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  Besseta smiled. “I will, don’t worry.”

  That night found both kneeling beside the bed exhausted, with their heads down and asleep. Besseta only left to get stuff for Tiffany, and Tiffany only left to take the dogs out. They cared and tended the wounds as Kenneth fought to live.

  Chapter Three

  ‘Always’

  Lying beside Kenneth half asleep, Besseta jerked awake and sat up. “Kenneth,” she gasped, looking down at him. It was three exhausting days later, and Kenneth was still hanging on, but hadn’t woken up.

  Gently shaking him, “Kenneth, did you say something?” Besseta asked.

  On the other side of the bed, Tiffany’s head popped up behind Kenneth, “What?” she asked groggily. Both had been in the bed asleep, with Kenneth in the middle. They tended his body, but it was the stress that was wearing them down, taxing them out and making their bodies demand rest.

  “Did you hear Kenneth say something?” Besseta asked, looking over at Tiffany.

  Shaking her head, “No,” Tiffany answered, getting up and smiled, seeing the dressings were still white.

  Leaning down to Kenneth’s ear, “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you, baby, but I love you and can’t be without you,” Besseta whispered as she caressed his cheek.

  ‘Always’ Besseta heard in her mind.

  Letting out a squeal, Besseta levitated off the bed like a rocket, hitting the ceiling. The dogs were all on the bed and took off running while Tiffany grabbed her chest, as Besseta dropped to the floor with a thud. Looking over as Besseta bounced up, Tiffany saw her jumping up and down beside the bed, cheering with a smile. “What?” she finally yelled.

  Besseta stopped jumping. “‘Always’, he said ‘always’ in his mind!” she cried out and started jumping around again.

  Tiffany ran over and started jumping up and down with Besseta, joining in the cheer. Suddenly, Besseta stopped jumping and hugged Tiffany. Wrapping her arms around Besseta’s tiny stature, Tiffany hugged her back and rubbed the back of her head while Besseta sobbed. “Besseta, I hate to be the one to bring us down, but he still has a long way to go,” Tiffany said, feeling bad about saying it, but wanting Besseta to be prepared.

  Besseta looked up still crying, but had a smile. “I told him I was sorry that I didn’t ask him and said I loved him and couldn’t live without him,” she sniffled. “He said ‘Always’. He’s not mad at me!” she cried out, burying her face in Tiffany’s chest.

  Smiling, “Besseta, I don’t think Kenneth would get mad at you if you’d killed the dogs,” Tiffany chuckled.

  Gasping, Besseta stepped back. “I could never hurt the babies.”

  “I was just making a point,” Tiffany grinned, stepping up and hugging her tight. “After watching how Kenneth protected you out there, knowing you are hard to hurt, I saw just how much he cares for you.”

  Kissing the top of her head, Tiffany let her go and stepped around the bed, “Let’s get him cleaned up and check the wounds,” Tiffany said.

  Besseta appeared beside the bed, carrying a large bowl of soapy water. Tiffany hung up a bag of the saline, “That’s the last one,” she said.

  Putting the bowl on the bed, “We can see if he’ll drink and if he doesn’t, we can go get some more,” Besseta offered as she pulled a rag out of the water. “He’s getting enough fluids now, he pees all the time.”

  Reaching over and grabbing another rag from the water, “Hey, at least you got the side the pee comes out of,” Tiffany chuckled.

  Jerking her head up, “Oh, Tiffany, I’m sorry. You can sleep over here from now on,” Besseta told her.

  Shaking her head, “No, that’s all right. He uses your side much more than he does mine,” she snickered. Besseta laughed as Tiffany put the rag down and slowly pulled out the gauze packing between the clamps still sticking out of Kenneth’s back. “Oh, my,” she exclaimed with wide eyes.

  Besseta shot around the bed to stand beside Tiffany. The wound on Kenneth’s back was gone, covered not with a scab but in skin, with the handles of the hemostat clamps sticking out of his skin. “Is that bad? I thought we wanted it to heal,” Besseta said.

  Reaching forward, Tiffany unlocked the handles of one of the clamps and Kenneth groaned, jerking away. Besseta appeared by his head, whispering in his ear and Kenneth relaxed. “This is way too fast,” Tiffany mumbled, seeing the small hole the clamp had left leak a few drops of blood.

