Chapter 28
Ray limped towards the medical center's doors. He was tired, having stayed up all night with Melody who wasn't feeling well. He knew that in nine months she would feel better, but right now was rough on her. He never thought in his lifetime that he would ever be a father again.
After marrying Melody Ray knew that she had been slightly disappointed in becoming pregnant so soon. She had wanted children, but only after her career had taken off and she had made her wishes known to him when she was six months pregnant.
"I wish you would have waited," Melody told him.
"Waited for what?" Ray questioned confused at what Melody was talking about.
Ray remembered how Melody had narrowed her eyes at him as she stood by the front door of the house.
"Raymond," she said bitterly, "I don't want to be pregnant right now."
Ray paused at the doors to the medical center and sighed. He remembered how Melody had slammed the front door in his face as he stood there dumbfounded. That night when she had come home from work he had found out why.
Ray pushed the thought from his mind as he reached out and opened the door to the medical center. He would deal with Melody later. He was sure she felt the same way with this new baby on the way, but right now he needed to be strong for Nokomis.
Ray limped down the hallway and past the guard on duty heading for the bank of elevators. Even though it had been over a month since his surgery he was still feeling sore and tired. Especially on days like today when all he would do is sit in a chair for hours.
It had been twenty-nine days since his daughter's return. Twenty-nine days of hell for him. While he was dealing with a pregnant and moody wife, not to mention a sick daughter, his friends were happy. Egon was dating again and really smiling for the first time since Eden had been killed. Winston's wife was getting better and they were recuperating at home in Maryland. Everyone that was except Peter.
Ray stopped in front of the elevators. Peter. Ray reached out and pressed the button to call the elevator. Peter and Dana were not talking to each other since Peter had returned from Rome. Peter had explained to Dana that Oscar had found out about his real father. He had told his wife how Oscar had his birth certificate with him when they went to the Sistine Chapel. Oscar had confronted Peter about it and he had told his adoptive son the truth. Dana had taken it all in stride as she knew that one day Oscar just might question why he didn't look like Peter. Dana had told Peter that Oscar just went on to his next conducting job. After all he just needed to be alone to have time to think things through and he would be back or call when he was done brooding. Peter had told Dana that he didn't think that was the case. When Dana protested again, Peter had then told her the truth.
Ray didn't know what Peter had said to Dana to get her to stop talking to him, as Peter never told him. All Ray knew was that Peter had kept a secret from Oscar about his mother and now that secret was coming back to haunt him.
Ray watched the doors to the elevator open and stepped inside. Reaching out he pressed the button for the basement. The contagious facility of Jacobi Medical Center was located in the basement of a building that stood off by itself. He had been brought here with Nokomis on July 2nd only to be released after a few hours and a good decontamination shower. Everyday after he had been released he had come back to sit with his daughter.
Ray felt the elevator come to a stop and waited for the doors to open. Exiting the elevator Ray walked the familiar corridor to the desk where there was always a nurse on duty. He knew everyone who worked or took care of Nokomis. Echo had explained that because of the likelihood of a spread of smallpox that the smallest number of people would be assigned to his daughter.
Ray had not liked the idea at first as he stopped and signed the register on Nurse Kimball's desk but after the first week he had been grateful for it. The small staff gave personal attention to his daughter to which he liked.
Nurse Kimball smiled at Ray as he left the desk and continued down to his daughter's room. Stopping outside the door he sat down on a plastic bench and started dressing. He was not allowed to see Nokomis unless he wore a gown, shoe covers, hat, and latex gloves. They were colored blue or green depending upon the day. Today the color was green. When he was done he reached over and grabbed a thick, white, N95 respirator mask from the shelf where he had taken the other hospital clothes from.
Ray didn't like the heavy mask that was hard to breath through, but he knew he had to wear one while Nokomis was still contagious. Ray pulled the head bands loose to hang on the outside of the mask as he held it in his left hand. He brought the mask up to his face and placed the lower band behind his neck while the upper band hung behind his head above his ears.
