Escaping Grace: A Turning Grace Novel

by Davis, J. Q.

  “Is the FDA okay with killing and feeding humans to…humans?” I asked, truly surprised. I didn’t think cannibalism was ever an option unless you were part of a tribe deep in the Amazon.

  Dr. Roberson chuckled. “Oh, Grace. So naïve. So young and innocent. You have no idea how the world works. Of course the FDA is not okay with that. But that’s why I will be the sole distributer of the proper sustenance for the individuals who choose to have Serum Z as an end-of-life option. At least in the beginning. Once it’s out in the world, once we have high profile immortals such as congressmen and maybe even the president, they will be begging me to feed them. I’ve already got two Senators in D.C. with Serum Z coursing through their bloodstreams as we speak. Needless to say, they have been working to help get it out on the market.”

  What more could I say to this maniacal psycho? He clearly had a plan, one that he had set into place for years now. He had multiple resources: money, power, a slew of people working for him, and apparently big time Zombrids on his side. I mean, if he was able to make Phoebe and Eric’s deaths seem like something it wasn’t, then he was pretty much capable of anything.

  How was I going to get out of this? He was going to lock me away, lock Sonny and the rest of us away for God knew how long.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

  I had to stall him. “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  Where are you getting at, Grace?

  “Uh…what about you? You aren’t a Zombrid. You aren’t immortal.”

  Did I even know for sure if he was or not? I guess I would find out now.

  He grinned and his creepily excited look was back. Yes, that was much scarier than pissed off Dr. Roberson.

  “What a great question, Grace.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I actually have an appointment before my meetings. You see, it would be much easier to persuade people by showing them exactly what Serum Z can do first-hand.”

  “You have an appointment? To what? Turn?”

  “Yes. You and I will soon be part of the same club.”

  “But you have to be dead.”

  “Very good! Someone’s been paying attention,” he patronized. Then, without another word, he left the room.

  I shut my eyes and banged the back of my head against the table in frustration.

  I hated him. And I’ve always hated him. Why did I give into his lies and promises that I would be okay? I would have been better off at home, feeding off the neighborhood cats!

  I wondered if my mother knew anything about Dr. Roberson’s plans. My guess was that she didn’t considering how protective she was of me. She would not have allowed me to be thousands of miles away from her with a homicidal maniac.

  The straps around my arms, ankles, and torso were tight. I tried to wiggle out again, but was not successful.

  How the hell was I going to get out of this?

  Then, Dr. Roberson’s personal assistant poked her head into the room. She glanced around before walking in and shutting the door behind her.

  “Grace, I’m going to get you out of here,” she whispered.

  I was stunned. I didn’t even know this woman’s name! And now she was here to save me? “Get me off the island?”

  “Unfortunately, I can’t do that. The boat isn’t docked here right now. But I can hide you until we figure out how.”

  She hurriedly undid the straps around my body and helped me down off the table. “Listen, if Dr. Roberson knew I was helping you, he will have me in that freezer faster than you could even say freezer.”

  I didn’t realize this before, but this woman was very pretty. Her olive complexion was flawless and she wore very minimal makeup. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail and she had on black slacks, a white buttoned down shirt and a blazer, reminding me of something a detective would wear. She couldn’t be more than in her late twenties and now that I was able to get a really good look at her, she actually looked familiar.

  Did I know her, or did she look like someone I knew?

  “Where are you going to hide us?” I was assuming she was talking about me and the rest of the group.

  She opened the door just enough to peek out before closing it again. “I’m friends with one of the natives that live on the other side of the island. We won’t be able to hide you for long, but just for enough time to figure out how we can get out of here.”

  “Sonny’s parents own a plane.”

  “That would be perfect. There is an old runway not too far from here. Do you know how big it is?”

  “Um…Sonny didn’t say. I’m assuming it’s a private jet. Would that be big enough to get all of us off?” I had no idea how many people a private jet could hold.

  She looked back at me with sympathy behind her eyes.

  “What? What’s wrong?” I asked, scared to hear what she was going to respond with. Dr. Roberson mentioned losing another one of his subjects. I was hoping that maybe somehow that was a misunderstanding.

  “Grace, Estelle and Maddi…they didn’t make it.”

  “What? What do you mean they didn’t make it?” This couldn’t be happening. How could they not make it? We were immortal!

  “We don’t have time to talk about this now. We need to get out of here before someone catches us.”

  I was going to lose it. Too much information and too many secrets were revealed tonight. I didn’t think my brain could handle much more and if she didn’t tell me the truth about what happened to my friends this instant, I was sure that this woman was going to be my next meal. And not because I was starving, which I was. But because there were emotions inside of me that I couldn’t even identify.

  I grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at me. “No! You are going to tell me! What happened to Estelle and Maddi? Where are Sonny and Ian? And where is V?”

  She tried to pull away, but her strength was no match for me…even without food. We may have been stronger with the right type of food inside us, but Serum Z itself made us just a little bit stronger than a normal person.

  She winced, then finally relaxed when she realized I wasn’t going to let go until I got what I wanted.

