Though Sihu’s death was nothing more than a tragic accident, Sayda’s father could see that she always blamed herself. Sayda once even told her father that if she was there, she could have stopped her sister from getting hurt. Then Sihu would have never gotten that horrible infection.
The pain of loss affects us all in different ways. In Sayda’s case, she has become very protective of the ones she cares for. She knows we are more than capable of taking care of ourselves, but deep down, I think Sayda fears losing us like she did Sihu. That protective drive is now as much a part of her as her fiery temper, and neither of them are something I want to challenge. Especially since Hadwin is getting worse.
On the way to the infirmary, Hadwin has to move slowly or he becomes severely short of breath. As we help him up the first flight of stairs it becomes clear he cannot make it the rest of the way. So, we exit on the next level and cross over to the elevator. The swelling in his neck is now so large it looks like he has a tumor growing from it. Even though we are nearly at the infirmary, Hadwin is running out of time. I take out the last injection from my first aid kit and jam the needle into his thigh. He yelps from the unexpected pinch. If the injection does not decrease the swelling quickly, his life is in serious danger.
The doors to the elevator open near the entrance to the infirmary’s level. Sayda and I are forced to carry Hadwin in order to move faster. I do not bother activating the patient alarm when we reach the entrance to infirmary. Instead, we move him straight back into the exam room. Thankfully it is empty except for Rana and Jace. By the time we put Hadwin on the gurney, he is barely conscious from the lack of oxygen.
“Stay with me, Haddie,” Sayda cries out as Rana and Jace run over to help.
Chapter 9
My instincts as a Healer take over. I steady my hand while grabbing one of the needles to insert an intravenous line. Seeing Hadwin’s distress, Rana puts an oxygen mask and cardiac monitor on him. After having Jace get more medications ready, I tell Rana about the spider as well as the injections Hadwin has already received. Jace pushes the medications into the intravenous line. I do not even wait for a response before getting the emergency airway equipment ready. If our treatments do not work, this will be his last chance.
Only when everything is prepared do I steal a glance back at his vital sign monitor. With the help of the supplemental oxygen, his blood’s saturation holds steady. The more promising sign is his blood pressure has not yet been affected by his body’s reaction to the bite.
Looking back at Hadwin’s deformed neck, the swelling seems to be moving more to the lateral portion, away from his central airway. Hopefully it stays that way. Now there is nothing left for us to do except to wait. Sayda paces back and forth, too restless to stay still. I hover over Hadwin, watching for any sign of progress or deterioration. After a few drawn out minutes, Rana breaks the silence.
“He’s looking better already.”
She is right. Hadwin breathes much easier than before. His oxygen levels are now better than mine and his blood pressure holds steady. Most importantly, he never went into full shock from the reaction. I let out an exhausted sigh, collapsing into the chair next to the computer.
“Don’t do that to me again, Hadwin,” I tell him.
“It would take a lot more than a little spider to break down this finely tuned machine,” he says in his normal voice and bravado. His words make me feel even more at ease.
“Yeah, little spider. Is that why you were screaming like you’d been shot?” I ask, teasing him. For once Sayda does not chide us for behaving like children. But she does not join in either. Though she has stopped pacing, her hands remain tightly clenched together. She is clearly shaken by what happened.
“Don’t worry Sayda, he’s fine now. Even if his reaction gets worse again, we have everything we need here to take care of it,” I tell her.
“Even so, we’re gonna keep a close eye on him for a while. You can stay with him if you like,” Rana adds.
Our reassurances help slightly. Sayda sits on the edge of the gurney. She finally relaxes some, even if she is not yet ready to speak. Looking up, I notice Rana watching me, waiting for my attention. She looks at me over her glasses before speaking.
“You may want to stick around as well. Taig’s coherent today, and he’s waiting for you in the ICU. You could help out Adara with Hadwin and him for a bit.”
