Chapter Fifteen
Battle Scars
Nothing was going to get in my way. I was ready for anything. I slammed my way toward the cell blocked infirmary where Rick had kept Randy since injecting him with the antidote a few days before. There was no one there, never was. I’d visited Randy for the past two days, watching his continuing transformation in fascination. Where skin had been ripped open now lay new skin, taut and healing. His face had been left mostly intact as a feral, which was fortunate since I’d seen a ton of ferals without faces or with a good chunk torn off.
It had taken him almost a full day to begin to speak. He’d started with short wails, grunts and unintelligible noises that had me shaking my head that I didn’t understand. His vocal cords had to heal, and they took forever to do so. Once he could pronounce simple words, much like a toddler learning to speak, he could finally whisper simple sentences to me.
“Helen?” His voice was hoarse.
I’d shake my head, looking away. It hurt too much.
He’d met me with silence, settling back on the cot in the cell he’d been moved to once he’d been deemed safe enough to remove from the padded observation room. His wrists were still healing from the handcuffs digging into the skin, leaving the skin purple and yellow but regenerating where the top layer had been rubbed off.
We’d had no further discussion about my mother. She’d left an abyss of emptiness in us both. Instead, as his words came easier, we’d spoken about the world outside. He told me his memory wasn’t good from the time he’d been lost in the fog. He described it like floating in a nightmare, where nothing made sense and noises bounced off the walls and echoed in his head. He knew it was a possibility that he’d killed people in his feral state. He took it pretty well, considering. I knew he’d been in prison for something before the outbreak, but I’d never asked him about it. Maybe it’d been for murder. It wasn’t as if anyone was innocent anymore. These days, that was a luxury only little children possessed.
“So what now?” he asked. His hair had grown thicker, and his eyes were now their normal blue color. Still, he wasn’t unscathed by the virus. He’d be left with scars from quarrels with other ferals and possibly victims. His body was peppered with slashes, bite marks and nail scratches. I guess we all wore our scars differently.
“I guess we’ll see. I have to get out of here. I need that antidote and need to figure out how to give it to the population. Or find someone who can distribute it more effectively than in a shot.”
“That’s not your job, April.”
“I know.”
“So why do you want to do that?”
He’d frustrated me in our talks. I’d sat back in the creaky folding chair outside the bars of his cell. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s a purpose that I’m here for. I’ve felt lost since my mother died. Like her death stole this fire that I had inside. Snuffed it right out. It’s been… difficult.”
He’d nodded and not asked any further questions.
But it was my turn to ask questions. “What are you thinking of doing?”
He would shrug, leaning back and closing his eyes. He’d slept a lot; recovering must have taken a huge toll on his body. I couldn’t imagine how it felt as his body morphed back to human. So far, Rick’s test samples of Randy’s blood were promising. He was not a hybrid, not feral but not quite human. What he would eventually end up as was a mystery to us all. Still, it had to be better than being a feral, right? Zompire no more.
Now here I was, grabbing the keys from Rick to release Randy. As I unlocked the cell door and rolled it back in a loud clang of metal, Randy stood up and joined us. I hoped he’d have enough strength to escape with us. Sarah and Elijah eyed him suspiciously. Those two really didn’t trust anyone. Probably a good thing. I had trusted too much, and it’d been my undoing.
“Let’s go,” Rye said. He was at my side, looking at Randy with apprehension, narrowing his eyes as if conveying a threat to him with only a look. “No funny business now. We don’t exactly know if this antidote worked, do we?”
The last part he’d directed at Rick, who stood a few feet away, shuffling his feet side to side as his fingers nervously rubbed the hem of his shirt.
“I’m positive he’s fine right now. His body is just adjusting to the rapid change back to normal. The antidote speeds up healing, so he may look different every hour until it’s done.”
Rye nodded, but his eyes never left Randy. “It’s time to go.”
“All right.” Randy nodded, exited the cell and following us down the hall.
