Book of the Damned: A-E5L1-01-00: (A reverse harem, post-pandemic, slow-burn romance) (The JAK2 Cycle, Book 2)

by V. E. S. Pullen

  He scowled. “God you are such a pain in the ass sometimes.”

  “Better your ass than mine,” I mumbled, looking away.

  “So what happens in twenty-four hours?”

  “Right. Tomorrow morning, you should come here as normal. Everyone should go to school or work as normal, but you should all have any items that you don’t want to leave behind with you. Within reason, like we can’t bring that ridiculous truck, for example. You need to be prepared to leave with just the clothes on your back. I also suggest you take advantage of the largesse here and stuff your faces with any of the foods you can’t get on the outside.”

  “Should we bring food?”

  “Not necessary. Just bring what I told you. I’ll take care of developing a plausible reason for all of you to have to come to me. Do you trust me to take care of my end of things?”

  “I trust you with my life, Azzie, I always have even if you don’t believe me. I trust you with my brother’s life.” The way he said it, I don’t know… it felt like he was trying to tell me something else, and I needed to ignore it. If they fuck up, I needed to be able to walk away. “When we’re safe, we’re going to talk.”

  When we’re safe, you’re going your way and I’m going mine.

  “Like hell we are!”

  Well shit. I said that out loud. That was the first time since I started our come-to-Jesus talk that he was genuinely angry, and hell if it didn’t give me a tiny thrill inside that I beat back down and slammed the door on.

  “We’ll see,” I said stiffly. I was not going to leave one goddamn carnival sideshow to become a puppet for the NNC or anyone else. Their families would get vaccine, but on my terms. No, I was going to do what Mouse and I always discussed: mobile vaccination station. Of course, we came up with this plan when I thought we’d be out there together, and it was just remote communities that might not have access, not that the politicians were using my blood in their fucking Hunger Games to manipulate people and hold power.

  And she fucking knew the whole time, I just know it. Goddammit, Mouse.

  That was why the base didn’t have outside access. That was why contact was so restricted. It wasn’t to protect me from the outside, it was to protect them from me finding out what was going on out there.

  Tai had been waiting patiently, letting me work through whatever he thought I was working through — pretty sure he had no idea — but he finally interrupted me. “Azzie, sunshine, should we do a phlebotomy today? Or no…?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Everything normal. But only half as much as usual, and extra fluids. It’ll be acceptable since I’m just getting over being sick, but they’ll be eager to get the new antibodies for JANUS-27 so tomorrow will be rougher. In fact, there’s a chance someone will contact you about the lower draw today, try to pressure you to take out more tomorrow. I need you to agree with whatever they ask, okay? No matter what they ask, you need to act intimidated and go along with it.”

  “Got it.”

  “If you feel the need to say anything about it—”

  “I got it, Azzie. Give me a chance to prove myself without you holding my hand, okay?”

  I hesitated.

  “Please?”

  I nodded. I could improvise if needed.

  Chapter Seven

  Tai

  Me: Listen up, everyone. Azzie came in for her blood draw. Need all of you to acknowledge that you’re on and paying attention.

  Spider: Here

  Luka: Roger, that.

  Sasha: I’m here.

  Sev: Talk to us.

  Jason: Weird. You guys do this a lot?

  Ryan: This better be important, I’m busy.

  Luka: WTF?

  Ryan: Hi asshole.

  Me: Cut the shit. This is not playtime. Jason and Ryan: this is a secure text channel. Everything that gets said on here cannot be talked about away from here, not verbally, not by text. Acknowledge that you understand.

  Jason: Got it.

  Ryan: Is this some kind of spy bullshit? Are you all 007s?

  Jason: Ryan, stop being a dick. This is about Azzie.

  Ryan: Fine. I acknowledge that we cannot talk about anything said on here.

  Me: Azzie is leaving Salem and is taking us with her. If we don’t follow her instructions exactly, if we do anything to screw this up, she will leave without us. She believes, and I believe HER, that any of us that are still here once she leaves will be killed. I need you to acknowledge that you understand me.

  Spider: Shut our mouths or our girl leaves without us and we die.

  Ryan: Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?

