Outer Banks (18 page)

She was panicking.

“Em, calm down. A human being cannot turn into one of them. The mass of those things alone tell me it's impossible. How could it go from five feet to twenty, or from one hundred pounds to over a ton? Tell me how that could even happen?” I demanded to make her think this through.

“I don't know. Maybe…” She shook her head. “All those people.” She started to weep as I wrapped my arms around her.

“Emery, look at me.” She did. “This is not possible.”

“You don't know that for sure.”

“Okay, let's say it is. Let's say you will eventually turn into a Bug. What are we going to do about it?” Who thought I'd ever be the voice of reason?

“You should stay away from me. I should kill myself.”

“Not going to happen. Too many people counting on you, remember? What are your real options?” I glanced at the hallway, giving her a hint.

“Finding a cure.”

“Bingo. You do what you're best at—finding solutions to problems.”

With a nod, she headed back to the lab with me following along.

I was just about ready to doze off when my personal phone rang.

I didn't recognize the number. “Hello?”

“Is this Dillon McAllister?”

“Yes.” The professionalism in the woman's voice made me nervous. Was it OBX? Did something happen to Corey?

“This is Dr. Michaela Arder. We met.”

“Oh, I remember. Colonel Arder, as I recall.” I said letting out the breath I was holding. I couldn't forget that night no matter how hard I tried.

“That's correct. It was a memorable night. Well, what I remember of it.” She laughed.

“Yes, it was.” I glanced over at Emery who was trying not to look interested.

“I assume you've seen the news?”

“The queen in New York.”

“Correct. If you have a moment, I have a few more follow-up questions from your encounter.” She was attempting to keep this professional despite our rather unprofessional night at the bar. “In light of the situation in New York, we thought it prudent to contact you again.”

Situation? That was the understatement of the year.

“Uh, sure.” I hopped down from my stool and went out to the living room so not to disturb Emery.

“So how are things in…” I heard a paper shuffle. “Olancha?”

“How did you know that?”

“I have my ways.” Surely it couldn't be good to have someone tracking me to Emery.

“Are you watching me right now from a satellite or something?”

“Why? Are you doing something dirty? Maybe I should stop over and join in.” Great, she was flirting with me again, and this time stone sober.

“You weren't exactly what I imagined when I thought about Big Brother watching me,” I joked. I was pacing in the living room as the doctor started asking questions. Everything from how fast the queen moved to if I had heard or seen flashes of things while I was near her. Anything unusual.

“Honestly, the only thing I heard was my blood pumping and the only thing I saw was my life flashing in front of my eyes. I don't remember much else.”

“Okay. We had a guy on the subway platform say he felt the queen in his head before she attacked, I wasn't sure if you had a similar experience. You understand if the Bugs could make psychic contact with uninfected humans as well, it would radically change the nature of their threat.”

“No, ma'am. Not that I recall.”

“Maybe you're too hard-headed.”

“Maybe he was wearing tinfoil on his.” I laughed as I walked in circles.

“I figured you would have mentioned it if it had happened to you. We only had that one person report a mental connection. He's under observation now to see if he has any other side effects from the encounter.”

“Is there any truth to this talk of a Haunt turning into a Bug?”

“Nothing conclusive. Eyewitness accounts mean little in these matters. I don't put a lot of stock in that theory, but at this point anything is possible.” She sighed, all the flirting and humor gone. “We do think these scattered queens were left here dormant on purpose before their retreat. It's possible the beacons are also monitoring these emergences, like experiments; find out what works before a second wave.”

“If we find a cure, the Bugs wouldn't be able to control them even if they did come back,” I pointed out, my voice full of hope and optimism.

“We have a better chance of finding a way to go back in time than we have of coming up with a cure. I'm sorry, but those people on that island don't have a chance.” She didn't say it to be rude, or like she thought they were monsters who should be exterminated. There was even compassion in her tone. That was what scared me the most.

“Don't say that!” I only hoped she'd said it because she'd given up, not because they knew it was true. “There are a lot of people working on this, right?” My knuckles were turning white where they clenched the top of the sofa.

I could hear her quick intake of breath over the phone. “I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had someone who'd been infected. Your file said you had no family. I'm sorry, I didn't know.”

“It's fine. I just don't think we should abandon all hope of trying to save those people.”

“You're right. There's always hope.” She didn't believe that.

“Anything else?” I very much wanted to get off the phone.

“I think I have everything I need. If not, I'll call you again. You have my number. Call me when you're on the East Coast again.”

“Uh, sure.” I hung up and went back to the lab where Emery was moving things around with a bit more force than necessary.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Why wouldn't I be?”

I did not want to get trapped in that question. “That was the doctor who interviewed me after I had that run-in with the queen. I don't think she believes Haunts can turn into Bugs either.”

“It's nice that you have so much in common.” What was that supposed to mean? I opened my mouth to ask, but the smarter part of my brain told me to shut it. Unfortunately she pressed the matter. “What's the doctor's name?”

“Colonel Michaela Arder.” I hoped the addition of rank would make her sound less attractive.

“Is she pretty?” She watched my face carefully.

“I'm sorry?”

“The doctor you were laughing with on the phone. Is she pretty?”

“I guess so.” This was clearly not the right answer. If I had been better prepared I would have answered with the correct answer:
Hell, no. She was disgusting.

Emery nodded sadly and looked at the floor while I cursed myself for being such an idiot. I didn't know if she was normally the jealous type or not, but she had to have bags of insecurity to deal with right now.

“Did you sleep with her?” She didn't give me a chance to answer. “It's okay. I don't blame you. I mean, I know what I look like. I can't even have sex…”

We were not going to do this. No more pity parties. I walked over to stand in front of her with a grin on my face.

