Antidote Trilogy: The Complete Box Set

by Taylor Hondos

  “Well, Jared thinks she was lying just as we planned. I gave her the “antidote” but remember its effects are only for three hours.” He stopped sharply, causing me to trip again, and scowled at me.

  “And?” He questioned as I sighed at the disapproval in his voice.

  “Well, the plan was to inject her with even more of the disease. Remember?” I sarcastically added. This was his plan, after all. He should have known it.

  He simply stared at me. I felt like an idiot, so I went rambling on.

  “I mean, I gave her the full dosage while she slept.” He simply scowled. Lena was getting heavier by the minute. I grunted as I could feel myself losing grip of her and I heaved her up. He scowled and turned quickly away from me as he continued to walk on and I nearly growled in frustration.

  There was silence for another minute as we walked on. All that could be heard was our footsteps on the deserted land. “And?” he said again, finally stopping his footing for what I hoped would be the last time. We were in an open field.

  “See for yourself.” I frowned at him more out of the weight I was carrying than my frustration. He looked down to her finally. He was silent for a moment, but then he smiled. The biggest smile I had ever seen him make was erupting on his face. It was almost creepy how happy he was from seeing someone who looked as frightening as she did.

  “She’s sicker than I thought she would be. You have done your job well.” He nodded in approval. He finally pulled her from my arms and into his own. I felt instant relief in my aching arms. He began walking away, leaving me standing there, dumbfounded.

  “What about our deal?” I shouted after him cautiously, but firmly.

  “The deal will be in place, when you bring her to me too.” I froze, and I felt my blood boiling, but I had to keep my cool on the outside. My heart was pounding and breaking at the exact same time. My breathing was restricted in my throat, and I gasped for air. I hoped he didn’t notice.

  “Holland is out of this.” I said as calmly, and as nonchalant as I could say it.

  “She’s been in this ever since she started injecting those people with the disease.” He said simply, while throwing up his hand to dismiss me. End of conversation, but it wasn’t over for me.

  “Unknowingly,” I added quickly. He held my gaze for a long while, making the air around me seem thick. I was getting sweaty palms. He was on to me.

  “Ah. You have feelings for this girl then?” I hoped my face didn’t show any emotion. Act like she doesn’t matter. Do it, Gabe.

  “I don’t want her to get in my way.” I said finally, rolling my eyes for emphasis.

  After a long while, he spoke. “Fine. We don’t need her anyways. We need you. I need to know that you’ll be behind the scenes.” He gave me a knowing look, but I felt lost.

  “Behind the scenes?” I sounded the words out carefully. What was happening? This wasn’t a part of the plan.

  “Well, Jared will go after Lena, of course. He won’t let her go that easily. It is obvious if what you have told me is true about what is between them. Is it true then? They think they are in love?” He seemed bored with the question.

  “Yes. They are in love.” I said simply, but the rage on his face was apparent.

  “They don’t know what love is. No one does. Love is a figment of our imaginations. Lulling us to sleep, willing us to live. It’s all nonsense. They have known each other for all of what, three weeks? What do they think they’re in? A sappy, teen love movie? Ridiculous.” He scoffed under his breath. I didn’t speak, and he shook his head.

  “Anyways, the point of this is that I need you to speak to them now. All of them. All those who were sick and have the cure. Lead them. Show me you can be a leader to them.” He said each word as if his life depended on the very sentence.

  “How?” I said breathlessly.

  “Simply by controlling them. I need something invented from you. I need something that will keep them under control forever. They will have a master. That person is me, but after me.” He hesitated. He approached me, and put a hand on my shoulder as if he were my father. He held Lena with one hand with ease, while I could barely hold her up with two. “I will die, and I need them to have a leader when I am gone. It has to be you.”

  “How can I do that?” My voice came out hoarse. My throat felt like it was closing up at the thought.

  “It’s simple. Give up everything. Give your humanity to me.” I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I gulped loudly. He frowned at the sound.

