My heart sank when she asked the question, and I couldn’t bear to tell her the grim prognosis; I just couldn’t. “I’ll find out more details soon. I’m meeting with one of the scientists when I leave here. I’ll let you know what he says.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Val said.
I chuckled, happy that she hadn’t lost her sense of humor in all the nightmarish chaos, a side effect of being so close to Lucas, I imagined. “Nick and Lucas are dying to talk to you.”
She threw her arms up in the air. “I don’t get why they won’t let you all come in at the same time.”
“I dunno, but we’ve gotta play by their rules for now.”
“Have you seen much zombie activity?” Val asked.
“Not around here. Just stragglers. But deeper into the city, I had a bit of a run-in.”
“Be careful, Dean. You know you can never let your guard down.”
“We can’t let them keep you locked up like this for months while they study the virus and the serum, Val. If they don’t find answers for us soon, I think Nick is going to want to leave.”
“What about Jackie?” she whispered.
“If I can get my hands on something to keep her sedated, we can take her with us and look for a bigger, better lab.”
Val gripped the bars tightly, and her eyes widened. “These people have been nothing but wonderful but what if their attitude changes when we’re not cooperating? What if they won’t let us leave?”
“Then I guess I’ll have to bust you out again.”
She smiled. “You guys have always got my back.”
“And you’ve always got ours,” I said.
She looked away, as if troubled by something. “Val, what’s wrong?” She bit her lip hard, then met my gaze. “I don’t wanna go back to the island, Dean. Nick told me I’ll be a danger to everyone there, and I have to agree with him. They tried to kill me before. The second they hear my story and see my green eyes, I’ll be scheduled for execution. I just can’t go through that again.”
“That’s why we’re here, to get you help.”
“Even if this place delivers me a miraculous vaccine to stop me from changing, the island will always consider me a threat to national security. They’ll kill me without a second thought.”
I thought about her words long and hard and realized she was probably right. They’d let Nick and me back in, but Claire, Val, and especially Jackie would be forbidden from living on the island. Even if we sneaked them in somehow, the second they were discovered, they’d all be scheduled for lethal injection—or worse.
“I want to be the master of my own fate,” Val said. “Nobody’s gonna decide whether I live or die but me—not ever again.”
Reality struck me like lightning: There’s no way we can ever go back to the island. I knew my parents and Grams would be willing to leave so we could all stay together; they wouldn’t desert Val or us, not in a million years. The trouble was, Val wouldn’t want them to leave their perfect paradise for her. I swallowed hard. My vision, my hope for a perfect homecoming on our beautiful island was nothing more than another shattered dream.
“Dean!” I heard Jackie call.
I rushed over and met her gaze. “Jackie,” I whispered.
“I broke the ropes. Did you really think they could hold me?”
“I’m gonna get you help, Jackie. Hold on.”
“I need you, baby,” she said, holding out her arms. “I can’t do this alone. I’m trying, but being locked up in here without you is…it’s killing me.”
“We’ll find a way to conquer this, Jackie. You just have to be strong…and patient.”
“Just hold my hands and tell me everything’s gonna be okay,” she sobbed.
“Don’t you dare, Dean!” Val shouted. “She’s trying to trick you.”
I glanced over at her. “I’m not.”
“Good,” Val retorted.
“I’ve gotta go, Jackie.”
“Don’t, Dean,” she begged. “Please get me out of here.”
My heart ached. She reached out for me, and while I was hesitant at first, I was desperate to comfort her, so I gripped her cold hand. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Me too. Dean, we can overcome anything as long as we’re together.”
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was connecting with her on a human level.
“You can trust me,” she whispered, looking deeply into my eyes with her white, milky ones surrounded by dark rings.
“I know I can.”
Val banged the bars. “No, Dean!” she yelled. “She’s not herself, and you know better than that. Get away from her!”
“Dean, I love my cousin, but she’s dangerous right now,” Claire shouted. “Listen to Val!”
