//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - Index Case // Story: Pandemic // by ASGeek2012 //------------------------------// Kevin entered his office through the back and was immediately greeted by Heather. "I sent everyone else home," she said. "Some had left on their own after hearing Turner raving." "Are you all right?" Kevin asked. Heather took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm fine now. I was just shocked. I have a reason for why I got a bit unhinged, but it can wait." She handed him a folder. "You really need to see Fred Turner." Kevin opened the folder and examined the list of symptoms Heather had noted, as well as the listing of his vitals. "All right, no more patients today after him." "I'd just as soon not have people see him in this state," said Heather. "Just how many people have seen him?" "Hopefully no one," said Heather. "Janet brought him in through the back to avoid attracting attention." "Good. The last thing we need is a mass panic." Kevin headed down the hallway. He grasped the knob of the door to the examination room, hesitated, then headed inside. Despite steeling himself, for a moment, all he could do was stare. The Fred Turner he remembered was a man in his fifties who was still fairly robust, chest broad, arms corded with muscle, and standing an imposing six-foot-three with near-perfect posture. Kevin had little insight into the man's past other than his medical bills were paid via military veterans benefits. His hair had been short, wiry, and brown with streaks of gray. His eyes had been a piercing cool blue. The Fred Turner who sat on the edge of the examination table bore little resemblance to this, save for perhaps his imposing presence, which he had somehow managed to retain despite losing a full foot of height and sitting hunched-over. Where wiry gray-streaked hair had been, he now sported a thick batch of straight peach hair that reached past his shoulders. Spilling from a tear in the back of his faded jeans was an equally thick peach tail. His blue eyes were now amber. What really drew Kevin's attention were the ears. They had migrated to the top of his head, bore a distinct equine shape, and were covered in short, rust-red fur. Only when the man shifted his weight and Kevin heard an odd noise did he look down. Kevin stared at something that simply should not exist: two fully-formed horse-like hooves where feet ought to be. Just above them, the skin of Fred's calves were covered in more rust-red fur. Standing next to Fred was a dark-haired woman who gave Kevin a pleading look. "Doctor Conner! Please, do something for him, I-I don't--" "He's not gonna do anything for me," Fred snapped, his voice breaking the illusion that this was someone simply pretending to be him. "He's in it with all the others. He just wants to cover the government’s tracks." "Father, please," said Janet Turner. "Don't do this. Just once, can you--?" Kevin was drawn again to those ears. As Janet spoke, Fred's ears swiveled towards the voice. "The only reason I agreed to come down here is to see for myself," said Fred as he narrowed his eyes at Kevin. "And now I have." Kevin stepped forward. "If I may ask, Mr. Turner, see what for yourself?" Fred's ears drew back. "That you could very well be the cause of all this." Janet sighed and gave Kevin a helpless look. "In what way do I give you that impression, sir?" Kevin asked. Fred waved a hand at him. "Well, look at you. You're not affected like the rest of us in town. Why would that be unless the government's having you do their dirty work? Or at least giving you a free pass?" "Mr. Turner, my belief is that your symptoms may be related to your earlier bout with the flu." Janet's eyes widened. "Don't give me that bullshit," Fred growled. "I know what flu is, and you don't get this from influenza!" He turned to Janet. "It's what I told you. He's in it with the rest of them." "No, wait, father," Janet said. "What if he's right? I could've done this to you without realizing it." "What did you mean by that, Janet?" asked Kevin. "I gave him the flu," said Janet. "I caught it back in Nebraska. Father was acting odd, and I visited him. I was still feeling under the weather but thought I was over it enough." "How long ago was that?" Kevin asked. "About a month ago." "And you haven't had any symptoms like your father?" "No, nothing like that at all." "Stop implying my daughter is in on this!" Fred snapped. "Mr. Turner, please," Kevin said. "I meant nothing of the sort." "You're the same as the rest. Trying to deflect blame. Trying to keep me from the truth! But I'm starting to figure it out myself." Janet clenched her teeth. "Father, I told you before, it's the most ridiculous--" Kevin held up a hand. "Please, let your father finish. I want to hear what he has to say." This appeared to mollify Fred somewhat, his ears rising. "You know when I figured out what's going on? Look