by T. R. Graves
Chapter 28
Cat Fight
Carlie
My heart was beating so fast, hard, and loud that I was sure everyone walking through the forest with us could hear it. Jayden kept me close and smoothed his thumb over the back of my hand, doing everything in his power to calm my nerves.
Under normal circumstances, my MicroPharm would have been doing the trick, and whatever nerve it wasn't able to calm, Jayden's gentle kindness would have taken care of. I was just too afraid of what we were walking into. I was too afraid of getting caught.
About half a mile away from the camp, Jayden came to a stop. He pulled me back into him.
"Don't be anxious. If you are, they'll suspect something's wrong. Just treat him like he's the jerk you know I can be. That's what Barone expects," Jayden said with a knowing smirk.
Nervous, I smiled back. "I'll do my best."
"You'll do fine. I've watched you for years and I've never once been disappointed," Jayden said warmly.
"That's not what my mentor has said," I countered.
Jayden shrugged. "Your mentor is an asshole." He leaned over and kissed my head apologetically. "Listen… all I ever wanted was for you to be with me. If I hadn't pushed you, you'd have joined your mother in the lab and I'd have never seen you. I think we've established the fact that I'm a selfish ass who will do whatever he has to in order to get his way. There's no sense rehashing old news."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You, my dysfunctional friend, and I have lots of talking to do," I scolded.
"We will. I promise. Let's get Sean taken care of, and we'll talk about anything you want to talk about. After I prove to you what a horrible person I am, I want to find out why Sean looks just like me. I need to know if we are triplets who were separated, or if all of my parents' children look exactly alike."
I nodded. "I have to admit I'm curious myself."
Based on the catcalls and whistles, there was something going on in the camp. I had no idea what it was, but it seemed like the perfect camouflage for sneaking Sean into the camp without anyone noticing.
Jayden turned toward Sean with a malevolent grin and said, "She's more important to me than you'll ever know. Take care of her, and I'll take care of Simon for you."
Sean looked over at his brother, who was watching the two men with obvious fascination. Gritting his jaw, Sean nodded his acquiescence.
Without a word between us, I headed back toward the camp and knew by the cracking of twigs behind me—something Jayden would never do—that Sean was trailing.
It seemed like the entire camp was gathered in a circle, hooting and hollering. It was at that moment I realized it was Jayden's responsibility as Lead Surrogate to take control of these situations. I needed him to do that sooner rather than later since Barone was onsite.
"Sean, Jayden's the Lead Surrogate. He'd be the one responsible for calming these people down," I whispered.
"Jiminy Christmas! Why couldn't my dear brother be a normal Surrogate who wouldn't draw the attention of the entire camp to me?"
His question was rhetorical so I made no effort to answer him.
He grabbed my hand so we wouldn't be separated and dragged me to the middle of the circle. There, I found the last thing in the world I ever expected. Kali and Jenny were rolling around on the ground, kicking, biting, and scratching each other.
Under his breath, Sean said, "Holy shit!"
Proof positive that he was at least some relationship to Jayden, he took a few more seconds than necessary to appreciate the battle before him. Then he put a finger in each corner of his mouth and whistled so loudly my ears echoed.
"Everyone get back to your post. There's nothing here to see," Sean ordered.
Like roaches running from light, the group dispersed the instant they thought the Lead Surrogate was on the scene. Everyone that is but Kali and Jenny. Jayden's whistle barely registered. They were too focused on tearing the other's eyes out.
Sean may have been sick, but he still had enough strength to grab both girls by the back of their shirts and hold them apart. As soon as it registered with them that the only other man on the planet nearly as beautiful as Jayden was holding them by the scruff of their necks like they were wayward dogs, they both began composing themselves, smoothing down their hair and tucking it behind their ears and straightening their clothes.
"What the hell is this all that about?" Sean asked, making it clear neither was going anywhere until they answered his question.
