by L. Eira
Ellie wept and fell to her knees. Brent came to her immediately and helped her to her feet, and then the two embraced, feeling deflated and defeated. The morgue tech covered Older Ellie’s face and accompanied the teenagers back out of the viewing room.
Another tech then escorted Brent and Ellie to ICU, where William had just arrived after brutal redo surgery.
“When I opened him up, his belly was full of blood,” said the surgeon. “A woman before the surgery told me to first look at the mesenteric artery, seven centimeters from the aorta. I have no idea how she knew that. But that’s where I looked first. And sure enough, that’s precisely where he was bleeding.” He gave a weak smile. “If I had to do a full exploration, that would have taken a long time, and I’m sure we would have lost him. He’s still critical. Chances of rebleeding are still high. The initial bullet ricocheted in his belly and hit a lot of organs. But for right now, he’s stabilizing.”
The teens were taken to William’s cubicle. A respirator tube came out of his mouth and periodically gave him breaths. Three units of blood dripped fast into intravenous lines. He shivered intermittently. Two nurses made observations and adjustments in his IV medications every few minutes.
As time passed, events slowed down. Now, only one nurse stood at the bedside.
“Is he going to be all right?” asked Brent.
“With these gunshot-wound cases, anything goes,” said the RN. “We learn to never let down our guard. William is still very sick. He still has a lot of shrapnel inside him, and each little piece can dislodge and cause him to begin bleeding again. I wish I could give you better news, but, for now, we’ll watch him like a hawk.” She smiled faintly, and then stepped out of the room.
The beeping of the monitor and the swooshing of the respirator were almost hypnotic. Ellie grabbed Brent’s arm and rested her head on his shoulder. He put his hand on her neck and gently massaged it.
Suddenly, Ellie gasped and reflexively took a step back, her hand still on Brent’s arm. Out of nowhere, the teens noticed the little albino girl standing there, dispassionately. She slowly approached William and climbed up on a chair to reach the bed and peek at the injured. She pulled back on the white sheet covering William’s body, exposing the surgical bandages covering his belly, which were again soaked with blood. An alarm sounded, a loud shriek gushing out of the unit.
Brent and Ellie looked at the monitor. Blood pressure indicated zero. Heart rate, zero. The little girl placed her hand on William’s abdomen and stared at his face.
Within seconds, medical personnel poured into the room, stirring up a commotion.
“Get everybody out of the room and call a code,” yelled a nurse.
“Call the surgical team stat, and get the OR ready,” shouted another. “He’s bleeding again.”
One of the nurses grabbed the little albino girl, her little hand still on William’s crimson bandages, her eyes on William’s face.
“Get the little girl to the waiting room,” commanded a doctor entering the cubicle. “And these two also. Let’s move to the OR. Stat!”
“I can’t move her,” said the nurse attempting to remove the little girl, her arms yanking on the child. “She seems like she weighs a ton.”
“Get out of the way,” yelled the burly doctor, pulling on the nurse. “Come on, little one; let us do our job.” He grabbed the girl under the armpits and tugged on her hard, but didn’t move her an inch. His hands slipped, and he fell backward.
The albino girl slowly looked at the doctor, but her gaze quickly returned to stare at William’s face. Another two seconds passed, while everyone held their breath. The albino girl scooted back and stood on the chair at the bedside. She climbed down and slowly, without expression, ambled out of the cubicle, with everyone’s eyes on her.
“Let’s get the patient to the OR stat,” yelled the surgeon, restirring the tumult in the room. Multiple hands grabbed William’s hospital bed, and soon the bed was moving out of the cubicle. The procession proceeded out of ICU en route to the surgical area.
Abruptly, the steady, earsplitting alarm ceased. All medical personnel stopped. All gasped.
“Blood pressure is one ten over sixty,” whispered one of the nurses.
“Heart rate is seventy-five,” said another. “He’s stabilizing. It’s a miracle!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Zack reached the cave and ran deep into the darkness. He fumbled in the blackness as he staggered briskly into the bottomless, subterranean pit.
When he reached the end, he slid down the wall. He sat against the cave in total obscurity, his chest heaving in and out rapidly and his heart thumping like a jackhammer.
For a long time, Zack sat there listening to his own heartbeat and feeling waves of nausea come and go, knowing the soldiers would enter the cave with lights and weapons and whisk him away to a certain, painful death. But the soldiers never came. Hour after hour passed, and Zack remained alone, his fears diminishing as the clock ticked the seconds away. Little by little, his head slumped over, and, in time, he was lying down on the dirt floor, the smell of earth inches from his nose.
And soon, he was asleep.
Zack opened his eyes and saw white. White walls, white ceilings, white floors, white surface on which he lay supine, his arms at his side. He could move his eyes side to side. He could roll his head. He was aware of his own breathing as his chest wall moved up and down, with fresh-smelling air entering his lungs and rejuvenating him. He wasn’t sure if he could get up and walk or leave this place. But that didn’t seem important right now. He felt happy. Euphoric even. Everything was right. At this time, everything seemed perfect. He sensed only harmony.
