THE JARRING MOTION made him nauseous. His head felt as if it were splitting in half. From a distance he heard a man shouting.
“Nate! Nate, can you hear me?”
Hands were lifting him and setting him down on a hard surface.
“Take it easy! He could have a broken back for all we know.”
“If he did, he’d be dead. Your friend is going to be fine. You ask me, it’s a blow to the head but nothing serious. He’s lucky.”
The voices carried on, and above them he could hear the wail of a siren. They had found him.
“Tell Naliv she was right,” he said.
“He said something. Nate, it’s Manny, they sent me out here and I thought it was a wild goose chase. You’re going to be fine, no worries. Lie still. Don’t try to talk.”
All he wanted was to sleep, but they wouldn’t let him.
“Two miles, and you can go to sleep. After the doc sees you, okay? For now we want you awake, pal.”
“I am awake,” Nathan said, but no one could understand him.
The next thing he felt was the sudden stab of a needle.
“He’ll sleep now. X-rays look fine. That bump on his head is a good sign. Better it shows up outside than inside. When he wakes up you can take him home.”
He listened. Who was speaking? Who would take him home? Even as he asked the questions he felt himself slipping away, along with the pain.
Nathan opened his eyes. The hospital room was dark, just a sliver of light coming from under the door. Outside the window it was night. How long had he been there? Manny had found him, hadn’t he? Others had shown up. All he could hear now was the sound of his own breathing. The place was like a morgue. He could see the red LED of the nurse’s call button on the side of the bed, its dim light showing him part of the pillow and his right shoulder. If he pressed it he could get their attention, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to think about the dream.
How real she had seemed. Yet nothing she showed him or said to him made any sense. Images came to him, one of them especially disturbing. He had seen himself in the distance, on the road, at the same time he walked with Naliv. Again he saw the city below them, filling the valley floor.
The river rock. What had happened to the knapsack? He had to find the rock, see it. He pressed the red light after all, over and over. Wasn’t anyone out there?
“Hello?” he called out. “Where is everybody?”
The door swung in and light filled the room as someone flicked on the switch.
“So you’re awake, finally. You’ve been out quite awhile.”
He focused on the voice. It was a man’s voice. The room was too bright. He blinked rapidly.
“Can you shut that off?” he asked.
“Of course. My apologies.” The room was dark again, the only light coming from beyond the open door.
“I’m Dr. Janis, and I’m glad to see you awake. We were getting a little worried there. You’ve been unconscious for twenty-four hours. Your partner did tell me you were already exhausted before the accident, however. I hope you feel rested now.”
“I don’t have a partner. I want to get out of here.”
“Yes, I expect you do, but I’m afraid you can’t, not just yet. You’ve experienced considerable trauma. More than we realized at first. In fact, we have found something, a small but significant anomaly in the X-ray.”
“Stand over near the door so I can see you.”
Janis stepped obligingly away and stood in the light from the corridor, standing sideways so that Nathan could see him clearly. He appeared to be in his fifties, had thick, silver hair, and his face was deeply lined.
“Go on,” Nathan said.
“It’s necessary for us to run some tests. Once those are done, you’re free to leave.”
Nathan closed his eyes. “What kind of anomaly?” he said.
Janis hesitated. “Well, I’ve some ideas, but that’s why the tests are essential.”
“So what do you know about it?” Nathan said, losing patience.
“This may not be clear to you, but there is a location in the brain, well-documented, where we frequently find evidence of visual distortions. You appear to have something going on there. It’s just a spot on the X-ray. I need a brain scan to see it, to understand whatever it is. I need you awake for that.”
“Terrific,” Nathan said. “You’re talking about hallucinations, right? I’m not surprised. Do your tests if it’ll get me released from here, though I’m pretty sure you can’t make me stay, anyway. I’d like to go back to sleep now.”
When Janis had left, closing the door behind him, Nathan returned to thinking about the dream. He’d never experienced one so vivid. Even now, it seemed to him he could hear the sighing of the walls in the courtyard, and hear Naliv talk to him about what she called the source. Source of what? Why hadn’t he asked her?
He’d rung for the nurse to find out where the knapsack was. Why had Janis answered, instead? He needed to get his hands on the river rock. By now it would be at the station, or already analyzed. He’d call Manny. He’d know. With the thought, Nathan closed his eyes and slept.