“Try aquakinetic instead.” I watched as Ilya did the search and the computer jumped to page 37 and highlighted the word in one of the cells. The passage read:
Twelfth iteration of stabilization formula for patient J, self-induced aquakinetic. Solution of serum and carrier 1:10. Formula viable. Dosage 0.5ml weekly.
I wrote the serial number next to the note. 205207x. I started reading vials. Row after row passed with no match. They were not in numerical order, so I had to go vial by vial. 303375b, 11128g, 008739a, and so on. Determination pushed me through the maddening tedium.
“I’m going to copy network files to this drive. As soon as I finish, you better be ready to go,” said Ilya.
I reached another blue row of vials and I saw it. 205207x. There were half a dozen vials with the same number. “It’s here! It’s here, I found it!”
Chapter 27
I searched the cupboards and found a plastic tray designed to hold a dozen vials. I packed the half dozen vials of 205207x and then I stopped to think. I rummaged through the drawers in front of me until I found a box of syringes.
“Okay, two things,” I said.
“What now?”
“They screwed up leaving so many formulas. Don’t you think we should take a few extras? It could be a bargaining chip down the road.”
“Which ones do you want, Irina? It’ll take hours to read this file and figure out what’s what.”
“We can be strategic and fast. Do a search for terms like ‘adaptation’ and ‘transformation’ in case the serum for Tatiana might be here too.”
“If they’ve got a formula to convert Tatiana, it wouldn’t have been left behind here.”
“Try anyway, Ilya. It might be here if they made too much.” The walls around us groaned with a CREEEEEAHH. Ilya pulled a thumb drive out of his pocked and plugged it into the tower on the ground next to him. “I’ll print the document. The transfer I started is almost done. Grab a handful of vials and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I guess that’ll have to be good enough.”
Fortunately for us, a printer whirred to life on the side table between Ilya and the partition next to him. I plucked another half-dozen vials out of the fridge and set them into the plastic tray. I removed a cooler from the bottom level of the fridge and opened it. I gently lowered in the tray of vials into the empty cooler. In a freezer compartment, I found an ice pack and tucked it under the vial tray. I put the box of syringes on top and closed the lid.
When the print job finished, Ilya detached his thumb drive, scooped up the pages and we jogged down the hall. The walls creaked behind us until a CRACK-SNAP sounded overhead. We ran towards the entrance. As we burst out into the bright light of the parking lot, we turned around to see what remained of the building fold in on itself.
“Irina!” Jonah ran to me and sized me up. Satisfied I was unharmed, he grabbed me and hugged hard.
“We found it! I don’t think it’s a cure, but they did synthesize a stabilization serum for you,”
“Assholes,” muttered Jonah.
“Buddy, we went to some trouble to get this,” said Ilya.
“I meant Ivan and Tatiana. For holding out on me.”
“Forget about them,” I said. “Does anyone know how to give an injection?”
“I’ll do it myself,” said Jonah.
I handed him the cooler and he opened the top. He took the cooler and sat down on the curb. The dust from the collapsed building continued settling behind him. Faith, Cole, Bruno, and Nellie all got out of the cars to see the action.
“The blue vials are for you. You’re supposed to get half a milliliter a week,” I said.
Jonah assembled a syringe and removed a blue vial. I sat next to him and watched as he drew a full milliliter of blue liquid through the needle.
“I’m going to get a head start,” said Jonah.
“Don’t you think you should ration it until we can find out what’s in there?” I said.
“There’s no point in worrying about reproducing the stuff if it doesn’t work. A maintenance dose will take days to have an effect. Trust me. I’ve learned my lesson about bold moves. This isn’t such a huge risk,” said Jonah.
He stood up and unbuttoned his pants, folding one side of his jeans down past his waist to expose his hip. Everyone watched as Jonah twisted slightly and squeezed his hip flesh with his left hand, the needle poised and ready in his right hand. I flinched as he stabbed himself firmly.
“That should make a difference before sundown.” Jonah winced and sat back down to recover.
“So where to now?” said Nellie.
“We should stop for the night before we head into the desert. We don’t know where exactly they are,” I said.
“The Mojave is huge. We need something more to go on,” said Cole.
“Thorn is supposed to be in Bakersfield tonight. He could be meeting Ivan and Tatiana or keeping to a schedule. I don’t know,” said Ilya.
“That’s good enough for me,” said Cole.
“Bakersfield it is then,” I said.
Faith traded me spots so I could stay with Jonah in the back of Cole’s car. We sped back the way we’d come off Bay Farm Island and back towards the interstate. Traffic coming out of the city slowed us down, but we kept moving.
I held Jonah’s hand as he sweated and moaned. Working or not, the serum affected him. I could only hope for the best.
The dusty countryside unraveled in front of us as we drove south. Worry crept up my sides. The farther inland we went, the more dangerous it would be for Jonah if this treatment had adverse effects.
I looked over at Jonah and saw him asleep. The sheen of sweat cleared and he looked healthy, peaceful even. Was his complexion misleading? Would there be a horrible outcome on the other side of this dream?
I stared back out the window at the dry yellow grasses and sage bushes punctuated by the occasional country home on the hillside.
