Montoroli didn’t respond.
Emily wasn’t sure if the doctor was paying attention, or was simply ignoring her comments. “Did you hear me, Doctor?”
“Yes, Emily. I did. But right now, I need you to please relax and keep me informed about any changes you notice.” After a short pause, she announced, “Moving to seventy milliamps, now.”
Emily still couldn’t feel anything; however, when she looked down, she could see her feet twitching.
“Mom, that hurts!” Julius screamed in her thoughts a few seconds later.
“Wait!” Emily yelled at the doctor.
“What’s wrong?”
“Julius says it hurts. You need to stop. You’re hurting him.”
“Okay, powering down, now.”
Emily watched the doctor’s fingers work the device, then closed her eyes and concentrated on the new life inside her. “Julius? Honey? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. But they need to stop, Mommy. That hurts.”
“I know, darling. I told them to stop. It’s okay now. I promise.”
“Tell them to put us in water first,” Julius said.
“What?”
“Tell them they need to surround us with water. Then try the electricity. It’s the only way, Mom.”
“How do you know this?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think one of the Orange Men just told me by accident. If I concentrate really hard, I can see what he sees and hear his thoughts.”
“From this far away? Without them being here and looking at you?” Emily asked, realizing her son’s abilities were far more powerful than hers.
“Uh-huh. It just started a little while ago. All of a sudden, I can see what all of them see. And if they are thinking about us, I can hear those thoughts, too.”
“Is that why I hadn’t heard from you in a while, sweetie? You were busy concentrating?”
“Yes, but it makes me really sleepy.”
“It’s okay, honey. You rest now.”
“I can’t. Their voices are getting louder and louder. I think they’re getting really close, Mom.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. They’re almost here. I see a big blue marble in space. Isn’t that where we are? On a planet called Earth?”
“Yes, darling. That’s our home—Planet Earth. How did you know the name of our planet?”
“That’s what they call it. But Mom, you need to tell the doctor to hurry. The marble is getting bigger by the second.”
“Doctor Montoroli?” Emily asked in a frantic voice, turning her head and making eye contact.
“Yes, Emily? Are you in any pain?”
“No, but I think you need to put me in water first. Then try it. But you need to hurry!”
“I knew it,” the good-looking male nurse said. “A frog in a pot of water.”
“There’s a tub and shower in the physician’s break room. Let’s get her in there, stat,” Montoroli said.
Emily felt the handsome nurse remove the air supply from her nose and watched him unclip the monitoring device from her finger. He turned his attention to the blood pressure cuff, unwrapping it quickly in a single motion.
Veronica unhooked the IV line and draped the blanket over Emily before stepping back. Right on cue, the man scooped her up in his powerful arms, carrying her quickly toward the double doors. Emily assumed the doctor and the rest of the staff were following behind as they went through the exit.
When she made eye contact with Derek in the hallway, he came running over, his eyes wide. So did Duane, Nora, and Jim Miller.
“What’s going on? Where are you taking her?” Nora asked.
“To the physician’s break room. We are going to submerge her in water,” Dr. Montoroli answered.
“Emily, are you okay?” Derek said, zipping past Nora and trotting alongside the male nurse who was now jogging down the hallway.
The knot in Emily’s throat disappeared the instant she saw his gorgeous face up close. “I’m okay, Derek. But they’re almost here. You need to get as far away from here as possible. Go! Now! Before it’s too late!”
“Not a chance, Em. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Please, Derek. They only want me and the baby. Not you. Please, take everyone away from here. I need to know you’re all safe.”
He ignored her plea. “Nora said they’re in a spaceship. Is that right?”
“Yeah. Our son just told me.”
“Are they coming here?”
“Not sure. But probably. They always seem to find me, no matter what.”
Derek dropped back out of view, likely stunned by everything that was happening.
Emily turned her head even farther to the right as her escort increased his speed down the corridor. She sucked in as much air as she could and yelled, “They’re almost here! You should all run! Save yourselves!”
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
Emily caught a full view of the nametag hanging from the shirt of the male nurse carrying her to the physician’s breakroom. His name was Jeremy.
What a pretty name. I still like Julius better, but at least one of my questions has been answered, she thought. Too bad there are a million more to go.
The handsome man worked his way forward through the huddling bodies that had raced ahead and taken position in the cramped bathroom. He bent over next to the tub and gently slid her naked body into the porcelain basin filling with water.
When the water level reached the top of her neck, she could finally feel its warmth. It was soothing, a welcome change from the chilly, stale air circulating throughout the Urgent Care Clinic.
“I need everyone except Nurse Veronica to please vacate the room,” Dr. Montoroli said. “I can’t work with everyone crowding in like this.”
Nora, Duane, and Jim Miller went outside and stood watch just beyond the doorframe. Derek went with them, but not until after he bent down and kissed Emily on the forehead.
Emily wanted to grab his hand and hold it to her heart, but she still couldn’t move anything from the neck down. When he turned and walked away, the same constricting feeling from earlier took over her throat.
“Good luck, Ms. Emily,” Jeremy said, interrupting her gaze that had been focused on the sculptured perfection of Derek’s behind.
