Chapter 9: Silence
Days turned to weeks, yet Seth never seemed to improve.
If anything, to Nora, Sol and the Doc, he seemed to steadily get worse. No matter the treatment or powder administered, the next morning always revealed him paler and even more distant minded.
Nora spent what time she could spare sitting by his side, scared to death she was losing him too, and powerless to stop it. She often held his hand, squeezing it gently, hoping he could feel it, hoping it would spur him on to get well and come back to her. It had been the same with Peter and his pneumonia.
But Seth could never be sure she was really there, and was fast becoming hard pressed to remember anything about anything. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been out of bed, and whenever he awoke, he lay, staring up at the blurry ceiling, much as he was now.
He'd lost the drive days ago to even want out of bed at all. All will to move his body had left him, and now as he lay, he felt the all familiar emptiness of the dizziness wash over him. He couldn't even be sure if he actually heard the sound of creaking wood and hinges.
"Well, well," a gentle, soft voice said, "our patient is awake." Seth squinted into the pitch blackness, trying to force his lips to move, and his voice to work, but it only came out the faintest of mumbles. "No, no, no," the voice said again, this time closer, "you don't have to greet me. You're usually asleep. But I will say, you're stronger than you look." The new arrival rustled the cloth of his jacket as Seth still struggled to make his body work.
"One last dose—the one that matters," the voice cooed as he wrapped a hand around Bullock's arm, sliding up the shirt sleeve, "this shouldn't hurt badly." The needle slid smoothly in, and the slight sound of squirting liquid filled the air for the briefest of seconds. "It's amazing isn't it?" The voice continued. "What a simple mixture of chemicals will do. Of course, with you, you couldn't just die right away—too suspicious. Better for you to fall ill for a time, then conduct the experiment that matters."
"You know why I came out here, don't you?" The voice continued. "Some plants and insects—specifically spiders—have the most effective paralytic compounds. Unfortunately," the voice paused as Seth drew in a sharp breath, beginning to feel as though he were suffocating, "trying to find a new mixture of compounds to replace the highly toxic aflatoxin, is taking time. But without experimenting…we'll never know when it's perfected." Seth drew in another sharp breath, willing his voice to work, to scream, to do something.
"You won't be able to even muster the will to talk by morning," the voice continued almost soothingly, "or have the use of any of your limbs. And you'll slowly lose your ability to breathe…the muscles will just shut down. My understanding is that its rather painless…but then again, I've never suffocated when there's air all around me." The man hovering over the bed spun around at hearing the door creak open.
"What are you doing?"
"Dear Nora…welcome."
"What have you done Andy?" The note of fear on her voice was unmistakable.
"Isn't it obvious? Your lover here has just become the latest subject in advancing science."
"You said it would stop once we got out here."
"My dear sister, science never stops. I give you credit though for following me tonight, considering this isn't the first time I've paid Seth here a visit."
"I figured not…but you should not be so careless with a lantern if you wished for secrecy," she paused as she drew in a sharp breath, "but why him?" Despite her strength, Andy could still hear the quiver on her voice, and knew she was close to tears.
"You used to tell me everything. Now you tell me nothing," the jealousy on his voice was unmistakable, "and him everything."
"Don't tell me that's what this is about." The outrage on her voice mixed with the sadness.
"Not entirely," Andy paused, "to listen around camp, your lover here is quite a pain in a lot of people's asses. Seems the camp would be better off without him."
"Maybe it's you the camp could do better without." The anger on her voice overcame the sadness as she pressed a gun barrel to Andy's back, never mind she was terrified to do so.
"You're not going to shoot me Nora." He said calmly, not moving a muscle.
"Why wouldn't I? You're killing the man I love…and for all I know Peter fell sick because of you. And you've killed who knows how many others. And you swore to me this would all stop once we came out west…that you'd finally give up this crusade."
"Something of a lie I suppose, since continuing my work in a place where no one would notice if men went missing was the whole reason for our journey…but it worked enough to get you to join me. I couldn't be out here without you Nora." She pinched her eyes shut, willing the tears to stop. This was her brother, her twin brother for God's sake…and here she was with a gun in his back. "Nora…dear Nora." His voice was so clam, so soothing, she drew in a shaky breath, her grip on gun the loosening.
One swift move saw the gun out of her hand and into his, her back pressed tight against his chest, the gun barrel to her temple.
"You forget, sister dear, that while the lab explosion may have somewhat blinded me, it afforded me a distinct ability to see well in the dark."
"Then why the hell didn't you see me?" Andy felt the cold barrel of a gun against the side of his face.
"And where were you?" Andy coolly asked, keeping his grip on Nora firm, feeling her shiver as he pressed the gun harder against her head.
"Sort of behind the door. Heard someone leaving this room a night ago. Figured I'd stay here a while, see if he came back."
"Then why didn't you say anything earlier Sol?" Andy ground out.
"Couldn't interfere in a siblings' quarrel." Andy's cold laugh pierced the black silence.
"Well your silence has just about cost you your friend's life."
"Maybe his but there's another life left," Sol said, pressing the gun more into Andy's face, "let her go."
"But I could pull this trigger at any second, and you'd never see it coming."
"Same goes," Sol tightened his grip, "besides, you'd have killed her already."
"You think so?" Nora screamed as the bang of a gun filled the room, followed by another.
hope to have next chapter up in a few days. thanks fer stoppin' by!