by P. Anastasia
“So starting people is really like vaccinating them?” Alice asked. “It didn’t actually do anything? Oh my God. All this time, I thought—”
“It slows the infection—a start of what the Saviors were trying to accomplish,” Prism went on. “But the true cure could only come from the correct combination of genes and fluorescence.”
“Solus,” I said.
Chapter 13
Dusk encroached upon the city. We set up a makeshift camp in a quiet alley to rest for the night. I sat with my back against the brick wall of an abandoned Chinese restaurant. Lucy lay curled beside me with her head on my leg. Kareena sat opposite me, several feet away, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms crossed, and her elbows on her knees. She turned her face away from me and rested her head on her arms.
She’d been ignoring me since the Prism had put us back down on Earth. I wanted to talk things over with her, but she wouldn’t let me.
Brian tore thick strips from an old newspaper to toss onto a meager fire we’d made. Alice sat on the other side with Solus huddled up close to her and Brian’s jacket draped over her shoulders. She was sitting on a towel we’d swiped from the hotel this week.
The sky overhead was navy blue, flecked with stars. No sign of rain, but it was getting colder. Winter was just around the corner and the farther East we moved, the faster temperatures dropped. We didn’t have a clue where we were going, but as long the nights were clear, we saved a few bucks by enduring the company of abandoned city backstreets.
Having my gun made me feel safer. Safe enough to take the risk so we could eat the next morning. We needed help and we needed it soon. Money was drying up and my clip had fourteen bullets left.
To most people, that sounds like a lot.
It’s not. Not when I had no way of refilling my clip if the need arose.
Brian tossed a few wood scraps onto the fire and poked it with a stick of rebar.
“Why don’t you get some sleep and I’ll keep watch,” I suggested.
“Are you sure? I’ll be okay. I—”
“Shut up and get some rest, Brian.” I smirked when I said it so he’d know I was kidding. “But, seriously, you’ve been wearing yourself thin since Solus showed up. Get some rest. I promise I’ll wake you if something goes down.”
“Thanks,” Brian said with a small but grateful smile. He dug around in his backpack and pulled out a thin fleece blanket. He tossed it to me and I caught it.
“Thanks,” I said with a nod.
He shuffled over to Alice and, from the corner of my eye, I saw him embrace her and Solus. Solus still hadn’t shown much emotion in the form of facial expressions, but every time his parents looked at him, you could see a glimmer of excitement light up his eyes. Light up, as in figuratively, not literally, thank God. But the sensitive blue and green irises did show some affection. The Saviors hadn’t made him into a total robot child, at least.
I stopped watching them and shifted my attention back to Lucy, who was still awake in my lap. “Lucy? Are you okay?” I nudged her gently. She looked up at me.
“I can’t sleep,” she said, sitting up. “I want to sleep in a bed. The ground is hard.”
“I know and I’m sorry. But you’re going to have to try tonight, okay? I’m gonna keep you safe, and you’ve got Brian and Solus right over there, too.” I pointed. “Solus is going to sleep.” At least, he looked like he was trying. He and his parents were curled up together on the other side of the fire.
“Here.” I got to my knees and un-crumpled the blanket Brian had thrown to me. I shook it out and laid it down flat on the ground. Then I slid off my hoodie and rolled it into a ball. “Lie down,” I said, patting it with my hand.
Lucy sighed and reluctantly lowered herself onto the ground, nestling her head against my hoodie. “I don’t want to sleep right now,” she whined.
“You need to,” I said firmly, but caringly. “Everyone else is and I need sleep, too, but I won’t go to sleep until you do. So the longer you stay awake, the more tired you’re going to make me.”
“Oh. Sorry, Daddy,” she whispered.
I brushed my hand over her forehead and leaned down to kiss her there. She squinted and grinned.
“I love you, Lucy,” I said, tucking a lock of her long dark hair behind her ear.
“Love you, too.”
She rolled onto her side and exhaled loudly.
I sat there for a while, watching her until sleep finally came and whisked her off to dreamland. Part of me wondered what kind of dreams she’d be having following everything she’d seen recently. The Prism. A Savior. Our fluorescence. They were the kinds of things you’d expect your kid to see on TV, not in real life. And the kinds of things you’d wait until they were older to expose them to.
I glanced at the others. Brian and Alice looked like they were asleep, too. The alley was vacant as far as I could tell, but that didn’t mean I felt comfortable letting my guard down with our lives in the balance, especially since we had two incredibly important children with us.
A brisk gust of air whistled through the alleyway and I shuddered. “Ugh.” I shivered and rubbed my arms. Damn, it was getting cold. And now the fire was dying down and I had to take a piss.
I made sure Lucy was still asleep before getting up from the ground to look for scraps of wood. Behind the restaurant, there was a busted-up pallet we’d started dismantling earlier. I cracked a few more pieces off it and tucked them into the fire. Then I headed off to find a corner not far from sight, but not close enough that everyone would have to watch me do my business.