Bakersfield appeared uneventfully on the horizon, rising above the bleak landscape with a fringe of concrete and glass. Palm trees and a few other pieces of greenery popped up as we neared the city limits. I took heart. With irrigation infrastructure came water for Jonah.
“Does anyone care where we stay?” said Cole as we passed a large salmon-stucco Super 8 Motel.
“Somewhere without a lot of tourists,” said Ilya.
“How about this one,” said Cole, gesturing at a brown strip motel titled Desert Breeze.
“That’ll do,” said Ilya.
Cole promptly turned in and parked.
“Jonah’s still asleep. Let’s leave him for a while. He needs the rest,” I said.
“We need to dig through the folders on this thumb drive anyway,” said Ilya.
“Give it to Faith and let her pick through it,” said Cole.
“Will do. And I’ll check us in,” said Ilya.
My brother popped his head into Josh’s Jeep to give the drive to Faith and headed for the motel office. Jonah slept soundly, leaving Cole and me virtually alone.
“So I guess you’ll be back together with Jonah now,” said Cole, staring at me in the rearview mirror.
“He’s not out of the woods yet. We haven’t exactly discussed what’s going to happen.” I said.
What Jonah had said, specifically, was for me to stop fooling around with Cole.
“I want you to know there’s no hard feelings. Not on my part anyway,” said Cole.
My stomach twisted. I had toyed with Cole’s heart unnecessarily. He had every right to hate me for it. “I did, I mean I do, have feelings for you. It wasn’t simply a ploy to push Jonah away, although I wanted to force him to get over me. It’s complicated, but I’m sure you see that too.”
I wanted to reach out and hug Cole.
I didn’t need my brother’s mind-reading abilities to know that any contact from me would be unwelcome. Ilya came back and put us out of our misery.
“Four rooms for one night and we’re three hundred and sixty-eight dollars poorer,” said Ilya.
“For this dump?” I said.
Cole yanked his keys out of the ignition and exited the car. “Who cares? We’ve still got lots of cash.”
“Not at this rate,” I muttered under my breath.
“He’s more hurt than angry, you know,” said Ilya.
“I know.”
Jonah snoozed soundly, so we left him in the car and cracked a window.
“How long before Faith knows if we’ve got the info to recreate Jonah’s serum?” I said.
“I’m not sure, but we’ll probably know before he wakes up,” said Ilya.
I followed my brother through the door to his and Faith’s room. She sat on the far bed, typing furiously on her laptop.
“Anything so far?” I said.
“Can’t talk. Writing script,” said Faith.
“We should leave her to it,” said Ilya.
I followed him back out the door and into the next room where Bruno, Nellie, Josh, and Cole were watching television. Each couple had a room, leaving bachelors Josh and Cole to bunk together. Distance from the pairs around him was bound to improve Cole’s mood.
I looked around Nellie and Bruno’s room. The motel’s dingy flower bedspreads and cheap wood-panel walls were a sharp contrast to the brand new flat panel television on the dresser facing both beds. Cole sat at the room’s small table. Nellie and Bruno lounged on one queen bed while Josh had the other.
I didn’t recognize the movie they were watching. It looked like a B-grade sci-fi. Under other circumstances, I’d make some popcorn and lose myself in it. After the last few months, no movie would be able to distract me properly as long as I lived. Josh left to get burgers and fries for everyone while the show droned.
When Josh came back, the sky had darkened and our room was dim. Nellie flicked on the lamp on the nightstand between the queen beds.
I looked over at the window with a view of the motel’s florescent-lit courtyard. A flash caught my eye. I got up and ran to the window and scanned the courtyard. It happened again. A column of water surged up into the air from the center of the pool.
At the top of the column, water gathered until nearly the entire contents of the pool hung in the air above the motel. I watched as the column reversed direction and the water retreated back down into the pool.
The pool’s water started to settle and a figure swam up to the edge of the tile and crawled out. Naked except for his boxer briefs, Jonah stood tall and shook his black hair. I could see his turquoise eyes from across the courtyard.
“I think we got him the right serum,” said Faith immediately behind me.
I whirled around to find everyone staring at me. I looked at Jonah and back at my friends. I ran out the front door and around the building past the motel’s office looking for a break in the exterior to access the courtyard.
I reached the gap and Jonah was already there. I looked into his glowing blue eyes. He rushed forward and pulled me into his arms. I ran my hands up into his wet hair and he pinned me against the wall, kissing me with a fierce craving.
His arms were strong around me. I felt heat radiating from his chest up through his tongue. I pulled back to take a breath.
“Everyone’s waiting to see if you’re all right,” I said, catching my breath.
“Yeah. Everyone,” said Jonah breathlessly.
“We’ve got our own room,” I said and smiled.
“Good.” He smiled back at me and kissed me again softly.
Chapter 28
I pulled my key card from my jeans’ back pocket and led Jonah by the hand to our door. My stomach twisted into a knot of nerves as we walked. It had been over a year since I’d had sex, and then I had only been with my high school boyfriend Adam a few times.
