She forced herself to smile as the other two women came back into the room and positioned themselves—Riss in the corner she’d taken before, and Casey leaning against the corner of the room nearest the bed.
“All right,” Lily said, “first things first. Lex, you didn’t really get sick, you had what we call a body event. I think Riss filled you in on what that means,” she continued, shooting Riss a glance that was hard to decipher.
Lex nodded without replying and waited, trying to keep her hands from shaking.
“The good news is that when I checked you out, from what I can see, your basic structure seems to be fine, along with your heart and breathing. From everything I can tell, without being able to scan you in any way, your body structures all seem normal.
“Unfortunately, the event seems to have had a bad effect on your digestive system. By the time I saw you, you were vomiting so hard every few minutes that I was sure you’d pulled some stomach muscles. How long had it been since you’d been able to eat normally?”
“Well,” Lex replied, looking curiously at Lily, “everything seemed to work fine unless I left the facility. A while after I left, I’d start to get headaches and feel queasy. They usually stopped once I got back.”
Lily sighed. “Along with the experimental medications used by MSI, they usually prescribed painkillers and some antivirals so that the process didn’t begin too quickly. In this case, the upshot seems to be that you didn’t start feeling bad until you left.
“Anyway, we’ll have to teach you to eat again. Start off with things that will be easy to digest, like rice with honey, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, or applesauce. Just remember to stick with things with as little processing as possible—avoid anything with any chemical tastes, smells, or colors—and avoid foods that have a lot of sugar, fat, or salt. What do you usually eat?”
Lex shrugged. “I was eating mostly vegetarian food before this.”
“Most of that should be fine on your stomach. In your case I’d avoid dairy, though, because it sets a lot of people’s stomachs off.”
Lily paused and looked at Lex for a moment before continuing. “There’s something else I have to tell you before I continue with the things you’ll have to look out for. When you got ill, you stayed that way for a while. You’ve been here for a little over a month.”
Lex paled as she stared up at Lily. “A month? I can’t believe they haven’t found us yet! We should get out of here now!”
“Stop right there,” said Lily with eyes full of steel as she pushed Lex further back into the bed. “I think you’re about as safe as you can be in DC; I’ll let Riss and Casey explain later, since I’ve got to get back to work soon. Also, I have no intention of letting you go before I have at least a little assurance you won’t die the minute you set foot out my door.” More quietly, Lily said, almost to herself, “My grandfather would never forgive me.”
“What do you mean?” Lex asked, still confused.
Lily faced her again, fixing Lex’s eyes with her own. “You were very lucky, Lex. I’ve seen other people with harder body events than yours, but none who survived. You nearly died twice during the past few weeks. Casey never left your room during the day, which was good because she brought you back the first time your heart stopped. The second time she had to do CPR on you for over an hour before I could make it back here to help you.
“Your event also ended up well. You still look pretty much like anyone else. I’ve seen people come out of their body event so changed that they don’t look human anymore. Let me say it one more time so that you actually start to think about it: you are lucky to be in as good shape as you are. Don’t blow it by running off before I say you’re ready.”
“OK, all right,” Lex mumbled, looking down at her hands.
“All right then. Since you haven’t been able to eat and you’ve been bedridden for the past month with your body reforming itself, your muscles have atrophied. We’ll need to work to get you up and moving again, but we’ll also keep it slow so that we don’t overdo it. You’ll need a lot of help from Casey and Riss to be successful, and I expect you to accept it. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” Lex replied, glancing up at Lily from under her brows, frowning.
Lily smiled gently in reply. “OK then.”
“What did you mean, my body reforming itself?” Lex asked after a moment, having had an opportunity to consider Lily’s previous words.
Sighing, Lily replied, “Well, that’s what the body event is all about. Your system was bombarded with experimental drugs to cause your genes to change and your body to respond as a result. The event is sort of the tipping point; your body responds to the drugs by trying to reform itself. Of course, this is a difficult prospect for a living being, which is probably why most of the people who have a body event die of it. Due to all of the differing messages your body is getting—from its original set of genes and the new changes the drugs are trying to express—the results are hard to determine beforehand and are often unexpected. You may get new limbs, a new appearance, new organs, you may forget…everything. It seems to be unique for each person.”
