Hot Zone

by Sandy Holden

  He considered me for a moment. “I know I don’t.” He kissed me again, and eventually I forgot my groundless anxiety. He pulled off my shirt over my head and a low groan escaped him. He continued undressing me while I tried to get his clothes off at the same time, the two of us bumping into each other in our rush to have the other naked. Tucker with clothes was amazingly attractive; Tucker without clothes made me simply stare at him.

  He realized I was staring and laughed, low. “I never thought you might want to see me without clothes on as well.”

  “You … I mean you’re so …” I swallowed, trying to bring some sort of coherency to my words. My face was burning, and I gave up the fight to express myself verbally and simply pressed myself up against him. He pulled me down on top of him on the bed, and I gave up trying to think at all.

  Chapter 19: I Can See You

  My two days vacation were over as of tonight, and tomorrow I would have to be in touch with Gabriel again and start doing some of the things I’d said I would do. There was a part of me that just wanted to tell him that he’d have to be a despot all by his lonesome, but somehow I thought that might be the straw that broke the camel’s back. He could visit; it was my fear. I’d had two nightmares where he visited and turned everyone I loved into Gabriel-drones. I thought I might just kill him if he did that. Of course, I’d have a couple hundred thousand people after me, but it might just be worth it.

  Tucker and I had been together just about every second of the last two days. He’d told me he’d help me as much as he could, but I repeated often that I had to make sure Gabriel never talked to him. He understood, although he didn’t take it as seriously as I thought he should.

  We were sort of hiding out in the screened-in porch. We were having a beautiful stretch of nearly summer temperatures, and with a blanket around us we were quite comfortable even without the heater on. Of course we were snuggling together kissing some, talking some, and just enjoying what the future held. Everything looked rosy for us.

  Several people were still in the living room watching something on TV. It should tell you right there how much I cared for Tucker when I didn’t even know or care what was on TV. I hadn’t said the words yet; somehow they kept catching in my throat. But he knew I cared deeply. And we were both happy with how things were going.

  So when we saw a shape come to the door of the porch, backlit by the lights in the living room, we didn’t think anything of it. Everyone in the house knew we were a couple now, so it came as no surprise to anyone. I couldn’t tell who it was right away, and Tucker was nuzzling my neck so I was understandably a little distracted. The shape just stood there, in the doorway, staring at us. Then it screamed in fury.

  I shrank back into the sofa as if I wanted to flow right through it to the other side. The screamer slapped her hand against the lights and they filled the room. I blinked, still shocked at the scream, and Tucker sat up, looking at our intruder.

  “You bitch!” A female voice snarled. I automatically put up my arms as if I were under attack. The words were dripping with hatred.

  Tucker identified her before I did. “Karen? What—” But he didn’t get any further.

  “You told me it wasn’t like that between the two of you!” Her breathing was heavy. She took two big steps that put her nearly in the middle of the room. I could see other people at the door, unsure what to do.

  Tucker had stood, partially in front of me. Karen was a tall girl, and I errantly thought that they looked good together. She continued, “You said you were just friends! I knew what was in your head! You loved me! You didn’t want her—you thought she was a prima donna. I can read minds!”

  Tucker seemed stunned into silence. I didn’t blame him. This was like some kind of nightmare. I’d known Karen liked Tucker. I mean, I was the one who told him she’d been watching him. I didn’t know what else had happened, but now I remembered the two of them holding hands, and she had cringed into him when she was afraid. Had I inadvertently poached? And what Karen said about me—is that how Tucker had seen me? Had he just decided to take what was offered two nights ago?

  “I go and visit my sister, and you immediately make a move on her. How could you? You promised me!” She turned to me. “And you! You have to have everyone, don’t you? Gabriel, Tucker, probably every other man here as well. You think I can’t see that? You are a goddamned slut!”