Taking his left hand away from the front of the mask Ray used his fore and middle fingers of both hands to press the metallic strip above his nose down. The next step was to seal check his mask. Doing what Nurse Kimball had taught him Ray covered the mask lightly with both hands and breathed with deliberation. He felt no air coming out of the sides of the mask. He also inhaled and could see that the front of the mask depressed slightly inward and he knew that it was correctly fitted.
Ray got up off of the bench and opened the door to his daughter's room. Carefully he closed the door to the corridor before he opened the anteroom door. The anteroom was an aluminum passage that served as an isolating entryway to prevent the spread of airborne particles to the outside. Carefully using the handrail on the wall to help him along Ray limped over to where Nokomis lie in bed. Pulling the chair out he sat down into it. He wished he could have brought his cane with him but it was wooden.
He had been warned that because his cane wasn't a nonporous surface there was a possibility that the Variola Major virus would thrive there. Thus when Ray left the hospital he could be potentially spreading the disease further.
Ray smiled under his mask as he leaned over and reached out a gloved hand touching Nokomis on her shoulder.
"Nokomis," he said gently, "it's Daddy."
"Jin?" she muttered back.
Ray pulled his hand away and leaned back in his chair. This wasn't the first time she had called that name out.
Since Nokomis' arrival at Jacobi Medical Center she had gotten worse and not better. The rash that she had on her face had spread to her arms and legs. Then within twenty-four hours it had spread to her hands and feet also.
Nokomis had come back to him with no clothes on and smelling of smoke. When the doctor had examined her she had blood in her underwear. Fearing that whoever had taken Nokomis had hurt her Ray allowed the doctor to gather evidence with a Physical Evidence Recovery Kit also known as a PERK kit.
Nokomis was semi-conscious when the nurse asked her about her menstrual history and use of contraceptives. Just like at the house Nokomis only spoke Mandarin back and called out the name Jin often. In the end before the medical center could get a translator she started speaking gibberish.
Ray had been relieved that Nokomis was only having her menstrual cycle and had not been raped as the doctor had suspected.
Echo had told Ray that there was no known treatment for smallpox other than supportive care. Even the doctor who worked on Nokomis told him the same thing.
"By the time a rash emerges it is too late for us to vaccinate," the doctor told Ray, "but we can try a drug called cidofovir."
"My niece told me about cidofovir," Ray replied as a nurse took his vitals that day, "it causes serious kidney toxicity."
"Yes that's true," the doctor replied, "but we would use probenecid to prevent that."
"No thank you," Ray replied, "if Nokomis is going to pull through this I don't want to worry about her kidneys down the road."
"Then all we can do is keep her comfortable," the doctor replied leaving.
The next day Nokomis' rash became raised bumps and then they filled with a thick, opaque fluid with a depression in the center. Almost like a bellybutton. Her fever had come back too. Ray had spent his forth of July by her bedside as the doctor placed Nokomis on a ventilator.
"Her breathing is insufficient to keep her alive," the doctor told Ray as he hooked up the plastic white tubing to the end of the endotracheal tube that he had just placed into Nokomis' windpipe. "We will keep her on the ventilator until she is breathing better."
Ray closed his eyes as he remembered back to that time. Not only did Nokomis stay on the ventilator for a week but she also had a feeding tube placed into her stomach. If it hadn't been for Nokomis' black tips on the end of her hair he could have sworn it was her cousin Echo all over again. Flashbacks of Echo ran through Ray's head.
A young teenager with a central line, and another line into her left arm. Feeding tube with pump dolling out how much she was to be fed each day. Urinary catheter and bag attached at the foot of her bed. Ventilator machine making noises that corresponded to the quiet beeping of her heart monitor. And the never ending struggle of one's mind over whether Echo would get better or die hung in the room.
