CHAPTER 46 - THE LEAVING
The following day, while Boy continued to search for the car, the four women sat vigil with Maria and Jose at the hospital. When Maria began busily conferring with the doctors about Luis’ treatment, the four gringas tiptoed out into the corridor. Overcome with exhaustion, they seated themselves and, as time wore on, began to doze.
Jose arrived while they slept. He found Maria by Rosalinda’s bedside. Manly men do not apologize, he thought and so he said not a word to his wife, but, in accordance with her favorite orisha legend, he did make her a gift of honey.
Boy finally located Ramon’s car and carefully removed the packages of zombie powder. By the time he arrived at the hospital, his friends were napping. He slipped into the consultation room, listened for a few minutes, and shook his head. The doctors still couldn’t agree. Boy handed over the concoctions he’d taken from Ramon’s car. He explained his theories, cautioning them not to touch or inhale the poisons when testing them. Then he returned to the waiting room.
He shook Raven’s arm. Her eyes opened. "It’s done," he whispered. "Now get those sleepy-heads together or we’ll miss our plane." They roused the others. Samantha, Robin, and Cat sat up, rubbing their eyes.
"What about Luis? Can they help him?" asked Samantha.
"Head for the car," Boy said. "I’ll fill you in on the way to the airport."
The women struggled sleepily to their feet, gathered up their purses, and staggered to the exit. They’d no sooner left the clinic when Robin dashed back inside. Her hand was at her throat, now empty of its charm. She moved the chairs, one by one, looked under them and in the corners of the corridor. "Nothing! Damn it!" she muttered, casting one last look about the area. Then she gave up and hurried after the others.
"Get in quickly," Cat called to Robin. She held the van's door open and Robin jumped into the back seat. Cat slammed the door and Boy pulled away from the clinic, heading for the airport. "We can just make the plane if we hurry," he said, leaning alarmingly on the gas pedal. The women gripped their seats nervously as the van sped onto the highway.
"So, ladies, settle back and I’ll tell you what Ramon was up to and what the doctors said about Luis."
"Can they help him?" asked Raven.
"They’re still not sure," said Boy. "It seems there have been cases such as this in Haiti. Sometimes evil magicians will turn people into zombies. They might do this as a punishment, or for revenge, or because someone pays them to do it. Often this is done because zombies provide cheap slave labor."
"Yes," mused Samantha. "Zombies certainly don’t ask for much."
"Right," Boy agreed, "and Ramon was a truly ambitious entrepreneur. He was manufacturing zombies and renting them out to work in the Dominican sugar-cane fields."
"That’s horrible!" Raven whispered, shivering at the thought.
Boy nodded. "You must realize the average workers, the non-zombies, in the local fields, are trapped in a killing occupation. You’d have to be desperate to become a cane field worker and, once you do, you often become trapped for life.
"So, Ramon’s zombies were superior to the regular workers in a number of ways. The zombies worked long, unsalaried hours in bad conditions. They never asked for time off. They never complained. And, if they got hurt, it didn’t matter because their families already thought they were dead."
"Why did Ramon take Rosalinda?" asked Robin.
"Well, Jose said Ramon spent most of his time with his damn book. By the time he came up for air, he found he’d left his ‘romantic life’ on hold too long. So, he went in serious search of a woman. Preferably, one he could control, and one that wouldn’t interfere with his magical principality."
"But Rosalinda was his niece," protested Robin.
"Ramon was willing to overlook that little detail. Maria was next in line for the book and her daughter would have been the next to inherit it. Ramon was painfully aware his book . . . his power, was only borrowed. He'd sacrificed all his blood relatives' children, including the unborn, to his demon. In the end, Ramon believed Maria, as a grieving mother, wouldn't be much of a contender."
"But Rosalinda was his niece," Robin repeated weakly.
"Well," continued Boy, "The police learned he didn't recognize her on her way to the wedding and, knowing she'd have rejected any incestuous proposal, he probably decided to drug and steal her."
