by Cass Kim
Renna’s entire body turned to ice when she took in the scene. Royce Algin stood over a prone Alyssa, one booted foot squarely on her chest, holding the infected head, still oozing slow, fat drops of blood, just off to the side of her.
“Look, my little betraying creature of the night.” His grin was too wide, too tight, even in his frozen face. “I’ve found the perfect new subject. If you move even one inch toward me, I’ll shove this infected head into her face. Do you know how small the chances are of her not getting infected?” He paused, and when Renna didn’t answer, he inched the dripping head closer to Alyssa. “Do you? Respond to me!”
Renna inclined her head slightly. Alyssa’s eyes, wide and shocked, were bright with tears. The light brown of them, so familiar, looked almost copper in the moonlight. She wouldn’t allow this to happen. Alyssa would get the chance to get a normal, safe vaccine.
“Do you know this one?” Royce’s grin still stretched his over-stuffed lips, manic. “Is she your friend? You really shouldn’t bring your human friends out to play like this.”
Nostrils flaring, Renna looked long and hard at Alyssa. Alyssa, who was strong, and smart, and quick to act. Who had saved her life with her actions, and maybe saved her brother’s sanity with her stubbornness. Alyssa, who was the bravest person she knew. She looked up at Royce Algin, keeping her voice perfectly smooth, and said, “I don’t even know who that is.”
His brows arched wildly, dancing up and down, as he looked to the head in his hands. “What do you think, Jerry?” He shook the head back and forth, a jerky rotation of the fist wound in the short hair. “No? You think she’s lying? Should we test it? Or shall we just keep running?”
Growling, Renna launched herself Wilder-fast at the cause of her nightmares, giving him no chance to turn his attention or his gory head back toward her best friend. Alyssa, eyes glued on Renna throughout Royce’s speech, rolled hard away from him, clearing out of the way just as Renna slammed into the man.
The head rolled out of his grasp as he hit the ground. Renna pulled back and slammed her fist into his face, once, twice, three times. Until she heard and felt the satisfying crunch of his cheekbone fracturing. Overtaken with rage, she drew back and slammed her fist into his nose, heedless of the pain in her wrist and knuckles.
It was the hot spurt of blood pouring out of his nostrils that halted her. Emerson’s word echoed in her head We’re not some mindless rage filled zombies. We’re still in control of our actions.
Shaking, she pulled away from the unconscious man and rolled him onto his side, so he wouldn’t drown in his own blood. Fighting down tears, warring with the anger she felt, Renna was careful to place the flexicuffs on his hands in a way that would not cut off his circulation.
She knew, deep down, the worst punishment for this man would be to spend the rest of his life watching his name become synonymous with evil. Rather than being known for saving humanity, he would be known forever as the man whose greed and ego almost destroyed the human race. And she would make sure every single newspaper and magazine article naming him as awful was sent to him, wherever the government kept him.
Alyssa, now on her feet, stood next to her looking down at him. The woods were quieter, gunshots no longer erupting.
“Do you think the implants in his face ruptured when you hit him?” Alyssa’s voice was shaky despite her attempt at bravado.
Renna shrugged, cradling her throbbing hand to her chest. “I thought it was just Botox.”
“Girl, those cheek bones were so fake.” Alyssa nudged the unconscious man with her toes. “Is this the guy that ran things?”
“Yeah.” She stared down at Royce Algin, wondering what would happen to him.
Who cared? The invasion was over. The vaccine was being perfected. Emerson was trotting through the woods toward them, whole and unharmed, holding up a thumb to indicate the mission was complete. There would be no more secret camp in the woods.
Maybe, just maybe, the virus that had started when she was five, that had changed her entire life, would also be eradicated during her lifetime. No more little girls would be trapped in cars, watching their father try to beat the windows in. No more families would have to choose between reporting a loved one for infection and watching them die, or risking their own lives hoping they were wrong about the symptoms.
Renna turned her face up to the moon, and for the first time, she felt hope that she would no longer have to think about which she was: the predator or the prey.
Epilogue
Renna
“Alyssa! We’re here,” Renna called up to the open window of the room that had been hers growing up. No matter what else was happening in their lives, every year in the past five years they’d made it a point to get together on the anniversary of the night Royce Algin had been stopped. It was close enough to Thanksgiving that they usually made a turkey and all the fixings.
