by Eve Langlais
But he’d done too many things bad things in his life to feel guilt. “Maybe if you’d told me you were doing something, I wouldn’t have had to go behind your back.”
“And maybe you should trust me more. How long have we worked together?”
“Awhile.”
“In all that time, you have never shown a romantic interest in anyone.”
“What are you talking about? I fuck plenty when I go to town.”
“Fuck, yes. Care, no. Did you think I wouldn’t notice and help the one person I know is loyal to my cause?”
“In other words, I’m a dick for not trusting you.”
“It’s not your fault. You’re human.” Chimera turned to stare at the vials in the fridge.
Yes, Jett was human. As opposed to… Not for the first time, Jett wondered just what Chimera had done to himself. He knew that the man used to suffer from some debilitating disease, the kind that broke the body and put him in a wheelchair. Chimera became his very first experiment. A successful one by most indications, but what kind of balls—or desperation—did it take to inject yourself with an unproven drug?
“Will she”—start biting people at random, grow a tail, glow in the dark—“have any side effects?”
“She shouldn’t. I’ve been treating her with the same stuff we used on that senator and the European prince.”
He knew of whom Chimera spoke. Success cases who, to the world at large, appeared as miraculous recoveries.
“Thank you.”
“It’s I who should thank you. You’ve been a good man, Jett. A loyal man. Think of this as a reward.”
A damned good reward.
He felt a lot better snuggling her that night. Spooning her into his body. Ignoring the rattle of her breath.
Chimera was fixing her. Yet, a tiny part of him wondered, did he lie?
Chapter Fifteen
“I think you should stay in bed.” Jett didn’t creep out at dawn for once, which meant, when she emerged from the bathroom after an epic coughing fit, he stood there, looking like he wanted to kill something.
If only he could slay her disease.
“I am only staying in bed if you are. Naked, I should add.”
“Can’t. But you don’t sound good. Tell Chimera you need a day off.”
“Not happening. Especially since I feel fine.” She hoped he wouldn’t recognize the lie. This past week, she’d felt herself getting worse.
“Bullshit. You look like crap.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“And your cough is getting worse.” He frowned. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
“No doctors. I’m just a little tired. Bad dreams again.” Dreams of drowning. “Nothing a coffee won’t fix. What I won’t be able to fix is the problem we’ll have if someone sees you in these halls. No boys allowed remember.” A rule that was much laxer than she’d been led to believe.
“Someone says anything, and they’ll regret it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Save the macho act. We don’t need to get in trouble. Shoo. I’ll see you later.” She shoved him toward the door, hoping he didn’t sense the urgency in the act.
Jett left before the tickle in her throat sent her running for the bathroom. The coughing lasted a good several minutes, the red splatter in her sink a chilling reminder. It seemed her chest was always tight these days, gurgling with fluid. Her doctor’s hopeful prediction of six months was proving overly optimistic. The pain meds she’d scored were helping, but she took more and more each day. Jett didn’t know.
She couldn’t tell him even as she knew it wasn’t fair. Why did she have to find him now? The one man who completed her. A man she’d soon have to leave so that he remembered her only during the good times.
Upon emerging from her room, a shiver gripped her, a deep chill that had settled in her bones. She wondered if she should grab a thicker sweater for work. She was so cold. Always cold.
How much longer did she have?
Not long enough. The funny thing about regret was she’d not truly felt any until recently. Until Jett.
It wasn’t even as if the man had said anything to her. Certainly not the L word. In public, he remained surly and unsmiling. He ate with her but scowled at anyone who looked their way. She’d leaned over one day and asked him, “Is there a reason why you’re shooting eye lasers at everyone?”
“Fuckers are staring at you.”
“Of course, they are because they’re wondering how you managed to scoop the cutest nurse in this place.”
“Because my dick is bigger than theirs.”
“Jett!” she exclaimed, her cheeks heating.
His slow sexy smile just about melted her. “What? It’s the truth.”
“You’re so bad.”
“Yup.”
He didn’t deny it, and she wasn’t under any illusions about him. Jett had violent tendencies. A surly attitude. A mocking disrespect of others. But with her...he was a different man. One who gifted her with the most amazing smile, acerbic sense of humor, a need to pleasure her, and made her feel…
“Becky?” The query startled her, and she jumped. How long had she stood mooning in the hallway? She turned to face Margaret, a woman she’d not seen in awhile.
Margaret’s expression bespoke her shock. At times Becky barely recognized herself, the woman in the mirror a shrunken version of herself. Which made her wonder why Jett stuck around.
The conversation started off on the wrong foot, with Margaret gasping, “What happened to you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Becky pulled the door to her room shut then hugged her sweater more tightly around her body. As if that would somehow hide her wasting body.
“You look exhausted.”
“Probably because I am.” She rolled her shoulders. “It happens. I’ve been working long hours and not sleeping well.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine. Just having some weird nightmares.” Terrifying ones that woke her in a cold sweat.
“About?” Margaret seemed genuinely concerned, and for a moment, Becky remembered the friendship they used to share before they both started getting too involved in their work. Before Becky started keeping secrets.
