Antidote Trilogy: The Complete Box Set

by Taylor Hondos

  As we pulled into the lot, I asked if he would walk inside so I could go to the restroom. He told me that he would. I felt afraid to go in, but I didn’t want us to be separated. Whenever something came after us, I wanted them to know I would do everything to protect Jared and not myself.

  Jared got out and followed me. He walked behind me as if he wanted to protect me. I wanted to tell him there wasn’t a point; I’d probably be dead from the disease soon, anyway.

  We entered the gas station, and I asked a stubbly man behind the counter where the bathroom was. He only threw a hand up to the left of the store. Jared stayed behind and searched through the gas station for food. “Want anything?”

  “I want some Twizzlers,” I said with a smile.

  “On it,” he said, searching down the aisle.

  I walked down a dimly lit, narrow hallway. The walls were a flaxen color and the floor was bright red. I had to wait for someone in the bathroom. I listened to the music and closed my eyes as I waited. I hummed along to the melody and smiled as the song progressed. The door opened abruptly and a girl almost five feet tall came out with short blonde hair. She didn’t look at me but into the distance. I couldn’t even see what she looked like as she walked away. I felt uneasy as she descended the hallway, but I shook my head to snap out of it.

  I entered the bathroom and found my reflection in the mirror. I looked a mess. I wondered if I should try to look decent now. Then again, Jared already knew that I was a disaster. I moved my sleeve up, and I was appalled at how much it had changed.

  The black specks from that morning had turned to deep red and black blotches all over my arm. It looked as if it had been bleeding for a while, but there was no blood on my white shirt. The cut seemed to be healing, and it didn’t look bad. It was the surrounding area that wasn’t okay. I felt like crying, but I moved the fabric back over my skin. Out of sight, out of mind, as people used to say. That was bullshit. I choked back tears and looked straight in the mirror. I told myself to stop being a coward. Maybe I should just tell Jared. He could take me to get the cure. That was what I had to do. I had to march out there and tell him that this was what had to be done. I would tell him, but I would be strong, no matter what.

  I jerked the door open with force and confidence, but stopped short. The girl with the pixie cut blonde hair was standing directly in front of it. Her face was right against it, and she smiled in a sinister way.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked. Then she turned her head to the side and quickly reached for my arm. I jerked back. I began to slam the door in her face, but she stopped it with her foot. She kicked it open hard and I fell to the ground against the filthy sink. She smiled as she looked at me with her bright blue eyes. Her stare was so fierce I almost felt as if my body was going to burst into flames just from a stare.

  “Ah, you must be Lena,” she said, and as she did she took my arm and turned it until I screamed. “Hmm, looks like you’re sick. Maybe I should take you with me.”

  She laughed as I screamed, and I looked into her eyes again. This time they weren’t blue but flashed into an emerald color, just like Max’s once had. She began talking so fast I could barely catch on to her words, all I could hear was, “here….come….”

  She was talking into her arm. I was taken aback at the scene before me. Although she looked ridiculous, she was going to take me, or worse than that, kill me. She must have been calling for those who wanted Jared and me dead, so I acted fast. I bit down onto the hand that was holding me, and I kicked her as hard as I could in the stomach. She let go, which surprised me, and I got up hastily. I ran as fast as my legs let me, which wasn’t very impressive. Jared was standing at the counter when I ran to him and he looked to me as if I were crazy.

  “What’s wrong?” he yelled to me.

  “Run!” I managed to scream at the top of my lungs. I felt winded, which must have been a side effect of the sickness. As I yelled this, I felt someone hit the back of my head hard, and I yelped as I fell to the ground. I watched as the man behind the counter suddenly jumped onto Jared. As Jared tumbled down, I felt another pound against my skull.

