Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  The fears he harbored were reflections of my own.

  We weren’t so different after all. We were fighting to do the same thing—to protect the ones we loved.

  Chapter 28

  David tucked the gun into the back of his belt and bent over to rest his hands on his knees.

  I backed away. Just in case.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, trying to stay calm. Still rattled by the vivid image of a gun pressed to my forehead. “I know we got off to a bad start, but we’re more than willing to talk if…”

  David looked me in the eye and I flinched.

  “I guess.” He pushed the door shut behind him and came down the narrow hallway toward me, past the bathroom door. “I feel like a dumbass.” He shrugged, looking away sheepishly. “I thought I was doing the right thing, but…”

  “We all did. We wanted to help the Saviors—even believed we were doing something good, at first. But then they started making it clear that they had no concern for our own safety or feelings.” I straightened my shoulders and offered him my hand. “We can work together, David. You have a power we don’t—the power to fight back.”

  “That’s not how I saw it yesterday. Not after your girls almost took me out.”

  “They were protecting me,” I said matter-of-factly. “I didn’t know they were capable of all of that.”

  “I know. I know.” He hesitated, staring at me—studying me for a moment—before finally reaching to grab my hand.

  “You’ve got balls, kid,” he said, his powerful handshake catching me off guard. I grunted. “Standing up to me like that, with a pistol pointed straight at your brain. It’s no wonder you made it this far. You’ve been through some shit, haven’t ya?”

  “I’ve got a history. Don’t we all?” I moved toward the writing desk beside the TV and pulled out the wooden chair. “Maybe I used to be a smartass when I was younger, but it’s not who I am anymore. Not since…” I turned. “Go ahead and sit down, Alice. You’ll be okay. Right?” I glanced at David. “She will be okay. Right, David?”

  “Yeah. Yeah.” He held up empty hands. Black, thick-lined tribal tattoos decorated the centers of his palms. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were. “I put her away already.” He’d meant the gun.

  Alice sat on the edge of the bed and I sat on the chair in front of the desk.

  “Your, uh… accent. Where you from?” I asked.

  “Staten Island.” David lingered in the hallway. He leaned back against the closet door and crossed his arms, propping a shoe against the door.

  “New York? Wow. You’re a long way from home.”

  “Uh-huh. The Saviors have the whole teleportation thing down. Slowing down time. White light. Mind-blowing shit, but effective. I’ll give em’ that.”

  “New… York?” Alice’s grasp wavered. “Brian.” She leaned toward my ear. “What if… he was one of the…”

  “Alice, no.” I raised my voice, craning my neck back. “Don’t.”

  “What’s she talking about?” David cocked an eyebrow.

  “Nothing.”

  “No, tell me.” He reached behind his back for his gun. “Tell me what the hell she was about to say.”

  “Okay. Okay!” I panicked. “Just don’t point that thing at us again, please.”

  David rested his arm back down at his side.

  “Alice and I were at the ball drop last year. We were sent there with the Seeker to start people. A lot of them. Nearly froze to death doing it, too, but we finished the job. Most of it.”

  David shifted his weight against the door. “Most of it?” he asked, squinting. He was difficult to read. Even his resting expression had a tinge of anger in it.

  “The light in Lucy. What did it look like?” I asked.

  “I don’t know.” David glared at me as if it was stupidest question in the world. “Like… white. Glowing. It wasn’t anything like ours. It was—hell, I don’t know how to describe it. I’m not a freaking poet.”

  “Was it… breathing?” Alice cut in, leaning toward him.

  “Breathing? Shit, I don’t know. How the hell does it breathe? It’s just light, right?”

  “We think it’s more than light,” I said. “I don’t know how else it moves the way it does. Through us. Like it’s alive.”

  “Damn.” David’s eyes widened. “All I know is it was bright as hell.”

  Then she’d been started. I shot a worried glance at Alice.

  “Brian.” Alice whimpered behind me. “What if…”

  “Calm down,” I replied. “David. Were you and Lucy there? That night?”

  “No.”

  I heaved a sigh of relief. “So it wasn’t us who started either of you then.”

  “Are you trying to tell me I infected her?” David moved away from the door and bent down, leering, his face inches from mine. “How do I know you’re not lying—that you didn’t put that stuff in her?”

  “We don’t infect people,” I corrected, trying hard not to shift in my seat. “We only start those who are already infected. The ones with the dormant light inside them—sleepers. Look, we’ve told you so much already, why don’t you answer some of our questions? Starting with Lucy. Who is she?”

  He sunk back. Hesitant to answer at first.

  “She’s my sister. My little sister. That’s all I’m gonna say.”

  His sister?

  “We never touched any kids,” Alice said quietly from behind me. “Not before you came along and forced us to.”

  “Shiiit.” David’s eyes widened. His expression went straight. “That’s why they sent me after you. To start… kids.” He ran a hand through his hair and hissed through his teeth. “Damn it! How could I have been so stupid?”

  “What?” I perked up.

  “I thought you two had something to do with her infection. But if you guys didn’t touch any kids before, well…”

  “It wasn’t us,” Alice said firmly and stood up from the bed. “I remember every single child I’ve touched, and you were there for every one of them.”

