The Cure

by JG Faherty

  All the walls and ceiling were made of the same clear plastic, and the choice of material didn’t make sense until she noticed a black box on the outside of the ceiling with several tubes running from it.

  It’s an airtight chamber, like the ones where people work with viruses. Not the kind with the double air-lock doors, but it’s pressurized, for sure.

  Her suspicions were confirmed when the uniformed man opened the door and a breeze rushed past her, accompanied by a whooshing sound.

  That doesn’t make sense, though. She struggled to focus on the thought. It was hard; she kept getting distracted by the man’s clear-plastic air mask.

  The breeze blew toward the door. Out of the room. But these rooms are supposed to keep things from escaping. I’m not contaminated, though. Which means they want to keep something outside from coming in. What? The only thing outside is air…

  Her eyes went to the man’s mask again. He must have seen something on her face because he gave her a quick smile and a nod.

  The mask. Air. Something in the air…

  They’re still drugging me! The machine on the ceiling. It’s pumping something into the air, something to keep me sleepy.

  “You bastards.” The words came out slightly slurred, as if she’d had a couple too many drinks.

  “It’s for your own protection, Ms. DeGarmo,” he said, his words slightly muffled by the mask. “Well, yours and ours. We—I—want to talk with you, and it’s hard to do that if we’re afraid you might decide to kill everyone.”

  The man stepped farther into the room and took a seat in one of the folding chairs. Leah kept her eyes on him, trying to size him up despite her muddled brain. About fifty, with brown hair in a short military cut that made his ears look extra large. His eyes were a murky greenish brown, as if his head were filled with swamp water. That almost made her laugh out loud and she had to bite her lip to control it.

  The man motioned to the other chair. “Please sit down. I’ll answer any questions you might have.”

  Leah didn’t want to go anywhere near the man, but moving around the room had made her tired. It would feel good to sit down. And she did have questions…

  She slid the chair a few feet farther away from him and sat down. He continued to stare at her and she wondered why he didn’t say anything. Then she remembered she was supposed to ask questions.

  “Why…why am I here?” Even in her drug-induced haze she knew it had something to do with her Powers. But which one? And what was their plan for using it?

  The man smiled. “First, let me introduce myself. My name is Captain Leo Green, US Army. And the reason you’re here, Ms. DeGarmo, is because of the amazing things you can do.”

  “So you want me to, what, kill people for you?”

  “No.” Green shook his head. “We want to figure out how it is you do what you do. Powers like yours would be very helpful to soldiers.”

  Leah knew she should be scared. He was talking about studying her like some kind of lab animal. Maybe even cutting out her brain. But all she felt was numb. And tired.

  “You want to study me. And what if the answer isn’t in my blood? Or my cells? Then what? You kill me? Dissect my brain?”

  “Honestly, I don’t make those decisions, Ms. DeGarmo. My job is just to make sure you cooperate. If you do, I can make life better for you. Visits with your boyfriend. Television and movie privileges. Special meals. Maybe even some privacy.” He gestured at the toilet in the back of the room.

  “And if I don’t cooperate? You make my life hell, right?” Leah tried to put some anger in her voice but her words came out flat and weak, victims of the drugs in the air.

  “It’s better if we think positive,” Green said. “Will it help if I tell you we’re not planning anything more painful than a visit to the doctor? We’ll draw some blood, do a few x-rays and MRIs and such. Ask you to demonstrate what you can do on a few lab animals.”

  “But you never let me go, do you? I’ll never be free.”

  Green shrugged. “Freedom isn’t always what it seems. Were you free before we found you? You were kidnapped by criminals who wanted to sell you into slavery. Sure, you escaped. But you were going to have to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, wondering if you were safe. Is that freedom? At least here your life isn’t in danger. And neither is Mr. Carrera’s.” Green motioned with one hand at the far wall, where the metal panels blocked her view of John’s cell.

  “You don’t need him.” Leah felt sick knowing John was again caught up in the mess that was her life. “Let him go.”

  “We can’t do that.” Green shook his head. “Too much of a security risk. But, again, if you cooperate, then I don’t see why the two of you can’t share a nice apartment. Just think of it as working for us. We run the tests, and you get a life paid for by the US military.”

  “I don’t think so.” It took all her strength, but Leah forced herself to stand up and take a step toward Green. She tried to ignite the Power inside her, kick-start it to life. For a moment something flickered in her chest, the beginning of a vibration, the hint of the Death force she remembered from the events in the clinic.

  She had a quick glimpse of Green’s eyes going wide. His hand dipped into his pocket and she wondered if he had a weapon hidden there.

  Then her feeling of triumph disappeared and the room turned black.

  Captain Leo Green’s finger was still inches away from the emergency trigger in his pocket when the prisoner fell onto her side. His hand shook as he turned and motioned for the door to be unlocked, the memory of DeGarmo’s face still vivid in his mind.

  Her eyes as she stood up. The color disappearing from them, replaced by a sickly bluish gray. A faint smell of rotten flesh, despite the mask he wore.

  What would have happened if she hadn’t passed out?

