The girl’s eyes had grown larger and larger in her pale face as Jenny spoke. “You think they’d let us die? All of us?”
“I do,” Jenny answered, nodding. And she did. She knew that they would, and without a single qualm, if the doctor was any example of their depth of human compassion.
“What’s your name?” Jenny asked.
“Tammi.”
“And how long have you worked in the museum, Tammi?”
“Not long. They only bring me in for the big parties like this. I’ve only done about five of them.”
“That’s okay. You still know more than I do about this place. Can you think of any phones or any sort of network that we can use to communicate with those on the surface?” Jenny asked.
Tammi nodded, “They have a wi-fi network, but the CDC shut it down when they got here. There’s no access anymore. I tried… On my phone. You know, cuz I had the password, since I’m a staffer.”
“What about a dedicated emergency phone line?” Jenny asked.
Again, Tammi nodded. “There’s an emergency line by the lift. In a metal box on the wall. The line runs right up to the surface beside the lift, protected by steel tubing. They explained all this in orientation so that, if something happened, we would know how to call up to the surface.”
Jenny smiled, “Thank you, Tammi. That’s what I needed to know. Let’s get back before they miss us.”
Tammi nodded and started for the tarp. Just before they passed through it, she leaned close to Jenny, “Promise me if you leave, you’ll take me with you?”
Jenny nodded.
“Of course.”
Stone was waiting for her when she left the tarped-off kitchen area. He raised an eyebrow at her approach and she nodded, telling him silently that she’d gotten what she wanted.
Seeing that Stan was watching them, she held up the bottle of Florida’s Natural orange juice. “They had my favorite kind, Stone.”
He nodded.
Jenny turned back to Tammi. “Thank you very much.”
Tammi shrugged and avoided looking at her.
“Sure, no problem,” the girl said timidly.
Stone quickly escorted Jenny back to their table, and she made a show of uncapping the bottle of orange juice and taking several long drinks after she sat down, making sure that Stan saw her going through the motions.
Then she scooted close and leaned her head against Stone’s shoulder as if she really were light-headed and still needed his support.
Stone slung a comforting arm around her shoulder.
“Tammi said that they have an emergency phone line near the lift in a metal box,” she whispered for his ears alone. “I think we should try to call someone for help.”
Stone stroked her hair and then bent and kissed the top of her head, acting the part of concerned fiancé.
“I’m sure that if the CDC is here, they’ll have that line monitored, but it is worth a shot,” he whispered into her hair. “You’re right. We need someone on the outside.”
Jenny nodded and sat back up, pretending that she was much recovered. After taking another long swig of the juice, she whispered, “Tammi wants to go when we leave.”
Stone nodded, then looked over at the girl, as if taking her measure. “That’s probably a good idea. She’d know more than we do about this place, since I’ve never been here before.”
A shadow fell upon their table, and Stone and Jenny stopped talking.
The doctor hovered near Gilbert’s side, and Jenny desperately hoped that he’d not heard any part of their conversation.
“I have some preliminary results back,” he said, staring hard at Jenny through the clear plastic of his enormous hood. “It seems that, miraculously, you and your fiancé are immune to the bacteria. Or rather, something close to immune. All of the others that have been tested so far have proven to be infected. Of course we haven’t yet tested everyone, but I find these results to be rather odd.”
“What do you mean, exactly, by ‘something close to immune’?” Debbie asked.
“Well, the preliminary results are all very confusing. It seems that the both of them have traces of the bacteria in their blood, as if they were initially infected. However, in their blood samples the bacteria has been… neutralized, for lack of a better word. Or perhaps, hibernating would better describe the status of the bacteria. It is neither active, nor is it completely inert or eradicated. It is in a state of stasis, much like it was for millions of years before it was found and then revived.”
“And in the other samples? In us?” Gilbert asked. “What are the bacteria inside us doing?
“In your samples, and in the others, the bacteria are actively multiplying at an astounding rate. The bacteria themselves are doing little harm to the host. However, the toxins that the bacteria produce seem to be quite powerful. As you’ve seen yourself, the toxins act rather like a strong drug in some, impairing neurological function, hence the uncontrollable screaming and laughing and the presence of pinpoint pupils. In others, the toxins act as a sort of paralytic, which, in most cases, seems to attack the bronchi in the lungs, causing symptoms much like an asthma attack, only much more severe and debilitating. This mimicry of the effects of asthma may be why the inhaler was so effective in stopping those symptoms of the toxins. The toxins also seem to be shutting down the liver function in some, causing brain oedoema, which impairs mental function, causing extreme confusion and disorientation. This last effect of the toxins seems to be the cause of the security guard shooting the boy, But these preliminary symptoms appear to be only the very beginning. Those effects were caused by the toxins in the first stages of infection. As the bacteria multiply, more and more toxins will be produced, causing more and varied symptoms, and, most likely, death.”
The doctor’s voice contained no empathy when he related this information. Jenny wondered if the man had any emotions at all.
“Most likely death?” Gilbert said, his round face beginning to suffuse with hot color. “You know this, and you’re doing nothing?”