  “So how the hell do you explain it then?”

  “Someone else started her,” I butted in. “The same way someone else started you, David. The Saviors want us to start as many people as possible who have dormant fluorescence, but apparently they have their own way of doing it that they’ve been keeping secret.”

  My stomach rumbled. “Look, I know we’re all under a lot of pressure and stress right now, but can we talk about this more after we get something to eat?” I gestured toward the door. “We haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon.”

  “Then let’s go.” David untucked his button-up shirt from his dingy jeans and let the hem fall past his belt, concealing his handgun. “We can walk and talk.”

  I tipped my head to the side. “Do you… have to take the gun with you? You could leave it.”

  “Hell no!” He shook his head adamantly. “She goes where I go. Period.”

  “Alright. Alright. Just, try not to draw attention, okay? We just want to be normal for a little while.”

  “Kid, we haven’t been normal since they put this stuff in us,” he added.

  True. So true.

  . . .

  “So, are they going to get pissed at you for not doing your job?” I asked. We were walking along the sidewalk toward the convenience store at the end of the block. After what had happened last night, Alice and I didn’t feel comfortable sitting down inside a restaurant.

  “I don’t know,” David replied. “But I don’t give a damn either way. They’ll figure it out and they’ll take me back when they’re ready. That’s what they told me, at least. Work things out. Move on.”

  “They probably want us to get along,” Alice added.

  “I’m sure they do.” I hit the big silver button on the crosswalk post with my palm and waited for the light to change.

  “They do now,” David confirmed. “Seein
g how you kids have a hell of a lot more fight in you than they thought you did. They told me to fix this—to get along with you—or they’d choose someone else to take my place.”

  The green WALK sign flashed and we darted across the street. David lagged behind, weaving in and out of the white guidelines on purpose like a kid lazily playing hopscotch. I was starting to think he was bipolar.

  “I panicked when they threatened to take out my fluorescence. I…I,” he stammered, stopping to kick a smashed soda can out of the crosswalk and beneath one of the stopped cars. “I had a meltdown, thinking Lucy would be in trouble. I thought as long as I had this power inside me I could change things. Protect her.”

  “Now you know why I did what I did, too.” I looked back at him as I stepped up onto the curb. “Why I would do anything to protect her.” I glanced at Alice.

  We strolled up the parking lot toward the store. David stopped and looked around to see if anyone had been watching, then he readjusted his handgun. The sidewalks were relatively empty, but it would only be a matter of time before the lunch crowd came out.

  “I hope they don’t notice it,” Alice murmured, tangling her arm around mine.

  David sauntered through the sliding door and I followed behind, keeping some distance between us. Awkwardly forcing a zombie-like grin at the cashier.

  Keep cool. Act normal.

  A beep sounded as we passed beneath the motion sensor.

  Knowing David was brandishing a gun beneath his belt had me on edge, but we were the only customers in the store, so I was hoping for the best. He seemed so confident no one would notice. That freaked me out. I could make out the small, wrinkled bulge in the back of his shirt and couldn’t stop thinking about what it was concealing. Then my mind started to wander. What had he actually done with the thing? Had he killed anyone before?

  “I’m going right over there.” Alice pointed toward the next aisle.

  “Okay.” We split up. I kept a close eye on her, watching the top of her head drift down the neighboring aisle. David disappeared toward the back of the store, near the refrigerated section, while I sorted through a small end cap of cell chargers.

  Alice came back a few moments later with an armful of snacks and ready-made sandwiches.

  “Nice haul,” I said with a laugh, though she barely cracked a smile before turning to head toward the cashier. I changed my mind on the charger cable and tossed it back onto the rack. No use. Our cells could be tracked.

  “This, too,” I said, snagging a cheap disposable cell phone from a nearby display and setting it on top of our stuff. Better than nothing. Anonymous.

  The cashier packed everything into a few bags and handed them over to Alice.

  I sorted out the money and offered it up. The cash drawer popped out with a loud ding and then the cashier’s eyes widened like he’d seen a ghost. His jaw dropped.

  “Uh, sir?” I began, but suddenly a sick feeling washed over me. “Is everything…” I felt someone else’s presence and swerved around.

  David stood behind us, arm outstretched, pointing his gun straight at the man.

  “Jesus!” I glared at him. “What are you—”

  “Shut up, kid!” He pointed the gun at me, and then aimed at the cashier again. “Come on, you know the drill.” David put out a hand and wiggled his fingers. “Come on, man, I don’t have all day. Put the money in a bag and hand it over.”

  “What are you doing?” I muttered through clenched teeth.

  “Do it, or I’ll shoot the kid.” David swung his arm toward me, targeting my face.

  I sucked in a breath, unable to swallow.

  Alice let out a whimper.

  The cashier dug bills out of the money drawer and shoved them into a white plastic bag with “Thank You” ironically stamped across it. He tossed it over the counter to David.

  “Thanks. I knew we’d come to an agreement.” David snatched up the money and pulled the gun away from my head. Then he rushed out the door with a maniacal, satisfied grin on his face.

  Freaking moron.

