EXODUS

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 23
Broken
 

State Department agents in plain clothes kept tourists from getting too close to the trio of Wyatt, Halley and Aki as they made their way from the museums of the Smithsonian lining the mall to the shops and restaurants of Georgetown on one last outing before Wyatt and Halley before the group of humans and Furs returned to Sweden. The women each had a hold of the savannah cat’s arms and joked with each other as they led the Fur where whim directed them. As the Fur and women along with the accompanying entourage of security neared the Potomac riverfront of the district, Wyatt paused and looked around as he sniffed at the air, some part of his brain filtering out the odors of the city around them. Exhaust fumes from cars and buses, emanations from dumpsters and the river itself getting automatically dismissed as were the scents from the sheer mass of people. Just when Wyatt thought he’d locked down the scent it would vanish, carried away by the summer breeze before another touch of the smell that had Wyatt on edge would tickle his olfactory senses once more.

“Neko-Wyatt? You are very distracted,” Aki said after she and the blond girl directed the Fur to an outside table at a bistro that rested right at the edge of the Potomac River. “Is something wrong?”

The savannah cat looked around once more before shaking his head and turning to look at the two women apologetically. “Sorry. I keep catching a smell that’s bothering me and I don’t know why.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re getting hungry?” Halley offered, happy that Aki was able to help her see things properly and that the mistake she’d almost made was fixed. “You know you tend to get a little uppity when you go too long without eating.”

“No,” Wyatt replied slowly with another shake of his head. “It’s…it’s a familiar smell, like from someone I know or I’ve met recently…” He trailed off and shrugged, unable to put into words the feelings of wariness that the scent caused. He still had trouble at times cataloging all of the scents around him with the level of sensitivity his nose now had. Sometimes a smell would cause a memory to explode into his consciousness with stunning clarity while at times others only teased at his awareness and were more of a distraction as the meaning that was associated with them eluded him. “Maybe you’re right and I just need to eat,” Wyatt said in a lighter tone to help put his companions at ease.

Food was brought out in short order and the three ate with gusto, the rapid and thorough tour of the Smithsonian museums having caused each of the friends to build up a healthy appetite. For all that he was a creature of sensory input and intellect, Wyatt ignored what appeared before him with the exception of getting the fuel into his body as efficiently as possible while he looked around with continued nervousness. The different agents and plain clothes police kept people from bothering the three directly, but it didn’t stop passers-by from staring, pointing and taking pictures with phones and cameras, though Wyatt was becoming accustomed to the attention.

“You know, maybe we should head back to the hotel,” Halley suggested before she or Aki could order dessert with the Fur’s continued state of distraction. “It’s been a pretty full morning and we really should pack up for the flight back in the morning.”

“Sure,” the savannah cat agreed readily. “It has sort of been a full day.”

Aki acquiesced as well while Halley informed the security detachment that they were going to return to their lodgings, much to the relief of the men and women keeping an eye on the Fur while Aki, in accordance to her insistence, took care of the lunch bill. It was only a few blocks back to the establishment where their rooms were and as he moved away from the riverfront, Wyatt actually found himself relaxing, wondering why he’d been so on edge before dismissing it.

The agents and police led the way, breaking through knots of other pedestrians while the other half brought up the rear, though there was enough of a gap as Wyatt, Halley and Aki crossed one intersection that none of the security detail was close at hand as the trio crossed the street to the sidewalk on the other side. It was the Fur that heard the wind up of a small but powerful engine and turned around to look at a motorcycle that accelerated from the previous block, the rider opening the throttle wide and switching gears so quickly that the two wheeler lurched forward before rocketing ahead with alarming speed.

“What the he-” the savannah cat began before the street bike angled directly for him and the two women.

Without even thinking about it, Wyatt slipped his furred arms around the waists of each of his companions before physically tossing them out of the path of danger, his eyes locked on the machine as it barreled directly towards him at an astonishing rate of speed. The Fur didn’t even have a chance to tense his leg muscles to jump in the same direction he’d tossed Halley and Aki before the motorcycle impacted with him.