“Not precisely nothing. As I’ve just said, we’re successfully determining who is infected and who isn’t. Also, we’ve managed to ascertain how quickly these bacteria multiply in a human host. This information will help with treatment when the specialist arrives.”
“And, until then, the CDC isn’t going to try anything? No inhalers, no antibiotics, no anything? Just turn off the air to protect those on the surface and see what happens to us? Is that right?” Alice asked, her voice trembling with anger.
“I’ve already answered that question multiple times. My answer now is the same. They’re waiting for the arrival of the specialist.” The doctor’s tone was firm, as if he were talking to a recalcitrant Kindergartener who was having trouble grasping an elementary answer.
“So if the bacteria in our systems is in hibernation, does that mean that we are not able to infect others?” Jenny asked.
“That is the theory, yes. A hibernating bacteria does not multiply, therefore, you should not be a danger to those who are not infected.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Gilbert said, his voice snide with sarcasm. “That’s the only helpful thing you’ve said all evening.”
Chapter Thirteen
Stone had been silent a good long while, but Jenny could see that he was anything but complacent. He’d been watching the guards, watching the doctor, looking at the tarps, watching the guards some more.
After about twenty minutes of this, he leaned over to Jenny and said, “Baby, I think now that you’ve had a lot of orange juice, you really need to use the bathroom facilities. And you can’t wait any longer.”
Jenny nodded, immediately understanding that he wanted her safely out of the room, “Sure do.”
“Stay in there until I come in and get you, got it? And take Debbie, Cheryl, Alice and Tammi with you,” Stone told her.
“Now how am I supposed to do that?” she asked.
It was Stone’s turn to grin. “You’re th
e writer. The creative one. You’ll think of something.”
“Please be careful,” Jenny told him as she rose to her feet. “Remember, I can’t live without you.”
Stone just patted her arm and winked. “Right back at you. Enjoy the restroom break. It’ll be your last one down here, I hope.”
Jenny fervently hoped so, too.
“Ladies?” Jenny asked, standing and looking toward Alice, Debbie and Cheryl. “Feel like a bathroom break?”
They all stood and followed after her without a word as she turned and sauntered toward the guards.
Stan was eager to stop her when she got to the exit.
“I need to use the ladies’ room. We all need to use the ladies room,” Jenny told him without preamble, shifting from foot to foot as if she really had to go. “I’ve waited as long as I can.”
“You’ll need an escort.”
“To the ladies room? You’re kidding, right?” Jenny said, trying to look annoyed, though she was secretly delighted by his unexpected offer. “And who do you suggest?”
“Harry,” Stan said, an evil smile curving his lips as he pointed to the third guard sitting off to the side. It was the guard that Stone had relieved of his gun.
Jenny widened her eyes and shook her head, as if horrified by the suggestion, “No way, he’s crazy as a loon. He shot that guy in the back for no reason.”
Stan frowned. “He had a reason. And there is no one else. If you’re going, Harry will take you.”
Jenny shifted from side to side, trying to paste a look of urinary emergency on her face. She wasn’t sure she was very successful, though Stan seemed to be enjoying her performance with cruel delight.
“How about Tammi?” Jenny said, pointing to the young server who stood a few feet away. “Doesn’t look like she’d doing anything. And, besides, she’s a woman. She can come right into the room with us, and not wait outside like Harry.”
Stan cocked an eyebrow at her, smiling with malevolent delight, “Who said Harry was going to be waiting outside?”
“Stan, leave off and let Tammi take them to the ladies room already,” John put in, stepping closer. “There’s no reason to be cruel.”
“Just making sure this one knows her place. Her fiancé sure doesn’t seem to,” Stan snapped back at John.
“Knock it off!” John said, glaring at his companion.
“Fine,” Stan grumbled, motioning for Tammi to come over to where Jenny and the others stood.
“Take them to the ladies room and come right back,” Stan said. “And make sure that this one doesn’t run.”
Stan gestured toward Jenny emphatically, his expression filled with something bordering on hatred.
Jenny smirked at Stan, “Now, why would I do that? My other friends and my fiancé are right over there. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You never know,” Stan said. Then, to Tammi, he reiterated, “I mean it, there and back, no messing around. And watch her close.”
Tammi nodded, looking suitably cowed and more than a little nervous.
Stan stepped aside to let them all pass and none of them said another word until they made it inside the women’s restroom.
“Now what?” Tammi asked as soon as the door closed behind them.
“Now we wait. For Stone,” Jenny said.
Tammi immediately looked scared again.
“What’s he going to do?” she asked.
Jenny shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly. He said to wait for him, and that’s what we are going to do.”
Tammi nodded, then glanced anxiously toward the door, as if she now expected it to burst open on cue.
Slow seconds passed, then even slower minutes. The door didn’t burst open.
Jenny took her phone out of her pocket so that she could use it to keep track of how much time had passed. She knew that they could only stay in the ladies room so long before Stan would come looking for them, so she hoped that Stone was able to pull off whatever he was going to do relatively quickly.