If Ray had been upset about his niece Egon had been depressed. The constant vigil that Egon had kept at his daughter's bedside was now Ray's. The only thing different this time was that there were no visitors allowed.
Ray opened his eyes and leaned forward. He knew it had to be that way, as he removed a piece of Nokomis' hair that hung in her face, but he didn't have to like it.
Nokomis stirred under his touch and Ray took his hand away from her hair to reach out and take his daughter's hand in his. They had been through so much and Ray considered himself a lucky man right now. Ray watched as Nokomis rolled to her right side and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked them twice before she focused them on him.
"Daddy?" she questioned.
"Right here," Ray answered back, "Are you feeling any better today?"
Ray had asked this question for two weeks now. He wanted Nokomis to come home but she still had some pustules that were scabbing and flaking off. Until all her scabs fell off she was still considered contagious and couldn't leave.
For five days while Nokomis had been on the ventilator her bumps had become pustules, that were sharply raised, round, and firm to the touch. If Ray hadn't of known better he could have sworn that they felt like a BB pellet embedded in her skin. The doctor had visited Nokomis twice a day to check on her progress also.
One week to the day that Nokomis had been placed on the ventilator the doctor had removed it.
"The swelling in her mouth has gone down," the doctor told Ray. "The rash on Nokomis' tongue and palate were extensive. The raised papules that filled with fluid on her tongue, hard and soft palate, caused a blockage of air to her trachea. That's what caused her to have difficulties in her breathing."
"By placing her on the ventilator we helped her situation. Now she just needs to regain her strength."
Nokomis looked down at her hand that her father held in his.
"You know the answer to that one," she said.
Ray nodded his head. He knew that Nokomis was feeling physically better but emotionally she wasn't that good.
"Look Nokomis," Ray said, "I know right now you feel cooped up. So did I after my knee surgery, but your scabs have almost all fallen off. As soon as they do Nurse Kimball will set you free. Just think of that! Picture all the things that we can do as a family again. The places we can go and the people we can see."
Nokomis looked up into her father's eyes.
"Yeah," she said bitterly, "I can picture it now. All the people talking behind their backs and pointing at me."
"Oh come on now Nokomis," Ray replied, "why are you being so hard on yourself. No one is going to be talking about you behind their backs. We've had this conversation before."
"Yes we did," Nokomis replied reaching out with her left hand to pick at a pitted scab that still hung on her right arm.
Picking it up she held it in front of her father's face.
"I feel like a cover poster for an acne commercial," Nokomis replied.
Ray released his hold on Nokomis' hand and took the scab from her. He carefully reached to his left and tossed it into the trash bin before he spoke again.
"Nokomis," he said gently, "you aren't that bad. The doctor is going to make the scars less visible by doing subcision and fat transfers. But that can only be done when you are not contagious any more."
"And that will take a long time as he has to physically separate the dermis and subcutaneous tissue of each spot," Nokomis replied. "Why can't I have the laser treatment?"
"Because, as the doctor has told you before, your scars are deeply indented and can only be done by the subcision method," Ray said. "And as I have said to you before you aren't that bad looking."
"Yeah," Nokomis said harshly, "you have to say that because you're my dad."
"No I don't," he replied, "I think you are beautiful the way you are."
"When is the last time that you looked into a mirror Daddy?" Nokomis spat at him. "I looked yesterday and I saw an ugly, unsightly person with scars up and down her legs and arms. Not to mention my face!"
"Nokomis…," Ray started to say before she interrupted him.
"Forget it Daddy," she said as she turned her body away from him, "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Just go home to Mom."
Closing her eyes Nokomis softly spoke to herself, "I wish I would have died in that stupid desert. Why did Jin have to save me?"
Ray waited a moment before he asked Nokomis a question. It was the same question he had asked for a week now.
"Nokomis, who is Jin?"
Nokomis squeezed her eyes tighter together. She didn't want to do this now. She had regretted saying what she had about Jin. It wasn't his fault that she had gotten smallpox. He had been kind to her and never in their time together had he ever once taken advantage of her. Nokomis knew he could have too and thought back to that day.
