by A. Giacomi
Eve laughs in a very flirtatious way and ignores my warnings just as she had been doing for the past few nights. She had been getting away with it and I feared it was making her careless. I wasn’t going to complain about her nightly visits, god knows I wanted to see her just as much, but there is nothing smart about it, is what I was trying to get across. If we wanted to escape this place, we had to play it smart. When I try to explain that to Eve, she quickly shuts me up with a kiss and we continue right where we had left off before Agent Williams so rudely interrupted us. My lips find hers over and over again as she sits in my lap, pressing herself to me. We were so desperate to connect that the consequences flew out the rather large window. If I were going to die at any moment, I suppose this would be the way I’d want to go.
Just then there is a knock on the glass, we both freeze up. I’m afraid to look, but it’s clear we’ve been spotted and there is nowhere to hide. When I peer around Eve, I heave a heavy sigh of relief, it was only Dr. August, a rather livid Dr. August, but I knew he would keep this to himself. He points at Eve and then points to the ground beside him, he wanted her out now.
She nods and then kisses me hard one last time before leaving. I hated to see her go; I never knew when I would see her next.
“Cameron, this is beyond foolish. I warned you to play it safe and this is far from it!” Dr. August said in a very heated whisper.
Eve appears on the other side of the glass. “Dr. August, it wasn’t his fault, I sort of sprung up out of nowhere. I missed him and couldn’t take it anymore. I just had to see him!”
He pats Eve on the shoulder. “I understand, but if you two aren’t careful one of you will end up dead and I’m fairly sure it will be Cameron here. I’m not sure you understand Agent Williams’ attachment to you. It’s quite unhealthy and I would be extremely cautious. If he saw you here tonight, I have no doubt in my mind that he would have executed Cam on the spot. So I need you to begin thinking clearly, instead of like mutts in heat.”
I blush at the comparison and I’m sure Eve would have too if she still had the ability to blush. Instead, she gives me a slightly embarrassed smirk.
“I’m sorry, Cam, you heard the man. I won’t be back for a while I’m afraid. I want to keep you safe and he’s right, I’ve been careless. I will find a way to get us out of here. Then we can be together as much as we like.” She blows me a kiss and then turns to leave.
Dr. August remains behind. He glances behind him to make sure that Eve was gone and then he begins to whisper again, “Cameron, I have something to tell you. Something I’ve been meaning to tell your for a while…Vincent is here.”
I feel my eyes grow wide. “Here? But how?”
“They brought him here so that I could run some tests. They think if I can cure him then perhaps they can create a cure for the Azrael Virus. I might be able to cure Eve. This is why it is so important that you stay away from her. I need Agent Williams on our side. I haven’t told Eve any of this because I don’t want to get her hopes up in case I fail, but I needed you to know. You need to make the right choices and perhaps protect her from herself. If she comes around again, promise me you’ll tell her to leave…push her away, do what you have to do to save her.”
I hesitate a moment, but then I realize there really is no point in arguing with the man, he is always right, no matter how much I would miss Eve, this was the right decision. “I promise,” I say with sincerity.
“Great! Good to hear! I will visit with you tomorrow, Cameron. Until then, goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Doc,” I say softly into the darkness. Loneliness was perhaps the greatest torture one could endure. I had my wall, my bench, and the darkness. These were my friends now, and they would have to suffice.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EVE
Staying away from Cam was harder than I had thought. What made it all the more unbearable was the constant visits from Agent Williams. He always seemed a bit on edge these days, making our conversations very awkward. I felt as though there was something he wanted from me, but he was having a very difficult time expressing it.
Most of my time in the facility was spent hounding Dr. August about our next move, or staring at the rot that was spreading to my shoulder and collarbone. The virus was taking over; I would soon be one of those movie zombies, mindless and hungry. I layered sweater after sweater over myself so that I wouldn’t have to see the rotting flesh. It was bad enough looking in the mirror every day and seeing two glowing red eyes staring back, I missed my beautiful blue eyes, but they were gone forever.
One morning I awake to a sharp pain in my abdomen. I scream so loud that a bunch of guards run in to check on me. They couldn’t help me so they run off to fetch Agent Williams who shows up within seconds. I hadn’t been able to feel pain in a long time, what was causing this sudden agony?
Agent Williams strokes my hand as the pain begins to subside. “Are you alright?” he asks in a genuinely concerned way.
“Yes, I think I’ll be fine. Maybe it’s just a sign that my time is nearly up.” I try to give a brave smile, but it quickly turns to sobbing and Agent Williams pulls me close to him.
“Look, Eve, if time is running out then there is something very important I have to ask you…”
I could never have anticipated his question or the fact that he would be kneeling before me with this tiny sparkly thing in his hand.
I gasp giving the impression that I was impressed, but truly I was shocked and beyond anything else disgusted with the offer.
“Eve Brenner. I love you. I know that seems difficult to believe, but everything I have done, I have done for you, for us. I want to save you; I want to find a way for us to be together, forever.”