“Oh! Hey, door’s open, come on up. I think Jammin could use some help with Lorabelle. She’s a bit of a diva about her clothes these days.”
Emerson, standing behind Renna with his arms loaded with the late fall harvest from their gardens, hollered up, “I wonder where she gets that from!”
Renna gripped the silicone coated door handle and let Emerson in the house to dump the squash and the late peppers on the large countertop before jogging up the stairs to see his niece. Even though she knew her Mom would be arriving later, she always felt like she had to check the fridge for notes when she came into the kitchen. It had taken a long time to mend that relationship.
For so many years she’d believed her mother blamed her for her father’s death. After they’d returned from the camp, both her children somehow alive but very different, her mother had tried to explain. It wasn’t that she saw her dead husband in her daughter, but that she saw her own fear and lapse in judgement. How, that day when she’d gotten to the house and seen the damage to the car, and tiny Renna trapped there, she realized her fear had almost killed her daughter. After that moment, she felt guilt and sadness and fear all over again when she was with Renna. But anger was so much easier to express. Easier to use to keep pushing through those long shifts, the piling up bills. The overwhelming sense of not being able to do everything alone. So, she’d avoided things, avoided Renna.
Staring up the collage of photos Alyssa constantly pasted on the fridge, Renna knew that her wounds from those years of anger weren’t entirely healed. But they were trying. The memories they were making to prove it smiled back at her frown.
“Aunty Renna!” Lorabelle’s dark hair peeked around the corner of the stairwell, ducking back out of sight when Renna turned. Laughing, dark thoughts washed away, Renna darted over to the three-year-old and swung her up in a big arc before settling her onto her hip.
“Hey little Munchkin. I like your outfit.” Striped cat leggings were topped with a fluffy tutu and a pink and purple polka dotted sweater.
“Thanks!” She ducked her head shyly, snuggling into Renna’s shoulder for a moment before squirming to be let down.
The boys followed her out into the yard, Benjamin pausing to hug Renna hello. “Alyssa will be down in a minute. She’s having a hard time getting the baby to settle. She said you can come up if you want to.”
It had taken almost a year after the camp invasion to get Benjamin to a stable place. It had been the number one focus of Soo Kim while her husband worked toward perfecting and then helping with the mass distribution of the vaccine. He still took a daily pill, similar to the medications used to treat depression, that helped regulate his serotonin uptake.
Because of the nature of the camp and the outcome of the vaccine, nobody had seen jail time from the original CDC scientists. However, each person involved had signed an agreement that the camp would never be spoken of. Any written records of its existence were altered or destroyed. The world believed the American Government had led and sanctioned all research toward the working vaccine.
Renna met Tim Tam on the stairway up to t
he baby’s room. Her old room. She crouched down and chucked his chin, his old eyes rheumy and his purr more of a rattle. Planting a kiss between his ears, she allowed him to pass her as he slowly trailed after his new favorite human, who was outside in the late afternoon rays.
In the bedroom, the laughter of Emerson and Lorabelle playing on the swing set drifted through the open window. Alyssa was rocking the baby in the rocking chair, her long blond hair pulled up in a messy bun to avoid the chubby grasping hands.
“Oh, thank God. Aunty Renna wants a turn trying to get you to sleep, little guy.” Her best friend grinned and stood, handing the baby off to Renna and whispering, “I have had to pee for like ten minutes straight, but he just keeps waking up as soon as I settle him in the crib.”
Renna snuggled him onto her shoulder, swaying slowly and waving Alyssa off to the bathroom.
“Do you care if I take a quick shower before everybody else gets here?” Alyssa didn’t wait for a response, darting down the hall and closing the door.
Ignoring the rocking chair, Renna stood in the cool breeze coming from the window, knowing that soon the snow would start, warm fall or not. The baby snuggled closer into her neck, and she tugged the blanket up to cover his bald head.
“I know, buddy. It’s hard to sleep sometimes.” She still had nightmares about her time with Royce Algin. Emerson would wake her up and hold her close, reminding her that they were okay, they were in their own little house, safe. They hadn’t gotten married. But they had purchased a small house a mile or so away from her childhood home.