“I’ve been dreaming about water. Lots of water. With me in it.” Becky’s lips twisted. “Which is crazy because I don’t swim.”
“Good thing. That lake is dangerous.”
Margaret wasn’t the first to mention it. She’d heard many warnings about the deceptive depth, the cold, and then the other rumors of things living in the water.
“I heard you fell in and almost drowned.” If it hadn’t been for the quick actions of Margaret’s patient, she would have died. At times, when the pain got bad, Becky wondered if that was what the dreams were predicting. Drowning because of the cancer filling her lungs.
“I didn’t fall,” Maggie blurted.
“So what, someone pushed you?” Had Maggie’s patient shoved her in and then saved her?
Margaret shook her head. “Something in the water yanked me in.”
The words reminded Becky too much of her dream. The one where arms wrapped around her and dragged her down. “Do you remember what it looked like?” she asked in all seriousness.
“I didn’t really see it. It felt like a tentacle, though, wrapped around me. But what kind of lake creature has one? Octopuses live in the oceans.”
“There’s all kinds of things in this world we’ve never discovered. Could be the Ogopogo.” Becky had studied up on legends since coming here. Trying to sort fact from fiction.
“Lake monster?” Margaret wrinkled her nose, and her expression said what she thought.
Becky stiffened. “It’s possible. The lake is deep and could have something never seen before. Scientists find new species every year.”
“Of course, they do. I didn’t mean to say it wasn’t possible. Dr. Chimera says I imagined it.”
“Dr. Chimera says a lot of things. But keep in mind he
has secrets.” So many secrets.
“That’s what Luke says.”
“Ah yes, your miracle patient who recovered. I’ve seen him around. I can see why you didn’t mind playing nursemaid.” At times Becky missed dealing with real people. The rats didn’t seem to like her. Chimera wasn’t exactly the friendly sort when they worked. A good thing she had Jett.
“I wasn’t the one who chose the job,” Margaret replied.
“Wonder what they’ll have you doing now that he’s all better.”
“I’m sure they’ll find me something to do.”
“Speaking of doing, I should get back to work.”
“Take care of yourself, Becky. You really do look run down. Maybe you should ask for some time off.”
Time off would be admitting the sickness was winning. She wouldn’t allow it. Couldn’t.
“I don’t need a break.” Becky shook her head and then, because she couldn’t help herself, “You’re just saying that because you’re jealous I’m working closely with Dr. Chimera. You want to take my place.”
“I’m worried about you is all. Maybe you should see about getting some vitamins or something. Have you been getting fresh air?”
“I don’t need you worrying about me.” A lie. She wanted someone to care, but if she told Maggie how sick she was, she’d have to deal with her pity. “I’m fine. All good. I just came to grab a sweater. I’m going for a walk.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Becky heard the undertone. You’re weak. You need help.
And the worst part? It was true. The problem remained. Nothing could fix what ailed her. Probably too late even for Chimera’s magic serums.
She took off, making her turn outside short. The fresh air only served to aggravate her lungs.
Soon enough, she was in Dr. Chimera’s secret lab, eyeing the locked fridge with the various remedies. She’d once asked him why there were so many different ones.
“Because everyone has a different need.” She still remembered him pointing to a lovely aquamarine one with a silvery sheen, the same one he’d shown her before. “That one might one day cure asthma.” He then indicated a green one. “Skin regeneration.” The purple one might be a cure for heart disease. Yellow, the liver.
Not for the first time, she wondered what would happen if she got a hold of the cure. Would a full vial be enough? Or would one dose be like trying to put out a blazing inferno with a tiny water pistol?
The rats didn’t need much of the fluids for the tumors to shrink. But they were tiny in comparison to her. She’d pricked herself one day when Chimera wasn’t watching and the cameras were down for maintenance. The tiny amount she took didn’t have enough in it to make a difference.
What if she could get more? She eyed the rack of the cure in the fridge.
Go big or go home. Auntie never did believed in half measures. However, taking even a single vial would be noticed. The cameras in the lab watched her every move. Even if she did score a vial, would one be enough?
The list of tasks Chimera had left included more rat testing. The new batch of rodents delivered only a few days before appeared perfectly healthy. She had no idea what was in the pink serum she injected half of them with. Asking Chimera meant getting a boisterous, “Revolutionary stuff.” Which explained nothing.
She spent a moment preparing her tray. Prefilling the syringes. Getting her alcohol swabs ready. Putting on gloves. Dealing with rats wasn’t her idea of a good time. They freaked her out with their beady eyes and fleshy tails.
With her station prepped, she wheeled the cart over to the cages at the back. The rats inside stopped what they were doing to sit on their haunches and glare.
Yes, glare, their whiskers not moving as they watched her every move. Probably smelling the death oozing from her skin and cheering it on.
Jett claimed it was her imagination. She begged to differ when those red orbs zeroed in on her.
Hating them, though, didn’t mean she would neglect her tasks.
“Okay, Bertha. You’re first,” she murmured as she coaxed the white rat over into a different cage via a tunnel.
