Mutant Blood

by Thomas Porter

  Chapter 19

  As the sun neared the treetops in the west, Savane rode slightly ahead of Pryce and reached their home's driveway first. She rode through the gate, taking the same path as when she carried her dead sister. She peddled past the spot where Abel first found Gwen and an involuntary impulse pulled her eyes to it. "Don't look. Don't look. Don't look", she said to herself. Then it was behind her. Pryce was close behind and they pulled to the garage together.

  "You need to get your transfusion," Pryce said as he leaned his bike against the right side of the garage.

  "Of course. I guess we stayed out a little long."

  "Maybe a little too long. I'm going to put these with the others," Pryce said, referring to the laptops in their backpacks. He lifted them out of the bike baskets and slung both over his left shoulder.

  They walked to the door together. In the house, Pryce turned to the right and ascended the stairs. He took the backpacks to the empty bedroom next to Maya's, entered it, lowered them to the floor, then carefully stacked the laptops next to the tablet computers Maya had not yet used.

  He heard Savane walking downstairs and calling, "Maya! Maya! We're home." Her calling stopped for about 30 seconds, then resumed in the opposite end of the house. "Maya?" Still no answer.

  Again Savane was quiet for about 30 seconds, then Pryce heard her behind the house. "Maya! We're home!" she continued to call out as she walked past the pool to the beach. Pryce, still in the extra bedroom, looked out the window and saw her stop where the dune grass gave way to the sandy beach. The sun had reached the treetops on the other side of the house and Maya stood in the rapidly darkening shadows. "Maya?" she called toward the waves, but this time something else was threaded into her voice. Fear. Pryce heard it, turned around quickly, descended the stairs as quickly as he could, walked through the window room to the pool area, and yelled, "Savane! Come on back. She never goes down there."

  Savane turned around and walked back through the sand to the pool area. "She isn't anywhere Pryce." Again, he heard that thread of fear mixed in with her voice. It was more prominant than before, as if it were forcibly crowding out other emotions.

  "Don't worry. She's around somewhere. She wouldn't just disappear. I don't think," he said, then turned and walked back to the house. Perhaps he lied to Savane. Perhaps he told the truth. At that moment, he didn't know. Although he could survive into tomorrow evening without a transfusion, if Maya were gone today then death would come soon enough to him as well. His immediate concern, even before his own welfare, which he could worry about tomorrow, was Savane. She needed her transfusion before sunrise or she might not make it. What Pryce knew, but Savane did not because Anthony faithfully provided transfusions to her and his other dependents everyday, was that the ionizing radiation sickness progressed more rapidly if transfusions were missed in close succession. Savane had missed transfusions twice in the last three weeks. If she missed another, sickness would progress rapidly in her.

  Trying very hard not to show his own growing fear, Pryce checked all the rooms upstairs. No one. He then checked the rooms downstairs again, although he knew Savane had already searched them.

  "Did you check the transfusion room?" he asked Savane, who by now was laying on the couch.

  "Why should I?" she replied.

  Pryce walked to the transfusion room, just off the window room, and opened the door. Maya was laying on her back on the litter, eyes closed and ears covered with headphones. His fear escaped him in a burst of relief. He walked to her, lifted the headphones off her left ear, leaned in and said softly, "Maya?"

  She rolled slightly on the litter, made a soft noise in her throat, and lifted her eyelids almost imperceptibly. "I fell asleep. Where have you guys been? I thought you'd never get here. You ready for your transfusion or what?" she asked.

  ~ - ~

  Anthony arrived in downtown Wayton about mid afternoon, not long after Pryce and Savane had left Wayton and headed home. Running through the center of town from east to west was a very wide main street, four lanes plus curb parking on both sides. Anthony stopped in front of "B&G Music and Video". The lamp posts that lined the street, still very much intact, dated to the 1930s. He remembered that the lab he interviewed with, Ceriel Labs, was located in an office park outside town but he couldn't remember beyond that. East of town? West of town? As he rested his right hand on a lamp post, he closed his eyes and turned his head downward. Where was that place? He squeezed his eyelids closed but just...couldn't remember. I wonder if this radiation is frying my mind, he thought. Beside his hair falling out and his skin turning gray, what else was happening to me? Another minute passed and Anthony gave up. There's no way I'm going to squeeze those thoughts out of my brain, he decided. Laying on the sidewalk, unbroken but empty, was a soda bottle. Orange Crush. He stepped off the three-wheeled bike, leaned over, and picked it up. He held it close to the ground and gently skidded it toward the center of the street. It spun as it skittered until it came to rest. Pointing west.

