by Max Lockwood
When they reached his room, Alec opened the door without a second of hesitation. He wanted to tell Thomas everything that had happened and discuss escape strategies with him.
Thomas slept in the hospital bed with bandages wrapped around his head. A heart rate monitor beeped in a steady pattern on one side of him and an IV line dripped into the other side.
“He must have cracked his head,” Bobby Dean whispered.
Alec walked toward the bag of clear liquid flowing into Thomas’s arm. He examined it, trying to figure out if whatever was going into his body was anything like Elaina’s serum.
“We should wake him up,” Bobby Dean decided. “We’ve been out here for a while. I kind of want to go back to the hotel and check up on Melissa.”
“Okay,” Alec agreed. He wanted Thomas to rest, but he had too many questions for him to let him continue with his slumber.
“Thomas,” Alec said gently, tapping his shoulder. “It’s Alec. Wake up.”
Thomas blinked his eyes open. It looked like his eyes met Alec’s in a physical sense, but it was like Thomas was staring straight through them.
“We wanted to check up on you,” Alec said. “The nurse said you had surgery, but she also said you were basically cured of the virus. I guess that’s good news.”
Thomas didn’t react.
“Hey,” Bobby Dean said, a little louder. “Talk to us, man.”
Thomas’s head turned, as if to follow the sound of Bobby Dean’s voice. His eyes tracked Bobby Dean’s waving hand and his mouth gaped open a little.
Alec’s stomach dropped. Thomas’s behavior was uncannily similar to the movements of the people inside the garage. He didn’t react to them like a normal person would. It was like everything that had made him Thomas was gone.
A nurse came in, causing both Alec and Bobby Dean to jump.
“Didn’t mean to frighten you,” she said. “No one told me that Thomas had guests.”
“Brothers,” Bobby Dean choked out. “What happened to him? Is he still under sedation?”
“Not anymore,” the nurse said, performing a quick exam on her patient. “Surgery went about as well as you could hope for.”
“He’s acting strange,” Alec said.
“How so?”
It seemed evident that Thomas was not right. Alec tried to talk to him, but Thomas only stared blankly in response.
“Did no one tell you how to do it?” she asked. “You have to raise the tone of your voice like this,” she said, speaking in a slightly higher, breathier voice. “Talk slowly and clearly and try to give direct instructions. If you’re asking open-ended questions, you’re not going to get any results.”
“Thomas,” she said, “sit up.”
Her command was not unlike that of a dog owner. It took a few tries, but eventually, Thomas sat up in the bed, the same stony expression on his face.
“How long is he going to be like that?” Alec asked apprehensively. “Will he ever be normal again?”
The nurse crinkled her brow. “I’m not following.”
“He wasn’t a vegetable when he came here,” Bobby Dean said slowly. “When’s he going to be normal again?”
The nurse frowned. “This is as good as it’s ever going to get for him. I mean, he’ll get used to the commands with some practice.”
“He’s going to be like this forever?” Alec groaned. His legs felt weak. If he knew that Thomas would lose his identity, he would have never let him go to the hospital by himself.
“I don’t know why no one told you what do expect. Yes, this is the new normal for Thomas. But he’s cured of the virus. We have him on some antibody boosters to help with his immune system, but he’ll be at full health in a day or two. He will never have a rage episode ever again. It’s pretty amazing.”
Bobby Dean scowled. “How is that amazing? He’s not even a person anymore.”
The nurse looked hurt and embarrassed. “When you consider the alternative, he’s alive and he won’t infect anyone else. Do you know what the cure for the virus used to be? It was a gunshot to the head. He’s alive. I don’t know what else we could have done.”
“I understand,” Alec said, his voice thick with sorrow. He couldn’t even bear to look at Thomas. For all intents and purposes, Thomas was dead. Though Thomas’s body would go on to sort through goods in a warehouse, he would never be a thoughtful travel partner again.
