Short preview of our short science-fiction which went out in publication today! Here is a preview of the first part of the story (no spoilers!). Upgrade to become a paid subscriber to read the whole thing and support our work.
Chapter 1
Suzie was cruising. The air was warm with a cool breeze through her open Jeep windows, splashing her and Jerome in their sunny faces, their arms hanging on outside as they rumbled along. Steve Miller’s ‘Keep on Rockin’ Me Baby’ played on the FM radio. They were going to pick up Fish, who had been arrested and booked at the county jail the night prior after a night-time run-in with the curfew watch. Fish, the poor soul was always getting in trouble, and his kind and fearless heart was destined for so much more beyond bars.
She took a smell of sweet sage wafting through the windows, something she didn’t normally get to enjoy in the city as she clasped Jerome’s hand gently. They looked at each other and smiled the smile that only lovers know.
She passed trucks and cars as they headed out East, further away from the city and into the desert. Within minutes it got noticeably hotter as they crossed out of the coastal microclimate and into the hot and stagnant summer air.
A big rig rumbled slowly in the left lane a distance in front of her. She bounced over to the slow lane to pass, still smiling with sun in her face. A green light lay well ahead on the highway. She accelerated, gaining speed preparing to pass the big rig. The Jeep revved as she approached the light and the big rig. It annoyed her when trucks took the fast lane. Jerome grimaced and sighed as they sped, as his mama had always told him, “Jerome, never pass trucks from the slow lane.”
As the light approached, she gunned it even further and much to the horror of the lovers, the big rig suddenly switched on their blinker, and immediately started turning it’s big head into their lane, cutting across and blocking both lanes as their distance between them became scarce.
They were careening much too fast to stop now and the metal wall-like body of the big-rig lay directly in front of them. Jerome gasped as did Suzie as her instinct had her jolt the wheel to the right, but the turn was too sharp. Her car was now skidding on four tires directly toward the body of the big rig.
Jerome and Suzie’s hands grasped tighter as they looked at each other in a split second that seemed to last for minutes. Jerome may not have said anything, but reassured her, prepared her, and offered her his protection in that moment. Their heads simultaneously turned forward as impact was imminent. They heard just the beginning of the sound of bulky metal striking metal and then came just light. Or was it darkness?
Chapter 2
Suzie awoke confused and foggy, her head hurting and unsure of the condition of her body or if she was even still in it. Her eyes adjusted to the light as she squinted and she could see she was in a hospital bed and that she was wearing a hospital gown. A surgical mask had been donned on her face and she saw that there was an IV drip embedded into her right arm.
“What the…”, she said to herself as she looked around groggily. She was tired and achy. She fumbled around slowly and found the nurse attendant button, which she leaned towards and pushed down on.
Not more than 10 seconds later, a doctor, a wirey 40-something year-old with a white lab coat, cropped brown hair peeking out of white cap, blue nitrile gloves, and an N95 respirator wrapped around his face shuffled into the room quickly. He pressed his fogged up glasses up to the top of his nose, scrunching his nose, as he looked at his clipboard.
“Aaahh…good evening Mrs. Cavendish. My name is Dr. Barnes.”, his nasally voice whirred.
Suzie grunted and rubbed her eyes and said weakly, “Erm…hi Dr. Barnes.”
Dr. Barnes, whose eyebrows darted up and down, looked over his spectacles at the chart on the clipboard. “Looks like you were in quite a wreck. Your car is completely flattened, sorry to say. But by some miracle you appear to be, beyond a few bruises, completely and utterly unharmed by the accident!”
Suzie wiggled her toes and her fingers. She was sore and tired, and a little short of breath, but did seem to be okay.
.“And my Jerome? Where is he?”. She prayed that nothing had happened to him.
Dr. Barnes frowned and sighed. “Your husband, Mr. Cavendish unfortunately, did not fare as well as you. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he’s currently in the ICU in critical condition receiving life-saving medical care. His heart is still beating but he’s unresponsive.”
“No!” Suzie cried as she bursted into a fit of wailing tears. Not her Jerome, her beloved, her reason for living. She would have rather had it be her.
She sat up in a panic. “I need to go see him, now! To be with him and comfort him!”
Dr. Barnes frowned again. “Unfortunately we cannot let you do that. Upon arrival at the hospital, you were swabbed and screened for the pandemic-V21 virus, and unfortunately you have tested positive. You’ll have to stay here. Mr. Cavendish is in great hands and in the care of our best doctors.”
“What? But I feel fine. I need to get out of here”, Suzie protested.
“Unfortunately, we’ll have to keep you here overnight. For one, to monitor for any latent effects of your car crash and two, to make sure that if any symptoms develop that we are able to give you any treatment that will be required. We understand that you have medicare, so rest assured that all hospital bills will be covered by your provider.”
“Hospital bills? I don’t give a fuck about that right now! I just want to be with my Jerome.” she wept as Dr. Barnes patted her back gently with a nitrile-glove-covered hand.
story continued for paid subscribers…