  “You don’t want to do this? You don’t want to rule the world any longer? Are you afraid?” His voice was rising with each question. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t answer. Before I could stop him, he took his free hand off my shoulder, and backhanded me. I was in astonishment. I was just bitch slapped, and I was fuming.

  “I’m not afraid. I’m especially not afraid of you, you wicked old man.” I shouted. My face was inches away from his. He smiled.

  “I was waiting for your anger. I knew it was within you somewhere. Get angry. Be angry at the world for the hate it created in you; the wickedness that’s buried deep inside of you.” He was smiling. I felt chills. He meant every word he preached. Every line he spoke was a sermon for his hate of this world. He was off his rocker.

  “Back to what I was saying. They need a new leader.” He paused. “Here is the truth that no one really knows. I want them dead. I want them hopeless. I want them to never feel safe again. They don’t deserve it. None of them do. They don’t realize it yet, but I am their savior. I am saving them from harming themselves any longer. Things that don’t matter rule them all. Now I will lead them. I want someone to discover a true cure.” I gasped at that.

  He laughed at the appalled face I was making. “I do. I want them to believe someone discovering the true cure to the Black Sickness can save them. Then I want it to be ripped away from them by me. No true cure. No way to escape. I want them all dead.”

  I was puzzled by his words. “Then we would have no one to lead.”

  “I don’t want anyone to lead. Not really.” He waved his hand dismissively while turning his back on me. The conversation was over. I was at a loss for words. What was the point of this, if we would all be dead?

  “Do you think you can manage to invent a control system like that?” He asked, interrupting my thoughts. I hesitated, and he took that as not answering. “If you’re thinking, what’s in it for you? Remember this.” he paused and turned away from me. “I can control you. With her.”

  He didn’t have to tell me whom he was referring to. I could almost feel the chills running down my spine as I imagined Holland’s lifeless body in my incompetent hands.

  Chapter One: Won’t Give Up

  Jared

  “YOU HAVE TO try harder.” She cried out to me. I gritted my teeth, while furrowing my brows. My breath was ragged and tight. I felt as if my chest would explode, revealing my heart was no longer there, but instead a chest of stone. I couldn’t feel anything without her near.

  “Jared. It is like you aren’t even trying.” She shouted in between grunts once again. I felt my frustration rising, so I let go of the rope and sent her flying. She plopped down hard on her ass in the sand. I wanted to apologize but I just couldn’t. I was angry just like she was.

  She shoved the sand off her legs, and stood fast. I knew she was pissed by the way her eyes were burning into mine. She pulled strawberry blonde strands of hair behind her ear. My best friend, Holland, was getting sick of me. It had been a matter of thirteen hours, and she was already sick of me. We were working on gadgets to save the girl I loved. We were the last hope, or so it seemed.

  Did I mention the girl I love, Lena, is under mind control and has red eyes? She’s also a robot. Oh yeah, my best friend, Gabe completely betrayed me and killed my girlfriend in front of me. Snapped her neck with a twist of the wrist. Your average, ordinary teen romance, am I right?

  “Look. If you aren’t going to help me, go sit your ass over
there.” She pointed me off towards the trees, and I scowled.

  “You know, we both have had losses in the past thirteen hours. You think you could keep your dramatics to a minimum.” I pointed out. She smirked to me while pointing to the rotting all around her arm as a way to show me who had it worst. When I said nothing, she pointed to her cheek, the worst of the rot, and I rolled my eyes, not because I didn’t pity her, but because she was using it as an excuse to be a jerk.

  “Oh Jesus. Are you going to use that to your advantage every time I don’t work up to par for you.” Her face fell, and I could see tears were going to be shed by the way she held her mouth. I huffed. Way to go, asshole. Who is the jerk now? “I am sorry. That was insensitive of me.” I looked down ashamed at myself. “I am sorry.” I said once more when she didn’t respond, and I was afraid to meet her eyes. “I’m,” A large object flying towards my head cut me off.