When I was done, I zipped up my jeans and rummaged around in my back pocket for a cigarette. I had a few left, but I was trying to hold off as long as I could between them so nicotine withdrawal didn’t turn me into an asshole. The lighter cast a warm glow around my fingers as I singed the tip of my cigarette with the flame.
I took a puff.
By the third inhale, my nerves began to settle. The idea of having to go cold turkey wasn’t one I was fond of, but if it came between tending to Lucy or to my addiction, I’d suffer. Besides, cigarettes weren’t the first addiction I ever had to overcome.
With my cigarette partially burned down, I turned to head back toward the group and the dancing reddish glow of the fire. There was a faint shuffling sound. I reached for my gun.
“David?” Kareena crept out from around the corner.
“Jesus,” I huffed. “Don’t sneak around. I could have shot your ass.”
She crossed her arms and scoffed. “Yeah. Okay.”
I glanced over her shoulder. Brian, Alice, and the kids were still asleep.
Kareena’s judgmental gaze met mine and firelight illuminated the curves of her face—an enticing sight, had a lump not formed in my throat from her piercing anger.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was your daughter?”
The fire crackled.
I hesitated.
“David?”
I cleared my throat and tucked my gun back into my belt. “I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
“Bullshit. You didn’t tell me because you knew I wouldn’t sleep with a guy with baggage.”
“What!? Hey, shut the hell up, Kareena. You know damn well that had nothing to do with it. And don’t talk about her like that. Besides, we both know you’ve got a shitload of baggage, yourself, and you don’t even have a damn kid.”
“Really? You’re going to try this with me?” Her nose flared. She tipped her head down.
“If you gave a damn about anyone other than yourself, it wouldn’t matter to you whether Lucy was my daughter or my sister. But everything has to be about you all of the time. If you’re so upset about my kid, why don’t you drop Brian, too, while you’re at it?”
Her eyes widened and she scoffed. “Don’t you even—”
“You and your twisted fetish. All you do is pine over a guy you can’t have. Like he’s some kind of goddam
n angel or some shit. I don’t get it.”
“David!” she shrieked.
“Keep it down. Others are trying to sleep.” I pushed past her and walked back over to the fire. I crouched and tossed in another chunk of wood.
Then a hand reached in front of me and yanked the cigarette from my between lips.
Kareena took a puff from it, exhaled, and tossed it behind me.
“You shouldn’t smoke around your kid,” she hissed.
Chapter 14
“I’m sorry Kareena’s pissed about Lucy.” Brian tossed me a bottle of water. “I’m sure you know she’s one of those people who wants what she wants. She doesn’t care much for anyone else’s feelings. She pretends to, but—”
“She cares, damn it!”
Brian jerked his head back in surprise.
“I-I know she does,” I continued. “She needs time to adjust.”
“Sorry.” Brian’s tone softened. “I didn’t mean to… I mean… I knew you two had something going, but I didn’t think it was—”
“Real?” I glared at him. “You thought only you and your perfect little godsend, Alice, could have a real relationship. Is that it?”
“No! That’s not what I meant!” He backed away. “Jesus Christ, man.”
A wave of heat flushed through my chest. “Then stay out of this, Brian.”
“I’m sorry I said anything. I just don’t want your daughter getting hurt. I’ve known Kareena longer than you have.” He turned his back and walked away, shaking his head. “But you apparently know her better than I do,” he muttered.
I wanted to argue with him, but—damn it—he was right. I didn’t know her that well. Just because she and I slept together didn’t mean I knew shit about who she was. Hell, I didn’t know much of anything about her. What I did know was that she had a lawyer for a father and she came from a wealthy Indian family on the West Coast. She liked fast cars and had a thing for white guys. And that she was a Seeker—a Seeker who got migraines whenever she tried to hook up with anyone other than a Fluorescent One.
Basically, with a guy other than Brian or… me.
I had thick skin, but there were moments when I needed a shoulder to rest my head on. I didn’t have one and I hadn’t in almost a decade.
“I don’t want things to get messy between us,” Kareena had told me the very first night we’d hooked up. And then I made the ignorant decision to tell her that it would only get messy if she let it.
I lied.
It burned inside me—more fervent than the amber-yellow fluorescence in my chest. I’d started feeling the one thing I’d basically told her I wouldn’t. I mean, yes, I valued Lucy above all things, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some part of me that wanted to be happy—that needed to feel wanted by another.
Aside from being beautiful, Kareena wasn’t self-sacrificing, kind, or much else I had imagined a good woman might be. She didn’t seem to have a sliver of motherly instinct in her body, and she had issues with strings and long-term commitment.
Brian seemed like an exception, though, as she always had this admiration for him in her eyes, no matter what he said or did. No matter how many times he turned her advances down.
I didn’t have a chance in hell at having a meaningful relationship with a woman like Kareena, but I had to put my cards on the table. Maybe, just maybe, she could find the courage to love someone who couldn’t give her everything. Someone who didn’t have the world at his fingertips.
. . .
We left early in the morning, not knowing exactly where we were headed. Moving for the sake of it now. Maybe if we kept going, we’d find someone who could help us. Or maybe the Prism could figure out why Solus was the key and how to stop people from dying.
