Marcus approached me with a weird, satisfied look on his face. “Okay, Amy, your first job as a Guardian is to retrieve the trail markers we used for the run. You can put them in the Rumble Room office.”
“All right.” I was tired and disappointed to have to do such a tedious chore, but at least I was a Guardian.
Five minutes into my task, I heard Marcus’s voice again. “Amy!”
My hand went to my communicator in my hood at my ear. “Yes. I’m here.”
“We’re going to do some stealth training. When you’re done, meet us out by the dairy farm, in the western field. Do you know it?”
“Yeah, sure,” I told him. I quickly gathered up the rest of the flags and dropped them off in the Rumble Room. After that, I hustled toward the pasture. When I reached the field, I immediately knew that something was wrong. There were no other Guardians. They should have already been there.
“Hello?” I called uncertainly. I reached again to the communicator at my ear. Pressing it anxiously, I realized it was disabled.
I heard a sound across the field. Drawing my gun, I turned quickly and scanned the field, trying to find the source of the noise. “It’s not smart to taunt someone with a loaded gun,” I yelled. Too late I realized my mistake.
I took an involuntary step back as a flash of green shot across the field, headed straight for me. I aimed and fired, but my gun jammed. I pulled the trigger several times before I tossed it aside, wasting precious seconds. I fumbled for my knives, finally grabbing them from my leg sheaths. I gripped them tightly, taking a wide stance as I was taught. This was real. That bastard Marcus set me up. I had to fight a Florae.
Too fast, it ran into me at full force and I was knocked to the grass. Claws raked across my abdomen, trying to eviscerate me. My synth-suit protected me from being torn to shreds, but pain came every time the creature dug into my body. As it pummeled me, I took my knife and thrust upward, cutting into soft tissue. The Florae didn’t care. It continued to tear at me, trying to sink its teeth into my flesh. Hot putrid breath hit me. Panicked, I stabbed at its head and managed to slash the knife across the creature’s face. I thrust again and the blade hit its eye socket, meeting little resistance. It was like cutting through soft butter. If I could just get to the brain I knew I could kill it, but the creature pulled away.
Screaming, I pushed with all my strength and the creature fell back awkwardly. I jumped to my feet. I only had a few seconds—but something about the Florae was strange.
There was a glint at its neck, familiar but out of place. I didn’t have enough time to ponder, because the creature was on top of me again. It went for my face and the stink from its mouth made me retch. Its remaining eye looked right at me, yellow and milky.
It tried to bite my chin and the force alone left me gasping from the pain. I sliced upward, aiming for its neck, knowing that was the only way I could escape, the only way I would make it out alive.
I jabbed again and again, and I could feel the warmth from the creature’s blood through the synth-suit. It refused to give up. I delivered blow after blow, but each of my stabs was less effective.
Finally I pierced the Florae’s neck and I dug in the knife. The creature fell backward. I dropped to my knees, sucking warm air into my lungs, fighting to stay conscious. I could breathe again.
The creature’s arms and legs were wriggling, twitching disturbingly, and I was filled with a hatred so intense my chest burned. The Florae reached for me as I approached, but its head was twisted, half of its neck cut away. Its claws weakly scraped my leg, but there was no longer power behind its swipes.
I brought my knife down again severing its neck while blood squirted onto the ground. A putrid scent hit my nostrils, like rotten eggs.
Only when its head was completely removed did it finally lay still, its hunger extinguished. I collapsed on the ground.
Eventually I heard someone calling my name. I looked up. Kay was running toward me from across the field. “Amy, I swear I didn’t know!” She was out of breath and looked more unsettled than I’d ever seen her.
“Was that my test?” I asked dumbly.
“Yes.” She crouched down beside me. “Normally we would do it in the Rumble Room with snipers trained on the Florae. I don’t know what Dr. Reynolds is playing at, but he forced this on us at the last minute. Said it would be more . . . true to life. I had complete faith in you and we made sure you were equipped properly, that you had a synth-suit and a gun.” She looked at the carnage of the decapitated creature. “The knives were supposed to be for backup.”
I felt deadened from what she was telling me. Dr. Reynolds. “My gun . . . jammed.” I pointed to where I’d tossed it earlier and Kay retrieved it, examining it closely.
“You’re missing the firing pin.”
“Is that part of the test too?” I asked shakily. I was still working to process the information. That was my test. I could have died.
“No . . . Marcus,” she growled. “That bastard must have sabotaged the gun. Why?”
It all came together. Marcus did it because Dr. Reynolds wanted me out of the picture. Sure, my death would distress my mother, but she’d be proud if I died trying to defend New Hope. Better than having Dr. Reynolds commit me to the Ward, where I’d always be at the back of my mother’s mind. Better to get rid of me for good.
“I think we should tell everyone that the gun malfunctioned.” I looked at Kay. “Tell them that I will make a fine Guardian. That I’m dedicated to defending New Hope.” I knew I’d have to make them trust me. I couldn’t live my life always looking over my shoulder, wondering which of the Guardians were trying to kill me.
