by C. R. Jane
I got my answer when there was the sound of running feet coming from behind us and then Thane was there, swooping me up into his arms as he slowed down to a jog and began heading towards the lab. "We don't have much time," he exclaimed.
Derrial and Corran were right behind us as we left the safety of the building. I let out a sharp inhale as I looked down the street and saw the horde of infected gathering at the explosion site.
Where the restaurant had once stood, there was now nothing but a small crater. The infected were pouring in from other streets, and I shivered at the sight. There was even more of them than I'd thought. And they'd definitely picked up speed. That desperation that I'd seen in the infected Vepar was definitely there now as they pushed each other to get to the explosion. Corran was going to have to explain the science behind what the Council's failed experiments did to the Vepar's brain to make them behave like this. The Vepar hadn't allowed our schools to teach us about their genetic makeup, so I had no clue if their brains were similar to ours or had different parts. Would humans be similarly infected?
I remembered that I needed to pay attention when an infected suddenly darted out a side street and came flying towards us. Derrial met it before it could reach us, slinging what looked like silver string towards the Vepar, who was frothing at the mouth and had a particularly nasty looking neck wound. This wasn't like any string I'd seen before however, because it sliced the Vepar's head off like it was cutting through butter and not muscle and bone.
Thane and Corran continued to jog towards the lab like nothing had happened, and I was once again aware of the fact that the three of them were predators. I was a bit lucky that I wasn't their prey anymore.
We got to the entrance of the lab without any more Vepar appearing and Corran went to work on his device trying to crack the code that was required for initial entry into the lab. Corran had explained that there would no doubt be eye scans and other security systems in place as we went in, but if we couldn't figure out this initial code, it wouldn't matter. Once again thanks to the systems that Derrial, Corran, and Thane had created together under the Council's direction.
The three of them started brainstorming possible things to try after Corran's initial attempts failed. I took a step away from them to check on the status of the infected. The entrance to the lab was set in from the outside walls of the lab, providing us somewhat of a buffer, but it wasn't enough to make me feel safe in the least bit.
I'd no sooner had that thought when an infected Vepar woman appeared in the entryway and charged towards me, running as fast as she could.
The guys weren't quick enough since they were behind me, and she was on me before they could stop her. She managed to take a bite out of my arm that had me screaming in agony. Thane tore her off of me while Derrial once again used his silver string weapon to end her life.
But the damage had been done.
I was trying to be quiet as I moaned, but the pain was so intense that it was hard to do that.
"Fuck," Thane all but roared, causing Derrial to push him against the wall and cover his mouth in warning.
Corran tore off my top and was examining my wound with frantic eyes. It was bleeding furiously, and I was lightheaded just from the sight of all the blood flowing down my chest and over Corran's hands as he tried to slow the blood. He looked frantic, devastated. I could see it in his eyes how bad this was. Somehow, I'd never allowed myself to comprehend what would happen if I became infected. Would the baby automatically become infected too? Or could Corran somehow pull it out now and just use their technology to help its development outside my womb. I started crying, and I threw a hand over my mouth to dampen the sound.
"Put your hand here," Corran ordered Thane and Derrial. "I have to get us in this building."
Derrial released a still struggling Thane and flew over to me, replacing Corran's hand with his own. Corran continued working on his tablet although I knew I wasn't imagining that he was working at a much more intense pace than before.
There was a slight tremor to Derrial's hand as he held it against my bite. "I'm so sorry, baby. So fucking sorry," he kept chanting as I tried to control my tears that were caused by a mixture of fear and pain. Thane had recovered enough to help Corran, and they were both muttering feverishly about different options.
"I'm in," Corran suddenly said excitedly as he tapped on the screen a few more times. "I just needed to insert a virus in the central nebulium of the program." I had no idea what that meant but I didn't really care since the door to the lab had just opened.
Derrial gently picked me up, still keeping pressure on my bite with one hand, and ran me inside followed closely by Thane and Corran.
The blood kept pouring out from underneath Derrial’s hand and the panic was growing in Derrial's eyes. The opening slid shut behind us and we were in a small box of a room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all the same bronze color, and I felt a little bit suffocated even as the world started to spin around me. I couldn't tell if it was from the bite or the blood loss but either way it didn't seem like a good sign.
Derrial laid me down gently on the floor, still putting pressure on my bite. Thane knelt down beside us while Corran went to the wall opposite where we'd come in and started to type on his tablet, presumably to try and get us to the next section of the lab.
Cursing when it didn't immediately open, Corran ran over to us to inspect my wound. Derrial moved his hand so that Corran could see the damage and I saw them all flinch as the blood flow increased. Derrial quickly put his hand back.
"We need to get the wound cleaned and get it sewn up," said Corran as he began to grab supplies from his pack. Thane also grabbed things out of his pack and Derrial's, since Derrial only had one hand at the moment.
"When I say three, move your hand, and I'm going to replace yours with my own and this cloth that should disinfect the wound. It can't do anything-" He stuttered over his words. "It can't do anything about the virus, but it can prevent another type of infection from growing. Who knows what that woman has bitten lately?"