  West it is, Anthony thought. He peddled down the main street toward the sun, which was still high in the sky but on the downhill side of its daily journey.

  As he peddled past the broken sign for the "Stu b e Inn" on the right side of the road near the edge of town, things began to look familiar. Up ahead was an intersection with a traffic light held over the road by a horizontal metal bar. Still mounted on the metal bar was a street sign for "Williams Blvd". All those years ago, when he was dressed in his suit and tie and hoping to do well in the job interview, he remembered driving in search of the Glenn Williams office park. Or was it the Williams Landing office park? No. The "Williams Landing at the Glen". I remember! Anthony thought with a smile as he peddled toward the intersection. When he reached the intersection, he stopped the bike and looked left, then right. There it was, on the right, just as he remembered. He turned his bike and, more quickly than before, peddled down the road.

  He quickly found Ceriel Securities Labs, plainly marked on the entrance of building 4501. He left his bike outside the front entrance and pushed open the broken glass entrance door. The glass that was scattered on the floor inside the door alarmed him but he continued down the hall to the third door on the right. Through the door he heard a strange noise, like hundreds of tiny pebbles being shaken in a box. It reminded him of a TV show he watched once. The filmmakers put miniature cameras and microphones inside an ant colony.

  When he pushed the door open, which was unlocked, 10 or 20 grasshoppers jumped, walked, and flew through the opening. He quickly stepped inside and discovered hundreds of the bugs in the reception area and in the inner hallway to the right. Maybe thousands. At the end of the inner hallway, Anthony saw the window which was left open, allowing them to enter when their swarm passed by outside. They were trapped.

  Anthony quickly checked the doors along this interior hallway. All except one were open. Inside a dark bathroom he found a cardboard box holding toilet paper. He haphazardly dumped the toilet paper onto the floor, went back to the hallway and, for the next 45 minutes, used the box to scoop up the grasshoppers and take them outside, one boxful at a time. A few of the grasshoppers died and he swept these up last.

  As he had done at Transfer Med Lab, his old workplace, Anthony cleaned Ceriel. He was unfamiliar with the layout of Ceriel Labs, though, and cleaning it took him several hours longer. Breaking in the locked door in the hallway was an exercise in futility as it contained cleaning supplies, nothing more. But the two natural gas-fueled cooling incubators, which were fed by tanks just outside the hallway open window, worked perfectly. He decontaminated them with H2O2 he brought from the other lab.

  Anthony worked by the light of two small LED lanterns he brought, and forgot to eat. Late into the night, he allowed himself to feel satisfied. The lab was organized, disinfected, and fully stocked. It was ready. As he sat at a work bench, he resisted the temptation to draw the first of his blood and start the mutation process. This was careful work and he needed rest
before starting.

  He found a corner of the lab, stretched out on the floor, and fell fast asleep.

  ~ - ~

  As Anthony worked in the lab, Pryce worked in Maya's garage. Using an acetylene torch, he cut four bikes apart. Savane held them steady as he cut but she left as he started drilling. Using a top-of-the-line battery operated drill he acquired last year, he managed to make the holes necessary to fasten the pieces together into a serviceable pushcart. He had an unlimited supply of bolts and the bicycle pieces went together easily. In the late late evening, when he was almost finished, Savane walked in and burst out laughing.

  "That is possibly the most ugly thing I've ever seen," she said.

  "You're right about that," Pryce replied. "But I think it will do the job. Want to try tomorrow morning?"

  "Might as well," she said, giggling. "What was the name of that place? Ceriel?"

  Chapter 20

  By 7 a.m. the next morning, Pryce was back in the garage, putting supplies in the pushcart. Despite it's appearance, Pryce was happy with how it turned out. He jumped up and down on it several times and pronounced it sturdy. On the outside of the back wall of the cart, he tied a shot gun. As he was loading a backpack stuffed full with yellow winch straps, 4 inches wide and designed for use by truck drivers, Savane entered the garage.

