I decide to shut the television off. It seems like the world keeps dealing with their problems even without us running around making new ones.
Now that there's no sound coming from the TV, I notice that there is some kind of commotion on the hallway behind me. For a hospital, it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it still makes me get on my feet and check if everything is alright. It's nothing like the day we first arrived in the hospital but still, there are countless people running up and down the hallway, searching for something.
Silver has returned to her lessons with Zan, who has improved his handle of the language quite a bit through the last two weeks. Maybe hearing other people talk around him, and with the help of the miraculous and lovable Dale Cross, the boy had blossomed into a true man. He still has to overcome his share of difficulties before having complete control of the language, but he’s getting there.
Well, with nothing else to do all day but study for the last couple weeks, the young man could only get better. Still, after I turn my head and watch Jay sleep, my mind returns to my previous concerns.
Dale is right. It was a miracle that Jay didn’t die when we first got him here. He was bleeding badly, and he had lost so much blood already that his usually platinum skin was now plain white. I couldn’t stand watching him suffer before I passed out. The sight of him, looking like a dead man, frightened me.
When I finally I came up to the hospital, the doctors reassured me that he was still alive, although just barely.
I turn my head and see Silver walk towards me. “Eladia, is everything okay? Did doctor Dale need something?”
Silver has a small “user-crush” with Dale, like everyone else in this room. Those two would stay up for hours discussing medicine and philosophy and anything that I never had the time to speak about with her. It was like Dale was the piece missing from our already peculiar bunch of people, and even though Jay was the only one among us in dire need of medical attention, all of us ended up under Doctor Cross’ reassuring care.
“No, no. He was just asking about my relationship with Jay.”
“And? Did you say anything to him?”
“Of course not. I told him that it’s complicated and that I owe him an explanation sometime in the future. Kinda like what I say to all the men around me lately.”
I sigh and melt back into my armchair. My eyes quickly fall on Jay’s motionless body. Another memory of the last couple weeks surfaces. Those two fateful days when I was sure he would die on me, the days that we found out that Jay is a hydro-recovery organism. Well, at least that’s how Dale put it.
One night, after another one of his lengthy operations, the doctor came out of the operating room looking as skeptical as a man with bad news can only be. He came to me and whispered something about Jay never getting through the night. I don’t quite remember what he said to me back then since I hadn’t been able to sleep for the last three days. All my memories from that time are a complete mess.
All of his vitals had taken a fall for the worst, and most of his internal organs were malfunctioning, ready to collapse at any moment. And as if that wasn’t enough to make me worry, Dale also told me that even after all the drugs they stuffed in him, dosages that would have killed a common man, didn’t work at all with him.
That’s when the doctor started asking questions to me, the likes of ‘where is he from?’ and ‘what’s his blood type?’ and ‘are you his close acquaintances?’. Stuff like that.
When I couldn’t answer any of his questions, the man confronted me in an honest and straightforward way.
“Look Ms. Matthews. I know that it has been a long week so far for both of us, but if you don’t trust me there is a big change that your friend, Jay, will die. I’m sure there’s a way for us to save him, but you have to work with me. I took an oath to protect and care for all living species, but you never did. However, if you don’t start talking soon, I’m sure both of will be burdened with this man’s death for the rest of our lives.”
Right then, I would have told him even my father’s bank account password if he asked me to. From that moment on, I started talking to him, telling him everything I could, treading in thin ropes, not entirely sure if was doing the right thing.
But, while I was telling him our story, the man kept searching for a clue on how to help him. He found it in our first intimate moment together, that time when Jay dived into the small lake back on Primordial Earth and later seemed restored and reinvigorated.
“If that’s true, then...then we’ve been treating him the wrong way this whole time.”
That night, and for the next three days, the doctor made sure that Jay survived by moving him to a special room they used for hydro-recovery organisms, like the Detir and the Pots. As a student, I remember taking a class on the history of outer-space organisms that mentioned the hydro-recovery system. In that class we learned that these types of organisms spend a great deal of their evolution path living close or inside the water, eventually leading up to their partial dependency of aquatic environments.
Humans are not hydro-recovery organisms even though life on Primordial Earth started from the oceans. But Detir and Pots, mostly populating planets covered by over 90% with water, had a different kind of coping mechanism that allowed them to recover a great deal of their strength after getting in contact with the aquatic element.
From that day on, Jay started getting better fast, and the new rounds of medicines started working on him. During the last week, even though he had his ups and downs, spending half an hour every two days awake and screaming in agony, he started recovering. The difficult part came when he stopped shouting and started making a ruckus trying to leave the hospital every time he was awake. That’s why the doctor had to come up with a serum that deprived him of his use of hands and feet for a while, just enough to calm him.
