After the Cure, Deirdre Gould [the beach read TXT] 📗

“I can think of worse places to retire.”

Nella was trying to keep both of their minds off of the disturbing task still before them. “What do you want to do after this is over?”

He leaned back in the plastic chair. “I hadn’t really thought about it. Everything’s moved so fast, I’m still not entirely sure how I got this far,” he perked up, “Maybe I’ll come with you. I’ll start a pineapple plantation next door. It’ll be our cover, we’ll really be partners in a rum running operation. I’ll cook the books, you cook the rum.”

Nella laughed. “Deal. You take the east half of the island, I’ll take the west side.”

“Wow,” he said, “that was easy.” He raised his coffee to his lips and suddenly stopped. “Wait, why the west side?”

Nella shrugged. “I like to sleep on the left side of the bed.”

Frank coughed on his coffee. He laughed deeply and it was like a warm wind rolled across the world. Nella could count on one hand the times she’d heard anyone laugh so freely in the past several years. For a moment she was bewildered by it. A guard walked up to their table and Nella felt a pang of real regret knowing their break was over. Even the guard looked hesitant to interrupt.

“Mr. Courtlen, Dr. Rider, the prisoner’s ready to begin again.”

Frank straightened up and began tidying up his tray. “Thank you, we’ll be right there,” he said.

The guard walked back toward the cell block. Frank looked at Nella. “Are you ready? Are you still in pain? We can stop at the infirmary if you like.”

“No thank you, I’ll be okay. Besides, the aspirin makes it hard to concentrate.”

They both stood up from the table. “Listen,” Nella touched his wrist to stall him, “Did you know all of this before you saw it on the video?”

Mr. Courtlen’s brow tightened and he looked troubled. “The version he told me was- well, it was highly edited. I’m not a medical professional, so I still don’t know if I quite grasp all of it. But I knew it was Ann who was first infected and I knew Dr. Schneider had coerced her into tampering with the experiment. But I didn’t know they started with a resistant strain. And I didn’t know that it had been kept secret for so long.” He rubbed the scar on his cheek with two fingers. “Six weeks. We never even had a chance did we?”

Nella shook her head. “Maybe a few rural populations wouldn’t have been reached by then, but the cities would have been heavily infected. And then as the outbreak began, infected people would have fled to those rural areas without even knowing they were carriers. But you’re his lawyer. Why didn’t he tell you all of this?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t told anyone this much. The other doctors- he wasn’t lying when he said you were the fifth one. He’d string them along with the same version I got until they started asking him personal questions and he’d try to get them to answer personal questions of their own. And when they wouldn’t answer, he’d refuse to see them again.”

“What kind of personal questions?”

“Well, he usually asked them what they did to survive the Plague or what they did to help the Cure.”

“So why hasn’t he asked me?”

Mr. Courtlen shrugged and picked up his tray. “I can only assume it’s because your history with the Cure is already well known. It was clear to me that the judges were tired of trying to placate Dr. Pazzo and decided to hire you to work some kind of miracle on Miss Connelly rather than do much with Dr. Pazzo. They are expecting her to tell the whole story. But it looks like Dr. Pazzo decided to start telling it anyway.”

“Mr. Courtlen,” she said, and the icy boulder that had lodged in her throat reappeared, “I’m starting to think you were right about Dr. Pazzo.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think he really has something important to tell us. I don’t think it’s a bluff anymore. And I don’t think it is anything good.”

Mr. Courtlen stared at her. “What do you think he’s trying to tell us?”

She felt sweat spring out on her forehead and tears prickled in the corners of her eyes. She whispered so the scattered occupants of the cafeteria wouldn’t overhear. “I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the Plague.”

How it Spread

Dr. Pazzo had recovered his usual reserve, but Nella’s chest was tight with anxiety. She’d seen no indication of madness in Dr. Pazzo yet, nor did she expect to. Beyond a fairly normal case of narcissism and an understandably high level of depression, he was remarkably healthy. His hints of withholding vital information were all the more frightening to Nella because of this. She could see, however, that Mr. Courtlen was becoming more suspicious of his client. Nella was increasingly convinced that Dr. Pazzo was telling the truth.

They resumed their seats. Nella heaved an inward sigh at the contrast between the bright and airy cafeteria and the grim, hunched narrowness of the cell block. She was glad she would get to walk out at the end of the day.

“Dr. Pazzo,” she began, “You said it took you several weeks to notice Ann’s symptoms. How did you finally find out that she was infected?”