  "Good morning, Savane," Pryce said. "You ready? Don't laugh. I'm feeling good about this pushcart. I really think we're coming back here with a tank of natural gas tonight."

  "I'm sure we will. I'm sorry that I laughed yesterday," she said.

  "No problem, Savane. It is ugly. I'll grant you that. But remember, I've got unlimited access to all the best stuff and this thing's really held together."

  At that moment, Maya walked into the garage.

  "What's that thing?" she asked.

  Pryce and Savane both looked over at her in surprise.

  "Maya?" Pryce said. "Since when do you wake up so early?"

  "Since when I'm bored. Bored, bored, bored. And who was making all that noise in here?"

  "Sorry, Maya. That was just me testing the pushcart. Did I wake you?"

  "Yes, but that's okay. What's that thing for?"

  Savane answered. "We found a tank of natural gas yesterday in Wayton. A big tank. Pryce said we can use it to cook, heat water, all kinds of stuff."

  Maya, who had never experienced the effort required to gather and chop the wood they used for cooking and heating, didn't understand. "So what? Can't we just use wood like we always do?"

  "Use wood? Do you have any idea..." Savane said, but Pryce cut her off.

  "Yes, Maya. We can just use wood. But if it's okay with you, we'd like to also use natural gas. It will help me," Pryce said.

  "Okay. Sounds good, then. Can I go?"

  "Can you go?" Pryce asked. He could not disguise the disbelief in his voice. Maya, go with them? That cannot turn out well, he thought. Before Savane could speak, Pryce said, "Yes, Maya. If you'd like to go, you can go. We're leaving very soon, though. Are you sure you'll be ready? It might be better for you if you stay home and try some of those computers we brought back yesterday."

  "No way. I'm bored of computers. I'm going with you guys," Maya said, then added as an afterthought, "Okay?"

  Savane, who was slowly learning how Pryce handled Maya, said "Okay, Maya. Yup yup. Sounds fun. We'll have a great time. Super."

  ~ - ~

  About 30 minutes later, the cart was ready and Pryce pushed it to the end of the driveway. Savane helped and the two were ready to set off.

  "Savane, can you please tell Maya we're ready to go?" Pryce said.

  "Sure thing," Savane said and walked to the house.

  A few minutes later, the two girls emerged from the house. Pryce immediately assessed whether Maya was ready for a long day of walking. No coat. Yoga pants. Mary jane flats. Not good.

  "I tell you what, Maya. We'll wait here while you put one some other shoes, maybe hiking shoes. You're really going to want them, trust me. Plus you should grab a coat. I'll carry it for you. You never know when you might want to wear it. And those jeans you wore last week would be great. They fit you and those yoga pants might get ripped."

  Maya stopped walking and looked at Pryce. Savane tilted her head down and turned her eyes to Maya, who stood without speaking for several seconds.

  "Okay, Pryce. Whatever you say. You know best," she said, turned, and walked back toward the house.

  Savane looked at Pryce and rolled her eyes. "Whew," she said to Pryce. "I saw those shoes but was afraid to say anything."

  "Come on. Let's wait by the cart," Pryce said.

  Another ten minutes passed. Finally, Maya emerged from the house again, dressed as suggested by Pryce. "Let's go. This is going to be fun," she said.

  Pryce was the first to push the cart. It's big balloon bicycle tires rolled smoothly and he was surprised at how easy it was to handle. The two dependents walked briskly next to the mutant in the center of the street. About 20 minutes after leaving, they had covered more than a mile. Both sides of the street were lined with million dollar houses, set far back from the roadway but now covered with decay. Vines grew to the roof of one, and on another a maple tree had taken root in the front porch gutter. At another, the front door was missing and there was a path, apparently made by animals, leading into it. At another, a fallen tree branch had knocked down part of the three-foot stone wall that lined the yard and that is where Maya sat down.

  "Are you tired, Maya? Would you like to ride on the cart?" Pryce asked. Savane glanced at him but said nothing. Her face betrayed her annoyance.

  "This walking is crazy. Do you guys go this far all the time?" Maya asked.

