Read Online City Under the Moon by Hugh Sterbakov - Free Book Online
Authors: Hugh Sterbakov
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was hardly consoling when even Michael Jackson conspired to fill her mind with werewolves and zombies.
But those sleepless nights were forever ago, and there were real things to fear nowadays. A bacterium like Sorcerer, for example. IVF treatments. A mortgage taken before the bubble burst. And yet, Jessica realized, nothing quite stings like the irrational dread of childhood nightmares.
They wheeled the patient closer.
What to expect…? Fangs? Fur?
Not at all. Jessica exhaled with the same sensation she got from the false alarm stingers in those silly horror movies.
Even muzzled, this petite, shriveled woman couldn’t suggest less of a threat. Her thin skin, already Irish pale, looked chalky from blood loss. Her brown hair was trapped beneath a surgeon’s cap, and her body was practically mummified in bandages.
Jessica held the door for the gurney train. The patient’s silver necklace glimmered just before it slipped from beneath the sunlight.
***
“Dr. Kenzie, my name is Richard Tanner. I’m the head of the CDC’s biochem team. This is my wife, Jessica Tanner, Director of the CDC. You’re here with us in Atlanta. And you’re okay. We’re just going to run some tests on you.”
Kenzie nodded, her eyes still coming to focus.
Richard reached for the muzzle on her face.
“What are you doing?” Jessica snapped.
“Relax,” he said, undoing the clasps.
“Thank you,” Kenzie said, closing her eyes as the air reached her cheeks.
“Dr. Kenzie, can I call you Melissa?” Richard asked.
“Yes, of course.” Her tongue was thick. Richard held a cup of water to her lips. “Oh praise the Lord, thank you.”
Kenzie winced as a nurse stuck her arm, filling the first of a half-dozen empty vials with her blood. The techs moved silently, making no eye contact as they clipped her fingernails and scraped her feet. All the while, Richard kept her focused and calm.
“That’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “It’s all precautionary. Can you tell us what you remember about your accident?”
“I was in the hospital. It was crowded. We had a VIP. The police were interfering. They were rude. There was a woman officer. We were talking. And then… I can’t remember.” Her eyes went distant, as if there were other memories, ones she didn’t want to speak of, and then she whispered, “Nightmares.”
“Yes, well, you were injured, but you’re going to be okay. We’re taking care of you,” Richard gently answered. “Can you tell us what the nightmares were about?”
“I… It was dark. I was in a forest, I think. I was chasing something.”
“What where you chasing, Melissa?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember. I think I was hungry.”
The nurse pulled the first vial off her syringe. Richard’s curious eyes followed as a tech took the blood sample and beelined out of the room. Jessica nudged him to return his attention to their patient—she knew Kenzie was a doctor herself, and dangerously privy to the Tanners’ unspoken communications.
“Dissociative amnesia?” Kenzie asked, self-diagnosing. “Fugue state?”
“May be, Melissa,” Richard reassured her with his prescription wink. “You’re a good doctor, but let us take care of you now. Your only job is to relax while we run some tests.”
“Why tests?”
“Nothing to worry about. We’ll take good care of you, I promise.”
“I have to call my mother,” Kenzie pleaded. “She lives by herself—“
“We’ve contacted your mother; she knows you’re okay,” Richard said, so adept with a casual lie. “More water?” Richard held the cup toward Kenzie’s lips.
She winced as she tilted forward. “Neck. My neck.”
A massive blister sat in the pit of her left collarbone. It was immediately clear to Jessica that it wasn’t an infected laceration. This was a contact reaction, perhaps dermatitis or urticaria. Richard shifted Kenzie’s necklace aside and prodded the wound through his rubber gloves.
“You have some
But those sleepless nights were forever ago, and there were real things to fear nowadays. A bacterium like Sorcerer, for example. IVF treatments. A mortgage taken before the bubble burst. And yet, Jessica realized, nothing quite stings like the irrational dread of childhood nightmares.
They wheeled the patient closer.
What to expect…? Fangs? Fur?
Not at all. Jessica exhaled with the same sensation she got from the false alarm stingers in those silly horror movies.
Even muzzled, this petite, shriveled woman couldn’t suggest less of a threat. Her thin skin, already Irish pale, looked chalky from blood loss. Her brown hair was trapped beneath a surgeon’s cap, and her body was practically mummified in bandages.
Jessica held the door for the gurney train. The patient’s silver necklace glimmered just before it slipped from beneath the sunlight.
***
“Dr. Kenzie, my name is Richard Tanner. I’m the head of the CDC’s biochem team. This is my wife, Jessica Tanner, Director of the CDC. You’re here with us in Atlanta. And you’re okay. We’re just going to run some tests on you.”
Kenzie nodded, her eyes still coming to focus.
Richard reached for the muzzle on her face.
“What are you doing?” Jessica snapped.
“Relax,” he said, undoing the clasps.
“Thank you,” Kenzie said, closing her eyes as the air reached her cheeks.
“Dr. Kenzie, can I call you Melissa?” Richard asked.
“Yes, of course.” Her tongue was thick. Richard held a cup of water to her lips. “Oh praise the Lord, thank you.”
Kenzie winced as a nurse stuck her arm, filling the first of a half-dozen empty vials with her blood. The techs moved silently, making no eye contact as they clipped her fingernails and scraped her feet. All the while, Richard kept her focused and calm.
“That’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “It’s all precautionary. Can you tell us what you remember about your accident?”
“I was in the hospital. It was crowded. We had a VIP. The police were interfering. They were rude. There was a woman officer. We were talking. And then… I can’t remember.” Her eyes went distant, as if there were other memories, ones she didn’t want to speak of, and then she whispered, “Nightmares.”
“Yes, well, you were injured, but you’re going to be okay. We’re taking care of you,” Richard gently answered. “Can you tell us what the nightmares were about?”
“I… It was dark. I was in a forest, I think. I was chasing something.”
“What where you chasing, Melissa?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember. I think I was hungry.”
The nurse pulled the first vial off her syringe. Richard’s curious eyes followed as a tech took the blood sample and beelined out of the room. Jessica nudged him to return his attention to their patient—she knew Kenzie was a doctor herself, and dangerously privy to the Tanners’ unspoken communications.
“Dissociative amnesia?” Kenzie asked, self-diagnosing. “Fugue state?”
“May be, Melissa,” Richard reassured her with his prescription wink. “You’re a good doctor, but let us take care of you now. Your only job is to relax while we run some tests.”
“Why tests?”
“Nothing to worry about. We’ll take good care of you, I promise.”
“I have to call my mother,” Kenzie pleaded. “She lives by herself—“
“We’ve contacted your mother; she knows you’re okay,” Richard said, so adept with a casual lie. “More water?” Richard held the cup toward Kenzie’s lips.
She winced as she tilted forward. “Neck. My neck.”
A massive blister sat in the pit of her left collarbone. It was immediately clear to Jessica that it wasn’t an infected laceration. This was a contact reaction, perhaps dermatitis or urticaria. Richard shifted Kenzie’s necklace aside and prodded the wound through his rubber gloves.
“You have some
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