Sarah waved at us, pointing toward the door. “I think we’ve been spotted.”
Cameras against the lab wall showed us the chaos spreading throughout the hive. Dozens of vamps were gathering nearby, Mercer yelling and gesturing to get the group moving. They looked frantic. I scanned the screens for any sign of Christian. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to escape, I just didn’t know what to feel about him anymore, or even Rye, for that matter. The escape was a welcomed focus, and I pointed to a satellite armory untouched by the hordes that were gathering.
“We don’t have much time left. The bombs are timed for twenty minutes from now.” I peered up at Sarah, Miss Photographic Memory. “How do we get to this armory and then out? I can delay the timer if we get back to it.”
She smiled, a wicked gleam growing in her eyes. “I saw that on the blueprint. It’s this way. I know a way out from there, too. It’ll take us back to the dusty warehouse we came in through.”
Perfect.
~~~~~
The trek to the armory ended up being more difficult than I’d hoped. The moment we left the lab and headed down to a deeper level—one Sarah thought would be free of guards—we were ambushed. I was still low on weapons, having only Rye’s second sword for defense. The gun’s ammunition was low, so I was reduced to slicing my way through the wave of vampires as they headed toward the same armory. At least they were light on the weaponry, too. Otherwise, we’d have been terribly outnumbered.
“Girl… move!” Elijah snapped behind me. His bulk shoved me aside, and I turned just in time to watch him slice open another vamp’s chest, one who had obviously been attempting to get to me. The slick plop of blood and guts splattering across the clean tile floors mixed with the slap of bodies colliding. I peered down at the convulsing vamp who’d almost gotten me. Damn, I was getting too lax.
“Thanks!” I yelled back to him before spinning and cutting down another figure who had pointed his sword at us. I fell to my knees, jamming the side of the sword against his legs and sending him flying over the metal and crashing to the floor. I didn’t have any time to recover since the hall had filled with more vamps. I’d even lost the others in the mass. The bodies piled up on both sides of me as I pushed forward, slicing, swinging and shoulder-butting the vamps out of my way. I just hoped we were winning.
At that rate, there was no way we’d make it to the armory in time for me to disarm the bombs. Final resting place? I really hoped not. I kept on, punching and slicing my way through the crowded hall.
Until, that is, the stars spilled across my vision when someone hit me from behind, sending me flying into the wall. Hitting full force with my side, I struggled to regain my breath as my ribs screamed in protest and the pain made the air feel like fire. Still, I saw him coming and managed to flip toward my left as his sword rammed into the wall where’d I’d been leaning.
“Try that again!” I yelled, though with my lungs still seized, it sounded more like a rough hiss. I glared at the vamp, a medium-sized man who was slender but fast. He cracked a wicked smile as his dark eyes gleamed.
“Thanks for the invitation.” He brought the sword up again and sliced it downward, but I managed to stop it in time with my own blade. Pushing hard against him, I made it to my knees but couldn’t shove him off enough to stand. I thought for sure he’d have the best of me, but he was holding back. Why?
“Kind of short, aren’t you?” I muttered. He real
ly wasn’t, he was at least two inches taller than I was, but his comrades towered over him. I guessed his speed and strength made up for that. His slender physique made him faster and more dangerous than his fellow vamps.
“Height makes no difference.” His lips curled back, showing off his sharp fangs. I wasn’t impressed and didn’t give him any satisfaction. Instead, I huffed to push him back again, but only found that we were at a standstill.
Crap! My arms were on fire, and I could feel the tiny muscle fibers beginning to shake from the strain. If only I was at full strength, this guy would’ve been toast.
“What? Mercer sent his peons to take us down? Not much of battle, is it?” I laughed, garnering the effect I had wanted. The vamp narrowed his eyes, his frown deepening as he pushed back against me. Only then did I notice he didn’t have any halo rings around his irises. What the hell?
Another type of hybrid?
Well, ain’t the world a candy store?
