Voidborn

Chapter Five

'Any improvement?' Rachel asked as she looked down as Cody's deathly pale face. He lay on a camp bed with a drip feeding into one arm, and a dressing covering the wound on his chest. The fine tracery of pale green veins still covered his torso.

'Same as yesterday,' the boy kneeling beside Cody's bed said as he removed the blood pressure cuff from Cody's arm. He had a bushy mop of blond hair, wore a pair of thick-rimmed spectacles and his thin face bore an expression of tired resignation. 'He's not getting any worse, but he's not getting any better either. Cage's running some tests, but I get the impression that he's just as puzzled as the rest of us. He just does a better job of hiding it.'

'OK, thanks, Cel,' Rachel said with a sigh. It had been three days since she and Marc had brought Cody back with them and he had been in a coma ever since.

'I'll let you know if there's any change, Rach,' Cel said, pushing his glasses up his nose. 'But I'm afraid it's a case of wait and see at the moment.'

'I suppose you're right,' she replied. 'I'm not known for my patience though.'

'You know, I had heard that about you,' Cel said with a lopsided grin.

'Visiting our patient again, I see,' a voice with a deep Scots accent said behind Rachel.

She turned to see Dr Mortem Cage walking towards them. He was tall, with short grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His brow was furrowed by the slight frown that never seemed to leave his face. Rachel had heard rumours that some of the others had seen him smile, but she wasn't sure she believed it. He was also the reason that she and the others were still alive.

'Yes, Doctor Cage,' Rachel replied with a nod. 'Cel was telling me that Cody hasn't changed.'

'I heard,' Cage replied, taking the clipboard with notes attached to it from the foot of Cody's bed. 'I also heard that Celestine thinks I am hiding my own ignorance of what is happening to young Mr Green and that I don't really understand it at all.'

'I didn't mean...' Cel said quickly.

'Oh, you're quite right, Celestine,' Cage said. 'I really don't know how he's managed to survive this long. Besides which, there's nothing wrong with concealing one's own ignorance. I just wish you did a slightly better job of concealing yours occasionally.'

Rachel tried very hard not to laugh at the sudden look of embarrassment and mild indignation on Cel's face. Cage pulled a penlight from his pocket of his lab coat and gently lifted one of Cody's eyelids, shining the light into first one eye and then the other.

'Pupil dilation is still good,' Cage said, 'which hopefully means there hasn't been any neurological damage.' He pressed lightly on one of the veins covering Cody's chest. 'The spread of the toxin appears to have halted, but I'm still not sure why, or how he managed to resist its effects for as long as he did. Unfortunately, I lack the equipment I need to really try and get any detailed answers as to what's going on inside Mr Green. I do have a theory that might explain it, but I need to speak to him to be sure.'

'Do you need me to draw any more blood?' Cel asked.

'No,' Cage replied. 'I've completed my tests. I'm afraid that all we can do now is wait for our patient here to wake up.'

'I should go,' Rachel said. 'Newcastle wanted me on the range ten minutes ago.'

'I'll let you know when his condition improves,' Cel said as he walked with her towards the door.

Behind them, Cage looked down at Cody.

'What did you do to him, Daniel?' he whispered under his breath.