Alik left the room quickly to clean up and returned fifteen minutes later to the laboratory hoping he could be of some help. He walked into the room filled with people he loved and respected rushing around his sister who laid still as stone on a white-sheeted gurney.
Cole was standing in the corner looking like he was trying to stay out of the way. The boys exchanged helpless glances. Everyone else in the room was a doctor, except Evan, but he was only lacking the papers. Over the last five months, Evan had educated himself and was as versed as anyone who had gone through four years of medical school. That’s how smart Evan is. Matter of fact, he was specialized in the one area Meg needed most: Metahuman-ology.
“Alik, was it you who found Meg?” Dr. Andrews asked.
“No, sir,” Alik responded a little too quickly. “I mean, I wish I had. But this guy said he just found her on the jogging path and carried her to the nearest house for help. Luckily, ours was the nearest house.”
“Did she collapse?” Dr. Paulie asked.
“I don’t know. The guy just said,” Alik replayed the conversation in his mind and quoted, “‘I just found her on the ground a dozen meters up that way.’”
“Who was he? Did you get his name?” Margo asked.
“No, mom. He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. I was too worried about Meg,” he said feeling upset with himself for not having more information to give to the doctors trying to help his sister.
“But he did say he would come back tomorrow to check on her,” Alik added, brightening at the memory. “Maybe we can ask him some questions then and get a better idea of what happened.”
“Right, let’s plan on that.” Margo smiled softly at her oldest son, sensing his feelings of guilt and helplessness.
Dr. Paulie spoke up, “I’d like to rule out anything ordinary before we jump right into her meta physical status. Does anyone remember anything unusual about Meg? Did she eat or drink something different? Was she behaving differently? Dizzy spells? Mood changes?” he said as though he were gathering a typical medical history on a patient. The whole room stopped and looked over at Dr. Paulie, “I mean unusual mood changes?”
“Nothing I can think of,” Evan said returning to his microscope.
“I can’t think of any change in her behavior either,” Margo added.
“She was typical Meg until the family meeting this morning,” Cole answered thoughtfully.
“Yeah this morning was rough on everyone,” Dr. Andrews said even as he swabbed a Petri dish with a blood sample.
“Hum,” Alik mused. “I wonder if that was the ‘trigger’.”
“What do you mean?” Cole asked.
“Well, Meg is an emotional superconductor, right? She can sense the feeling of those around her. In a word, her skill is her empathy,” Alik continued.
“So maybe she overloaded?” Cole concluded.
“Something like that. What do you think, Mom?” Alik looked to his mother who was carefully checking the I.V. bag and adjusting the pace at which the fluids were dripping.
“I think it is a possibility. She must have been experiencing so much of her own worries and sadness, but then to be bombarded with the emotions all the rest of us were feeling…” her voice trailed off.
“Yes, I agree,” Evan’s face was tight with worry. “It would be a logical conclusion.”
“Maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with the countdown. Maybe this is something else entirely,” Dr. Paulie offered. “The possibilities are innumerable.”
25 Choosing Sides
The next morning, the family was exhausted with both mental and physical fatigue. No one had slept. Though they tried to set up shifts to monitor Meg’s condition to allow everyone time to rest, no one was willing to leave the lab for longer than it took to grab some food and use the restroom. Everyone was keeping vigil.
Even Maze howled his distress though he couldn’t understand exactly what was going on. He didn’t know why he was wasn’t allowed to see his Meg, and he wanted the world to understand how scared and furious he was about it.
Maze announced Creed’s arrival. Alik was taking his break when he heard Maze’s growling change to alarmed barking. “What’s going on boy?” he said to the coyote as he walked to the kitchen window. He saw the same guy who had found his sister yesterday walking up the path, just as he had promised he would. Alik grabbed Maze by the collar and walked him to Meg’s room.
“You’re gonna scare the crap out of him, Maze. Stay here for now, and I’ll come back to let you out in a while. Try to calm down, okay?” he lectured the coyote.
Alik hurried to the front door and had it pulled open even before the stranger had a chance to knock.
“Hey, man,” Alik said with relief in his voice. “Thanks for coming by this morning. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about yesterday.”
“How’s the girl?” the stranger asked seeming genuinely worried.
“Not good,” Alik opened the door wider and motioned for the guest to come into the house. “She’s really sick.”