Excited by the news, I motion for Sayda to help me transport Hadwin back to the intensive care unit. I have been waiting to talk to Taig since he came back. Now maybe I can finally get some answers about his affliction. When we arrive to the intensive care unit, Adara sits next to Taig, engaged in a conversation. She stands up when seeing who we wheel in.
“What happened?”
“He had an allergic reaction to a spider bite,” I tell her. “We just need to watch him for a while to make sure the swelling doesn’t come back. Luckily, he didn’t go into full anaphylactic shock.”
Adara comes over to examine him so she knows what his baseline is for comparison later. A deep red discoloration now covers the skin overlying the lump. The swelling has decreased, yet still deforms the entire side of his neck. Even though he is uncomfortable, Hadwin breathes normally. Sayda stands back and watches while I wait next to her. I really want to talk to Taig, but leaving Hadwin’s side feels wrong.
“Go ahead, you won’t be far,” Sayda says, seeing my internal struggle. Knowing she will not leave Hadwin’s side, even for a second, helps. If he takes a turn for the worse, Sayda will be there to inform me immediately.
Taig watches from the other side of the room and greets me as I approach. “Hey, Kagen. I guess things didn’t turn out as we planned.”
Adara must have already told him what happened on the trip and to his partner, Oren, sparing me the task. That helps because I am tired of giving bad news.
“Well, you’re still here, so that’s a plus. And at least this time I don’t have to worry about being eaten,” I say, holding up my healing forearm.
“Did I do that?” Taigs eyes fixate on my bandages.
“Yeah, you did. When you first got back, you were quite delirious.” I put my arm behind me, not wanting to focus on the injury. “Honestly, we were all surprised someone in that bad of shape was even able to make it back to Securus at all.”
Taig sits up in bed, his eyes unwilling to meet mine. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did that. I don’t remember it at all.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, you weren’t yourself. Now, we have some work to do to figure out what happened, unless you already know?”
“Not a clue.” His dejected voice tramples my optimism.
“I read the general reports you kept with the plants and small animals you encountered, but there wasn’t much data about your symptoms. Start with that,” I say. Maybe if Taig goes one step at a time he will remember more details.
“Well, it was nothing at first. We both had some stomach problems. I thought we felt off because of the fatigue from all the hiking. A couple days later we both got rashes on our necks and hands. It began with a hot redness that really burned. Later our skin started bubbling up. We covered up as much as possible in case the rash was from touching something, but it didn’t help. My best guess is it was from the Sun. After a while we were both getting super tired and irritable. By the time we were almost back, we couldn’t sleep. Then next thing I know Oren started hallucinating. After that, everything gets kinda hazy. I don’t really remember actually making it back to Securus.” Taig looks to the ceiling when speaking. The sense of detachment in his voice makes it sound like he were remembering a story he was told rather than recounting his own experience.
“It wasn’t the plants or the Sun. You had a severe vitamin deficiency. We just don’t know why it happened,” I tell him.
“How could that be? We ate all the supplies we had. Doesn’t the food vitamins in it?”
His frustration mirrors my own. Even worse, I do not have a
reasonable answer for him. “That’s what makes this so frustrating. You had more than enough in the supplies and even if you didn’t, this kind of illness should take months. But the tests are conclusive. Somehow you had an extremely accelerated course of the disease despite getting the vitamins in your food.”
“The only thing we didn’t eat was the gruel. I accidentally dropped the containers on a rock and everything spilled out. But we had enough of the other supplies to make up for it. We barely had to scavenge for food at all.” Taig tries hard to think of anything useful. “I had samples of everything we scavenged in my pack. Did you analyze them already?”
“Yeah, it was all negative.” When answering, I realize we did not actually test everything. Our artificial food is strictly regulated, so we did not waste any time checking it. Since it was the only thing he did not take, I will have researchers make the gruel does not have an unusual amount of the vitamin in it. “There has to be an answer. We’ll find it, hopefully sooner than later.”