  As gently as she could, Tiffany removed the other clamps, with Kenneth only giving small grunts as Besseta whispered and caressed his face. When she was done, Tiffany stood amazed at the honeycomb-like pattern of holes in Kenneth’s back left by the clamps. None of them leaked more than a few drops of blood.

  “So, is that good or bad?” Besseta asked, sitting up and seeing Tiffany was done.

  Not answering, Tiffany leaned over, taking the bandage on Kenneth’s stomach off and sucked in a breath, only finding smooth skin. “This is too fast,” she repeated, dropping the dressing.

  “So, this is bad?” Besseta asked, really wanting an answer.

  Tiffany looked at her. “I don’t know. This kind of healing should only take place after the change is complete. You can smell him, and Kenneth still smells like a human. He’s been infected, yet he hasn’t shown any signs of the physical pain of the change.”

  Nodding, “Yes, he does still smell human, so you think this is good?” Besseta asked.

  “Besseta, he’s doing something I’ve never seen or heard of. How am I supposed to know?” Tiffany gasped, throwing her hands in the air.

  ‘Always’, Besseta heard in her mind and cried out, leaning down and kissing Kenneth.

  Tiffany spun around. “What?” she whispered, knowing she had just heard Kenneth’s voice.

  With a big smile, Besseta looked up at her. “What about what?”

  “Did he just talk?” Tiffany asked, feeling a chill in her body.

  “No,” Besseta said, dropping the smile.

  Tiffany nodded. “Yes, he did. Kenneth just told you ‘always’.”

  “How did you hear that?” Besseta asked, slightly hurt while staring at Tiffany.

  Shaking her head and about to turn away, the color drained from Tiffany’s face as she looked behind Besseta. Stepping back, Tiffany started flapping her hands in front of her like she was trying to shake something off of them. Behind Besseta, Bonnie and Clyde were floating in the air.

  “What?” Besseta cried out and Tiffany stopped shaking one hand and pointed over Besseta’s shoulder. Besseta turned around and saw the puppies even with her face. Reaching out and taking them out of the air, “Tiffany, that’s not funny. They could’ve gotten hurt,” Besseta chided, putting them on the bed.

  The dogs moved up and lay by Kenneth’s head as Besseta looked up at Tiffany. Seeing shock on her face, “You didn’t do that?” she asked, and Tiffany slowly shook her head. Cutting her eyes down at Kenneth, “Oh, boy,” she said.

  Slowly, Tiffany moved closer. “Do you hear anything in his mind?”

  Listening for several minutes, “No,” Besseta replied. “Do you?”

  “No,” Tiffany whispered, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

  “Well, what do we do?” Besseta asked.

  “I have no idea,” Tiffany mumbled, still staring at Kenneth. Suddenly, Kenneth let out a bloodcurdling cry, curling up into a ball, and grabbing his stomach. “It’s started!” Tiffany said with relief.

  Not liking the tone, Besseta took her spot beside Kenneth. “You don’t have to sound happy about it,” she snapped, leaning down and began to try and soothe Kenneth.

  “Sorry, but he was showing qualities only documented by our kind,” Tiffany said getting up. “I’m going to see if Maliki has sent us anything. I’ll only be gone for a few minutes.” Besseta never stopped whispering to Kenneth as she nodded at Tiffany.

  Tiffany darted out of the room and Jack and Jill scampered out from under the bed, following her. Waiting on the puppies, Tiffany picked them up and clo
sed the door to her office. Turning on her computer, she sat down and let the puppies chew on her fingers while she slowly convinced herself nothing was out of the norm.

  Back in the bedroom, Kenneth stayed curled up huffing and puffing, trying to blow through the pain. The machine he was still hooked to was going crazy with flashing lights and alarms. Looking up, Besseta stared at the power switch and concentrated. Hearing a ‘click’, she smiled when the machine turned off.

  Sweat was pouring off Kenneth’s body and she tried to soothe him for over an hour, but then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Kenneth sighed, rolling over on his back and panting with relief. Besseta closed her eyes as she sat up smiling, then realized, she didn’t hear Kenneth scream in her mind, nor anything else.

  Concentrating on Kenneth’s mind, Besseta felt goosebumps form on her arms and a feeling of panic build up inside her, and the strong urge to run.