“You can trust me,” Jackie repeated.
I squeezed her hand and moved closer.
“That’s it,” she coaxed. “Is this so bad?”
“No.”
“See?” Jackie said. I don’t bite…much!” Her teeth lunged for my wrist, but I pulled away with lightning speed.
I jumped back, gasping. “Jackie? Wh-what did you do?”
“Dean!” Claire cried out. “Oh my gosh! Are you hurt?”
“Did she bite you?” Val shouted. “Dean, tell me she didn’t.”
I examined my skin closely under the lantern hanging on the wall and was glad to see that her teeth hadn’t penetrated my skin. When I gazed back at her, she looked possessed, and she let out an evil laugh that made the hairs on my neck rise.
“I’m so hungry,” she roared, her voice echoing inside the room.
“Were you bitten or not?” Val demanded to know.
I shook my head, still dumbfounded. “No. She tried to sink her teeth into my wrist, but she didn’t get me.”
“I told you not to trust her,” Val said.
I opened my mouth, but my throat felt choked, and no words came out.
“Go get the doctors to sedate her,” Claire screamed. “Do it now!”
“I only wanted a taste,” Jackie said. “If you were a good boyfriend, you’d feed me.”
“You’re sick, Jackie,” I roared, still holding my arm, “but I know it’s not you. I’ll get you back, no matter what it takes.”
I spun around and ran down the corridor and out the door. I couldn’t believe Jackie was so far gone that she’d try to bite me; even worse, I’d fallen for her lies, hook, line, and sinker. Cold wind blew through my hair as sunshine poured down, but even Mother Nature couldn’t comfort me at that moment, and I shuddered. Was there any way to really bring her back?
Chapter 25
Lucas, Nick, and I sat at a small table with an elderly man named Mr. Konath, who was ready to tell us what they’d learned so far from all of their testing. I nervously drummed my fingers on the table. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
Mr. Konath held a folder full of notes and began to ruffle through them.
Lucas leaned back in the chair. “So…what’s the deal?”
“It’s complicated,” he said.
“We can handle it, Doc. Spill it,” Lucas said.
The man looked at all of us, then spoke in a confident manner. “We’d need more test subjects to verify all this, but for the time being, we do have some strong guesses as to what’s happening.”
“How does the cure work?” Nick asked.
The scientist went into a long, detailed explanation, using words I couldn’t even understand.
“Do you mind speaking English?” I said.
“The virus destroys, but the serum restores and rejuvenates with healing properties. Essentially, it fixes the damaged DNA.”
“One of my biggest fears is that Claire and Val will change into hybrids,” I said. “Will that eventually happen to everybody who takes the serum?”
He started to go into some deep, scientific explanation all over again, one I still couldn’t even begin to understand.
I help up my hand a
nd motioned for him to stop. “Mister, you might as well be speaking zombie. We don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Oh sorry. Of course,” Mr. Konath said. “The serum has…uh, what do you call those zombies that can think and reason?”
“Hybrids,” Nick said.
“Very well. The serum seems to have a hybrid effect on those of a specific blood type.”
I tried to make sense of it, and I finally understood what he was trying to tell me. It was good news: Not everyone who took the serum would change into a hybrid.
Mr. Konath pushed his glasses up on his nose. “The reason Jackie has turned and Claire and Val haven’t is because they have a different blood type. Under the microscope, the virus is aggressive. When the serum is administered, the virus reacts differently according to the blood type of the host. Those with B+ blood will not benefit from the serum because the healing properties fail after a time, and the cells collapse. Each body is different, so it can happen sooner or later, depending on the host. The mind may stay sharp and clear, but the body will continue to decay as the virus takes over, and when the hunger kicks in, these hybrids will have no other choice but to behave like zombies, a more intelligent, highly dangerous variety.”
“So you’re saying it only happens to people with B+ blood?”