  I gaped. Meri had arrived from wherever she’d been and put her hand on Karen’s shoulder. “Karen, you don’t want to do this. Let’s go and …”

  Karen grabbed gentle Meri’s hand and twisted it. Meri cried out in pain and that sound seemed to unfreeze Tucker. He sprang forward and grabbed Karen’s arm, forcing her to let Meri go. I went to Meri who was holding her arm to her chest, staring at Karen like she’d grown horns. Karen was struggling like mad, and Tucker had his hands full restraining her. Suddenly she went slack, as if she’d fainted. Tucker took her to the couch and laid her on it, checking her breathing as he shook his head.

  “What was that?” he asked, bemused.

  I had no idea and just shrugged, slowly shaking my head. Bodyguard Nick had been in, of all places, the bathroom when this had started, but had come running out just after the first scream. He hadn’t done anything to help us, though. I glared at him. “Some bodyguard you are! A crazy woman hurts Meri and you just stand there?”

  Nick said slowly, “I protect you.”

  “Yes, I know that’s what Gabriel said, but what kind of dope just stands there when he can do something about it?”

  Nick shrugged. My fury, arriving too late to help Meri, peaked. My teeth were gritted as I walked over to him. “Go home, Nick. You’re fired. Go back to Gabriel. Get out of here now!”

  It always surprised me when I commanded something and the person actually did it. It certainly didn’t happen much—I wasn’t really the type to order people around, and even when I gave it a shot, it only worked about half the time. I had better results when I was angry. And I was very angry tonight.

  Nick didn’t say anything more, just walked away, everyone’s eyes on him. He went out the front door, and soon we heard a car start up, then fade as he drove off. Most of the people turned to me, some a little warily.

  Meri said in her soft but carrying voice, “Go on now, everything is fine.” Several people looked at each other, and they began to look embarrassed. Meri gave anyone who hung around a hard look, and the person inevitably looked at the floor or turned and walked off. Soon we were alone.

  I was shaking in reaction, but I went to Meri and tried to see if she was all right. She was looking at Tucker. “Did you touch her skin?”

  I felt like I’d missed something. “What?” I turned to Tucker. He was looking at his hands. He showed them to me, putting them out wordlessly, his eyes shocked. Both of his hands were bright red, as if they’d been burned. I heard a noise behind me and saw Hoover growling at Karen, her fur up on her back.

  Meri was examining her wrist where Karen had twisted it. It was covered with red marks that were striped in places and full red in others. I gave up trying to understand what was happening. “Your wrist—do you think it’s broken?”

  Meri shrugged tightly. “It doesn’t hurt nearly as much as it burns.” Her breathing was getting faster. “It really burns!” She gave a panicked look at Tucker, who also looked like he was in pain.

  All I could think of was to help them feel better, and I knew you put burns under cold water to help with pain, so I said, “Cold water. Come on!” And I don’t know if I rolled them, or if they were just ready to follow any suggestion at that time, but they both followed me as I bolted towards the kitchen. As fast as I could I shoved the water over to cold and pushed the lever back and on—medium force. I stepped to the side and then realized that they both couldn’t get their burned hands under the faucet at once. I pulled up the sprayer and moved to the other sink, holding up the sprayer like I was ready to shoot someone.

  Of course Tucker let Meri in,
and she shoved her wrist under the cooling water. Her face almost immediately began to ease. Tucker came over to me, and I gently sprayed his hands. The water that ran off their skin had an odd oily cast to it that pearled up in the water as it went down the drain.

  Tucker hadn’t seen it; he was breathing slowly and closing his eyes as the burning began to dissipate. I had an odd feeling and went with it. “Make sure you get every part. And I think you might believe I’m nuts, but if you can stand it we should wash your burns.”

  Neither one looked at all excited about this idea. I quickly plugged the sink and squirted some dish soap in it. I knew dish soap was fairly mild, and I had the feeling we needed to move quickly. Tucker didn’t balk, but put his hands in the cold soapy water. He gingerly tried to wash them against each other and took them out. I sprayed them with the sprayer.

  “Meri, do it. It helps.” He said to Meri, who was leaking tears at the pain. Meri was sort of a baby about pain at the best of times, and she shook her head when I tried to get her to put her arm in the water, fearing it would hurt more. Finally I couldn’t stand it.

  “Look at me!” I said in a louder-than-usual voice. “Meri, put your arm in there!”