  Feeling the bed move, Besseta opened her eyes to see Kenneth sitting up. “Baby,” she gasped with a smile. His head was turned away from her, and he didn’t turn to acknowledge he had heard. Leaning forward, Besseta saw his eyes open, staring at the other side of the room in abstract terror. Kenneth’s breathing started getting faster, and he started trembling so much the bed was shaking.

  “Baby, what is it?” she asked, worried he was having a seizure while he was awake. Kenneth scooted on his butt up the bed and the dogs jumped out of the way. Looking where Kenneth was staring in horror, Besseta only saw the wall on the other side of the room.

  Kenneth’s rapid breathing suddenly stopped and Besseta whipped her head around, only to see the look of terror intensified on his face. “AAAAAAAH!” Kenneth let out a bloodcurdling scream as he backed up to the top of the bed.

  “BABY!” Besseta shouted, grabbing Kenneth’s shoulder. Kenneth’s right hand came up, grabbing her wrist. Besseta’s body jerked as an unseen force hit her and her world went suddenly black. Out of the dark void, a pinpoint of light appeared, and she felt like she was falling toward the light.

  The pin-point grew bigger as she fell toward it, then passed through it while colors and sounds swarmed around her. Feeling sick, she threw out her other arm, wanting to slow down. She could feel Kenneth holding her wrist, but she couldn’t see him.

  Seeing an end to the tunnel she was falling rapidly through, Besseta screamed, bringing her arms over her face as her body jerked again, but not from an impact. Slowly, she dropped her arms to look around and panic swept her brain.

  She was on a red dirt plain with tall palm-like trees around her. Turning, she saw Kenneth still holding her wrist, and still looking in the same direction. “Baby, where the hell are we?” she yelled, and Kenneth let out another bloodcurdling scream.

  Whipping her head to follow his gaze, Besseta froze as ice gripped her heart. “AAAAAAH!” Besseta joined Kenneth in his scream when she saw a dinosaur coming toward them. It stopped a few paces from them and Besseta tilted her head back, looking up at the gigantic beast.

  It was the shape of a T-Rex, but looked much different than anything she had seen on the TV. The T-Rex slowly lowered his head, looking down at them and opened its mouth to expose teeth that seemed much too large. They both screamed while trying to move back, but something was blocking them from moving away.

  When she stopped her scream to draw a breath, she noticed Kenneth wasn’t screaming anymore. Looking over, she saw him passed out in the dirt, but he was still holding her arm. “Kenneth?” she cried out reaching over with her other hand, and felt hot air blow over her. Looking up, the T-Rex’s nose was inches from her face.

  The scream that erupted from Besseta’s lungs made her own ears ring and bleed. Then, Besseta felt something hit her chest. Looking down, expecting to see what her insides looked like, Besseta didn’t see anything.

  Another invisible hit struck her much harder, this time throwing her back, and she felt Kenneth let go of her. “Kenneth!” she screamed, reaching out for him. Again, she was surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds as she fell through a tunnel to a dark void. Seeing the end coming again, Besseta yelled, bringing her arms up and covering her face.

  Her body gave a jerk and Besseta dropped her arms. She looked around and realized she was on the floor of her room beside her bed. She levitated off the floor, extending her fingernails as she rose, and jumped up on the bed to see Kenneth slumped over against the headboard. Jumping in front of him, she looked across the room and then up, not seeing anything but what was in her room.

  Keeping her arms extended she crouched down, looking for the dinosaur. “Besseta?” Tiffany said meekly.

  With wild eyes, Besseta looked at the end of the bed to see Tiffany standing there. “Where the fuck did the damn dinosaur go?” Besseta screamed, looking around the room.

  Tiffany stepped back, seeing the wild look in Besseta’s eyes intensify. “Besseta, I haven’t seen a dinosaur,” Tiffany said carefully.

  “Are you fucking blind? It was just right here, leaning over us!”

  “Was it a little one or a big one?” Tiffany asked, moving back further.

  “It was a damn T-fucking-Rex!” Besseta bellowed.

  Moving back until her back touched the wall, Tiffany asked, “Like the one in the Jurassic Park movie?”

  “It was much fucking bigger, and green with tan stripes,” Besseta replied in a croaking voice from her screaming, looking around again and panting harder.