Recovering from the throw that had elicited a yelp from her at the unexpected action, Halley looked up in time to see the bike collide with her lover, her perception slowing down with the sudden rush of adrenaline that coursed through her blood. The motorcycle was an older model street bike that had been poorly modified with various after market cosmetic affects that had all been painted a flat black save the spots that sported automotive repair putty. Its blunt nose and incorporated windscreen gave the bike an almost predatory look and Halley felt a scream build in her lungs and throat as Wyatt seemed to turn into liquid as his body conformed to the shape of the of the motorcycle. The scream died in horror as the Fur that meant the world to her was pulled under the front wheel.

Aki was too stunned to do more than stare as Wyatt was pulled under the motorcycle, his body contorted in unnatural ways as the machine rolled him then rolled over him with bits of fiberglass and plastic flying through the air with the violence of the strike. Both women were horrified as the rear wheel finally encountered the body beneath it, the amount of power and torque ripping the clothing the savannah cat wore even as it ripped the fur and flesh from Wyatt’s form.

The motorcycle rider wasn’t able to maintain control as the bike finally came free of the Fur beneath it and the front tire and rim, misshapen by the sudden impact, wobbled dangerously, causing the machine to hurl out of control before it hit the edge of the far sidewalk. The sudden obstacle threw the driver several feet while the vehicle tumbled several times, shedding bits of body affects and paneling as a sort of commentary to the violence of what had just happened.

Halley pushed herself up ignoring the scrapes on her palms and elbows, time seeming to snap back to normal as she all but leaped in a single jump to Wyatt’s side. Around them the security detail sprang into action, covering the downed savannah cat while others surrounded the motorcycle rider. The young woman knew that she had to act fast to initiate first aid, but for all of her medical training she didn’t know where to start. Wyatt was a mangled mess and through the blood matted fur she could see bare muscle tissue and bone. What made the entire event even worse was when the savannah cat actually turned his head, only one eye looking at her as the left one was missing and all that remained was a sodden, empty socket. Wyatt was able to move one arm just enough past the pain and agony to touch her knee as he gazed at her and his mouth opened ever so slightly as he wheezed, blood foaming at the corners of his muzzle and from his nose.

“Haaaalleeey…” 

*** 

Ásmundr paced the private waiting room of George Washington Hospital, a frantic and fearful look on his face. Halley sat along the wall opposite the door to the room, her head in her hands as she, like the Swede and young Japanese woman named Aki, waited for news on Wyatt. When the door opened all three jerked their heads up, Halley actually starting to rise before slumping back into her seat as Ramad entered, a brace of Metro police and State Department officials stopping at the door.

“Is there any word yet?” the snow leopard Fur asked softly, his tail thrashing with anxiety.

“No,” Ásmundr answered tersely. “He has the best doctor that I know tending to him, though. If anyone can pull Wyatt through this it’s Dimitri.” The last was delivered with a subdued tone and vacant expression, almost as if the Swede were trying to convince himself of what he said.

Ramad knew from Ásmundr’s body language and scent that there was no comforting the man, no words or gestures that would help. Halley was in no better condition and it seemed as if the other woman was already providing what support she could. With a soft chuffing sigh the Fur planted himself in the corner of the room and settled in to wait however long the latest ordeal took to reach a conclusion. The wait wasn’t spent idly, though, and the snow leopard offered up a silent prayer for his friend, something that he hadn’t indulged in since finding himself a prisoner under the power of Emily Lesko.

Time became meaningless to the group that sat in silence. All of them started when a staffer appeared with refreshments though none of them felt much like eating or drinking. It wasn’t until almost sunset that the door opened once more to reveal a swarthy skinned man in dark green scrubs, curls of ebony black hair protruding from under the edges of his surgical cap. Over the bridge of his nose was an indentation from a surgical mask that was now tucked under his chin and his mustache was slightly ruffled looking.

At the anxious looks he received, the man simply shook his head slowly before turning to the tall Swede. “I have done everything I can, Ásmundr,” the man said in a voice filled with frustration and resignation. “There is just too much damage and I don’t have enough knowledge about what I’m dealing with or the proper supplements to do anything more.”

Halley was on her feet immediately and spoke before Gustavsson could. “Is he going to die?” she asked simply, her voice making her sound more like a little girl than a woman in her mid twenties.

