Waking the Zed - By ML Katz Page 0,18

prepared her to be a researcher more than a practitioner.

She used the small scissors to cut his shirt away. After she completely uncovered the wound, Pam’s eyes opened in wonder.

She had seen plenty of animal bites in her time. When she had worked for a summer in a day care during high school, she had seen a few toddler bites as well. This looks human. Of course, it was larger than the bites that had been delivered by teething one year old children. Dr. Klein had said she experimented with some sort of primates. Would an ape bite look like this?

Then she tore open a pack of wipes. The package said they were anesthetic and antiseptic. She figured they might hurt anyway, but she carefully dabbed at his wound. He did not even react as Pam swabbed his wound. It was as if his arm had gone totally numb. His eyes were still open but he barely seemed conscious.

As she crouched by the poor man’s side, she could almost feel the heat rising off his body. He couldn’t have developed a fever from an infected bite this quickly. His eyes seemed glazed though they were very red now. They were wide open, but not focused. Except for his staring eyes there was no sign that he was even awake any more. I guess people can still be unconscious with their eyes open.

There was no way she could treat the guy with these lousy little wipes and a few Band-Aids. That is, George’s actual wound did not seem that bad. But his reaction to the wound indicated he needed a real hospital emergency room and a real medical doctor. He needed antibiotics and maybe even fluids to prevent dehydration.

She could only work with what she had. Pamela poured the contents of the kit on the floor and rifled through an assortment of bandages, cleaning swabs, and small bottles of pain relievers.

She thought that a couple of pain relievers might help but she would need to leave the room to get him a glass of water. There was a small sink, and a large cleaning hose for water. But the company forbade any food or drinks in the lab rooms. Dr. Klein had made an exception when she delivered Pam’s coffee this morning, but she had promptly removed the cup when the technicians had removed the bodies. There were no other glasses or cups. She looked up frantically at the lab door but nobody had appeared to help her yet.

“I am going to get some help,” Pamela said. “Can you hang in there?” George did not reply, but just gazed vacantly at the wall. His eyes were still open, but they appeared unfocused and uncomprehending. He had to be in shock and she could not help him. A couple of aspirins or bandages would not be enough either.

Then she rose to her feet and made her way out the door. The wide hallway was empty, but Pam saw streaks of blood on the white walls. A foul smell, like human waste, permeated the air. It looked and smelled like somebody had lost an awful lot of blood and apparently other body fluids. As Pam gagged she noticed that the overwhelming odor was not blood, but more like rot. Besides, George’s bite looked ugly but it could not have bled that much and he had not carried the foul stench into the lab. This had to come from somebody or something else.

Some instinct made her retreat back to Preservation Room 17 to see if there was something she could use as a weapon if she was confronted by some kind of wild animal. Most of the tools in this room were electronic. They would be absolutely useless against a wild and determined attacker. When Pam had first seen the laboratory technician enter the room, she had seen that George had been a sturdy man with a barrel chest and thick arms. Any animal that could get past his guard and deliver a bite like the one that George had must be a lot stronger than she was unless it had just totally taken him by surprise.

Pam threw open the closet door again. A sturdy umbrella had been propped up against the back wall, partially hidden by the lab coats. It was a long, blue striped umbrella with a heavy handle. It reminded her of rental umbrellas she had seen passed out on a golf course. That seemed like an odd thing to keep