She had spied Jin bathing in a hot spring about two weeks after she had met him.
Nokomis had woken up in the morning and had not found him by her side. Wondering where he had gone to she went looking for him.
The sound of running water brought her to a stream which Nokomis followed up into a rocky cove. There on the branch of a tree sat an indigo blue kimono and black split hakama pants. She knew that they were Jin's from the four-diamond emblem in white that sat in the middle of the kimono's back. She had spent many hours staring at it or the two that sat on each of his sleeves.
Nokomis had watched as Sayuri had carefully sewn the four white diamonds to the left chest of her new homongi kimono that Sayuri had given to her. Afterwards she had stood before Jin when they had been ready to leave the temple. Jin had reverently touched the design on her left chest and then touched his.
"We are family now," Jin said.
"Sori," she replied not understanding what he was saying.
Stopping behind a tree Nokomis saw someone in the water and carefully peeked through the branches. She saw Jin's beautiful back and his dark brown hair that now hung loose. As she watched Jin fell backwards into the water and came up dripping wet, his hair clinging to his neck and shoulders. He turned around to face her and she saw that his funny looking glasses were not on his face. For a split second Nokomis thought that she knew him and gasped out loud.
Covering her mouth with her hand, Nokomis turned around and sat down on the ground. Now she was in trouble. She hadn't meant to make a sound but somehow Jin had reminded her of someone. But like before, at the temple, she couldn't remember from where.
A moment later Jin stood before her dripping wet wearing only his white gi. He had his left hand on the scabbard and his right hand on his katana which was partly drawn out.
"Sori!" Nokomis shouted up at him removing her hand from her mouth and backing away from the young man who stood threateningly in front of her.
"Sori Noko," Jin replied as he replaced his katana into its scabbard.
Nokomis watched as Jin's breathing slowed down along with her own. They both were wearing only their gi's and she knew that hers was slightly opened at the top revealing her breasts. From Jin's advantage point he could see straight down her gi and from her point of view Nokomis could see straight up his. Both parties got a good view of each other's "goodies" before she blushed and turned her face away.
Right then and there Nokomis knew that if Jin had wanted to he could have easily taken her on the moss covered ground. No one would have heard Nokomis as she screamed for help. She would not have been able to fight him off either as he was physically bigger than her.
Nokomis had seen his manhood at "half mass" as her mother had explained to her one day.
"That's when you know a guy likes you," Melody told Nokomis, "and that he wants you."
Nokomis wasn't a stranger to what a boy looked like naked and tried to rid her head of the memory of her ex-boyfriend.
When she had turned seventeen she had run away from home. Nokomis had ended up at her boyfriend's house in Queens. Scott was nineteen years of age at the time and had made it known at the end of the week that she had been there that he had wanted her.
"So," Scott said as he sat on the couch watching television with Nokomis on his lap, his arms wrapped around her, "do you want to try me?"
"Try you?" Nokomis questioned back confused at what he was talking about.
"Yeah," Scott replied taking his right hand and placing it down her top, "you know let's do the wild thing."
"Do the wild thing?" Nokomis questioned back as she tried to get his hand out of her top.
"I like to call it hiding the salami," Scott said as he grabbed her breast and pulled her closer to him.
"You're sick!" Nokomis shouted trying to get away.
"No," Scott said back as he ripped her top off roughly, "I'm hot for your body!"
Nokomis shivered and removed the thought from her mind. Jin had done none of that to her. She hadn't told her parents about Scott and what had happened to her. She didn't want to tell them about Jin either.
"No one," Nokomis finally answered her father back, "Jin is no one."
"If you say so," Ray replied leaning back into his chair.
Ray knew that something had happened but until Nokomis opened up and started talking to him he wasn't about to find out.
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"Alright young lady you have to tell us sooner than later."