Jeremy’s voice was deep, confident, and proud, which seemed to match the well-built man’s aura and his square chin. All that was missing was a medieval suit of armor and a bloody sword with a plethora of kill notches on the handle. Then the casting would be complete.
A white knight, she imagined. Fighting for his queen.
Emily hated the idea of anyone seeing her as a helpless damsel in distress, but given her current situation, that’s exactly what she was.
Jeremy promptly left the bathroom, pushing past Derek, Duane, and the others as he took the other male nurse with him.
“What was the measurement earlier?” the doc asked Veronica, while studying Emily’s abdomen.
“Sixteen centimeters.”
“I think we need to take another fundal height measurement.”
“Why? Is something wrong?” Emily asked.
The doc didn’t answer, nor did she look away from her fingers as they came together and were used to check the size of Emily’s stomach.
“Twenty centimeters,” Dr. Montoroli said, now looking at Emily with her face stiff and brows pinched. “We shouldn’t be seeing a thirty percent increase in only a few minutes. Or a few days, for that matter. It should take weeks, which means as soon as we rid you of this substance, I’m going to order a series of tests to find out what’s going on inside. That means a trip to Good Samaritan Hospital. They have much better equipment than we do here.”
Emily shook her head, needing to find a way to get the doc to listen to her. “I’m telling you, it’s my son. Why won’t you listen to me? I’m not making this up. He’s not a normal child. He’s growing very quickly and getting stronger and smarter by the minute. Trust me, if something was
wrong inside, he would tell me. He’s way more plugged in and aware than any of you know.”
Again, the doctor ignored her, bringing the portable pacemaker unit close to the tub. Montoroli held the two leads in her right hand, adjusting the slack on each of the pads until both were hanging the same length down from her grip. “Since I doubt these will adhere while submerged, I’m going to simply insert them into the water with a setting of thirty. The water should carry the current evenly across your body and hopefully convince the material to release.”
Emily nodded, but the fear inside wouldn’t let her speak. She didn’t know if she should hold her breath or not, but she did anyway, taking in a full round of air in one massive gulp.
Right then, her thoughts connected with those of Julius. She could see his handsome face in her mind—the same precious boy she’d seen in her dream earlier.
Then the vision changed, bringing in a cute little puppy next to Julius—a tail-wagging, red and white Alaskan Husky with a green tennis ball in its mouth. Her son dropped to his knees and started petting the fluff ball.
Emily felt a calming peace wash over her, allowing her to release the breath she’d just taken in the real world. “Julius, they’re about to electrify the water. So let Mommy know if you feel anything. Okay?”
He looked up at her in the vision and nodded. “I will, Mom.” A quick smile followed his answer, then he wrapped a two-armed hug around the animal’s neck. “I’m going to call you Sheena.”
The vision faded quickly, bringing Emily back to reality.
The instant the lead pads hit the water, the red mercury reacted, splitting apart and into a thousand oval-shaped pieces. They looked like flat ink dots and each of them began swimming across her skin using different, random trajectories.
When the first wave of the dots made it up to her cheek, a numbing feeling came with them and followed along as they moved across the bridge of her nose and down the side of her neck.
It was obvious the electrical charge had sent the red material into a panic, but the goo still had hold of her.
Emily told her arms and legs to move, but they wouldn’t. “Try the next setting,” she said after Julius sent the suggestion into her mind.
“Increasing now to fifty,” Dr. Montoroli announced.
Emily watched the furious movement of red splotches stop all at once, like someone had hit the pause button on a remote control. A heartbeat later, the thousand tiny orbs started to shake across her skin, increasing the speed and intensity of their quakes with every tick of the clock.
As the chaotic vibrations continued their buildup, she wondered if they were about to explode. There was no way to be sure what was happening, just that something was. It was also possible the red mercury was working to overcome the effects of the electrified water and would soon coalesce back into one continuous blob.
“Mom?” Julius said from inside the darkest shadows of her mind. “It’s about to happen. I can feel it.”
Emily gasped when the red swarm stopped all of its movement and let go of her body. Each dot floated away from her body and bobbed on the surface like dead fish drifting atop the ocean.
At that moment, all the feeling returned to her body. And so did the pain, covering her skin from the neck down. It felt like a million needles stabbing her all at once. It was almost as if the pain had been saving itself up ever since the red mercury had taken her hostage, and now it was free to attack her with a vengeance.
“OW!” she screamed, scrunching her face.
“What’s wrong?” the doctor asked.
Emily wanted to answer, but she couldn’t push through the agony and convince her lips and mouth to move properly. All she could muster was a series of painful grunts.
Derek came running into the bathroom in a flash and nudged the doctor out of the way. He dropped to his knees next to the tub.
Emily looked him in the eyes. She wanted to tell him to get her out of the water, but her lips still weren’t working. She decided to send him a look of panic, hoping he’d know what to do.
His hands came flying over the edge of the tub and dug deep into the water. She felt his arms slide under her body before he pulled her out of the swirling misery. Once she was free from the tub, he put her on the floor.
Veronica covered her with a towel.
