Frequency (The Frenzy Series Book 3) (15 page)

Roman’s forearms were tight as Pierce approached him with a syringe. “You’ve probably used that a hundred times,” he spat. An interesting fact I’d learned: when Roman was given a drop of Infected blood to drink, he could hear us.

Pierce laughed.
Probably more. But who gives a shit about hygiene and disease when you’re already Infected with the ultimate killer?

“I care. They’re my veins.”

Pierce blew him off, tying a strip of cloth around his bicep.
Like anything can hurt you. You’re immortal.

“Vampires can be killed. You know that, or else you wouldn’t have bothered with the dog collar. And, I’m fucking starving,” Roman said. I half expected he would take his chances with the mechanism that choked him. Pierce said it would take his head clean off, but Pierce wasn’t the most honest of persons. Roman was impatient; a leader, not a follower. There was only so much time and abuse he would take before he snapped, even if the mistreatment came at the hand of his brother.

Pierce looked at me.
You see the vein swelling?

I do
, I answered.
It bulged, raising up angrily from the skin.

He smirked and held the syringe up for me to take.
Aim for that. With the needle in the vein, pull this bottom part backward to fill it full of blood.
Pierce demonstrated the motion of the bottom piece.

You want
me
to do it?
My palms began to sweat. It was one thing to see someone else get poked and prodded, but it was another for me to be the one doing the poking and prodding.

Pierce grabbed my hand and opened my palm, placing the syringe in it.
If you want to learn, you have to get your hands dirty, Saul. With your help, maybe we can finally find a cure.

Roman chuckled. “You’ve been searching for decades, brother. Others have searched for thousands of years. No one has found a solution because there isn’t one. It doesn’t exist. Like unicorns and fairies. There were smarter people than you Infected. No one’s found a remedy because curses weren’t meant to be cured. Using Saul Daniels won’t change that. He’s just another unfortunate person who’s fallen victim to you, Pierce.”

I could hear Pierce grinding his teeth in protest. Roman’s words cut him deeper than me, but they did smart. And suddenly, wielding the syringe, shoving it into his vein and drawing blood from him wasn’t so off-putting. It felt good.

Crimson liquid spurted into the small vial portion, ebbing and flowing until it could hold no more. I eased the needle from his vein and smiled at him.
It’s not so fun to have your blood taken by someone else, is it?

“You volunteered, Saul.”

I volunteered so someone less fit than me didn’t have to. Choices like that aren’t really choices at all.

Cackling filtered into the room from a vent in the floor. Roman’s room was directly above Mrs. Grant’s.
Roman’s in this hell hole?
she laughed.
How’d they catch you, Roman? Not fast enough for your undead brother?

“Make her stop,” Roman groaned. “She realized I was here yesterday morning, and again last night and here we go again. Her jokes are exactly the same lame ones each time.”

Pierce grinned and clutched his heart.
Aww
.
You made a friend.

I can still hear you, asshole!
Miranda yelled, her voice like nails on a blackboard.

Never thought you couldn’t, Miranda,
Pierce called back to her.

You’ll burn for what you’ve done. I’ll tell them all. I’ve been trying to tell them for years, but no one would listen. Not even my own husband. Everyone just assumed I was insane.

You are insane,
the brothers said simultaneously.

Well I wasn’t then. They’re all going to know what you’ve done. The colonists, or should I call them sheep, just follow the Elders like good little lambs, never questioning, never wondering why people fall or disappear or lose their minds. They don’t know about the treaty at all, do they?
Mrs. Grant’s voice trailed away. What did we not know?

Saul, have you put it all together now that you’re on this side of the flood wall? Is it all crystal clear to you now? You see, the treaty –

Miranda,
Pierce warned.

Fuck you, Pierce. What else can you do to me? Anyway, as I was saying, the treaty isn’t just for the Colony’s protection. It’s not just about the hunt and cooperation between night-walkers and the citizens of Blackwater. The Elders are behind everything. They’re the ones who control Pierce and Roman. They are the ones who came up with the idea to experiment on people. For the greater good, for humanity, they said. If they found a cure for the incurable, they would make themselves into gods on earth. They wanted power and fame. Governing a couple hundred people wasn’t enough. Roman and Pierce were merely the first to take the bait. Before they came, we rarely had anyone fall. The Infected weren’t clustered in the city. The night-walkers didn’t live in town. We knew of the Infection, but it hadn’t touched us. We remained safe, tucked into what everyone believed was a sanctuary provided by God to protect his people. The Elders told everyone they were prophets, that there was a new order from above. That we should trust the night-walkers to take care of us, to watch over us. They only needed one thing.

Roman growled. His eyes grew black.
Hungry.

Did you know Roman sent his own friends to Pierce? The night-walkers didn’t just skip off to the next town, not that there’s anyone close by. Roman incapacitated them and dragged them here, to this place, so that Pierce could perform tests and use them up. He killed them all. Some more swiftly than others.

