Snatched

Alexis & Drake

Drake woke to the bright lights of the infirmary. He could hear the members of the medical team moving around, murmuring to each other as they prepared the room for a new day. Drake sat up and watched them. They greeted him and continued with what they were doing, the ends of their white coats flaring around their knees.

Drake looked over to their only patient. Karina, Silo's female, was lying on her medical bed, the sheet pulled up, her eyes shut. There was a line coming out of her elbow where she was receiving fluid into her vein. She hadn't woken since they'd given her the shot last night. It was for her own good. She looked so peaceful now.

The same couldn't be said for Silo who was sitting by her bed, his head bowed low as he held her limp hand. Drake wondered if he'd moved at all during the night. It had taken a lot of arguing before the medical team had finally allowed them to stay: Silo to support Karina; Drake to support Silo. Though Drake didn't feel like he'd done much supporting.

'How is she?' Drake said, joining him.

Silo shrugged. 'Dunno. They-they did another scan ...'

Drake raised his eyebrows. 'They did? You should have woken me!'

Silo shook his head. 'Why?'

'What did they find?'

'These funny kind of "streaks" on her brain. They looked almost like ... scars.'

Scars? Drake felt something sink in his belly. 'Can they explain it?'

Shaking his head, Silo tightened his grip on his female's hand. Drake stopped a specialist who was walking past. 'I want to see this scan.'

With Silo's consent, they allowed him. Drake couldn't explain it. He'd never seen anything like it.

Drake shook his head. 'What could have done something like this?'

Miktar, the consulting specialist for the day, also shook his head, perplexed, as they stood studying the screen together. 'Perhaps something on their planet found its way into her brain? A worm or a bug? Or it could have been caused by a virus or bacteria. I've seen something similar before but not quite like this. We almost didn't pick it up. It's very ... faint. It required our microscopic loop locutor to discover the damage.'

Drake pressed his lips together. 'Does it explain her behaviour?'

'I cannot say. We've seen nothing like this before. Their brains are very similar to ours at the cellular and structural levels. It requires further investigation.'

Drake looked over towards Silo. He was brushing the hair out of his female's face as a specialist joined them, scanning her with a cell-reader. 'Is it treatable?'

'If we don't know what it is ...'

Drake scratched his chin. Mika eyed him sharply. 'Your companion is coming for an assessment too, isn't she?'

Drake nodded.

'Does she exhibit the same behaviours?'

Drake twisted his mouth. 'Some.'

Mika nodded and left him to his thoughts.

The first to enter the infirmary was Zibry and his female. Immediately, Drake felt a sudden spike of jealousy that took him by surprise. They were holding hands. He studied them briefly and let himself relax. It seemed they were only holding hands. Nothing more.

Zibry looked a little nervous as they came over, doubtless anxious about what the exam would reveal after seeing what happened in Silo's room last night. The redhead's eyes fell to Karina's bed.