A rebellious Jenny took the lead. "This one here"—she nodded her head toward Kali—"is claiming I've been telling people she's sleeping with lots of the men here in camp. She claims she's only slept with Dr. Angleton. In order to save her virtue and convince Dr. Angleton he's the only person she's slept with, she's blaming her big mouth and moral indiscretions on me."
Yelling louder than necessary and with enough force for her words to carry to anyone near, Kali took over after a bat of her lashes so everyone would think she was a lot more innocent than I suspected she was. "I-I…" She gulped like an Academy Award-winning actress. "Have only spent time with Dr. Angleton. She knows that, but when others ask if I've spent time with other men, she—my roommate—won't corroborate the truth, and it makes it look like I'm lying."
"She wants me to say something I don't know to be true. I have a life of my own, and I work too many nights to be her alibi," Jenny complained.
"Nobody's asking you to speak to something you don't know. I'm simply asking that you speak about what you do know," Kali said, looking toward Jenny as if she'd like to jump on her again.
Jenny might have been almost a foot shorter than Kali, but she wasn't prepared to back down. She did, however, lower her voice so she could be as discrete as possible. "I won't say it because it isn't true. You've had more than Dr. Angleton in our tent, and I won't pretend you haven't no matter how much you bully me. You messed up with him. Not me."
"You're jealous," Kali defended. "You're lying because you're jealous. What you need to know is even if he's not with me, he'd never take a second glance at anyone as pixie small as you."
Jenny tried to jerk from Sean's grip. She had every intention of letting Kali know what she thought of being called small.
Sean jerked her back. "All right, little one, you need to go to your tent, pack your things, and find a new place to bunk. It sounds like there's a rotating door to this one's bed. That can't be comfortable for you."
Kali looked affronted by Sean's comment. Sean ignored her indignation. "You… if you're ashamed of what you do, why do you do it? I've never understood that mentality. If you want to sleep with more than one guy, embrace it. Stop pretending as if you're the innocent virgin… because there's not a guy here that buys that act. Give her time to pack her things, go back to your tent, and stay there and out of trouble. If you cause any more, I'm going to throw you out in this forest by yourself so fast your head is going to spin. You got me?"
Putting on her victim face, Kali pulled away from Sean and glanced toward the infirmary like she wanted to go crying to Thorne. Instinctively, I wanted to protect him from her lies.
"Thorne's about to be busy. He doesn't have time for your drama," I added before she could head his way.
Sean glanced over at me and raised his brows. After Kali stormed off, he said, "It seems to me you have more than one love interest."
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I don't. I just can't stand the thought of Thorne spending time with the likes of her. He's too good for her."
"Yeah… no interest at all," Sean said right before he began coughing again.
Cough… cough… cough…
"Where's the infirmary?"—cough—"I need to get this over, let Jayden get back to his duties, and get the hell out of"—cough—"here," Sean insisted.
I agreed and headed straight for the infirmary. I opened the tent's flap and stepped inside. After basking in the bright sunny day, it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust and make out what I was seeing inside the dar
k clinical tent.
Thorne—oblivious to the fight that had been brewing just a few feet from his door and on his behalf—was leaning over a Surrogate and stitching up a cut. The clinician deep inside of me, the one who knew she'd one day be a doctor, kept walking until I was standing on the other side of the bed and studying Thorne's every move.
Thorne was so engrossed in what he was doing, it took a few minutes before he realized he had an audience. Sean was standing next to me, watching just as intently.
When Thorne did glance up and see me, he did a double take and completely stopped what he was doing.
"What the hell happened to you? Are you covered in your own blood?"
He scooted his stool back and was about to dash toward me, but I waved him down.
"It's not mine. It's not even human blood. A boar tried to attack me. Jayden killed it. The blood is from the animal," I lied with an ease that should have frightened me.
"I-I've been worried. I saw that your vital signs spiked earlier. I-I didn't know if"—he cleared his throat—"if you were okay."