“It was the day I took her to the hospital. She had accidentally cut herself on some broken glassware. If I had known what we were dealing with at that point, the cut would have been enough for me to suspect something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ann was never klutzy, but over a few days preceding this incident she was stumbling pretty often. I thought it was the exhaustion. She would slur her speech every so often as well and we had some really nasty fights in those last couple of days. What else should I have thought? It was a normal reaction to lack of sleep. But- well let me show you.”

The video began again. The camera was still focused on the window into the animal room. The monkeys seemed sluggish, but Nella thought, perhaps it was the beginning or end of their sleep cycle. Somewhere off the screen came a loud, splintering crash as glassware was dropped.

“Oh Jesus, Ann! Oh God. Are you all right?” Dr. Pazzo’s voice moved away and Nella heard Ann mumbling but couldn’t hear what she said.

“Okay, just stay there. Don’t. Move.” Nella heard footsteps run past the camera which tilted as Dr. Pazzo ran past. Now it pointed partly into the lab. Nella could see computer screens and equipment as well as the animal room in the corner of the screen. She still couldn’t see Ann but could hear her whimpering. Something black thudded across the screen. It was Dr. Pazzo.

“Here, we have to keep pressure on it. Look at me Ann, I need to call for help. Can you keep pressure on it?”

Nella didn’t hear any response from Ann. She heard the quick skid of Dr. Pazzo’s shoes as he ran back toward the camera followed by a stumbling, irregular trot that was Ann. They came on screen, Dr. Pazzo dragging Ann and pressing a towel onto her upper arm. He fumbled with a phone for a minute, trying to dial with one hand and hold Ann’s arm with the other. “Hello?” his voice was shaky and loud, “I need an ambulance at-”

Nella tuned the rest out. She was watching Ann intently. Ann was not looking at anything in particular, her eyes wandering in the pattern Nella now recognized. She was rocking gently back and forth and seemed utterly calm. Nella could see the towel darkening on her arm. She watched the two run past the screen and heard a door open and slam and then everything was quiet. The video cut out and returned, refocused on the animal room.

Nella heard the door open and the heavy tread of Dr. Pazzo. “Robert, is that you?” Dr. Schneider's voice sounded distant but Nella heard the sharp clicks of high heels head steadily toward the camera. “Where have you been? I come in and the lab is abandoned with broken glassware everywhere-”

“Ann cut herself. She had to be rushed to the hospital.” Dr. Pazzo stooped into the frame fiddling with the camera.

“What? Where is she now? What kind of tests did they run at the hospital?” Dr. Schneider's voice was shrill and panicked.

Dr. Pazzo looked up from the camera, his tired face drawing into a scowl as he turned away towards Dr. Schneider. “She's at home sleeping. Jesus, do you even care that she was injured?” Dr. Pazzo shook his head in disgust and turned back to the camera. “Christ, this thing is a mess,” he mumbled and picked up the camera, carrying it with him to a desk. A cloth swiped over the lens and the camera was lifted to shoulder level as Dr. Pazzo looked through the eyepiece. Nella felt slightly dizzy, but at last the view settled onto Dr. Schneider's angry face. “She needed stitches and the emergency tech said she seemed exhausted, which I agreed with. So they stitched her up and sent her home to sleep. Why would they need to run tests?”

Dr. Schneider hesitated, frowning at Dr. Pazzo. “Nothing. Never mind,” she said.

The camera was abruptly set on the desktop. “No, what did you mean? What tests?”

Dr. Schneider was silent. Dr. Pazzo came into view, rapidly crossing the space between himself and Dr. Shneider.

“Gerta, what tests? What did you do?”

“She was exposed to the Recharge bacteria.”

“She's infected? How did she become exposed?” Dr. Pazzo threw up his hands. “No, you know what, I don't even want to know. When was she exposed?”

“Calm down Robert. It's a harmless strain, you checked it yourself. Don't you see? This is good. This will push the trials forward-”

“Shut up. Where did you get your doctorate anyway? Mail order? It was a harmless strain. Every time it crosses species- every time it infects someone new, in fact, it has a chance to mutate. This whole experiment was supposed to be about control. The dopamine and amphetamine levels, yes, but also keeping a pure strain. We have no idea what mutations may have occurred at this point.” Dr. Pazzo clutched his head. “Jesus, Gerta, she could be exposing others right now. How long ago was she exposed? Are we infected?”

“Relax! My guess is that it's been about four weeks. She's fine. We're fine. There's nothing to worry about.”

It startled Nella to see Dr. Pazzo run out of view. A few seconds later, she heard a violent retching. “Really Robert, there's no need for all this melodrama. If it will make you feel better, I'll run some cultures when she comes in tomorrow and show you it's the same strain.”

“No. I'm going to go get her now.”