“Let me take it from here,” the doctor said, nestling in next to Derek. She started taking Emily’s vitals with two fingers on the inside of her wrist.
“Are you okay, Em? Talk to me,” Derek demanded.
The pain seemed to vanish the moment his words landed inside her ears. Her strength was returning, so she decided to say hello using his usual catchphrase. “Heya, babe.”
“Heya, beautiful,” he answered with her usual words, showing a tentative smile on his lips.
“Thanks for getting me out of there. The pain was so intense, I couldn’t speak.”
“Yeah, I could tell. The look on your face was epic.”
She grabbed his hand and kissed the back of it gently, then held it against her cheek. She needed to feel his warmth against her skin. The connection and his strength felt amazing. “My handsome man came to rescue me.”
His voice was charged with confidence. “That’s what I’m supposed to do when my girl’s in trouble, right?”
Nora stuck her head in the door. “Sorry to interrupt this lovely reunion, but tick-tock.”
Emily was so wrapped up in the moment that she’d forgotten about the Orange Men and their ship. She locked eyes with Derek. “Nora’s right. Can you help me up?”
“Hold on a minute,” Dr. Montoroli said, now listening to Emily’s heart with a stethoscope. When she was done, she brought her eyes down to Emily’s stomach and held out a hand to Derek, pointing. “Can you sit behind her, please?”
Derek did as he was asked, then the doctor gently spun Emily around on the floor, aiming her back to Derek’s chest. “I need you to lean back, Emily. Just take it slow.”
Emily leaned back while looking down at her tummy. It was much larger than before, like something had triggered massive growth. She thought about it for a second. The only explanation she came up with was the electrical charges in the water. Maybe they’d amplified her son’s rapid development.
The doc used her two-fingered technique again; this time the measurement covered a greater span. “She’s at thirty-four.”
“How can that be, doctor?” the nurse asked.
Montoroli didn’t answer, obviously deep in thought. She put her hands on Emily’s belly, feeling the area gently with a cup of her palms.
“How many times do I need to tell you?” Emily said with attitude, hoping the two women would actually hear her this time. “My baby’s not a normal baby. He’s growing really fast. I know you think it’s fluid buildup or . . . whatever, but it’s not. I don’t know how else to say it. But I think the electricity made him grow faster.”
“Emily, dear. We need you to stay calm.”
Emily shot a fiery look at Derek. “Help me up. I’ve had enough of this.”
“You’re right. It’s time to jet,” he said, standing up. He leaned forward and helped her off the floor.
Montoroli and the nurse got to their feet as well. “If you leave now, you’re putting your baby at risk. We need to run more tests.”
Before Emily could answer with a ‘hell no’, an explosion rang out from somewhere down the hallway.
“They’re here!” Julius screamed in Emily’s thoughts.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
Emily’s mind screamed at her legs to run faster as she followed Derek down the hallway to escape the advancing Orange Men and their energy blasts.
Derek was leading her by the hand, but with the Ativan still in her system, she was having a hard time keeping up, especially with the blanket wrapped around her body. The wooziness was making her dizzy and even more short of breath than before. Plus, the whole baby on board thing wasn’t helping either.
An expectan
t mother normally eases into the demands and the related physical changes that happen during a typical nine-month pregnancy. However, with Julius and his accelerated growth, she hadn’t been given that chance. Like everything else in her life, her pregnancy wasn’t anywhere close to normal and she needed to deal with it on the fly.
“You gotta slow down a little,” Emily said, gasping for breath.
Derek brought his head around. “You need to push harder, Em. Don’t stop.”
“But I can’t breathe. I need to rest a minute,” she said, letting go of his hand. She stopped running and so did he.
Emily bent over and gasped for air while swinging her focus to the hallway behind her. Nora finally came around the corner and into view. So did Jim Miller and Duane, who were following two steps behind Nora. Miller was holding his pistol and Duane his shotgun. There was no sign of Dr. Montoroli or her staff.
Miller took a defensive position on one side of the hallway with the pistol at the ready. Duane’s back was against the opposite side with his shotgun held high.
“Keep moving!” Miller said before craning his neck to peek around the corner.
“I’m trying,” Derek answered, grabbing Emily’s hand again. “Come on,” he insisted, pulling her forward.
Emily stumbled behind her boyfriend until they came upon a connecting corridor. Derek took it, turning right with Emily in tow.
The new hall looked much like the previous one—antiseptic white with four doors and a seemingly endless string of overhead lights. Only this one wasn’t devoid of patients. There was a smattering of women, children and men milling about.
“Everyone run! Take cover!” Derek yelled as his tug on Emily increased. One of the mothers screamed and didn’t move at first, but eventually they all got the message and scattered.
“Derek . . . Stop,” Emily said when she passed the drinking fountain in the middle of the hall. She ripped her hand free and stopped her feet, then bent over with one arm under her belly and the other holding onto the tuck of the blanket around her chest. Her lungs were burning with the intensity of the sun, and so, too, were the muscles in her thighs.
Glassford Girl: Boxed Set (Complete Series) (Time Jumper Series) Page 58
