by Patti Larsen
***
Chapter Twenty
His hunter metabolism wakes him fully in an instant, but he takes his time opening his eyes. He can hear muttered conversation from far away, the hum of something electrical near his right side. There are people in the room, and all have taken dust. They have a particular feel to them, a heat and intensity that normal people lack.
He finds himself wondering what one of them would taste like.
“Awake at last? Come now, darling. I’m as aware of you as you are of me.”
He opens his eyes, spins sideways, sits up. Reid is a little surprised he isn’t in restraints. She’s insane, not stupid. Obviously she doesn’t consider him a threat.
The room is small, metal walls coated in old paint peeling in layers. It’s been converted to some kind of chemistry lab, a line of steel tables against the far wall full of beakers and trays and a small microscope. Dr. Lund leans her back against one of them, arms crossed over her chest, a smile on her face. Her skin looks sickly in the light of the blue toned bulbs overhead.
Reid glances to his right. Leila sits in a chair beside the slab he is perched on. And Joel, still in his new hunter form, stands guard in front of the pitted iron door.
“Good dog,” Reid says. Joel ignores him.
Dr. Lund laughs. “You boys.” She walks over to Joel, pats him on his cheek, squeezes his elongated muzzle. “Always fighting and squabbling among yourselves. I had to do something about that, didn’t I, dear?”
Joel remains frozen, chrome eyes locked on the far wall, absolutely still. It makes Reid shudder.
“What did you do to him?” As much as Reid wants to kill his rival, no one deserves to be turned into a mindless zombie.
“I perfected him,” she says. “At least, as far as I could take him with his limited mind and ability.” She pats his cheek again and looks at Reid. “I’ve finally figured out how to make it permanent. No more dust necessary. But there are those who must be the followers,” she steps away from Joel, “and do the dirty work, while there are those who are destined to lead.” She stops in front of him. “Like you, Reid.”
He holds in the obvious response and waits.
“You and dear Leila,” Dr. Lund wiggles her fingers at the girl, grinning like a child, “are who I’ve been looking for. Your genes are perfect. Your minds are ideal. Everything about you both screams potential. You will make the perfect mating pair for our new race.”
Reid actually blushes. He wasn’t expecting that. Dr. Lund laughs at him.
“Now, darling, don’t be so modest. All the good stuff will happen in test tubes and under very strict scientific oversight. You needn’t worry one bit.”
Reid glances at Joel. Those chrome eyes flicker to his but there is nothing behind his eyes, no personality, no animosity. Just pure animal calm. His silver gaze goes back to the far wall.
Reid can’t risk being turned into something like that. Dr. Lund is brilliant, but he wouldn’t put it past her to warp him into an automaton just to guarantee his compliance. And the thought of Leila becoming one of those… things. It’s almost more than he can stand.
He has one chance. It sits in his right front pocket. He’s carried the poison vial with him for just this purpose. For the chance to kill her and gain their freedom once and for all.
Never mind it will kill them all. Leila and himself included. He has no doubt using the thing indoors will be fatal for everyone in the room. But he has no choice and he knows without asking her that Leila agrees.
Still, he needs to know it will work before he risks it. “What about the failsafe?”
Dr. Lund’s golden eyes flicker over his face. “What about it?”
“General Aberdeen isn’t stupid,” Reid says. “Don’t you think he already knows there’s a way to kill us?”
She laughs. “Don’t you worry yourself about that,” she says. “It’s simply a mega dose of the dust. It overloads the system and reverts the body to human, killing it. But there are ways to counteract the affects.”
“Is it possible to go back to human without dying?” The idea is a sharp one, but Reid isn’t sure he wants the answer. As much as he hates to admit it to himself, he will never purposely return to being normal.
“Maybe,” Dr. Lund says. “But who would want to?”
His thoughts exactly.
Her eyes narrow, her brilliant, mad mind churning over as she finally follows his line of questions. “Don’t even think about suicide,” she snarls. “I have more males to choose from. I’ll go after those friends of yours if I have to. You may be perfect, but I’ll settle for less if necessary.”