  Clearing her throat, “Besseta, baby, just how could one fit in here?” Tiffany asked, trying to reason with her.

  Exhaustion swept her body and Besseta dropped down on her butt. “We weren’t here. We were on a red dirt plain with weird palm trees, but they were more fern-like than leaves,” she said, still looking around. “I smelled them. I could smell the T-Rex and felt his breath.”

  “Besseta,” Tiffany said, carefully stepping over. “You are in your room with Kenneth, and haven’t left.”

  “Bull-fucking-shit!” Besseta shouted, jumping up and sending Tiffany scurrying back to the wall. “It was here, right fucking here! I felt the dirt under my feet. My god, the T-Rex’s breath almost made me puke!”

  Glancing at Kenneth to see that he was breathing okay, Tiffany glanced at the door, gauging if she could get to Kenneth and then get out of the room. “Besseta, I heard Kenneth scream, then you screamed. When I came into the room, you were looking up at the other side of the room, with Kenneth holding your wrist. You never left this room,” she explained, slowly moving toward the bed.

  Slowly, Besseta sat down and covered her face. “I didn’t dream that. What person in their right mind would dream of something like that?” she moaned.

  ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’, she heard in her mind and Tiffany quit moving toward the bed. “Did Kenneth just think-,” Tiffany started to ask, but stopped.

  “You heard that?” Besseta asked, dropping her head down on the bed.

  “I’m sorry, but yes, I did.” Tiffany quickly moved over to grab Kenneth, pulling his crumpled-up body away from the headboard and straightening him out on the bed.

  Rolling on her side, Besseta looked at Kenneth and reached over, rubbing his chest. “I’m not special to him anymore,” she whispered with a quivering lip.

  “Hey, now! Stop that!” Tiffany snapped, making Besseta jump. “You think that again and we step outside! I’ll whoop your ass all over this island! My god, he worships the very ground you walk on, and you say, ‘I’m not special to him anymore’?! I have a good mind to just whip your ass right fucking now!” Tiffany screamed, crawling over Kenneth toward her.

  Backpedaling across the bed away from Tiffany, Besseta crashed onto the floor again. Slowly, she lifted her head up over the edge of bed to see Tiffany on all fours over Kenneth’s body, like she was getting ready to leap. “Sorry,” Besseta offered meekly.

  Climbing off of Kenneth, “That’s better,” Tiffany said calmly.

  Standing up and staring at Tiffany, Besseta noticed her shirt had four sli
ces across the front with a little blood around the edges. “What happened?” she asked, pointing at the shirt.

  “You swiped your claws across my chest when I grabbed you, trying to get you to stop screaming. You busted my eardrums and all the dogs are in the basement, cowering in the corner,” Tiffany told her.

  Besseta looked around one last time, then lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”

  Feeling bad, Tiffany darted around the bed and put her arms around Besseta. “The only thing that hurt my feelings was what you said about not being special to him, not about what happened,” Tiffany told her.

  Besseta looked up at Tiffany’s face. “Tiffany, it was so real. No dream can get that real.”

  Letting out a puff of air, Tiffany shrugged her shoulders. “Well, we will just have to figure it out.”

  “Will you sit with Kenneth for a little while?”

  “Yes,” Tiffany smiled. “You take a break.”

  “Break, my ass,” Besseta huffed. “I’m going to apologize to the babies and drain a few bottles of whiskey.”

  “Whatever makes you feel better,” Tiffany said as Besseta walked out. When Besseta left, Tiffany darted back to her room and returned with several sheets of paper. Setting the papers on the table still in the room, Tiffany pulled over a chair and started deciphering the letter from Maliki. Kenneth had never told anyone that he had a program to do it.

  Several hours later, Besseta came back feeling much better. “How’s he doing?” she said with a slight slur.

  “Hasn’t moved,” Tiffany replied, looking from a book to the papers in front of her. “How are you doing?”

  “Better,” she admitted, moving behind Tiffany. “Maliki sent something?”

  “Seems he’s been trying to get in touch with us for days; he heard about Boston,” Tiffany said, moving the page she’d finished to the completed stack, and started working on the last page. “I answered, and he sent this message and another short one, asking if we were all right. I said Kenneth was hurt, but okay now, just in case someone close to Maliki is playing for the other team.”