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“Poison? It’s gone, though? I’ve never felt this weak before.”
“Yes, it’s gone. But no one’s ever seen anything quite like it. It was a modified poison, created to self-replicate in the creatures that attacked us.”
Her brain was still fuzzy and her thoughts misfiring. “Meaning?”
“It means those creatures will have an endless supply of poison. And it’s lethal. You’re dead if you don’t get treatment.”
Georgia clamped her fingers around his warm hand. “Shouldn’t I feel better by now? Why aren’t I?”
“You’re a hell of a lot better than you were yesterday and the day before.” His tongue traced across his bottom lip. “Your heart stopped twice.”
She stared at him. “I died?”
“Briefly. We got you back. The nurse here, Sybil, was great.” He stroked a finger down her cheek. “Give it time before you leap out of bed.”
“We don’t have time. We still have to find the white tails. We’re getting close. And there’s so much work to do back on the Apocalypse. What about all the data we collected?”
“The work will still be there when we get back. You concentrate on recovering.”
Georgia held onto his hand, needing an anchor to stop from spiraling. She never got sick. She was always the strong one. The one people relied on to give them no shit and get the job done.
“Hey, what’s wrong? You’re getting better. We’ll beat this.”
Georgia sucked in a breath. “Ash, what if I don’t get back to full strength? My arm, it feels weird. It’s itching and tingling.”
“It’s a side effect. And it’s too soon to worry about that. You’re a fighter. You’ll get through this.”
“And if I don’t?” She blinked away tears. “Cleo won’t keep me on the team if I can’t do my job properly. Everything will be over.”
“Not everything.” Ash was quiet for a moment. “Georgia, you’re so much more than your job.”
The tightness in her throat made her think she couldn’t speak. “Am I, though? My work is my focus. It grounds me. And it’s what I get up for every morning. What if I can’t do that anymore? What happens if I’m of no value to the rest of the crew?”
His expression hardened. “Your life won’t be over because you can’t get back in the field straightaway. And even if you don’t make a full recovery, you’ll find a new job. You’ll still be valuable to the Apocalypse.”
Georgia closed her eyes against the tears still fighting to come through. The smells of the medical room, with its clean, slightly antiseptic undertones, slammed memories into her like a sledgehammer. She wanted to leave, but her damn legs were quivering like they were made of Jell-O.
“This is a safe place. Nothing bad will happen to you while you’re here,” Ash said. “Especially when I’m here. I won’t let anyone touch you.”
His words offered her a flicker of calm, but her insides still shook. Damn those Siblet for doing this to her. The stench of anything medical turned her stomach and flipped her right back to the weeks they’d held her.
“Talk to me. What’s on your mind?” Ash said.
His calm voice and tight grip on her hand helped her keep control of her emotions, but only just. Ash was always there, looking out for her, even when she didn’t ask him to. Georgia always acted irritated by his attention, but maybe it was time to rethink that. If he hadn’t been with her when she got sick, she’d be dead.
She cleared her throat. “I hate visiting the doctor.”
He let out a soft sigh. “Is it giving you flashbacks?”
Georgia nodded. “I try to ignore them, but sometimes, they get the better of me. Every time I get that whiff of doctor stink, it brings it back. The Siblet liked to keep a sterile environment to avoid contamination during their... experiments.”
Ash growled low in his throat. “If I ever meet them, I’ll kill every one of them for you.”
“And I’ll be right there with you. So long as I get the feeling back in my arm so I can pull a trigger.”
“It’ll come back. Sybil said it could be awhile for the damage to your system to heal. You need to rest and recover.”
“I already said there’s no time to do that. We have a mission to complete before it’s too late and we lose the white tails forever.”