at this." He raised a hoof and tugged the pant leg up. What had been the ankle joint had migrated upwards, as if to compensate for the new shape of his foot. The fur continued under the edge of the pant leg. "This is what told me what's happening!" Fred exclaimed. "And I knew I was right, I just had the implementation wrong." Kevin tilted his head. "Implementation of what?" "All along I thought they'd manufacture some sorta disaster," said Fred with all the seriousness of a professor giving a lecture. "Make us all into refugees, then corral us into wretched, stinking camps feeding us whatever propaganda they think will keep us going. Instead, it's worse! Their plan is to turn us all into helpless animals that they can herd and keep in stables." "Stables?" Kevin prompted. He let the hoof drop. The metal leg of the table rang with the impact. "I've been in Colorado long enough to know what a damn horse hoof looks like. You're not gonna stand there and tell me that isn't their plan. It's me they really want out of the way, and they don't give a rat's ass if they have to take everypony with me." "Father, why would they do that?" Janet said. "Can you please--" "Wait, Janet," Kevin said. "Mr. Turner, can you repeat what you just said?" "They're gonna take me out of the way and don't care if everyone goes down with me!" Fred bellowed. "That's not what you said," said Kevin. "You said every--" "I know what I said!" Janet gasped. "W-wait, I heard it, too!" Fred clenched his teeth. "I've had enough of this nonsense." He pushed himself off the examination table. His hooves landed with a hard clop against the floor, and he swayed. Kevin and Janet immediately rushed to his sides to grab his arms to steady him, but he wrenched them free with astonishing ease. Kevin rubbed his wrist and looked at Fred in some wonder. The man had always been in good shape, but Kevin had not remembered Fred being that strong. "Father, please, you need to stay and--" Janet began. "And do what?" Fred said. "There's nothing he can do for me. Only finding the truth will help." "Mr. Turner, I want the same thing you do," said Kevin. Fred narrowed his eyes. "And that makes you think you got power over me?" "I have no intention of holding you here against your will, if that's what you mean." "Damn straight you're not. Maybe I'm half horse, but I still got rights." "But can you answer me a question, please, sir?" Fred's tail twitched. "Depends on what it is." "It's clear you had the flu a few weeks ago," said Kevin. "Did anything unusual happen either right before or during?" "No, nothing." Kevin knew Fred well enough to tell he was hiding something. He always resorted to short, curt responses when he didn't want to answer the question directly. Janet knew this as well, and she immediately prompted him. "Father, he can't help you if you don't tell him everything." "Mr. Turner, you've already made note yourself of the fact that you're not the only one with these symptoms," Kevin said. "You speak of taking everyone down with you. I want to prevent that." Fred paused. "I wish I could believe you," he said in a softer voice. "Mr. Turner, I need as much information as I can get," said Kevin. "Can you tell me when these unusual symptoms started to manifest?" Fred's eyes darted to the side for a moment before narrowing slightly on Kevin. "About twelve days ago. Started with the hair. Then the eyes and tail." "About when did you get the tail?" "Six days ago. The ears maybe four days ago. Then the fur and the hooves. You satisfied now?" "Thank you for the information," said Kevin. "But I really would like to do a more thorough examination on you, or at least let me take pictures of--" Fred frowned. "Don't take me for an idiot. Even if you were on the up-and-up, the system isn't going to help. If I'm gonna get the answers I was promised, it's gonna have to be from somewhere else." "Promised?" Kevin asked. "Who made a promise to you?" "Like I'm going to tell you and have you ruin my one chance at understanding." Fred turned to his daughter. "Janet, take me home." Janet sighed in resignation. "I'm sorry, Doctor Conner." Kevin wanted to talk to Janet in private but did not want to risk Fred's wrath, so he kept his request to himself for now. "It's fine." Janet nodded to Kevin and gently took Fred's arm. "This way, father." Fred slowly headed for the door, the clop of his hooves the most incongruous sound Kevin had ever heard. Even considering Janet's assistance, Fred appeared to be balancing on them well despite his apparent inability to stand up straight. Kevin noticed that Fred's legs were moving oddly, as if more than just the ankles had changed. At the door, Fred stopped and turned towards Kevin. "I still think you're in on this. You tell your government masters that this will come down on their heads soon. Everything will come crashing down." He turned away. "Take me home, Janet." Kevin watched