Chapter 8 #2
“I don’t believe so,” Melly told her. “If we have any left then of course we should keep it on hand in my medical supplies just in case. I tend to think of his nanobots as like our normal immune system in a way. So I’m hoping once the bots have the power to defeat the virus, they’ll retain a memory enabling them to fight it again, should he ever get bitten a second time.
I wouldn’t advise Cody to go throwing himself in the path of rampaging infected swarms but in my professional opinion he should be back to normal.
I’ll run tests of course. Jeff won’t let Cody loose from the restraints until I sign off on the recovery.
He loves Cody like a brother and owes him his life several times over from what I’ve gathered, but Jeff is responsible for all of us and their mission here so he can’t take chances. ”
On that note she patted Cody on the shoulder and left, exchanging a few quick words with Zach in the outer room.
Tamsyn insisted on sitting with Cody through the night and Jeff allowed this, although he and Melly and Trent made periodic trips to check in on her and on Cody’s progress. The second infusion failed to produce any new, visible improvement and Melly administered the third one late in the evening.
“We’ll have to go search for more freyquitanal at this rate,” she said.
“How long is the captain willing to give this experiment?” Tamsyn asked, heart thumping.
Her biggest fear was Jeff would grow impatient if Cody lingered in an in- between state.
She gathered the captain’s mission was critical and he’d already delayed their departure from the ranch in order to give Cody a chance at survival.
“I’d volunteer to stay here and care for him, if he doesn’t get back on his feet before Jeff decides he has to leave. ”
“Don’t worry about Jeff,” Melly said with assurance. “His job here on Randal Four is always on his mind but Cody is important to him, personally and in his role as a military commander. I can tell you he hasn’t said a word about leaving here any time soon.”
Tamsyn relaxed a bit . As the night wore on, she read to Cody until the words blurred on the pages and finally she put her head down and fell asleep.
She shouldn’t drowse off and really should summon one of the others to take over for her but she wanted to be the first one to see Cody wake up recovered.
“Now that’s a pretty sight first thing in the morning,” said a deep voice, laced with amusement. “You all tousled and sleepy. A man could get used to having this view on a regular basis. Beats looking at the mugs of my fellow soldiers.”
“Cody!” Tamsyn sat straight up with a gasp, the book slipping from her lap.
She rushed to the bedside. His eyes were clear, no hint of redness and he stretched as much as he could within the restraints.
She caught his arm and was overjoyed not to see any sign of the black streaks or even the original bite mark.
The blue lights from under his skin were also gone.
“What’s the verdict?” he asked with a hopeful smile. “Think I’m cured?”
She laced her fingers with his and squeezed. “I hope so. How do you feel?”
“Fine although I’d like to be released from these restraints and take a shower.” His stomach rumbled. “And have a good ranch breakfast, if you’re up to cooking?”
“Of course, anything you want.”
His brows drew together in a frown and he said, “For a while there I had awful dreams about eating.”
She smoothed his hair from his face. “But you’re past that now.
I need to let the rest of them know the good news and Dr. Jericho has to come give her opinion.
” Suddenly embarrassed to be touching him while he was restrained Tamsyn snatched her hand back.
Her face heated as she remembered all the intimate care tasks she’d carried out for him while he was fighting the virus.
It had been necessary and at the time she’d been clinical about it but now she was embarrassed.
“Hey,” he said softly, “Whatever you’re thinking, stop. I think there were times only your voice reading me the stories about your ancestors kept me alive, gave me something clean and positive to focus on, versus the horrors the virus was trying to insert into my head. I owe you.”
Tamsyn nodded but was unable to speak for the strength of her emotions right now.
She flew across the room to the outer door, flinging it open.
As Ryan, who was on duty at the moment turned to her in surprise, she shouted, “He’s awake and he’s back to normal.
Call the captain and the doc to come and verify so we can get him loose from the bed. ”
Ryan peered around her into the room to see for himself and gave Cody a wave. “Glad to see you back with us, brother. It’s been quite the fight.”
“Glad to be back but I want out of these restraints and the pretty lady won’t free me until the captain and the doc give their thumbs up so can you get them in here?”
