Chapter 12

"Oy Vey"

It's been 2 days since their meeting, Tal and the strange girl Zanna. He's been wondering about her, he even lightly searched for her but gave up when he neared the lower levels – the idea of being that close to the ground unnerved him more than he wanted to admit. Deciding to let the situation settle he turns his focus on a more productive task: de-radiating himself. I need to be able to touch in case anything happens if or when I find her. Gathering the usual radiation flushing drug (Rad-X) from the med ward he doses himself "now to cool off." The roof would probably be the best place as far as airflow, I'll go up there. On his way up a stairwell it occurs to him how he might as well read while he's up there. Then the idea evolves; better yet, why don't I read the books she's been reading, maybe then I can get an idea of who the heck she is and what brought her to this place. Very pleased with himself for finding a way to accomplish both his goals with a single effort he goes to the library and gathers up several of the books she'd left out. Gathering up some of the books she's been reading recently he takes them to the top level to read. Settling himself at a metal desk near the west railing he takes a moment to enjoy the view.

I haven't been out in the open air in a year... its almost easy to forget what's happened to the land when you're 30 stories above the ground, where the air is cool and almost clean. The sky is even a shade of blue today… well, muddy grayish blue anyway.

He opens the first book, a classical story called "Call of the Wild." And so he begins to read.

**********

"How could she just leave?" Tal lifts his head from the book he's reading at the sound of that familiar voice yelling. Zanna? He wonders cupping a hand behind what used to be his ear, listening. Setting the book on the metal table in front of him he wonders if it was just the wind. He looks around but doesn't see her.

"She just left me standing there, like I wasn't even important!" Nope, not the wind. He stands from the metal table taking a few steps straight ahead to the rail and looks over to the landing 2 stories below. Nothing. Hm… wonder where…

"Argh! I'm so freaking tired of being second-fiddle! And you know what else? I'm tired of you leaving the cap of the friggin toothpaste!"

There she is, Zanna walks into visibility from under the overhang. She's barefoot and her hair is wet, she's storming around like she's angry about something. She's wearing one of the old jumpsuits though she's cut off the legs below the knees and the sleeves at the shoulders. He grins to himself thinking how funny it is that now the two of them match. "Such a curiosity..." He mutters to himself.

"Inside! Without me, I was out... stupid sand! So much sand, but no matter how much I shouted she wouldn't open. Like I would ever steal dinosaur embryos anyway!"

She climbs onto the rail balancing on it. He grips the metal alarmed at her dangerous move. She totters flailing her arms muttering something about bread – his mind races: 28 stories below is the lake, odds are she wouldn't survive the fall, if she did survive the creatures in the water would likely consume her, if they didn't fully consume her I don't know if I could get her out before she drowns, if I do get her out I don't know if I could keep her from total sepsis… Marty shakes his head silencing his panicked rambling thoughts. Pushing away from the rail he bolts away from the wall sailing down the 2 flights of stairs to her floor, praying she hasn't jumped yet.

He nears the open door leading to the balcony and there she is, still balancing and muttering to herself.

"They're all gone, too late... too late... and a spoonful of sugar won't help if there's no medicine." she touches her head, swaying, she teeters dangerously her toes gripping the bar beneath her.

He lunges forward wrapping his arms around her waist and bracing one boot on the top of the rail and the other boot at the base of the railing. In an instant he's pulled her to safety. He quickly releases her standing back as much for her sake as his. She recovers to a sitting position and looks at him incredulously.

"What the hell are you doing Tal?"

He's shocked as much by her rational question as by the fact she remembered his name. "Uh, I-I… well you were on the r-rail, you could've fallen…"

Her eyebrows furrow. "I was?" She looks around apparently realizing where she is. Her expression turns fearful. "O-oh…" She takes a deep shaky breath.

"Hey uh, b-but y-you're ok now. Right, I-I mean I didn't h-hurt you or anything did I?" She runs her hands along her arms then shakes her head. "W-well then g-good." She doesn't say anything, just sits there with her hands in her lap staring at the floor. He stands up feeling a little awkward. "Um, Zanna, I-I need you to check your midriff, t-to se if I m-might've b-burned you when I…" he makes a grabbing gesture "you." She stands and walks through the doorway to his left, her expression distraught.

"Stay there, I'll check."

He blinks hard cycling through all the information buzzing around in his head. As soon as I'm safe for contact I need to examine her head, see if she's sustained some kind of cranial trauma. Then I need to find a psychological reference and verify that she may be bipolar or borderline. If indeed she is I need to see if this place has any medication I can use to treat her. Maybe after all that she'll be able to talk, hopefully she'll be willing to talk, then maybe I can begin to piece together her story.

"I'm done." She walks back out into view her face wholly changed, bright, normal. "I'm alright, not even hardly pinkey. I don't think you're still as radioactive as you think…" she touches her head again he watches her closely.

"H-how did you know… that I was…"

"Radioactive? Tal, come on. Fist you're a Glowing One, so I know you can take massive exposure to radiation. Second you're always up in that reactor room, there could be a crack, or you could just like a jolt from time to time, nothing odd about that. Third when I first saw you yesterday you had just left the reactor room and you were amazingly bright…" his eyes grew wide. She saw me before I saw her, she was right outside my reactor room and I didn't even see her. "So you see, its elementary my dear Watson." She smiles. "H-how do you know so much Zanna, about m-my kind? About ghouls?" She opens her mouth to speak but halts putting a hand to her head.

"Is your h-head hurting you again?" she nods. "Here, turn to face me." She does as he asks and he picks up an old plastic trash can lid shaking it off, he leans closer to her and holds the lid over her head blocking the sun, a few seconds later he moves it, she grimaces. Upon repeating this movement a few times he notes that her pupil response is slow – one more bit of information. "H-here, come in out of the s-sun." She follows him inside "Um, I-I think you should lie down, I'll g-go see if I c-can find something for that migraine." He turns to go to the med wing but remembers an important question "Where can I f-find you when I get the medication?" She looks at him for a second then smiles.

"You're a doctor aren't you?"

"I… I used to b-be one, yes."

"Hm. Thought so." She heads toward the opposite door "I'll be on the fifteenth floor in the head engineer's quarters. That's the level below the one where the mess hall is." She disappears down the hall her bare feet making little slapping noises as she walks. He smiles then rolls his eyes. "I have got to work on this stuttering…" I'd gotten so good about it too, I hardly ever stuttered outside of social functions. I just need to work on it… something tells me I'll have plenty of time for that. He walks out of the room and down the stairs headed for the med clinic.