he was gone.  45 seconds?  It felt a lot longer, but then again, most dreams do.  I get up to walk out of the room and I feel a slight headache.  I don't get headaches often.  I usually only get one or two a year and that is from impacts to my football helmet. 

  We take a right out of my room, then another right down the hall.  We make so many turns I forget the way we came.  We end up at a room with only one machine in it.  I have never had a CT scan before but I understand how they work. I think about my dream, I get an eerie feeling about this place. Maybe this is the same place I have always dreamt about or a form of Deja Vu.

  Dr. Hunter explains to me what I need to do to get the scan.  I lie down on the table and it moves my head into a separate compartment.  

  I hear a voice come over a loud speaker.  "Try to lay still." 

  I close my eyes and try to relax.  I think about the recent dream I had and what it could possibly mean. It was so unusual dreaming about something else for a change. 

  I hear a voice as the machine hums.  I cannot tell what they are saying.  I try to concentrate and focus on the voices.  It sounds like Dr. Hunter, but he is in the other room, behind the one way glass.  I also hear the voice of a woman begin speaking. 

  "Dr. Hunter, nice to see you."

  "Alisabeth, I didn't think I would see you here, I thought you were off today."  He sounds surprised.

  "I came in to see Jensen and Michaela.  I heard there were complications.  Did you not get the update?  She was pronounced dead last night."

  "What? No, no one told me!  What is McNeal doing to them?  This is unbelievable." 

  "Better get all of your patients either discharged or prepped for travel by Tuesday night."

  "What do you mean?  I was told I have 30 days to study here."

  "Not now, orders just came from the President. If there is no progress by Tuesday, they are shutting us down and removing all Fallen within 500 miles with an air strike at noon. If a cure is found before then they will entertain the idea of cancelling the strike." 

  He is silent. 

  "What the hell is that?  Look at the screen!  Oh my god, they’re everywhere!"  She has excitement in her voice.

  "I’ve never seen anything like it!"  He sounds baffled.

  "Who is he and what’s inside his head?  Has Dr. McNeal done something to him?"

  "No, she hasn’t. Can I trust you to not say anything about this to anyone until I figure out what is going on with him?  If Dr. McNeal..."

  "Dr. Hunter, Please."  She interrupts.  "I have been your assistant for almost four years, I have never betrayed your confidence, and I'm not about to start now. And I know if anyone can decipher this, it is you."

  “That means a lot to me. Thank you.” 

  I hear a door open and close.  I push myself out of the machine ready to defend myself.  The door to my room opens.  It’s Dr. Hunter. 

  "Come on, I don't think there is an immediate threat but I want to take every precaution available.  I don't have to hide you per say, but I need to hide your results and what you can do.  Everyone expects your room to be empty so no one will think anything is out of the ordinary if there is a new patient. Come on."  He says as he turns and walks quickly down the hall. 

  I can't tell if he is taking me the same way or a different one.  This place is a maze, I am already lost.  He opens the door with his password and tells me to get in.  It is the room with my gun and radio. 

  "Take my watch, if I’m not back in one hour, the code to get out is 159357.  It makes an X on the keypad if you forget.   When you come out, take a right, two lefts, and a right to find Jensen.  He can help you get out if it comes to that. If you leave I will meet you back at your house to discuss your results. If Dr. McNeal finds out what I suspect, you are not safe here. Neither is Jensen."

  "What did you find on the CT scan?"

  "I don't have time right now..."  He turns to try to leave.

  I grab his arm to stop him.  "I heard you! What did you find?  What is in my head?"

  "What do you mean you heard me?"  He asks.

  "I heard you talking to Alisabeth.  I heard you say you found something and need to hide it from Dr. McNeal."  I tell him firmly.

  "What?  You heard us talking? The microphone wasn’t on."

  "No, I heard you talking both ways, to me over the loud speaker, and to your assistant. I had the same thing happen at the house, I heard Lila when I shouldn’t have been able to."

  "That shouldn’t be possible, it’s a soundproof room.  If you stay I will do some hearing tests as well. Regardless, I have to go.  I am removing your data from the hard drive in the server down the hall so it doesn't get into the wrong hands."  He says.

  The door closes and he is gone.  I think I would be better off helping him, not trapped in a room.  I’m sure what he did was for a good reason. I’m starting to think he’s on my side. 

  I get the radio out to talk to Lila.  I remember what he told me about the tower being down but I need to try to talk to her.

  I press the side button on the radio, it makes a static noise when I talk into the speaker. "Baby, are you there?"  I ask.

  "Yeah, I'm here.  Are you ok? Did you find Jensen?" She says.

  Surprisingly the radio works.  Did Dr. Hunter lie to me about the signal?

  "Yeah, I am at the base.  Jensen is here and I am going to go talk to him soon."

  "Have you figured anything else out yet?"

  "They said they saw something on my CT scan, like there is something in my head."

  "Something in your head? Really? Do you know what it is?”

  "No, I don't have much more info than that."

  "Do you think it has something to do with your dreams?  Like a military experiment or something?" 

  This makes me think for a second.  They are just dreams, aren’t they?  

  "If that's what it is, you need to stay and figure this out."

  "Actually I had a dream or had a hallucination or something I need to tell you about.  This girl told me not to come for you.  That actually makes me want to be there even more."

  "Babe, seriously? I didn’t have time to tell you but I had a dream just like that last night."

  "You had a dream?  You never remember your dreams!  What was it?"  I ask.

  "This girl was standing at the foot of our bed and told me I needed to go find Darr.  It was very unsettling."

  "What did she look like?"  I ask.

  "I don't know, skinny, blonde, a few years younger than me I suppose.  She told me if I could find him and then get to you, Jensen, and Dr. Hunter, we can all survive this."

  "Did she say her name?  Was it Michaela?"  I ask.

  "Yeah!  That was her name! Wait, it’s the same girl?  And she told me something else."

&n
bsp; "What?"

  "She said she needs you to save her brother, Jensen."

  "Brother?  He told me she was in a wheel chair. I saw her standing." 

  I feel a vibration in the floor. The radio is silent. Lila doesn't reply, only static.  Did she hear my last sentence?  I ask if she can hear me a few times and don't receive an answer. 

  A good length of time passes, I refuse to look at the watch.  I set an alarm on it just after he left.  I find watching the clock makes time move more slowly.  There are a lot of things on my mind.  The things sitting on the forefront of my thoughts are, wondering what they found on the CT scan.  It’s hard to believe there is something in my brain.  Dr. Hunter’s assistant said something about Michaela being dead, didn’t she?  What did Michaela mean about a choice?