Then Lily swore under her breath as she looked at her watch. “I have to get back to work before anyone gets suspicious. Casey, Riss, feel free to fill her in on anything now, and please get her something to eat.”
With that, Lily swooped out the door, but then poked her head back in a moment later.
“I almost forgot. Start keeping a log if you experience anything that’s out of the norm for you. Make a note of the time you experienced the symptom and a brief description of what happened. I’ll try to stop by later this evening to see how you’re doing and we can talk about anything you noticed. And, Riss, please let my grandfather know that Lex is back with us again when you have a moment.”
After Lily disappeared again, the three of them glanced at each other after a few seconds of listening to see if she’d come back a second time. In the meantime, Lex felt overwhelmed but noted Casey’s smile and Riss’ attitude of waiting. Finally, after clearing her voice, Lex spoke.
“So, what happened that day? I need to get up to speed with how we got here. And, where’s Lou?”
Riss and Casey looked at each other for a moment, and then Casey started speaking as she turned back to Lex.
“Well, like Lily said, you were really sick. I couldn’t wake you, but you kept heaving every couple of minutes as if your stomach was about to come out next. I got you out of the station and called Mr. Chen like you said. As soon as I described to him what was happening, he told me that he’d send a cab. He asked if anyone else was with us, and when I told him Riss, he gave me this address and told me to ask her to wait an hour or so, then come over.
“So we got you here. I called Lou, too, to let him know to wait. We managed to meet a few days later and thought it probably made the most sense if he just kept on with everything as usual until we were actually ready to leave town. So, he’s at home.
“Mr. Chen and his family set this place up for us. We never would have made it if it weren’t for them. And, since Lily works at the main facility where they hold people like us, she knew what to do to take care of you.”
Casey stopped for a moment, looking down at her hands. “She said when she first saw you that you had probably had symptoms for a while that no one had picked up on. She said that there were things they could have done to make your event easier, if they’d known, but that it was likely you would die. And, you almost did.”
Lex cleared her throat. “But I didn’t, thanks to you.”
Casey looked up then, and Lex felt her stomach contract as she saw that her friend was crying.
Feeling her heart twist, Lex spoke up again. “I’m so sorry to have worried you, and I’m sorry to be so much trouble. I’m going to be fine now, and it’s thanks to the both of you,” Lex continued, incorporating Riss in her glance. “I’m going to need your help, but my goal is to be back up on my feet and out of here in a week, maybe two. Everything’s going to be fine, so please don’t cry, Casey. We’re all going to be OK.”
Sniffling a little, Casey wiped under her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sorry,” she said, gruffly.
“Thanks for worrying about me, and for taking such good care of me while I was sick,” said Lex gently.
Casey nodded and straightened, levering herself into a standing position from her previous lean. “So, are you hungry?”
“Starved,” Lex replied, “The water was fine, but I’m not sure what my stomach will put up with.”
“I think I have just the thing,” Casey said, moving towards the door. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since Lily said that it seemed your stomach was out of whack, so I had a few things brought in that we can try. I’ll be back in a bit. Riss, can you answer any more of Lex’s questions?”
Riss nodded as Casey rushed out the door. She looked at Lex then, eyebrow raised. “I think she’s just embarrassed,” Riss said in a quiet voice as she slid closer to Lex’s bed, still sitting on the carpet. “Lily doesn’t know the half of it. Casey barely left your bedside day and night. She would roll out some bedding and sleep on the floor so she could keep an eye on you.”
Lex nodded and swallowed, feeling her own eyes get misty.
“Oh, don’t you start crying, too,” Riss said with a smirk.
Lex had to smile in return, blinking rapidly. “OK, OK. Do you have anything else to add to what Casey said?”