  Green cursed his own hesitation as he walked down the hall to meet with General Moore. He’d frozen. It was hard to accept, but it was true. The sight of DeGarmo turning into—what? a corpse? a demon?—right in front of him had done something no battlefield disaster ever had.

  Can’t tell anyone about this. Leaders—at least those working for General Butch Moore—don’t freeze. Don’t show weakness.

  What would have happened if she hadn’t passed out?

  I would have died.

  Despite his orders to report immediately to Moore’s office after the interview with DeGarmo, Green stopped at a bathroom to splash water on his face and take several deep breaths.

  I would have died.

  It took almost three minutes before his hands stopped shaking.

  “What’s your assessment, Green?”

  Leo Green pointed to the video screen mounted at the far end of the room. On it, Leah DeGarmo had just woken up and was making her way to her cot on unsteady legs.

  “The level of sedative is perfect. She’s coherent but unable to muster any real strength. As you saw, she tried to threaten me with her powers and it was too much for her. My only concern is that in her present state, she won’t be able to demonstrate those powers when we need her to.”

  Green sat down, leaving unvoiced his additional thought that they were all better off with DeGarmo unable to cure or kill.

  “That defeats the purpose of having her here,” General Butch Moore said from the head of the conference table. Beneath his gray, thinning crew cut his skin was a mottled red, lingering mementos of chemical burns he’d received while leading a top-secret mission in Iraq two decades earlier. “Can’t we lower the concentration? You’ve got the damned button.”

  “The button’s worthless if he can’t use it,” said the third man at the table, the one in the dark suit. Green had yet to learn his name, but based on his conservative haircut, tailored clothes and quiet arrogance, he figured the man must be a high-ranking member of one of the intel agencies. CIA, most lik
ely. They had had their dirty fingers in every black op.

  “Why wouldn’t he—”

  “Not wouldn’t, couldn’t,” the unnamed spook interrupted. “As in, if the woman’s powers come on faster, Captain Green is going to be one very dead soldier, and the rest of your men will soon follow. Or am I the only one here who noticed how badly she got the jump on him last time?”

  Green’s heart thumped and he tried to cover his surprise by forcing a deep scowl. “Got the jump on me?”

  “Oh please. I was watching your hand, Captain. It was only halfway into your pocket when the lady keeled over. That means another two or three seconds to press the button, followed by fifteen seconds before the soporific gas floods the chamber. That’s close to twenty seconds. Judging by how fast she started to change, I imagine that would be more than enough time to mummify your ass.”

  “Green? Is that right?” Moore’s eyes narrowed as he waited for a response.

  “Um, possibly, sir,” Green conceded. Still hoping to hide his own poor response in DeGarmo’s presence, he added, “But I wasn’t moving at full speed. I’d already noticed how sluggish she was, and I felt confident she wouldn’t have enough energy to actually pose a threat.”

  “You hesitated,” the agent said.

  “No, I reacted properly to the situation. Since you were watching, you probably also noticed that I never left my seat. Had I felt in danger, I would have not only pressed the button but headed right for the door.”

  “Hmmm.” The agent raised one eyebrow and then returned his attention to the papers in front of him.

  “Well, from now on, no heroics, understand?” General Moore tapped a finger on the table. “The second she starts to change, you hit the button and get the hell out of there. Full speed.”

  “Yes, sir,” Green said, aware he’d dodged a bullet when the agent didn’t press the issue of performance.

  Or cowardice. Something tells me that man is fully aware of why I didn’t sound the alarm. And that means I need to watch him as closely as he’s been watching me.

  The nameless agent looked back up, a smile on his face that made Green feel a lot like a mouse who’d just emerged from his hole to find King Tabby staring right at him, paw raised and ready to strike.

  “Well, if Captain Green is certain he can react with more alacrity than he showed today, I see no reason not to lower DeGarmo’s sedative levels. Captain, first thing tomorrow we’ll see if you can convince our guest to play nice.”

  The agent stood, nodded to them and strode out of the room, house-cat grin still plastered on his face.

  It took all of Green’s willpower to not groan out loud.

  Chapter Three

  Leah wasn’t sure what was worse, sitting alone in her cell and wondering what the army had planned for her, or knowing John was only a few feet away yet totally unavailable to her.

  Either way, her depression and loneliness had her on the verge of tears. They were also making it impossible to sleep, despite the fact that someone had turned the lights off hours ago.

  Of course, I slept half the day away, if not more than that, came the bitter thought, thanks to their drugging me.

  Wait…

  The drugs in the air had made her tired and sleepy, so sleepy she couldn’t even muster the energy to use her Powers.

  So why wasn’t she sleepy now?

  They’ve lowered the dose. The only question is, do they just do it at night, or did they decide they need me more awake?

  The latter made more sense. If they wanted her to Cure something—or Kill something—she’d have to be alert. They already knew that if she was half-asleep she didn’t pose a threat.

  I still don’t feel right, though. Her legs and arms seemed to weigh twice as much as they should. And while normally she’d have been full of pent-up energy and pacing her cell, the thought of making the effort to get off the cot seemed too much of a strain.