then leave before sinking into a chair as Heather slipped into the room. "Well?" she asked. "All I got out of him that was useful was the timeline of his symptoms," said Kevin. "Not much else." "Surely there's something we can do." "I can't force him to submit to a medical examination. Even if I had the right to physically restrain him, the man is as strong as an ox." Kevin rubbed his eyes. "I'll contact the police chief in the morning and see if he can give me more options. I'm going to need most of this afternoon to correlate the new data from the patients I've seen today and update the Department of Health. If Mr. Turner is to be believed, the condition accelerates after the appearance of the tail." Heather glanced nervously down the back hall. "And you have no idea how far this is going to progress?" "Your guess is as good as mine." Kevin sighed. "This has got to be the most bizarre thing I have ever encountered in my life. It sounds straight of a bad sci-fi story. Fred Turner really looked like he was turning into some sort of horse. Or pony." "Pony?" Heather asked. "What made you say that?" "Something he said while we were talking. Also, given how much height he's lost, it reminds me more of a smaller pony than a larger horse. Either case, it's suggestive of something equine." Kevin leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes. "I don't think I can do any more today." Heather's shoulders slumped. "Are you sure you don't have time for just one more patient?" Kevin yawned and drew his chair forward. "I suppose. Who is it?" "Me." Kevin stared as Heather turned around. A few of her auburn curls near the base of her neck had turned cyan. "I'm sorry," said Kevin in a heavy voice. "No, Kevin, look at it. Really look at it." Kevin tilted his head and stood up. "Heather, turn your head a little to the left." When she complied, his eyes widened. The cyan hair appeared slightly shiny. He gently pulled a curl straight. It sparkled faintly. "It looks like it's coated in glass, doesn't it?" Heather said in a quavering voice. "This is remarkable," Kevin murmured. "I've never seen anything like this among our patients." Heather chuckled weakly. "Leave it to me to be the pioneer." "When did this start?" "I noticed it around lunch time, but we were so busy I didn't want to mention it," said Heather. "Now you know why I freaked out a little when I saw Turner. I ... I don't relish the idea of exchanging feet for hooves. I could almost tolerate the other symptoms, but that?" She shuddered. "It would make me feel like I wasn't even human anymore." "There's no guarantee that will happen," said Kevin flatly, but the words were starting to ring hollow. Heather turned towards him. "But if it's a possibility, should we warn your other patients?" "And cause a panic? People are already on edge, and this will just push them over." Kevin frowned. "I don't want to start treating people for riot injuries. I'll keep going through official channels." Kevin's gaze and voice softened. "Is there anything you want me to do for you?" Heather shook her head. "I just want to keep working as your assistant and nurse for as long as I'm capable." Kevin stood and squeezed her hand. "Of course, Heather. I wouldn't have it any other way." Tina gave a self-satisfied smirk as a reload of her friend's tumblr blog was rewarded with the picture of a short, wavy purple tail as the most recent post. She thumbed the button on her cell phone to send the text message she had already typed: Good going girl! "That's three," said Bob. "Yep." Tina clicked back to the latest post on her own blog featuring the pictures she had posted of Laura's tail. "Woo, five more reblogs, twenty more likes. It's starting to pick up some steam now." Bob could not quite read the text on Tina's monitor from where he sat behind her. "Anyone respond in the comments to what you said about it being related to the flu?" "Eh, nothing in detail, just short reactions with lots of exclamation points." She rolled her eyes. "And the usual idiots making jokes about traveling to Lazy Pines so they can catch this themselves. Damn furries." Bob smirked, recalling how much furry fandom he had to slog through himself when he was looking for similar incidents on the internet. Tina turned to him and smiled. "Thanks for helping with the image processing. Oh, and for fixing that damn video driver crash when we first tried to use it." "The version of the driver you had is notorious for that, but Windows doesn't have the proper update on its servers," said Bob. "All we had to do was go to the vendor's site." Tina placed her elbow on the hand rest of her chair and leaned her head lightly on her hand. "You sound like you know a lot about computers." "I'm not really into it that much," said Bob. "I've just picked up a few things from my ... from here and there." "So what are you into? Biology?" Bob's eyes widened. "Er, what?" "You