“Do you want to work with him?” the nurse asked. “Sometimes, it helps the family if they can work on some commands.”
“No,” Alec said. “We have somewhere we need to be.”
Without another glance at the shell of Thomas, Alec walked out the door. When he got outside, it took all the strength he had not to get sick on the doorstep.
“That’s their cure,” Bobby Dean summarized. “They don’t really make them better—they just scoop out their brains and use the bodies as slaves. I’m not going to stay here for another second. Let’s get Melissa and Ariel and get out of this place.”
“Stop right there,” a deep voice barked. “Put your hands in the air.”
Two armed men quickly approached Alec and Bobby Dean, who reluctantly obeyed the order.
“We were just going to check on our friend,” Alec said. “Other people are allowed to, so why can’t we? We didn’t do anything else, I promise.”
“It doesn’t matter. Your names were placed on the restricted list. You have done something to earn a spot in probation. You’ve been caught wandering around after curfew. Now, you must wait in the hotel until your punishment has been issued.”
“Punishment?” Bobby Dean roared. “Just let me go. I’ll leave this town and never bother anyone again.”
“I’m sorry. You can’t do anything until you speak with the mayor.”
Bobby Dean cackled. “Yeah, I’d like to speak with the mayor.”
Alec marched toward the hotel in silence. Bobby Dean continued to mumble to himself, with brief outbursts to insult the guards, the town, or the mayor.
Alec wasn’t sure what to do. Before, he thought the plan to stay civil with Callum was a good idea. Now, after seeing what happened to Thomas, all bets were off. No one was safe in Safe Haven, especially those who knew the secrets of its success.
21
“Was that the last of the champagne?” Callum asked as Melissa finished off the last few drops in her glass. “I can get another bottle if you’d like.”
Melissa laughed. “Oh, no, I think I’ve had enough. Thank you, though. You’ve already given me too much tonight.”
Callum looked at the floor. “Can I ask you something?” he said shyly.
“Sure.”
“Can I kiss you?”
Melissa’s brain buzzed. The bubbles from the champagne danced around in her stomach. As far as Alec and Bobby Dean were concerned, Callum was the enemy. If she kissed him, purely out of attraction, then she would be a traitor. But oh, how stunning he looked under flickering light. He was kind and gentle, but most importantly, he wanted Melissa.
“Okay,” she squeaked out. He took her hands in his and leaned in.
“Callum,” a voice boomed from the doorway. “We have a situation.”
Callum leapt up from his seat next to Melissa. “What kind of situation? This had better be important. I’m kind of busy at the moment.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” the hulking man said, entering the lounge. “The two men at the top of the probation list have been caught snooping around the hospital.”
“What?” Callum shouted, balling his fists. “Where are they?”
“We’ve put them in the basement. Murray and Crosby are down there now, standing guard. Should we give them something so they sleep?”
“No. I want to speak with them.”
Melissa froze in her seat. If she had any wherewithal, she would have gotten up and run in the opposite direction. But she was paralyzed with fear. If Alec and Bobby Dean were on some sort of probation, then she likely was too. She wa
sn’t sure if Callum would be able to distinguish her as an individual instead of a troublemaking team.
Callum began walking toward the lobby when the guard asked him a question so soft that Melissa couldn’t hear what he was asking.
“Right,” Callum said, turning on his heel. He approached Melissa, grabbed her hand, and yanked her from the seat. “She’s coming with us.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she gasped, her wrist aching from Callum’s tight grip. “I thought everything was fine between us.”
“I bet you did,” he snarled. “I’m sure you thought you were so clever, getting me to fall for you so you could distract me while your friends wreaked havoc in my town.”
Melissa was speechless. In a way, he was right. But she couldn’t be responsible for her travel companions’ actions. After all, she was under the impression that they would wait for her in the hotel room. She didn’t know this part of the plan.
