She was putting away syringes when she heard a knock behind her. She looked back to see Will in the doorway. “I was hoping you might have something for this,” he said, holding up his right hand, though he could easily have held up his left since they both were covered in fresh bandages.
She waved him over to a swivel chair near a counter. “I need to see,” she said.
He held out his hands for her to unwind the bandages. It must have looked worse this morning, when the burns were at their reddest. They were second-degree burns, with the first and second layer of skin damaged, but that looked to be the full extent of it.
Will looked around the room. “How does a third-year medical student know where everything goes in an infirmary?”
“I spent most of my weekends for the last two years working at free clinics around town. I learned a lot, but it might also explain why I had trouble holding on to a boyfriend.”
“Their loss.”
She blushed and instantly looked over to see if he noticed. He was looking somewhere else, thank God.
“You got lucky,” she said.
“Did I?”
“First and second layer skin burns, but there won’t be any permanent tissue damage. You’ll get blisters later, and the skin will keep getting redder. Not to mention the severe pain and swelling.”
“But the question is — will I ever play the piano again?”
“It’s going to hurt a lot, Will.”
“That goes without saying.”
“Tough guy, huh?”
“I once walked across the street without glancing both ways.”
“Jaywalking. Nice.” She nodded at the sink. “You’ll have to soak it for a while.”
She let cool water run into the sink. While he soaked his hands, she searched for sterilized gauze bandages, avoiding the fluffy cotton ones.
“Where’s your hand?” he asked.
“In the fridge,” she said, nodding to a big freezer in the corner.
“Are you trying to freeze it to death?”
“After I went through all the trouble of digging it out of the rubble and bringing it here? No way. When I have time, I’ll bring it out again.” She nodded. “Okay.”
He pulled his hands out of the water, and she wrapped the bandages around them. She kept a close watch for any signs of discomfort or pain, but he looked calmly back at her with his light brown eyes. His hair was a mess and he was growing a thick stubble. He looked tired, but then he always looked tired in the couple of days she knew him.
“When was the last time you shaved?” she asked.
“A week ago?” He rubbed one of his bandaged hands underneath his chin. “I should ask Ben if he has a razor.”
“I’m sure there’s plenty lying around. Carly told me there’s even a gym here somewhere.”
“It’s in Quarters.”
“That’s the living area, right?”
“Right.”
“What do you call this area we’re in?”
“Operations.”
“That all sounds very military-ish.”
“Harold Campbell fancied himself as being very military-ish.”
“Can you flex your hands for me?”
He held up his hands and made fists with them. “They’re good, but I guess I won’t be using that gym for a while.”
“Let them heal a bit first. At least a week. But for now, how’s the pain?”
“It was worse earlier, but it’s manageable now.”
“Is that you being a gung-ho soldier who thinks he has to constantly keep up appearances, or are you being honest with me, Will?”
“The latter.”
“Are you sure?”
“Probably.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Tough guy. But just in case, I’ll give you something for the pain. There are whole buckets of pills for almost every conceivable ailment in the world on these shelves. You said this Harold Campbell guy was paranoid?”
“And then some.”
“He apparently also believed in being absolutely prepared for everything.”
“When you’re rich and paranoid, you can afford to indulge in your hypochondria.”
“Lucky us. I’ll give you some acetaminophen to start with, but if the pain is still too much, we can go stronger. If it starts to swell and ooze pus, we might be looking at an infection. Otherwise, besides some discoloring around the area, you should heal up fine in a few weeks.”
“So, about that piano…”
“I thought jokes were Danny’s area.”
“He’s rubbing off on me.”
“Not very well, I see.”
“He’s a lousy teacher.”
She finished wrapping and brought out the pills, dropping them into two small, empty bottles. Will pocketed them.
“You’re not going to take one now?” she asked.
“Maybe later.”
“Where’s Danny? I should replace his bandages, too.”
“He’ll come around later tonight. You’ll still be here, right?”
“And leave this absolutely wondrous place of hardened concrete, surrounded by undead ghouls on the outside? Perish the thought.”
They exchanged a brief smile, then she watched him walk to the door.
“Will?”
He stopped and looked back. “Yeah?”
“You need to get some rest, okay? Go to sleep. Third-year medical student’s orders.”
“Aye aye, doctor!” He saluted and left.
Danny appeared two hours later. “I was told you wanted to see if I could still play the piano?”
“Will already used that one,” she said.
“Sonofabitch, he’s stealing my jokes now?”
“Get in here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She cleaned his wounds and wrapped them back up, giving him the same pills she had given Will and delivering the same diagnosis, then finishing with, “Just keep an eye on them. If they start to itch too much or you see pus, come back immediately.”
“Will do, Doc.”
“You don’t have to call me Doc.”
“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be able to use my ‘What’s up, Doc?’ in my best Bugs Bunny voice every time I come over.”
“Of course, what was I thinking.”
“There you go. Hey, wanna hear a joke about a second-year medical student and the medical examiner?”
“No.”
“You’ll love it. There’s originally a dead body in there somewhere but I’ll take it out just for you.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Danny.”
“Come on, I promise you’ll totally dig it.”
She picked up a scalpel and playfully waved it in front of his face. “No!”
He laughed and hopped off the seat. “You’re no fun.” He headed for the door. “Thanks for the pills, Doc. You said only one bottle a day, right?”
“Only if you don’t want to ever wake up again.”
“Now you’re talking.”
After he left, she went back to cataloging all the medicine she had found hidden away in bags and boxes and bottles. It was a miracle no one had raided the place for drugs before, although she could see signs that people had looked around. It helped that most of the medicine wasn’t labeled for the layman. Harold Campbell had probably expected to have a medical professional down here with him.
She was putting away the IV bags when she heard a noise. She stopped and listened, and it didn’t take very long to trace the sound to its source.