NIGHT DWELLER, Part 6
by Becky S.
"He's right in here. Morgan's with him," Devon rushed as she opened the tent flap. The doctor followed her inside. The colour immediately drained from Devon's face when she saw the still figure of the unconscious man laying on the floor of the tent.
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Julia came up behind her. She wordlessly picked up the seda-derm lying at the man's feet. "Well, I see Morgan. Where's John?" she asked.
Devon's mouth gaped before she shook herself back to the present. It took her a few minutes to piece together what had happened. "I... I.... He was just here. We have to find him!" she cried, her voice raising excitedly.
Devon bounded out of the tent while Julia administered a stimulant to the sleeping man. The bureaucrat groaned. Julia quickly ran her diagnostic glove over him. Satisfied that he was waking and wasn't about to go coma-tose the way John would have, the doctor jumped to her feet and followed her leader. She almost ran into Bess after she taken a few steps out of the tent. "Bess, Morgan's in that tent. Find out what happened," she explained briefly and chased after Devon.
"JOHN!!!!!! JOHN! DANZIGER!" Devon cried, racing into the heart of the camp. "Where's Danziger?" she addressed the group, "has anybody seen Danziger?"
True scurried up behind Devon. "What's going on?" she asked nervously. Devon took True by the shoulders, "True, have you seen your father today?"
True nodded, "This morning," she explained. Devon's excitement was scaring the heck out of the little girl and True's eyes were wide with fear.
"Have you seen him in the past ten minutes?" True kept shaking her head at the woman. "Has anyone seen him?" her gaze quickly travelled over the group surrounding her.
"What's going on?" Alonzo demanded, brows furrowed. "John? Danziger!" the doctor called as she searched around the camp. Devon turned back to True, "Do you have *any* idea where he might be?" True's response was cut short by a farmiliar screech in the distance. The piercing sound echoed around the hushed colonists. "Oh no," Devon whispered.
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"John!" Devon cried, running full speed in the general direction of the bush where they'd first encountered the creature. Julia crashed through the bush behind her. Alonzo had begun to follow but didn't know what he was looking for anyway so he had head back.
The two women heard a rustling in the bush ahead of them. They burst into a clearing, then stopped short.
John Danziger lay, unconscious, under the tree that he had stared at so intently the night that Devon had been on watch. Julia's eyes darted up the tree. There was a nest of sorts situated at the top. This was the creature's home. "Julia," Devon said, leading the doctor by the arm to where the still man lay. The young doctor knelt beside Danziger and placed the dia-glove (which had never taken off during the search) upon his chest.
Devon settled down on the ground uncomfortably. "It's been five days... is he in a....?" Devon lowered her eyes to the ground.
Julia pulled out another stimulant and injected it into his arm. "We'll know soon enough," she replied doubtfully.
Devon looked up at the nest. She didn't see any sign of movement from the creature. *It must be nocturnal. It can only harm us at night. We'll be fine as long as we don't leave camp to get water in the evening like that anymore* she thought, relief flooding through her.
That's when Danziger let out a low moan. Devon's attention snapped toward him. "The serum has warn off," the doctor announced.
Devon sighed in relief. The mechanic wearily attempted to lift his head, but failed from lack of strength and went back to sleep. Their leader brought her hand up to her mouth to hide a smile when Julia's laughter caught her attention. Devon watched as the young doctor looked the bulky man over from head to toe. "How on earth are we going to carry him back?" she mused.
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Danziger blinked a few times before fully opening his eyes. He slowly lifted his head to gaze grogily aroung the tent. He sat up, and reality finally fled back to him in one confusing rush.
Groaning at the mild pain that tugged at the back of his head, he managed to pull himself out of bed. He carefully tested his shaky balance, then he head outside.
Julia rushed over to him and declared that the serum had worn off completely, and that he was pretty much whole and healthy. As he sat on a log where he could watch all of the activity in camp, everyone wandered over, one by one, to see how he was doing. For once, he didn't mind the attention.