Bertha didn’t even wait for Becky to lower a treat to tempt her. She scurried into the empty cage and sat, little paws clasped, as if she knew what was expected of her. For all Becky knew, the rat did understand. Who knew what kind of cognition these injections gave them
She dropped the wall that sealed off the tunnel then lifted the door to the cage and reached in. Bertha didn’t move and allowed Becky to grab her. She lifted her out of the cage.
“Sorry about this.” She apologized every time. Unable to stand the staring red eyes.
As she brought the needle near, Bertha acted. She whipped her head around and chomped on Becky’s hand. The latex gloves did nothing to stop the stinging pain. Becky gasped, and her fingers reflexively spasmed, releasing the rat, who landed on the cage.
Not that Becky cared about the rat. Blood welled up through the incisions left by its teeth.
“Oh shoot.” She ran for the sink and the disinfectant kept alongside it. A fierce scrubbing followed by the application of antibacterial cream and a bandage took care of the bleeding bite. It took only a few minutes.
When she turned away from the sink, it was to blink uncomprehendingly. The rats, every single one of them, sat outside the cage. Staring at her.
That can’t be good.
“How did you get out?” she whispered. Because the cage door was closed. She never touched it. Yet now it hung open. And sitting beside it?
Bertha.
“Did you do that?” she asked, planting her hands on her hips. “Dr. Chimera is going to be giddy if it turns out he made you smart.”
The cameras would have caught what happened. And now she had to catch those rats, or at least as many as possible, before they escaped.
“Back into the cage now. I’ve got cheese,” she sang, pulling out a chunk from her pocket and waving it.
The rats didn’t appear to care and turned to look at Bertha. The furry shake of a head had Becky gaping.
“Did you just say no?” She waggled the hand with the treat. “But it’s cheese. You love cheese.”
Apparently, Bertha liked freedom more. She hissed before leaping to the floor, her rodent friends swarming behind her.
“Get back over here.” The escaping rodents didn’t listen. They swarmed to a ventilation grill alongside a locked door—hiding a room she’d never seem. They managed to squeeze their bodies through the honeycomb holes, leaving Becky alone and wondering where the rats would end up.
I might want to find some mousetraps. Just in case they went looking for revenge and found the ventilation duct to her room. It would suck to wake up to them chewing on her face.
She headed for the intercom, knowing she had to page Dr. Chimera. She pressed the button and said, “Tell the doctor there’s been an incident.”
“What kind?” his secretary asked.
“Rodent escape.”
“We’ll send someone down to catch it.”
“Might not be that easy. It wasn’t one of them, but all of them. And they got into the ventilation system.”
“Oh dear.” The line went dead.
When it opened again, Chimera barked, “The rats escaped! How? I thought I told you to never open the main cage.”
“I didn’t.” Then, despite knowing how crazy it sounded, said, “I think Bertha figured out how to open it.”
“It worked.” The breathed words reinforced her belief. Chimera was playing with their intelligence.
“I don’t know what worked, but I can tell you they escaped and are at this moment somewhere in the ducts, doing who knows what.”
“I’ll be right down.”
The call ended, and she leaned against the wall beside it. Her tray of tools still sat beside the cages. The syringes and their pink fluid unused. Not even tempting. She didn’t need more brains.
She pushed off from the wall and decide
d she might as well get the stuff put away. As she neared the far wall, and the grill the rats escaped via, she heard it.
A distant roar.
What on Earth? She crouched down and eyed the grill. She half expected to see beady red eyes staring back. Nothing appeared. She chalked it up to her imagination and was about to rise when she heard it again. The brutish snorts of an animal.
Did Chimera keep something bigger than a rat in that hidden room? As far as she knew he didn’t have permission to experiment with larger mammals. Not even chimps. So what was hiding in there?
She stood and frowned at the door. The doctor had never let her see inside. Yet, more than once, he’d emerged from there when she worked.
She took a step closer to the door, knowing it would be locked. The doctor alone entered it, using a palm print rather than a key card.
The intercom in the room crackled. “Get out.”
She rolled her eyes. “The rats are gone. I’m fine.”
“Get out, Red. Now.” The panic in Jett’s voice caught her attention. She turned to look at the camera in the ceiling, knowing he watched.
What had him panicked?
Click.
Her eyes widened as she heard the lock on the door to the hidden room disengage. Had the doctor been inside all this time?
The portal opened, a thick metal thing meant to withstand quite a bit of force. Probably because what stood behind it needed a sturdy prison door.
“Ohmygod.” She froze in place as she stared at the monster in front of her. And yes, monster was the only word. Seven feet tall, thick, and bullish in features, the thing stared around wildly before focusing on her.
“Eep.” Self-preservation kicked in, and she ran for the other door, only it didn’t budge. A robotic voice said, “Lockdown initiated.”
Lockdown? But she was in here with a monster. She whirled at the sound of destruction, only to see the minotaur-like beast rampaging around the room. Grabbing hold of machines and tossing them. Sweeping counters clear. Since he seemed more intent on breaking than killing, she dove out of sight, scrambling to hide behind a counter, doing her best to hold her breath.