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May couldn't remember her trip back to the lab. She couldn't see past her worry, frustration and anxiety. She sat at her station, making stupid mistakes in her work and staring off into space.
She must have pulled out her cell phone half a dozen times, and press the button to ring NSO. But each time her thumb hovered over the button, she thought of Dr. Walker's warning. He would know, and then he would hurt her sister.
May looked Dr. Walker up on the hospital website. He had been working at the hospital for the last six years, but before that had been in private practice. Six years ago Mercile had been raided for the first time. That was where he had come from. May knew it. But how had he escaped with a New Species?
May buried her face in her hands and shut down the computer, getting her phone back out and pulling up NSO.
Just do it, she thought, call them.
But her sister!
No, she decided. Her sister deserved a chance, and if May had to do something sick and twisted to get her free, she would. She'd lived twenty six years of a free, relatively happy life. Her sister had never had that. And she was all May had. No one would miss May if something happened to her. Maybe no one would miss her sister, but now that May knew she existed, she found that she'd sacrifice anything for her. Her sister, who had a face now, a body and soul. She had lived twenty four years in captivity, at the mercy of heartless scientists who saw her as nothing more than a lab rat. May wiped her face quickly as she felt tears spill down her cheeks. She stood up, grabbing her bag, and walking quickly to her supervisor's office.
"I'm sorry," she told her, "I'm really not feeling well. I probably shouldn't be around any samples right now, I'm afraid I'm going to sneeze on them."
May was surprised how easily the lie fell from her lips. It was the only thing her supervisor understood, compromising lab results, anything that could do that had to be avoided.
"Go on, May," she said, "I'll put in your sick time. You'll have to take the day because you haven't been here at least half your shift yet."
"That's fine," May replied, zipping up her coat, "Thanks."
"Feel better," her supervisor called after her.
May left the hospital quickly, rushing to the bus stop. She put her headphones in her ears and stood at the stop. She wasn't listen to anything, but knew from experience that it would stop anyone who might think about talking to her.
A ping in her ears signaled a text message and May looked down. She cried out when she saw the picture, making the man waiting next to her look at her quickly.
It was a picture of her sister. Her lip was bleeding, and underneath it, Tell no one May. I can do much worse than this.
May understood. She didn't need to see anymore pictures.
Whatever you want, she wrote, I won't tell anyone. Please don't hurt her.
A message came in quickly, Good.
The bus arrived and May tripped her way up the steps. She leaned her head against the seat and chewed on her lips. She wanted everything to speed up; to get home, talk to Dr. Walker, do what he needed her to do.
But she had to be smart. She'd learned her lesson with that technician's wife. She needed to figure out a way to make sure he let her sister go after May followed his instructions. She quickly took screenshots of the text messages and sent them to both her personal and work emails.
May got off at her stop, nearly running to the motel where she was currently living. With all her money going to finding her sister, this was the most she could afford, and only as long as she just ate ramen.
She walked into the motel office, "Hey Esther?" she called out.
The orange-haired woman who owned the motel with her husband poked her head around the corner, "Hiya May!" she said cheerfully, "What can I do ya for?"
"Can I use your printer?" she asked.
"Sure," Esther said with a smile, popping her gum loudly, "I just got a new wireless one."
May searched for the printer on her phone, "Is it Hot Ernie?" she asked. Ernie was Esther's husband.
"Yup," Esther said, turning around and going back into her office.
May sent the pictures and text to the printer. She sent a screenshot of Dr. Walker from the hospital website as well. She pulled out the papers and folded them quickly, "Thanks Esther! I really appreciate it," she said.
"Anytime, Sugar," Esther called from the back office where she'd returned to watch Teen Moms.
She happened to look into the recycling bin as she walked out and saw an empty two liter jug of Moxie, Ernie's favorite drink to pair with his rum, and she snatched it up.
She turned her back to the door and rolled up the pictures, stuffing them into the container, like a ship in a bottle, and went into her room. She had to hide this somewhere.
This was all she had, but she hoped it was enough to scare Dr. Walker into releasing her sister. If he was from Mercile, his picture and the texts would be enough to get the NSO on his trail. They may even recognize him.
May tapped her finger against her chin while she looked around the sparse room. Finally she grabbed another sheet of paper, and wrote a quick description of what had happened. She put down Dr. Walker's name, what department in the hospital he worked, and a description of her sister. Please find her, she wrote and ran back into the motel office.
"Sorry to keep bugging you Esther," she called out, "Mailman come yet?"
"Nope," Esther called out, "just put it in the basket."
May stuffed the sheets into an envelope and put the NSO's address on the front, then she stuffed the entire thing into another envelope and put Esther and Ernie's name on it, along with a hastily scrawled, "Please forward if something happens to me."
It was the most she could accomplish in the short time she had; she just hoped it was enough.