figured out this was linked to the flu before your doctor did." "Oh, that. Doctor Conner had figured it out pretty soon after I did, and he had far more evidence than one family." "Is he doing anything about it?" "Laura said he was going to contact the Colorado Department of Health," said Bob. "I also heard that there's been lots of new flu cases, but nothing like what's happening here yet." Tina bit her lip. "Tina, if I can ask, are your parents affected by this?" "Not yet," said Tina. "Mom and Dad got the flu right before I did. I think we were something like the last ones to get it." She glanced at Bob. "Sorta like you." "So we're going to be the last ones this happens to," said Bob. Tina nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess. What about it?" "I think we should exchange phone numbers." Tina giggled. "Wow, you work fast, don't you?" "Huh?" Tina giggled louder. It finally clicked in Bob's head, and he blushed. "I didn't mean it that way!" Tina laughed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have teased you like that." "I just meant we should be able to contact each other if things start going really bad." Some of Tina's mirth faded. "Really bad? What do you mean?" Bob only knew of some of the details of what Jenny had seen when she was on Fred Turner's property, but what little he had gleaned worried him. "Tina, what if ... what if this will cause some kind of disability? The people who don't have it are going to have to help the people who do." Tina folded her arms. "That's really cool of you to want to help, but you'd think someone else would be considering that." "I just don't see things getting better anytime soon." Tina smirked. "Wow, you're upbeat, aren't you?" He knew Tina didn't mean anything beyond her usual propensity to be snarky, but Bob felt the need to justify his worry. "A few days ago, I found the blog of some woman in Arizona. She had posted that she had woken up with weird color in her hair. She had the flu a week before that which she said she caught on a ski trip to Breckenridge." Tina stared. "You're shitting me." "Then my Aunt Mary said she saw someone near Grand Junction with weird hair. He had caught the flu as well while he was passing through Lazy Pines." Tina's eyes shimmered. "Let's worry about our own little apocalypse here in town," she said in a quavering voice. She ran both her hands through her hair. "You better be wrong about people getting into a really bad state over this. Hopefully it stays at just silly hair and eye colors and tails. But, yeah, let's exchange phone numbers." Jenny skipped ahead along the path that wound through the woods, her pink hair occasionally flaring bright in the broken sunlight that shone through the bare canopies. "And here we see the poor peasant girl in one of her increasingly rare moments outside since she was forced to become the personal servant of the Fae Queen ..." Laura sighed and glanced about as she tried to adjust her jeans. Jenny had wanted one of the steeper hiking trails for a different scene, but Laura was worried it would pull painfully on her tail. She almost wished she had risked it if for no other reason than the other scene didn't include Jenny's queen character. "And all to ensure she doesn't let slip the Queen's terrible secret!" Jenny declared with dramatic flair. She spun around in place. "Yet here she is, confined to the gardens of the Queen's estate, where she can only dream of the knight who she would much prefer as her companion, even over the stable-hand who--" "Jenny, don't you ever come up for air?" Laura groaned. "You've been chattering non stop since we left Tina's place." "Don't interrupt my scene unless you want to participate, Your Majesty," Jenny said in a lofty voice as she continued to twirl. "I don't want to be part of it in any way, and please stop calling me that." Jenny huffed and came to a stop. "Fine," she muttered. "Sorry." "Look, maybe I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't have my own problems to deal with," she said in a lower voice. "Problems that your little fantasy just keeps reminding me of." "I said I was sorry." Jenny waited until Laura caught up before walking alongside her. "How are you feeling? I mean other than the tail." "My ears are still buzzing. It's really annoying." She glanced down at her jeans. She had folded the cuffs up to compensate for her loss of height, but the new edges were already brushing against the tops of her sneakers. "And now I'm almost as short as you." "Hey, I'm not short." "You know what I mean." Jenny smiled. "I know, but I have to give you a hard time sometimes." Laura's gaze softened. "Maybe I deserve that." Jenny gave her a perplexed look. "Huh?" Laura stared at her sister for a moment before shaking her head. "Forget it." "You're weird," said Jenny. Laura frowned. "You don't have to give me a hard time every minute." "I wasn't. I'm serious. Ever