Jason blew his breath out hard and wiped at the sweat on his forehead. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it doc. She’s out like a light and can’t hear you.” He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “She’s really sick, ain’t she?”
“Well, of course she’s sick. Otherwise we wouldn’t have brought her here.”
Jason gave her a hard look. “You know what I mean. She’s got something. Something worse than the bug that killed off the whole world.”
Vivian shook her head, holding her gloved hands up to calm him. “We can’t know anything of the sorts. Most likely scenario is she’s contracted a virus since being here that her body is having trouble fighting off.” She pulled him to the side and tried to get him to sit. “With any infection, there are always risks of secondary infection. Meaning, yes, she probably has a viral infection, but that can cause bacterial infections as well. Because of that, we’ve put her on a pretty strong dose of antibiotics, and shortly we’ll be adding antivirals. We’ll keep pushing the fluids, and once she feels a little stronger we can—”
He stood and towered over her. “I don’t want any more of your rainbows and unicorns bullshit.” He pointed at her and glowered at the woman. “She’s sick.” He marched over to Bren’s bed and lifted her arm, letting it drop to the mattress. “She’s unresponsive. She’s out of it. Tell me this isn’t bad.”
“We can’t know what she’s—”
“There ya go again!” He marched over to the doctor and pulled her mask down hard. She jumped back, her hands quickly pulling the mask back up.
“Why would you do that?” Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she backed slowly from him.
“If she were just sick with some common bug from here on the ship, you wouldn’t be pissing your pants over that stupid mask.”
Her head shook nervously as she continued to back away from him. “We can’t risk infecting her with anything that…that we might have…”
He slowly approached her, his head shaking. “Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.” He jabbed a finger in her face. “You know it’s all bullshit.”
Vivian took a deep breath and stepped to the door. “Get him out of here. I don’t care if you put him in his room, lock him up, or…or…” She glanced at Jason and her eyes narrowed. “Or throw him off the damned boat and let him swim to shore. Just get him the hell out of here!”
Jason backed away, his hands up defensively, his eyes wide. “No! No, I want to stay with…get your hands off me!” He struggled against the two large men in white and was unceremoniously picked up and carried out of the infirmary.
Vivian watched him kick and scream as the two orderlies removed him from her workspace. She blew out a breath and gingerly sat down, her hands shaking as she pulled the mask from her face. “This shit is getting out of hand.”
Vicky slowly paced, her mind trying to grasp the big picture. “You’re telling me they’re learning?”
“I don’t know if I can say that, but they’re definitely acting differently.” Roger watched her walk back and forth across the small space and was feeling even more nervous from her actions. “I can’t even tell you for sure it was the same guy, but he was carrying a piece of pipe and shook it at me the same way.”
“And this was how many blocks from the first attack?”
He shrugged. “Maybe four? I’m pretty sure it was the next section line over. Each section is about a mile. The larger thru-streets are laid out about a mile apart and—”
She held her hand up to stop him. “I grew up here. I know what you mean.” She sighed and increased the speed of her pacing.
“Shouldn’t Candy be hearing this?”
Vicky paused and glanced toward the office. “I think she may be sleeping off a liquid lunch.”
Roger hiked a brow. “She’s lit?”
Vicky shrugged slowly. “She hasn’t been sleeping well lately. The liquid lunch was to calm her nerves.” She spun on him and seemed much more excited about the idea that popped into her head. “I mean, you did just drop a bombshell on us. The whole biker marauder thing…and telling her that they were practically knocking on our door…”
He nodded slowly. “So, she finds out there’s a threat and decides to get drunk. Nice.” He stood slowly and froze when he heard Candy’s voice.
“Not drunk.” She walked slowly toward the pair. “Just…resting a bit.” She stopped and eyed him carefully. “You’re back.”
He nodded. “We rode into a trap. The second one for me.” He sighed heavily. “Except this time, they didn’t make it out.”
“You seem awfully upset.” Candy’s voice was cold and detatched.
He looked up and met her gaze. “Not everybody who rides with Simon is a bad person.”
“No, they just do bad things in his name, right?”
He opened his mouth to argue, but knew that whatever he said, she’d find a way to twist it around on him. “What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to tell me why you came back here.”
Roger gave her a confused look and she stepped closer, her voice rising in pitch and tempo. “Why did you decide to come back here, Roger?”
He stepped back slightly and raised his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. I thought…”
“You thought what?” she nearly barked.
“Candy!” Vicky stomped her foot to get her attention.
“No. No, it’s a legitimate question.” Roger turned back to Candy. “I guess I thought maybe I could come back here and…I dunno. Try to build a life or something.” He shot her a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I guess I was wrong.”
He spun and marched toward the doors. Vicky turned wide eyes to Candy. “You’re just going to let him leave?”
Candy watched him walk away, her mind
