Jess shines her flashlight into my face. I do not read any shock in her tone when she sees my appearance. She speaks with a calm voice, “Kirk, who did that to your face?”
“I did it myself.”
“Why would you do that? You totally look like you just walked off the set of World War Z.”
“It was an accident, can you fix it for me?”
“I can try and patch it up, get over here,” she says, pointing to her feet.
I drop to my knees, and look up at Jess. She removes something from her mouth, a small grey ball.
I remember this stuff – gum.
I watch as Jess splits the gum into six little pieces and places them on the floor. She kneels in front of me, puts the flashlight down and picks up my skin flap.
A smile cracks across her face, “Man, your skin feels like old carpet Kirk, you need to moisturize before you make-up,” she says with a smile.
She places the gumballs along the outer edges of my skin. I watch the intense concentration as she presses the leather against my cheekbone.
She continues to work, carefully kneading the skin/leather along the contours of my face.
She stands up, lifts my chin with her hand, studies my face and says, “Not bad; it’s only temporary though, you’ll need Dr Shaheed's skills, for sure.”
It is only then that I become aware of Jess’s smell, the purge odor has completely over-rode her arrival.
“Why did you come here – are you the Reanimater?” I ask.
“I came to support you,” she says, throwing her light around the space.
She does not answer the second part of my question.
……
Jess explores the space in silence. She arrives at the cubicle and stares at the horror; the boars lie in the thick green gloop that is the remnants of Toby’s father, Clark – she holds her nose against the stinging stench.
When she speaks, her clamped nasal passages make her sound like Darth Vadar, “Jeez, is that green stuff all that’s left of him?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“They turned him into pea soup.”
“No. That is reanimate purge.”
“I know Kirk.”
“Then why did you say it was pea soup?”
“Leave it Kirk.”
She moves away, wandering around the space. I hear a kind of low-level anger in her voice as she talks,” If you guys had told me about this, there’s a chance we could have prevented his liquidization. Jeez, I didn’t like the guy, but he didn’t deserve a death like this, no one does,” she says.
My question still floats around my semi dead head, it comes out again, like this – “Dr Shaheed thinks you are responsible for the reanimations, because you have the tattoo ‘Reanimates Rule.’ She said if it is you, then she will remove you from life,” I say this, because I know it is important to be honest with people you like.
“Really, Doc Shaheed said that – let me see her try!” replies Jess, with determination in her voice.
Jess continues her exploration, “Anyways, don’t worry Kirk, I’m working on Dr Shaheed, I think I’m getting her on MY SIDE.”
She walks back toward the Boars, which are heaving heavily with post purge exhaustion, “How did these things get in here?” she asks.
I do not know the answer to this question.