“Rick fuck with you, too? Your haloes are missing,” I snickered, hoping to rub him the wrong way.
My words confused him, as if they might’ve hit some sensitive thing that he’d hidden deep down. He pushed me back with a final rough shove but backed away and stared at me with disgust.
“How do you know anything like that?” He didn’t look scared but stunned. I was hoping it would be enough to catch him off guard.
“He fucks with everyone. Don’t you know?” I spit out a mouthful of blood and glared at him. My body was tiring, and I could feel every bruise, ache and cut from the fight. Even the adrenaline wasn’t helping, and I stumbled back, trying my best to hide the weariness. The others were still fighting, but a bubble had formed around us, keeping me and him encircled. Just as I backed away, I found the room where I had initially run into Rye and the group. I took that moment to turn, burst through the door and run past the cell blocks, which were now empty, and down the hall. I found myself in a dusty warehouse lined with piles of crates, canvas-covered vehicles and junk stacked to the roof.
I didn’t have to wait long for Mr. No-Halo to rush into the room behind me. I slipped behind a stack of crates, still sealed from delivery, and took a moment to rest. I was breathing hard, and the burn of my broken ribs seared through me with each intake. The pain worsened with each movement, and I worried it was more serious than it appeared. I held the bloodied sword, gripping the hilt so tightly my fingers felt numb.
“April… that’s your name, right? Christian told me all about you. He’s got some sick fascination with you, like you’re his mate or something insane like that.” The man let his blade drag across the cement, sending up a loud, echoing screech probably meant to grate on my nerves. What kind of a sick bastard was he?
Glancing around, I took in my surroundings, looking for the way out. There was hidden walkway circling the entire room up above. A cement railing hid it from sight since it blended in so well with the walls. I could see it, though, and followed it around to find the doors that had to be up there somewhere.
“I wish I could’ve met you under different circumstances. We have so much more in common than you know. I’m Felix, by the way. It stuns me that you know Rick did something to me. Most just assume I didn’t morph all the way. You see, I was a hybrid human, much like you, April. But Rick had to go and mess with things, claiming he’d fix me, cure me….”
I hoped he wasn’t asking for sympathy. I was all out. His voice echoed, making it hard for me to pinpoint where he was. Apparently, the others hadn’t yet noticed our absence, for no one had followed us into the warehouse. I took a chance and peeked around the edge of the row. Finding it empty, I crept along, silencing each movement as I struggled with the tiny breathes my damaged ribcage allowed for. If I didn’t get some blood or get out of there soon, I was pretty sure Felix would overpower me without dripping any sweat.
“Do you know what it did to me?”
I sure hoped he didn’t expect me to keep up the conversation. I kept limping on, my chest feeling like it was being squeezed. Pneumothorax? I was pretty sure one of my lungs was punctured because the tightness had turned into wheezing, and my vision swam as the pressure increased. Crap! Where was everyone?
“It made me an outcast to both humans and the vampires. But that’s okay. I’m stronger, faster and more powerful than any of them now.”
So much for his mental health. Not stronger there.
I made it to the end of another row and stopped, the wheezing now louder. Pretty soon I was going to lose consciousness, I was sure of it. I glanced around, trying not to breathe, for each inhalation only made it worse. I was out of options, and it wasn’t looking pretty.
“April?” I spun and held the sword out, shaking violently as Felix approached. My sword was at his chest, but his was pointed down to the floor. Why didn’t he just kill me?
My heart was bursting, I was sure of it, and I sank down to my knees, dropping my sword as I collapsed against a pile of burlap sacks and garbage. I hoped I hadn’t landed in anything disgusting, but only dust billowed around me as the squeal of air replaced my voice and I gripped my chest.
Felix narrowed his eyes, studying me as I struggled to breathe. I could see the conflict swirling in his normal-looking brown eyes. His dark hair covered his ears, and he suddenly reminded me of someone. Someone I had known so long ago.