  I ducked but it was too late. Wack. A battery the size of a baseball hit me square on. Well that would leave a nice bruise. “Okay, okay. Damn. I get it.” I scowled. “And ouch.” I said rubbing my forehead. She turned her head from me and continued to pull. I sat down and watched her from afar. I looked at her face and took a deep inhale at the sight of her. I had already watched someone else die from the disease. The disease that destroyed my life more times than I cared to admit.

  This disease was manmade by my girlfriend’s father, Dr. Alona. He made the disease for the good of all human beings. He wanted to find the cure for cancers, diseases and sickness. He was the good guy. Instead, my own father, Dr. Ravana, destroyed this by spreading the disease to all sick patients in hospitals. That was where the cure comes in. The cure was a chip that went inside the bodies of the infected. When the chip found its way inside, it spread through the body, creating an easy way to leave the mind fragile and the body weak. Easy way for someone to swoop in and use mind control. As it turned out, my best friend was the mastermind behind this cure.

  I should have known. My father was a doctor. He wasn’t a scientist like Dr. Alona was, and like Gabe was. It should have hit me that someone else was working for my father to create the cure. There was no way that he could create something so powerful.

  “Jared?” Holland’s voice broke me from my spell of thoughts. “Will you help me? I can’t do it alone.” She spoke the last part softly. I smiled to her and got up.

  I took two steps before she started talking again. “Now I see how Lena must have felt.” I felt my heart sink. Lena. I thought of her always, but there wasn’t much I could do to save her right now. Lena was given the disease and eventually the cure that caused her to be completely a mindless robot.

  Somehow I knew she would be dead soon, and the thought alone made me miserable. She was under Gabe’s mind control, and I didn’t see how there would be any coming back from that. All I wanted to do was save her from the world, but the world wouldn’t stop until it had claimed her. It had already done so. She was gone from me.

  When the time would come, I knew I would have to be the one to finish the job. I would tell her how much I loved her, and how much I still wanted to be with her. Then I would kill my father, and then I would have to kill Lena. This seemed inevitable now.

  The silence we shared as we pulled was nerve wrecking for me. Normally silence filled me with calmness but right at this moment, my thoughts wouldn’t shut up. I couldn’t help but think of what I would have to do. Holland made a long sigh, and I jumped slightly from the sound.

  I took a deep breath to prepare to hear my own voice again. “Do you realize that Lena is probably really gone now?” From the corner of my eye, I saw Holland peer up, but I kept my eyes locked on the task at hand. “But I don’t want to believe that, I actually refuse to face that fact. She has to be in there somehow.” I continued. She shook her head and I acted as if I didn’t see it. I felt my throat getting tight.

  “Gabe betrayed us, Jared and he controls her completely now.” She paused and I knew what was next. “He snapped. He truly snapped.” I pulled the rope with one wretched tug, and it finally was tight. I let go of the rope, and Holland was left gaping at me. Without warning, I pulled her close to me. Holland dropped the rope in an instant.

  “He killed her, Holland. I was there. I saw it too.” She moved her face away from mine. I moved it back to me while cupping her chin. I waited for her to look me in the eyes before speaking. “What the hell happened with him? You were with him the entire time. What did he do to get away from you and do all this damage?” I said through gritted teeth.

  All she did was stare at me, causing my anger to escalate. “I want to know how he got past you unless you were working with him too.” I shouted louder, feeling my grip tighten on her chin. I knew my anger should have been present ages ago but I was too upset to see logically until now. Now I was angry, my anger was being lashed out to her. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop it. I wanted the truth.

  I loosened my grip quickly when Holland began to cough. Tears ran down her face, and she hunched over in pain. I was immediately transferred in time to when Lena was sick with the disease as well. I let go of her and moved two paces behind.

  “I’m sorry Holland. You don’t deserve this.” Holland had been given the disease as a payback to me or to Gabe, I didn’t know which of us it was towards. Either way, it was horrible for us. But then again, Gabe was clearly gone and not on our side. As it turned out, he never was.