since Mom saddled you with this job of minding me, you've been acting strange." Laura's eyebrows rose. "Saddled? You finally believe me when I say I didn't want this?" Jenny shrugged. "I guess. But why not?" "What are you talking about?" "You always jump at any chance to look good in Mom's eyes," said Jenny. "And before you get your panties in a twist, I'm not trying to be mean, you really do that." "I'm almost eighteen," said Laura. "I need to start acting like an adult." Jenny snorted. "Laura, you've been doing this almost as long as I can remember." Laura shuddered. "And you can't figure out why?" "Only that you wanted to look better than me." "So much for not giving me a hard time," Laura muttered. "What?" Jenny said. "I'm just being honest with you. That's what it looked like." Laura stopped and turned towards her little sister. "Seriously? You don't remember what happened when you were five?" Jenny rolled her eyes. "That's a really long time ago. Give me a clue." Laura bit her lip as she debated whether to continue this discussion any longer. She had a lot of trouble reading her little sister's intentions. "The big storm," said Laura in a low voice. "Uh, Laura? We were living in Nebraska at the time. We got storms all the time." Laura stared at Jenny for a moment before shaking her head and starting down the path again. "You know what? Never mind. It's obviously not important to you." "Maybe if I had clue as to what you're talking about, it would be." Laura stopped, her shoulders slumping. Jenny had to be just playing with her. Laura took the bait anyway. "The really big storm that happened when you were five and I was eight, the one where the tornado came through the block." She turned around, her eyes glistening. "The one where you could've been killed." Jenny's eyes widened. "Huh?" Laura clenched her jaw. "This is why I don't talk to you about anything. You take nothing seriously." "Laura, I don't remember that." "Sure. Tell me another one." "I'm dead serious!" Jenny cried. "I don't remember anything like that." "Forget I mentioned it." Laura started back the way they had come. "I want to go home. I don't care if you're done or not." "Um, okay," Jenny said in an awkward tone before following alongside her sister. After a long pause, she added, "I was serious when I said I don't remember." "Jenny, just shut up." Jenny frowned. "Anything you say, Your Majesty." After spending a good amount of time on the hiking trails, Harold headed back into the town proper and stopped at the grocery store as he had promised his wife. Upon returning home, he was greeted by a welcome aroma. He smiled as he shrugged out of his coat and headed into the kitchen, dumping the bag with his purchase on the table. He came up from behind Sarah and slid his arms around her in a hug. Sarah flinched, nearly splashing stew from the pot. "Oh, Harry, your hands are ice-cold!" "Sorry." He planted a kiss on her neck before stepping to the side. Sarah smiled. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture." Harold glanced at the contents of the pot. "Looks like you're making a gesture of your own." Sarah stirred the thick, bubbling contents of the pot. "Beef stew is Laura's favorite. I thought she deserved a treat after everything that's happened to her. You get those spices I wanted?" "On the table." He glanced at his wife. "So, anything I should know about? You or the kids?" Sarah's smile faded a bit. "If you mean the appearance of any new symptoms, no." She rubbed her eyes. "Other than my eyes itch, but we already know what that means. Jenny's not being helpful by trying to guess what color my eyes will be tomorrow morning." "What color is the leading contender?" Sarah gave him a cross look. "You have to admit, she's probably handling this better than anyone else in the family," said Harold. "Only because she's not taking it seriously." "Or she just doesn't want to brood over it," said Harold. "You don't see me moping about it, but I'm sure as hell taking this seriously. I just don't know what to do about it." "Maybe I do," Sarah declared. "We should seek medical help elsewhere." "Come again?" "As much as I respect Doctor Conner, if he can't help us, we should go somewhere and find someone who can." Harold raised an eyebrow. "You mean go to another town?" "Why not? To be honest, I have no idea why I didn't think of it before." She tasted the stew and reached for the salt. "I guess I felt like staying in town was the safest thing to do." "There's no guarantee that anyone can figure this out," said Harold. Sarah sprinkled some salt into the stew, stirred, and tasted it again. "Never mind that for now, dinner is ready." She turned off the burner. "Fetch the kids, please." "Will do," said Harold as he headed away. Sarah folded her arms and sighed. Already she was reconsidering her idea. Was it best to stay in town among people she knew rather than traipsing