Chapter 84
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
NORA
The next few hours flew by in a blur of medical jargon and apologetic glances. But the promise that Airik would come to her after all the nurses’ yanking around helped her remain compliant and mostly pleasant.
It was made perfectly clear to her—repeated three times by Iris, one of the doctors—that Nora’s body would probably never be the same.
She’d been asleep, under the effects of a sedative they didn’t understand, so all they could do was breathe for her, nourish her, and keep her alive until her mind had come back.
The kudra had shredded the delicate structure of her blood vessels, but she was assured that some might heal.
Her lungs and kidneys were the most affected, functioning at only a fraction of their normal capacity.
The medical team was uncertain when or if she’d fully heal because a minuscule amount of kudra still circulated within her, disrupting any attempts to image her organs.
Even a short walk to the hospital room bathroom left her gasping, clutching the edge of the metal sink for support.
Nurses helped her sponge bathe, roughly scrubbing her hair and throwing water onto her head. Another gave her a toothbrush loaded with minty blue toothpaste. She covered her body as best as the wires would allow, feeling exposed in a way that she had never felt with Airik.
Once Nora proved she could walk on her own in a circle around the hospital room, they removed most of the tubes from her body.
All that remained was a thick plastic port attached to the side of her neck and a monitor on her wrist. Iris, as she had insisted on being called, promised they’d create a new one in Nora’s forearm within the next few days.
“We don’t really know what we’re dealing with here,” she said, patting Nora’s hand after showing her where the new port site would be.
“We’ve got a full chemical analysis running in the labs, and maybe in a few weeks, I’ll have a better treatment plan than running your blood through a charcoal rig.
But for now, you’ll need your blood filtered a couple of times a week—kind of like dialysis.
” She gave a tight-lipped grin. “Who knows? Maybe a few more treatments will clear whatever’s left in you, and you’ll be as good as new. ”
Nora smiled—knowing that was bullshit. She could feel the weakness inside her even as they sat calmly, and she had to fight for a breath and keep her back straight.
“You’re handling all of this remarkably well,” Iris said, giving her a cautious look.
She looked down, taking in her body. Her limbs were all still in place, and though she remembered the kudra coating her hands, her fingers and nails were clean and intact.
She touched her face—her nose and lips hadn’t fallen off in her sleep.
Her skin could still feel, and her eyes and ears worked just as well.
There was weakness, yes. But there was life left to live, too, and she had promised to live it with someone who loved her.
An experience she’d never thought could ever be hers.
“To be honest, I’m pretty upset about my hair,” Nora chuckled, reaching up to pat the short, matted clumps left dry by the hospital shampoo. “I’ll probably be even more upset in a few days, once I’ve had time to process. But for now, I’m alive. And…I’m glad.”
“Well, I’m glad too.” Iris placed Nora’s hand back in her lap and smiled. “Let me be the first to formally welcome you to Valhalla. Happy to have you in one piece.”
She rubbed Airik’s bite mark over her heart. “I’m gonna be okay, right? This is the worst I’ll ever be?”
Iris sighed, leaning forward in the chair so her white coat fell open, revealing a colorful shirt with a swirling, psychedelic print. Hopefully Lucky was keeping Airik warm and calm.
“I don’t know,” Iris said. “But I’ll say this: You’re a very lucky woman, Miss Shaw. The man you were with—”
“Airik,” she said, perking up. “Is he coming now?”
Iris tapped her stylus against her tablet, then looked at Nora with a focused, almost grim gaze. “Do you want him to come?” she asked. “Because you’re safe now, Nora. If you don’t want him—”
“I want him to come!” Nora froze, startled by her own outburst and her racing heartbeat, beeping on the machines.
She turned toward the door, toward the people passing by.
“I want him… I won’t feel safe without him.
” One of the nurses shot her a look from across the room, which infuriated Nora even more.
Tears welled in her eyes again. “Why isn’t Airik here yet? ”
“That’s his name—Airik?” Iris asked.
Nora wrapped the rough fabric of the gown around herself. “Yes… Didn’t he tell you?”
Iris gave her shoulder a squeeze as she turned to go. “All right. I’ll see what’s holding up security.”
Before Nora could ask why security would be involved, the doctor hurried off to respond to another call—someone in labor in the next ward.
