MORTUUS

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Ra…" I tried again, "Raquel."

"Wow what a lovely name, it's definitely better than my Karen. I don't think I have introduced myself, I'm Doctor Karen but just Karen is fine."

"Just Karen!" Jay called and I snickered.

She turned and glared at him, "Haha, very funny. Now get out and that means you too Ray."

"But I didn't do anything." He replied with a huge pout.

"Well, you can't stay here, as you can see I have a patient to attend to. Now shoo." Ray slowly let go of my hand at Karen's words but not before I saw him squeeze my arm. Not being able to feel is going to take a lot of getting used to.

We watched them go before and it wasn't until they were out of the door that Karen spoke again. "Come with me." She looked so serious, I knew I was now speaking with Doctor Karen.

She took me into the room she had just come out from, it was a lot larger than I thought. There was a desk with a computer and a few other items on it. There was an examination table on the other side of the wall. There were also items for checking both one's weight and height. I couldn't remember the names.

"Take a seat," she said and pointed to the examination table. I moved and sat on it. There were seats on opposite sides of the desk, she took hers I suppose, and moved closer to where I sat on the thin bed. "I don't want you to be nervous or self-conscious. I just need to do a few checkups and cover your wounds. Covering your wounds is a priority."

She paused as if what she was about to say next was a little heavy, "We can't heal, I don't know if you already figured that out." She saw my shock and laughed. "Yes, I am a zombie."

I was surprised she could read my thoughts, I was more surprised she was a zombie than the fact that we couldn't heal. I mean I can't smell, can't feel and my heart wasn't beating. I doubted not being able to heal was the top of my list of worries. I mentally patted myself, I was handling this much better than I ever thought.

"How the heck do you look so good? I mean look at that color, I would swear your heart is still pumping blood."

She laughed again before responding, I found her laugh soothing. "This is artificial tan, it's surprising that it actually works on dead skin. I was lucky to get off with nothing more than a bite so I didn't lose too much blood before the virus took effect."

"It's a virus?"

"Yeah." Well, I had figured that much out but I was still surprised. "Let me see your arm."

I stopped staring weirdly at her to look at my arm and the gaping hole in it. I knew there was no way this could be fixed. The expression on her face stiffen and I could tell she was trying hard not to scare me.