The doctor looked at Halley with an expression of sympathy. “I’ve done all I can.”

Ramad and Aki caught the young woman as she began to crumple, both working in tandem to get Halley into a chair. “Don’t let him suffer,” she said as the Fur and other woman got her situated. “He’s been through enough. Don’t let him be in any more pain than he already has,” she pleaded, fresh tear streaming down her cheeks.

Ásmundr nodded as he turned to the surgeon. “I have to agree with Miss Kane on this, even though I don’t want to. If you can do nothing more it may be a mercy to end his suffering, Dimitri.” He watched the emotions flit through the doctor’s eyes in just a few heartbeats before the other man’s shoulders slumped. “I know you don’t want to do this, but it may be what’s best, no matter what we might wish for otherwise.”

The doctor took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before straightening and looking at the others one at a time before his gaze locked with Ásmundr’s. “I took an oath to do no harm, my friend. I swore to uphold the sanctity of life. I also promised to do everything within my power to ease the suffering of those in my care.” A single tear welled in the man’s right eye before he dashed it away. “If Wyatt Renner agrees to this, then, and only then, I will agree to help end his suffering.”

Ásmundr nodded and watched his friend head to the door before stopping to turn and look at the others.

“If Wyatt agrees I’ll send a nurse for all of you so that you can say your farewells,” Dimitri told them.

“If he agrees can I be with him until he’s gone?” Halley asked softly. “I…it’s the least I can do. I owe him that and so much more.”

The doctor nodded silently before departing. Once the door shut Dimitri Kavalos sighed and tried to quell the sick, leaden feeling in his stomach. He’d always been a proponent of assisted termination when the circumstances warranted such actions, but it was never something that he took lightly, seeing life as the penultimate divine gift and it was something that he’d devoted his entire life to protecting. It had caused some friction in other hospitals that he’d held positions in before getting his visa for a posting at the hospital that served, among others important personages, the President of the United States of America.

It was a short walk to the suite that the savannah cat was in from the waiting room and the doctor had to pause as a lump filled his throat. The bed the Fur lay on was the latest in medical technology. Independent air bladders coupled with sensors made minute adjustments due to the readings from the sensors, constantly adjusting their firmness for greatest patient comfort. Other sensors monitored every single aspect of the occupant, though the alarms had to be turned off as some of Wyatt’s bodily processes were far different than the normal readings for a full human. On a rod over the left side of the bed hung a pair of plastic bags that were filled with artificial blood, the strange dark purple fluid working as a universal supplement for almost everything that it had been tested on, something that Dimitri himself had actually developed while at George Washington Hospital. A semicircular arch sat at the foot of the bed and was part of the integrated full body scanner that could render a three dimensional view of a patient’s body in seconds.

Despite all of the technology there truly was nothing more that the man could do and his heart fell even further at the pleading look in the savannah cat’s remaining eye. Dimitri stepped to the bed and tried to pour the regret that he’d failed as a physician into his expression and voice.

“I’ve done everything that I possibly can, Wyatt. I truly have, but I just don’t have the knowledge or means to do more. If I could and if it would help, I’d ask God himself to heal you and to take me. As it is, you have a choice to make and I will do precisely as you wish.” Dimitri drew in a breath and held it for a moment before speaking again. “If you want me to continue medical treatment, blink once for me.” He watched as the savannah cat tried to shake his head, even that little bit of motion proving to be complete agony with the brace and metal frame that held him immobile. “No, no. Don’t move,” the man said as he adjusted the breathing tube that hung from the corner of Wyatt’s muzzle, the slight shifting causing the oxygen that was being fed to the Fur gurgling as the angle changed slightly. “Your second option is that I can give you something to let you sleep, and from there…” Dimitri swallowed and shook his head gently. “From there you will pass on.”

The cat man squeezed his right eye shut in emphasis that that was what he wanted.

“Are you sure, Wyatt? Do you wish for me to help end your life?”

Again the Fur squeezed his eye closed and tried to nod.