A few minutes later, another woman came in.
Tall, fit, with short silver-blond hair.
In her late forties. She wore a blue polo with a crow on the left breast, its head turned so only one eye was visible.
Behind it was a red mountain and the words Valhalla Research Colony encircling the patch. “Nora Shaw.”
She sat up. “Y-Yes.”
“Hi.” She waved, then put her hand behind her back again. “I’m Commander Wendy Davis. You can call me Davis. I know your uncle, Joe.” She smirked. “Is he still a psychopath?”
“What?” Nora pushed back on the bed, pressing against the flattened foam pillow. “Is he…okay? There was an attack and—”
“Settle down.” Davis nodded toward the monitors flashing yellow.
“I don’t want you to have a heart attack and then have to explain it to…
him.” Davis shuddered, then crossed her arms as she strode through the room, a nervous energy brimming.
“I don’t know anything more about Joe—sorry.
The last transmission I got from the Abeona was him telling me you were coming.
They’ve gone totally dark.” She walked slowly beside the bed, stopping by Nora.
“The bad news is your boyfriend broke the HyperGate, so we can’t send anyone to check it out.
But the good news is they haven’t crashed back to Earth.
” She let out a short, manic laugh. “So maybe they’re all still alive? Who knows?”
“Oh…well, I’m sorry,” Nora said, looking down. “I’m sure it wasn’t his fault. He was probably in a rush.”
“I bet.”
Davis examined the monitors, her lips pressed together. The other nurses in the room stayed out of her way. “You need a lot of saving, Miss Shaw. You’re not bad luck or anything, are you?”
Nora straightened her hospital gown to cover her chest and frowned. “You’d better hope not.” She gestured around them. “Since I’m here and all.”
“All right, good.” Davis stepped away, heading back to the door.
“What about your alien boyfriend? Is he safe?” She shot Nora a piercing gaze and grinned.
“He’s got quite the fan club. Lots of doting men and women who all want a look at the pretty boy from space.
And his buddy, too—we’re calling that one Sleeping Beauty. ”
Before Nora could tell Davis to fuck off, the woman clapped her hands together, startling a nurse who was clearing laundry from a bin. “Maybe you’re like Santa instead, bringing us all nice little gifts. Alien guns, spaceships, and super soldiers.”
Nora narrowed her eyes, fidgeting with the torn ends of her gown’s ties. Instinct told her not to like this woman. Especially since it was now clear she didn’t know Airik or Torren’s names, which meant Airik had not trusted her enough to share them.
But if Davis knew her uncle was a “psychopath,” then she couldn’t have been that bad. Joe didn’t share his wild thoughts with just anyone.
“I might be Santa, yeah,” Nora said, squaring her shoulders. “So…you’d better act nice.”
Davis smiled. So did one of the nurses behind her that Davis couldn’t see. “You didn’t answer the question—is your boyfriend safe?”
“He’s the best possible thing that could have happened to this colony.” She looked to the door, wishing he’d somehow hear her wherever he was and come to her faster. “I hope you’ve been taking care of him and listening to him well—he doesn’t like to say things twice.”
The commander laughed, glancing toward the window that still thudded loudly with the dust storm’s force. “Yeah… So I’ve heard.”
Davis left as abruptly as she arrived, evidently satisfied with whatever Nora had shared.
The door had barely closed when Liv pushed it open, holding a glass beaker with pink peonies in water.
If another person who wasn’t Airik didn’t come through, Nora would scream.
“From one of our photosynthesis gardens,” she explained, clearing a spot for them on a tray beside a suture kit and scissors. “I know this place might be dreary, but there are some nice parts, too, I think.”
“Thank you,” Nora said quietly. But she couldn’t muster even a single smile for Liv’s thoughtfulness.
A baby’s cry rang out in the hall. Nora turned to the door, her cheeks suddenly getting quite hot.
“Hmm.” Liv shrugged. “Quite a short labor.” When she turned to Nora, her eyebrows knit together, and her head tilted in concern. “Are you okay? Are you feeling sick again?”
Nora shook her head, but her stomach turned. Valhalla was a research and breeding colony. Its purpose was to expand. From what she could remember from the training videos, the current facility could accommodate up to three thousand colonists, though the current population sat at around a thousand.