  So they’re still dosing me with something, just not as much. But my brain’s working a thousand times better. That means my Powers should be too.

  And that meant someone was in for a surprise tomorrow.

  Captain Green showed up with coffee, donuts and a hard look behind his mask. The moment he entered the cell, he spoke to her in a loud voice.

  And it turned out Leah was the one to get surprised.

  “Ms. DeGarmo. Please don’t try anything like you did yesterday. There are people watching us right now, and if you make any attempt to harm me, your friend John will suffer the consequences.”

  He stood by the door, waiting on her response.

  As tempted as she was to still go into full Death mode, Leah knew she’d been outmaneuvered.

  “I won’t do anything.”

  It didn’t help that the smell of the coffee and sight of the food had her stomach rumbling and her mouth salivating.

  Food and love. That’s all it takes to break someone, or at least me. Deprive them of food and love.

  Feeling like a traitor to John and herself, she lowered herself into the same chair as the previous day and remained silent and motionless while Green approached her and set the tray down on the floor before taking the seat opposite her.

  “Go ahead.” He motioned at the food. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us, but if you cooperate, tonight you’ll not only be eating dinner with your boyfriend, but sharing the same room.”

  Leah frowned but refrained from speaking any of the comments that came to mind. She was well aware he was testing her, prodding her with veiled insults and threats disguised as friendly advice. “If you cooperate” was another way of saying “do as you’re told or else”. And the offer to eat dinner and share a room with John was dangling bait, the same way a zookeeper would use a piece of meat to get an animal to follow instructions.

  They consider me a guinea pig, a lab rat. They think they can tame me, train me to follow orders so I can get my reward at the end of the day. Well, I can play along for now. But sooner or later someone will slip up. And when they do, there will be hell to pay.

  Leah looked at Green and smiled as she took a bite of donut.

  And that hell will be me.

  After she finished her coffee and donuts, Green called someone on his cell phone, and not two minutes later a woman in a white coat and a face mask like Green’s had wheeled in a cart with two cages on it. One held a small mixed- breed with an unhealthy green glow surrounding it. Even without her Power, though, she’d have known it was sick. Its eyes were glassy, its tongue lolling and dry, and its fur lusterless. The other cage held a healthy, happy terrier pup.

  “I think you know what to do,” Green said, as the tech left the cell. He pointed at the sick dog. “It has late stage distemper.”

  “I won’t kill an innocent animal.” Leah crossed her arms and gave Green what she hoped was a defiant glare. Inside, she was worried. She’d promised to do what they asked in order to keep John safe, and now here she was refusing to cooperate before the first experiment even started.

  But they wanted her to kill a puppy, and that went against everything she believed in.

  “Ms. DeGarmo, you agreed—”

  “I agreed to demonstrate what I can do, not kill healthy dogs for you. That’s not how it works.”

  “Don’t bullshit me. I’ve read the reports. You take the sickness out of one animal and place it in another.”

  “Your report isn’t complete, then. After I Cure something or someone, I pass it on to an animal that I can’t Cure because too many people know it’s dying. I’m a doctor. You think I go around making healthy animals sick?”

  Green’s eyes narrowed. “So what you’re telling me is…?”

  Leah let out a breath. “What I’m telling you is that both animals have to be sick. One of them should be old and about to die anyhow, the kind of animal that if it suddenly appeared to
get well people would be very suspicious. Understand?”

  Green stared at her and she had a heart-stopping moment where she thought maybe she’d gone too far, been too sarcastic. Then he spoke into his phone again and asked for another animal to be brought to them.

  That reminded Leah of one other thing.

  “Wait! We’ll also need something to put the dog down. Sodium pentobarbital, preferably.”

  Green raised one eyebrow behind his mask.

  “You want me to hand you a needle filled with poison?”

  “You don’t have to hand it to me. You can inject the dog yourself. But when I pass the disease to that other animal, it’s going to feel a lot of pain, possibly for hours. I try to time it so that I pass it along right before the animal dies.”

  “Fine.” He made another call and then hung up. “Anything else?”

  “No,” she said, ignoring his sarcasm.

  During the five-minute wait, neither of them said anything.

  The next animal to arrive was exactly what she’d asked for, and she remembered the old adage about being “careful what you wished for, you might just get it”. Because it wasn’t a dog.

  The rhesus monkey was ancient, its gray fur balding in patches and its joints swollen to grotesque size by arthritis. Cataracts gave its eyes a bluish tint, reminding her uncomfortably of the way her own eyes looked when she transformed into her Death persona. It lay on its side, refusing to move even when she tapped on the cage door.

  “Can we get on with it now?” Green asked, impatience giving his words an acid tone.

  “Yes.” In fact, Leah was more than ready to do what needed to be done. The poor monkey was in obvious pain and deserved to be released from it.

  She opened the cage containing the dying mixed breed and carefully reached her hands toward it, wary of being bitten. As she touched it and felt the sudden, familiar shock that signaled the Cure, she realized how long it had been since she’d simply used her Power to help an animal. Since the day Tal Nova kidnapped her, she’d only Cured—and Killed—humans.