The girl frowned, then nodded.
Leah looked at her watch while taking the girl’s pulse. It was a little fast, but that was to be expected when the patient was upset. At least it was strong now, and not weak like before.
Rajiv ran back in. “Here’s the water.” He unscrewed the top and handed the bottle to the girl.
She grabbed it and guzzled down some water.
Leah smiled at her. “This is Rajiv. And I’m Leah. What’s your name?”
“Yu Jie.” She drank more water. “Where am I? Where’s my family?”
“Your family is back at the village, and you’re in a clinic. We’re trying to make you healthy again.”
“I want to see my family. And I-I’m very hungry.”
“I’m sure you are.” Leah glanced at Rajiv. “Can you bring some food from the cafeteria? Something mild.”
“Yes, Doctor.” He hurried down the hall.
Leah hooked her stethoscope around her neck. “I’m going to check your blood pressure, okay?” When the girl nodded, Leah completed the procedure, then wrote the results on the chart she’d started six hours earlier. “You’re making wonderful progress. I’d like to remove your IV now. And we’ll take you back home as soon as you’re well. Do you remember what happened to your village?”
Yu Jie drank more water. “My older brother wanted to join Master Han’s army. All the young men in the village were doing it, ’cause they could earn good wages and send some money home for the rest of us. Master Han said he would employ them all if we would grow the demon herb for his friend, Darafer. The village elders agreed.” She frowned at the bottle she held. “I haven’t seen my brother since then. I think it’s been a few months.”
Leah smoothed a Band-Aid over the small puncture where the IV needle had been inserted. “Do you remember when your brother left?”
Yu Jie tilted her head, considering. “It was March. 2011.”
Leah winced. The girl had lost about twenty months of her life. “This is November, 2012.”
Yu Jie’s mouth dropped open. “What? What happened?”
“You were drugged. I believe your whole village is drugged.” Leah touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Tears glistened in Yu Jie’s eyes. “I-I’m sixteen now? I don’t remember anything. How could this happen?”
“I think we can safely say that Darafer tricked you. You thought you were helping your brother, but Darafer turned you and all the village into his mindless slaves—”
“No!” The water bottle crackled as Yu Jie’s hands tightened around it. “I have to go back! I have to save my family.”
“Calm down.” Leah patted her arm. “We’re going to help you, okay? We succeeded in making you normal again, so that means we know how to save your village.”
A tear ran down Yu Jie’s face. “You can save my people?”
“Yes.” Leah squeezed her arm. “I’ll save them. What you need to do now is rest and get your strength back so you can help me. Okay?”
Yu Jie nodded, more tears spilling down her face.
Rajiv strode into the room, carrying a tray with a bowl of hot noodles and a cup of hot tea.
“Perfect. Thank you.” Leah set the tray on a table that swiveled over Yu Jie’s bed.
Yu Jie grabbed the chopsticks and pinched a huge hunk of noodles.
“Not so fast,” Leah warned her. “Your system isn’t used to food anymore. Take it slow and easy so you won’t get sick.”
Yu Jie nodded, then ate only a few noodles at a time.
“That’s good.” Leah smiled at her. “I’ll check on you in about thirty minutes, okay?”
Yu Jie nodded and continued to eat.
“Can you hang around in case she needs something?” Leah asked Rajiv.
“Sure.” He sat next to the bed and watched the girl eat. “I’m twenty-two. How old are you?”
Leah strode back to her dorm room to gather up some fresh clothes. Then she showered and dressed. After a quick breakfast in the cafeteria, she was feeling good.
She was on her way back to the clinic when Rajiv left the room, carrying the tray.
He stopped next to her in the hall. “Yu Jie fell back asleep.”
“That’s good.”
“You could sleep, too,” Rajiv suggested.
Leah smiled. “I’m wide awake now, so I’ll get some work done. Thank you.”
She took some blood samples from the captives to see if any progress was being made. While she waited for the results, she wandered down the hall to the security office.
“How’s it going?” she asked the guys. Howard was sitting in front of the security monitors, and Rajiv was at a table, studying a map.
“Great,” Howard replied as he munched on a donut.
Rajiv grinned. “Pooh Bear is happy ’cause Kyo brought him donuts from Tokyo.”
“Phil’s outside looking around.” Howard motioned to a camera that showed the beach. “Congrats on curing the zombie girl.”
Rajiv nodded. “We are eager to save the whole village.”
“When do you think we’ll go?” Leah asked.
“Probably tomorrow.” Howard wiped his hands on a paper napkin. “The Vamps can teleport us and the supplies there tonight. As soon as the zombies go into their daytime trance, we’ll move into the village.”
Leah nodded. “Okay. I’ll start figuring out what I need. Oh, we’ll need to feed the villagers. They’ll be starving when they wake up from their trance.”
“We’ll pack some food.” Howard grabbed another donut. “Rajiv’s got some good news about the evacuation.”
“I do!” Rajiv pointed at the map. “The zombie village is only a mile from the Mekong River. Grandfather will send some men and their fishing boats down the river to pick up the villagers.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’d better get back to work.” Leah hurried back to the lab to box up supplies.
By late afternoon, her lack of sleep caught up with her. Abby was just waking, and she agreed to watch over their patients in the clinic and help Yu Jie get ready for the mission.
Leah slipped on her flannel pajamas and fell fast asleep.
“Leah, wake up.” Dougal sat on the edge of her bed and patted her shoulder.
“Mmm,” she moaned. “What is it, Howard?”
“Howard? Are ye dreaming of Howard?”
Her eyes flickered open. “Dougal?”
“Aye, ’tis me, yer true love, Dougal.”
She smiled drowsily at him. “Yes, that’s true.”
“Good.” He shifted on the bed to face her. “Now that we have that straightened out, let me tell you—”
“What time is it?” She scooted into a sitting position against the headboard.
“Just past midnight. Leah, I doona want you to do this mission at the zombie village. ’Tis too dangerous to send you into enemy territory.”
She rubbed her eyes. “I have to go. I promised Yu Jie that I would save her people. They can’t survive much longer at that level of malnutrition. Darafer is slowly killing them.”
“I appreciate your wanting to help them. But we have a total of eight Vamps here. We could teleport all the villagers here in just a few trips.”
Leah shook her head. “They’re awake at night and might resist. It’ll be much easier to treat them during the day when they’re unconscious. Besides, Master Han’s soldiers would be there at night to stop you. This way is really the best.”
With a sigh, Dougal ran a hand through his hair. He knew the daytime plan was the best way, but he hated the thought of not being there to protect Leah.
She leaned forward to touch his shoulder. “Howard, Phil, and Rajiv will be with me. That’s a grizzly bear, a wolf, and a tiger. Who’s going to mess with them?”
Dougal groaned. There was no stopping this. Angus had given the go-ahead, and already he and J.L. had teleported close to the village to find a good spot for hiding the supplies. “All right. I’ll go along with it.”