Kay studied me for a moment, nodding her agreement. “All right. That’s what we’ll tell the other Guardians, but I promise, Marcus isn’t going to get away with this.”
Kay helped me to my feet as the sun glinted off something on the gory ground, the same sparkle I saw before, caught in the terror of the fight. I knelt next to the dead creature, studying its slashed neck.
My blood ran cold at what I saw in front of me. I reached down and picked up a small gold cross on a gold chain.
Vivian’s necklace.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
I’ve been taking the pills that Gareth gave me for two weeks. All the gaps have been filled in, all the fog has cleared. I remember everything now. It came to me in bits and pieces, returning slowly, painfully real. Sickening. Why did it take so long?
Because I didn’t want to remember.
A part of me was happy to sleep all day, to become nothing.
I look at the pills in the cup the nurse hands me. It would be so simple. I could just take them and stop taking the antidote. I could forget again. But I won’t.
If I did, I would be no better than them.
I had wanted the truth so badly. I thought it would be easier to face the world as it was, Florae infested, if I just knew where They came from. What They were.
I lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. Gareth once told me that ignorance was bliss and I’d responded that ignorance was dangerous. We were both right. But which was better?
If I’d chosen to remain ignorant, would I be happier? If I’d chosen to leave it alone, not to pry, would I still have my family, still have Baby? I knew that was not an option. I would never have left it alone. I would never have given up.
I made my choice and there is no going back.
• • •
“Where is my mother?” I asked Rice. I caught him just as he was leaving a restricted area.
“Amy, I thought you had your training test today. What happened? How did it go?” He regarded me, bewildered. I’d showered and changed out of my synth-suit, but I know I still had a wild look in my eyes.
“I passed,” I told him. “I’m a Guardian now.”
“That’s great! I knew you would.” He grinned and hugged me, and I almost lost my resolve and melted into his arms. But I pulled back quickly.
“Where is
my mother?” I asked again.
“Working.” His smile faded. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Take me to her.”
“I—I can’t. She’s in a restricted area.”
I willed myself to appear calm. “I just want to tell her that I’m a Guardian now.”
“She’ll be really proud.” Rice nodded. “But you know I can’t let you inside.”
With a flash of insight I decided to change tactics. I grabbed him in a bear hug. “I’m just so happy, Rice. I’ve wanted this for so long. . . .”
“Oh . . . I know, Amy. I think things are really going to work out for you now.” When I let go, he looked flushed but relieved.
“You’re coming to my birthday party later, aren’t you?” I asked. “Baby will be happy to see you.”
“Of course. We have even more to celebrate now.”
I nodded and walked away, pretending I was heading for home, but then I ducked around the building and waited for Rice to leave. I felt bad deceiving him, but I had no choice. After he was gone, I headed back to the black door, armed with the key card I’d stolen from his pocket.
I didn’t remember exactly how to get to my mother’s office, but I opened the door nearest the elevator and ducked inside to gather my thoughts. It was a small, empty office, and I spotted a lab coat thrown over a chair. I grabbed the coat and put it on, figuring it would make me less conspicuous. I heard voices in the hall and I peeked out the door. Lab assistants. I followed them at a safe distance.
Eventually they led me to the hall where one side was lined with doors, the other with glass. The hall with the cells, each holding a Florae. The creatures shuffled slowly, circling their confined spaces. I kept going down the hall. At the last black door I turned the knob and entered my mother’s office.
She was at her desk and looked up, startled. “What . . . Amy?” Her hands froze above her keyboard. “How did you get down here?”
I pulled out the necklace. It was still covered in the black-green blood of a Florae.
She looked at the object and back at me, the shock and puzzlement clear on her face. “What is this? Where did you get it?”
“I found it around the neck of a Florae.” I told her. “After I decapitated it to pass my final Guardian test.”
“Amy! I knew you would. . . . Wait, you took the final test today? I thought—”
“That’s Vivian’s necklace,” I said, cutting her off. “Why would a Florae be wearing Vivian’s necklace?”
My mother let out a long sigh and rubbed her face with her palms. She got up and walked over to the office door, glancing outside before closing and locking it. Then she returned to her desk and settled wearily into her chair. “Vivian didn’t die during that awful incident. Not technically anyway.”
“The Floraes aren’t aliens, are they?”
She paused. “No.” My mother looked into my eyes. “Vivian was bitten by a creature and became a creature herself.”
Minutes passed in silence or perhaps it was only seconds. I reached back toward the wall, grasping for support, trying to process it all.
My mother looked at me and sighed again. “We were developing a strain of bacteria,” she finally explained. “Something the military commissioned, Dr. Reynolds in fact. They wanted a bug that would impair enemy soldiers without killing them.”
“Biological warfare,” I said.
“I wanted to save lives, Amy. The project was supposed to be an end to violence. The soldier would be sick for a few days, then recover completely. Even a short amount of time can give any military a huge advantage.” She was staring intently at me, willing me to understand.
“What happened?”
“It wasn’t ready. There were side effects. First it turned our test subjects’ skin green from the phytosterols. A few died before we realized they needed direct sunlight. I modified the bacteria, but then the subjects became incredibly hungry. They craved protein and could not be satiated. I was so close to developing a solution.