Reid smiles at her. “I wasn’t planning on killing myself.”
And leaps straight at her.
***
Chapter Twenty One
Before he can reach her, another body impacts his and carries him across the room, slamming him into the wall with so much force he feels his ribs bend. Hot breath washes over his face and into his ear, stinking of blood and decay, a wet snout pressed to his cheek as Joel hums a growl that vibrates every bone in Reid’s body.
“Well done, pet.” Dr. Reid says. “Bring him over here.”
As Joel eases up, Reid drops to a crouch, driving his fist into Joel’s knee. But he’s so fast Reid just catches the edge of the joint. Still, it pulls a howl of anger from the altered hunter.
Reid twists sideways as the sharp claws descend, diving for the opening between Joel’s legs. He slides across the herringbone steel floor, his shoulders impacting the door as he reaches the other side. Joel is on him in a rush, mouth open wide, shark teeth even deadlier than his previous incarnation.
Something hits Reid’s hand and he grabs for it, swings the weight of it around to slam into Joel’s head. He collapses forward onto Reid, claws just scoring his thigh. Reid sucks a breath, shoving the limp body aside, making it to his feet and backing into Leila, the jagged chair leg still in his hand.
Joel is up and moving, blood pouring out of the wound on his scalp. Reid slashes out with the metal rod, staying in front of Leila.
“Don’t kill them!” Dr. Lund’s shriek is so loud it drives a spike through Reid’s brain. “I must have them both!”
That order is their advantage. The creature that is all that remains of the bully hesitates just long enough for Reid to lunge forward and drive the torn end of sharp metal directly through Joel’s chest and into his heart.
He hisses into collapse, a pile of dust at Reid’s feet. The makeshift weapon is still clutched in his hand.
“Hold your breath.” He pinches his nostrils closed, speaking softly on an exhale, stepping over the tainted powder on his way to Dr. Lund.
She finally looks afraid. “Don’t be a fool,” she whispers. “I can make you a God.”
“Thanks but no thanks,” he snaps even as Leila is tugging at him, pulling him to the door.
“We have to go,” she says.
“I’m not leaving her alive.” Reid tries to pull free but Leila shakes him.
“We don’t have time. Listen!”
Booted feet are coming toward them. She’s right. Damn it, he hates that she’s right.
Leila jerks the door open with a horrible shriek of protesting metal and leaps out onto the narrow catwalk outside. Reid is right behind her, slamming the door on Dr. Lund, driving the metal bar through the handle, blocking her escape. He sees her pressed to the inside of the door, her face through the fogged window.
She is screaming profanities at him, her spit coating the cracked glass.
Reid grins at her and runs.
He barely has time to take in his surroundings, some kind of abandoned factory. They are on the top level, the rest of the place mostly open, large vats empty and rusting in one corner.
“Stop!” Reid glances to the right as they descend the steel staircase, sees three soldiers with rifles pointed at them from the other catwalk. He ducks, dragging Leila with him as bullets whiz overhead, the volume of the shots
making his ears suffer.
Two more pounding flights downward and they are on the concrete floor. It’s Leila’s turn to lead. “This way, there’s an exit.”
Reid pulls her to a stop. “We can’t.”
She is so desperate he wants to hold her all of a sudden. “Reid, we have to. I got turned around. If she gets out she’s closer to the door than we are. We have to go now.”
“We can’t let her live.” They can’t. Absolutely can’t. Lund has to die. Whether she comes after them again or not, he can’t allow her to make more like Joel. Or even like him and Leila.
“We won’t get a chance to kill her if she beats us to the door,” Leila says. “She’ll cut us off and get her soldiers to tranq us from a distance. Then we’ll never get out. And all of this will have been for nothing.”
Reid goes with her at last. She’s right. But he hates it. And vows to himself the moment Leila is safe he’s coming back to finish the job.