I wanted to offer a snarky remark about him sleeping around with Kali, but it was clear he'd really been worried. He didn't need any shit from me.
"I'm sorry, Thorne. I didn't mean to worry you. Really," I said, looking at the procedure with a new set of eyes, ones that were trying to figure out how much longer Thorne had before he'd be finished.
As if reading my mind, he said, "I'll be finished in about ten minutes. We can talk more then."
Cough… cough… cough…
Thorne's eyes darted toward his new patient. His newest concern was acute. He'd seen Jayden hours ago, and since that time, he'd developed a wet, wheezy cough and he sounded as near death as he probably was.
Thorne never said a word, but he sped up the sewing of the Surrogate's wound. He had him up and out quicker than I would have thought possible but long enough for Sean to erupt into no less than half a dozen coughing fits.
As soon as the nameless, faceless Surrogate was out the door, Thorne rounded on Jayden.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You weren't coughing at all last night? Now you sound like you have one foot in the grave. Carles, change the sheet on that stretcher and get him on it. I need to call my attending. Whatever he has is serious given the speed with which it's accelerating." Thorne walked over to his desk and slipped on a pair of MicroGlasses.
Right before he tapped the side of them, notifying his attending he had an emergency, I grabbed his hand and said, "Thorne… there's something I need to tell you before you get in contact with anyone. Is there someplace you and I can talk that is completely private? Keep in mind that the information I'm about to share with you could put Rorie in danger if it got out."
That caught Thorne's attention. He snatched off the lenses, logged off, and shut down his computer and phone. He glanced around the room and finally said, "I'm assuming you can tell me whatever you need to tell me in front of Jayden."
I nodded because he was right. I could tell my secrets in front of Jayden, only this wasn't Jayden. I grabbed Thorne's hand and led him over to the corner of the tent where the linen was kept. I hoped the sheet and towels and my whispering would buffer my secrets from Sean and the outside world.
"Please swear to me that you'll hear me out before you do anything," I begged.
Thorne studied me long and hard before saying, "As long as Rorie isn't in immediate danger, I'll hear you out. Until I know what you have to tell me, I can't make any promises about what I'll do."
I nodded. "I understand, and I'll understand no matter what. I wouldn't do anything that would put my family in any more danger than they're already in so there won't be any judgment on my part," I promised.
My whispered words got lower. "That's not Jayden over there," I said, nodding my head in Sean's direction. "We believe Jayden was one of three, triplets. This is Sean."
Anxious, Thorne glanced around as if he thought I was working for Barone and testing his reaction to potential treasonous activities.
"Remember… you agreed to hear me out."
Thorne nodded, but he was running his hands through his hair and shaking his head in disbelief.
"We were in the woods and got attacked."
Thorne tipped his forehead toward my bloody clothes. I nodded.
"Jayden fought and killed three Outcasts. There was a fourth one… only it was a Down syndrome Surrogate." I waited to see if the significance registered with Thorne. When it did, I continued. "He'd been with the Outcasts and had been deathly afraid of us. With them dead, he didn't know what to do.
"We've spent so much time with and have grown so fond of Rorie that we couldn't leave him in the forest to fend for himself. After he really saw Jayden, he insisted we follow him. He took us to a cave. There, we found four panthers and Jayden's doppelgänger, a man we believe might be his brother. Simon, the Anomaly who led us to Sean, is with Jayden now."
"All of this happened this morning, Carles?"
My head bobbed. "Yes. Neither Jayden nor I have ever met either of them before. We had no idea either of them existed. I swear. Now that we know Sean is about to die and he's the only person who can or will look after Simon, their brother, we have to help him."
Thorne softened. "I was able to help you, Carles, but I'm not a miracle worker. He'll need tests in order for me to find out what's wrong with him. Then I'll have to consult my attendings."
Thorne ran his fingers down the side of my face and tucked my hair behind my ears.