Tamsyn fidgeted while she waited for the arrival of the decisionmakers.
It felt wrong to sit, so she paced and straightened things which didn’t need organizing.
Finally she went into the bathroom and set out clean towels.
When she stepped into the bedroom, Melly and Jeff came in, both with guarded excitement.
“I’d salute but I’m kinda at a disadvantage here,” Cody said with a chuckle. “Good to see you, doc. Thanks for fighting for me, both of you.”
“Your nanobots did all the work,” Melly said modestly, setting her medpack on the bureau and sorting out the sensors she’d need.
“It’s a relief to hear your voice,” Jeff said. “For a while there you looked like you’d been on a weeklong bender, red eyes and all.”
“Tamsyn gave me an anchor,” Cody said as Melly did her scans. “She read all her ancestors’ adventures to me and some of them were on the spicy side.”
Tamsyn blushed. She’d read those entries, even though they were embarrassing.
One of her many times great grandmothers in particular had written enthusiastically about her marital relations.
The log entries appeared to be copies of letters she’d sent a friend or a sister and read like a spicy romance novel.
“I didn’t think you were hearing me,” she said.
“Oh, I was, pretty girl.” Cody winked.
“Preliminary readings are all in the normal range,” Melly said.
“I have a few more detailed tests to conduct but so far so good.” She considered Tamsyn and bit her lip.
“I need to ask you to step outside,” she said, surprising the group.
“We know his symptoms improved when you were in the room so I want to check his condition without your influence, no offense.”
“I understand,” Tamsyn said. “I’ll go up to the house and start breakfast. What do you want to eat?” she asked Cody, who was watching her.
“Pancakes. And bacon. And hash browns. And—”
“So everything but the dog food is what I’m hearing,” she said with a chuckle.
“Coming up. I might even break into the real coffee stash.” Although she hated to leave while Cody was back to his normal state, she could see Dr. Jericho’s logic so she didn’t make a fuss but did indeed go to the house and assembled the pots and pans needed in order to cook the full menu Cody asked for.
Mike came in and she put him to work too, while Buddy sat and stared soulfully at both of them, hoping for tidbits.
The meal was exuberant, everyone in good spirits and Cody at the center of the conversation.
He’d been completely cleared by the doctor and his teammates appeared to have no further reservations about his recovery.
Tamsyn would keep an eye on him for a while, in case there was any relapsing and she’d make sure their remaining stock of freyquitanal was handy.
At least he could swallow the capsules now if needed.
As the meal ended and the group sat lingering over the cups of rare, real coffee, Jeff, at the head of the table, tapped his spoon against his cup and the table fell silent.
“All right, now we have Cody at full strength, we’ve got to start making progress on our mission again.
Refreshing as it’s been to kick back here at the ranch, we’ve got places to be and things to do.
” He looked at Tamsyn. “My woman tells me I’ve been neglectful in not telling you directly you’re invited to go with us as a full team member.
You’ve proven yourself, you can carry your own weight and you bring useful skills to the team. ”
“And you can shoot real good,” Mike chimed in. His effusive praise for her marksmanship brought approving mirth from the others.
“Learned from the best, my Dad and Granddad,” she said with pride.
”I’ve given it a lot of thought since you arrived and I believe I should go, not remain hiding myself away here at home.
The sheriff of Rosewater told me once I didn’t pay enough attention to what was going on around me.
Well, I’ve sure had my eyes opened with all the events of recent weeks and I’m bought into your belief we have to fight these things and reclaim Randal Four for uninfected humans. I want to help.”
Cody squeezed her thigh under the table, which made her blush. She wasn’t going to explain to anyone but him—if he asked—that he was a huge part of her decision to cast her lot in with the soldiers.
“I do have one condition though,” she added.
Jeff raised his eyebrows. “And what would that be?”
She hoped they’d understand the importance of what she was going to say. “Before the Western Flu hit Rosewater, my ranch hands and I were getting ready to go on the annual cattle drive. We never got there obviously but I still need to ride up to the upper pastures and take care of the herd.”
“How long does a cattle drive take?” Mike asked. “Buddy and I can help.”