“I sent a sample to our New York office and a young lab assistant broke the slide. He cut his finger. Once it was in his bloodstream, the bacteria took hold and it was the beginning of the end. He turned into a bloodthirsty creature and infected everyone in the lab. It takes only one bite. They infected the city, then the country, then the world.”
“Why wasn’t there a quarantine?” I asked, my voice weak. “How did it spread so fast?”
“The bacteria mutated and became airborne. Some people began to show signs of the infection right away, but in others it lay dormant. Do you know how many people you can contaminate in an hour? Someone got through airport security. As soon as that happened, it was over. That’s how it traveled so quickly, why there are so many of them. The airborne strain soon died out, but the original strain remains. Now it can be transmitted by bodily fluids, most usually by saliva.”
“The creatures, they’re people,” I whispered. I finally allowed myself to say it.
“No, Amy, not anymore. Once you’re infected, you change; you’re no longer a human. I’ve studied them. Every ounce of humanity disappears.”
“So it’s all lies.” I regained my voice, raised it forcefully. “How many of those creatures actually got into New Hope and how many were our own citizens? What really happened that night?”
“It’s not all lies, Amy. Those thugs disabled all the sonic emitters. Using members of their gang as bait, they lured a dozen Floraes into New Hope.”
“A dozen Floraes? But there were so many people killed.”
“Some were killed. Most turned, then killed others.”
I thought back to the first day, sitting alone on the couch, seeing the horror of the Floraes for the first time. “But I saw the ship, the spaceship in Central Park.”
“That wasn’t a spaceship; that was a new piece of installation art. Some idiot newscaster decided it was a spaceship and that’s how the story spread. We decided it was better to portray the Floraes as an outside threat, not a plague manufactured by the government. The misinformation was a fortunate turn of events. Right now only a select few know the truth, those who can help us in our quest to eradicate the infection.”
“You did it,” I said, still trying to comprehend what she had told me. “You’re the reason all this happened. You’re the reason Dad died.” She watched me, her eyes full of pain. I glared at her, no longer knowing who she really was, what she was capable of.
She closed her eyes, exhaling through her teeth. “It was an accident, Amy. None of this was supposed to happen. We’re working on something now that will stop the infection. Don’t you see that’s why I’m here night and day?”
“A cure?” I asked, daring to hope.
“We can’t find a cure. We tried to develop an antidote at the beginning of our research, one that we could use on our own soldiers so they wouldn’t become infected. It was never effective, and now the original strain has mutated. If someone is bitten by a Florae, they’re irrevocably changed.”
“Then what? Something to slay them all?” I couldn’t stop thinking of them as mindless killers, but I’d also begun to think of them as people. They were all human, once.
“Unfortunately they are still too similar to humans. Anything I could develop to kill them would kill us as well. What I’m working on is a vaccine,” my mother explained.
“How do you test something like that?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
My mother crossed her arms, pinched her lips together. I wanted to cry then.
“You used those people the Guardians caught, didn’t you? Amber’s brother, his gang?”
“I did what was necessary. I will always do what is necessary.”
“Even if it means killing innocent people?”
“I would sacrifice the few to save the many, yes.”
I paused, afraid to ask the next question. “Does Rice know all this?” I whispered.
My mother looked down, then up at me. “He knows about the infe
ction, what the Floraes really are.”
I sucked in a breath. I felt betrayed. Sickened, I could no longer stand to be in the same room with her. I made a break for the door.
“Amy, wait! Let me walk you out of here. If you’re caught . . .”
I ran out the door and down the hall. When I finally reached the elevator, I was shaking so badly I could barely hold the key card.
At the first floor, the elevator doors opened and I was staring straight into the face of Dr. Reynolds. His eyes widened when he recognized me, taking in the lab coat, my trembling hands.
“Hello, Amy. What are you doing here without an escort?”
I couldn’t even look at him. “My mother walked me to the elevator and sent me up. It’s my birthday.”
“I know. I also hear you passed your Guardian test. Congratulations.”
No thanks to you. I pushed past him, desperate to reach the outside.
I heard him call after me: “Good-bye, Amy. I’ll see you later.” From his mouth it sounded like a threat.
• • •
When my mother comes to visit me, I pretend to be drugged. I don’t look at her when she sits next to me or puts her hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve asked Dr. Reynolds to give you another psyche-eval. He’s going to, as a special favor to me,” she tells me.
I look at her sharply and I can see she is surprised. I try to dull my face, act uninterested. “That’s nice, Mom.” I turn back to the television.
“I just want you to know, Amy, that all the things I did . . . I have to make up for them. I know what I’m responsible for, and I can never forget it.” There are tears streaming down her face now.
I stare straight ahead until she gets up to leave, kissing me on the top of my head.
• • •
I wasn’t back in my mother’s apartment for more than a few minutes before there was a knock at the door. When I didn’t answer, Rice came in anyway, looking jubilant. He thought we were going to have the mother of all parties tonight, to celebrate my birthday and my becoming a Guardian.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw my tearstained face. “What happened?”
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