Free The 13th by John Everson

gotten him barred from ever submitting another paper there. Which was laughable, since, after all, weren’t they the ones who’d agreed to publish his research in the first place?
    He didn’t care. The stem cells were just the means to an end. And more and more, the end was just the beginning.
    Barry pulled out the chart on the girl in room seven. The dipshit boys had brought her in two weeks ago from Oak Falls. She’d been a little roughed up when she’d gotten here—apparently the boys hadn’t expected her to pull a knife when they cornered her in a parking garage. But the bruises were finally starting to fade. Amazingly, the Neanderthal hadn’t broken a rib or her jaw, but it would be a couple more weeks before the evidence would be completely gone.
    No matter. The patient wouldn’t be fully conscious for the foreseeable future to complain.
    The chart read, “Diagnosis: extreme psychosis. Dangerous to self and others. No next of kin identified. Treatment recommended: long-term sedation and therapy.”
    His lips turned in a slight smile as he skimmed the description and the subsequent notations on her “treatment” since arriving. The diagnosis would certainly have been news to the girl who had no doubt been leading a typically unsatisfied life of unfulfilling relationships and insolvable debt before being set upon by two thugs in the dead of night. Although, she had proved adept with a knife, as the dressings on Billy’s chest would attest, if he admitted to anyone that they were there.
    He read the last notation in the chart and grinned.It was time to start on the next phase of her treatment. Her cycle had begun again.
    Dr. Rockford stood, and called down the hall for his head nurse.
    “Amelia!”
    She appeared in a heartbeat from the exam room.
    “Yes, Doctor. The new girl seems to be stabilized.”
    “I read your notes on room seven. Shall we begin tonight?”
    “If you are ready, Doctor,” Amelia said. There was a slight glint to her eyes as she said it. As if she was baiting him.
    “I’m always ready,” he said. “Bring the restraints and we’ll begin.”

C HAPTER T HIRTEEN
    The room was pitch-black and the bed sucked. Those were the first two thoughts that entered Jackie Meyer’s head when she blinked open her eyes. The room swam before her, like she’d downed an entire bottle of vodka before slipping beneath the sheets. But…she didn’t drink when she was ’tending. And she didn’t remember going home with anyone.
    She tried to clear the fog from her head and think.
    Had she worked Teehan’s Irish Bar last night? Was it Saturday or Sunday, and little Jack was sleeping over at Becky’s so she could work the weekend shift and clear the good tips? Fuck, where was she? And who was she with?
    She tried to move her arm to feel the other side of the bed but it wouldn’t budge. It was as if her bodywere a block of ice. Melting away the sleep, but still solid as iron.
    Damn it. She’d made rules for herself: no drinking on the job, and no dates on the spur. She had a son to take care of now, and the days of waking up in strange rooms were over.
    So where the hell was she?
    She felt strange. Not really drunk. Not high…She couldn’t describe it. Her brain was tripping into gear but the rest of her might as well have been tied to a rack. And the response when she tried to move anything, even her eyebrow, was a fuzzy burn of blue in the back of her head. Like dull sparks that didn’t light the fire.
    Jackie found she could move her tongue.
    That was one muscle that responded. She licked the inside of her gums and grimaced. Her teeth felt like mossy stones. Ugh. And her mouth felt hot. Dried out.
    What had she done last night?
    Focus.
    Think.
    Remember.
    What was the last thing…
    There was Jack…She remembered leaving him with Becky. His ice blue eyes had opened wide and he grinned with wet pink lips and gave her a kiss. “Night night, Momma,” he’d said, a warm lump of a boy in his