Rise of the Poison Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

spring day in the countryside! Ha! ), she made her way calmly down the hall. Her recovery room was within the wing most staff here used as makeshift residences. There was no need to be overly precise with the colors or noise. Most lights were off, and all medical staff would be elsewhere in the hospital, busy tending to far worse cases than Jennifer. The nearest nurses’ station, like so many throughout the building, was empty. Down the hall another thirty yards, two seated nurse’s aides faced each other, reading and chatting. Jennifer knew they had sharp eyes—but it had been weeks since the late Mark’s infrared technology had helped snuff out the last enemy creeper. Camouflage, they were not looking for.
    The exit door to the stairwell was more than ten yards from them, and they did not notice it open enough to let a stubborn patient slip through.
    This stairwell opened up onto the roof, not far from the stairwell and fortification they used for spotting Ember’s gang. Jennifer was relieved to see the rain, which, combined with the twilit gloom, would make her escape virtually impossible to detect. Whoever was standing guard in the rebuilt fortification would be looking up, not over.
    She spent some time breathing in the fresh air and looking over the parking lot. The wide swath of concrete lined in yellow was broken only by an occasional grass- lined curb and splintered tree . . . and a volleyball net. Last spring, a few EMTs had stuck the net up to establish some small measure of normalcy. A small league had formed, which had lasted two months before a brutal attack by creepers in Ember’s gang convinced them that “normal” and dead was not as good as stressed and alive.
    Even with that specific threat gone, no one felt much like playing volleyball. Even several rains later, there were still deep bloodstains and scorch marks on the asphalt.
    “Knock it off,” she heard.
    Flinching at her father’s voice, she thought she was busted until she heard her mother’s response.
    “I’ll do no such thing. You need something.”
    “Save your drugs for someone with an actual medical condition.”
    They were inside the fortification, Jennifer realized. It was their watch.
    “Fine, I’ll hold on to the meds. How about a shot to the snout instead?”
    He snorted without much humor. “Go ahead and try. I can handle whatever you dish out.”
    “Such bravery! I’m all atwitter. Seriously, Jonathan. You should take something to keep you awake. Caffeine, if nothing else.”
    “Coffee? Are you serious?”
    “Yes, coffee.”
    “I don’t drink coffee.”
    “Tea, then.”
    “Coffee, tea. What’s with the fucking breakfast drinks?”
    “Jonathan, I don’t have a lot of pharmaceuticals to offer. We need you sharp, now more than ever.”
    He sighed. “You don’t need me at all.”
    The doctor’s voice remained patient. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means, I don’t see the point. Gautierre was right. Attrition will take care of Ember. She’s not the problem. The problem is, we’re not getting out of this dome, not without a breakthrough. And Liz—I ain’t the breakthrough.”
    Elizabeth actually chuckled. “Is this what all the irritability is about? You’re not feeling useful enough? Jonathan, you’re being foolish. You and I are part of a team. We need everyone—”
    “Don’t give me that team-spirit-crap pep talk. I’m your husband, not some janitor you promoted to medicine scout.”
    “Great. So as my husband, you should already know that I need you. Jennifer needs you. There are others, of course. But you could start there. You two are the irreplaceable ones. The others, as fond as I am of them . . . they’re teammates. That’s all.”
    “You’re kidding. You haven’t needed me for years. And this past year, you’ve become a leader of this town with no assistance from me whatsoever—you’re a surgeon, people need a hospital, they trust you because Glory raised you, and they