He does not look inspired. I understand his hesitation. We will figure his Pellagra out, but how long will doing so take? Our talk only adds to my impatience with this disease. There are no solid clues to what happened and I am not any closer to clearing the forest for expansion. Even though we must wait until the review ends to search the forest again, knowing that option may be unavailable because of my failure to figure this out is maddening. The longer we are forced to stay inactive underground because of this, the longer Caelum gets to benefit from our enslavement. That is not something I am willing to accept.
I have many more questions about the forest and the location with the oddly arranged logs, but Taig’s energy is fading fast. Interrogating him will not be useful in his current state, and getting some rest may help his memory. Besides, I need to tell Talia what we found on the scout trip.
“You rest up, I’ll come by your quarters when I get some spare time to go over more of the details and talk about the expansion possibilities. In the meantime, make a note of anything else you remember that may be helpful,” I say to Taig while getting up. Before I have a chance to tell Hadwin goodbye, Jace runs in.
“Kagen, we need to you come to the exam room. There’s something you’ll want to see.”
“It has to wait, I need to speak with Talia,” I tell him firmly.
“No, it can’t,” he insists from the doorway with more determination than I thought him capable of.
I let out an angry grunt while going to see what his emergency is, irritated by the interruption. Jace keeps pace with me all the way to my exam room. My annoyance with Jace evaporates when seeing who lies on the gurney. He was right, I need so be here. I rub my eyes while taking a deep breath, silently pleading that the patient does not have what I already suspect. Tailyn has returned, and she looks a lot worse than before. Not only is her rash spreading, she appears to be completely exhausted.
“What’s going on?” I ask, moving closer to examine the spreading rash. The redness has widened, now covering both her arms as well as her neck. The small red blisters have become large bullae, exactly like the ones Taig had. Her eyes are slightly sunken in from dehydration.
“The rash keeps spreading and now I’m in the bathroom constantly. What’s going on?” Tailyn demands. I look back to Rana, who simply shrugs her shoulders in response. We both know what Tailyn has, even though it should be impossible.
I sit on the side of her gurney, suddenly feeling too tired to stand. This adds an entirely new level of concern because Tailyn was nowhere near the scout team. “It looks like you have a condition called Pellagra. It’s caused by a vitamin deficiency. How you managed to get it, I have no idea. We’ll run tests to confirm it, but I’m pretty sure of the diagnosis. The good news is it’s treatable. We’ll give you the infusion now. After it’s done, we need to go over every detail of your work environment and diet.”
Jace already obtained the samples to be analyzed and began prepping the infusion while I was talking. They were ready to proceed, but Rana knew I would need to investigate this deeper. Rana walks into the hallway, waiting for me to follow.
“How’s this possible?” I ask Rana, hoping she has more insight than me.
“I don’t know, but we need to find out soon. My only guess is our food has been tampered with. Maybe they found a way to remove the vitamins from them. From what you told me of Caelum, that doesn’t sound too far-fetched.”
“At least we know the infusion should work since Taig did well with it. What worries me is if this spreads we don’t have the production capability to treat everyone,” I say, feeling a sense of dread from the thought. What if this is Caelum’s way of disposing of us? Eradicating people in this way seems so unnecessary when they have the capability to kill us so much faster and easier. At some level I understand the cold logic behind eliminating Securus if we became a threat, but could they really be inhumane enough to do so in this manner? There has to be another answer that makes more sense.
Rana and I return to the exam room to find Jace fumbling through the infusion set up. Even in her weakened state, Tailyn holds power over his concentration and coordination. I try not to laugh, knowing I probably looked the same way when Talia was my patient. Thinking of Talia reminds me of the meeting I am supposed to be attending.
