Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (3 page)

When Dominic spoke, I straightened my back and stared at the flowery wallpaper, as his meaning sank in. “I have an army. It’s growing. And I’m coming for you. I will get that little bitch you’re protecting, your brother, Duncan, and you. It’s just a matter of days, little Paul. And when I reach you, every person between Salt Lake City and the border will either be dead or following me. Because once I bite, there is no need to hypnotize – they’re mine.” The air went dead and after a moment of stunned silence, the buzz of a disconnected line startled me. I’d dealt with cell phones for so long I almost didn’t recognize the obnoxious beep-beep-beep the land lines made.

Slowly, I placed the phone in the cradle. In a few steps, I moved to stand before the shelving holding the tea sets and miniature soldiers.

I’d been right. War. He was waging war and the bastard didn’t follow rules. He’d bite and infect every person – man, woman, child, you name it – on his way to get me. Me. He might say he wanted the others, but I know deep down, he wanted me back. I don’t know why, but narcissists wouldn’t let anyone else win. And for some reason this had become a twisted game to him.

A heavy hand fell on my shoulder. Shocked, I turned my head and stared at my brother.

“Thanks for the meat, man. I haven’t felt this good in a while.” Blood laced his lips and trailed down his chin, adding a flavor of menace to his smile.

It kind of creeped me out. “Hey, what happened? Are you okay? Should you be standing?”

Connie moved up behind him. “I agree. But his wound is almost gone.” She ripped the bandage off, exposing the fresh pink flesh underneath. I stared, unable to respond. Too much information rattled around in my head.

James winced and grabbed his shoulder. “Thanks, Connie, but I don’t need you to dismember me. I’m
getting
better, not
all
better.” He turned back to me and rolled his eyes. “Anyway, thanks again for the meat. Much better than the fish or that store-bought crud we had. Didn’t we eat a cow or something, too?”

I didn’t answer, just stared at him. He’d be in Dominic’s range again and vulnerable to the man’s mind attacks when Dominic started traveling toward us.

James searched my face, the smile falling from his mouth. He grasped my upper arm. “Paul, what is it?”

I gripped his hand and squeezed. For the moment, words escaped me. For the first time, in probably forever. Hell. I always knew what to say. But I choked. I choked on the memories of what Dominic had done to James in the biology building at UNLV and in the back of the screamingly awesome Nova. I swallowed and forced it out, ignoring the obvious sentiment in my tone and words.
Suck it up? Hell, I was a friggin’ mess.
“I can’t watch you go through the torture again, James. I might not survive it.”

Connie’s hand found my other arm. “What are you talking about? Who was that on the phone?”

I tucked my chin. “Dominic. He’s coming. He’s building an army and headed here.”

Her fingers fell and hung at her side. I glanced into the older woman’s face, her long blonde hair twined in a sloppy braid. She didn’t show the emotions that had to be there. I was anxious as hell. She’d better not be calm. We weren’t discussing a book or something. Jeesh.

Anger built within me – at Dominic, at Connie, at Travis, James, and whoever else I could think of. I snapped. “Doesn’t that faze you? Aren’t you concerned? We need something to protect the people here, the town,
people
.” I pointed at my mom who had joined us and Grandma Jean who stood at the doorway. “
Our
people. Eat as much as you can so that you can stay on this research and tell me what the hell we can do to help. Sorry to be such a disappointment to you.” I shrugged off James’s hand. Melodramatic? Hell, I was turning into a damned drama queen. The realization just irritated me more.

Connie didn’t turn from me as I expected. A hand on each of my upper arms steadied me and she met my eyes full on. “I get it.
Our
people. But I don’t have enough time to test what we’ve been working on. I need a person who hasn’t been infected. Which of our people are you willing to sacrifice to the cause? If it’s not now, then it’s going to be when Dominic comes.”

I didn’t have a response, just questions. “You have something to try? Why didn’t you say anything? I don’t understand. What do you have?”