off to places unknown? She shook her head when her thoughts threatened to run in circles. She grabbed some bowls and started portioning out the meal. She brought the first two out, her eyes flicking over her daughters, looking for any sign that something else had changed. She noticed Laura wearing jeans she didn't recognize, tail draped over the side of the chair. She decided not to ask about it for now. The silence made her feel uneasy. Usually someone was chatting up a storm by now. Sarah glanced at Bob before setting the first two bowls down before Jenny and Laura. A few more trips to the kitchen, and she finished serving the meal before sitting down before her own. She glanced at Laura, who was picking at the contents of her bowl with a fork, her nose scrunched up. "Is something wrong?" Sarah asked, unable to keep the quaver out of her voice. Laura looked up, her face slightly pale. "Um ... I don't ..." "It's your favorite." Laura speared a piece of beef and brought it to her lips. She made a gagging noise and let the fork fall into her bowl, splashing sauce over the table. Harold looked over to her. "Laura, are you all right?" Laura pushed the bowl away. "I can't eat this," she said in a miserable voice. "Are you not hungry?" said Sarah. "I'm starving!" said Laura. "I could barely eat my lunch. Well, the fries and the salad I could, but not the burger. It's like it smelled bad or something." Sarah's heart pounded. "Jenny, how is your stew?" Jenny glanced at her sister for a moment before saying, "It tastes fine to me, Mom." Her voice was unusually sedate. "Bob? Harold?" said Sarah. "Mine is fine," said Bob. "Same here," said Harold, his concerned gaze still on his daughter. Laura lowered her head and covered it with her arms. "Please, I'm sorry, I know I'm being stupid--" "You certainly are not," Sarah declared. "I-I knew I was having trouble eating meat, but I thought it was just stress or bad cafeteria food! I didn't think it would get this bad! I'm sorry!" "Laura, you have nothing to apologize for." Sarah stood up. "I'll make you a salad. What about cheese? Can you eat that?" Laura slowly lifted her head and nodded. "I think so." "I'll put some in so you have something more substantial." She whirled around and headed into the kitchen. Harold followed her in a few moments later. "Honey, are you--" She spun around to face him. "No, I am not all right. None of us are all right. We have to stop pretending that we are. We need to get out of this town." "And just where the hell do we go?" "Denver," said Sarah. "It's the closest major city. Surely they have better hospitals and clinics there that can help us!" Harold wiped his face with his hand. "Honey, there's bad weather moving in tonight. About a foot of heavy wet snow from here clear through into Denver." "We've driven in that before." "And just where do we stay?" Harold said, his voice rising. "You think we could crowd into Eileen's apartment? That's assuming she doesn't take in Bob and tell the rest of us to go to hell. We have no money for a hotel for a family of five." "We'd be checked into the hospital at first," Sarah countered. "Sarah, we have no medical insurance. There's a reason we stick with Doctor Conner. He lets us pay over time." "The hospital can't just reject us!" Sarah snapped. "If we showed up bleeding to death, I'd agree with you." Sarah clenched her hands into fists. "I just want to do something," she said in a low voice. "I don't ... I don't want to feel like I'm ignoring this." Harold tilted his head. "What gave you the idea you were?" he said in a softer voice. Sarah folded her arms. "Greg called me earlier. He had some new information for me. It's not important what it is, but I've been wrapped up in it all day. I was lucky I remembered to get dinner started in time." "Sarah, stop, please." "No, listen to me. I obsessed over it because I thought somehow it might be related to what's happening to our family without realizing how ludicrous that was." Sarah paused. "Maybe I am letting my career take too much precedence over our family. It's like I can't separate them anymore." Harold pulled her into a hug. "If anyone's been ignoring things, it's me. At least you're trying to figure out something to do. I've been pretty useless." Sarah closed her eyes and leaned into him. "You're not useless. Stop listening to your father." "Remember the returned letter?" said Harold in a flat voice. "He hasn't said a word to me lately." "Then you're doing a good job of filling in for him." Harold sighed. "Let's get back to dinner for now. You still need to make that salad for Laura." Sarah nodded as they broke off the embrace. "I meant what I said, Harry. You're not useless. If anything, you've been the one holding this family together the past few years." Harold didn't particularly feel like it, but he accepted it for now. "If you still think we have to go somewhere else, let's talk more