He turned his head to his right and saw Mackenzie. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. She looked to be as peaceful as he was. All was well with her too. Her clothes were white and sparkly, as were his own. His fingers touched hers. Zack lacked nothing, craved nothing, desired nothing.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
“How much longer of this, Dad?” asked Valerie. “I was hoping I could go meet up with my friends at the mall.”
“The third floor is next,” said Dr. Rovine. “You’re up to seventy dollars, and all you had to do was meet people, see what I do at work, ask questions, and have fun.”
“I must admit it has been more fun than I anticipated. But I’m getting tired now.”
“We have one young man on the third floor to round on,” said Dr. Rovine. “Then you can go. I have to stay since I’m on call for the ER. You can take the Lexus and pick me up later.”
Valerie smiled. “So, who’s this young man we’re rounding on?”
“William Baten is fifteen years old. The police shot him. Apparently he was in jail, but for a crime he didn’t commit. We almost lost him several times, but he’s stable. I heard the surgeons talk about some albino child who blessed him and saved his life. They say the kid is an angel of sorts.”
“An albino child saved the boy?” asked Valerie, her interest piqued.
“That’s what the surgeons and the surgical nurses say. I say it just wasn’t his time to go.”
“So is he going to be all right?” she asked.
“He’s stable, but he’s been in a coma for almost three months. Not sure why.”
“We need to get the little albino girl to come back and wave her hand,” said Valerie. “That’ll perk him up. Raise him from the dead.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
William opened his eyes and tried to focus on his surroundings. His first sensation was the smell of hospitals and doctors and medicines. He looked to his left, and there were his best friends in the whole world, Brent and Ellie.
He smiled.
“Hi, William,” said Brent.
“Welcome back,” said Ellie.
“Where am I?” he asked, his voice coarse. “My throat hurts.”
“You had a tube that was breathing for you for the better part of the last three months,” said a woman in scrubs, excite
ment in her voice. “I’m Sonny. I’m your nurse. You’re at Memorial Hospital. Can I get you anything?”
“No, thanks. I’m fine.”
“I’m so happy you finally woke up,” said Sonny. “I need to let your doctor know. And your parents.”
William smiled. Brent and Ellie nodded.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. This is great news,” said the nurse. “Some of us doubted you’d ever wake up from your coma. I got to go tell everybody.” Sonny left the three friends alone.
“What happened to me?”
“You were shot,” said Brent. “When you were in prison.”
“It’s coming back to me slowly.” William tried to swallow despite the pain it caused him. “I killed my own daughter. I shot Mackenzie.”
“The police have reviewed all the video and have released you from prison,” said Brent. “The shooting was deemed accidental.”
“But Mackenzie is dead?” asked William, his gaze on Ellie and Brent. They nodded. A tear cascaded down his cheek. “I am so sorry!”
Ellie and Brent hugged him for a long moment. The only sound in the room was the beep, beep of his heartbeat in the overhead monitor.
“So, what did I miss while I was in a coma?” said William.
“Ellie from the future died,” said Brent. “She had a massive heart attack.”
“What about the creepy little albino girl?” said William. “She couldn’t save her?”
“She didn’t,” said Brent. “She saved you though.”
“We haven’t heard from her in a long time,” said Ellie. “I gave up hope that she’ll ever contact us.” She bit her lower lip.
William took a sip of water. “What about Enoxadin, the drug that prevented heart attacks?”
“They stopped all research with it,” said Brent. “It was causing deaths. In fact, it’s what killed Ellie from the future.”
The three teenagers gazed into one another’s eyes.
“Remember the weird virus we heard about?” said Ellie.
William nodded.
“It turns out that this unknown virus is the most aggressive organism ever known to humankind. It gives people flu-like symptoms for a few days or weeks, but then it lies dormant in your body forever.”
“We were infected by it,” said Brent. “You have it too.”
“It was estimated that it took less than a month for the virus to infect every human being and every living thing,” said Ellie. “Earth’s entire population has been infected by this virus already.”
“Reports are that absolutely every complex cellular organism is infected,” said Brent. “Every animal, plant, microbe—you name it, it’s been infected.”
“Wow,” said William. “But, so what?”
Ellie looked at Brent then back at William.
“The virus causes complete sterility,” said Ellie. “All life on earth will cease when the last organism alive today dies off. No hopes of reproduction. Ever!”
Brent and Ellie bowed their heads. William did too.
“What about embryos in storage?” said William. “And scientists inventing a way to fight off the virus?”
“They’ve tried that,” said Brent, his head shaking slowly.
Ellie finished his thought. “As soon as the embryo storage capsules are opened, the embryos are infected and sterilized.”
“Scientist are not hopeful that they will find a cure in time, but I guess there’s always some hope,” said Brent.
“Very unusual things have happened in our short lifetime,” said William. “One is this weird albino girl. Then this weird virus that’s about to wipe out life on earth.”
“And the drug Enoxadin that causes heart attacks and ends up killing almost all the people on the planet,” said Ellie.
“And the global war that ends in Armageddon,” said Brent.
“And the world on a time loop,” said Ellie.