"No I don't!" Nokomis shot back sitting up in bed, "Tell me where it is written that I have to tell you where I've been."
"Nokomis," Ray replied gently from his chair by the side of her bed, "these men are just trying to do their job."
Nokomis crossed her arms and stared at the two men dressed all in green from head to toe that stood before her at the foot of her bed. Richard Forrest and Caesar Rutledge were from the CDC and had come to ask her questions. Questions that she didn't want to answer. She had avoided the same questions with her father, her doctor, and Nurse Kimball. Now these men wanted answers. This day had started out bad and was going to get worse before it was over.
"When it involves the likelihood of the spread of a potentially fatal infectious disease then you have to tell us where you have been," Richard Forrest said.
"And according to the CDC Smallpox Response Plan and Guidelines; in Guide A subsection…," Caesar Rutledge said trailing off as Nokomis interrupted him.
"Alright! Enough!" She shouted at him unfolding her arms.
Taking her right hand Nokomis rubbed her temple. She hated both men but Caesar Rutledge the most. He was always quoting from this book or that paper and it made her head hurt.
"Feiren," Nokomis said under her breath, "lao wan gu."
"Oh," Richard said nodding his head, "I see. You think my partner is a useless arrogant old man. Well two can play at that game. Bai mu."
"Ta made!" Nokomis shot back as she took her hand away from her head, her eyes becoming round with fright realizing that the man before her spoke Mandarin.
Her mother had told her that only a few people in New York City even spoke Mandarin nowadays. How did this guy know what she was saying, let alone speak it back to her? Nokomis had been able to get away with cursing in school because none of her teachers knew what she was saying.
"Nokomis!" Ray sternly said to her.
Now she knew she was in trouble.
"Look here young lady," Ray continued, "Just because your mother taught you to speak another language I don't want you using profanity. In Mandarin or in English. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Daddy," she muttered at Ray, looking away.
"Good. Now let's all just settle down and try to work this out. Alright?" Ray asked.
Nokomis sighed and looked back to where the two men stood. Above them was a clock that hung on the wall behind them. She looked at the time. It was nine o'clock, Friday the 31st of July and she didn't want to be here. Four weeks of being trapped in the basement of the medical center all because somehow, somewhere she had contracted smallpox. She didn't remember when she had gotten sick with Jin and these two men wanted to know how it had happened. She didn't want to tell them about her time with Jin. That was her memory and hers alone. She couldn't even be sure it had been real.
Nokomis had been dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke when she had run away from her mother. "I was seeing a mirage," she said silently to herself, trying to convince herself of its truth. But no mater how she tried Jin had seemed real to her. She had to tell these men what had happened.
"It's always best to start at the beginning," Uncle Egon told her one day when she had come to him with a problem.
Heeding his advice Nokomis took a deep breath and slowly released it.
"I've been in China," she finally said to the two men.
"Where?" Richard asked as he took a small notebook and pen out of his pants pocket relieved that they were finally getting somewhere.
"Korla," Nokomis replied.
"Where in Korla were you staying?" Caesar asked as his partner wrote down the answers.
"Mom and I were staying at the Korla Licheng Garden Hotel."
"Nice place," Richard said, "I like how some of the rooms look out onto the Kongque River."
"You've been to Korla, China?" Nokomis asked.
"Yes," Richard replied.
Richard wanted Nokomis to relax and trust him and to do that he was going to have to find out what she liked. China seemed to be on the top of her list right now.
"Say," Richard asked trying to sound causal, "is the Xinpeng Shopping Center still there?"
"Yes," Nokomis said leaning forward in bed, "I especially like Pamirdin's that they serve in the food court there the best!"
"Yeah. Well my favorite are Sangza's," Richard replied, "So what else did you and your mom do while you were there?"
"We went to The Ancient City of Loulan," Nokomis proudly responded.
"Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all," she thought to herself. He did seem interested in China too. Maybe he had an interest in the country just like her mother. "That's probably why he knows Mandarin too," Nokomis thought.