  “Sonny and Ian are in your suite right now. They’re waiting for us. Agent Vito attacked Estelle and Maddi. He ripped them to pieces before he ran off into the jungle. We have agents out looking for him now.”

  I let go of her wrist and she immediately clasped onto it in an attempt to relieve the pain. “Can we go now?”

  I nodded. A part of me felt guilty for getting physical with her, but I didn’t care. I had two friends left and they were in danger. I worried so much about V, but that didn’t matter at the moment. I needed to get to Sonny and Ian before something terrible happened to them.

  She opened the door to take another peek before motioning with her hand for me to follow her. We rushed down the hall and to the elevator. No one was in sight, thankfully.

  We reached the courtyard and passed the mess hall. That doctor that I took a bite out of didn’t give my tummy enough of what it needed, and the hunger was coming on strong. Sonny and Ian hadn’t eaten in some time either.

  I stopped in the middle of the courtyard. “Wait! We need to get some food. I’m starving and I know Sonny and Ian are too.”

  “Grace, we really don’t have ti—”

  “Do you realize how dangerous it is to be around three starving Zombrids? We have all been through a lot tonight. With as much anger and sorrow as we all feel right now, mixing that with hunger could equal disaster. So, unless you are okay with feeding us your flesh, then I think it would be a good idea to go into the mess hall to get something to hold us over.”

  I was so proud of my assertiveness. If she wasn’t looking, I would have patted myself on the back.

  Her expression was that of disapproval, but just only for a moment. Something told me the thought of us munching down on her made it more than okay to stop and get something to eat.

  Newport was empty. We ran to t
he kitchen and she helped carry containers full of whatever raw meat we could find. Tristen came to mind. I still couldn’t believe I ate my boyfriend.

  I felt even more ashamed when I thought about the morning I’d eaten him. The mouthwatering smell and scrumptious taste of…

  Stop it, Grace!

  I decided to leave those terrible memories back in the kitchen of the Newport hut as we rushed across the courtyard to my suite.

  I opened the door to Ian at my computer and Sonny sitting on my bed looking through her phone. She jumped up immediately when she realized it was us.

  “Grace! I’m so glad you’re okay!” She hopped over to give me a hug, but stopped herself when she noticed I was holding containers of food. Her eyes darted down to them. “You got food!”

  Ian turned around in the computer chair. “I’m so hungry.”

  “Okay. We need to hurry up and eat so we can figure out what we’re going to do.” I set the containers down on the floor and we gathered around them.

  I remembered Dr. Roberson’s assistant and I looked up at her. She was standing uncomfortably near the door.

  “Um…I’m sorry we don’t have any food for you.”

  “Oh, it’s okay. I’m fine,” she lied. I knew she was silently praying we wouldn’t attack her.

  “Why don’t you go wait outside?” I offered.

  She nodded and stepped out of the room. Sonny and Ian already started and it took about a second for me to join them.

  I opened my eyes at the same time Ian and Sonny did. Satisfaction was written on both their faces, and I knew I had the same look on mine.

  “So, why is Dr. Roberson’s assistant with you?” Ian asked.

  “Well, believe it or not, she’s going to help us. Sonny, did you get in touch with your dad?”

  “Daddy is away on business, but he’s meeting with his team to come up with a plan. He just needs to know where to send the plane and when. Can she help us do that?”

  “Yes. She has a place the plane can land. She’s gonna hide us until we get help,” I answered.

  “You sure we can trust her?” Ian was skeptical, as he very well should be. The thought of her lying about helping us did cross my mind, but it just didn’t make sense. Why would she lie? What would she have to gain? She said herself that if Dr. Roberson found out, he would make her Zombrid food.

  “I think we can,” I answered hesitantly.

  “Grace, I’m sorry about Estelle and Maddi,” Ian apologized.

  “Why are you sorry? You didn’t do it.”

  “It was horrible, Grace,” Sonny said, terror in her tone. “V turned into this…this monster! He looked just like Destiny’s girlfriend. He woke up and grabbed Estelle and just started…eating her. We had no time to react and she didn’t even scream.”

  I knew why that was. Estelle was welcoming death.

  “Ian and I knew there was no way we could take him down. He’s just too big and we were too hungry. So we ran off in here. We figured Maddi would be okay because she was sleeping in her room with the door closed. But then we heard her yelling and…it was just horrible!”

  I didn’t say anything. I tried not to think about V in that state of mind; the one where nothing else mattered. The one where your brain no longer functions normally and all you want to do is fill that empty void inside your stomach with whoever has meat on their bones and blood flowing through their veins.

  The three of us lowered our heads as if to say a quick prayer for those we lost.

  “We should probably let her back in,” Ian said before opening the door.

  The woman came in and shut the door behind her.

  “Where is Dr. Roberson?” Ian asked.

  “I just got off the phone with Dr. Charles. They are getting everything set up for the turn,” she answered nonchalantly while thumbing through her phone.

  “How long does that usually take?” I asked.

  “Everything should be over within an hour. It doesn’t take long.”

  “I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” Sonny asked, confused.

  She glanced at her. “The turn. Dr. Roberson is getting injected. He’s going to become one of you guys tonight.”

  “So, he’s gonna die first, right? Like me?” Sonny asked.

