Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation by Jen Haeger

stuck together as roommates, so there was no reason to spend even more time together. But Evelyn had to stop and take a step back emotionally. Since her difficult research was going to be split between two projects as it was, finding a cure and discovering the infectious source of the mutant, she really could use all the help she could get. Evelyn knew that Kim had been a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, but she couldn’t recall what she had been researching.
    “What was your project in the lab?”
    Kim looked down sheepishly. “Looking at the role of myosin proteins in the intracellular transport of organelles in Vallisneria .”
    “ Vallisneria ?”
    “Eelgrass.”
    Evelyn tried to keep her face neutral. “Plant cells.”
    “Like I said, I haven’t been studying anything like this virus, but I know my way around a lab and I can follow protocols.”
    Evelyn considered her options in dealing with Kim’s request. Her first option was to deny the girl her clear desire to help and relegate her to, at best, becoming part of the team trying to track down more information on the strays and the Vulke’s recent activity, or at worst, several weeks of boredom and uselessness. Her second option was to offer to let Kim come into the lab and let her do some of the mundane tasks such as cleaning and ordering supplies, which would hopefully make Kim feel useful without Evelyn having to spend too much time training her. The third option was to accept Kim’s help entirely and get to work training her on working with human cells and human DNA. To help her decide, Evelyn had an idea and she picked up the envelopes with the hair samples from Zachary and Caroline that she had brought down and set them on the desk.
    “These are the hair samples I collected yesterday. If I gave these to you to start processing in the lab, what do you think the first steps would be?”
    Kim brightened up and stared at the envelopes thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, probably first we’d want to extract the DNA, and find the parts that have viral DNA mixed in…maybe using viral primers? Or do you look for wolf DNA?”
    Kim’s answer was logical.
    “We look for the wolf DNA. I’m trying to find it so that I can splice it out along with the viral DNA. More like gene therapy than a vaccine.”
    “That makes sense.”
    “Good. I guess that makes you my new lab assistant.”
    “Oh thank you, Evie! I’ve wanted to help so bad, but I’ve just felt so—“
    “Useless? Been there, so I know what a lousy feeling that is.”
    Kim nodded. “Yeah.”
    “Well, there isn’t much time, since we’re meeting with Dr. Jonson tomorrow, but here are some articles to get you started on your new project.”
    Evelyn reached into one of the folders and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers, handing them over to the other woman. Kim’s eyes widened at the imposing stack, but she recovered from her momentary shock and took the papers from Evelyn. “At least I won’t have to write a thesis.”
    Evelyn smiled at her just as David called down the stairs to say that lunch was ready. Kim began to hurry up the stairs then glanced back at Evelyn. “Are you coming?”
    “I’ll be right there.”
    As she watched Kim disappear up the steps, Evelyn wondered if she had made a mistake in trusting Kim in the lab and committing herself to spend so much time in close quarters with the other girl. Evelyn took her time straightening a stack of papers.
    Too late now .
    *
    After their late lunch, they scattered about the condo: Evelyn retreated to the basement to continue organizing and preparing for getting into the lab the next day, Kim sank onto the couch in the living room to dig into the articles that Evelyn had given her, and David sat at the kitchen table and comprised lists of questions to ask other packs about the stray situation and to ask the strays themselves. He also brought his laptop down from where he’d found it in the bedroom to scan for more