Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [46]
Leprous contusions covered most of the rats, several running sores that wept thick, green pus. A number of the rats inside the cage lay dead. Two lay on their sides and kicked through what had to be their death throes.
Tears tracked down Colleen’s face, but her features were devoid of expression. Calmly she shoved her hands into waldos, mechanical gloves built into the cage, and caught one of the rodents in one hand. The creature was so sick, it couldn’t move much even though it was panicked. Its ears, nose, and paws were white as paper from improper blood circulation. “Give me the serum.”
A lab-coated assistant standing nearby took a vial from a protective case. The contents were colorless, and the fluid looked like water.
“Load the injector.” Colleen waited patiently but Hella sensed the impatience and fear inside the woman. Hella tried to break free of the experience, not wanting to observe whatever was coming, and couldn’t. Colleen’s hold on her mind was too strong.
The assistant attached the vial to a tube hooked into an apparatus that looked like a small, sleek pistol inside the plastic rodent cage. Colleen squeezed the trigger experimentally, and the apparatus cycled with a soft whir. Cautiously, she cupped the rodent in one gloved palm, slid the needle into the animal’s hindquarters, and triggered the injector.
The apparatus whined as it cycled, and the rodent struggled to escape Colleen’s grip. Tiny bubbles formed in the tubing as fluid drained. Colleen waited, her breath held and her chest tight with anxiety so strong that Hella felt it.
The rodent squirmed and squealed, barely audible because it was so weak and the plastic cage was so thick. Pink returned to the rodent’s ears, nose, and extremities. More energy flowed through it, and it fought against the big, black glove that held it.
“Everything looks good, Dr. Trammell.” The assistant’s voice was thin and quiet. “The serum is working.”
Colleen didn’t say anything. Hella felt the woman’s doubt and fear. Her breath rasped dryly against the back of her throat.
The rodent suddenly convulsed, and Hella thought the reaction was even more horrifying because she couldn’t feel the movement. Blood suddenly streamed from the creature’s eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and anus. Small, crimson bubbles popped over its nose as it panted. It managed one final, shuddering breath, then lay still.
“No.” Colleen’s voice broke as she moaned.
Hella didn’t understand the woman’s reaction. The rodent was just a creature, not even edible unless someone were desperate. And that was only if it had been healthy, which it obviously was not.
Then suddenly the rodent was gone, replaced by the body of a small girl with mouse-brown hair. She lay on her side, blood streaming from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
“No! Alice!”
Sheer panic thrummed inside Hella, and she tried to look away from the dead girl in the cage. It wasn’t real.
She had been dreaming.
Hella sat up in bed with someone holding her by the shoulders. Instinctively she fought against the hold and morphed her hands into weapons.
“Hella!” Stampede’s voice rang out in the darkness of the room as he grabbed her wrists. Moonlight filtered in through the window and gave her just enough light to see him standing at the side of her bed. “Hella!”
“Okay. You can let me go.” Irritably she pushed at his hands, knocking them from her wrists.
“What happened?”
“Bad dream.”
Stampede studied her. “Not like you to have bad dreams.”
“Plenty of reasons after this morning.” Hella scooted up in bed and placed her back against the headboard mounted on the wall. She didn’t want to talk to Stampede about what she’d seen. Giving voice to the horror in that lab seemed obscene. She wouldn’t give the nightmare any more time than it had already demanded.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.” Never. Hella reached for the water bottle on the nightstand, uncapped it, and took a few sips.