He turns only in time to duck the swipe of razor claws heading toward him. Reid dives to the side, desperate to escape, sees Leila slide in the opposite direction. Reid looks up and cringes.
Emme. Animal Emme. She’s gone farther than even Joel. A fine coating of light blonde hair covers her exposed skin, her sharp snout full of more teeth than should be possible. But her long hair is the same, one chocolate eye spared the transformation.
Reid fumbles around on the ground, searching for a weapon. His desperate hands turn up nothing. She swoops in to attack, so fast, faster than him. Only the chunk of decaying machinery he’s fallen next to saves him. It prevents her from taking a full swing, gaining him just enough time to dodge her and get to his feet.
She has him cornered between two derelict hulks of ancient metal that stink of ancient fuel and metal decay, advancing on him slowly, footsteps silent. A low, deep growl hums from her throat as she cocks her head to the side and snuffles the air for his scent.
Reid backs into something sharp and has to stop himself from being impaled on a jagged chunk of metal.
It’s his only hope as she leaps forward, claws extended, mouth wide open.
Reid drops to the floor, sliding his feet forward until he is on his back, driving his sneakers into her body as she rises above him, using her momentum to force her forward and onto the shard of ripped steel.
She instantly dissolves over him. Reid has to scramble his way out of the pile of dust, holding his breath, eyes squeezed closed as he shakes himself free of what’s left of her.
Another growl. He opens his eyes, sees Nathan standing only feet away, knows that trick won’t work twice.
Watches with regret as the tall redhead, now a parody of a monster, cascades to death in a fall of glittering powder.
Leila stands behind him, a chunk of broken wood in her hands.
“We have to hurry,” she says without a shake in her voice.
Reid is so proud of her he could hug her. But there isn’t time.
Footsteps. Damn, now what? Leila dodges low with him, creeping around their cover. Two soldiers jog past. They wait another moment before following.
The factory floor is littered with debris and large chunks of forgotten waste and giant milling tools. It’s enough cover to get them from one side of the huge place to the other. Twice more they manage to reach cover before a slim patrol of soldiers sweeps where they hide.
Finally, Leila points to a door ten feet from where they crouch in shadow.
“On the other side of that is a control room,” she whispers right in his ear, the warmth of her breath making him shiver. “Then past that is the exit. She has to be waiting for us already.”
He nods. Of course she is. And there are two more of her pack to deal with as well. But there’s only one way out, at least according to Leila. And they have nothing left to lose.
Reid holds his breath as they cross the distance. Doesn’t let it go as he presses his ear to the door while Leila keeps watch. Silence on the other side. He feels nothing, no one. Could they have beaten the doctor there after all? Reid twists the handle, feels it give way easily under his hand.
He and Leila exchange a look. She nods once and shoves her hip against the door, diving through. Reid follows her, pulling it shut while he ducks to a crouch just in case.
The room is empty. Reid feels a little silly, but better safe than dead. He helps Leila to her feet and feels around the other door. Nothing. Just the sensation of wide open space.
This is it. They’ve made it, somehow. He reaches for the knob.
It’s locked. He wrenches at it, uses all his strength, but the bolt is reinforced, far stronger than he is.
And even as he fights with it he feels them coming, converging on the opposite door, hears the handle turn, the hinges sigh and turns to face Dr. Lund, four soldiers and two remaining pack members as they enter the control room and close the door behind them.
Trapped. The other hunters at least look normal, if they can be called that, with their three clawed hands and pale but hairless skin. Still, ready to kill. And Reid’s sure the guns don’t hold tranqs, no matter Leila’s worry about being captured again.
They’ve just become more trouble than they are worth.
Reid glances at Leila. Feels her fingers slide over his.
“You still have the good stuff?” Her pale blue eyes shine. She knows what it means for both of them.
Reid nods.
“The soldiers are mine,” she whispers.
He grins. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Reid looks at Lund, sees her amber eyes widen as she realizes they won’t go down without a fight.