I shake my head, “forever isn’t real Marcus, it’s an illusion. We aren’t meant to be here forever. I don’t want to be anyone’s forever…” This was a lie of course; I would belong to Cam for many lifetimes over and over again if he’d have me. I simply couldn’t fathom forever with Agent Williams. The thought terrified me.
Marcus looks crushed. “Is that a no then?”
I bite my lip. “I’m afraid so.”
As I wait for him to rise I notice that his eyes glare at me. He shoves the ring on my finger, nearly tugging off my arm in the process.
“Marcus stop!” I yell, “My answer is still no!”
“No? No? Well, I don’t accept your answer. You are mine! I’ve told you this before. What makes you think that you can leave me?”
There was a bit of madness behind his eyes, I blamed the Azrael Virus for this, it had changed him for the worse.
“Marcus, I’m not leaving, we’re friends. I’m staying here.”
The minute I used the F word, I regretted it. It sent him into a whole other tirade.
“Friends? Why? Is there someone else you love more than me?” I could see where his mind was heading, it was like a runaway horse heading straight for Cam, ready to stomp him into the ground.
Agent Williams grabs me by the wrist and drags me down the hall. I try to break free, but he had clearly just fed and was a lot stronger than me at the moment. His grip was like a vice. As he drags me down the hall, I continue to plead with him. “Marcus, don’t do anything foolish.”
He ignores me and continues to head toward the high-security wing of the facility, the area where Cam was being held. My mind runs wild, what was he going to do?
We are soon standing in front of Cam, who looks very distraught to see us both.
“What’s going on?” he shouts out in an angry voice.
He could see that Agent Williams was carting me around like a puppet, and Cam was powerless to stop it. For a brief moment, I am glad Cam is behind that glass. I didn’t want him to try anything stupid. It would only get him killed.
“Cam, it’s nothing. Agent Williams seems to think there is something going on between
us. I’m just trying to tell him that we’re friends.”
Cam looks a bit hurt at those words, but nods and plays along.
Agent Williams is seething. He grabs my left hand and slams it up against the glass, revealing the ring that he had forced upon my hand.
Cam eyes it in shock. “Okay, really…what is going on? Please tell me, because I am really fricken’ confused.”
Agent Williams grins. “Are you daft? See the ring? She’s mine…thank you for clearing things up, Cam. Since you and Eve are just friends, I see no reason why we can’t be together. Right?”
Cam glared at him, he wants to say something, but I beg him to stay silent with a small head shake. Stay silent, please be silent.
He doesn’t listen.
“How could we be together, Williams? We’re a completely different species these days. You two however…you two are a perfect fit.” He spits out every word like it’s venom in his mouth. “I wish you both a very happy afterlife,” he exclaims sarcastically.
What Cam said came from a place of jealousy and grief, but it still hurt, and still had me wondering if he believed it. It came out so genuinely.
As Agent Williams drags me away, I look back to find Cam kicking the wall furiously. I knew he was in pain. I knew he felt powerless, but the last thing we needed right now was to stir the pot. I would need to play wifey while I thought up a good plan.
I kiss Agent Williams on the cheek, and his grip loosens. His eyes grow kinder. I needed to keep Cam safe and this felt like a very small sacrifice. As much as I despised Williams, I knew what he was capable of. I couldn’t have Cam’s death on my hands.
Agent Williams looks down at me lovingly and I allow him to kiss me. The kiss grows longer and deeper and I find myself feeling ill. It wasn’t just the fact that I hated him. There was that sharp pain again. I collapse to the ground holding my abdomen.
“What’s happening to me?” I scream through clenched teeth.
“I don’t know. I’m going to get the Doctor.”
Moments later, I am carted off to a room with a bed. It wasn’t my room, but lying down anywhere felt good at the moment. The awful Doctor arrives and begins to have a chat with Agent Williams. Williams looks furious, but the Doctor looked intrigued and excited, what could they possibly be talking about?
The Doctor walks over to me with a horrid smile on his face. I didn’t like it one bit. There was something sinister in it. “Eve darling. I need you to rest up; the next few months are going to be quite a challenge for you.” With that, he unexpectedly jabs a needle into my throat. The room grows dark and the sounds grow dull.
***
The sounds of a symphony fill my ear. Someone is playing music. Opening my eyes proves difficult, but slowly I am able to view my surroundings. I am comfortably in bed, but strapped down. How long had I been out? It felt like years.
I glance down at my restrained left hand to find the ring still sitting on my finger. I wanted to tug it off, but that would be near impossible, the next thing to catch my eye is directly in front of me. There is a rather large bump that seemed to be attached to me. I pray that a pillow lay under the bed sheets, but as I wriggle around I notice that the bump is clearly mine.
My screams fill the air, and a handful of guards enter within seconds. Agent Williams is right behind them.
I am in a state of panic. “What did you do?” I cry, unable to say more.
He is at my side stroking my hair and all I want to do is tear his limbs off me.
“Eve, I’m very sorry, but the Doctor did something rather experimental and unique. I didn’t think it possible, so I allowed him to experiment on you. I hope you don’t mind. I was going to tell you about all this. I just hadn’t found the right moment.”