on it in the morning." Sarah smiled faintly and nodded. She kissed him briefly on the lips before they parted. Harold's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he headed back into the dining room. "Everything okay?" Bob asked in a tentative voice. Harold forced a small smile. "Yeah, it's good. We got it under control." Despite the nodding of heads, Harold doubted anyone believed that any more than he did. As the skies above Lazy Pines deepened into twilight, Kevin glanced out the window of the Mexican restaurant as another car pulled into the parking lot. He set down the margarita he had been nursing when he saw Janet emerge. He followed her with his eyes as she reached the front door and waved to her as she entered. His server ushered her over to the booth where Kevin sat. "Sorry I'm late," said Janet as she slid into a seat opposite Kevin. "I had some phone calls to make before I left the hotel." When Janet had not been able to free up right away after taking her father home -- having tried one last fruitless attempt to convince him to tell her what really happened -- Kevin had suggested they talk over dinner so neither had to bother with cooking that evening. "It's fine, Janet," said Kevin. "May I get you a drink, ma'am?" asked the server. "Just some iced tea, please." "Of course. Another margarita, sir?" Kevin picked up his glass. "One's my limit, thank you." Janet stared at the server as he walked away, the back of his head covered in purple streaked with red. "Is this happening all over town?" Kevin swirled the remainder of his drink around, the ice clinking softly. "I'm afraid so, which is why it's imperative I know as much about this as possible." "I tried my best to get something out of him," said Janet. "I've never seen him act this secretive. Usually, I'm the one he trusts with his, um, theories." Kevin took a pull of his drink and set the glass aside. "Do you know if he had any contact with anyone or anything over the past month or two?" "Well, not anyone, I can assure you of that," said Janet as she picked up the menu. "Not with as reclusive and paranoid he is about 'infiltrators'. If he does have something he's hiding from me, I have no idea what it is or where it could be." She shivered. "Just being in his house makes me feel out-of-sorts." "How so?" "Like the air is electrified or something. Also a sense of weirdness all over my body." Kevin hesitated. "Did you feel any nausea or abdominal pain? Headaches or dizziness?" "I did feel a little flushed, but that's it." Janet looked up from the menu. "Why?" Kevin was not sure whether to answer truthfully -- that he was checking for radiation poisoning -- given Janet's still frazzled state. "Just a precaution. I wouldn't go back there for now." Janet's eyes widened. "You think he actually has something dangerous there? Or that his place is contaminated somehow?" "This is all speculation, but -- and forgive me for being blunt -- given your father's questionable state of mind, I can't rule anything out." "You don't need to pussyfoot around it," Janet said. "I know perfectly well what my father is like. He wasn't always like this. He was once a very respected man." "Was he in the military?" "Yes. US Army Special Forces." Kevin paused. "The Green Berets?" Janet nodded. "He was very proud of his service record. I was proud of him, even though I was only ten at the time. He gained a high enough rank to command men in battle." "If I may ask, Janet, what happened?" said Kevin. Janet frowned. "I wish I knew all the details. I learned a little through my mother, who divorced him since then. I learned more only when I was lucky enough to find one of the men who served under him. Father's last mission was in Afghanistan, twenty-one years ago." Kevin did the math in his head. "That would be 2001, right? The forces we sent abroad after nine-eleven." "Yes. He was very happy to be assigned to that offensive. All he wanted to do was serve his country, Doctor Conner." "Please, call me Kevin," Kevin said. Janet gave him an appreciative smile. "Anyway, he was part of the forces that entered Kabul in November of that year. Some scouts spotted odd flashes of light past the outskirts of the city. My father was told to take his unit and investigate. They wanted to rule out an isolated Taliban unit trying to harass the rear." She paused when the server returned with her iced tea. Both Kevin and Janet ordered their meals, and they waited for the server to be out of earshot. "I take it something happened?" asked Kevin. "Well, yes, but it really wasn't unusual," said Janet. "At least no one thought so at the time. He didn't find any enemy units, but he did find a little Afghani girl. She was probably no more than eight. She claimed she got separated from her parents. There was a village nearby, and my father checked with the elders there, but no one was missing a child. He took her back to base, and