“I—I can’t….” I gulped, pressing my eyes together and letting my head thump back. This was it, the end had finally come. One darn broken rib and anemia had done me in. Tragic, wasn’t it?
Felix’s indecision spread across his face like a wildfire before he dropped his sword, pulled out a small knife and dropped down beside me. He pulled my shirt up and checked my side. What the hell was he doing?
“Don’t….”
Before I could protest, he shoved the knife into my side. Pain and panic gripped me for only a moment before my vision failed and the squeal of air no longer filled my ears.
The pain was gone. It faded along with everything else as I slipped into unconsciousness.
Chapter Sixteen
Return
The vehicle bumped along the road, making me hit my head against the frame of the window. Air rushed by, drowning out the sound of voices inside with me. I briefly wondered where I was but found only confusion and a foggy memory. The last thing I could remember was the warehouse, the fighting and the intense pain in my chest. I flicked my eyes open, and the bright light of day made me squint once more to adjust to the blinding sun shining above the rushing landscape.
“Hey.” Rye’s hand circled over mine, his thumb making soft patterns across my skin. I glanced down and noticed my hands resting in my lap. Shifting, I yelped, sucking in a breath as the pain from my side reminded me of my last moments in Christian’s hive and why I’d passed out.
Wait… where was Felix?
A boom echoed behind us, and I suddenly knew the fate Christian’s hive had found by my hands.
“I—I was… where did… how did we get out?” I settled back down, slowly craning my neck around to see which of us had made it. A cloud of dirt hovered across the horizon in the direction we’d just come from. Somehow, we’d escaped before the bombs I’d set had gone off. How? I wish I’d been there to see how we’d accomplished that. The exit must not have been too far away.
“We stole one of the jeeps from the warehouse,” Rye said. “Elijah hotwired it after we found you on the floor, bleeding.”
“I couldn’t breathe,” I gulped, my throat sore and dry. “One of the vamps we were fighting… he… I think he saved me after I hit the wall and broke a damn rib.” The effort it took to speak without pain was too much to handle. I bit my lip to steady my breathing, which eventually buffered the pain.
“Don’t talk. You definitely got something going on there. Is that why you cut your side? Your rib jabbed your lung?” Rye pointed down to my right side, and I slowly reached around to touch the bandage wrapped around my torso. The rough bandage had been done up fairly
quickly, from a first aid kit, I suspected. Still, I wondered where the mysterious stranger had gone off to and why he’d bothered to save me.
Kind of made me feel guilty if I’d just thanked him by blowing him to smithereens.
“Where’s Sarah?” I managed to squeak out. I cleared my throat and immediately regretted it. I was being stabbed all over again as my side screamed with torment.
“Here, chica.” She hung over the back of the front passenger seat and winked at me. I could see Elijah driving but no one else in the car. “Just you three?”
“Yeah. Who else? Definitely not your boyfriend, Christian.”
Elijah smirked. “You made quite a mess of the joint.” He had no regrets. I had to remember to live that way.
“I armed a lot of bombs.”
“So that’s what you were doing when we found you.” Rye watched me, thoughtful as he processed the information.
“Well, that plan worked like a charm. Though we almost didn’t get out on time.” Elijah kept his eyes on the road, but I could feel his slight anger that we were almost blown to bits.
“What about that guy, did he make it out?” I wondered out loud. Elijah and the others looked at me questioningly. “You know, Felix. He wore all black and was one of the shorter guys. He followed me into the warehouse.” The blank looks on their faces confirmed that they hadn’t seen him at all. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. The exhaustion still hung on, gripping my bones and burning at my muscles like liquid fire. Maybe I had imagined the guy.
“Not sure who you’re talking about.” Rye narrowed his eyes into the distance. He was trying his darnedest to remember who I meant.
“Just as well.” I let my head drop back, trying my best to reduce any movement. “What about the antidote?” I panicked, reaching to pat around for the small bag I’d strapped to my side. I’d taken what I could after smashing the fridge door before leaving the lab and stuffing the vials into my small black fanny pack.