Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  Who would tell the others where I’d gone?

  Oh, screw it. The others don’t care about me.

  I sat down on a burgundy leather couch in the lobby and watched Taylor from a distance. The receptionist with the weird dark jagged lines going through her light was there, checking him out of his room.

  I couldn’t hear what they were saying very well, but she was pointing at some paperwork and he was looking it over. Then he folded the papers and tucked them into the pocket of his coat.

  He thanked her and handed her his keycard. Their fingers touched briefly and I saw his color flash.

  I covered my mouth to stifle a yelp of surprise as my heart almost leapt from my chest.

  As Taylor turned to walk toward me, the brown ridges of the receptionist’s infection softened and faded away. Then the dull grey light inside her burst to life, glowing like an orb of white energy.

  “What the hell?” I whispered beneath my breath.

  Taylor approached me and bent over at the waist to look me in the eye. “Hey. Everything okay?” He waved a hand in front of my face, but my eyes remained locked on the woman.

  “Having second thoughts?” he asked. “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t—”

  “Shh!” I silenced him with a flattened hand toward his face.

  The sickening darkness inside the receptionist had changed.

  Holy shit.

  She’d been started…

  Chapter 14

  Should I tell him?

  Should I tell the others?

  “Is something wrong?” Taylor propped his carry-on back on its feet and took a seat beside me on the couch. “Do you need a few minutes or something?”

  “You’re a goddamn Starter,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  “A-a… Starter. Like Alice. The Saviors must have made another one because they knew she didn’t want to do it anymore. Oh, Jesus Christ.” I folded over and dropped my face into my hands. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”

  “Kareena, keep your voice down. What does that mean? Starter?”

  I hadn’t explained to him in much detail what Alice could do.

  “I can’t talk about it right now. Can we just get the hell out of here, please?” I bounded up off the couch.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Kar—”

  “Yes!” I’d already started toward the exit. Taylor had to dart after me to keep up.

  We left through the rotating glass doors, rushed across the crosswalk, and then turned a corner at the end of the block, finding ourselves on a sparsely populated stretch of sidewalk.

  “Okay, what now?” he asked, leaning over to investigate the heavy scuff marks on the wheels of his roller bag. “Crap. This was kind of expensive and not really meant for—”

  “Damn it! They screwed us.”

  “Who?” Taylor tipped his head to the side. “I have no clue what you’re going on about.”

  “We have to go somewhere safe. Somewhere there aren’t many people. It’s only going to be a matter of time before those things start pushing you around—making you do things you don’t want to do.”

  “Does this have something to do with the Saviors?” he asked.

  “Yes! They’ve…” My head started pounding again. “Oh, no.” I doubled over as a massive headache flooded my skull. “Oh, God.” I held my face in my hands and blindly reached out for Taylor as my surroundings closed in on me. The pain in my temples increased.

  “Kareena!” A familiar voice called to me from the distance.

  “David?” I could barely see him through warping spirals of light flickering in and out of my vision. I cupped my forehead and squinted, trying to see where he was coming from.

  “Kareena, are you okay?” he asked, jogging up to us. “Taylor, what’s going on? What's happening to her?”

  “I-I don't know, man. We were just leaving and—”

  “Leaving!? What the hell do you mean? Leaving?”

  Warm, strong fingers wrapped around my wrist—definitely David’s.

  “It’s okay. It was my idea,” I muttered through clenched teeth. “Back off.” The light brightened even more until I could see nothing but—the Prism.

  “You cannot go with him,” it said, its voice wavering while rainbow flashes of color sparkled all around it. “His fluorescence is tainted.”

  “What?” I shook my head and grunted against the pounding headache just beginning to taper off. “What do you mean?”

  “His fluorescence is unnatural. What the Saviors have done to him may put us all at further risk of infection. For your own safety, stay with the others. The other Fluorescent Ones need you.”

  “What? Wh—” My head felt heavy and I tumbled backward. David caught me in his arms and helped lift me back onto my feet. I pushed his hands off me. The radiant lights faded into nothing and my peripheral vision came back into focus.

  “Are you okay?” He placed his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “What just happened to you?”

  “Leave me alone,” I sneered, forcing his hand away. “I’m not made of porcelain!”

  “Where are you going?” David asked, crossing his arms. “Why didn’t you tell any of us? Or me, at least?”

  Taylor took a step back from us.

  I propped my hands on my hips and scoffed. “David, you’re the one who told me I didn’t have to stay with the others. You told me that it was pointless to go on without growing or changing. Well, I thought about it, and I’ve made a decision. I’m leaving all of you guys. Brian doesn’t need me and Alice doesn’t give a damn. You…” I looked at him and shrugged. “Well, you can take care of yourself,” I carried on in a softer voice. “What the hell do you need me for?”

  “I know what I said earlier but, Kareena, you need to rethink this.” He reached out to me.

  “Why? You said things weren’t going to get messy unless I let them. Are you changing your mind now?”

  “No.” His hand dropped back to his side. “That’s not the point I’m trying to make. We need to stick together and I’m not going to hang around with those two brats if you leave. I-I can’t do it.”