“Jace, I’ll finish up here. I need you to get take the samples to the Research Department and make sure they run the right tests,” I tell him, already taking over the infusion. “Rana, will you go speak to Talia for me? She should be preparing for the Leadership meeting. Tell her there’s a medical emergency I’m attending to and we’ll have to postpone the briefing until the morning.”
As soon as they leave, I turn back to Tailyn. We have a lot to talk about. Before I am able to say a word, the patient arrival chime rings. I am on the verge of pulling my hair out. This is not the time for more interruptions. On top of that, we do not have room in here to leave Tailyn on the gurney and evaluate a new patient. Then again, the day is nearly over, so Galen should be done with the scheduled visits. We may be able to use his exam room. I rush over to catch him before he leaves. Inside, he has his back to me, packing his things.
“Done with the appointments for the day?” I ask him though it is already apparent.
“No, I just didn’t feel like seeing anyone else,” he says sarcastically. “Of course I am.” He barely looks at me while he closing his Coden.
“Would you mind helping out with one more patient. Rana’s tied up, I’m working with another pellagra case, and now someone’s waiting outside,” I ask.
“Fine, it’s not like I have a family waiting for me or anything,” he mumbles as he pushes past me to go see the new patient.
I bite my tongue, reining in my anger from his response. Normally I do not mind his abrasive comments, but with everything going on he really should think about someone other than himself for once
Before going back to talk with Tailyn, I sneak back to see how Hadwin is doing. When I get back to the intensive care unit Adara and Sayda are all shaking their heads at Hadwin, who wears a wide smile. Seeing me at the door, he immediately informs me why.
“Kagen, don’t you think I need a twenty-four hour nurse with unlimited sponge baths because of my horrific injuries, suffered at the vicious fangs of that monstrous spider?” he shouts, searching for an ally. I can only shake my head along with the others.
“I take it you’re feeling better again,” I say, coming over to his gurney.
“Was there ever any doubt?”
“Not even a little bit.” I pat him on the shoulder and turn to the others before leaving. “Keep an eye on him, I think he’s delirious.” As much as I want to stay, Tailyn’s condition and the potential implications of it cannot wait.
With the intravenous fluids and the vitamin infusions nearly completed, Tailyn already looks better. As she becomes rehydrated, the color returns to her face.
“So much for it being a normal rash,” she says when I sit back down.
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“Yeah, there was something about it bugging me before. Now we know why. I never expected this to happen here. Another man has the same condition, but he was on the scout team and was away from Securus for weeks. You, on the other hand, have been here the whole time. What exactly have you been doing for the Research Department?” I ask, desperately searching for some common factor, though it is difficult to imagine what that might be.
“I’ve been working with the new garden on the surface. We used a small portion of the seeds the original founders had stored. I’m part of the safety team. We monitor the soil and food for any contaminants.”
Her answer is not what I wanted to hear. So far the surface is the only common factor between Taig and Tailyn. Hopefully we will uncover something else to link the two of them.
“I need you to make a list of all the testing reagents and any other chemicals you’ve used.” It is doubtful they will be of use, but everything must be explored. “How about your diet? Have you been sticking to the usual meals?”
Tailyn looks down, hesitant to answer. “Not exactly. We wanted to be sure there would be no ill effects so we decreased our normal meals and have been eating mainly food from the garden.”
A frown covers my face as I realize why she did not mention this before. Not only does her diet raise concern for contamination of the surface grown food, it gives me more new problems at a time that could not be worse. I become lightheaded from the realization that this disease could lead to the end of Securus.
Chapter 10
The intended purpose of Tailyn’s altered diet has some logic behind it. If there was an undetected contaminant, they would be putting themselves in danger before the rest of the colony. Still, this was not an approved testing protocol specifically because it could easily be seen as Leadership members abusing their position. If the rest of the colony found out, her secret would greatly damage the trust we have been working so hard to build. Given the shame in her body language, I doubt her motives were nefarious, but she knows how it could be perceived by others.
The Controller (The Securus Trilogy Book 2) Page 9