“Shh. It’s alright. Relax.” Without hesitation the man took the furred paw-like hand in his fingers. “You won’t feel a thing. I promise you that it will truly be like going to sleep. Before I do this, your friends would like to see you once more if you’re willing and Miss Kane would like to sit with you if this is acceptable.” He watched as Wyatt once more closed his eye. “Alright,” Dimitri said, still holding the Fur’s fingers in his hand while the other brushed the still human head hair of the savannah cat back in an almost paternal gesture. “I’ll send for them.

Within minutes each of the individuals that had kept vigil for Wyatt had filed through though only Halley remained once they’d made their farewells. Dimitri Kavalos had brought a wheeled stool up to the bed for the girl so she could sit as close to the Fur as possible and held on tightly to his uninjured hand paw. She told Wyatt over and over that her heart would always be his and that she would never love another. When a single tear formed in the savannah cat’s eye and rolled down his furred cheek the woman’s voice faltered and she tried to smile and push the feelings within her through the contact of their fingers.

Dimitri pulled a syringe out of his pocket, checking the label with his back turned to the Fur and young woman and verified the contents before stepping to the other side of the medical bed. “Wyatt? It’s time to go to sleep now. Are you ready?” When the savannah cat blinked once, the doctor nodded, swallowing past the lump in his throat before taking hold of the intravenous line while he attached the barrel of the syringe to a port on the plastic tube. With a calming breath to steady himself Dimitri depressed the plunger.

The pink fluid mixed with the synthetic blood for a moment before disappearing completely into the Fur’s arm. Almost immediately Wyatt began to blink his remaining eye before it slid closed, mustering enough strength to look at Halley before it shut for the last time. In less than a minute the anthrocat’s heart slowed, each beat coming slower until it stopped altogether. Watching the monitor, Dimitri waited until the indicator stayed flat for several seconds before cycling through the other settings and didn’t switch off the unit until he’d reached the screen that displayed neural activity, the blue line just as flat as the one that indicated heart rate. The man then stepped to a small console that was separate from the rest of the equipment and toggled a black switch before speaking into a small microphone that was part of the panel. “Wyatt Renner, trauma patient with request for euthanasia, time of death nineteen seventeen. Attending doctor Dimitri Kavalos, physician authorization number three-three-seven-four. Special instructions; Body to be prepared for immediate release to the Swedish Embassy for transport, full biologic containment.”

When he switched off the console, Dimitri turned to look at the young woman who was staring at the lifeless body of her lover in stunned silence, her expression one that the Greek had seen too often in his chosen profession of healer. He’d expected this and stepped to the door to motion the other Fur and Ásmundr into the room.

“Give her a moment and then get her out of here,” the doctor instructed quietly. “I’ll be by your hotel in a few hours and if she needs a sedative I’ll give it to her then, though her grief needs to run its course and drugs will only hamper that.”

The Swede looked curiously at his longtime friend. “Why are you coming to the hotel?”

“So you and I can talk about my joining this little project of yours.” The swarthy man gestured to the bed and the still warm body of Wyatt. “If I’d known more about his physiology I think I could have saved him. I’ll not let this happen again, Ásmundr. Not when there’s a chance that learning all I can about your Furs could’ve prevented this!” Dimitri sighed and shook his head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a resignation to deliver to the chief of staff. Just make sure that there’s an extra bed somewhere in your hotel because when I get there and ensure that everyone is doing as well as possible I’m going to be in dire need of several very strong drinks.”

The man pushed past and into the hallway, bulling past the State Department agents and police that had been posted outside the room for security leaving the tending of Halley to the Fur and Swede, his cheeks wet and an angry set to his dark eyes.

Once at the hotel after a silent and uncomfortable limo ride, Halley being tended to in her own suite by Aki, Ramad looked at the bar before stepping forward and pouring a measure of whiskey and downing it much to Ásmundr’s surprise.

“I thought that drinking didn’t quite go with your faith,” the man pointed out before also getting a glass and filling it with the amber liquid.

“It doesn’t,” the snow leopard said as he held out his glass for a refill, still wincing from the burn of the first drink. “But I don’t have much faith left after today.” He looked at the glass for a moment as his ears flattened and his tail dropped to the floor. “Perhaps tomorrow my faith will be restored, perhaps not. Regardless, Allah is a merciful God and maybe he will forgive me this transgression as I don’t know what His opinion is about me now that I am no longer a man.”

