“Obviously I can’t teach you everything—I don’t know all there is to know in modern medicine myself,” Melly said. “I was going to be a general practitioner and possibly go into family medicine later but for now I’m it.”
Talk about a huge responsibility, Tamsyn thought as she walked into the kitchen. “I’ll do whatever I can to help out. If I’m invited to leave with you.”
Donning an apron, Melly blinked and raised an eyebrow. “Of course you’re invited. I assumed that was obvious. We’re not leaving you here alone.”
“I guess I need to hear it from the captain, although he did say something about me going with you earlier.”
“I’ll speak to him,” Melly promised. “He has a lot on his mind.” Stepping to the counter, she waved one hand at her assembled devices. “We’re going to extract the med from the capsules and convert it into an infusion.”
“How do you know how much to give him?” Tamsyn asked, pulling a stool closer and taking a seat as Melly opened the bottle of capsules and counted out fifty.
“I’m estimating based on his height and weight. I’m hoping the drug will help his nanobots go the final stretch and wipe out the virus. We should see results in about four hours, at which time I’ll give him a second dose.” Melly worked quickly. “It’s great you found so much.”
“In the next to the last place we had to search,” Tamsyn said. “We skipped the last patient’s house since Mrs. Sanss had had so many. There weren’t any at the doctor’s office, the pharmacy was completely ransacked and the hospital is a burnt out hulk.”
Melly eyed the infusion inject she was preparing. “Count me out another twenty, will you? I’m losing some to the process of piercing the capsules. The drug wasn’t designed to be administered this way.”
Tamsyn was going to ask if it was safe to administer but bit her tongue. This was the last resort for Cody so issues of safety didn’t factor in at this point. Besides she had faith in Melly to do no harm.
When the infusion was ready, Tamsyn walked with Melly to the bunkhouse. Trent was on duty and Zach was guarding.
“No changes in his overall condition, doc,” Trent reported when the two women entered the private apartment. “The black streaks have advanced a bit though.”
Tamsyn walked straight to the bed and laid her hand on Cody’s clenched fist. “We found something to help you.”
His fingers uncurled and he turned his hand as best he could to clasp hers. Watching this, Trent said, “You sure are good for him.”
“We don’t even know each other, not really,” she said. “We only had a few chances to talk while we were cooking together.”
“He’s a great guy,” the soldier told her. “He’s had a rough time of it. He doesn’t talk about his past much, but from the little he has said, the process of becoming a cyborg was tough.”
Trent pushed the chair close enough for Tamsyn to sit without having to let go of Cody’s hand. Melly finished administering the infusion and stepped back, running the decontam ray over her hands again. “Now we’ll monitor what happens for the next four hours until the second dose can be given.”
“I think the blue glow on his arm is getting stronger,” Tamsyn said.
The illumination from the nanobots was definitely intensifying and emitted blue shoots which followed the path of the virus’s deadly black streaks, which faded under the assault.
“Encouraging, but we can’t get our hopes up,” Melly said, going to sit in the other chair. “Trent, you’d better go rest while you can.”
While Tamsyn understood why the doctor would want to remain in the apartment to monitor what was happening, she resented not having Cody all to herself. Reading to him with Melly sitting there was too awkward but she wanted him to hear her voice, for whatever aid and comfort it gave him. “Do you mind if I read?” she finally asked the doctor. “I’ve been going through my ancestors’ logs from the early days of the ranch, just to have something I could do where he could have my voice for company. I’m not any kind of a singer,” she added with a chuckle, “But I can read aloud.”
“Sure, go ahead. It’s obviously been helping him so you should continue.” Melly leaned back and closed her eyes. “I’ll find it interesting too. I was born on Randal Four and grew up here but the history lessons I had to take on the colonists all focused on how brave they were to take the chance and come here and establish settlements. There was nothing much about the people who ventured north and founded the ranching dynasties.”
“Figures the city folk would tout their own pasts,” Tamsyn said mildly. She opened the old-fashioned book to the last page she’d read. It was the account of a major storm from one of her many times great-grandparents and had almost novelistic aspects in the details of the destruction, including damage to Rosewater, although her ancestor hadn’t cared too much about recording the events in the town, versus the happenings at the Double Comets.
The four hours passed slowly, despite Tamsyn’s working her way through the logbooks. Jeff came in to check on Cody once but otherwise the time was uneventful. Melly assessed Cody’s vitals a few times and said there was slight improvement. Tamsyn was fascinated by the way the blue lights moved and radiated on Cody’s arm. She hoped the nanobots were doing some good. Their patient grew restless around hour three but wouldn’t release her hand.
“I’m going to the house to prepare the next infusion,” Melly said. “You can call Zach in if he gets too restless and you need help or feel uneasy.”
“We’ll be fine.” Tamsyn wanted to have Cody all to herself.
As soon as the apartment door closed behind the doctor, Cody opened his eyes, which Tamsyn was relieved to see were markedly less red. He stared at her and cleared his throat. She was finally able to loosen her fingers from his grip and ran to get a glass of water and a cloth to wipe his face. He sipped the water avidly and submitted to having his face washed with a twitch of the lips she thought could be an attempt at a smile.
“How long?” he asked.
“Five days,” she said. “You’re holding your own. Actually, doing better today.”
“Not the undead yet.”