It almost angered her when she realized that she was running interference. Her role as interrogator wasn’t nearly as important when the other two were observing what was really happening in Safe Haven. She felt foolish for feeling like a vital part of a team when she was merely a pawn.
But that was something she would never admit to anyone else. She felt silly for even letting the thought breach the back of her mind.
“I can’t believe you would use me like that,” he continued. “This is what I get for treating someone to a nice dinner. I went through all this trouble when I could have just stayed home. You know, there are lots of women who would love to spend an evening with the mayor. I feel so betrayed.”
“I didn’t use you,” Melissa cried. “Please believe me.”
Callum looked at her, disgusted by the sight of her in the dress he’d picked out for her to wear. He grabbed her by the shoulders and tossed her toward the guard.
“Take her,” he spat. “Hold onto her while we’re down here,” he said. “She can’t escape under any circumstance.”
Melissa felt the thick hands of the guard on her shoulders. If he wanted to, she reckoned that the man could wring her neck. It was better for her to stay quiet and still.
They marched down the metal stairs to the dark and dank basement. In the corner, she could make out the figures of Alec and Bobby Dean, their hands bound behind their backs. She assumed their ankles were bound too by the way they kneeled on the floor together.
Callum pulled a string dangling in the center of the ceiling and a lone light bulb illuminated the room as the guard shut the door behind them. Callum was quiet for a moment, pausing to carefully consider his choice of words before speaking.
“What were you doing?” Callum asked calmly. His voice was so soft, Melissa could barely hear him from just a few feet away.
Neither of the men answered. Alec looked at the floor, but Bobby Dean looked directly at Callum’s face. His eyes then found Melissa’s. She tried to give him an apologetic look, but it was too hard to convey everything she was thinking without a verbal discussion.
“I’m going to ask you again,” Callum said, a little louder this time. “I want to know exactly what you were doing outside of the hotel.”
Alec looked up and gave Callum a seething look. “You said you had a cure. You made a big deal about this miracle cure. We know that you’re full of crap. You haven’t cured anyone.”
“You’re wrong,” Callum retorted. “Didn’t you check out the hospital? Isn’t that what you were doing when you pimped out your friend to distract me?”
“Hey,” Bobby Dean roared. “You were the one who asked her out. She was just being polite. Keep her out of this.”
“Did I strike a nerve?” Callum laughed. “Are you in love with the little whore? You can have her. I’m not interested anymore. I have no use for people who are going to go behind my back and disrespect me for their personal gain. I won’t have it. I have a town to run and people to save.”
“Except you aren’t saving anyone,” Alec said through gritted teeth. “We saw what happened to Thomas. He trusted you to take care of him.”
“And we did, didn’t we? Wasn’t he alive?”
“Yeah, but—”
“And when you saw your infected friend, did he try to infect you?”
“No, but—”
“Then I think we cured him,” Callum interrupted. “If your formerly infected friend is alive and unable to transmit the virus, doesn’t that mean that he’s cured? Or do you expect us to have some magic potion that magically restores everyone back to full health? That’s not realistic. That kind of cure does not exist.”
“It does,” Alec said. “I’ve seen it work.”
“Oh, is this about your girlfriend, Elaina?” Callum mocked. “The weirdo scientist in New York?”
“Don’t talk about her like that. You don’t know her.”
“She’s clearly intelligent if she ditched you guys to go across the quarantine line. Not many people have survived the journey. That’s why I’m a hero here. I save people from infection. My cure works.”
“It doesn’t work,” Alec insisted. “They’re not people anymore. I don’t know exactly what you’ve done to them, but they have no life anymore. They’re just bodies.”
Callum shook his head. “No, they’re perfectly capable of contributing to society. In fact, there are rehabilitated Infected who are hard at work, right now, making sure that you have clean clothes and good food.”
“We know,” Bobby Dean retorted. “We saw your zombie sweatshop. It’s pretty sick what you’ve done to those poor people. They would be better off with a bullet to the brain.”