He nodded. “Val and Claire are, therefore, not susceptible.” He set down his folder. “As I said, we’d need to study this longer, with a broader sampling, but these are our findings thus far.”
“Val’s gonna be okay!” Lucas yelled, jumping up from his seat and giving high-fives to Nick and me.
My brother’s eyes welled up with tears as emotion consumed him, and he shot me the biggest grin I’d ever seen on his face.
It took everything in me not to start bawling myself. “She’s gonna be okay,” I said softly. “She really beat this thing.”
Nick’s voice was choked, and he couldn’t speak, so he only nodded.
I clapped his shoulder and smiled. “We did it, Nick. We saved Val.”
“We did, little brother,” he whispered. “It’s finally over…all the worry.”
Nick suddenly grabbed me in a huge bear hug, lifting me off the floor. When Lucas joined us, we shouted and embraced each other, laughing, screaming, and shouting like we’d just won the Super Bowl.
My brother’s face beamed. “I can’t wait to tell Val the awesome news.”
“This means Claire and Val can be released from lockup, right?” I asked.
“I’ll have to discuss it with the others,” Mr. Konath said. “Some might still be uneasy about it. I’m not sure they’ll allow it, even with these results.”
My brother simply smiled, thinking the same thing I was. If Claire and Val weren’t going to change, there was no point for us to stick around, to make them stay in those cages. We could go somewhere else, for more tests, to a place where our sister and friend wouldn’t be locked up. Nick was desperately homesick, and so was I. We wanted to know if our parents and Grams were okay. Deep in my heart, I was sure they’d escaped the horrors.
Even still, Mr. Konath’s word that Val and Claire might not be enough, and we had no way of knowing if the island would accept the bitten and presumably cured. My thoughts were to find my family and then relocate somewhere where we could all be happy. If the island refused to let Val, Claire, and Jackie on it, then we’d just go somewhere else. I knew my Grams and parents would gladly leave so we could all be together. Then I thought about the other piece to our difficult puzzle.
“What about Jackie? Can you cure her or not?” I said.
Mr. Konath cleared his throat. “We want to fix this problem as much as you do, Dean. Right now, the vaccine is capable of healing anyone other than people with B+ blood. This truly is a miracle, but we’ll have to screen everyone for blood type before administering the serum. What we’ve learned from Jackie is that B+ people cannot use it.”
I swallowed hard. “So a B+ person can never be cured?”
“We hope to find a cure one day for people of every blood type.”
“Can’t you try?” I asked.
“We are, but it will take more research and more time.”
I stood, emotion edging my voice. “Try harder.”
He grabbed his folder and stood to leave, but Nick suddenly got up and blocked the entrance.
“Yes, Nick?” Mr. Konath said. “Do you have another question?”
“You’ve been working on a cure all year with not much success, right?”
His gaze narrowed. “Yes, but—”
“Then we come along and do you this big favor, delivering a cure right into your hands.”
“Yes, but as I’ve explained, the cure isn’t perfect, and—”
“It’s perfect for anyone without B+ blood.”
He cocked a brow. “What are you getting at, Nick?”
“The rules have changed,” he said firmly.
“Excuse me?”
“Claire and Val are not susceptible to changing. You said so yourself. The cure worked for them, and I want them out of lockup, effective immediately.”
“As I said, some of the folks here might be a bit reluctant to—”
“A bit reluctant? Doc, this isn’t up for debate. I want my sister and Claire released now, or I’m gonna be a bit reluctant to walk out of here without busting a few heads. I’ll take my three vials and go before you can even blink.”
“You can’t do that. We’ve already used up the only vial you gave us. We need more.”
“Sucks to be you,” Nick said, sitting down and kicking his boots up on the table. “If I were you, I’d seriously give into my demands.”
“It’s blackmail.”
“Let the girls go,” Nick said firmly.
The man let out a long huff.