William raised his hand in the air. “Who else here besides me thinks these unusual events are connected? Connected to the albino girl?”
Brent’s hand went up. Ellie’s followed.
The teens remained silent for a long moment, all eyes directed to the floor.
Ellie spoke first. “What worries me is that if the albino girl represents a malevolent race from outer space, they may now realize that we are potential barriers for them to accomplish their mission.”
Dr. Rovine and Valerie continued on their way to the third floor. They exited the elevator when their eyes met Sonny’s excited gaze.
“The boy in three fifteen woke up,” exclaimed Sonny. “William Baten, the boy who was in a coma for months.”
“Great news, Sonny,” said Dr. Rovine. “Let’s go see him.”
Valerie entered three fifteen right after her father and Sonny.
The young man, William Baten, was in bed, his eyes closed, his breathing unlabored. He appeared normal and peaceful. On the bed to his left were two other teenagers. They had both fallen asleep, their heads resting on the bed. The girl woke up first.
“How long were we asleep?” she asked. As she spoke, the boy next to her, and then the patient opened their eyes and sat up.
“Less than a minute,” said Sonny. “I went out to page Dr. Rovine, but he had just arrived on the unit. I told him William was awake.”
“Welcome back to consciousness, Mr. Baten,” said Dr. Rovine. “We’re calling your parents. You’ve been in a coma for a while. We have some tests to run on you later. For now…”
As her father spoke, Valerie couldn’t help looking into William’s eyes and face. He was handsome, an air of obvious intelligence all about him. He had yet to make eye contact with her, but as he listened to the doctor’s words, Valerie felt an unusual attraction to him. Doug, who was needy and pretentious, had occupied her life. He had to be the center of attention, and to accomplish that, he often put her down. He was rough, curt, anxious, explosive, and always angry. And after his football injury, all those awful personality traits worsened. Valerie wondered if William was totally different. On his hospital bed, he listened quietly, nodding with understanding. Valerie felt her face flush.
William’s gaze had locked on hers, and he smiled at her, a beautiful, pleasant, inviting grin, revealing beautifully symmetrical white teeth. Valerie smiled back.
Dr. Rovine examined William. “You’ll need to be here for a couple of days more, but we’ll start preparations for your eventual discharge.”
“The unit secretary is trying to get a hold of your parents,” said Sonny.
Dr. Rovine and Sonny headed for the door.
“Dad, do you mind if I stay here?” said Valerie. “Call me when you’re ready to go home.”
Dr. Rovine nodded and left.
“Somehow, I think I know you,” said William.
“I’m Valerie Rovine. I was just going to say the same thing about the three of you.”
“Did you say Valerie Rovine?” said Ellie. “I thought you died.”
“Yeah, Valerie,” said William. “I recognize your face now from the iPhone and the videos we’ve been watching.”
“Somehow, Valerie,” said Brent, “you’re part of this big mess we’re in.”
“Big mess?”
“The loops,” said Ellie. “Somehow, the loops are getting intertwined. What do you know about Enoxadin? And a global war? And a virus that renders every living thing sterile?”
“And Alexandra, the little albino girl?” said William. “We believe she’s a traveler from another planet here to harm us.”
“Though she saved your life, didn’t she?” asked Brent.
Ellie shrugged. “I’m not sure about that.”
The three teens filled Valerie in on what they knew. In turn, Valerie conveyed to them about a dream she had had where the world was coming to an end due to extreme overpopulation on Earth and the devastation of food sources and massive starvation throughout the planet. The conversation led back to the albino child.
“Do you think
she’ll come after us?” asked Brent.
“You better believe it,” said William. “That’s what I’d do, forever silence the insignificant bunch of kids who could jeopardize the whole operation.”
“If that’s the case, we need to get out of here,” said Brent. “We’re the most vulnerable in this hospital room.”
“Are you strong enough to walk, William?” said Ellie.
“I think so. Give me a hand.”
William put on a hospital robe and steadied himself with Ellie’s help. Brent left the room and soon returned with a wheelchair.
“There’s some sort of emergency down the hall,” said Brent. “Looks like every hospital staffer is down that way. Let’s hurry up.”
And soon, the four teenagers ventured out of the hospital room.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Just outside the hospital’s main entrance, an older man, maybe sixty, was helping an even older woman out of their Cadillac sedan. Slowly, the elderly lady swung her feet out of the vehicle as the man clutched her extended arms and pulled her out. He then grabbed her under her left arm and painstakingly ambled toward the hospital entryway.
Running by, Brent looked inside the Cadillac. Empty. The engine still running.
“Get in,” he whispered.
The teens got into the car and sped off.
“I wonder how much jail time you get for auto theft,” said Ellie from the backseat.
“Better choice than dealing with the creepy albino little girl, huh?” said Valerie, sitting next to her.
The Cadillac raced past the five-miles-per-hour sign as it passed three slow-moving cars driving toward the exit of the hospital campus.
Brent stopped at the stop sign for a split second to look both ways. He turned right out of the hospital en route to Highway 41, a few miles to the northeast of their present location.