  The corners of my eyes were blurry, and I saw black blotches around me. I closed my eyes and laid my head against the tile floor. As soon as I did, the banging instantly stopped, and the weight of the girl seemed to have been lifted off me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the man who jumped on Jared was against the wall, with the girl beside him. Jared had one hand curled around each of their necks and they were being lifted from the floor. I didn’t know how he had the strength to do this or how Jared got both of them with ease, but I did know I was useless in protecting him. He didn’t need me; he could protect himself and me.

  “Who sent you here?” he screamed at the girl in a far too scary tone.

  I slowly got up as he let go of her neck to slam his fist into her nose. Normally, I would oppose this behavior, but right now it seemed appropriate. He grabbed her neck again while rising her off the floor.

  “No one sent me. I’m here because if I find her,” she shot her deadly glance at me, “I get a bonus. And if I get you, I get the cake,” she struggled out.

  “Why do they want her? Do you know?” he demanded, but she didn’t answer. Jared tightened his grip on her neck, and she let out a strangled sound before he loosened back up.

  “No, I don’t know. We aren’t allowed to ask questions. I don’t even know who sends me the messages. But I’m after her, and I’m not leaving without her. She’s going to die anyway.” She laughed an evil little laugh, and I cringed at the sound.

  “She won’t die. I will protect her. I’ve done a good job of it already.”

  “We won’t kill her, but that disease will. Hasn’t she told you?” She laughed insanely at the stare he must have been giving her. My heart was sinking. I should have already told him, but I was too afraid.

  I didn’t see his face, but I felt the atmosphere change as he slowly turned his gaze over to my eyes. I dropped mine to the floor quickly, and he knew that it was true. I peered back up and was surprised he didn’t scream because his face looked like it was in outrage. He turned back to the girl who was still smiling at me.

  “We are leaving, and you will stay here. You, too.” He pointed to the man who hadn’t said a word.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t move,” the man said. “They’re almost here. They’ll catch you.” The man looked over to the girl and they smiled as their eyes flickered to emerald like flames.

  Jared didn’t have to tell me twice to run. He grabbed my good arm, and we darted for the car. As we got into it, the sky turned from light to dark in a matter of seconds. I peered up, and it looked as if five hundred birds were in the sky. Jared started the ignition and then drove full throttle. We reached the end of the street when about forty figures dropped from the sky in front of us. They all had emerald eyes.

  My screams filled the air.

  “Calm down,” Jared shouted back to me. The sky was so dark it seemed as if it were 12:00 at night rather than 3:00 in the afternoon.

  “Drive!” I shouted through the darkness.

  “It won’t do us any good, Lena. They won’t move.”

  They all walked forward steadily. He pulled out his gun that had moved Max and Joseph out of the way two days ago, and many moved now, but a few of them continued to walk forward with ease.

  Jared began to drive in reverse, but more waited for us there. I shut my eyes and covered my ears because they all spoke in sinister voices. All of them were chanting my name. I started to scream. This was the end. I could feel it.

  As I screamed, the chanting grew louder and I started screaming louder. “Shut up! Shut up,” I said silently while bending over in my seat.

  The chanting surrounded me now as I yelled into the air. I held my necklace tightly in my hands as tears built in my eyes, and I cried, “Go away.” The chanting stopped, and I stared up. I caught a glimpse of the last few people, flying up into the air. I froze. They had all
left.

  Jared looked over to me and it was as if he was frozen over as well. “What did you just do?” He looked to me curiously.

  “Uh. Me?” I looked around and the sky was clear once more. “They’re probably coming back. I didn’t do a thing.”

  He began to drive again, and we turned onto the highway. “I wonder how safe we are. Maybe they’re tricking us. I don’t think we’ll be safe for long. Why do they keep letting us go? This is ridiculous. I don’t understand. Are they just trying to scare us?” he stammered out. And I sat in silence. Did they leave because of me?

  Jared let the conversation go, but now I feared he thought I was a coward for not telling him I was sick. He looked confused and he seemed to be frantically racking his brain for an explanation to what just happened. Maybe he would forget that I didn’t tell him that I was sick.