I shivered just thinking about it, and Derrial glared at Corran. "Sorry," Corran responded, his cheeks flushing.
"Focus," Thane ordered gruffly, his voice sounding choked. Corran nodded and grabbed the cloth that was supposed to disinfect me.
"This is going to hurt at first, Ella. But there's no other way for me to do this with the supplies we have," Corran told me apologetically.
I nodded stiffly and gritted my teeth. At least the pain might help distract me from the fact that a virus could be spreading inside of me right this very minute about to turn me into a mindless savage. At least I could console myself that we had made it to the lab, and even if I was infected, Corran would hopefully soon have access to something that could eventually cure me. If I didn't infect the guys first…
"Fudgeeeee," I squealed as Corran doused my wound with the cloth and began to apply pressure. Evidently I had missed the countdown with my dour thoughts. The pain was ten times worse than the peroxide or alcohol we would use on Earth to clean a wound. Why was it again that everything on this forsaken planet had to be a million times more extreme than its counterpart on Earth?
A bubbling sound was coming from underneath the cloth and it was strange, but it was almost like I could feel it making its way into my muscles, cleaning everything out. It was also leaving a numbing sensation in its wake, so although the initial pain hurt like a bitch, it was almost worth it to get some relief.
"Still hurting badly, angel?" Corran asked, and I realized how avidly the three of them were watching me. I shook my head, weakly.
"It's numbing the area now," I explained, and he nodded satisfactorily.
"Unfortunately, it's not as much numbing as we would need so you don't feel this next part at all, but it will help to make it tolerable," he explained as he held up a small red device that had an extremely sharp needle protruding from the bottom of it.
"What is that?" I asked with widening ey
es.
"It's similar to a needle and thread I suppose," answered Corran, pressing something on the device.
"You're going to use that to sew my arm?" I asked, horrified. It was all I could do not to try and move away from it. I'd never been fond of needles, and the one on that device looked particularly unappealing.
"It's alright, pet," said Thane as he ran a soothing hand down my cheek.
"Ready?" asked Corran, holding the device over the cloth as he prepared to take it off.
I nodded and looked away. Even as a child I couldn't watch them giving me shots at the doctor. I didn't think this experience was going to help cure me of that fear.
Corran pulled the cloth away and immediately replaced the cloth with the device. Immediately, I felt a sting around my wound and a low buzzing sound filled the room. Corran was right, it did still hurt. It kind of felt like being stung by a bee over and over again, not a fun feeling at all. But I had to admit, it was more preferable than bleeding out in this tiny room that was beginning to give me claustrophobia.
"That will take a minute to sew all that up, and then we'll run my healing device over it for good measure," said Corran, pulling on his lip as he watched the little machine continue to work. "I'm going to work on getting us out of here." He moved to stand up and then hesitated. "How are you feeling, love?" he asked, his eyes worried and searching.
"Weak," I responded honestly.
"Anything else?"
"Not yet," I answered, and he nodded, taking a deep breath before standing up all the way this time and walking over to the wall. "Do you think our baby will be alright?" I called after him in a broken voice. The three of them froze at my question.
Corran turned and rushed back to me. "I promise I'll do everything I can to help you and our baby, Ella."
I brushed a tired kiss across his lips. I knew that already. But I hadn't missed that he couldn't give me a yes or no about the effects the virus could have on our child.
A tear trickled out of my eye, and my fear was reflected in the eyes of my three men.
Corran stood up, suspiciously wiping at his eyes as he walked back towards the wall and got to work.
We sat in silence, nothing but the sound of the small machine and Corran's occasional curses as his attempts to hack into the system failed.
The buzzing went on for a while, and then stopped suddenly. Derrial and Thane came closer to me to inspect the bite, nodding satisfactorily when they saw the job it had done. I glanced down the best that I could at my wound. It was just another reminder how amazing Vepar technology was. The stitching was so small that you could barely see it. An injury like this would have left a hideous scar on Earth. I doubted I would even have one even though the bite had gone down into my muscle.
If only a scar was what I had to worry about.
Corran came over with the small silver device that I had seen work miracles on other injuries. "Why didn't we just start with that?" I asked curiously.
"With injury to the muscle like that...and the chance of infection, I like to do a bit of old school medicine before using this. It's an amazing feat of technology, but it's not perfect."
"Corran admitting that something he created isn't perfect...it's a miracle," Derrial smirked and a tiny smile made its way onto my face.
Corran shot him an annoyed glare and then hovered the device over my skin, making the stitches disappear completely. My mouth parted in shock. It looked like I hadn't even been bit, with the exception that there was blood all over Derrial and me.
"How are you feeling?" Corran asked again.
"Tired, but not crazy?" I told him and he nodded seriously once again before getting back to work. This time Thane followed him over the wall to help him.
I yawned, and Derrial pulled out one of the blowup pillows from his pouch and set it up on the ground.
