The Descent

One of  the  physicians  came  into  Ali's  boat.  She  got  into  theirs,  and  the  other  doctor

paddled her a short distance away  to talk.

'We can't make sense of it,' he said. His  voice  was  muffled  by  the  respirator.  'We  did the  blood  test  again.  It  could  still  turn  out  to  be  an  insect  venom,  or  an  allergic reaction. Whatever  it is, you don't have  it. You don't have  to be out here with her.'

Ali  ignored  the  temptation.  No  one  else  would  volunteer,  they  were  too  frightened. And Molly could not be alone. 'Another transfusion,' Ali said. 'She needs more blood.'

'We've  given  her  five  pints  already.  She's  like  a  sieve.  We  may  as  well  pour  it  into the water.'

'You've  given up?'

'Of course not,' the doctor said. 'We'll all keep  fighting for her.'

The  doctor paddled  her  back  to  the  quarantine  raft.  Ali  felt  cold  and  wooden.  Molly was going to die.

As  they  paddled  away,  the  physicians  discarded  their  protective  garments.  They tore  the  paper  suits  from  their  limbs,  stripped  away  their  latex  gloves,  and  left  them like skins floating on the current.

Molly's  wounds  deepened.  She  began  to  sweat  a  rank  grease  through  her  pores. They  put  her  on  antibiotics,  but  that  didn't  help.  A  fever  set  in.  Ali  could  feel  its  heat just by  leaning across her.

Another  time,  Ali  opened  her  eyes  and  Ike  was  sitting  in  his  gray  and  black  kayak alongside the quarantine raft, for all the world a killer whale bobbing on  slow  currents. He was not wearing the requisite scrubs and respirator,  and  his  disregard  was  a  small miracle to Ali. He tied his kayak  to them and slipped from it onto the raft.

'I came to see you,' he said to her. Molly lay asleep between  Ali's legs.

'It's in her lungs,' Ali reported.  'She's suffocating on fungus.'

Ike  slipped  one  hand  beneath  Molly's  cropped  head  and  raised  it  gently  and  bent down.  Ali  thought  he  meant  to  kiss  her.  Instead,  he  sniffed  at  her  open  mouth.  Her teeth  were  stained red. 'It  won't be long,' he said,  as  if  that  were  a  mercy.  'You  should say  prayers  for her.'

'Oh,  Ike,'  sighed  Ali.  Suddenly  she  wanted  to  be  held,  but  could  not  bring  herself  to ask  for  it.  'She's  too  young.  And  this  isn't  the  right  place.  She  asked  me  what  will happen to her body.'

'I  know  what  to  do,'  he  said,  and  did  not  elaborate.  'Has  she  told  you  how  this happened?'

'No one knows,' said Ali.

'She does,' he said.

Later,  Molly  confessed.  There  was  none  of  that  Sister,  Sister  for  her.  At  first  it seemed like a joke. 'Hey, Al,' she opened. 'Wanna hear something off the wall?'

Small  spasms  clenched  and  unclenched  the  woman's  long  body.  She  strained  to  get control, at least from the neck up.

'Only if it's  good,'  Ali  kidded.  You  had  to  be  like  that  with  Molly.  They  were  holding hands.

'Well,'  said  Molly,  and  her  small  grin  flickered  on,  then  off.  'About  a  month  ago,  I

guess, I started  this thing.'

'Thing?' said Ali.

'Yeah. You know, what do they  call it? Sex.'

'I'm listening.' Ali waited for a punchline. But Molly's eyes  were  desperate.

'Yes,' whispered Molly. Now Ali understood.

'I thought he was a soldier,' Molly said. 'That  first time.'

Ali let Molly  orchestrate  the  tale.  Sin  was  burial.  Salvation  was  excavation.  If  Molly needed help with the shovel work, Ali would step  in.

'He  was  in  the  shadows,'  said  Molly.  'You  know  the  colonel's  rules  against  soldiers fraternizing with us infidels.  I  had  no  idea  which  one  he  was.  I  don't  know  what  came

over  me. Pity,  I guess. I pitied him. So I gave  him darkness, I let him be anonymous.  I

let him have  me.'

Ali  was  not  at  all  shocked.  Taking  a  nameless  soldier  seemed  perfectly  Molly-like. Her bravado  was legend. 'You made love,' said Ali.

'We fucked,' Molly corrected. 'Hard. Okay?' Ali waited. Where was the guilt?

'It wasn't the only time,' said Molly. 'Night  after  night,  I  went  out  into  the  darkness, and he was always  there,  waiting for me.'

'I understand,' said Ali, but did not. She saw no sin here. Nothing to reconcile.

'Finally  it  was  like  curiosity  killed  the  cat.  Who's  Prince  Charming,  right?  I  had  to know.' Molly paused. 'So one night I turned on my  light.'

'Yes?'

'I shouldn't have  done that.' Ali frowned.

'He wasn't one of Walker's soldiers.'

'One of the scientists,' said Ali.

'No.'

'Well?' Whom did that leave?

Molly's jaw tightened with the fever.  She began shivering.

After  a minute, Molly opened her eyes.  'I don't know,'  she  said.  'I've  never  seen  him before.'