  She leaned over and dunked her arm in, not seeming to care that she put it in all the way to the elbow, soaking her shirt. She looked at the water and then at me. “How did you do that?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  I ignored her, carefully reaching my hands in, as gently as I could, to make sure her arm was as clean as it could be.

  I looked back to see our wild dash and immersion had again drawn several interested observers. I picked one out at random. “Mark, do you have a cell? Call the clinic—find out who’s on tonight.”

  Meri had taken my suggestion on rounding up anyone with medical knowledge to heart, working even more feverishly when Jacob had gotten sick. We all knew this was a priority. We’d been lucky. Cannon Hills, another town close by, had pulled in with us on this, and between the two of us we had four nurses/paramedics and one doctor. We had let them set up their own schedule at the clinic with the idea that someone always had to be available.

  Mark had to ask someone for the number but he was soon on the phone. I had taken towels and very carefully wrapped them loosely around the burns. Tucker’s were beginning to blister, but Meri’s didn’t look quite as bad.

  Mark said, pulling the cell away from his face, “Alan is there. He says he’s the only one. We need to go there.” He put his ear back to the phone. “Wait a second. He’s going to see if Carla Phillips is available. She lives close to here.” Carla Phillips was turning out to be an amazing resource. Our doctor had been a psychiatrist, and had very little emergency experience. He was very quiet and thoughtful, and often twitchy. I had no idea if this was something that had developed since the bombs or whether he’d always been sort of neurotic looking. In any case, Carla had worked in a busy emergency room in Chicago for 35 years before she moved here to the sleepier world of rural Minnesota to finish out her working years as a public health nurse. No matter what the chain of command was supposed to be for doctors and nurses, no one questioned that Mrs. Carla Phillips was in charge.

  Mark hung up. “He’ll call me right back.” Several people were voicing opinions—aloe, butter, bandages. I was running out of ideas and didn’t know what to do now. Mark’s phone rang, playing a happy little Disney-type tune. “Hello?” he said. “Yes.” He nodded at us. What did that mean? Yes what? “Great,” he said and pushed the ‘end’ button. “She’s on her way. She says just keep them quiet, and you can run more water on them unless they’re bleeding or very severe.”

  Meri was just standing where I’d put her, seeming too shocked to move. I asked everyone to go downstairs and give Tucker and Meri some privacy. Most ended up going to bed, but a couple went downstairs to the slightly smaller TV. I sat Meri down, and Tucker and I peeked in on Karen, who was still out of commission. Hoover was watching her carefully. Whether it was right or not, I was starting to think that Hoover understood most if not everything I said. I had stopped talking to her like she was just a dopey dog and started talking to her more like a person. Sometimes I even swear she nodded. Okay, maybe I was a little nuts on that one. “Hoover, watch her, and bark really loud if she wakes up, okay?”

  Hoover chuffed. I think for her this was yes. Or she had a stuffy nose.

  Tucker slanted me a look but didn’t say anything obvious, like, uh, you’re talking to a dog, you know. I appreciated his restraint.

  I suddenly realized my boyfriend was hurting. I’d been so focused on dealing with the problem I couldn’t think of anything else. I carefully wound my arms around his waist, avoiding his hands. He didn’t touch me, but kissed my head and rubbed his jaw against my hair. “Tucker? What was that?”

  We went over to where Meri was looking vacantly out into space. Tucker gestured to her with one reddened hand. “Is she all right?”

  I went over and rubbed her back gently. “Mair? Are you okay sweetie?” No response. I looked worriedly at Tucker. “I wish Phil was here.”

  Phil had gone to help a friend in another town. She wouldn’t be back until tomorrow afternoon.

  We both jumped at the knock on the door. We didn’t even have a chance to stand up, much less answer it when Carla Phillips came striding in. “Who’s hurt?” she asked in her businesslike manner.

  She saw Tucker’s hands and clucked her tongue. “What did you do?” she asked, coming close to peer at the burns. She pulled out rubber gloves and snapped them on. Carefully, she touched the burned area, and Tucker drew in his breath at the pain. “How in the world did you get a chemical burn?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure you’ll believe this, but it seems like they got it from her.” I pointed into the screened-in porch.