  "Yes, Maya," Pryce said. "We go pretty far. It's a lot of work keeping everything working."

  "Wow. Let me ride. I'm really tired and my feet are killing me. Stupid idea, putting these other shoes on."

  As they pushed off, with Maya now in the wagon grinning widely, Savane grabbed the handle and helped Pryce push. After two hours, they reached downtown Wayton and Maya jumped off.

  "Cool lamp posts," she said. "Can we take one home?"

  "Sorry, Maya, not this trip. We are here for the big tank, remember?"

  "Okay. Maybe next time. This is fun, isn't it?"

  Savane answered. Applying what she'd learned from Pryce, she said, "Yes, Maya. This is fun." She then turned her head so Maya couldn't see her face and rolled her eyes again.

  "Are you ready to walk some more, Maya?" Pryce asked.

  "I can do that! It'll be fun," Maya said. "I had no idea how hard you guys work. Do you have to do this kind of stuff all the time?"

  "Yes, Maya, all the time," Pryce said.

  Thirty minutes later, with Savane pushing the cart, Pryce walking next to her, and Maya following closely behind, they reached Williams Boulevard and turned right toward the office park and Ceriel Labs.

  ~ - ~

  As Maya, Savane, and Pryce were walking the first mile toward Wayton, Gabe, Pancho, and Serge were riding south in single file. Pancho watched Maya's GPS tracking information.

  "Hold up, hold up," Pancho said.

  Gabe, who was in front, stopped and swung around on his saddle to look at Pancho, who was in the middle. "What is it?" Gabe asked.

  "I guess you might call this good news, considering the last tracking chip we chased didn't move, and now we know why. This chip is definitely moving. Roughly west. Slow but definitely moving," Pancho said.

  "That's good. Keep me informed," Gabe said. He raised himself on his saddle so he could get a better look at Serge. "You okay back there, Serge? Talk to me."

  "Hmmm," said Serge.

  "Is that a good 'hmmm' or a bad 'hmmm'?" Gabe asked.

  "Hmmmm," said Serge.

  "That's a good 'hmmm'," Pancho, who had worked with Serge for several months and had learned to interpret his grunts, informed Gabe. “I think.”

  Gabe said, "Okay. Don't be a stranger back there, Serge. Talk to me if
you need to. I'm going to call this in to Sandra. The girl is moving."

  ~ - ~

  About the same time Gabe, Pancho, and Serge were trotting in single file toward Maya's ankle bracelet as it slowly moved westward, Anthony had his first four vials of blood drawn and four mixtures of mutant blood/grasshopper hemolymph prepared for mutation in the incubator. His computer was open and running and he periodically looked at the screen intently. As a control measure, he also compared his serum with Hansen's recommendations. For the first time since he lost Savane, Gwen, Orel, Graves, and Hayes, he felt optimistic. This might actually work, he thought to himself.

  But in another corner of his mind Anthony questioned everything. If prepared improperly, if the incubation doesn't run smoothly, might this serum also be a beaker full of death?

  Anthony didn't know it but Hansen had previously manufactured this serum in his home lab and given it to his dependents.

  Anthony didn't know it but in doing so, Hansen had tragically proven that the answer to his question was “yes”.

  Chapter 21

  Anthony walked out of the lab and down the central hallway to the back door. He propped the door open and checked the natural gas tank. Valve is open and pressure is good. Should work.

  He returned to the lab, sat down, and stared at the three serum mixtures that were ready for the incubator. He linked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in the chair, walking through his preparation process step by step in his mind.

  He breathed deeply through his nose, stood up, gently placed the three mixtures into the incubator, closed the door and latched it, shook the latch to make sure the door was solidly closed, and set the timer for 54 hours. Now I wait, he thought, and sat back down.

  His inability to remember where this lab was located, as he was bicycling through downtown Wayton, worried him. Was that a normal lapse of memory, or is the radiation really affecting his mind? Forget one step in the serum production process, or do one step incorrectly, and it could turn to poison. Remember everything and it could save lives. For a brief minute he also realized that if this works, this serum would break the iron grip that Mutant/Resource Communal Control holds over people's lives. But it all depends on his memory and attention to detail. Self-doubt nagged him.