She let go, dropping her hands to her sides. “I have something. I think.” And she stopped. Why the hell did she stop? The graying hadn’t begun in her yet, she was still too new to the virus, plus she’d eaten only a short time ago. But her skin had developed luminescence and her hair seemed thicker. Feedings must make our bodies stronger, at least for a short time.

“Is Travis working on it upstairs?” Suspicious, I didn’t dare release her gaze. Something was off and I didn’t have the balls to ask outright what the hell was going on.

But apparently Heather did. “What do we need to do, Connie? Can you tell us anything more?”

“I don’t know a lot more. I created a prototype-model for how I’d manufacture the vaccine, but I only have James’s blood. I need saliva and we need to decide who we are going to test it on. We can’t use Heather, James, or Paul, right? That leaves Travis, Nancy, and Grandma Jean. But the difference here is we don’t know if age plays a part in the virus sustainability. Paul and James are young. It would seem like all of Dominic’s recruits are adolescent aged.” A sigh escaped her. “I’m not as old as Travis, nor am I as young as the boys. So, I’m not a good case to go off of.”

Picking up the thread, I pointed out, “But not all the people who’ve been infected have been teenage boys. The ten-year-old girl in the warehouse was like us and if the majority of the police force was turning sides, none of them could’ve been in my age range. So we know it can infect them. Plus, Dominic – that dick is old.” I blushed. “Sorry, language.”

The look my mom shot at me intended to strangle me – it had to, because I couldn’t swallow all of a sudden.

Connie continued as if I hadn’t added that last part. “True, but we aren’t sure how they are doing. Are they existing alive or dead? Are they having problems manifesting a mental form of stability? Plus, if I do successfully create a vaccine, there are too many variables between the correct application and the correct result.”

Grandma Jean hmm’d. “I’ve heard of that. Some recipients of vaccines don’t respond well to the strains. How many strains do we have to worry about?”

“One.” Connie paused and then tilted her head. “Unless, of course, the virus evolves and fractionates into a different strain with varied modes of transportation.”

“What? Like the bird flu?” Mom stepped forward into the enlarging circle. Somehow our conversation had engaged everyone. Concern riddled their faces. As it should. Hell, each one of us had more than one thing at stake riding on the possibility of a vaccine… or better yet a cure.

Connie nodded. “Kind of. Except this one has to evolve from fluid transfer to touch to air. The first jump is the hardest and it’s still relatively new in its design.” Essentially, we had time before the zombie virus flew around on the wind when someone sneezed.

I reduced the complexity of the situation to a single question. “Who do we use?”

Those infected eyed the clean ones in the room. Travis was lucky to be upstairs. Heather and Mom squirmed under our scrutiny. I might have lingered over Heather a bit longer than I should have, but the girl’s curves needed me. I’m sure they did. Crap, Heather wasn’t even an option. No one else studied her, just me. Add creepiness to my drama-tude.

“I’d rather not know.” Grandma Jean patted her short curls. “I have syringes in the medicine cabinet. Can you create the test vial and fill two others with saline solution and stick us all?”

Connie hesitated. “I could, but the only way to test the efficacy of the vaccine is to introduce the virus as well. I have to create a solution to inject after I vaccinate.”

Essentially, one of the humans may or may not have a shortened life span soon. “When do you think you can create the vaccine?”

The solid, unyielding look she gave me defined dead-pan. “I need your saliva and James’s to compare to mine. All I need to do is isolate the genetic trait in each of our enzymes that links them and then I will know what marker to alter and kill before vaccinating the patient.” Patient, I liked that, because if we called them what they were, we might not be able to do it.

Yells tore me from the game of chess I played against my mom. Honestly, I didn’t regret the distraction. I’d forgotten how awesome she did at strategic games. Better than the ruler I’d learned about in history class – um, short, French I think? Whatever. Better than him.

I followed the curses and thuds up the stairs to my floor. The sounds had called the rest of the house as well. Heather maneuvered herself around until she stood by me.
Sweet.