"Why don't you try to sleep? It looks like it might be a while for them to get past this set of security measures and your body needs as much sleep as it can get."
I didn't even try to argue, immediately laying down on the pillow and letting Derrial cover me with a foil looking blanket that I had discovered was actually the warmest blanket I'd ever experienced.
I was asleep before I took my next breath.
When I woke up, Derrial was passed out on the floor next to me, Thane was sitting against the far wall - watching me like he was standing guard in case I woke up and tried to attack everyone - and Corran was still working. It didn't seem like he'd made any progress while I was sleeping, based on the small tick in his cheek, his hair that was all over the place, and the stressed shadows under his eyes.
"You're awake!" Thane exclaimed, jumping up and stalking towards me. Corran stopped what he was doing to come over to me as well. I was still groggy from sleeping so heavily so it took me a moment to remember where we were and what we had been doing. It hit me then - I had been bitten by an infected Vepar. I immediately took stock of my body.
I felt sick, but it was the kind of feeling that came from needing more sleep and from going through something traumatic and painful, like having your shoulder ripped open. I didn't seem to have any urges to go after anyone in the room, and I still seemed to have a clear head. The baby gave me a sharp kick just then, and I rubbed my stomach carefully. It would seem that so far, so good.
"You're still you," Thane said as he examined me critically.
"I think so?" I responded, shrugging my shoulders.
"Corran, how long has it been taking for Vepar to get infected?"
Corran held a device to my forehead that I knew from past experience was taking my readings. "Within a few hours," he murmured in a distracted tone as he read whatever information was coming off the device.
"How long has it been?"
"Ten hours," answered Thane, his voice growing excited. "She's probably not going to get it if she hasn't already?"
Corran wasn't as quick to agree with that statement, but he looked like he was getting a little excited as well. There had been a general air of sorrow and despair in the room before, but that was quickly dissipating.
Belatedly, I realized what he'd just said. "I've been sleeping for ten hours just now? And you still haven't been able to get us into the main part of the lab." Corran flinched at my questions and I immediately felt bad. I knew he was trying as hard as he could to figure it out.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, choosing not to answer my question-which I didn't blame him for. "You have a low-grade fever."
"I feel achy," I admitted. "Like right before you get the cold or something."
Corran nodded like he'd expected that, but his mood seemed to improve even more.
Surprisingly, I yawned again. Thane was lowering me back to my pillow before I could say another word. "You should try and sleep more. Between carrying a Vepar baby and someone trying to eat you, you need to sleep as much as possible."
I wasn't quite as tired this time, but again, I didn't put up a fuss. And surprisingly, despite the fact that I'd just slept for an incredibly long amount of time, it didn't take me long to fall back asleep.
When I woke up the next time, it was because Thane had just picked me up and was about to carry me through the opening that had finally appeared on the far wall. Through it, I could see a large room that resembled some of the other Vepar labs I'd been in.
Corran had done it, we were in!
11
I felt like crap. Like I somehow contracted the worst flu in the world, and then compounded it with my head feeling like it might explode and my emotions blurring into one great heap.
But I pushed on, because we’d come this far. The answer to the infected had to exist in this laboratory. The bitemark on my arm still throbbed, and I was terrified I’d soon become one of the sick, and that included my baby.
We’d been through so much, fought so much, struggled so much. So I refused to let this thing beat me.
Thane held me tight and dragged me deeper into the lab. It was a large ro
om that could easily fit fifty people standing. A large counter ran down the middle and another against the back wall, filled with all kinds of technology I couldn’t begin to comprehend. But Corran smiled for the first time in days and raced up to the wall of glass refrigerators with shelves of vials of different serums and god knew what else kept in here. The place smelled sterile and like antiseptic. I assumed the scientists would have been horrified to see us in here without proper gear.
The room seemed to tilt around me, and Thane swept me off my feet and carried me across to where a medical bed lay near the refrigerated samples.
Derrial joined Corran in searching everything in this place while I lay there trying to steady the room from dancing so much in my head.
“See if you can get some rest or even sleep while I help Corran.” He studied me all over like I was the experiment, but I knew he meant well. His hand touched the skin on my arm just below the bitemark. I flinched.
“It’s so sensitive,” I explained.
His fingers moved up and gently pressed on my shoulder, and I winced. He did the same across my collarbone, and the pain followed.
Worry pushed his thick eyebrows together, and he didn’t need to say anything. I knew the look. “It’s spreading, isn’t it?” I couldn’t bring myself to ask the question of how long I had before it really changed me and I became something other than myself.
He held my hand and pushed away the loose strands of hair caught on my eyebrows. “Don’t worry. We are going to find a cure, and you will be the first to be healed.”
As much as he tried to smile, I watched the crack in his demeanour. The terror behind his gaze. The slight shake of his hand against mine. He was terrified and wouldn’t show it in front of me. Except, I was beyond scared now. My thoughts were so far beyond that.
I held onto his hand tight. “Please, you must do something for me.”
“Of course.” He ran his hand through my hair as I looked up at him from the medical bed. “Anything.”