I feel guilty for letting him do that, but I’m certain it’s in his best interest. Yeah, lying to him to protect him was for his best interest as well, but I can’t help wanting to protect him from the agony of having to face a difficult truth.
He’s not alone inside that body.
Doctor Dale suddenly appears in the door. He once again signals me to follow him outside; I quickly do so.
“Sorry to bother you again, but I wanted to ask you something before I totally forgot it. Would it be too much if you let me keep Jay here for a couple more weeks to run some tests on him and--”
“No,” I say in a totalitarian tone. That was out of the question.
“Okay,” he says to me promptly and rushes to his next task.
I smile at his back and somehow feel better with his goofy behavior. It’s like he sensed I was worrying about Jay and decided to pass by and lighten the mood. That’s Doctor Cross for you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay
I open my eyes and look at the ceiling. It is too dark in here to make out the details, but it seems like it’s a plain white, common part of a regular room. The endless lights of Mosa cast their dim presence in the furniture, making the shadows inside the room dance impatiently.
My eyes are cloudy, and my limbs feel heavy, but I’ve regained some control of my senses. For a moment, it feels like I’m dreaming, but soon I realize I’m not. I feel like I’ve been here before or that I had spent many hours in this room, although this is the first time that I realize it. The pain I feel in the lower part of my body makes this whole scene feel too real.
I can smell people everywhere around me, people that I kinda expected they’d be here. A gentle sigh comes from my left side. I turn and see Eladia’s face. Her dark hair is still caught up in that hideous ponytail, but for some reason, she looks more beautiful than ever.
She smells of shampoo and exhaustion, the heady smell that comes from a person that hasn’t showered for many days. But, it kinda suits her. Eladia is born to live outside in the open, to have her adventures away from the close quarters o
f a room.
But, her smooth skin and pressing chest intimidate me. I want to kiss her and get as far away from her as possible at the same time. I can feel we were close before. I even remember that something started between us up on that roof, but a long shadow covers that memory. Maybe the lights of Mosa are dancing with me as well.
Trust was the thread that tied everything together between us, and that thread had snapped after finding out she knew that something was wrong with me all along and didn’t say a thing.
I try to change to my other side and get to a more comfortable position on the bed when I notice the sound of a pair of feet walking into the room. Out of instinct, I decide to stand still and play dead. No, not dead...sleeping. Dead would be bad after all.
A new scent fills in the air, a potent aroma that dominates with its presence. I want to turn and watch who emits that scent, but it’s impossible. My hands and feet are still numb from whatever the hell they did to me here. Fortunately, the presence decides to come closer. It stops for a moment under the frame of the door, sighs, and then moves forward.
“It’s a lovely night, Doctor Cross. I thought your rounds would have been over by now,” I hear Silver suddenly spurt from a corner of the room.
The man doesn’t lose his cool although I’m sure I discern a tint of surprise on his step. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be up, not even the robot.
“It’s a lovely night indeed, Silver. I’ve told you times and times again, you don’t have to stay up all night and take care of him. The staff of this hospital is one of the best in the Known Galaxy.”
His words are rushed and forced; he’s improvising, trying to hide something from her.
“I have no doubt about the skills of your staff, doctor. Those that have nothing to do with the staff worry me.”
What? What does she mean?
Doctor Cross wonders the same thing.
“For something to worry you, a Chronicler’s assistant, it must be really serious. Can you share the details with me?”
He was baiting her to answer his questions. He’s a smart human, that much I’ll give him. But, an Android can’t be fooled that easily.
Without a sign of doubt, she replies: “We’ve talked about this again Doctor. I’m not allowed to say anything to you, and you shouldn’t ask me the same question every time. There’s a reason why you humans invented that saying, that funny, little expression.”
“The curiosity killed the cat, right?”
She must have nodded because their conversation ended promptly.
I don’t know about the doctor, but I would’ve killed to know what she’s talking about. Either the victim was she or her cat, or whatever she thought I had to kill, I would have done it. But the human doctor—I guess he’s human after all—doesn’t. He has given up into finding the answer to this question way before tonight.
“Okay, okay. You’re right. It’s just that you’re a pretty unusual bunch, that’s all. Well, you and Eladia are somehow normal, but your friends, aren’t.”
He’s closer to me now. He raises the thin sheet covering my body and touches my left foot with a cold, metal thing. After hearing a beep, the doctor takes a step back, he nods and then turns his back to me. I hear his steps get weaker while drawing away from me.