"You're not allowed to go there as a tourist," Caesar stated.
Nokomis frowned at Caesar. She really disliked the man.
"Caesar," Richard said to his partner, "let me ask the questions please."
"It's okay," Nokomis said to Richard.
Turning to face Caesar, Nokomis spoke to him in a tone of voice that her mother would use on her students.
"My mother, Professor Melody Stantz, is an archaeologist for the New York University. She was on a two week expedition of the site for the university."
"I see," Richard said as he jotted down some notes, "Did you find anything new?"
"Find anything new?!" Nokomis nearly shouted at Richard, "Mom found this hidden tomb!"
"Really?" Richard questioned, "What was inside?"
"Well the chamber that she found first contained mural paintings on the wall, but I discovered another sub-chamber."
"You found it?" Richard said surprised at the young teenager as he looked up from his notebook, "Where?"
"Well at first neither one of us noticed it," Nokomis said. "It wasn't until the eighth day that we were there that I found a narrow opening in the wall of the outer chamber. Mom said it was probably caused by an earthquake sometime ago. After you squeezed through the rock you were met with this ancient burial chamber carved out of the rock with wooden support beams around the sides."
"No way!" Richard shouted at her as he dropped his hands that were holding the notebook and pen down to his sides.
"Yes way!" Nokomis shouted back. "And the best part of all was that mom found this grave that contained bronze."
"Wait a minute," Caesar said, "What's so special about finding bronze in a grave?"
"It's special if bronze wasn't invented in China yet," Ray replied.
"I don't understand Doctor Stantz," Caesar replied.
"Melody found a cemetery that dated to around the time of the Xia Dynasty, roughly 2100 to 1600 B.C. But she believed it was made by Europeans who traveled to the region long before China supposedly 'invented' bronze," Ray replied.
Ray looked at his daughter to see the disgust on her face. He knew that she didn't like Caesar and nodded his head in agreement. The man was definitely not the best person to get to like on a short notice.
Ray continued, "Melody's theory was to prove that bronze tools were introduced to the Chinese people."
"Okay," Richard replied as he brought his notebook and pen back up to his chest, "it looks like she did that so then what happened."
Richard watched as Nokomis' face went from one of a relaxed mood to a state of tension.
"We had a fight," she stated bitterly.
"All children have fights with their parents," Caesar said, "so what made yours so special?"
Richard looked at his partner. Caesar was going to get them kicked out if he didn't watch what he said and Richard hissed under his breath at Caesar to be quiet.
Nokomis saw that Caesar was causing Richard to become irritated and she liked that.
"Well for one," Nokomis spat at Caesar, "I was right for a change!"
"Slow down," Richard said turning back to look at Nokomis, "tell me what you were right about."
Richard desperately wanted Nokomis back on his side. He just needed Caesar to keep his mouth shut for once in his life.
"I was right about a set of swords being a matched set of daisho's," she replied.
"Daisho's?" Caesar questioned, "As in samurai daisho's?"
"Just great Caesar," Richard thought to himself, "let's blow any chance of this girl opening up to us."
"Yes," Nokomis said becoming defensive, "Samurai daisho's."
"I don't understand why you can't be quiet for a change," Richard hissed at Caesar.
"What don't you understand Richard?" Caesar asked clearly not hearing his partner correctly.
Richard just sighed and went with what Caesar had asked.
"I don't understand why you are so interested in samurai daisho's," Richard replied hoping that Nokomis didn't see the exchange between the two of them.
"Daisho swords are made of iron," Caesar told Richard. "And if Professor Stantz is right about the cemetery being dated to the time of the Xia Dynasty then this is a significant finding."
"That's correct," Nokomis said, "my mom thought that the swords and the mummy with them were planted to throw her off of the trail, but I told her that she was wrong."
"Mummy?" Caesar questioned her, "What mummy?"
Richard rolled his eyes as Nokomis continued to talk to his partner.