  Jason: Ryan, I swear to Christ if you don’t shut the fuck up and do what they say, I will kill you myself. You haven’t taken this seriously from day one, and I’ve told you from day one that there is some shady shit going on here. You fucking listen to them, you do what they say, and we get the fuck out of here with Azzie.

  Ryan: Your thing for that girl is clouding your brain.

  Me: Last chance, Ryan. Commit to this and take it seriously or I am booting you from this chat. Jason has already agreed to not discuss anything outside this chat, which means he won’t tell you the plan and you will be left. If he does tell you, both of you will be left. And if you decide to be spiteful or a vindictive asshole and tell anyone what’s going down, you and your brother will both be just as dead as us. For whatever reason, Azzie wants to save your ass, she INSISTS that you be included, so you either respect her and listen, or leave now. I’m not going to die because you can’t help being a jackass.

  Ryan: Azzie said that? About me or just Jason?

  Me: Both of you. By name. She always includes you in any discussion. I call you an asshole, she says that you’re nice to her and that’s the only thing that matters to HER. If you choose to stay behind, I think she’d be very upset.

  Ryan: Well fuck. That little minx, stroking my ego like that. Turns out, it works! Fine. I’m all-in. 100%. I’ll stop being a dick.

  Sev: Fucking miracle worker, our Azzie!

  Ryan: Fuck off, Sev.

  Me: Alright, I still need some acknowledgements from some of you.

  Jason: I’m in.

  Luka: In.

  Sev: In.

  Sasha: I’m in too.

  Spider: I think I already said it, but yeah.

  Me: Okay. Next 24 hours, do nothing. Act like you were when we got here, when you might have found Azzie interesting or amusing, but weren’t friends. Don’t push her or try to fix anything. Understood? Acknowledge.

  Ryan: Beginning to hate that word.

  Jason: “Fix anything”? What happened?

  Me: …

  Ryan: Oh SHIT! What did you fuckers do?

  Jason: Tell us, so we know what to avoid.

  Sev: Clamp your fucking gobs.

  Luka: Mind your own fucking business.

  Me: Not the time. I’m serious. Acknowledge that you understand what I said: next 24 hours, revert to pre-JANUS behavior towards Azzie.

  Ryan: Sorry. I acknowledge. Be my normal charming self. Got it.

  Jason: Acknowledged. And I’ll make sure my brother isn’t his *normal* charming self, which is full-on asshole. He’ll behave.

  Spider. Thank you, Jason. I acknowledge, Tai.

  Luka: Another miracle! (Got it.)

  Sev: Yup. One caveat…

  Me: ?

  Sev: I sent her messages through chat in Comp Sci class every day she was out.

  Spider: Oh, really? You mean you didn’t come into class every day to keep me company when your brothers skipped every fucking class for a week? Yeah, dude, we know.

  Sev: …

  Sasha: Sorry, man. It was obvious. And I’m in.

  Me: If there’s anything you don’t want to leave behind, bring it to school tomorrow morning. Be reasonable about what you want to bring. Have it on your person if at all possible. Be prepared to leave at any time with just the clothes on your back. Act normal. Azzie will figure out a way to get
us to wherever she is. Ryan? Repeat all the instructions.

  Ryan: Don’t talk to anyone about this, even any of you, once this chat is over. Act completely normal towards Azzie today. Tomorrow, bring anything I don’t want to leave behind to school. Wait until she gets in touch with us or does something to get us to her. Get the fuck out of dodge, get Azzie somewhere safe. Beat the shit out of Luka.

  Luka: Bring it, asshole.

  Me: Perfect. Any questions?

  Luka: From any of us or just asshole?

  Me: Anyone.

  Luka: How is she?

  Me: Hurricane Azzie is making landfall.

  Jason: What does that mean?

  Me: She’s angry. Incredibly angry. She’s angry about the study, and she absolutely did figure it out. She blames herself for Mouse, and she’s convinced Kane had Mouse killed.

  Jason: WHAT??

  Ryan: Who the fuck is MOUSE?

  Me: Azzie’s best friend, her bish, sister from another mister, ride-or-die bitch… <— All things Mouse has referred to Azzie as. She’s a lab tech here at the hospital, I was placed in the lab with her.

