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Joyce orking at one of the nearby lab tables She looked up as the door swung shut behind us, and stopped, a perplexed expression crossing her face She looked froain Finally, she put down the scalpel she was holding, carefully peeled off her plastic gloves, and started toward us She was ht spook
"Sal?" she said, when she was close enough that she wouldn’t need to raise her voice The rest of the lab technicians politely ignored us "What are you doing here?"
"Your sister is here to de sickness Isn’t that right, Sally?"
Dad’s hand clamped onto my shoulder It felt heavier than it should have I sed hard and said, "That’s right When I hen Chave got sick, they tested to see if I had the sleepwalking sickness I can de straight ahead, al attention to Joyce, or to aze, and bit her lip Then she focused back on h her obvious dismay "Well, you’re here now, and that ress What do we need?"
I don’t knoanted to cry I’m not supposed to be the one who knows That was my father, the Colonel, or my sister, the scientist, or h life and was gently corrected when I started to drift off course I was the one who didn’t re So ere people suddenly looking toto have answers? Anseren’t my job
But there was no one to provide the no one would notice, and said, "Dad said you had so to need a portable UV wand"
"And…?" prompted Joyce
I shook my head "That’s all A sick person, and a portable UV wand"
My father’s hand tightened on my shoulder "If that’s all you needed, why did youyou here?"
"Ow" I stepped away frolare at him "I told you why back at the house I need to understand what’s going on I need to ask questions and get answers, not get more dismissals and half-truths I need--"
I stopped midsentence My father’s face was turned towardat me anymore; his eyes were unfocused, and one corner of hisdoard, like he was in the early stages of a stroke The sound of drurew even louder in my ears as I realized just how erratic his behavior had becoone froressive, all without the norer such shifts inthe away from him
"Sal?" Joyce sounded puzzled
"Dad?"
He didn’t respond He just kept standing there, like he was going to say so at him
The worst part of it was that he didn’t look like the sleepwalker who’d been at our backdoor, or the one outside the car His eyes were still aware, still struggling to focus
"Joyce, if this lab has security, this would be a good tiI honestly didn’t knohether that was a good sign, or a bad one In dogs, that sort of stillness could be a precursor to an attack
"What are you talking about, Sal?" She stepped forward,quickly to get her out of Dad’s reach I grabbed her arrasping at the air where she had been standing only a half second before Joycesound, one that dwindled alain I jerked her even harder away fro to look up fro the pretense that we could have a private faovernood, since the alternative was their politely ignoring us whileJoyce another step backward Dad continued to follow us At least he wasn’tvery fast yet; he still seemed disoriented, like he wasn’t sure what to do with hi you over, fight it for as long as you can Let et Joyce out of here
Joyce finally seeot her feet under her, and then she was backpedaling on her own, no longer relying on ot here!" I said But that was a lie, wasn’t it? He’d already been slipping, and I’d known that sons, because… because…
Because I didn’t knohat else to do We were through the broken doors now, and the only ground left was the unfa sy sickness, it was too late for any treatment, because the parasite was already in their brain But she would say that, wouldn’t she? Even if it wasn’t strictly true, she’d say it The Syht not actively side with theo out of her way to figure out how to stop thes they wanted Like bodies of their own