She heard the Harley fire up before he pulled away from the trailer they called home. She watched as he drove off the curb and pulled away from the park.
Savage relished the wind in his face again, but his anger didn’t allow him to enjoy it. He knew who was to blame for the sentry’s death. He could feel it in his gut. He just couldn’t figure out why Roger would come back only to kill one of their guys and then vanish again.
He drove quickly until he came to the block with the trap. He approached slowly, his engine revving, the loud exhaust echoing off the surrounding buildings. This is how he was supposed to let Roger know they needed to meet.
Actually, it was supposed to be his way of letting Roger know that Simon was dead, but considering the circumstances, it was the only way he had to contact him.
He pulled to a stop just short of where the ragers had appeared before. If they were anywhere close, they’d know he was a sitting duck. He could almost feel their eyes on him as he shut off the engine and pulled his sunglasses from his face.
“Where are you, you squirrely son of a bitch?”
Carol checked the IV drip attached to Charles’ arm and scribbled in his chart. She glanced up at the man who glared at her, his jaw tight and quivering. She laid the chart down and gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I take it that the aggressive impulses are still high?”
“I know better than to tell you what I think. You’ll just sedate me again you little—” He caught himself before he could utter the curse. His eyes never stopped boring a hole in her head as she stepped around him and noted his vitals.
“Your blood pressure is still elevated and your heart rate is…high.” She scribbled the numbers in his chart and marked the time.
“Yeah. I have eyes. I can see what they are.”
She paused and clicked her pen closed. She turned and studied him as she tucked it into her lab coat pocket. “So, you have the cognizance to realize your vitals are all off, but do you have the ability to discern proper behavior from improper?” She glanced at the mess he had made previously and shook her head. “I’m thinking no.”
“Fuck you and your proper behavior!” He tugged at the straps holding him and winced, his eyes squeezing shut as he seemed to force himself to calm down.
“Headaches?”
He nodded slowly. “They spike with each burst of anger and…it just keeps feeding into a continuous loop. The pain just makes me more angry, and the anger causes more pain.” He opened his eyes and pleaded with her. “Make it stop. Please.”
She hesitated for a moment, then reached into a cabinet. “I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to make you a cocktail of topiramate, amitriptyline, and propranolol. If it’s anything like a classic migraine, this should knock it right out.”
He relaxed and watched as she drew small amounts from each vial. “Thank you.”
“My mother suffered from migraines. If this is what I’m thinking, then I can understand how it could feed the aggression.”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think I’d say that it feeds the aggression, more like the aggression feeds it.” He sighed and rolled his head back on the pillow. “I can’t put it into words.”
She injected the cocktail into his IV and stepped back. “I’ll check on you in a bit. You can let me know if it helps.”
He nodded, and his eyes pinched shut as he tried to keep himself calm. She quickly charted his doses and slipped out of the room, turning off the lights as she exited.
She looked up and saw the CDO standing beside her workstation. “I just thought I’d check on Dr. Carpenter.”
Carol sighed and lowered her voice as she approached him. “His angry outbursts are increasing despite the treatment. I’m trying something different this time.”
He looked at her questioningly. “What are you trying?”
“I’m treating the symptoms, not the disease.” She turned him to face the acrylic wall that separated them from the Zed specimens. “You see how docile they are? That’s because of the sonic generator. If we turn it off, they go into a rage and, well, it isn’t pretty.”
The CDO nodded. “I’ve heard. I’ve not seen it personally, but I’ve read the reports.”
She gave him a confused look. “You haven’t seen how enraged the infected are?”
He shook his head. “I was at sea when all of this went down. Luckily, we avoided the fallout areas.”
“Understood.” She pulled him closer to the glass. “Without the generator, they would attack and probably eat anything or anybody that entered that holding cell.”
“But not each other?”
She shrugged. “I can’t say about in the wild, but here? No.”
“So, you’re treating Dr. Carpenter with the sonic generator?”
She shook her head. “His outbursts aren’t as extreme as these subjects. I want to save the generator for when nothing else could possibly work.”
“So what? Tylenol?”
She shook her head. “Migraine medications. I just gave him a cocktail of three different drugs. An antidepressant, a beta-blocker, and an anticonvulsant. They’re all three commonly used to help with migraines.”
The CDO nodded, pretending to understand. “Well, let me know if it helps him. I’ll report it up the chain.” He turned to leave and she walked with him to the door. “They’re pretty worried about him. They specifically asked me to keep them up on his condition.”
“That’s sweet of them.” She patted his arm.
He wanted to correct her and explain that it was more about self-preservation, but he simply gave her a smile and left.
He pulled his pocket notebook and jotted down what she had told him. He wanted to make