  Sev: She’s both deranged and amazing. I play in a game with her.

  Sasha: The way Azzie broke down at the bunker, I think Mouse is dead too. Something there convinced her without a doubt.

  Me: Azzie thinks they killed Mouse to punish her for something. The last time anyone heard from Mouse was that text I got from her, it just said “JAK2” which is the gene that causes Azzie’s disease. When Kane told us the real purpose of the study, all I could think about was that text. And Sev, you said she had something “top secret” to do that night. It sounds crazy and so fucking disturbing considering what the study is trying to do, and I don’t have any proof or anything, but I just keep thinking that Kane figured out how to trigger the JAK2 mutation that causes Azzie’s disease and Mouse found out about it. I think they want us to impregnate her to create new sources of the vaccine, and then they’ll trigger PV in the babies.

  Luka: Dude.

  Sev: That’s so fucked up.

  Jason: I don’t know what to say.

  Ryan: So all this shit has been going on and we’ve been completely oblivious? You guys have gotten so thick with her that you’ve apparently been to a bunker and hang out with her sister? What the fuck?

  Sasha: We made an effort.

  Me: That’s not the point, Ryan. Get on the same fucking page, okay? It’s not a competition.

  Ryan: The fuck it isn’t. Apparently the only thing saving my life here is that I was nice to her once. You all are having board game night with her friends and researching her disease. I’m surprised you didn’t tell her to leave us behind.

  Me: Tbh, I did. In my defense, it was before I realized it was a death sentence. And full disclosure, she’s fucking PISSED at us right now. I think she stayed up all night deciding whether to save any of us. She looks *rough* today.

  Sasha: FUCK

  Luka: We really fucked up.

  Sasha: Dude, I made it so much worse, you have no idea. She was so angry with me.

  Me: You were right though, Azzie figured out the purpose of the study when the patrol let you break into her house. That’s mostly why she got so angry, it wasn’t anything you did or said. Not completely.

  Sasha: FUCK. Fuck fuck fuck. That explains it. She thought I was playing with her, trying to “win” the vaccine. Goddammit. I could kill Kane right now.

  Ryan: I feel like the background character on a telenovela. Like the gardener at the mansion who gets seen hauling wheelbarrows full of weeds around while all this drama is taking place around him.

  Spider: She’s so much smarter than anyone gives her credit for.

  Me: And more devious. And this place is far more dangerous than we’ve ever realized. I just need to repeat this again: do not talk about this to ANYONE. Even someone you think is a trusted contact, or you believe has your best interest in mind. She will leave without us, and we will die.

  Ryan: You seem really fucking confident that we can’t take care of ourselves.

  Me: I started today feeling the same way. Even a little resentful that she was ordering me around, when I had a perfectly good plan in the works to get us all out. Then she asked me whether I really thought that those in charge hadn’t evaluated and created oppositions to every possible scenario in which an outside force tried to “relocate the asset.” We came in here not knowing what to expect, we got our answers just days ago, and are thinking and acting like everyone else around us just found out days ago too. That is not the case. This place was built around protecting “the asset” and I believe the only one they can’t anticipate or counter, for whatever reason, is her.

  Ryan: That makes sense. Finally, one of you fuckers starts making sense. Okay. Got it. Do everything she says because she’s been here the longest and knows how they all think, and she’s pretty fucking smart. You should have just said that to begin with.

  Luka: ASSHOLE

  Spider: The bell is about to ring for first period. Everybody get to class. NO talking about this. Radio silence until tomorrow. Or Azzie contacts us. Good luck everyone.

  Me: One other thing. She said stuff your faces with food you can’t get outside of here. You can’t bring any, so eat it while you can.

  Jason: Fuck. I’m going to miss those tacos.

  Ryan: And french fries.

  Luka: Pizza

  Jason: We still get pizza. Italian family.

  Spider: Your last name is French…?

  Ryan: Our last name was Americanized by our grandfather. It used to be Calderone.

  Sev: Fuckers.

  Sasha: Yeah, well, we get…pierogi!

