cinder || dnf

chapter eleven

Dream blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the fog from his brain. The orange light in the corner of his vision disappeared- he still had no idea what caused it.

Maybe the earlier shock to his system had messed with his programming.

The doctor brushed past him and gestured at the holographic image that jutted from the netscreen. "You no doubt recognize this," he said, sliding his finger along the screen so that the body spun in a lazy circle. "Let me tell you what is peculiar about it."

Dream tugged his glove up, pulling the hem over his scar tissue. He scooted toward him. His foot bumped the wrench, sending it beneath the table. "I'd say about 36.28 percent of it is pretty peculiar."

When Dr. Za did not face him, he bent and picked the wrench up. It seemed heavier than before. In fact, everything felt heavy. His hand, his leg, his head.

The doctor pointed to the holograph's right elbow. "This is where we injected the letumosis-carrying microbes. They were tagged so that we could monitor their progress through your body." He withdrew the finger, tapping his lip. "Now you see what is peculiar?"

"The fact that I'm not dead, and you don't seem concerned about being in the same room with me?"

"Yes, in a way." Phil faced him, rubbing his head through his wool hat. "As you can see, the microbes are gone."

Dream scratched an itch on his shoulder with the wrench. "What do you mean?"

"I mean they are gone. Disappeared. Poof." He exploded his hands like fireworks.

"So... I don't have the plague?"

"That's correct, Mr. Almeida. You do not have the plague."

"And I'm not going to die."

"Correct."

"And I'm not contagious?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Lovely feeling, isn't it?"

He leaned against the wall. Relief filled him, but it was followed by suspicion. They had given him the plague, but now he was healed? Without any antidote?

It felt like a trap, but the orange light was nowhere to be seen. The doctor was telling him the truth, no matter how unbelievable it seemed. "Has this happened before?"

An impish grin spread across the doctor's weathered face. "You are the first. I have some theories about how it could be possible, but I'll need to run tests, of course."

He abandoned the holograph and went to the counter, lying out the two vials. "There are your blood samples, one taken before the injection, one after. I am very excited to see what secrets they contain."

Dream slid his eyes to the door, then back to the doctor. "Are you saying you think I'm immune?"

"Yes! That is precisely what it seems. Very interesting. Very special." He gripped his hands together. "It is possible that you were born with it. Something in your DNA that predisposed your immune system to fight off this particular disease. Or perhaps you were introduced to letumosis in a very small amount some time in your past, perhaps in your childhood, and your body was able to fight it off, therefore building an immunity to it which you utilized today."

Dream shrank back, uncomfortable under his eager stare.

"Do you recall anything from your childhood that could be connected to this?" he continued. "Any horrible sicknesses? Near brushes with death?"

"No. Well..." He hesitated, stuffing the wrench into a side cargo pocket. "I guess, maybe. My stepfather died of letumosis. Five years ago."

"You stepfather. Do you know where he could have contracted it?"