  “Then don’t.” I shrugged. “Leave. Go back to your sister. Go back to living your life the best you can while you’ve got the chance. If the Saviors want us back together, they’ll make that happen. There’s no point suffering in the meantime. Putting up with each other has made our lives crap and you know it.”

  “Even so.” David shot a sudden, threatening glare at Taylor. “What did you say to her?” he asked, confronting him with a step closer. “What the hell did you say to get her to leave with you?”

  “I said back off!” I shoved David in the chest with both hands, but he hardly budged. His jaw hung open in disgust.

  “Fine. Do whatever the hell you want,” he said, scowling. “But just know that the minute you leave this city, I’m out.” He raised his hands up and backed away from us. “I’m not staying here with those kids. Not alone, I’m sure as hell not. Not if you want me to keep your boy Brian alive.”

  Taylor’s eyes widened.

  “Y-you’re not going to kill him, are you?” he whispered, his voice cracking. “My brother?”

  “No,” I interrupted. “He’s talking shit again. He thinks just because he’s got a shiny gun—”

  “A gun!?” Taylor staggered back.

  “Yeah. A gun.” I veered around. “He won’t use it on you so stop freaking out.” I turned back around toward David. “You’re such a dick, thinking you can push people around because you’ve got bullets in your back pocket. You’re no better than anyone else. I’m going to make my own decisions and you’re going to have to make yours. Sorry if that means going on without you, but that’s how things go. Life sucks and then you die.” I turned around. “Let’s get out of here, Taylor.”

  I waved without looking back.

  “Goodbye, David.”

  Chapter 15


  “Don’t feel bad about David. He’s got more issues than Brian, I think.” I sat beside Taylor on the trolley. His carry-on was wedged between us on the floor so it wouldn’t slide into the aisle. It kept bumping me in the knee every so often as the car swayed gently over hilly roads and around curves. “He acts cool, but he’s not. Sorry he confronted you like that.”

  Taylor glanced at me and then looked away. “Were the two of you…?”

  I shook my head. “Hell, no.” I rolled my eyes. “He didn’t mean anything to me.”

  “Oh.” Our eyes met again. “He seemed awfully worried about you, though.”

  “Yeah. He’s got his nose in everyone’s business. I can take care of myself. Besides, you’re going to help me, too, right?”

  “Sure.” The trolley hit a bump and Taylor lunged to stop his suitcase from rolling away. “As best I can. I mean, I don’t really know much about what’s going on either.”

  Damn. I liked Taylor a lot, at first. Now, I was having second thoughts.

  Maybe the company I was forced to keep wasn’t the best, but both Brian and David had guts—boldness and bravery in their blood. Unpredictability sometimes, even. A man with some fire inside was a turn-on.

  Taylor, on the other hand… The way he freaked when he’d heard David had a gun. He might have been Brian’s brother, but the similarities stopped at their faces.

  “So, do you think David and the others will come looking for us?”

  “No. Why would they?”

  Taylor shrugged.

  . . .

  “You’ve got a nice place here,” I said, plopping onto the suede couch in Taylor’s living room and stretching my arms up high over my head. He told me it was one of the many temporary apartments he stayed at in places he frequented on business trips. All paid for by his company, too. If he wasn’t staying in a hotel, he was living it up in a beautiful flat perched high above whatever city where he had his next appointment. Nice.

  I examined the sleek, silver crown molding and the pinstriped wallpaper. All stainless steel appliances. Large glass windows surrounded us, offering breathtaking views of the sparkling cityscape below.

  He had good taste, or at least his company did.

  “Would you like something to drink?” he asked, poking his head up from behind the open refrigerator door.

  “Sure.” I rested back against the supple leather couch cushions and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, taking in the most peace and quiet I’d had in days.

  Taylor rummaged around in the fridge and then I heard the clink of glasses. I opened my eyes to him setting a bottle of wine on the black granite countertop. He pushed the refrigerator door closed and reached a hand into a nearby drawer for a corkscrew.

  Wine? I wasn’t a fan, but I had to be polite. It was difficult to tell if he was trying to impress me or if this was a normal thing for him. He acted so natural and at ease.

  “What am I, your girlfriend?” I asked, batting my lashes jokingly as he handed me a glass flute.

  “You could be,” he replied with a smirk. “Right?”

  “Maybe.” I tried to hide my nervous smile.

  Is this guy for real?

  “We hardly know each other, but here we are,” he said, with a look of admiration in his eyes. “Two people implanted with some crazy glowing alien DNA, who just happened to find each other in this huge world full of millions of people. I think that means something. Don’t you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You like that word, don’t you?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe?”

  Maybe…

  “Oops.” I smiled and he smiled back. “I’m a little out of my element here. Honestly, you’re too nice, I think.”

  “Too nice?” He scoffed lightly. “Oh, great. I know where this road’s going to take me.” He rolled his eyes and sat back against the couch, bringing his glass to his lips to take a sip of blush colored wine. “Next thing out of your mouth is going to be something about us just being friends. Right?”