  Jason: AHHAhHAHHAhahHAhhA

  Ryan: Heh. That was pretty good, Kolek. Next time I have a slice of my mom’s homemade, I’ll think of your pierogi.

  Luka: God you’re a dick.

  Me: WHAT PART OF RADIO SILENCE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?

  Azzie

  I was late for class, I’d been talking with Tai for a lot longer than normal and then we still needed to do my oil change.

  By the time I got to Lit, it was half over. Sasha was sitting near Ryan, surrounded by the sheep, and they both gave me almost-imperceptible nods when I walked in. I took that to mean that Tai had been in touch and everyone was read in on the plan for the next 24 hours.

  I didn’t expect Sasha to get up and change seats to sit with me, that wouldn’t have been normal. I didn’t expect him to do anything like come talk to me once the bell rang, or acknowledge me at all. And I didn’t expect him to walk out with Bella Zubeck under his arm while Ryan claimed Marina Thomas.

  Last night, he stood in my closet with his hand under my shirt feeling me up, telling me I was beautiful and special. Today, I didn’t exist.

  I guess I did reject him, and then he witnessed my breakdown in the bunker, which had to be a huge turn-off. And I said some nasty stuff to him. I guess I understand.

  I made my way to Stats, trying hard to forget everything. I just wanted to stop feeling.

  If I can’t have it, can I please stop wanting it?

  Sev and Jason sat on the other side of the room, as usual.

  No acknowledgment by either one.

  I told Tai they needed to act normal, and this wasn’t normal, this was a complete freeze-out. Like we didn’t even know each other.

  From the perspective of any of my classmates, I’d implied — in the middle of the cafeteria at the top of my lungs — that I’d fucked the triplets, then Sasha carried me out of the cafeteria. The next day, when I was struggling with fear over infecting myself with JANUS-27 and the really strong chance I could die, I was moody and distant, avoiding everyone. In retrospect, it made sense that it was viewed as a breakup. Then I disappeared for a week, and returned looking like hell, and all of the guys — Jason and Ryan too — are acting like I don’t exist.

  It makes sense. It makes sense that I would suddenly be the sickly gazelle, the antelope with the
broken leg lingering at the rear of the herd with a flashing neon E-Z Prey sign.

  Leia Martin and Alessa Jackson sure considered me fair game. They’d been whispering together through most of the class, sometimes looking over at me and laughing behind their hands. When the teacher released us to start our homework, they decided to take what I didn’t realize was my warning shot across the bow, and moved to the desks in front of and next to me. Blocking me in.

  “Hi Azzie,” Leia chirped, smiling insincerely.

  I stared at her blankly.

  “Welcome back,” Alessa added, turning in her seat and fiddling with the pages of my notebook, smiling smugly at my desk as she did. “Feeling better?”

  I shrugged.

  “I get it,” Alessa commiserated, though I still wasn’t sure about what. She picked up my pencil and fiddled with it, and still didn’t look at me.

  “Yeah, totally,” Leia agreed, watching me avidly.

  “You do?” I asked snidely, thinking about how full of shit they really were. There’s no way they understood what the last week had been like.

  “Oh, sure— I mean, I’ve never been dumped by three boys at the same time, but I’ve been through a breakup.” Her words sounded vaguely sympathetic in a passive-aggressive way, but combined with her barely restrained giggles, it was pretty fucking obvious what she was doing.

  “That’s not what happened,” I said flatly.

  “I’d totally take a week off to lick my wounds if Sev dumped me,” Leia agreed, completely ignoring me. “Luckily he hasn’t,” she gazed over at him with dreamy eyes. He looked up at us, brow furrowed, then smiled weakly. I couldn’t help but notice he looked more confused than anything, but after Sasha, my fragile ego wasn’t thinking clearly, and another part of that thing in my chest fractured.

  They said they’d been taking turns sitting with me at the hospital last week. I guess that left plenty of time to date in between their required shifts, per study recommendations.

  “I’m so happy for you,” I said, my voice deadened. “He’s a good guy.”

  “So good,” Alessa agreed, licking her lips. “That thing he does with his knuckles? Oh my gawd. Right, Azzie?”