Page 130 of Homebound
An amazed expression crossed his features before his face hardened. “So the bastard can screw.”
Gemma sneered back, “You know nothing about Rix, and you never will. Doctor.”
“Yes, I will,” he smoothly countered. “He’ll come for you, and I’ll get him.” He turned on his heels. “Lock her up. Oh, and overseer? She won’t be needing any treatment, after all.”
OO nodded and preceded Dr. Delano out of her cell, seemingly in a rush to get away from her contaminated body. Now that he’d learned about her intimacy with Simon, she was as safe from his advances as if she were in the final stages of leprosy. Safer even. Alien spoils.
Oh, the irony.
???
Gemma didn’t mean to fall back asleep, but her body had other ideas. She drifted off almost immediately after her visitors had left, and didn’t resurface until the morning siren announced the beginning of a new day. The lights came on and flickered twice before stabilizing.
Gemma lay in her cot, lucid, and listened to the sounds of the cell block. The headache, though still pounding, subsided enough that she could form a coherent thought.
It took only a few minutes for her to discern that she wasn’t on the women’s ward, as she’d originally assumed, but on the third floor, with the aliens. She looked up, above the cot, and saw that the small window high in the wall was boarded up.
She was in cell 35.
Dr. Delano had a sick sense of humor.
A sad little smile tugged at Gemma’s lips as she raised her hand and touched the wall. If he wanted to intimidate her by putting her in Simon’s old cell, he understood nothing about either of them.
Instead of cowering, she drew comfort from these walls. She felt connected to the cell’s previous occupant as if he were here, watching over her.
She wondered what he was doing at this moment. Had he found the thermos? She fervently hoped so. Her operation had been a bust, except she did get liquid nitrogen.
She wanted Simon to use it, to get his ass off into space without her, if this was how cards fell. On Earth, Simon would always be the prey, precisely for his strength and resilience. He would always be seen as a threat, and as a result, always in danger of being eliminated.
Gemma heard other inmates stir inside their cells. The door down the corridor opened with a familiar clang when the helpers arrived to perform their duties. Gemma didn't get up.
“What have we here?” an unfamiliar voice said from just outside her cell.
Turning her head like it was a vessel full of a precious liquid, she saw two helpers standing next to her door, looking in. She didn’t recognize the tall man in a janitorial overcoat.
Next to him was Ruby.
The man was peering inside in confusion. “Either they ran out of space on the second floor, or someone was very drunk when they placed her in here. She’s a woman. And looks human to me.”
“Good lord…” Ruby said quietly.
“You know her?”
“I’ve never seen her in my life,” Ruby answered tersely. “Stop your gawking, Sam, it ain’t a zoo. Let’s go finish the roll call.”
“Do you think she’s here by mistake?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Why is she here?”
“That’s not our business. Keep moving.”
They left Gemma’s door, but she could hear Sam’s bewildered questions until the pair turned the corner.
The morning proceeded as it usually did, and the warm water arrived in place of breakfast. Gemma was very thirsty. Hungry, too, but she was more afraid of dehydration.
She rolled off the cot and limped to the door holding on to the walls to get her share. She curled her fingers around the bars where they were slightly bent to keep herself upright, noting how much higher Simon’s grip had been.