  “No. That’s not it. Sorry. Things—”

  He gasped and the grin vanished from his face. “Something’s wrong,” he whispered, his eyes widening.

  I felt it, too—the air around us growing thinner. My muscles tensed.

  “No!” I stood, grabbed Taylor’s hand, and pulled him up from the couch. Then I closed my eyes tightly. His hand squeezed mine as the floor disappeared out from under us.

  We touched down on pavement. Taylor lost his grip and slipped. I grabbed him by the arm to keep him from falling.

  “Thanks,” he said, out of breath.

  I flashed a small grin in response.

  “Where are we?” He looked around.

  “I don’t know.” It was dark, but I could make out faint auras of infected people as shapes around us materialized. Instinctively, I opened my mouth to call out to the others—Brian, Alice and maybe even David—but then I stopped myself. Even if they were there, the farther they were from us, the better. I wouldn’t have to worry about Brian tearing Taylor apart, or me having to point out any sleepers to Alice. If they wanted us together, the Saviors knew damn well how to do it.

  It was still difficult to see our surroundings, but there were hoards of people everywhere. I took a step back, scuffing my shoes against what I then realized was dirt, not concrete. I squinted. Thousands of people in rows of raked seating all around. There was a white line on the ground and I followed it to a point where it met grass. A stadium?

  A… baseball field.

  What in the hell?

  A tremendous boom shook the ground and I ducked, shrieking in fear. Taylor looked up, unmoved, and chuckled.

  “Fireworks,” he said nonchalantly.

  “What?” My gaze shot up. A splash of cascading colored lights sprinkled down from the black sky, sizzling and crackling and then vanishing into subtle plumes of smoke.

  “That scared the crap out me!” I straightened up, clutching onto Taylor’s arm for balance since my unnerved, shaky legs made it difficult to stand. “You’re afraid of guns you haven’t even seen, but a random explosion doesn’t faze you? Jesus, Taylor.” I shook my head.

  Maybe I was wrong about him.

  A second round of whirring and popping sounds reverberated through the air and a scoreboard up in the distance flashed names I didn’t recognize.

  “They just had to find some party for us to crash, didn’t they?”

  “What do you mean?” Taylor raised his voice over the sounds of exploding fireworks.

  “They’re always sending us some place where there are lots of people. Last time, it was freaking Times Square. Well, not last time. Anyway, let’s go find a place to sit a while until everyone clears out.” I took Taylor’s hand and started walking toward the bleachers. “Be careful not to touch anyone, okay?”

  I felt resistance as I pulled him to follow.

  “No, Kareena,” he said in a quieter voice.

  I veered around. “What?”

  “We can’t wait this out,” he replied flatly.

  “What’s… going on?” I released his hand. “Taylor?”

  “Look around. There are a lot of people here. Do some of them have tainted light inside? Are they what you might call… sick? Compromised is probably a better word.”

  I hesitated. There were more sleepers here than I’d seen in any other city I’d been to so far.

  “Compromised?” I narrowed my eyes. “You mean…” I glanced around at the mass of pulsing lights. Many of them had black and brown bolts of darkness smothering their glowing cores, forking through the white light like glass fractures. I could see it in them even from a distance. It was the same messed up pattern the guy at the diner had inside—before he died.

  “That’s why they put us here,” Taylor said. “To make things right.”

  “No,” I snapped. “They put us here to start people. That’s how it’s always been wit
h them.”

  “Start,” Taylor repeated. “Make things right. It’s all the same now.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “A day ago you had no clue what was happening and now, all of a sudden, you’re some kind of martyr sent here to make things right? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?”

  “You saw what I did to the receptionist at the hotel. That’s what I’m meant to do. That’s what they made me for.”

  “Made you?” I tried hard not to laugh. “You’re delusional, Taylor, if you think those idiots up there made you into something special. They’re sick, twisted creatures who don’t give a damn about our wellbeing.” I crossed my arms and turned away just as streaks of red, white, and blue sparks twinkled overhead. “No. I’m not doing this,” I said. “I’m not going to be the one who puts these people in danger. I won’t help you. This is why we’ve been running.”

  “You’ve been running to get away from the life you used to have,” he retorted, raising his voice. “The one you can’t have anymore. You ran away to keep people from finding out about you and the others because you were too afraid to accept it.”

  “Afraid?” I glared at him. “Is that what you think I am? No. It’s not that at all. This is crazy!” I backed up. “I don’t want to do this. I never did. They never gave us a choice!” I was yelling amidst the booming cheers of the crowd.

  “We’re here to help people!” He took a step closer.

  “What do you mean, help people? Do you even know what this stuff does to us?”

  “Yes, I do.” He lowered his head and looked away from me. “In fact, I know a lot more than you do about this outbreak.”

  Outbreak!?

  “What!?” My stomach felt sick all of a sudden.

  “I know the truth about the man you guys saw a while back at that diner. He died of the same thing the receptionist at the hotel had inside her.”

  “How do you know that?”