“What about the hand?”
“It has some blood left. It’s conserving, that’s why it’s moving so slowly. Once all the blood leaves it, it’ll die, too. You can see how weak it’s already become. When I put it in the freezer, the blood congealed, and it prolonged the hand’s lifespan. It’s losing strength. Pretty soon, it’ll dry up and die. I mean, again.”
“What about the silver?”
“What about silver?”
“Why does silver do what it does to them?”
“Oh. I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. I guess I could study up on that. But it’s funny. They can sense it, you know. The silver.”
“Sense it?”
“Yeah. Watch.” She walked to the counter and came back with a silver bullet in her palm. “Watch closely,” she said and brought the bullet toward the hand. As she neared it, the hand started to move, struggling against the rope holding it. When she stopped, the hand stopped. “How does it know the silver is getting closer?” she asked.
“I don’t know. You’re the doctor, doctor.”
“It senses it,” she said.
“Senses it,” he repeated. “Like a sixth sense?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Does it see ghosts, too?”
“What?”
“You know, like that movie.”
“What movie?”
“The one about the kid who can see ghosts. Bruce Willis is really dead. That movie.”
She shook her head. “I don’t watch a lot of movies. Between school, the free clinic on weekends, and a part-time job, I’m lucky if I get to even see my TV when I’m at home, much less actually watch it.”
“Never mind.” He nodded at the hand. “So, what does all this mean? About the blood?”
“They’re feeding on us,” Lara said. She returned the bullet to the counter. “They need us to survive. Once we’re gone, who knows what they’ll do for sustenance? They can’t attack and feed on each other. They’ve already altered the composition of the blood they ingested. I guess they can always feed on the animals, but those aren’t going to last, either.”
“But they could survive on the animals.”
“I don’t see why not. It’s probably just a matter of, well, tastes. But I could be wrong. I’m just guessing here. I’d love to get my hands on some medical textbooks. Rose, from the Green Room, used to work at a library in town. One of these days I’d love to raid it for books. You think we could do that?”
He nodded. “We have a surface run coming up in two days. We could probably swing by the library.”
“Great. I’ll start making a list of books I’ll want to grab.”
“Maybe you should add some nail files and clippers, too.”
“What? Why?”
“Your nails, Lara.”
She held up her hands and stared at the dirt underneath her nails. She had meant to clean them earlier but was too excited to show Will the finger. Thank God she hadn’t had any patients yet today.
“Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to play with dirt?”
“I’ve been spending a lot of time with Rose in the Green Room.” She walked to the sink and washed her hands with soap, working up a thick lather. “It’s serene in there. It’s funny, because I was never much of a nature person. But in there, even with those bright UV lights…” She smiled. “It’s soothing.”
She grabbed some paper towels and dried her hands.
“So,” Will said. “Everything you’ve shown me is fascinating, but how does it help us?”
The question seemed to stump her. “I have no idea.”
“No idea?”
“No idea,” she repeated.
“So you’ve spent the last three months on this, and you have no idea how any of it will be useful?”
“I wouldn’t say three months. I’ve only been working on it on and off. This facility may be a Godsend, but it didn’t stop people from getting sick or hurt. I’ve poked and prodded it when I could, but there were always other things.”
He smiled. “Like Rose and the Green Room?”
“I told you, it’s serene in there. And Rose reminds me of my grandmother.”
“I can see that.”
“So this doesn’t impress you at all?”
He shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s all pretty fascinating. I guess I was just hoping you were going to tell me an easier way to kill them.”
“Sorry.” She wrinkled her nose and actually looked a little embarrassed. A strand of blonde hair fell over her eyes and she blew at it.
He smiled.
She saw him and said, “What?”
Crap.
“Hmm?” he said, trying to play it off.
“You smiled.”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
“I was just thinking about a joke Danny told me this morning…”
“Yeah? Let’s hear it.”
“Maybe later…”
She didn’t look convinced. “I think you’re lying.”
“No, really—”
He was saved by a loud squawk from the radio clipped to his hip.
“Saved by the radio,” she said.
Ben’s voice came through: “Will, if you got a minute, head over to the Control Room.”
He unsnapped his radio and pressed the lever. “What’s going on?”
“Come see for yourself. And oh, swing by the Infirmary and grab Lara, too.”
“Will do.”
“Give me a second,” Lara said.
He helped her put the hand back into its home — a plastic container with a snap lock — and stuff it into the freezer. It attacked the inside of the box, spraying black blood everywhere as they got closer to the freezer, because it knew where it was going. Would it later suck all that blood back into itself, the way the finger had done with Lara’s blood? The thought slightly unnerved him.
“Where’s your radio?” he asked.
“In one of the drawers. I turned it off. It’s too loud — people are always talking on it.”
“That’s the point, Lara.”
She looked slightly embarrassed. “I like peace and quiet. And people don’t need it blurting every few seconds when they’re in here.”
“It’s more like squawking.”
“Whatever.”
They left the Infirmary together, hurrying down the hallway to the Control Room.
“So, what was the joke?” Lara asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” he said.
“Tell me now,” she insisted. “Unless there wasn’t a joke.”
“There’s a joke.”
“So tell me.”
He sighed. “There wasn’t a joke.”
“So why did you smile at me?”
“Because you’re pretty.”
She laughed. “Okay.”
“Okay?” he said, glancing at her briefly.
“Yeah, okay,” she said, and she might have smiled to herself, but he couldn’t be sure because she turned her head away.
“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked.
“Down here?” she said, looking a bit stumped by the question.
“You spend time somewhere else but down here?”
“Not that I’m aware of.” She didn’t answer him right away. After a few more steps in silence, she said, “No.”
“That’s good to know.”