  “Well, yeah. That’s usually how it’s done.”

  Sonny was on to something.

  We all stood silently. The wheels were turning in all of our heads, and when we finally registered the gold his assistant just gave us, we glanced at one another.

  “Sweetheart, who is injecting him?” Ian asked charmingly.

  “Um…well, there are only two of his colleagues he trusts enough to do it. Besides, all of the other doctors are back in the States getting ready for the FDA meetings, which is why we can’t take the boat.”

  “What about the guards? Where are they?” I asked, worried that they could be a potential problem.

  “They are all out looking for Agent Vito and securing the East Cocos facility. He poses a risk to all of us, including you guys. This mutated form of Serum Z is dangerous and no one is safe,” she warned. “What’s going on? Do you have a plan or something?”

  The three of us glanced at each other again, telepathically asking one another if we should fill her in.

  Chapter 17

  The Plan

  Dr. Roberson’s assistant had already proven that she would help us, so I nodded to Ian and Sonny before I explained.

  “Dr. Roberson needs to die first before he gets Serum Z. In order to do that, he is injected with something to kill him, then the serum, right?

  She nodded.

  “Once Serum Z is injected, he will revive and come back to life.”

  She studied my face, I was assuming to try to figure out where I was going. Honestly, it shouldn’t take a genius.

  “Well, what if Serum Z doesn’t get injected? What if we don’t revive him?”

  Okay, I knew that I struggled with the fact of being responsible for a few people losing their lives. Killing was never something that I intended on doing. It was morally wrong, heartless, and basically something that no one should partake in.

  However, murdering Dr. Roberson was the only way we were going to get out of this situation. If he lived and became a Zombrid, then persuaded America to buy into Serum Z, we would be saving more lives than he thought he would be. He planned to murder people for their flesh. Granted, he claimed he would only kill people who deserved it, but wouldn’t just killing him be better than him killing thousands?

  As for Ian, Sonny, and I, what did Dr. Roberson plan to do with us? If we didn’t give into his evil ways and walk beside him through this menacing journey, what would happen to us? Would he kill us if we refused? Would he turn us into slaves? In old folklore, zombies were technically slaves. Is that what we would become?

  Dr. Roberson’s assistant stared into my eyes. She wasn’t responding, and I began to fear that she wasn’t on board with our plan.

  “I’m sorry, what’s your name?” Sonny asked nicely.

  “Kate.”

  “Okay, Kate. Listen, if we don’t do this, Dr. Roberson is going to turn us all into his bitch. So, we really need to know if you are going to help us or not.”

  “And if not?”

  Sonny wasn’t expecting that. “Er…if not…” She straightened her posture. “If not, we will just eat you.”

  Right at that moment, Ian pushed Kate out of the way and stood in front of the door.

  Great, now we were threatening the one person on this island who could help us. God, if only V were here…

  Kate glanced at each of us. She didn’t say a word. Instead, she pulled out her phone and held it up to her ear.

  Was she calling for back up?

  Damn it, Sonny! You had to ruin it!

  “Dr. Charles, when exactly will the procedure take place?”

  Hmm…okay. This could mean she was on our side.

  “I see. Yes. I will be there in ten minutes.
Thank you.”

  “So?” Sonny was eager.

  “He will be dead in twenty minutes, give or take.”

  “Does this mean you are okay with not reviving him?” I asked. I had to make sure.

  Kate’s expression suddenly morphed into a more serious one. “Let me tell you something. Dr. Roberson is more evil than you think. For years, he has dragged me all over the world with him in search of innocent people to inject. Some he would have to persuade, and some he would just inject without their consent. He has included me in so many of his lies, that I don’t even know what’s real anymore. I had to swear to never reveal what his true intentions were, which is to basically make the world his…how did you say it Sonny? His bitch. All because he has this life-changing drug. I’m tired of lying. I’m tired of traveling. I’m tired of working for that man. I’m done.”

  Well, okay. There was our answer.

  “Now, the guards are taken care of. They are all out in the jungle. And I have access to their channel of communication, so I will know if they are coming back to the lab. As for Dr. Charles and Dr. Jones…they should be easy to ambush. Their old and won’t fight back much.”

  “Hold on, we have to attack them?” I asked. More killing? I didn’t know if I was okay with this.

  “Well, yeah. It’s the only way. What else are we going to do with them? There is an hour window between the time of euthanasia and the time Serum Z is injected. After that hour, he’s done. We don’t want to risk those two cutting lose from us and finishing the job.”

  “Grace, just look at it as our next meal,” Ian suggested. There was a sparkle in his eyes, and I didn’t know if that was disturbing or not. He was either itching to kill or itching to eat. Well I suppose in our Zombrid world, those two coincided.

  I looked over to Sonny, who was also looking at me, awaiting my approval.

  Even though she looked so broken, with her missing arm and all, she was still so beautiful. I understood then why Tristen kept her around. Beauty may only go so deep, but it’s still beauty. And if you got it, it would be hard to let it go.

  “Are you okay with this, Sonny?” I asked.

  She tilted her head to one side. She was probably wondering why I was asking for her approval.