Voynich Shift - Pars Duorum (COMPLETED)

Chapter XX - Leonis, 1:12, 2:16 - Missing Memories

"Back already, Buck? So, they did they find her?" the attractive blonde nurse inquired nervously beneath a red lipstick smile. She stepped from behind the nurse's desk and stopped Sheriff Warner in the middle of the stark white hallway with a hand to his chest.

"Cindy Lou?" Buck said, a confused look on his face. He looked down at the woman's hand. "Can I help you with somethin'?"

"Hurry up, Michael, you dumbass," the nurse thought and then acted as if she were removing a piece of lint or something from the sheriff's uniform. "Oh, no, you just had something right there on your little shirty-poo..."

"Hey, Buck did you see where the Raymond's went? One minute they were there and th..."

Cindy Lou quickly removed her fingers from Buck's shirt as Robyn unexpectedly rounded the corner. The terrified nurse backed away from the man with her face tilted slightly down, eyes cut toward Faith's room down at the far end of the hall. She needed to buy Michael some more time. "What's takin' you so long, fool!?!!" Suddenly, a thought hit her. Cindy Lou stepped into the center of the hallway once again, this time stretching her arms wide to hug the physician. "Oh, Doctor Warner. Oh my Lord, I am so glad you are alive, darlin'! I never thought I'd see you again!"

Robyn looked at her husband over Cindy Lou's shoulder as the two women embraced, a perplexed expression painted on her face. Buck shrugged.

"Thank you kindly, Nurse Jamison..." Robyn stopped mid-sentence as the hospital door down the hall unexpectedly exploded open. With a cry of pain, Michael flew backwards from Faith's room into the hallway, slamming his back against the wall on the other side.

Arthur stepped through the doorway with his fists balled. Michael instantly threw up his singular, uninjured hand in surrender.

"Your firehouse buddies aren't here to stop me this time, you sick bastard! I am going to kill you and then I'm goin' after everyone else like you!" Arthur said angrily.

Michael looked down the hall and spotted the nurse. "Help me, sweetheart! Call your daddy or this madman's goin' ta kill me, Cindy Lou!" he pleaded in desperation as Arthur yanked him up from the floor. Michael grew desperate. "Sheriff, stop him! It's Cindy Lou! She's the one! She told me to kill the Jew girl!"

Robyn and Buck both looked at each other and then at Cindy Lou. The nurse began to back away. "Is this true, Nurse Jamison?" As Buck reached out to grab the woman, she turned and ran, running into a surprised, very large African-American man that appeared from around the corner. He was holding a large bouquet of flowers. "Hey, Nurse, where'd they move Faith...?"

"Out of my way, Negro!" the nurse shouted and shoved the surprised older man backwards, the colorful flowers scattering about the hall. Her graying victim tumbled to the floor, accidentally tripping the woman's pursuer, Buck, in the process.

Arthur pulled his arm back, preparing to plant a fist in Michael's face when the commotion a few doors away occurred and diverted his attention. Without a word, the Army veteran's face changed from anger to something bordering on a cross between fear and confusion. He strangely released his death grip on Michael's shirt and let the injured man slide to the floor. Arthur stepped over the fireman's now outstretched legs, fighting to keep his own from buckling beneath him.

"Sarge?" the African-American man said shakily as he spotted the approaching Arthur, his eyes quickly filling with tears. "How!?!! I watched you die..."

"Ribeye? Corporal Adam "Ribeye" Elliot? You're alive?"

The two men locked eyes, apparently neither one believing what the other was seeing.