"The Japanese samurai mummy buried in the sub-chamber," Nokomis stated mater-of-factly.
"So after you and your mother had a fight what did you do?" Richard asked trying to get Nokomis to talk to him and not Caesar.
"I left with the daisho's," Nokomis replied never once looking Richard's way.
"I don't think that you are allowed to leave with artifacts without the Chinese government's permission," Caesar pointed out to Nokomis.
Richard knew that he had now lost all hope of Nokomis talking to them. He watched as Nokomis glared at Caesar and narrowed her eyes at the man. This was the last straw that had broken the camel's back and Richard could see that he had now lost whatever advantage that he had had of the situation. Nokomis wasn't going to talk to them anymore as she sat back in her bed and crossed her arms once again.
"Hikidasu!" Nokomis shouted at Caesar.
"Ah!" Caesar said surprise in his voice, "Chotto matte kudasai."
Richard turned towards his partner, "What," he questioned quietly to Caesar, "are you doing?"
Richard took Caesar by his arm and tried to pull his partner towards the door to Nokomis' room. If he didn't get Caesar to stop he was going to ruin any chance of talking to Nokomis ever again. They needed to try and figure out where the smallpox virus had come from and Nokomis was their only link.
"She knows something," Caesar hissed back at Richard digging his feet into the floor so that his partner couldn't pull him from the room.
"When did you go to Japan!" Caesar shouted at Nokomis before Richard was able to finally pull him from the room and into the anteroom slamming the door shut behind him as he did so.
"What did you go and do that for!" Richard yelled at Caesar as he pulled the white N95 respirator off of his face and threw it into the receptacle in the corner.
"I had that girl right where we wanted her," Richard finished as he pulled his gown off.
"That girl knows exactly where she picked up the Variola Major virus from," Caesar replied as he too pulled his gown off and tossed it into the laundry bin.
"You and I both know that China isn't that far from Russia," Caesar said balancing on one foot to remove his shoe covers, "and smallpox is a Category A believed to present the greatest potential threat for harming public health."
Richard stopped undressing and looked at his partner. Was he really that far gone?
"She's an eighteen year old child!" Richard spat at his partner as he turned and opened the door to the medical center's corridor. "Nokomis is not a terrorist with a biological weapon for Pete's sake!"
"So where do you think she picked up the virus from?" Caesar asked following Richard out of the anteroom.
Richard snorted before he answered, "That burial chamber her mother uncovered. You know that the virus can live in nonporous surfaces. Professor Stantz has been vaccinated for smallpox when she was a child but Nokomis wasn't."
"The virus can't live that long," Caesar replied as he stopped before the bank of elevators and pressed the button, "So wise ass, then how come that student named Cassie didn't get sick."
"I don't know."
"Exactly," Caesar said pointing his finger at Richard as the doors to the elevator opened, "I'm telling you she is hiding something."
"You know," Richard said as he followed Caesar inside the elevators and watched as the doors closed on them, "you really are a hundan."
"Chi shi," Caesar replied.
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Nokomis sat in bed wide awake. It was 11:30 at night and her father had gone home shortly after the CDC men had left.
"Look Nokomis," Ray had said before he left, "just answer their questions and then they will leave you alone."
Nokomis had smiled weakly up at her father. She had wished him goodnight and told him to tell her mother that she loved her.
Now here she was fuming. Tired of sitting Nokomis threw back the covers and started pacing the small room. She wanted out and if the CDC men had their way she was sure that she would never see the light of day again. Now she knew how the animals in the zoo felt. Trapped!
On one hand she could tell the truth. Spill the beans about Jin and being in Japan, even if she didn't understand how she had gotten there in the first place. Or, and this was a big one. Lie. Make up a story about what happened after she ran away from her mother. But how could she solve the problem of showing up on her back steps with no clothes and smelling of smoke.
"I could blame Scott," Nokomis said aloud as she stopped pacing.