Devon was the only one who didn't greet him. Her absence was quite conspicous, at least to John. It was fine with him. In his mind, he kicked himself for grabbing her like that. He'd been wondering whether it had actually happened or whether it had been another hallucination... it would be pretty akward for him to apologize for something that never happened. Devon's abesence, however, had him convinced that it *hadn't* simply been another image from his sleep-deprived mind. He would have to apologize. She would understand. He *had* been out of his mind... hadn't he? Maybe the action hadn't been as much as the result of the serum as he thought... Danziger immediately shook the doubt from his mind. He thought, *Come on, I was convinced that I was the sheik of Nabu, of course I was crazy.*
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"What's up?" Alonzo's voice startled her out of her reverie. Julia turned to him.
"Danziger," she replied briefly. "I thought you said he was better," Alonzo's brow furrowed in confusion. He stepped up beside her and loosely placed his arms around her.
The doctor allowed herself a few moments to rest against him before de-tangling herself from his grasp and replying. "He is... physically. But it's strange that he's seems to have recovered so fast mentally. You'd think that six days of insanity would take a greater toll.... Maybe's he covering it... maybe he just has powerful mental stabilty.... maybe that alien serum has something to do with it... I'd still like to know more about that creature." Julia sighed and leaned back against the pilot. "I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on him for a few days."
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Devon had returned to camp. Danziger took a few moments to collect himself, then forced himself to confront her, then and there. He rose from his seat and made his way over to her. They were at the edge of camp so fortunately no one else was within earshot. He made sure that she saw him coming. She held his gaze until he reached her. He noticed that she looked a little spooked, but she didn't run away... that was a good sign. He stalled, not wanting to get to the point. "I figured we'd be moving out tomorrow so I checked the vehicles. I'm gonna need about a half-hour to work on the Rover in the morning," he told her.
Devon's reply was made in a shaky voice, "All right, just as long as it doesn't hold us up too long. I want to get Uly as far away from this creature as possible. There's no knowing how far their territory extends, but we do know that this particalar being doesn't want us around here." She remained silent for a few minutes, then continued, "You should be more careful, True was awfully worried about you."
Danziger noticed that she was speaking more to the ground than to him. It was probably one of the first times he'd ever seen her nervous, and he tried to hide a grin. Instead, he nodded his agreement, "Yeah, I'll slow down in the future." Devon nodded and they stood in akward silence.
The more Devon thought about it, the more she began to think of this whole affair as being his fault. "If you'd listened to me back in the forest, none of this may have happened," she couldn't help saying. Danziger glared at the Adair version of an "I told you so." Devon's eyes flickered with anger, "You didn't see the creature in our camp, did you? It probably wouldn't have bitten you in the first place if you hadn't gone barging into its forest."
Danziger came close to rolling his eyes. "Yeah, and if we'd tip-toed our way in, asked it nicely, it would have handed the land right over to us, right, Adair?" he challenged. Devon, of course, had no reply to this, so she clenched her fists and stalked away. Danziger grinned and subconsciously counted a battle won.
Danziger made his way back to his tent at a leisurely pace. He shook his head as he sorted through the past days' events. He realised that he never had actually gotten around to apologizing. "How could I find time with all of her yellin'?" he thought bitterly. He scoffed at the Elder's month-old words to him: you're in love with her. "In love!" Danziger laughed. John Danziger.... Him!! Of all people! The Elder must have been out of his mind! John watched form the distance as Devon quickly covered her frustration with a smile when Uly approached her. "Where would the Elder get a stupid idea like that?" he wondered aloud. *Where indeed?* a voice answered.
-The End-
Author's Chapter Notes:
All right, I've compressed the story into six inst. instead of seven. %-) Unfortunately, installment four appeared in my mailbox, and I haven't received number two yet, so I gues they're heading out in order of size, not order that they were sent in.... drat. Ah well, here's the end... tell me what you thought, please. =)
Chapter End Notes:
So, what did y'all think? direct comments to reslab@einstein.unipissing.ca Becky Saari