Grandma Jean knocked on Travis’s door. “Is everything okay? Can we help in any way?”

The shouts stopped.

Connie’s voice ripped through the panel. “Paul! Get the girls out of here. Travis has the virus and he’s not coherent. Hurry!”

Not coherent. Hell. I grabbed Heather and Grandma Jean and left my mom in James’s hands. We thundered down the stairs, unsure where to go for safety, but knowing we had to get the hell out of there. Fast.

Heather and her grandmother matched in weight, balancing me out. At the bottom of the stairs I tucked each one under my arms and carried them to the front. Grandma Jean had the presence of mind to open the door without causing too much delay. My only thought – get to the metal shed. Hopefully, the damn thing wasn’t locked.

At the brown metal door, I slung the women to the ground and turned with my back to them, hands up and feet in a fighting stance. James thrust Mom into the huddle with the other two and joined me, creating a small but powerful shield. Over my shoulder I growled, “Get us in there, Grandma Jean. I don’t know how strong he’s going to be or how long we can keep him off you.”

Disbelief hadn’t settled in with the imminent threat. It would.

A crash and stomps down the stairs. Connie yelled at the top of her lungs to get through her husband’s haze. A bellow and the front door flew open.

A squirrel scampered up the trunk of a tree – I placed him more by smell than by sight. I couldn’t afford to move my focus from the new Dr. Duncan barreling toward us across the lawn and drive. His arms swung in perfect sync with his legs.

His eyes, although glazed, hadn’t been smoothed over by a cataract-layer. A bright red spot spread across his lower neck, down under his collar.

As he approached, I dug my feet into the soft moss covered ground, prepared for when he launched at us. I raised my hands in front of my face. “Stop.” I didn’t yell, or scream, or even whisper, just used a tone I’d use in normal conversation.

And hell, if he didn’t stop. Just inches from me, he froze. Confusion replaced the hunger etched in the slant of his eyes and the snarl of his lips. He lumbered until his feet rested parallel to each other on the ground. His eyes darted from me to the women and back. He licked his lips.

If he stopped, would he jump up and down?

And suddenly, Dr. Duncan jumped – up and down, up and down. What the hell? The man looked goofy with his untucked shirt bouncing over his trousers. He continued bouncing up and down.

Stop, already.

He stopped. Connie’s footsteps faltered. “What is going on? Why is he acting like that?”

“I don’t know. First, he did what I said, and then what I thought.” I lowered my arms. If Travis decided to freak out again or not follow my directions, James had my back.

Connie moved beside me, facing her husband. He didn’t move, just watched the women over our shoulders, as if waiting for the go ahead – which I would like to add wasn’t going to happen. Connie spoke softer. “Travis, honey. If you come with me, I can get you something to eat.”

He grunted but didn’t acknowledge her more than that.

She crossed her arms and rubbed her upper biceps. Goose bumps spread over her skin. “I don’t know. I injected your saliva after the vaccine.”

I closed my eyes in defeat. “The vaccine didn’t work. We’re down a human to try these on.” We needed more brain power. If I had any real training in the sciences, I would have my butt up on the microscopes studying and researching until I had the answers to the world’s most basic questions. The chill wasn’t biting, just sneaky on a slight breeze taking me by surprise.

“Not necessarily.” Connie waited until I opened my eyes. She opened a hand and pointed to pen drawings on her palm. “I couldn’t figure out why the virus wanted the enzymes. Most viruses attack the white cells and the immunity before they attack the rest of the body. They infiltrate the cells – virtually join with them so that they look and act like the original cells. But this one is even more sophisticated than that. Rather than disguise itself and depend on the nature of the body’s immune system as well as the genetic dispositions of the body, the bug piggybacks on the enzymes – not just training them to do what they want, but controlling them.” Her voice rose an octave.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear she was stimulated on more than one level. Ew… thoughts like that about an older chick. I know cougars are the thing, but I don’t roll that way. I had no idea what she’d just said. An explanation would be nice.