“Ready to die?” He asks her as he leaps straight at her. This time she doesn’t have Joel to protect her and he is far faster than even the two hunters with their old dust for fuel. Shots ring out, but they all miss as he collides with Dr. Lund, carrying her to the ground.
The two hunters are right there but they freeze, watching and waiting. He can feel their confusion. Their master’s life is in his hands and they don’t know how to act.
She pants under Reid like an animal, strong, but not as strong as he is. He fishes the tube out of his pocket and holds it up in front of her face, between them, letting her see it, watching her eyes gape wide as she realizes what he holds.
“See you in hell.”
Reid breaks the tube in half and gently blows the contents into her face.
***
Chapter Twenty Two
Reid is still alive. He never expected to be.
Trouble is, so is Dr. Lund. She is wheezing, but he realizes it’s hardly from her death throes. She’s just trying to laugh, difficult to do with him pressed to her narrow chest.
“Nice try,” she whispers around the thin breath of air she is able to draw. Her amber eyes sparkle. “But the new dose won’t allow an overload, darling. That was one of the flaws in the formula, one I was forced to add by Brackett. And why some of the older subjects died. They simply hit their saturation point.”
Reid hears gasping behind him, sees the two hunters crouched close go down in a froth of white foam. There is the sound of metal hitting concrete. He glances over his shoulder, sees the four soldiers collapsing to the floor, clutching at their throats while the two hunters are human again and very, very dead.
“Oh, them,” Dr. Lund says. “Yes, I’m afraid they haven’t had the new stuff yet. And, come to think of it, your little girlfriend hasn’t either.”
Reid is off of the doctor and turning, watching in horror as Leila’s crystal blue eyes bulge, her slim hands going to her mouth, her pale skin washing out further as the poison takes hold. She’s far enough from the initial dose that her death is slow, but she is dying and there’s only one thing he can do about it.
As Leila crumples to her knees, Reid throws himself back on top of Dr. Lund, his hands at her throat. The hunter within him takes over, his vision tightening, only seeing her, his hands registering the softness of her skin, t
he scent of cinnamon and honey on her breath.
She doesn’t fight him in the end. Just smiles up at him, her small hands around his wrists. As if she wants to die.
“You… are my… greatest achievement.” The hoarse croak just makes it past the horrible pressure of his hands. “And… I am… so… proud of… you.”
Reid howls his fury, his denial, as his hands jerk together.
The doctor sighs away into a tidy heap of glittering dust.
The soldiers are dead, white foam making the floor slick where it spewed during their struggles. Reid slides over a patch, grabbing Leila. She is barely breathing, only a hitch in her chest as she fights for air past the rising liquid in her lungs. He holds her over the remains of the doctor even as Leila’s eyes fill with terror and her fingers scrabble at his shirt.
“Don’t… crazy.”
He understands her fear. Dr. Lund’s insanity quite possibly came from the dust she took. It could be passed on to Leila. He knows from the fading light in her eyes she would rather die. But he just can’t let her go.
“This might kill you anyway,” he says all in a hurry. “And if you go nuts, I’ll do it myself.”
There is just enough of her consciousness left to agree. Her eyes close as he lays her beside the pile and turns her on her side, face pressed into the sparkling powder.
She manages one small inhale before falling still. Reid’s whole body breaks out into a cold sweat, panic driving him to pile handfuls of the stuff onto her face, pouring it in her mouth.
It’s too late. Leila has stopped breathing. Her body twitches once, twice. Lies still. No foam emerges from her lips, he has that much. But it’s not enough, will never be enough. She is dead and he has failed her in the end when it matters most.
He never got the chance to tell her. How he feels. How he felt. That she means--meant--so much to him. That her memory is all that keeps him going.
Despair is eating him alive. Reid takes a large handful of the dust and inhales it, hoping it will drive him mad, or at least take his emotions away. He would rather not care right now. But this strain is pure, without the blood lust, without the masking of who he is. That’s when he knows, it wasn’t the dust that drove Dr. Lund insane.