Not able to have children of their own, as soon as Alyssa and Benjamin had gotten approved to adopt, Renna and Emerson bought the house to be close to them. Because the vaccine took time to create and to distribute, there were still some countries that were fighting outbreaks, even two and three years after its completion. The paperwork and cost of adoption was insane, but Alyssa was a tiger when it came to her kids. The second she’d seen the tiny baby girl when she was in the Philippines helping Syd for a month at a camp there, giving vaccines, she’d fallen in love. And so, Lorabelle Yvette Miller had come home with Alyssa the following year.
Lost in thought and swaying habitually, she hadn’t realized the baby in her arms was sleeping until Alyssa crept back into the room, and slid the window mostly shut.
“Thomas Jackson Miller, you little stinker,” Alyssa whispered, taking the baby from Renna gently settling him into the crib. “You always fall asleep for Aunty and never for Mommy.”
Watching her best friend double check the crib for loose blankets, Renna thought about how different their lives would be if Alyssa hadn’t come to her house looking for her all those years ago. The shared experience at the camp and in the tumultuous year afterwards had created a bond between them all that was unbreakable. It had taken almost that entire time for Benjamin to relent to his feelings for Alyssa. To stop fearing that he was would be trapping her with a monster. Alyssa had remained unusually steady and patient throughout that time.
“I’m going to leave the window cracked in case he cries. We’ll hear him, trust me.” Alyssa shook her head at the baby, tawny eyes reflecting the golden rays with just a hint of copper deep in her pupils. People carrying cellphones and spending hours in front of TVs had disappeared with the distribution of the vaccine. The people that received the finalized vaccine were less sensitive to metal and electricity, but it was still uncomfortable to be constantly surrounded by electronics. Cars were almost all plastic now, and Renna and Emerson still couldn’t tolerate them. Life had changed in many ways, but people had done what they do best and adapted.
The girls wandered outside to watch their loved ones play in the setting sun, confident and safe. Renna bent down and scooped up Tim Tam, burying her face in his fur. His ribs were more noticeable, and his movements stiff. In her heart, she knew his time would come, and soon. But she planned to show him as much love as she could until then.
They all knew now how precious these quiet moments were. She intended to bask in each and every one she was granted.
Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading!
The best way to show an author you liked (or disliked) a book is to leave a review.
Please review this book on Amazon and Goodreads.
As always, no book is created in a void of words and computers (thought it sometimes feels like it). HUGE, enormous, gigantic thank you to: My mom, who read each teeny tiny crack of dawn, type-o laden installment as I wrote it and kept asking for more. A.W. Wang (Author of the Ten Sigma series), who did a crazy amount of line edits and gave thoughtful suggestions. Meg Holeva, who stayed up wicked late getting editing feedback done for this book as well. Brittany, who on our many walks stopped to let me take photos that might make good covers and played the “what could be behind this tree?” game.
Always, thank you to my family for their continued support and enthusiasm about my writing. Not every author is lucky to have that, I appreciate it deeply (I see you, Cuzzy, aunts, dad and brother!)
The Writing Community on Twitter is full of some really fantastic people, and there are nods in this book to several of you. Kind of a tiny thank you for the friendship and support on this journey.
Thanks to my husband for not griping about the long weekend hours I write, or the stupid early time I wake up to write in the mornings. I bet he reads this page long before he reads the full book. (Hah, I know you’re reading this, and I win).
Also, stay tuned for the Sage Roberts series in 2020!
If you didn’t know, each year I head and create an anthology of spooky young adult stories with other authors, and the profits go to a different charity for each anthology.
The 2019 Anthology “Autumn Nights: 13 Spooky Fall Reads” donates to the ASPCA (we’ve donated almost $2,000 as of February 2020.
You can find it here: My Book
The 2020 Anthology “Autumn Nights: 12 Chilling Tales for Midnight” will be on pre-sale September of 2020, and profits will be donated to Feed America.
About the Author
Cass Kim is a lot of energy in a petite form. She enjoys running, walking the dog, reading, and cooking. Oh, and writing. She also works a lot and tweets. You can find her on twitter: @CassKim_writes