by C J Singh
“I don’t care!” I glanced over at Eden, who was now starting to stir. “You have seen her. She’s not”—I searched for the words—“not handling this well. I’m worried about her.”
David took a step toward me. “We know you are, but—”
“I said no but!” I bellowed at them, trying to stand, but grimaced and sat back down as the pain shot through my leg.
“Jace, listen. If you take over, you may become like... like her,” LaRae said. “Then neither of you will have your wits about you. Right now, you can protect her, but if you become like that, then you may not be able to. You do want to protect her, don’t you?”
Scoffing, I looked away. “Low blow, low blow.”
“This is serious. We don’t know what’s happening to her. Let us look at her blood and see if we see anything different. All right?” David said.
Looking back at Eden, I nodded. They knew exactly what to say to keep me from pushing too much. It was unnerving.
They left quietly and got back to work as I watched Eden move to her bed, scared and confused. Angry that I couldn’t help her, I threw a crutch across the room but immediately regretted it since I had to drop to the ground and pull myself back to my cot, cursing under my breath.
***
“Jace.” LaRae tugged my arm, raising me from a deep sleep.
Opening my eyes, I adjusted to the light of my room. “How long did I sleep?” My voice cracked.
“Fourteen hours.” She sat next to my bed and undressed my wound to inspect it.
“What?” I sat up too fast, making my empty stomach lurch. “How could I have?”
She didn’t look up from working on my leg, but I could smell the guilt. “I... umm... I gave you something.”
“I’m sorry?”
She sat back and sighed. “I gave you something.”
I glanced over at Eden. She was safe, lying curled up on her bed sleeping. “Why would you do that?”
“I had to!” She looked at me with worried eyes. “You weren’t sleeping. You are so consumed with keeping Eden safe that you aren’t taking care of yourself. You had to sleep.”
I searched her eyes for any unsaid reasons and didn’t see any. “You’re probably right.”
She finished changing the dressings on my leg. “Nothing happened.” She looked at me with a smile. “She has stayed the same. Nothing new or notable happened.”
“Did you find anything in her blood?”
She opened her mouth to respond when a knock on the window made us both turn. Zane and David stood, watching us impatiently. “Enough chit chat. You have work to do,” Zane said.
LaRae’s entire body language changed. Her shoulders stiffened and her face turned taut. “Sorry. Have to go.” She gathered her equipment and quickly left my room.
I watched them move to the table, talking quietly as they took turns looking into the microscope. Scooting myself over to the edge of the bed, I used my crutches and stood to move to the large window. Leaning on it, I looked between Eden and the scientists, trying to make out what they were saying, but they spoke just quietly enough for me not to hear, even with my ear to the window.
I started at the sight of Eden jerking awake and jumping off her bed with a snarl. Zane’s eyebrows raised with surprise and interest, and he slowly walked over to her window. Eden growled, baring her teeth as he moved closer.
Eden, it’s all right.
She stopped and looked toward me, but quickly turned back to Zane. He stopped just inches from the glass and smirked. A low growl rumbled in me at the sight, and I fought the urge to try and break the glass down to wipe the smirk off his face.
“This is how she is all the time?” he asked loud enough for me to hear.
“Yes,” David said.
“How did she handle the second infection?”
LaRae stepped forward. “Better than the first time. Her fever only lasted a day. The only lingering effects are... what you see.”
“Good. Infect her again. Let’s see if she can handle a third time.”
LaRae looked up. “Sir, I—”
I banged so hard on the glass I swear I heard a crack. Zane turned to me, unimpressed. “Do you have something to say?”
“Use me instead!”
Zane blinked. “I don’t think I heard you right. What did you say?”
I opened my mouth, but David stepped between us. “He’s not well. His leg. Just ignore him.”
I banged on the glass harder. “No!”
“Right,” Zane said before walking toward the door. “Anyway, you heard me. Infect her again. I need to be completely confident that she is immune. I want to see how many doses she can handle.” Before leaving the room, he glanced at me, the smirk still a whisper on his face.
He had heard me, but he chose not to listen. He liked seeing Eden change, and he liked seeing me ache at watching her suffer.
After he left, I turned to both David and LaRae. “If you touch her with that virus, I will kill you both.” They blanched and looked away. I had to figure out how to get us out of here.
Chapter 49
Tristan
Dr. Hahn inspected my wound, now just a thick pink scar. “Looks good, looks good.” He smiled up at me. “We can leave the bandage off now. Give your skin some air.” I pulled my shirt down and the feel of the fabric against my skin almost felt foreign. Dr. Hahn put his supplies away and headed toward the door.
“Do you think there is any way I can see Eden?”
He halted, keeping his back to me as he shuffled his feet nervously. “Oh. I don’t know, I don’t know.”
“Please?”
He turned to meet my eyes before glancing around the lab. “I don’t... I don’t think Zane will agree.” He moved a chunk of his wild white hair from his eyes.
Sliding off my cot, I took a few steps toward him. “Then can you get him? I will ask him myself.”