I was ready to sleep with Jonah, but I had worked so hard to stop thinking about him. I’d blocked my desire for his blue-green eyes, his jet-black wavy hair, and his tall toned body and chiseled arms. Our moment had finally come and as I slid my card into the slot on our motel door, all I could think of was that I didn’t know how many girls Jonah had been with and when. Faith? Probably. Melissa? Possibly. There must have been a few girls during his university years. Maybe high school as well. I wasn’t the jealous type, but I was curious. It would have to wait.
No sooner than I opened the door and stepped inside, Jonah turned me around and kissed me. I backed up as he pushed forward. Our mouths connected and our arms wrapped around each other. The back of my knees hit the bed. Jonah bent me backward, slowly climbing over top. The warmth of his breath was charged with electricity, healthy and greedy.
“I never thought this would happen. I’m still in shock,” I said.
“If we hadn’t found the serum in San Francisco, I would have created something myself. I wasn’t going to lie down and die.” He rolled me over on top of him and gripped my backside firmly.
As Jonah pulled my pelvis into his, I leaned down and kissed his neck, nudging my way up to his earlobe. He lost patience and lunged for my mouth. He reached down to my waist and unbuttoned my jeans. I sat up and peeled off my pants, sitting on top of him in my T-shirt and panties. I looked down at his face in the dark. I wanted to savor the night. I flicked the lamp switch on the nightstand next to us.
His smooth pale skin glowed warmly in the yellow light. He smiled and traced the outline of the top of my bra under my thin shirt. My skin tingled at his touch, sending delightful prickles down both arms. He gripped my thighs with both hands and sat up, kissing me again with intensity. I kissed him back with abandon, wrapping my legs around his waist. I gave in and let heat overtake us both.
Dawn light poured in through the gap in the heavy canvas curtains of our motel room. My naked body curled snugly up against Jonah’s back. I moved my hand up along his bare thigh under the sheets, hoping to wake him carefully.
“I could get used to waking up like this, next to you every morning.”
“Do you ever think about what we’ll do after all of this is over? I mean, will we go home to Victoria and look for jobs again? Or start somewhere new?”
“I don’t care where we land, now that you’re finally talking about a future with me.”
“You make it sound like I put up a fight.”
“Didn’t you, Irina?” He raised his voice.
“I did what I did to protect you. If you think back, you did the same thing to me in the beginning,” I said defensively.
“Oh, yeah. Right.” He smiled and kissed me, artfully sliding over top of me.
“Shouldn’t we make an appearance, you know, for breakfast?” I pulled back from him briefly.
“After all the waiting we did, they can sit there for another ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” I said, overly incredulous. “Is that all?”
“Okay, an hour.” He kissed my neck and I gave in to the rush of heat.
Josh had made another fast food run by the time Jonah and I knocked on Nellie and Bruno’s door. Our friends looked at us with mixed expressions of knowing guile and awkward approval. Everyone except Cole. His stone cold face deterred me from making eye contact with him. A pang of guilt passed through me. I wondered what my poor brother heard from our trio.
“I got you each a bacon and egg bun. Should be cold by now though,” said Josh through an irrepressible grin.
The room hummed with white noise as no one spoke for an excruciatingly long moment.
“Okay, back to reality,” said Faith.
“Good idea. We need a plan of attack before we head into the desert,” said Ilya.
“What exactly do we have to go on?” said Nellie.
“I know Ivan and Tatiana were on their way to the Mojave Desert and they took my sister with them. I don’t think she’s in danger, but I don’t know if they want her because she’s a variant or if it’s to use her against me.”
Bruno gave me a long, steady look. “Are you sure it was the Mojave?”
“Not at first, but I saw them pass a sign for the ‘Mojave Desert Joshua Tree Road Scenic Backway’ which is pretty specific.”
“We’ll head down that road and see where it takes us,” said Ilya.
Nellie picked up her tablet, swiping and tapping away.
“I’ll still need a decent supply of water in the desert, but that’s mostly for offensive purposes now,” said Jonah.
“I’m glad we’re all match-fit, but we shouldn’t let our guard down for a minute. Adelaide and Ralph may be actively helping the enemy now,” said Bruno.
“I found the Backway. We need to cross over into southern Utah via Vegas, but it’s not too far,” said Nellie.
“Everybody pack up. We leave in ten,” said Josh loudly enough for the whole room.
“Works for me. I’ve seen as much of Bakersfield as I ever wanted to see.” Cole marched out of the room. I grabbed Josh’s arm.
“Would you mind swapping me and Jonah for Nellie and Bruno in your Jeep?” I said sheepishly.
“I don’t think Cole’s going to let a little drama ruin the bigger picture,” said Josh.
“Humor me. Faith can go with Cole and we’ll take Ilya,” I said as firmly as I dared.
“Fine. Out front in ten,” said Josh.
We packed, checked out, and were pulling away from the Desert Breeze motel, headed east. Jonah and I sat in the back of Josh’s Jeep. I leaned forward in my seat, holding Jonah’s hand as though the battle lay straight ahead. But only dusty desert stretched around us as far as the eye could see. I hoped with every fiber of my being that Jonah had truly stabilized and our surroundings presented no threat.
The Compendium Page 21