  The cashier crouched down and reached under the counter to press something.

  “You kids, uh, okay?” he asked, out of breath.

  “Yeah.” I heaved a sigh. “Yeah, we’re okay. Shit.” I drove a hand through my hair and slumped over. My chest ached from the tension.

  Alice covered her mouth. “Oh my God, Brian. I thought…”

  “It’s okay.” I looked up at the black orb protruding from the ceiling. “Did you get his face on camera?”

  “Probably,” the man replied. “He was too dumb to cover it. He didn’t sound like he was from around here either, so the police shouldn’t have trouble finding him.”

  “Good. We need to step out and get some air.” I relieved Alice of one of the bags of things we’d bought.

  “The police are going to want to question you!” The cashier shouted after us. “Don’t go too far.”

  “We won’t. Don’t worry!” We passed through the automatic doors and walked over toward the bike rack on the corner.

  “David. What a freak.” I started to sit.

  “Hey! Psst,” a voice called from the side of the store.

  Alice shook her head and swallowed hard. “Don’t.”

  “Brian!” Again. I recognized the accent.

  “Da-David?” I crept around the corner of the store and into a narrow alleyway. David poked his head out from behind a huge metal garbage bin in the distance.

  “Come here!” he whispered as loud as he could.

  “Wait here.” I gestured for Alice to stay where she was.

  “Okay, but hurry up. The police are coming.” She sat down cross-legged on the asphalt. I heard police sirens wailing in the distance.

  “David?” I approached cautiously, my eyes darted toward the camera protruding from the side of the building. Sweat beaded on my forehead and my heart pounded in my chest. “What the hell was that back there?” I said, my voice cracking.

  “I cut it off,” David smirked, revealing a small butterfly knife from the back pocket of his jeans. “Don’t worry, they won’t see us.”

  I exhaled, relieved. “Jesus Christ, David. You’re crazier than hell!”

  “Maybe.” He chuckled. “But you got to be a little crazy to survive nowadays.”

  Can’t argue with that.

  I stared at the bag tucked beneath his arm. “What are we supposed to do with the money?” I asked.

  “Come back after you’ve finished talking with the cops.” He reached into his side pocket and pulled out a narrow roll of duct tape, smashed almost flat. He stretched a length of it from the roll, bit the edge of it with his canine teeth and tore it off the roll. “It will be here. Waiting for you.” He reached down beneath the giant metal trash bin and shoved the bag on the underside near the wheels, patting it flat against the base to make sure the tape stuck.

  “But, it’s… stolen. We can’t… We shouldn’t…” I was so angry, all I could do was stammer like an idiot.

  David shot an anxious look over my shoulder. “I gotta cut before the cops come.”

  “But…”

  “I’ll find you later. They didn’t make me your Tracker for nothing.” He darted off down the alley, running faster than I ever could have.

  Tracker?

  I walked around to the front of the store.

  “It’s official. David’s insane,” I grumbled, lowering myself down beside Alice.

  “But he’s one of us now,” she said, “right?”

  “Yeah. Unfortunately.”

  . . .

  “Holy shit! He robbed a place?” Kareena’s eyes widened and a huge grin spread across her face. We sat on the hotel bed in a circle around a sizeable pile of money. She, creepily, seemed quite in her element. I, on the other hand, felt horrible.

  “It is illegal, you know,” I said. “Why are you so thrilled about this?”

  “Because i
t’s freaking badass,” she replied, picking several hundred dollar bills out of the stack. “Damn. He really knows what he’s doing, doesn’t he?”

  “But now we’re thieves,” Alice cut in. “We should return the money. It’s not right.”

  “Neither is what the Saviors did to us.” I ran a hand through the pile, filtering some bills through my fingers. It was surreal. “Neither is having to run from that store before the cops showed up so they wouldn’t call Jane on us. That was too close. No doubt they’re looking for us now, too.”

  “What happened to him?” Kareena asked, now starting a third pile for all of the tens.

  “I don’t know. He ran off. He didn’t seem worried about the cops at all. My guess is, he knew the Saviors were going to send him home any second and used that as an opportunity.”

  “Smart.” Kareena nodded. “That’s smart.” She patted the sides of a wad of ones to straighten it and then placed them neatly beside the other bills.

  “You’re not bothered by this at all, are you?” Alice narrowed her eyes at Kareena, who shrugged and didn’t answer. “What now? We’re going to resort to stealing? This is stupid! It’s not who we are. Brian?” Alice looked up at me, her blue eyes desperate. “Please? Tell her it’s not who we are.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Alice. Maybe, as much as I hate to admit it, David is on to something. We need money if we’re going to survive on our own. I’m sorry.”

  Alice looked down, disappointed.

  “Maybe what David did was extreme, but… until we figure out what we’re doing, we have to take some chances. We can’t go back home. Not now. Not yet.”

  “I miss my mom,” Alice whined. “I really do. We shouldn’t have cut her off like that.”

  Kareena bit her lip and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Um, Alice?”

  “What?” Alice huffed, crossing her arms. “Now you want to talk?”

  “Your mom… Jane… I… kind of told her you guys were here.”