“I'm flattered that you think I have the ability to juggle
two
hot doctors, especially when my hands are so full with just you.” I put my hands on her waist and pulled her closer. “I don't know how much dumber I could be made to feel unless I had a fling with a Nobel Prize winner.” She laughed and poked me.

“Shut up. You're not dumb. You take blood like a pro and performed an LP, you're practically a doctor yourself.”

“A doctor, you say? Wouldn't my parents be proud?”

“What happened to them?” She looked as if she had been waiting for the opportunity to come up for some time. “You never talk about them.”

No getting around this now, I guess. “They died in an accident.”

“Oh.” She had the look. She was about to say she was sorry.

I shook my head. “And now you're going to pity me, which is why I don't like to talk about it.”

“I thought you didn't like to talk about it because it bothered you.”

“The pity bothers me more, and there really isn't anything to talk about. They were alive. They got in their car and drove off. Another car hit them. Now they're dead.” I might have sounded unfeeling, but like I'd said, I really didn't want to talk about it.

“Okay! No pity from me, Mister!” She pointed her finger at me and scowled, which was the perfect thing to do in that situation.

“I will say they would be happy to know I was able to land a smart,” I kissed her forehead, “beautiful,” I kissed her cheek, “funny,” I kissed her lips as the corners turned up into a smile, “doctor
.
” I made a
cha-ching
sound and picked her up to set her on the counter. She laughed as I jumped up next to her and pulled her back on a mess of papers.

We kissed for a while and then I remembered I was keeping her from something important. Although, according to Dr. Arder it was just a waste of her time.

“Em?” I sat up and pulled her up too. “What will happen if you can't fix this?”

The smile drained from her face. She bit her bottom lip.

“I guess I'll go back to the Outer Banks and sharpen my darts.” She shrugged and looked at the floor.

I put my hand on her face and forced her to look at me.

“You are not going back to that place. Ever. I won't let you. Do you understand?” I said forcefully.

“You and my father had an agreement.”

“I told you, that arrangement is void now.”

“Because of us?”

“No. Before I thought leaving you out might put other people at risk. That's why I asked for the time limit and to be here to supervise. But the fact is I
believe
in you. And if you need three months or three years or three decades I think you should have it. Your dad might think you work better under pressure, but I think you need a bit of that pressure taken off. I'm not taking you back.”

“Okay.” She didn't believe me.

“Emery. Your freedom is not contingent on us.” I pointed back and forth between us as I studied her face. “Do you really think that? You…you aren't just with me so I won't take you back?” I swallowed. That couldn't be true. “Em?”

“No.” She finally said and I sighed in relief. “But I can't help but wonder what is going to happen when you get bored with this situation. A year from now you're not going to be content to date someone in the middle of the night who has to remain hidden from public, who can't even…”

I sighed. “Emery, sex is not the most important part of a healthy relationship,” I repeated something I'd heard on one of those torturous talk shows. “And a year from now I'm not going to be content to still be living here mooching off your father.”

Emery seemed confused by that, given that I'd just offered her unlimited time for her to work. I took another deep breath before I continued.

“I wanted to discuss something with you, but I was afraid to bring it up. I want to know if you would be willing to move somewhere else so I could get a job. It could still be secluded, but maybe closer to a town. Any town.” I certainly wasn't picky. “I just need to feel more useful, you know?”

I couldn't interpret her expression as she stared at me. Fear curled in my stomach. She wasn't going to be content to leave this fancy house to come live in a dumpy place with me.

“You're serious?” she finally said. I opened my eyes, but looked down at my hands.

I felt her cool hand on my cheek, pulling me up to look at her. I did as she wanted and met her eyes. She looked…happy. I didn't understand.

“Yes. I will move anywhere with you.”

“You will?” I gasped in surprise.

She smiled before hugging me so hard I could barely breathe.

I kissed her hair and held her tightly.

“It won't matter though,” she said.

I pulled back. “What won't matter?”

“Your little contingency plan. It's unnecessary. I
am
going to fix this.” I only nodded and smiled. “Do you doubt me?”

“Hell no. If there is a way it can be done, I have no doubt whatsoever that you'll figure it out. What I'm worried about is if there
is
no way.”

“Come with me.” She hopped down from the counter and held her hand out for me. I noticed how large mine looked wrapped around hers as I followed her over to stop in front of the microscope. She got two vials of blood from the little refrigerator under the table. One was bright red, and the other was black.

“You've seen what happened when the foreign substance came in contact with your blood?” I nodded, remembering her black blood consuming mine. “Now watch.”

With a long dropper she extracted a drop of my blood and dropped it on the slide. Then she did the same with a sterile dropper and her blood. She peered in the scope for a moment, then smiled before backing away and pointing. “Take a look.”

I stepped closer and looked through the lens. My blood was just sitting there in a circular blob, and her blood—while apparently zinging around inside the drop—remained in its circular form, overlapping mine, but not consuming it.

I looked up at Emery who was still smiling, and then back at the sample. They were sitting next to each other in companionable boredom. Then the black fluid seemed to break down and separate, like oil hit with dish soap, only slower.

“You did it!” I exclaimed.

“No, I didn't.”

“But—” I pointed to the slide.

“I've found a way to stabilize the alien fluid. Make it inert. Break it down. In short, I can kill it. But that's only a small part of the battle.”

“Really? That sounds like the entire battle to me.”

“My blood sample was mixed with this compound I created. But you have to remember, there are only trace amounts of human blood left in my system, being used as a kind of recipe book that lets the alien blood know what it needs to do. It's the alien blood that's keeping me alive. If I were to put that in my body right now, it would kill me in like thirty seconds.”