'Hush,' Maria said, nodding toward two nurses who were hurrying across the waiting room. Isabel listened to the nurses' conversation as they passed.
'… everything from acne to symptoms of ALS,' one of them was saying. 'I've never seen anything like it.'
Then the nurses were gone. Isabel glanced up at Valenti and spoke in a low voice. 'It seems like everyone's getting sick at the same time. Do you think it's like that green skin thing… something in the water?' Isabel asked, referring to an incident a few months ago. She knew Valenti would understand what she was really asking… did he think this was an alien-threat of some sort?
Valenti's brow was furrowed in thought. 'I don't see how it could be,' he replied. 'Looking around, I see people with all kinds of different symptoms. Amy's having an asthma attack, but that's not what happened to Kyle. And check out that guy.'
Isabel followed his gaze to a young man sitting in a corner between two people who were obviously his parents. The guy was talking loudly to himself, every so often swatting the
air in front of him. His mother was in tears, and his father stared silently at the ground.
'Schizophrenia, if I'm not mistaken,' Valenti went on. 'Meanwhile, the woman over there was complaining that her eyesight suddenly started to go.'
'And you don't think one thing could be causing all these different symptoms?' Isabel asked.
'I can't think of anything… anything… that could cause such disparate symptoms,' he said with a significant look.
Isabel sighed in relief. Whenever something strange happened, she automatically felt responsible, as if the aliens must have caused it. And usually she was right. But maybe this time was different.
'Help me!' a woman's voice cut through the noise of the ER. 'My son's having a heart attack!'
Isabel turned to look along with everyone else.
Several nurses were rushing a stretcher through the doors of the ER. And on the stretcher lay Jesse, his skin pale and his eyes wide and frightened. Isabel was on her feet before she even realized it.
They were pushing the gurney through the room at top speed, Jesse's terrified mother keeping pace with it.
Isabel stepped forward as they passed her, willing Jesse to look at her. Almost as if he could feel the weight of her concern, he turned his head ever so slightly and met her eyes.
'Jesse,' Isabel whispered.
And then he was gone, disappearing through a set of double doors into a hospital hallway. Everything inside Isabel cried out for her to follow him, to comfort him and make sure he was okay… and if he wasn't, to find Max and make him heal Jesse.
But he's not even my boyfriend, Isabel thought sadly. Jesse had broken up with her. She had no right to be at his bedside.
'Isabel? You okay?' Maria's voice broke into her thoughts.
Isabel pasted a smile on her face and turned around. 'Sure,' she said, sitting back down. 'I'm fine.'
'Let me get this straight,' Maris said. 'You put the serum in a water bottle. You watched Liz Parker take exactly two little sips of it. And then you sent her home… with the water bottle.'
'I didn't know she would share it with anyone else,' Alan Sosa said defensively. 'It's unsanitary.'
'Have you ever met a sanitary teenager?' Maris snapped.
'This isn't my fault,' Alan insisted. 'You're the one who had me develop the serum. You're the one who told me to give it to Liz Parker. I'm not going to take the blame for this.'
'No, Meta-chem will be blamed for it, you idiot!' Maris slammed her hand down on her desk. 'Alan, do you even realize what you've done?' she cried. 'There is an entire city full of people out there who have ingested nonhuman, possibly nonterrestrial, DNA. They're calling it a virus! Apparently this stuff can reproduce and spread!'
'Well, how was I supposed to know that?' Alan cried. 'We never tested it before. Besides, it's not really reproducing. It's not a true virus. The Healer's DNA just seems to attach itself to human DNA. And it doesn't spread like a bacteria.'
'I don't care if it lays eggs,' Maris cried. 'It's hopping from one person to the next, and they're all getting sick. How can they be sick from the Healer's DNA?'
'I told you we don't know how he heals,' Alan said. 'His DNA attaches itself to the patient's DNA strands. But maybe he does something else while he's healing them.'
Maris dropped her head into her hands. This was a disaster.
'There's clearly some link to his healing properties,' Alan said. 'Because his DNA is certainly affecting people's health.'
'Exactly opposite of how we want it to affect their health,' Maris said.
Alan turned toward her office door. 'You wanted a test, Maris. This is it. This is what the serum does to humans.'
His self-satisfied tone brought Maris back to her senses. She sat up and snatched her phone.
'What are you doing?' Alan asked.
'Damage control,' she told him. 'You're right, this is my test. And I'm going to get the results. I'll see how it affects every single person who's been exposed to it.'
'How are you going to do that?' he asked. 'The hospital has already called the Centers for Disease Control. They'll take charge of it from here.'
'And I'll be helping them every step of the way,' Maris said. 'Meta-chem will be their new best friend.'
Liz felt as if she were swimming though the air. She'd never noticed it before… the way air pressed on your skin. It felt like a light, soft blanket wrapped all around her. She was beginning to get used to it, she thought. It didn't hurt,
after all. It was just a different way of being aware of her body.
Her eyes were still closed, but she could hear enough to tell her everything she needed to know. She could hear Max's breathing, very loud, as he sat next to her hospital bed. She could hear people moaning and crying in the beds all around. She could hear doctors whispering to one another in worried tones. And from out in the main waiting room, she could hear a crowd of people. She didn't hear them individually, just the roaring sound of the whole group. At first the sounds had been too loud, but she seemed to be getting used to them now too.
Liz opened her eyes, and immediately Max jumped to his feet. 'Liz,' he whispered. It sounded like a normal speaking voice. Liz smiled. Max had learned not to talk too loudly since she'd gotten sick.
'Hey,' she said. 'Are my parents here yet?'
He shook his head. 'I think its pretty crowded out there. They might have trouble getting in,' he said.
Liz just nodded. She stared up at the tile ceiling of the hospital. The tiny specks in the tile seemed to be moving around, forming shapes. The lights weren't too bright anymore, but she thought she could see different colors in them. 'It's changing,' she told Max. 'Before, everything was too harsh… the sounds, the lights. But now it's all just… different.'
He looked worried. 'They haven't even done any tests on you,' he complained. 'When are they going to come back and examine you?'
'It's okay,' she replied. 'They checked my heart and my lungs. I'm not in any immediate danger. If it's crowded,
they have to treat sicker people first. Why is it so crowded, anyway?'
Max wouldn't meet her eyes. 'Uh, it's some sort of… epidemic.'
'What?' Liz cried. 'Everyone is sick like me?'
'I don't think so,' Max said. 'As far as I can tell, everybody is sick in a different way. I heard some of the doctors talking. They don't know what's causing it.'
Liz studied Max's face. His eyes were bloodshot, almost as if he'd been crying. He's really worried about me, she realized. Liz reached out for his hand.
'I thought your skin hurt,' Max said. 'In the car, you couldn't stand anything touching you.'
'That doesn't apply to you,' she told him.
He took her hand in his. Liz closed her eyes and let the sensations in her skin wash over her. She felt the warmth of Max's body seeping into her, as if his love was a tangible thing. In fact, if she concentrated really hard, she almost thought she could hear his heart beating.