The blood drained from his face. He swallowed and took a step back. “You will?”
“I have no choice. I need to see her. She’s the whole reason I’m here.”
He flicked his eyes around the room again. “Will you let me see what I can do? I will try. I will try.”
Smiling, I held out my hand for a friendly handshake. “Thank you. Th—” I stopped myself this time before repeating the words. He took my hand, and I patted his shoulder with my free hand. “All I ask is you do your best.”
“Sure. Sure. All right.”
I watched him leave then bustle about with his papers and supplies, wondering how he would do it. It was a long shot at threatening to contact Zane, but the fear was so much more than I could imagine. A pang of guilt hit me at the situation I have put him in, but right now all that mattered was Eden and making sure she was safe.
***
I was doing my workout when Dr. Hahn flew back into his lab, quickly coming to my door. He unlocked it and motioned for me to follow him.
“Quickly, quickly. We don’t have a lot of time.” Grabbing my arm, he dragged me from my small room and to the door of the lab. I don’t know how he managed it, but I wasn’t going to complain. My body tingled with anticipation of seeing Eden. Dr. Hahn peered out of the lab door before tugging me down the hall. For a little man, he sure moved fast.
We passed multiple labs, all exactly the same as his. Everything was transparent, windows everywhere, so no one could hide what they were doing. The only difference was in each small room of the other labs there were people. Sick people. Weak and deteriorating. Growing up in the woods, everyone got sick at times. Simple colds and what Ellie and Old Bob called the flu, but we were never like this.
My eyes met a girl. Her face was so dark and sunken that I almost thought she was dead, but the slight flick of her finger toward me told me she wasn’t. Her attempt to wave. Everything around me
darkened except the face of that innocent, sick child. She couldn’t be more than fifteen. Dr. Hahn’s yank of my arm broke my contact with her.
“Come, come. No time. No time.”
I glanced back at the girl, but her eyes were closed, and I prayed that she was asleep and not dead.
My stomach tightened at the thought of Eden in that state. What was I walking into? If she looked like that, I don’t think I would be able to control myself.
“What do these people have?” I asked.
Dr. Hahn glanced to the side as he scuttled forward. “The virus.”
“But I thought there was no virus in the city. That’s why there are the walls.” He didn’t respond, so I grabbed his shoulder and flipped him around. “Dr. Hahn. How did these people get the virus?”
His eyes focused on his shuffling feet. “This is a research facility. There is no virus outside, only in here.”
“Right but... why would they come here?”
He looked at me and the regret that poured out of his eyes was so immense I don’t know how I missed it before. It wasn’t something he could just hide. “In the city... we have no jails. No homeless. No orphans. We have to use our resources carefully in order to survive.”
I turned back to look at the door where the sick girl was. “So, you’re saying, that girl”—I pointed toward her—“she is an orphan? So, you just infected her?”
He looked where I was pointing. “No. No. That’s 56342. She was a thief.”
I leaned over and rested my hands on my knees, realizing this was what Old Bob and Ellie were trying to protect us from. If we hadn’t got out during the bombing, I might have ended up just like that girl. My stomach heaved, and I had to focus not to lose my lunch. “Do you know her name?”
He shook his head. “No. Once they are here, they are only numbers. It helps with... the job.” He could see the disgust on my face, so he tried to add more to justify his actions. He needed to, so he could live with himself. “We don’t just infect. We try to find a cure. That’s why Eden is so important. She’s the key.”
I looked up at him and stood. “Take me to her.”
Chapter 50
Jace
I looked toward the door and growled as I watched the pretty boy enter the lab. “Tristan.”
Tristan’s already fair skin was as white as a sheet and his blue eyes sparkled with fear as he watched Eden sleep. He hadn’t noticed me, so I stood and crutched over to the window.
“Tristan!” I yelled, banging the glass.
He turned to me, licking the lips of his gaped mouth. It took a minute for his brain to register who I was, but when he did, he worked to change his face from fear to annoyance.
“Jace.” He took a few steps toward my door.
Changing to a more comfortable position on the crutches, I looked past him to LaRae and pointed pleadingly at the door lock.
She looked toward the doctor who had helped Eden when she was sick, Dr. Hahn, with hesitation, but finally moved to Tristan’s side and unlocked the door. “You can’t leave your room. But you can talk from there with the door open.”
I nodded.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were dead,” I asked him, leaning on the doorframe. It was much more comfortable than leaning on the crutches. My armpits were getting bruised from the hard rubber on the metal.
“Dead? Yeah, I guess I thought that too.” He glanced back to Eden. “I came to see Eden. Zane told me what they were doing to her.” He turned back to me. “I had to beg, but Dr. Hahn finally got me to come see her.”
I watched him for a moment. Something was different, but I couldn’t quite pin what it was. He looked at Eden with the same love in his eyes, but there was something else there. Fear? Regret?
“Zane?” I asked.
“Yeah. He’s ruthless, isn’t he?”