  “Lena. I want to talk about something.” He was thinking about it. “Will you just tell me if she was being serious?”

  I didn’t answer, and he stopped the car. Just as he did, the storm I saw in the clouds at the diner finally caught up to us. The rain pattered on the vehicle, and I looked out the window toward the dark rainclouds. “Uh, Jared. This doesn’t seem safe. We need to keep going.”

  “Show me where it is.” I sat in place, not looking at him but instead at the ground. He raised his voice, “Show me it. Now!” he screamed into the darkness of the car.

  I stared at him in shock and pulled my sleeve up obediently and watched his face. It turned to anger, disbelief, hurt and pain in all of three seconds. He turned the car back on and continued to drive. He didn’t speak.

  “Jared,” I said calmly, but he didn’t respond. “Can we talk about this?”

  He looked into the distance on the road. “Lena. I understand why you didn’t tell me. I’m nothing to you. But I would have at least liked to know about this. I could have taken more precautions. How did you even?” He stopped talking, and I watched him take a deep breath and sigh. “When did it show up?” he shouted more to himself than me.

  “The hotel,” I said. He shook his head in bewilderment, but he didn’t have any answers about the disease as I had hoped. We rode for about thirty minutes as I waited for him to talk. I refused to speak so I started a countdown in my mind. If he didn’t talk in ten minutes, I would just lay it out there.

  Right before I was about to speak, he said, “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you. What if I could have stopped it?”

  I stared blankly outside. “What could you have done? There is nothing to be done. It’s here and I’ll die. Maybe I should go get the cure.”

  He slammed his hand onto the dashboard and screeched, “You will not get the cure, Lena. I won’t allow that at all!”

  “Why not?” I shouted back to him. “You think you can control me? I’m dying. Why do you want me to die, Jared? So you don’t have to deal with me or protect me?” The anger built up in me until I was shaking.

  He stopped the car for the second time. “What good are you dead?”

  “What does that even mean? You keep saying that, but I’m not good to you alive either.” It stung to know that I would die without a purpose. Without helping anyone at all.

  He acted as if I never spoke at all. “Lena, I have been observing those with the cure while you slept at the hotel. I’ve tried to understand what the catch is. And I think I’ve figured it out. The cure is mind control. I don’t know how and I don’t know what the cure is, but it isn’t safe. I won’t lose you that way. I won’t let you get the cure until I know what it is. You saw them. You saw Joseph,” He yelled.

  He was right. Their eyes were strange. The other thing was the fact that these people were super human.

  “Were those.” I hesitated. “What are those things? Those people. Are they even people?”

  “Those things back there had the cure, I’m almost positive. I don’t know what they are, but I’m sure Gabe will have answers. We’ll have to contact him. Maybe he can find a cure for you. The world needs you,” he told me. I was lost because why would the world need me? The sick girl with the disease? I had to try to save them even if I didn’t know how.

  “I want to save them,” I said silently.

  “Then we will. Together,” he said as he reached his hand over to me and squeezed.

  ***

  We approached an abandoned shopping mall, and Jared pulled to the back. He reached for the bulky phone and told me he would be right back. I rolled down the window to listen, but he was all the way down the sidewalk along the woods. I caught a glimpse of my head in the side mirror and gulped.

  My forehead had gotten a dark spot around it, and I knew what it meant. It was spreading. I almost retched as I caught sight of my arm with pieces of dark colored skin flaking off. I started to bleed a little, and the smell was excruciating. The smell coming from my arm could only be described as death. There was barely any undamaged tissue and it was spreading fast. The blackness was rising up my arm toward my shoulder, but it wasn’t quite there yet. I fought back the tears burning my eyes. Crying wouldn’t fix anything. I had to be strong. I had to be strong for everyone.

  Jared climbed back into the car and turned to me.

  “Gabe said he’s put a watch on the car and he’ll keep track of the people chasing us.”

  “How can he do that? My dad’s car doesn’t have a tracking chip in it,” I told him in an unbelieving tone.