Five long minutes passed without incident as Jenny stared at the seconds slipping past on her phone, hearing only the sound of the others breathing, and then she heard shouting coming from the dining cavern. It took all of her willpower to resist poking her head outside the door to see what was going on. But, she trusted Stone implicitly, and he’d said to stay inside the room, so she stayed behind the closed door, listening apprehensively.
Tammi ventured closer to the door, having no such reluctance.
“Don’t go out there,” Jenny told her. “Stone will come get us in here when he’s ready.”
“But-“
Tammi’s words were cut off by more shouting, and then, to Jenny’s horror, the sound of gunfire.
Tammi clapped a hand over her mouth in a gesture of horror. Jenny struggled not to do the same, feeling her heartbeat escalate within her chest, pounding away like a jackhammer.
Debbie gasped quietly, and Cheryl reached out to clutch at Alice’s arm fearfully.
Tammi removed her hand from her mouth suddenly and clutched her head with both hands instead. “I don’t feel so good.”
“What is it?”
“My head. It’s suddenly pounding. And… and… I…” Tammi’s voice trailed off and she blinked her eyes frantically.
“And what, Tammi?” Jenny asked, urgently, now fearing the worst. She stepped closer to clutch at the girl’s arm.
“I can’t see!” Tammi whispered. “I can’t see anything but blackness.”
Tammi shuddered, a head to toe gyration that rocked her slim body and made her stagger backwards. Jenny reached out to her, adjusting her grip from Tammi’s thin arm to her shoulder. She tried to steady the girl, to keep her on her feet, but the girl’s full-body shake made it difficult.
The girl’s clutching hands held her head tighter. “It hurts! It hurts so bad!”
Jenny let go of Tammi’s shoulders then and rushed to the sink to wet a paper towel with cold water, glad to see that the pipes must have retained some of the water pressure after the CDC had shut off the supply. In migraine sufferers, the rapid swelling of the blood vessels near the brain caused the pain. If Tammi were experiencing something similar, perhaps the oedoema the doctor had referred to earlier, then Jenny hoped that a cold compress would help relieve some of the pain.
Rushing back to Tammi’s side, she slapped the cold wet towels onto the girl’s forehead, looking into her blindly staring eyes as she did so. To her horror, Tammi’s pupils had contracted down to the size of a grain of sand.
“I’ve got aspirin in my purse,” Jenny told Debbie. “Can you get some out for her while I keep this on her head?”
Tammi moaned, an agonized sound filled with pain, and Jenny knew that she had to get help for the girl before it was too late. But who? Who would help? The doctor was useless, and no one else was qualified to provide any sort of medical care. Yelling for Stan and John would not only be futile, it would ruin her plans for escape. Calling for Stone would be worse, because she’d distract him from whatever it was he was doing to get his friends out of the cavern.
Desperation seized her. She couldn’t let the girl die. There had to be something that she could do.
“Hurry with those aspirins, Debbie,” Jenny urged as the woman fumbled with the clasp on her purse.
Tammi moaned again just as the door burst open and Stone barged in.
“Help her!” Jenny was almost shouting, but she didn’t care. Tammi needed help. And Jenny didn’t know what to do.
“Something’s wrong with her head,” she said.
Stone’s EMT background might just provide the help the girl needed.
Tammi gave another moan as a surge of bright red blood spurted from her nose, trickling down her face like a gruesome horror show special effect. The girl blinked once more, then swayed, dropping toward the floor, her muscles seeming to have turned to water.
Stone grabbed her before she could hit the hard saltcrete, then laid her gently down on upon the
floor.
The girl convulsed then, and Stone held her, trying to prevent her from choking on her own tongue.
Mere seconds later, her convulsions stopped as rapidly as they’d begun. Bright gouts of blood poured from her mouth and nose.
Stone tried to clear her mouth of blood, to allow air to get through, gently holding her mouth open and keeping her head tipped to the side. When that didn’t work, he used a hooked finger to scoop out the excess, but the blood just kept coming. Bright red rivers of it, in copious amounts. The pale gray floor soon darkened with a spreading red pool as Jenny looked on in horror.
Tears of blood began to seep out from under the girl’s closed eyelids, merging with the rivers of blood that ran from her nose. Tammi groaned again, the sound soft and barely audible, and then we went completely limp in Stone’s arms.
“She’s stopped breathing,” he said, leaning over the girl.
Alice, Debbie and Cheryl crowded closer.
“CPR?” Jenny asked.
Stone shook his head. “That won’t work, her airways are full of blood. Probably her lungs are too. CPR wouldn’t be able to force air through that much fluid.”
Jenny knelt beside him, trying not to look at Tammi’s bloodied nose and mouth as she felt for a pulse in the girl’s neck. There was no telltale flutter of a heartbeat beneath the girl’s thin skin.
“But… but… She was just fine!” Jenny whispered. “How can she be gone so quickly?”
Stone gently laid Tammi’s body upon the floor and stood. He pulled Jenny away from the girl, then moved to block her view of the gruesome sight with his chest.
Cheryl solemnly handed him a wad of paper towels, which he used to clean the blood from his hands.
Deep Down (Sam Stone Book 1) Page 8