camera all the time?”
“It’s for science,” Durante said. “Seriously. If you turn, they can watch the progress of the disease.”
“Who can?” Faith said. “In case you forgot, it would be kiddy porn. Cause zombies, like, strip.”
“You haven’t been keeping up with YouTube,” Durante said. “The FBI has about given up trying to police ‘naked zombie girl’ videos. They’re everywhere. And this would really be for science.”
“Which is pointless,” Faith said. “I can tell you about the progress of the disease. They get real angry and snappish, freak out and start pulling off their clothes. That’s when you know they’re a zombie.”
“Or one of my ex girlfriends,” Durante said. “Sorry. Tasteless.”
“No big surprise,” Faith said. “I need something to read. A book. An iPad. Something.”
“I’ve got some technical manuals,” Durante said. “You might want to read the one on injector operation, just as an example.”
“Very freaking funny, Durante…”
* * *
“Oooh,” Faith said, tossing off her covers. She had put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt while Tom made sure nobody was watching. Now they were soaked in sweat. “Durante? Who’s out there?”
“Kaplan.”
“I’m sick,” Faith said. “Burning up. Can I get some aspirin or something? And some more bottled water?”
“I’m calling the medics,” Kaplan said. “Any formication?”
“I’m a little young, Kaplan.”
“For-
“Yeah,” Faith said. “I knew what you were talking about. Little bit. Mostly I just feel sick as hell.”
“Nurse is on the way…”
* * *
“Please don’t bite me,” the nurse said. He was in a full moon suit just in case.
He checked her BP and pulse as well as her temperature and shook his head.
“I’ll do my best,” Faith said. “But the difference between normal zombie irrational and how I get when I’m sick isn’t much. Don’t do anything I don’t like and I’ll try not to rip off chunks of flesh and chew them.”
“I’m calling Dr. Curry and Dr. Simmons,” the nurse said. “Your temperature is a hundred and five. Which isn’t good. Any feeling of itchiness or feeling like bugs crawling on your skin?”
“Formication,” Faith said. “Itchiness but I’ve got dry skin. I get itchy pretty often. Maybe worse than normal. I dunno. I feel sucky.”
“If I was still working the EDC ward we’d have you in a lukewarm shower,” the nurse said. “I’ll see what the doctors say…”
* * *
“I thought you said this shower would be
* * *
Faith barely remembered getting back to the cell. The bastards wouldn’t even give her extra blankets because “they didn’t want her temperature skyrocketing.”
“I don’t want to be a zombie…” she muttered. “But I
* * *
“Faith, honey…?”
“Mom?” Faith said. She’d been dreaming a really vivid dream. More like being there. She was a knight on a horse fighting in a big battle. She wasn’t sure what was reality and what was hallucination anymore.
“Oh, wait,” she said, shifting up. Her mom was in a moonsuit. “You’re real.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Stacey said, sitting down on the bed.
“I think I was hallucinating,” Faith said. “You shouldn’t be here. What if I zomb?”
“It’s pretty hard to bite through a moonsuit,” Stacey said. “And you’re going to be okay. Focus on that.”
“Yeah, well you don’t want to get this,” Faith said. “Zombie or not. I’ve
“It’ll be okay, sweetie,” Faith said, cradling her in her arms. “It’ll be okay.”
“Mom,” Faith said, “when you cry like that it ruins the whole ‘it’ll be okay’ thing.” She paused and looked around wildly. “I think I’m going to throw up…”
CHAPTER 12
“Looks like you’re going to make it,” Dr. Curry said, examining Faith’s chart.
“Don’t sound so enthused,” Faith said. She was sipping ice water and balefully considering what Dr. Simmons had prescribed for her first meal in two days: jello and chicken broth. “As far as I’ve been able to figure out, the only good thing about New York is, supposedly, the food. This is not what I’ve been promised.”
“You need to let your body get used to food again,” Simmons said.
“The emesis was a suprising response,” Dr. Curry said. “And as the resident mad scientist, while I
“I love you too, Doc.”
“What is it about ‘mad scientist’ you don’t understand?”
Faith picked up the bowl of broth, took a sip and set it down.
“God, I’m weak,” she said, her hands shaking. “That’s just weakness, right?”
“Should just be low blood sugar,” Dr. Simmons said. “You’ve still got a high antibody count but your fever seems to have broken and your white blood cell count is dropping. As Dr. Curry said, looks like you’re going to make it.”
“And we’ve now got really good data on the progress of the disease,” Curry burbled, happily.
“Bully for you,” Faith said. “I know I’m tired. I’m channeling Da.”
“Anything we can do for you?” Dr. Simmons asked.
“As soon as I’m better enough somebody owes me one good meal in this stupid stinking town,” Faith said, sipping the broth again. “That’s all I hear is how great the food in New York is. And so far all I’ve had is take-out Chinese and…soup.”
“One good meal,” Dr. Curry said. “I’ll make sure that goes on the agenda.”
* * *
“Well, this has been too much fun,” Tom said. “Stacey…”
“She made it, Tom.” Stacey looked nearly as washed out as Faith. “And I guess the good news is that the vaccine works.”
“And she’s about as resistant as anyone could be,” Tom said. “I’ve always known she was tough… She’s saying she wants one decent meal in New York. How do you feel about that?”
“Going out to dinner in zombie infested New York?” Stacey said, grimacing. “Have a hard time saying no. But it’s not something I’m real thrilled about. She’ll need a day or so to rest up.”
“Agreed,” Tom said. “Steve should join us. I’ll scrounge up some security I can trust to put on your boat. I’ll send Kaplan and a backup. He’s scheduled for the primary extract, anyway. And I’ll find a restaurant that’s still open. Most of the really good ones are closed. I’ll find one. Oh, I traded some favors. Your certification as licensed contractors has been cleared. So you can carry, heavy, in New York City.”
“Does that include Sophia and Faith?” Stacey asked.
“I’ve got an ID printer,” Tom said, drily. “And some very flexible software. At this point I doubt anyone will check.”
* * *