I tried hard to ignore how sweet he was being to me and finished telling him what I thought I knew to be true. "That's the thing, Thorne. I believe I already know what's wrong with him."
Cocking his brow, an impressed Thorne waited for me to elaborate.
"The cave where they were staying had bats in it before they moved in. Ten days after they began living in the cave, he began coughing. I believe he has…"
"Histoplasmosis," we both said at the same time.
"Exactly," I said. "I was wondering if you'd treat him. If you do… I'll get him back to the forest, he and Jayden can switch places, and he and Simon can be on their merry way. No one will be the wiser."
At least, I hope and pray everything goes that smooth.
As if our friendship were unconditional and we'd known each other years rather than days, Thorne jumped into action after grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind him.
"I'm going to need some help since I can't call on anyone from the medical team. You're going to have to act as my assistant," Thorne informed me.
"You tell me what to do, and I'll do it. I promise," I said, standing next to Sean's stretcher.
Exhausted from the coughing and too sick to do much more than rest, Sean had dozed off. Proving to me what an amazingly competent doctor Thorne was, he darted around the infirmary, grabbing traditional medication, microparticles, syringes, needles, alcohol swabs, and anything else he thought he might need. He was prepared to treat Sean as aggressively as he possibly could without drawing the attention of his faculty physicians or the onsite medical staff.
After Thorne had gathered everything he needed, he stood ready to begin Sean's treatment.
I leaned over and whispered, "Sean."
His eyes popped open, and he looked around. Based on his initial confusion, it took him a second to remember where he was and what we were supposed to do for him. When everything came together, he winked and said, "I know why Jayden and this one here"—he pointed toward Thorne—"are willing to give their left nut for your attention. From this day forward, I'll think of you anytime anyone talks about angels. That is what you are. An angel," Sean said dreamily.
I had to wonder just how delusional the illness had made him.
"Jiminy… does every man you meet fall under your spell?" Thorne asked, shaking his head, putting his stethoscope in his ears, and listening to Sean's chest. I could tell by looking at him, Sean was as sick as I suspected.
"I have
no idea what your name is, and I don't want to. While you're here, I'm going to call you Jayden. Get used to it. I need you to take off your shirt, Jayden. I'll have to have access to your MicroPharm so I can refill its particles. After I'm finished doing that, you're going to get several shots; Carles is going to give them to you. They'll help with the wheezing, the coughing, and the infection. I'm also going to give you twelve refills. Each should last you a month. You'll need to refill your MicroPharm once a month so the medication can continue fighting the infection. It's serious enough that you'll have to have treatment for six to twelve months."
Coughing uncontrollably, Sean's head bobbed, signaling his understanding despite his coughing fit.
Sean looked too much like Jayden for my comfort. When he took off his shirt, I stared toward his chest like it was the most fascinating thing I'd ever seen. It was close.
"You like what you see, angel?" Sean asked, giving me a lopsided grin that was inconsistent with a man this near death.
My cheeks burned, and I looked away.
"Don't let him intimidate you. You're going to be a doctor one day. You have to be comfortable looking at your patient's body. That's what he is to you right now. Nothing more," Thorne mentored with the patience I'd come to expect from Mom when I worked in her lab.
Following his instructions, I directed my attention back to Sean's chest, where Thorne was injecting the particles into the MicroPharm port. I had to anticipate Thorne's needs. I couldn't do that if I didn't watch the procedure.
Afterward, Thorne said, "Turn on your side. You're going to get numerous injections that will augment the particles."
As soon as Sean turned, Thorne issued one last order, one that made me want to turn away yet again. "Lower your trousers. You'll be getting your shots right in the ass."
With an arrogance that must be genetic since it was the same I've dealt with my entire life from Jayden, Sean said, "Listen, angel. If you wanted to see me in all my glory, you only need ask. I'm there for that anytime. Any place."
He chuckled, and my face burned.