Ásmundr wished that he had the words that could give the Fur comfort, though his own heart was heavy with the day’s events and empathized with the snow leopard’s dilemma. Just as he lifted his own glass there was a knock at the door and hoping that it wasn’t another official from the American government stopping by to offer empty condolences he went to open it. Waiting on the other side was a very haggard looking Dimitri Kavalos who took the tumbler of whiskey from the taller Swede without hesitation and tossed the full three fingers of spirits down his throat without hesitation.

“Another, please,” the doctor said as he dropped a small aluminum case on the carpeted floor next to the sofa and flopped down in exhaustion.

“I take it that your resignation didn’t go very well?” Ramad asked as he refilled the glass the Greek had claimed and poured another for Ásmundr before doing the same for himself.

“No. There was much screaming, cajoling and begging…no less than I expected. I was even offered a salary raise. Administrators often fail to realize that there are issues that money will not solve, no matter how many zeros they add.” The man accepted the second whiskey with a nod of gratitude. “Thank you, Ramad.” He then turned his full attention to Ásmundr. “Pull whatever strings you need to with your contacts at the embassy, old friend. When you get on your plane tomorrow I will be going with you.”

The Swede smiled tiredly. “This is good. I was wondering how many zeros I was going to have to offer to get you to join us.”

“Keep your money,” Dimitri spat sourly. “This…this is personal, now. I’ll not see another furman die because no one knew what to do.” He took a deep sip from his glass with a hardening of his dark brown eyes. “I will learn all I can so that this doesn’t happen again.” 

*** 

Halley was able to piece herself together long enough to say goodbye to Aki, making sure that they had the other’s contact information before riding in silence to Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The trip was spent in her own world of shock, grief and loss. She’d been so sure that it was the Fur’s relationship with her that had been the greatest danger. Not for the first time the woman thought that if she hadn’t tried to end their relationship he wouldn’t have gone to the lounge and encountered Aki. If they hadn’t met, the man that had felt slighted and jealous when she went to talk to the savannah cat wouldn’t have given in to his own dark nature. If she’d done things differently Wyatt wouldn’t have been murdered because of Darryl Gibbs’ obsessive nature.

She turned her head slightly, the unremarkable van that followed the limousine still behind them with the steel coffin that held Wyatt’s body in the back. Halley let her mind blank out as she stared at the boxy vehicle, exhaustion that was both physical and emotional swallowing her up so that she was completely unaware that the group had arrived at the airport and Ásmundr was gently prodding her when speaking her name hadn’t gotten her attention so that she could show the security officer her identification. Halley pulled it and the passport issued by the Swedish government from her small handbag without a word. With only the shortest delay the limousine rolled through the gate and towards the hangars where Ásmundr’s private plane waited for them.

Halley continued in the same fugue as she boarded the aircraft and took her seat, her hand automatically reaching for Wyatt’s before she realized that he was riding in the cargo hold. She would never again feel the warmth of his pads, the solid muscle beneath fur as he held her with arms that had been so strong and yet very gentle. She would never lay next to him as both basked in the afterglow of making love and simply talk about the things that they shared, their hopes and dreams. There wouldn’t be any more adventures or cups of morning coffee or reading to each other from a favorite book. It was the catalyst to the young woman’s final breakdown and she slumped forward as deep, wracking sobs constricted her chest and wrapped her arms around herself to hold the sense that she was falling to pieces at bay.

Without the constrictions of his post at the hospital, Dimitri went to the girl and lifted her shirt sleeve high enough to press the nozzle of a pressure dispenser against her skin, the slight hiss that came from the device delivering a precisely measured dose of sedatives. If Halley was aware of what the doctor had done she didn’t say anything, her only response being to throw her arms around the Greek, seeking what she needed most, a little warmth and comfort. While Ramad and Ásmundr watched with concern Dimitri did what he could to mollify the heartbroken girl as the medications took effect. By the time the door to the plane was closed and the first of the three engines began to spin up Halley had succumbed to the drugs and drifted into dreamless oblivion.