“Isn’t that the truth.” We watched each other a moment in a silent conversation. We both had the same objective. Get Eden out. “She will be happy to see you. We were told you were dead.”
“Who said that?”
“Who do you think?”
He looked back at Eden, ignoring my question. “Is she... all right?”
I followed his gaze to her sleeping back. “She’s alive, but she’s... struggling.”
“Struggling?”
“Don’t be upset if she doesn’t recognize you right away. It’s hard for her. Just know...” I looked at the desperation in his face, and I sighed. “Just know that she was really torn up when she thought you died. So, if she doesn’t seem like it now, she does care about you.” He nodded, then looked back at her. I could see the anticipation as he rubbed his fingers together. “Go. Go to the glass.”
He took hesitant steps toward her cage, craning his neck as he tried to get a good look at her. I moved to the window that faced Eden to watch while LaRae quickly locked my door.
Eden?
Her back stirred and she slowly turned toward the glass. When she spotted Tristan, she sat up and set her feet on the ground. She looked past him to me before standing.
It’s all right. He wanted to make sure you were OK.
She slowly made her way to the window where Tristan stood watching her. He put a hand on the glass and smiled. When she reached him, she looked to his hand then back to his face.
“Hey,” he said quietly, but I knew she heard it.
She didn’t respond but continued to scan him from top to bottom. I could feel her mind, a knotted bundle of memories, trying to untangle everything. This was why she was so on edge, constantly trying to remember who and what she knew.
“You look good,” he said.
Her response was just to watch him. She tilted her head and examined every crevice in his body. They stood silently watching each other. I was impressed Tristan managed to keep his cool this long.
“Tristan, we must go. Go. Go. Now.” Dr. Hahn looked nervously around to the neighboring labs and down the hallway.
Tristan rested his hand on the glass one last time and this time she met it. They stared at each other, their eyes linked and hands together.
“Bye,” Tristan whispered, dropping his hand. He avoided my eyes as he walked back to Dr. Hahn, but I didn’t miss the swipe of his finger catching the single tear on his cheek.
I looked over to Eden after they left. She was still at the glass looking after them but turned to me.
Who was that?
My heart sank for Tristan. She didn’t remember him.
Tristan. He’s your best friend.
Tristan?
She looked back at the door like she could still see him walking away, repeating his name in her mind. The knot was still there, but I started to see some unraveled strands. She calmly walked back to her cot and lay down with her back facing me. All I saw was the gold of her hair and the rising and falling of the blanket as her breathing steadied.
Yes. Yes. I think I remember him.
I rested my forehead on the glass and watched her sleep.
Chapter 51
Eden
The burning itch moved through my body like a flowing river. All my twitches and stretches gave no relief, but I learned that sleeping is the best medicine. My sleep was deep and long with recollections of my life and everyone I loved stirring through my dreams, so real I felt I was reliving them. Sometimes I woke with the taste of a memory still on my tongue or the smell in my nose.
When Tristan came to visit, a haze moved around him that blocked any recollection of him, but my mind worked to weave the haze back into the lines of thought. My mind was always working to put back the fractures of my past life into my new self.
I pulled all my furniture into the corner of my room next to my cot. Using my blankets, I created a safe den for myself. It was dark, cozy, and safe. I rarely left it now since all t
he humans want to do is stick me with needles and squeeze me. The den door faced Jace’s cage, so I curled up in the corner to watch him and many times he was watching me.
Eden?
Jace’s calm voice sang through my mind. For that second the burning in all my cells ceased. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the warm air of my den, content with my new self.
Yes?
What are you doing?
I spied him sitting on his chair as close to the window as possible, looking toward me. While looking at him, never letting my eyes leave his face, I crawled out of my den to the window and crouched. I broke eye contact with Jace and inspected what used to be my nails now much harder and pointier. The tips of my fingers had morphed into claws. Holding my hand up to show Jace, I expected to see disgust, but I saw guilt and regret.
Eden?
I have claws.
His forehead leaned on the window, watching me as I moved my fingers on the floor to hear the scratch on the tile. The burning tingle picked up, and I rolled my head and shoulders trying to tame it. It worked, for a moment. I went back to inspecting my new hands when Jace’s voice rang through again, pulling my eyes toward him.
You all right?
I smiled and swung my hand out in front of me, pretending to scratch the glass.
They could be useful. I may not need my bow and arrow or dagger.
He smiled enough to show the dimple on his cheek, but his eyes didn’t sparkle like they usually did.
What’s wrong?
I’m so sorry, Eden.
For?
I cocked my head at him and he pursed his lips. He didn’t respond, but I could feel it through the glass. He felt guilty that this was happening to me. He took responsibility for it.
Don’t.
He raised his eyebrows and sat back.
Don’t what?
Don’t blame yourself. Don’t feel guilty. I’m fine.
He leaned forward again and our eyes met. Locking gazes, we sat and watched each other for a long time. In his eyes there were a million unsaid words. Words I hoped that he would tell me someday.