“Yeah. Publicly, it seems that MSI accepts the story that we died. We’ve been marked as deceased in their computer systems. I was surprised to see some press coverage of three unnamed consultants able to thwart the arsonist and clear the burning buildings, and the story of our tragic deaths at the second scene. From what I’ve been able to tell by monitoring communications at several MSI facilities, though, they’re not sure we died because of George’s story. Since he doesn’t have any proof to back up what he saw, they haven’t done much to search for us it seems, aside from having some of their private army out looking for us in typical spots for a week or two after we disappeared. I did notice that they circulated our general descriptions to the regular police as ‘persons of interest’ in the arson case and told them to pick us up if they saw us. The contact numbers go back to MSI if we’re found, of course, but I don’t think that’ll be an issue since by the time we get out of here, weeks will have gone by. Plus, well,” Riss continued, looking Lex in the eye, “we don’t all look the same, anyway.”
Lex felt a little sinking in her stomach as Riss confirmed what she’d been expecting. “OK, this is what I’d like to do. Give me a little idea of what to expect before you help me walk to the bathroom. I’m guessing there’s a mirror in there?”
Riss nodded in response. “Yes, a full-length one on the back of the door. Well,” she continued after a pause, “after a few days of being sick, all your hair fell out. You were bald for a little while, but it did grow back. It’s not the same color, though. I’m not sure what happened to your eyes. I think that’s what everyone was looking at, because we haven’t seen them much for the past month.”
Lex waited for more, but that was all that Riss said. “So, other than that, I look pretty much like I used to?”
Riss nodded and moved over near Lex, her laptop abandoned in the corner. “Thinner, though. Are you ready?”
Lex nodded, and then swung her legs out. She bit back a gasp when she saw two bony legs poking out from under the covers, and Lex looked up at her arms, realizing that much of the muscle she’d become used to seeing was gone. Steeling herself for anything, Lex leaned heavily on Riss’ arm as she got up. Getting to a standing position hadn’t been bad, but the first few steps forward were not happy occurrences. Her muscles felt almost like they had been asleep for a long time; they seemed twitchy, uncertain, and prone to unexpected movements. With Riss taking charge of her IV pole, the two of them slowly made their way down the hall to the bathroom. Once they got there, Lex found herself feeling absurdly thankful that the room she’d been in was the closest.
“Are you OK to go in on your own?” Riss asked, clearly uncertain.
Lex tested herself for a moment and realized that she already felt a little surer on her feet. She nodded and went into the bathroom, then pulled the door shut behind her, seeing the full-length mirror on the back of the door out of the corner of her eye. Realizing that she’d nearly closed her eyes as the door shut, Lex took a deep breath before opening them.
She began by looking at her bare feet, which appeared almost skeletal. Lex brought her gaze up her now-skinny legs, then began to raise the hospital-style gown up so that she could see her torso. Taking another deep breath, Lex watched as her almost concave belly moved with it, and tried for clinically detached observation of her jutting hipbones and ribcage.
It could have been worse
, she told herself, looking at the floor again.
It could have been much worse.
Finally, Lex forced her gaze to her face, and then just stared a moment, having a hard time recognizing herself in the mirror. Her cheekbones had become so prominent that they threatened to take over her face. As she stepped closer to the mirror, however, Lex gasped.
The same eyes—amazingly bright, spring green lace shot through with forest green—stared out of the mirror at her now, not just from a dream where a woman warned her. Lex put a hand to the mirror to support herself on now-shaky legs as she realized that had been no stranger, especially as her eyes moved to her hair.
It was a very short cap on her head now, and Lex gently touched the strands as if to assure herself of their reality. No color existed in her hair now; it shone pure white and felt fine and silky to the touch.
“Are you all right in there?” Riss’ voice sounded from behind the door. “Don’t lock the door or anything. Casey would kill me if anything happened to you.”
“I’m fine,” Lex replied, trying to keep out of her voice the sound of the tears that had sprung up. “I’ll just be another couple minutes.”
Lex allowed the tears to leak for a minute or so as she continued gazing into the mirror, then rubbed them away as she carefully made her way to the sink. After she splashed cold water on her face, Lex looked herself in the eye once more as she toweled away the excess.