  Carla shook her head. “Tucker—you’re Tucker, right? Dale’s brother?” Tucker nodded. “I want you to go and keep rinsing those hands with tepid water. Not hot nor cold. She pointed at me. “You help him get started and then come back.”

  We went back to the kitchen. I got him set up and went back to where Mrs. Phillips was in the screened-in porch leaning over the unconscious Karen. She lifted Karen’s hands and examined them closely. She lifted Karen’s eyelids and listened to her pulse. She came back, shaking her head.

  “You know, Madeline, I keep thinking I’ve seen it all, then I see something else that stuns me.” She pointed at Karen. “Best I can figure, your friend there—that’s Karen, isn’t it? Has developed a sort of defense system that exudes a caustic chemical. It’s still on her hands, but she has no burns, so it isn’t toxic to her.” Carla took off the rubber gloves, which were smoking slightly. “See?” She tossed them in the garbage. “Be careful not to touch your friend until she showers. I assume she doesn’t have that chemical on her all the time. If she does, no one should touch her. And she’s also going to spend a lot of time naked, since it burned away the fabric on her wrists.” She shot me an even look. “By the way, you’d be best off burning all of the things we have used or that she’s touched. The couch out there will have to go.”

  “Now, this is Meredith, correct?” She carefully examined Meri, who continued to just stare into space. “Except for the burns, there isn’t anything physically wrong with her that I can see. You said the girl in there twisted her wrist?”

  I nodded.

  “Yes, it’s swollen. Go on into the pharmacy, door is broken anyway, and get a splint for wrists. I doubt it’s broken, but if it still hurts as much in a few days as it does now, come on in and we’ll x-ray it.” Carla turned back to Meri and considered her. She clapped her hands suddenly and loudly in front of her face, and Meri jumped, her eyes coming into focus.

  “Hello and welcome back, Meredith,” Carla said a little dryly. “Now, go on in the bathroom and take off your shirt or anything else Karen in there might have touched, and put the clothes in a pile. Then get in the shower and take a nice tepid shower for at least fifteen minutes. Be very c
areful not to scrub anywhere she touched or you will scrub the skin right off.” She turned to me. “You get her clothes, and Tucker’s as well, and put them with the sofa to be burned.” She snapped her bag shut. “Do you have an aloe plant?”

  I shook my head.

  She sighed. “Better get one. Unless that Gabriel gets supplies moving soon, we’re back a hundred years where medications are concerned. I have a plant at home. You can plant one of the leaves. Until then, see if you have any burn ointment about. If the area is dry, you can use it, if the area is wet—blistered or oozing—just try to keep it dry or loosely bandaged. I’m on at the clinic tomorrow. Come on in and I’ll re-check the burns. You can give them pain relievers if they want them.”

  With that, Mrs. Phillips stood and walked out of the door. Meri and I blinked at each other. Meri said in a deeply confused voice, “When did Mrs. Phillips get here?”

  “Go take a shower, and then we’ll talk.” Still dazed, Meri walked slowly to the bathroom.

  I saw Mark coming up from the downstairs TV area and welcomed the interruption. “Hey Mark. Did you used to be a biologist?”

  “Sort of—why?” Mark was a quiet guy who seemed to me like he didn’t understand how to relate to people. He was 40ish and had lost his wife and twin daughters to the aftermath of the bombs. He’d been so depressed a neighbor had brought him here to live, so we could keep an eye on him.

  “Well, I was wondering. Would it be possible for someone to have something that didn’t hurt them, but did hurt other people?”

  He looked confused. I tried again, dropping the pretense of theory. “Okay, it seems Karen somehow has something on her skin that isn’t burning her, but that did burn Meri and Tucker.” At the mention of Tucker, I realized he was waiting for me to return. “Crap!” I rushed out and checked on him in the kitchen. He wanted to quit the whole flushing thing, and turned off the water. I helped him carefully dry his hands, dabbing them carefully, then tossing the towels we’d used in the “to burn” pile.