Thorne gritted his teeth and held his tongue. I suspected there were lots of things he wanted to say to his patient, but his professionalism prevented it. Instead, he handed me the three syringes he'd so carefully prepared.
"I want you to give him the shots," Thorne ordered.
Shaking my head, I tried to hand them back. Thorne offered me his own wink. "If anyone in the world deserved to be a medical guinea pig, it would be this man."
"Doc… are you telling me she's never given a shot before… that you're going to make a sick man her human pin cushion?" Sean whined.
"The way I look at it, man, she's risked her life to save you. You owe her. This is payback at its finest." Thorne chuckled.
I wasn't on board with learning how to give shots on actual people. Especially not Surrogates who, when healthy, were the strongest among us. Revenge was a simple task for them. This knowledge and Thorne's expectation made my hands shake. When Thorne saw, he put his hand over mine and squeezed.
"Soon this will be second nature for you. Why don't I guide you through this?"
"Please," I begged.
He smiled, and moved behind me. He took my hand in his, guiding it toward the alcohol swabs. I ripped the packet opened, and he pointed to where he wanted me to clean Sean's skin. Once the alcohol had dried, Thorne tenderly guided me through each shot, one at a time. Sean bellowed like I was eviscerating him with each injection.
"Jesus, man! I've seen toddlers take their shots with less crying," Thorne chastised.
"She may be an angel, but she's definitely no angel of mercy," Sean said.
"Oh, she's an angel of mercy all right. You wouldn't believe the pain you would have felt if I'd been the one giving you the shots. Carles is my fiancée. I want you to stop hitting on her. Do you understand me? She deserves a lot more respect than that," Thorne said, and his tone was more menacing than anything I'd ever heard from him.
I'd suspected that Thorne could be protective of Rorie, known he'd do whatever he needed to do in order to keep her safe. It never occurred to me that he'd do anything like that for me. His effort was gallant and appreciated.
Thorne chuckled. "Does Jayden know this? I may be sick, but I heard him pledge his eternal love to her today."
Thorne visually cringed. Determined to protect Thorne and his feelings as much as I could after all he'd done for me, I said, "Shut up, Sean. Thank my fiancé for saving your life and stop being an ass. That's the least you could do for all of us."
Mocking me, Sean took an imaginary key from thin air, fake zipped his lips, and pretended to throw it away. At least he'd stopped talking, giving me a chance to control the damage he'd done.
"You need to ignore him, Thorne. He gets off on upsetting people even if those people are the reason he's going to live," I mumbled.
Thorne took my hand and led me back over to the tent's linen area.
"Are you telling me St. Romaine didn't tell you he loved you?"
I gulped. I may have to lie to a lot of people, but Thorne and Jayden were not going to be people I lied to. I'd tell them the truth as much as I possibly could and hope and pray we could work through our problems like the levelheaded adults we all were. Something told me that pledge was going to be easier said than done.
"He did tell me he loved me," I whispered.
Thorne's Adam's apple bobbed up and down before he said, "Did you tell him you loved him?"
Wringing my fingers together and staring at them, I thought about what we'd said to each other. "No. I didn't tell him that. I-I'm not sure why. I do love him… I'm just not sure if it's because I've been with him my entire life or if being with him would be comfortable.
"I know we used to argue all the time. I know I was real upset with him last night. All of it… all of this is just too much for me right now. I'm too broken, jumbled, and missing to be anything to anybody. We've got to get a long way past this before I'll have an inkling as to what I'm feeling for anyone," I admitted.
Thorne put his fingers under my chin and forced me to look up at him. He smiled. "I like that you were honest with me. You could have told me anything, and I would have hung on to your every word, relishing in you and your promises. The respect you just gave me… it means a lot," he said.
"What in the hell is going on here?" Barone's booming voice echoed through the infirmary.
Thorne and I both snatched our gazes toward the door of the tent, looking as guilty as children with their hands caught in the cookie jar right before supper was served.
Holy hell! Sean'll never be able to trick Barone. Holy hell!
