Quarantine (The Shadow Wars Book 7.5) by S. A. Lusher Read Free Book Online Page A

his helmet.
    Allan spent a minute trying to think his way around actually doing it, examining the problem from all angles. Ultimately, he surmised that there was no way around it. He'd have to take off his damned helmet. The last time he'd tried to do this...this morning, he realized, it hadn't gone so well. Had it been only this morning that he'd failed at taking that shower? Allan thought for a second and decided that yes, it had only been a few hours ago.
    Losing track of time was either a bad sign or just something he did at this point. Allan set down his pipe, (after taking another quick look around the infirmary), and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly, whispering to himself that he could do this. He reached up, placing his fingers on the latches, and froze. More blind terror, something that made him want to just cut loose, run away, bolt screaming through the corridors and join the other psychos. Allan gritted his teeth and flipped the first two latches. Quickly, before he could reconsider it, he flipped the next two and took off his helmet. He expected some madness to descend on him, something to take him over and turn him insane, his head to explode... something .
    But nothing happened.
    Allan let out a small laugh. He was fine. Trembling, yeah, and maybe kind of sick to his stomach, but he was okay. Setting down his helmet next to his pipe on the counter that he stood before, Allan glanced over the medical kit he'd opened. Time to do this fast. Allan gently probed his skull until he'd found a matted mass of coagulated blood on his scalp, just behind his temple. He sighed, grabbed a bottle of antiseptics and prepared for the worst. Before he could think better of it, he dabbed some on a pad of gauze and pressed it to the wound.
    Brilliant, sharp pain exploded through his skull and groaned sickly. Allan finished up as quickly as he could, then taped a fresh gauze pad over the wound. Working as fast as he could, he injected himself in the neck with a general antibiotic/anti-viral stimulant, tossed the needle aside and replaced his helmet. He felt a bit better, especially now that he had actually managed to take his helmet off, but he knew he wouldn't be able to leave it off for long. It was progress, at least. Maybe in a few weeks he'd be able to take a real shower.
    Maybe.
    As Allan prepared to leave, he took one last look around the infirmary, and paused. His gaze caught on something that glimmered in the brilliant overhead lights. He felt a slow grin spreading across his face as he crossed the room and studied it. A medical instrument, what looked like a fancy machete, lay on the floor among other scattered materials. He knelt and picked it up. Hefting it in his hand, he swung it a few times.
    It felt nice and looked exquisitely sharp.
    “What...what the fuck kind of medical instrument is this!?” he marveled, whispering to himself. He swung it a few more times, chuckling to himself.
    “Yeah,” he whispered, “this'll do nicely.”
    He was half tempted to abandon the pipe, but it still might be useful. As it was, he could rig up one of the loops on his belt to hold one of these weapons. Allan spent a moment adjusting it, then slipped the pipe through. He wanted to put this strange medical blade to the test. As he was practicing swinging it around a few more times, his radio abruptly crackled to life. Allan let out a small shout of fear at the unexpected noise and dropped his machete. It went clanging to the ground and he hurried to retrieve it, suddenly sure that he was about to be attacked.
    But he grabbed the machete, stood and remained alone. The radio was still on, and someone was muttering incoherently on the other end.
    “Duncan? Hunter?” he asked, his voice a strangled whisper.
    The muttering abruptly came to a halt, then a piercing shriek came through the radio that was abruptly cut off. Allan tried to get into contact a moment longer, but could get nothing more. With no other recourse, he left