Invasive Procedures

Invasive Procedures Read Free Page A

Book: Invasive Procedures Read Free
Author: Aaron Johnston
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miles when they pulled over yet again. This time for a hitchhiker.
    Are we driving or not? Dolores wanted to scream. All this talk of pot roast has worked up a hunger. Let’s get a move on.
    Galen rolled down his window. “Need a ride?”
    “More than you know,” the hitchhiker said, jogging up to the passenger window. “Thank you for stopping.”
    “The pleasure is ours,” Galen said. “What’s your name, son?”
    “Byron.”
    Dolores thought him a scruffy-looking fellow. Byron carried no bags, but he looked like a drifter. Three-day beard. Dirty blue jeans. A baseball cap with the Mack truck logo on the front. A denim jacket.
    Galen, however, didn’t seem to mind the man’s appearance. He looked Byron up and down, as if measuring him for a suit, and said, “Get in. We’ll give you a lift.”
    “Thank you.”
    The door slid open, and Byron climbed in, taking a seat behind Dolores, next to Jonathan. As soon as Lichen had the door closed, Stone had the van in gear and on the road again.
    Galen turned around in the seat. “I’m George Galen,” he said, then, pointing to the driver and the Healer behind him, “These are my companions, Stone and Lichen. My other guests are Hal, Dolores, Nick, and Jonathan there beside you.”
    Byron gave a vague wave and smiled at everyone, not looking particularly comfortable with the crowd or the smell. “Nice to meet you,” he said. Then he addressed Galen. “My car broke down, and I couldn’t find a phone. Nothing’s open at this hour.”
    “Your car?” Galen asked, as if he was surprised the man owned one.
    “You probably passed it a mile or so back.” he said. “I would’ve used my cell phone, but it ran out of juice. How’s that for luck?”
    “We have a phone back at the shelter,” Galen said. “You’re welcome to use that one.”
    “That’s very kind. Thank you.”
    Dolores caught Stone, the driver, eyeing Byron through the rearview mirror with a look of suspicion, like he suspected him to be trouble.
    After a long silence Byron said, “You’re Healers, right?”
    “That’s right,” said Galen.
    “I’ve seen you around,” said Byron. “You do a lot for the community. That’s very commendable.”
    “We heal what needs mending,” said Galen.
    They passed two all-night gas stations, and Byron asked to be let out both times.
    “Don’t be silly,” Galen said. “It’s warmer at the shelter. You’ll be much more comfortable there.” When they left the Pacific Coast Highway and started driving up into the mountains, Dolores got nervous.
    “Must be a pretty secluded shelter,” Byron said. “I hope whoever I call can find it.”
    Galen said nothing. Nor was he whistling anymore.
    After a half a dozen turns up unlit roads, the van pulled onto a gravel drive.
    Finally, Dolores thought. Finally we’re going to stop. This driveway can’t be long.
    But it
was
long. They drove for another ten minutes, twisting and turning, the tires grinding the gravel. Dolores was beyond nervous now. She was the only woman in a van of six men, more than a day’s walk from the pier. She shouldn’t have agreed to go. She should have stayed in the cold. This was too far away, too strange.
    She gripped the tennis racket tucked in her bag between her feet.
    She wanted to make a break for it, push Hal and Lichen out of the way, slide open the door, and jump.
    “I want to get out,” Nick said.
    “No kidding,” murmured Byron.
    Galen said nothing.
    Then the gravel road widened and they pulled up to a building. The driver stopped the van and Galen turned around to face them.
    “Here we are,” he said.
    They all looked out the window. Dolores’s heart sank. This was no shelter. And no home either.
    She turned back and saw that Lichen was holding a gun, or something that looked like a gun. “Everybody out,” he said.
    Beside her, Nick began to cry.

2
RECRUIT
    Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hartman stepped into the decontamination room, wearing his biocontainment

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