"So," observed Cat, "he got two birds with one stone. He got a love slave and eliminated the competition in one shot."
"And Luis?" prompted Samantha.
Boy expertly slipped their car around a small car and an over-laden dirt bike before answering. "Breaking down Maria's family was one of Ramon's top priorities. He used magic to fuel a discord between Maria and Jose, and he deliberately kept his relatives' families small. Ramon had two different plans for Maria's living children," he explained.
"He managed to slip one of his concoctions to Rosalinda. The doctors thought he introduced the poison through her skin. It made her appear dead. He did the same to Luis. Then, after they were buried, he took the kids from the cemetery and revived them.
"I've read about zombification," he said, honking at a motorcycle drifting into his lane. "Those mixtures contain tetrodotoxin, one of the deadliest nerve poisons known to man, and it's derived from puff fish. Then datura is used to revive the victims and keep them confused. He took a chance every time he used that stuff on people. Rosalinda could have ended up brain damaged or dead." Boy passed the motorcycle and continued.
"After Ramon poisoned Rosalinda at the wedding, he intercepted Luis and infected him. The doctors at the clinic don't know that much about it, but they decided the children were drugged. Not raised from the dead. They've never heard of anyone recovering their mental processes after becoming a zombie."
"Surely there's something that can be done for Luis," Cat insisted.
"At this stage, the doctors just don't know. Maria's book might have listed an antidote, but it was burned."
"I guess finding a cure could take years, if at all," Raven sighed. "Toxicologists have done research on these drugs. They found the victims usually became, like Luis, mobile and mindless, or they couldn't be revived at all. Some others, such as Japanese gentlemen who ingested inexpertly prepared puff-fish entrees, went into a deathlike coma and were pronounced dead. I've read newspaper accounts of some of these men reviving, hours later, mentally alert and completely well."
"Just like pesticides," he continued, "this toxin can be absorbed through the skin, through tear ducts, the soles of bare feet, or into the nostrils or mouth. We don't even know if Ramon applied the poison in the prescribed manner and amount." Boy smiled, "I mean, it's not as if we could question any zombie masters." At this, he playfully whipped out his pocket comb with one hand and held it up to Raven's face like a microphone.
"Here we are folks, at the site of the evil magician's magical stronghold. What are your most jealously guarded secrets, sir." He waved the comb under Raven's nose, urging, "Please speak into the microphone."
Raven pushed the comb away. "Watch the road, Boy," she snapped, "before we break an axle in one of those potholes." Boy dutifully tucked the comb back into his pocket.
"Also," mused Catherine, "wouldn't Luis' recovery depend upon a number of factors? I mean, the poison's potency and the amount used."
"And Luis' own physical condition at the time," added Sam.
Boy honked at the blue compact tooling slowly along in front of him. "Yes, that's true. We don't even know if Rosalinda or Luis were actually buried. Don't forget, Jose made Maria leave the room when the coffins were being nailed shut."
"I'm betting they were underground for a time," Raven insisted, "because Maria found the little rose in the cemetery."
"Well," Boy said, "if the poison didn't destroy Luis' brain, the lack of oxygen might have done it. The best doctors can't reverse that kind of damage."
"Don't forget all those magical intangibles," said Raven.
Robin leaned forward.
"You mean the environment at the time and what Luis and everyone in the area expected to happen when one ran afoul of a powerful magic user?"
"Right!" agreed Raven. "Not to mention the pheromones theory where chemicals are released into the brain causing permanent dysfunction. If our own country can't successfully treat our Vietnam vets suffering from what was once referred to as shell shock, how are they going to deal with a zombie problem?"
"Look in the back," Boy said, indicating the direction with a wave of his hand. "The books and computer printouts that I used for research are scattered back there somewhere. Look them over if you like."
Robin and Cat grabbed up the books and papers.
"Let me know if you come up with any facts I overlooked," Boy said. The two women nodded eagerly, turning pages.
"Hang on!" shouted Boy as he zoomed onto the road leading to the airport. "We're going to make it!"