  “There is no way that he is bad.” She gasped for air, snot dripping out of her nose. I had never seen her this way. She was always put together, and confident. She quickly covered her nose with her hands. She looked up in embarrassment and I turned away to give her privacy. After a moment, she began speaking once more.

  “There is no way I missed anything. How could I have? We were literally together every night and day.” She froze for a second as if she were deep in thought. “Actually, I woke up almost every morning and he was gone.” I quickly turned back to see her presentable once more.

  “Aha!” I snapped my fingers and pointed to her. Instead of agreeing, she threw up a hand and ignored me before continuing.

  “He did enough damage in a tiny amount of time. It’s insane because I was with him always and he acted normal. Well, normal for Gabe.” I nodded in agreement with a shrug. Gabe was a character. That was for sure.

  “I parted from him for only three days. It was when we separated to meet up here. I left the safe house two days ahead of him, meeting up with the crazy Earth Saviors as a false new member, and Gabe left to meet up with you eventually at the compound. We wanted to make a bigger impact because he would get in and hack the system, and I would help Lena, as I did help her escape back there.” She stopped. “I mean, really, I saved her ass.” I shivered at the memory. Lena almost getting shot in the head by her former best friend, Kaley.

  “I was wondering how you got to be with Kaley and the Earth Saviors. You know, I was with Lena the whole time. She was searching for me. She said I was her target. What does that mean?” I finally asked. The question had been burning in me for so long, and I hadn’t been able to ask anyone about it.

  “They are given targets that they have capture or find. Their job is to kill, infect or bring to their leaders to be a part of their army.” Holland explained.

  “What is the point of all this, Holland? I don’t get it.”

  “Neither do I, but I believe that there is something very big going on and we might be missing the catch of it all somehow.”

  “Well, we need a plan to get back in there.” I said and watched as Holland shivered.

  “Are you crazy?” she shouted. “I am not going back there. What would be the point?”

  “You’re just afraid.” I said in a matter of fact way. She simply stared back at me as if it were the dumbest thing I had ever said.

  “Yes the hell I am, as you should be too. They are going to kill you. Perhaps you missed it, but they hate you. They want you dead. You would be walking to your d
eath.”

  “I know but I cant give up on the girl I love either.”

  “She is already gone.” she screamed to me. Rage was all over her face. “Why are you chasing the dead? Why are you trying to be a hero? There is no world to be the hero of anymore. It’s gone. We’re gone.” she screamed. I shook all over to the truth of it, but I couldn’t give up.

  “The world still rests on our shoulders. I’m not giving up, and neither should you. We are the only people who know the most about what is going on. You have to do this. We have to do this. Who does it for them? Who does it for the people who don’t understand what is happening?” My questions seemed to soften her exterior but I was wrong in thinking so by the next words she said.

  “What about Lena’s robot hater friends? The Earth Saviors. Let them save the world. I know we didn’t kill every single one of them. Remember Kaley escaped. She escaped because Lena was too weak to kill her. That’s your Lena. Fucking precious, useless and weak. She had a kind bone, and in turn, she couldn’t even kill the villains of this story. Damn it Jared. She is gone, why keep trying?”

  I forced my anger down. “I’ll ignore all the shitty things you just said about Lena and just remind you of what we all know is true.” She looked down, avoiding my eyes, she knew what I would say next. “She is still the key to survival. Did you forget that?” I said as forcefully as I could.

  “Wait. What did you say?” she said while peeking up.

  I ignored her. “Look, we need a plan. What should we do?” I said to her. She looked glazed over for a second before shaking her head as if something was impossible.

  “Well, I guess we will have to go in as one of them.” She paused and I let her think. There was no way in hell they could believe we were on of them. Hello, glowing red eyes were missing. “Wait, I have a better idea.” She began pacing back and forth. I followed after her.

  “I could become a target again. And we both know you are already one. You’re still the number one target. Everyone hates you. Like really. They all hate you.” I rolled my eyes at that. “If we’re targets, away from water, those mindless creatures will bring us back in. They will capture us. Or so they think so.”