I push his hands away and chomp at the air. I wanted his disgusting hands away from me. “Mind? Yes, I fucking mind! What the hell did you do to me?”
Agent Williams smirks. “Eve isn’t it obvious? You’re going to have a baby. The Doctor was able to salvage a few of your eggs and we combined it with some of my cells, then he implanted the embryo. He had been giving you doses of a vaccine he’d been working on, in the hopes it would stimulate some tissue back to life. It was a long shot, and terribly complex, but it worked! It’s a miracle! The Doctor predicts that the child will be human. It has a heartbeat, which is why you experienced that strange pain before. It’s alive, but should obtain some of your powers. Our child is going to be superior to any human. We’ve created a hybrid species.”
His enthusiasm leaves me sobbing harder. “Our child? What gives you the right? This is my body, god dammit!”
“Eve I’m sorry, I thought you’d be pleased. This is an opportunity that someone in your state wouldn’t normally have,” Agent Williams says in a disappointed manner.
“Really? You fucking thought I would be pleased about this? You claim to love me, you don’t do this to someone you love…and this baby…this baby is going to have dead parents, do you know how fucked up that is? I hate you, Marcus…I just fucking hate you so much,” I scream through violent sobs.
He looks as though he wants to smack me, but instead he turns to leave. I guess even a nut job like him didn’t have the guts to punch a pregnant woman.
My next visitor is Dr. August. I reach for him. I needed him right now. I claw at his clothes as comes in to hug me. He is visibly upset.
“I had no idea about any of this, Eve. I only found out a week ago. They haven’t allowed me to see you in three months. They told me that you were ill and gave me no further details. I had no idea that this is what they had done to you. It’s absolutely despicable. The only way they would allow me to see you is if I agreed to stay by your side during the pregnancy. Of course, I agreed.”
The next question catches in my throat. “Does Cam know?”
Dr. August nods.
“He must hate me,” I whimper.
“Not as much as he hates Agent Williams.”
That brought me little comfort. I loved Cam more than anything, and I knew that I was hurting him all over again. Things would not be the same between us. This baby would change everything now.
I had so many questions. I had apparently been laying here for three months in a drug induced coma, and I had been here three months prior to that. My first few months here had been spent on a metal table where the awful doctor with no name did countless experiments on me, one of them being this. In all that time I had had no idea that he was doing some Dr. Frankenstein shit on me. As I do the math in my head, this made me about six months along if the experiment took well straight away.
I am six months pregnant.
I had to say it over and over again in my head in order to accept the reality of the situation. A slight quiver of excitement hits me, as well as feelings of fear and depression. In a way, I had been given a gift, in a pretty sick fucking way, but it was still a miracle, I realized that.
The next miracle was that I was still around. “Dr. August…how is it that I haven’t expired yet? I thought the Azrael Virus would fully take over about a month ago? Shouldn’t I be a full zombie by now?”
He nods and shakes his head at the same time; I suppose he wouldn’t have all the answers. How could he predict something so unprecedented? A few years ago I would have laughed at anyone trying to tell me that zombies were real, but they are, and I’m one of them.
“Eve they have been treating you with many new potions, and I call them potions because that whack job of a Doctor treating you is concocting something new every second. He’s been injecting you with some sort of freezing agent as well. I suppose it suspends your decay slightly, buying you a bit more time. How much more…that is uncertain. I know they will try to bring you to term. Another three months to go.”
He hangs his head to hide the anger in his face.
“So they expect me to stay in this b
ed until then?”
This was so incredibly inhuman, but then again the leader of this facility wasn’t human anymore, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when Agent Williams sees me as some sort of plaything. He was more like an animal now, a vicious beast, and his own priorities won out.
I bash my head back and forth into my pillow trying to inflict some pain, but the billowy softness against the back of my head only made me feel stupid for trying. I would be stuck here for another three months, and probably be disposed of after that. This was the last good thing I could create, and perhaps I should focus on that.
I hold Dr. August’s hand and squeeze it tightly. “I need you to make sure this baby will be okay. I won’t be here to raise it, and I’m terrified that Agent Williams will use it for something evil. That man might be its father, but he’s sick and doesn’t deserve to be around a fresh soul. You need to promise me that you’ll keep this baby from him, find a way to get it to Cam or a nice family somewhere far away from here.”
Dr. August shakes his head, rejecting me.
“Please, for me, one final request. Keep it safe.”
I stare into his eyes pleadingly, he was my only hope.
“Eve, I can only try. I will do what I can even if it means my life.”
“I pray you succeed. I know what I’m asking, but if I don’t try then I’d be a rather poor mother right off the bat now wouldn’t I?” I try to wink and add some humour to this rather miserable moment.
Instead Dr. August stares at me in shock. He runs his fingers under my eyes, trying to wipe away tears I suppose. When his hands retract I can see that they are blood soaked.
Bloody tears? That is not a good sign, not good at all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ALEX
The cabin is empty. Even with the stockpiles of food these rich bastards had in their pantry we were going to starve. Janna and I had tried to ration as best we could, we had hoped those rations would have gotten us through a year. In my mind a year would have been enough time for this to all blow over, surely the government would have thought of a solution by then.