Nokomis shook her head and started walking again.
No. If she brought up Scott then she would have to bring up the time when she was seventeen. Nokomis didn't know how her mother, or father for that matter, would take the news. Hell, she had been living with the memory for a year now and it was becoming unsettling for her as well. How could she ever be with another guy after what Scott had done to her.
Coming to the wall at the foot of her bed she stopped. Looking up, the clock now read quarter till midnight. What did night even look like again? Closing her eyes she tried to remember a time sitting next to Jin by a campfire looking up at the night sky and watching the stars. She hadn't been allowed above ground in weeks. Opening up her eyes Nokomis took her right hand and picked at a scab on her left arm. Taking the scab off she flicked it back at her bed. She knew that she was ugly looking no mater what her father said to her.
She knew that no one would want her now even if she found another boyfriend. Her arms and legs were covered in dime sized marks left behind as a result of the disease that she had. Even her face had marks on it.
"But if you grow your hair longer and get the treatment they won't show as much," her doctor had told her.
Still Nokomis thought of herself as unwanted. Turning around and sliding down the wall she sat on the cold floor of her room rubbing her hands together. Stopping she held her left hand in front of her face. She could faintly see the scar from when she had cut it open. Jin had been diligent about keeping it clean, covered, and she closed her eyes trying to remember what he even looked like. Tears came to her eyes as she tried to picture his face but her time in the medical center had all but erased the slightest trace of him.
Soon she heard the door to the corridor being opened. Who would come at this hour of the night? Nurse Kimball had come at ten to make sure she didn't need anything for the night. Nokomis didn't want to be bothered any more today. Opening her eyes, she got up off of the floor and quickly hurried over to the chair by her bedside. Dragging it over to the door Nokomis wedged the chair under the door handle so that way whoever was in the anteroom would have a hard time getting inside.
Backing away Nokomis saw the door's handle trying to move but it could not because of the chair that she had place there.
"Nokomis let me in," came Caesar's voice.
Now Nokomis was angry. "Go away!" She shouted at him wishing that Nurse Kimball was on duty and could hear her.
Nokomis looked around for a way out, but there was none. No windows only four white walls and one door to the outside, yet something was blowing her hair.
Slowly she turned away from the only door into or out of her room. Before her, just like in China, was a round glimmering ray of light with a landscape of sand and water. The sun was high in the sky as she looked closer ignoring the pounding on her door. A man who had on black pants and a blue top was walking down the sand looking for something. As he turned her way Nokomis could see the white four-diamond emblem on the left side of the man's kimono and knew immediately who it was.
"Jin!" She called out rushing to the edge of the portal.
If anyone could save her from Caesar it was Jin. Jin who had protected her and watched over her.
Jin saw her and came closer, but he wouldn't come through to her.
"Jin!" Nokomis cried louder as the door handle was wiggling its way out from the chair.
"Noko," Jin called, "Watashi ni kuru."
"Sori," Nokomis said shaking her head.
Jin tried again beckoning with his right hand for her to come to him as he held his left hand out to her.
"Watashi ni kuru," Jin tried again.
This time it worked as Noko took one last look over her shoulder at something before she reached through the portal, grabbed his hand, and stepped out onto the sand to join him.
Caesar heard Nokomis shouting at someone and the person answering back in Japanese. They were telling her to 'come to me' and he tried to open the door finding he could not. He knew that Richard was not going to be happy with him for coming back to try and talk to the teenager but he wanted answers. Caesar wasn't going to wait for the morning either as he turned sideways and used the weight of his whole body to finally get the door to Nokomis' room open. Caesar wanted his questions answered, but as he entered her room he could see that wasn't going to happen.
Looking around the room quickly, Caesar looked under the bed and into the small bathroom in case Nokomis was hiding there. Caesar couldn't find her. She was gone. Nokomis had vanished into thin air.
"Kuso!" Caesar cursed in Japanese as he kicked the wall were Nokomis had just disappeared through.