So now, the only thing obstructing my escape is that stupid, morphing android. I never quite liked her, not the same way I like Zan or Eladia.
You don't like Eladia either.
For a moment, my mind feels crowded. I know that I was the one that made that thought just now, but at the same time, I’m not sure. I feel puzzled and certain at the same time. I don’t know if this is a dream or reality anymore.
There is a thumping coming from deep inside my head that it’s strong enough to make me feel dizzy. I stop and try to open my eyes to ease the pressure, but it doesn’t help. The thumping gets louder and more intense, and it soon shakes my whole body.
It’s when I hear a scream coming from the hallway that I know that the thumping isn’t only in my head. Zan seems to have noticed it too.
“What was that?” the young boy says.
“What was what Zan? Did you have a bad dream?” Silver asks him.
Maybe if I stay silent a little bit longer, they’ll leave the room and let me escape silently. But the thumping is now louder than before and soon I figure that this isn’t a simple thump; this is a march.
“Wake up! Eladia, Zan, wake up!!!”
The familiar voice of Doctor Cross echoes inside the room. He’s just barely heard above the cacophony of steps marching down the hallway. Eladia is the last one to wake up.
“What’s wrong? What’s that sound?”
I keep acting that I’m still asleep, hoping they leave without me, but I’m not off the hook so easily.
“I...I don’t know what’s going on. I heard someone say that the lower floors are filled with reanimated corpses swarming the hallways,” the doctor says.
He sounds panicked although he doesn’t feel panicked. I’m confused.
“What? That can’t be possible. Zombies? Is that what you’re saying?” Eladia suddenly replies.
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes. Zombies can be a pretty inclusive term.”
What are they talking about? Zom...bees? Are those some kind of bees? I don’t understand.
And then it happens. The shriek of an otherworldly monster comes from just outside our room. I open my eyes and rise to see dead bodies walking. What in the world?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eladia
When I was younger, I used to meet all those actors and musicians, and they used to sign my shirt or mug to give me an autograph. Anyway, growing up at a politically involved house had its perks. Even some of the most famous actors were my buddies back then. So, when I was at the proper age to start visiting the setting to their movies and the backstage to their concerts, I quickly got disappointed.
All those monsters in the films and the special effects in the concerts were products of computers and extras. Nothing was even the tiniest bit real.
It wasn’t the same as watching the finished movie and believing that everything is possible. Visiting the setting and seeing that everything was a lie was a hard pill of truth I had to swallow back then. Now, though, seeing that zombies do exist and walk straight into our room, the first thing that crosses my mind is that I kinda wish that these things were fake.
Silver was the one standing closer to the door so she tosses herself in front of the horde to stop them from hurting Dale. The doctor, being dumbstruck by the impossible sight, takes a step back but does nothing else to escape. He just looks at the monsters with a mixed expression of disgust and fear. The man that has pledged his life to protect and mend people is just standing still, motionless.
Zan, the savage boy, snarls at the monsters, but Silver stops him. In what must have been a second, Silver morphed into a large, bulky object, fitting the door and pushing the corpses out. It was her fencing form, best used to stop wild animals from approaching the camp.
Silver can buy us five to ten minutes before she runs out off power and the room is overrun with all those undead bodies. Dale is standing before her, shaking like a leaf, mumbling to himself.
“Doctor, please, calm down. You’re the only one in this room that can find a way out of here,” Silver says, her voice distorted.
The man doesn’t move an inch.
“Doctor...Doct...Doc…” Silver keeps saying until she can’t speak anymore. She’s now using her whole power into keeping the fence functional and the zombies out.
I turn my head and try to make a quick assessment of the situation. We’re trapped in a hospital room with a small army of dead bodies outside ready to infiltrate any moment now. Jay is still asleep and unable to move, while Zan can’t do much without his primitive spear. And we’re running out of time fast waiting for the Doctor to snap out of his shock.
>
At that time, out of nowhere, I see Jay getting up on his feet and stand in front of the frozen doctor. He’s taller than Doctor Cross, but they’re similar in every other way. They’re both athletic, both strikingly handsome, and both fit to lead. Only that Jay has more experience in overcoming impossible situations.
“Listen to me, human doctor. You have to find us a way out. I can’t die in here,” Jay says to him.
The doctor suddenly looks like he reached the surface of a cold lake. He snaps off his shock and starts breathing hungrily.
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Cube: The Sci-FI Alien Invasion Romance (Books 1-5) Page 15
