Illumini

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nick and Kate drove in silence for a while, catching their breath.  The silence hung in the car like a heavy burden, a sense of what lay ahead for them, of how difficult things would become, but they did not speak of it.  Instead, they stared out the window at the headlights speeding by on the highway, in the dark, lonely and isolated points of light that flowed together, forming a collective whole, a furtive stream of humanity.

"Are you okay?"  Kate finally gestured, reaching over to touch his shoulder with a look of concern.

"Exhausted," was all Nick said.

"I know," she replied, her expression taking on a subtle determination.

The night seemed to welcome them gently, providing cover in the darkness to their flight, to hide them, offer its fleeting protection.  A confusion and frustration, almost an anger, continued to churn somewhere deep within his heart, overwhelmed by the circumstances of their flight.  He was glad to have her there with him, glad to have someone that he could trust absolutely.  Someone who understood, who grasped the moment, the importance of what they were doing and with whom he shared a deep and profound connection.

Nick had been a researcher at Atlas for only two years, working as a clinical laboratory technician in the company's Cambridge labs.  The lab tests and assays he performed played a crucial role in the analysis, diagnosis, and understanding of chemical pathways in the body.  It was his first real job, and by that, Nick always meant that he actually had a job for which he had studied in college.

His work relied heavily on highly automated assay procedures and the heavy use of computer analysis.  The work was very analytical and not as hands-on as it had been in graduate school.  He spent his days evaluating test results, developing and modifying procedures, and establishing monitor programs, to ensure the accuracy of tests.

Kate had worked in the infectious disease lab and spent her days working with infectious specimens.   Even behind her protective masks, gloves, and goggles her natural beauty dazzled him from the first day he ever laid eyes on her.  He often found an excuse to come by the infectious disease lab to chat with her, flirting in his humorous way.

Kate had worked at Atlas slightly longer than Nick and found her job drudgery.  The lab had no windows, only sterile fluorescent lights and white walls that gave the place little sense of time.  She enjoyed Nick's company and began to look forward each day to his visits.  She found him very funny and charming.  Before long, they were having lunch together and were soon inseparable.

They had been officially dating for several months, against company policy.  Her feelings for him had grown and she began to see a future with Nick, beyond just having fun.  He was absolutely in love with Kate, or at least in lust, although he would never have expressed to her how he felt.  He did not want to seem too eager, was afraid to freak her out in any way, so he played it cool, but he would have done anything for her.

She had become so much a part of his life, so much more than just his happiness that he scarcely knew anymore what the world would be like without her.  It had never been love in the beginning, but more friendship, a kinship that slowly evolved, an affinity that grew stronger between them.  For Kate the bond had grown so quickly.  She could hardly express it, an intuitive sense of finishing each other's thoughts and sentences, knowing each other so well that she knew what he was thinking, as he did of her, without ever uttering a word, an unspoken connection.

Who knows what happens in the future, Kate thought.  What fate holds in store for us, for any of us?  A day from now, a year from now, where will they be she wondered, feeling the road roll under the car, propelled forward, the future coming at them faster and faster now.  She did not know what lay ahead for them, as none of us can ever truly know what the future holds, but there was a sense of certainty in each other's company, an assurance in his presence.