  He smiled at the sound of astonishment in my voice. “Gabe can do anything. Seriously. He’ll signal us if we are being chased.”

  “How are we going to see the signal?”

  He laughed, and said, “Oh. We’ll know.” He started the car and drove onto the main road again.

  “Since you refuse to answer anything I ask, how about this?” I said annoyed. “How long until we make it?”

  “I’m going to speed up. This car is capable of going faster than the speed limit.”

  “That didn’t answer my question,” I said frustrated, but he ignored me. “What if a cop catches you speeding?”

  “Well, they would have to catch us first.” And then I lurched forward.

  Chapter Ten: The Drive

  WE GOT INTO North Carolina fast. I looked to the speedometer and realized that Jared had been driving about 160 the whole way. He weaved in and out of the cars on the highway. I was very happy to see that there even were people out. At least the entire United States wasn’t like Texas. I began sweating because I was scared, or maybe it was another side effect of the disease. My father never mentioned that, though.

  I didn’t know why the cops hadn’t stopped us or tried to, but then, I didn’t remember seeing any along any of the roads. Maybe they weren’t something we needed anymore because the death rate continued to climb. I looked over to Jared. He hadn’t spoken to me for almost an hour. I hadn’t noticed how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him as I glanced out the window to the woods speeding by along the highway.

  “Lena, I didn’t want to tell you what Gabe and Holland found out.” He tensed up even more, and I saw the vein in his forehead. I wanted to tell him to calm down, that everything would turn out all right, but I didn’t believe it myself.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked collectedly.

  “The cure. On the phone, Gabe told me that he has been researching. He found someone lingering outside the safe house. They were trying to find a way in so Gabe actually took him inside because he suspected he had the cure. He did. And Gabe tried to look inside him to see what the cure actually is.” He shut his eyes for a half a second. “Just a small incision.”

  “What did he find?” He didn’t speak. I felt my forehead getting clammy as I panicked. “Jared! Talk to me.”

  He took a deep breath before answering. “Gabe said he didn’t find anything because when there was an incision made, the person exploded.” He stopped speaking, and I felt my eyes water. An innocent person died. “
Gabe’s upset. He thinks they are set for self-destruction if they are tampered with. It’s completely ludicrous, and Gabe is really torn up about it.” Jared let me sit in silence for a second.

  “Well, what does that mean for the others? There is no way to get them back to who they were?” I asked through the silence.

  Jared spoke serenely but frustrated. “That won’t happen to you because you won’t have the cure.”

  “I don’t care about me! I don’t want these people to die,” I told Jared. I didn’t want anyone else to die. It wasn’t fair. “What can we do?”

  “Gabe has told us to come as soon as possible because you could die without the cure now. Lena, someone is messing with you specifically because you have all the answers.”

  “I have no answers at all!” I howled. “I have absolutely nothing to give them.”

  “Calm down. Jeez,” he scoffed. “Listen, the disease was manmade. Someone made this disease so they could give you and the others the cure.” I was silent and I felt my body tense. I felt my heart beating in my chest. Thankfully, he didn’t notice my tensed body now. “They want to control your mind, so they can get answers. They want to know what your father knew and created. They want full control of the world.”

  I let this sink in and sat in silence. I was unsure what to do or say.

  “We’ll figure this out, and you have to have patience with me. We have to be a team and not fight over this. When we get to Gabe, we’ll have more answers about the disease,” he reassured me.

  “How do you know so much?”

  “I know everything I know from your father. I’ve have told you this already. Why don’t you believe me?” He balked, frustrated.

  “I just wonder why he never told me. He never mentioned your name or any warnings about the disease or the fact that I’m so crucial to the world.” I was lying, but I wanted to know more from Jared first. “I just don’t know who to trust sometimes. Sometimes I ask him to send me a sign, and he never does.” I felt hurt, but I didn’t let him know it. “It’s silly, but my dreams always give me answers. That’s my only source of a sign,” I told Jared.