The Focus Effect

Twenty-four

We put Mara's arm through the doughnut hole of the antigravity disc so that she stays light as a feather. JD carries her cradled in his arms. I remain focused on the lights until we reach the room where I first found Bob. Here, an almost full moon's light is streaming into the cavern through the hole above. JD lays Mara gently down and removes the disc. I put the thing in my bag and it becomes lighter against my side.

JD removes the rest of the arrow from her chest and throws it angrily across the cavern. It clatters against stone in the distance. He kneels down beside her and looks up at me with glistening eyes. "You can't help her, can you?"

It feels like my throat is closed. I would give anything to bring her back. I would trade places with her if I could. I've taken so much from him. "I'm sorry," I whisper. Had I acted sooner, could I have done something to save her? I'll never know.

JD leans his body across her gently at first, his head against her chest. It's so quiet. Is he crying? It startles me when he lets out a haunting scream against her body. I stumble back a step as if his grief has manifested into a physical force that pushes me away. I slowly back away into the shadows to give him privacy. He wraps his arms around Mara and lifts her body up, cradling her against his chest and rocking her back and forth. When he stops, they remain like statues for a time, silhouetted in the moonlight.

I watch as JD carefully lays Mara down on the ground. She looks like she's asleep. He touches her face then sits back, his own face a mask of pain. JD suddenly loses his balance and tumbles over. He struggles to get up, but something isn't right with the way he is moving.

"Hannah," he says a little too loud.

I move to him quickly. Has the infection become a problem again? "What's wrong?" I drop down next to him.

"I—I can't breathe so good." He crawls away from Mara and throws up on the ground before rolling away from it and onto his back.

I shift focus to check his infection. The red threads left behind are still there but there's something else. Red liquid light is streaming into his head and down his spine. I know what it is. The neurotoxin in the implant has been released. "No," I whisper. I begin to frantically pull the symbols of this red liquid light apart, only to have it instantly spill back over my progress. JD's eyes stare wide.

"I can't stop it!" I say desperately. "It's moving too fa—"

"It's okay," he says calmly, laying his hand on mine. "I shouldn't have...I shouldn't—"

"Dammit!" I shout, remembering Doctor Sue's pouch. "The antidote!" I start digging for it in my bag, my hand rooting around like I'm searching for a prize. In a way, I am. But I'm frantic. There isn't much time before the antidote becomes useless. Frustrated, I turn my bag upside down and dump everything out. Dr. Sue's pouch falls out and I empty it. A plastic bag emerges. I change my focus back and shred the plastic only to find another. I pull the zipper apart and dump everything out again. There's a pen-like thing that I guess is the antidote but I fumble with it awkwardly. I should have read the directions when I had the chance. I can't see anything in the dark. "I don't know how to use it! JD!"

"Center it in your hand. Remove the cap. There's a case." He is so calm, so peaceful. Has he accepted his death?

At first the cap doesn't come off because I'm working at the wrong end. I turn the tube around in my hand and pop the top. I remove the case from the base. "Now what?"

He doesn't respond.

"Now what!" I scream.

"Another...cap. Jam it...into my thigh." His breathing is labored.

I take the last cap off and stab it into his leg like a dagger. "How long, JD? How long do I keep it here?"

But JD has lost consciousness and there is a gurgling sound rising in his throat. I don't know what to do but I don't like that sound coming out of him. While holding the antidote against his leg, I roll him over onto his side with my knees and my free hand. A foamy white liquid pours from his mouth but the gurgling sound stops and is replaced with raspy breathing. He's still with me, I think. He's still with me.

I shift focus and watch as blue light flows through his body, turning the red poison to gold. The antidote is beating back the neurotoxin. I realize this is the same process I witnessed when I patched up JD back in the Drop Zone. Does it mean anything?

Whatever was in the shot must have been used up by now so I remove it from JD's leg. His breathing has returned to normal and I use my two middle fingers to feel for a pulse at his wrist the way I've seen Doctor Fish feel for mine. It takes some trying but I finally find the quick and strong rhythm of his heartbeat. Then as quickly as I can, I get to work on removing his implant.