“She should sleep most of the way to Stockholm,” Dimitri said. “Only time will truly help her with what she’s endured, but the rest should do her quite a bit of good.” He looked at the snow leopard with the same gentle expression he’d regarded the woman with. “Is there someplace she can sleep comfortably?”

“There’s a bed in the aft part of the cabin I can put her in,” Ramad said as he bent forward and scooped the young woman up effortlessly. “I’ll leave the door open so we can hear her if she wakes.”

Ásmundr nodded. “I think that would be best,” he agreed as the man lowered his frame into the plush seat that looked out the window just before the right wing. “I may ask you for some of that, myself, Dimitri.”

The Greek regarded his friend, noting not for the first time the dark circles under the other man’s eyes and the sunken nature of his cheeks. Ásmundr was a fit man with little to spare by his lack of appetite and the ravages of recent events. “And how are you holding up?” Dimitri asked softly, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the whine of the first engine as the second unit was fired up.

The Swede shook his head and leaned back into his seat, letting the padding envelope him. “Not well, old friend. Not well at all.” Ásmundr swallowed hard and wondered if it was too early in the day for a brandy. “Wyatt was a friend…a very good and dear friend for all of the shortness of time that I knew him.” He opened his eyes and turned to look at the Greek with a pain that he’d kept hidden and buried until that moment. “I should have known better than to become so attached.”

“You always have,” Dimitri said with a half smile. “Just don’t try to convince yourself that it’s a failing or flaw, Ásmundr. It is part of who and what you are.” The Greek snorted in subdued amusement as he gave the other a pointed look. “And, if memory serves, that caring too much is what put me through medical school. I was ready to quit and return to Athens when I suddenly discovered that my tuition had miraculously been paid.”

“I couldn’t let a talented medical student walk away from his vocation,” Ásmundr replied with a shrug. “If anyone was ever destined to be a surgeon, it was you. It would have been a great disservice to the world to let you walk away from what you were supposed to be doing. And I was right,” he said with a smug look of validation as his grief abated for a moment.

“You were, were you?” Dimitri asked absently as he reloaded the pressure dispenser with another vial of sedatives.

“Very much so,” the Swede said as he leaned back in the seat. “Who developed a universal blood replacement? You. Who pioneered biologically compatible synthetic skin and tissue replacements? You. Personally I think my investment was well spent, indeed.”

“Well,” Dimitri began in a self conscious tone, “what is it that the Americans always say? ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’? I saw there was a need for these things and made them. That is all.”

“And saved how many lives because of it?” Ásmundr countered.

The Greek sighed and seemed to sink in on himself, answering before he could think about what spilled out of his mouth. “One less than I would like…”

Ásmundr’s eyes snapped open and he saw the weight that Wyatt’s death had put on his friend, a man that saw his position of physician as something sacred and death as his personal enemy. “It hurts, Dimitri,” he began, reaching across the aisle to grasp the other man’s forearm with not only sympathy but also his own sense of loss. “God knows it does, but at the same time we cannot be held accountable for a situation that was forced upon the world at large. Yes, I’ve decided to take a vested and very personal interest in the Furs, but it’s because it felt right to do so. Now I have to scramble to catch up to the events that I find myself in. What I can tell you is that I can think of no other person that I would choose or appreciate having at my side as we get through this than you.

“I think together we can use this whole fiasco to the betterment of all and I will bend all of my resources to this end. We can do this, Dimitri. We can do this for the Furs, for the world, for all of us.”

Not for the first time Dimitri Kavalos wondered how it was that his friend hadn’t decided to make a go at politics. With his easy nature, ability to convey the most positive aspects of human nature and the manner that he could make a person believe in what he said and then doing it, Ásmundr could have gone quite far, indeed. “You know, when you talk like that it frightens me,” the Greek admitted.

“Why?”

“Because others can’t help but share your conviction. Your confidence, your drive…you truly are a force to be reckoned with when you set a course for yourself and it’s something that you can make others feel...like they are part of it” Dimitri smiled and set the pressure dispenser off to the side, though still at hand should Ásmundr require a sedative as well. “Fine. Let’s go change the world, old friend.”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.