I couldn’t stifle a smile as Nick’s tough side kicked in full gear.
“Look, mister, we realize it might take time to cure Jackie,” Lucas said, “but that’s no reason to keep two innocent girls in jail.”
“You said yourself that they aren’t going to turn into hybrids,” I argued. “They’re not B+.”
“If they stay here, they have to be locked up,” he said. “As I told you, the serum needs to be studied more, and nothing is certain. These are only preliminary reports, and we cannot endanger our people here based on conjecture. I think you boys are getting carried away, getting your hopes up before you should, and—”
“There’s not much zombie activity in the neighborhood,” I said. “We’ll secure a house in the neighborhood and work with you on our terms.”
“I-I don’t know. I don’t have the authority to give the go-ahead on that. I’ll have to discuss it with the others before—”
Lucas crossed his arms. “Then you’d better run along and call a town meeting,” he said sternly. “And I suggest you hurry and get back at us. You’ve pretty much worn out our patience.”
Nick pointed to his wrist, as if he was wearing a watch. “Time’s tickin’, buddy. You’ve got thirty minutes, and we’re outta here. You’ve got yourself a couple of nice, secure holding cells there, and if you want to keep them that way, you might wanna release our girls voluntarily.” He pulled out his gun for dramatic effect. “I’m not afraid to bust somebody out of jail, by any means necessary.”
“Um…we’ll get back to you momentarily,” Mr. Konath rushed out the door.
“Woo-hoo!” Lucas said as soon as the scientist was gone.
“Way to play hardball, big brother,” I said.
“Little bro, that’s the only kinda ball I know how to play,” Nick said, then stuffed his gun in the back of his waistband and smiled victoriously, knowing we now had the upper hand.
Chapter 26
Nick paced as we waited for the scientist to return. He tried to hide the emotion in his eyes, but I knew how worried he was about Val and Claire being locked up. Finally, after a few minutes, he motioned for Lucas to follow him. “We’ll be right, back, Dean. You k
now waiting is not my style. Stay here in case he comes back.”
I had no idea what they were up to, but I assumed they were going to put pressure on until we got our way. Like my brother had said, hardball was the only game he knew how to play.
After Lucas and Nick left, Jonathon walked in. “May I please have a word with you?”
I motioned him in. “Sure. So…are you gonna let Val and Claire out or what?”
“I’m not here about that. Everyone is still talking.”
“Fine. Then why are you here?”
“I talked to Jackie, Val, and Claire back at the nursing home,” Jonathon said. “I stood guard with all of them at various times. They’re sweet girls, and I’m trying to fight for them.”
“Thanks, Jonathon. I know we’ve been a bit hard on you, but I can’t tell you how much that means to me,” I said.
“Dean, I know what you did for Steven and Rachel. My son takes foolish risks, especially when it comes to that girlfriend of his, and I have no doubt he’d be dead if you hadn’t gone with him on that secret rescue mission. He finally told me about it, about every close call. I owe you my life because you saved my kid, and I’m not about to give up on Jackie or Claire or your sister.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m specifically here about Jackie. I want you to know I’m going to do everything I can to help.”
“Good. I’m glad she’s not just a number to you. These other people, these so-called doctors, never met her before…well, they don’t know Jackie like we do. They only know the monster she’s become.” I bit my lip and looked away. “Sometimes I wonder if these people in their lab coats even care. She’s not just some random test subject, some monkey in a cage. She’s the most wonderful person in the world, and I’ll stop at nothing to get her back. I helped Steven because I understand that kind of love—the kind you’d do anything for.”
“I admire your dedication. Most people would’ve given up already.”
“I know I didn’t meet Jackie that long ago, but I feel like I’ve known her my entire life, and I’ll never give up on her. Tell me, Jonathon, do you know why the serum doesn’t work on people with her blood type?” I held up my hand. “And please don’t talk to me in all that scientific mumbo-jumbo.”
The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) Page 22