“Well, I’ll keep that in mind in case you ever fall ill,” Callum said icily.
Melissa felt like she was going to faint. She didn’t understand what the others were talking about, but it sounded really bad.
Alec saw her expression and gave her a sympathetic look. “Callum, why don’t you tell her what the doctors did to Thomas?”
“I already told her, they were curing him.”
“Fine,” he snapped. “I’ll tell her. Melissa, do you remember the boys from yesterday—the ones who acted kind of strange? I think Bobby Dean used the term ‘creeps’.”
She nodded.
“Well, the reason they were like that was because they had gone though Callum’s cure. Now, I don’t really understand the ins and outs of the procedure, but it looks like brain surgery. Honestly, I think it’s basically just a lobotomy that sections out the damaged parts of the infected brain that’s responsible for the rage symptoms, am I right?”
Callum scowled.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Alec continued. “Unfortunately, since we’ve been around Elaina and knew that a cure was possible, we were tricked into thinking that at the very least, an ineffective treatment would not cause harm to the infected person. There’s a bunch of botched brains out there, wandering around and taking orders. Unfortunately, Thomas has already been operated on. I don’t think there is any hope for him.”
Melissa gasped. Hot tears began to pour down her cheeks. She hadn’t realized how much she cared for Thomas until then.
“Is he okay? I want to see him.”
“I wouldn’t,” Bobby Dean said grimly. “I didn’t know the guy, but he’s not Thomas anymore.”
“He’s right,” Alec said. “He’s able to take commands, but he can’t hold a conversation. I don’t know if he’d even recognize you. You’re better off with the memories you have of him. Seeing him now would only ruin that.”
She nodded, sniffling. “He was such a good person,” she cried. “He didn’t deserve that.”
“No,” Alec said softly. “He most certainly didn’t. I’ll never forget how he saved my life when he didn’t have to. I just wish I could have saved him.”
“I saved him,” Callum chimed in. “He’ll get a job and be happy with the others.”
“Shut up,” Melissa screamed. “You’re a monster. You think that just because you’re charming and go
od looking, you can do whatever you want. You won’t get away with this.”
Callum walked over to her and lightly placed his hand around her throat. “Why should I let your opinions get to me? I don’t need you to be successful. You’re nothing to me.”
“Then why did you try to kiss me?”
He smiled. “Because I was bored and you were new,” he said lazily.
“You’re an asshole,” Bobby Dean shouted.
Callum laughed again. “You can say what you want about me. I’ve given mourning parents a little more time with their kids. I’ve given terrified kids a parental figure to help them feel safe. It’s not a perfect solution, but what is? This town would not function without them. Have you wondered how things are so peaceful here? Have you wondered how so much work gets done in such a short amount of time? Who do you think is cooking your food? Who do you think builds the infrastructure? Who washes your clothes and cleans your toilets and does all the dirty work that no one wants to do?”
“I don’t want to live in a place where slave labor is normal and lobotomies are considered a cure for a serious disease,” Melissa said. “I’m sure your other residents would feel the same way.”
“Oh, a lot of them know,” Callum said casually. “If they have a problem with it, there’s a very simple procedure that can erase those cares.”
Melissa closed her eyes and clenched her fists. “No,” she said, covering her ears. “Please, just leave us alone.”
“Out of everyone in your little group, I thought you’d be the most reasonable,” Callum said, disappointed. “You seemed like you would be open to discussion and you’d maybe see things from my point of view.”
“You took my friend from me,” she said coldly. “I can’t negotiate with anyone who could do such a thing to the sweetest, most caring man I have ever known.”
“Well, I hope you enjoyed our little feast tonight because you won’t be getting that again,” Callum said as he turned to walk up the stairs. “Don’t you three bother escaping, because as you know, we have plenty of bodies working around the clock to ensure that you don’t try to defy me. Otherwise, you’ll soon join their ranks.”