Oasis 8 by Cat Webling

Author:Cat Webling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scifi, horror, scifi horror
Publisher: Cat Webling
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Andy was carefully watching Lila’s every move after the lab, so whether she liked it or not, the tests in her bag would remain unused. She was slightly thankful for this – it meant that she could focus on things other than the growing cravings and tiredness she felt.

Her mind seemed determined to fixate on the specimen in her lab. Now it seemed like a part of her daily routine to wander down there, glance at it for a short while, then move on. She still went out with Flo and Andy – Flo giving her “knowing” nods and glances that she hoped Andy didn’t see – but her focus wasn’t on them anymore. She found herself trying to dissect the fossilized rock and strange black lines in her memory, considering them from every angle.

In the evenings, she’d scribble her thoughts out in rambling paragraphs in her journal. It concerned her slightly that she wasn’t writing her usual structured data entries, but she just couldn’t force herself to slow her words enough for that. Reading back over them didn’t help either; the paragraphs were dense and made no sense even to her. Was this what pregnancy brain felt like? If so, it’d be incredibly annoying for the remainder of her work before maternity leave.

She still wasn’t sure that was the problem, though. The fluttering near her chest felt closer to heartburn, though, of course, that could feasibly be a symptom. Still, she didn’t think it was the right answer. It’d only been about three weeks – should her symptoms be this severe so soon?

To make matters more frustrating, the cut on her face still refused to heal after two weeks. It’d dried out to scabbing, but the scabs seemed determined to stay and itched like mad beneath the bandage. Lila considered going back to sickbay, but it felt like a silly thing to do for a scrape that for all other purposes was healing fine. The fact that it made her skin crawl so bad she could barely sleep was probably just a sign that she wasn’t caring for it well enough.

So, that night, she got up quietly and slipped off to their bathroom. She slowly removed the bandage, wincing as it pulled some scabbing free and caused some blood to well up, then froze as she saw her reflection.

The wound was violently red and still puffy around the edges. Where the scab had just come up, the leaking blood was dark, almost black. Her hand hovered over it for a moment before she turned the water on and quickly rinsed her face, hissing at the sting and the pain of it on the open sore.

It had gotten infected, stupid girl, she scolded herself. She probably should’ve taken the bandage off far sooner and it’d just caused more problems than it solved. What a stupid thing to do, and the day before they left as well.

Lila didn’t recognize the sound of her fist hitting the counter for a few seconds.

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