they sent her into a refugee camp." "Your father said something about refugees in my office earlier," said Kevin. Janet nodded. "It may be wrapped up in all this, I don't know. Anyway, my father took a liking to this girl." She smiled. "He always had a soft spot for children, and he got along really well with the children of the local population." "What were the conditions in these camps like?" asked Kevin. "I honestly don't know," said Janet. "It's not something father ever talked about. All he talked about was the little girl. She wouldn't give her name, and she refused to be parted from a ragged satchel she carried around. Father grew ever more concerned for her and kept visiting her at the refugee camp. They apparently had long conversations together." Kevin picked up his drink. "What did they talk about?" "I don't know. Father never told me. But, apparently, whatever was said made father start to make demands of the refugee camp administration concerning the welfare of the girl. Finally, someone complained, and father was reprimanded. He was told not to see the girl again, but he did anyway." "I take it that didn't go over well." "All I know is that father raced back to base claiming the little girl was gone." "Gone?" Kevin said in a wary voice. "She ran away from the camp?" "The administrators of the camp claimed no knowledge of the little girl at all," said Janet. "It was like she never existed!" Kevin slowly set down the glass. "And how did the army react?" "My father was well-respected enough that they took him seriously at first." said Janet. "They even started a search for the little girl, but soon after questioning my father, they remanded him for psychiatric evaluation." "Do you have any idea what he had told them?" said Kevin. Janet frowned and shook her head. "I wish I did. Even the serviceman I talked to didn't know much. He didn't even remember their unit finding the girl! He said there was some scuttlebutt about some hostile agent infiltrating the area and giving my father 'subversive ideas', but that's ridiculous." "They ever find the girl?" Janet took a sip of her iced tea and shook her head. "Disappeared without a trace. My father was deemed unfit for combat and sent stateside. He hated that. I'll never forget what I overheard him say to my mother. He said 'I feel like my country just punched me in the face.' Things just went downhill from there. He became increasingly suspicious of his superiors and the army in general. He was finally forced into an honorable discharge, but that didn't stop his slide into paranoia. He became convinced the government was planning some sort of move against its own people. Mother divorced him when she feared for the safety of herself and me." She thumped her glass to the table. "And that wasn't fair. My father is not like that, Kevin. He wouldn't hurt a fly. He received multiple medals for minimal use of force." Kevin leaned back in his seat. "I have to admit, Janet, this has been a humbling experience. I admit to being as guilty as the next person in thinking your father was nothing more than a crazy prepper. I had no idea he had served his country with such distinction." Janet smiled faintly. "It's okay. I tend not to talk about it. This is the most I've ever said about it in one sitting." Their conversation paused as the server arrived with their meals. They waited for the server to depart before continuing. "Janet, if I may ask, was your father ever formally examined by a civilian psychiatrist?" Kevin asked. "Once," Janet said. "But I couldn't get him to go again. The doctor said the most likely cause was schizophrenia, especially after hearing about the hallucinations, but he couldn't make that a formal diagnosis without examining him again." "Hallucinations?" said Kevin. "That's the most disturbing part," said Janet in a low voice. "Some years after he was discharged, he claimed he saw the little Afghani girl again, and they started talking. His rhetoric against the government and their secret plans got worse." She picked at her dinner. "It was what prompted me to come see him this time. He claimed the girl was visiting him regularly. I'm really worried he's coming completely unhinged, maybe because of whatever's happening to him." Kevin looked thoughtful. "Janet, I'm thinking back to what Fred said at the office. He said someone promised him something. Do you think he was referring to this imaginary girl?" "I wouldn't be surprised." Janet took a tentative bite of dinner. "I just don't know what to do. I can't head back to Nebraska knowing he's in this state. He can't stay in that bunker of his forever." "Where are you staying?" Kevin asked. "At the Holiday Inn on the south side of town. I have the room booked for three days." "Then let's see what we can get done in that time," said Kevin. Janet smiled. "Thank you so much for your help. I really hope father will be all right in the end."