And, they were still dying. We hadn’t been able to watch the news for a day, but I skimmed a headline on a local paper. More dead. Over a hundred in the past forty-eight hours. No common denominator doctors could use to predict new targets. Teens. Adults. Different races and different cities. There was no correlation whatsoever, and that put people on high alert. This whole thing planted fear in everyone’s hearts. Including my own. How long did I have? What if I died tomorrow? Or worse—today? Who would take care of Lucy?
The Prism showed us infected sleepers all across the globe. It was only going to be a matter of time before people in other countries started to die and the United States put two and two together. We were the epicenter.
Why were we getting the brunt of it? Shouldn’t it have been moving more slowly here since we had the Starter? Or did the few started people not make a visible impact?
“Where should we go from here?” Brian asked, turning to face me. “There’s an overpass that leads north, and a tunnel below it we could follow, I think, but I’m not sure. I saw a sign a little ways back.” He pointed toward the huge concrete tunnel ahead of us with signs and yellow “do not enter” tape stretched across the entrance. “I can see some light coming in on the other side, so I don’t think it’s closed off completely. It is pretty early in the day to stop, so we should keep going. Which way?”
I found it gratifying that Brian finally respected my opinion enough to ask me for advice. Ever since Lucy came along, he’d pulled back from being so ornery. It was a nice change.
“If we take the tunnel, we can avoid some of the elements,” I suggested. “It could rain later today and we aren’t pre—”
A humming sound filled the air, dull and low, but just the right pitch to get under my skin. My chest tightened and I strained to take in my next breath.
What the...
Things in the distance became blurry. I shot a glance at the bridge overhead. The rumbling of passing cars softened to a muffled whir. I spun around to see that a wall of rippling distortions had boxed us in—just like it had when…
White light loomed over me and I grabbed Lucy by the hand.
Not again.
From the blurred distance came a figure—a Savior—walking toward us from a fading mist of white. The lighted silver mask still covered the bottom half of his face and shimmered in the light as he approached.
“You, again!?” Brian straightened up. “We asked you to leave us alone.”
“Yes. You did,” the translator replied. “Things have changed. We must ask you again for…” He paused and his head jerked. A twitch? “We must ask you again for the child.”
“No,” Brian growled.
Alice crouched beside Solus.
“We do not have much time,” the Savior continued.
“You don’t have much time? Neither do we!” Brian said. “You lied to us. You didn’t tell us this shit was global!”
“We did not feel the need to disclose that information to you.”
“You don’t feel much of anything, do you?”
“If you had known, what would you have done differently?” The Savior’s eyes met mine and then he glanced down at Lucy. “What can you do now?” He looked at Brian.
“Walk away. That’s what we should have done and it’s all we can do right now.” Brian signaled us to follow. He reached down and scooped Solus up into his arms. He approached the boundary of the enclosure—the distorted wall—and studied it.
“Can we go through?” Alice asked.
“Maybe,” Brian replied, passing Solus off to her. “I’m going to try.”
“No,” said the Savior, raising his voice more than usual. “You cannot pass through.”
“Really? Or are you just trying to keep us here? I’ll take my chances.” Brian shoved his hand into the distortion and I held my breath.
“Brian!” Kareena screamed.
We could barely see Brian’s hand and wrist emerging from the other side of the wall, but it was there, still in one piece.
“Does it hurt?” Alice asked, adjusting her grip on Solus so he could hook an arm around her neck for balance.
“No,” Brian said, shaking his head. “But…” He ro
tated his arm as if he were turning his hand over. As his arm twisted, the hand on the other side didn’t rotate along with it.
“Oh my God. What’s happening?” Kareena’s eyes widened and she looked back at the Savior. “What’s going on!?”
“Time passes differently outside of the projection. More slowly in your world than in ours.”
“I’m going through,” Brian said, turning his arm back to the starting position. He thrust himself into the field and we watched as he came out on the other side. Still whole. Still alive, as far as we could tell. We stood there watching, but he wasn’t moving. He was frozen or… No. Wait! He was moving. His other foot was slowly coming down toward the ground. So slowly, I could barely tell he was moving at all.
“Do you think it’s safe?” Alice asked.
“Maybe.” I shrugged.
Solus reached up a hand and pointed at the blurry vision of Brian.
“Okay,” Alice said to him. “Let’s follow your dad.” Then she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and rushed through the barrier.
She, too, popped out the other side, Solus still in her arms, but her pace slowed to a crawl. Frame by frame. Nearly indiscernible movement.
Kareena swallowed hard and shook out her arms. “Damn it.” She scowled and darted after her.
I took one last look back at the translator, grabbed Lucy up into my arms, and shot through behind them.
I came out, unscathed, and veered around to look back through. The sounds of passing cars overhead filled my head and I could breathe normally again. I had to squint to see him, but the translator was still standing inside the enclosed area, looking at us.
A single blink and he was suddenly right there, face to face with me. Only the thin blur of energy separated us. Alice gasped and Kareena let out a frightened yelp.