Again, Roman growled.
Shut up, Miranda Grant.

She continued, undaunted by Roman’s threats. Pierce stood tall, watching my reaction, which I tucked behind the wall that was growing taller by the minute.
And they didn’t stop there. They performed experiments on colonists, too. Tell Saul what you did to me, Roman.

Roman fought against the restraints holding his arms to the rests, to those holding his legs to the chair legs. His throat swelled with rapid breaths. “Let me out of this chair!” he screamed.

I was pregnant. The Elders called for Carson to help that night because someone’s house was on fire. Did you set the fire, Roman, before you came to my house and invaded my home? Mercedes was almost two. She was asleep. My screams woke her and then hers mingled with mine, but you still hurt me.

What the hell did you do to her, Roman?
My stomach turned. She must have been pregnant with Porschia.

Roman, is the needle they just used on you the same you used on me?

Roman thrashed violently.

Pierce shoved me out of the room and locked the door.
Calm down. I’ll deal with her,
he told Roman as he limped down the hallway to the stairwell. I followed, but slower.

They injected her! When she was in my womb, they put Infected blood and God knows what else into my body! They hurt me. They made her into a monster! She was a monster before she was born because they made her one!

No way. Porschia wasn’t a monster. She was as human as anyone.

The needle didn’t pierce the fetus. It poisoned Miranda, not Porschia,
Pierce said quietly
.

How could they do that? What else did they do? Did they hurt my family? How would I even know? Is that why everyone followed the Elders’ orders without question? Did they know the consequences of dissension and were too afraid for their own families?

Roman was finally quiet. In an exhausted, gravelly voice he called out,
“That’s why she tastes different. That’s why she smells different. It was like her body somehow fought the virus. It had to have been in the womb, but neither she nor Miranda became Infected. We only put a tiny drop into the syringe, but we thought that it would either Infect the fetus, or the baby would develop antibodies to fight the disease.”

But something had gone wrong. Miranda Grant lost her mind, a side effect of the Infection, and Porschia became the object of her disdain. She blamed her unborn child for what Roman and Pierce did, what the Elders had sanctioned. And they waited, setting a new plan into motion. Both brothers wanted her, but for very different reasons. Roman was in awe because of her strength, and Pierce was in awe because she somehow beat the Infection. But what if it was just a fluke? What if no blood had been pushed into Miranda Grant’s swollen stomach? What if Porschia was just normal, and Miranda was pushed over some sort of invisible edge that she couldn’t cross again?

She was different!
Pierce yelled at the both of us.
She was the key. I told you not to turn her. I told you she was ours – not mine or yours, but OURS! I told you not to let her get Infected, not to let her into the woods at all. I told you to keep her safe and not let her turn into a fucking night-walker! But you couldn’t stay away! You couldn’t leave her alone for a minute. And fucking Mercedes. She was hungry. That was her excuse. Though in the end, it may prove to be helpful. I think Porschia’s blood...

A low humming filled my ears before a loud thump silenced Miranda’s sobs. Roman’s voice came into my mind loud and clear. He was blocking his words, so I was careful too. I tucked his words behind my wall.

My brother has lost his mind. You see that, don’t you? He wanted to test on her. He would have killed her to dissect her. He thought she had the solution he’s been searching for so long. For years I watched her grow from a distance. I watched how Miranda treated her, compared to Mercedes and Ford. I watched as the Elders kept an eye on her. And I saw how hungry and desperate she was when she entered the rotation just after Mercedes fell. I knew she would be, of course. I knew she’d be at rock bottom. I wanted to be the one to pick her up.

You fell for her
, I accused.

I did. But there were two things I didn’t count on.

What?

You....and Tage. You both love her.

We did. I knew how Tage felt about her.
You don’t love her, Roman. You wouldn’t have done what you did to Mercedes if you did.

That’s not true. I love her, just not the way that you do. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt human, let alone processed things as I did when I was one. I saw her as someone I could love, or someone to have companionship with.

You saw her as a possession.

Don’t you? You wanted to be the girl’s savior! She was starving and you offered to feed her. She needed to get married, so you offered to marry her. And you didn’t even know her. You saw her pretty face, but didn’t know Porschia Grant because you’d never taken the time to do so until that morning. In fact, if Noah hadn’t gotten in the way, you would have been interested in Mercedes’ hand. Isn’t that right?

I swallowed. It was true that I had noticed Mercedes in the Colony before, but I knew of both sisters. Mercedes was happy with Noah. They were going to be married. Meg was taken, and Porschia was right in front of me, needing something that I could provide. She was strong and beautiful. And I did fall for her.

But now she was a night-walker and I was in this forsaken city helping some asshole test people for a cure that didn’t exist and never would. I’d had enough. This shit was going to end. Tonight.