Rabid (2 page)

Salvatore drove, and Abby rode in the front passenger seat. Jack stayed in the rear with Aiden. The rain beat down like bullets against the roof and windshield. The wipers were useless. The rubber edges had long ago crumbled to dust.

“It doesn't matter,” Salvatore said. “A werecat can see through practically anything.”

Twenty minutes later, they were rolling down Highway 10, following Pippa's scent.

The rain continued for days. Sections of the highway were blocked by debris, which Jack cleared with Excalibur, getting drenched each time he left the vehicle. He refused to complain. Abby and Salvatore had become depressed by the unending downpour, but they took strength from Jack's optimism and confidence.

But as they made their slow way forward, Pippa's scent was fading.

“Maybe we should abandon the vehicle and track her on foot,” Salvatore suggested one day after they had pulled off the highway to get a brief respite from the rain. They were parked below the canopy of an old gas station.

Jack stuck his head through the opening from the back. “Aiden is still too weak to travel on foot. Besides, this rain would beat us down before we found her.”

“I agree with Jack,” Abby said. “Staying in our vehicle on the highway is our best chance for finding her and surviving a feral attack. I don't want to lose my sister, but I don't want to get us all killed, either. We've got to think logically, not emotionally.”

Salvatore was surprised by her reply. The old Abby would have acted on emotion alone.

“Pippa,” Aiden whispered from the back. The three looked at one another, and then Jack went back to his patient. Abby and Salvatore turned to look at their friend.

“Aiden, are you awake? It's Jack.”

“She's coming back for us,” Aiden said. He reached up with his nearly re-formed hand and pulled the doctor's head toward him so he could whisper in his ear. “I can smell her scent growing stronger. She's coming back to kill us.”

A chill went down Jack's spine.

“How can he
smell her scent and we can't?” Salvatore whispered. “I haven't smelled her scent since early this morning.”

“Maybe his senses are heightened because he's a hybrid,” Abby whispered back.

“But you're a hybrid too.” Salvatore said.

Abby shrugged. The constant rain had dispirited her, and she needed this respite from the highway. She opened her door and exited the car. Salvatore did the same, and they sniffed and scanned for ferals. There was no scent or sign of them.

While Abby kept watch outside, Salvatore explored the building and found some vacuum-sealed non-perishable canned goods. Jack and Aiden left the vehicle and joined the two werecats.

When noon came, the four ate lunch, sitting at a table that Salvatore had dragged under the canopy. They were glad to be outside and happy to have Aiden back in the land of the living. But it wasn't long before Aiden felt weak again and slumped onto the table.

“I think it's time we get back on the road,” Jack said.

Jack and Salvatore carried Aiden back to the armored vehicle. Abby couldn't help but stare at his newly regenerated hand. The thick, scaled, greenish skin spread from his wrist down, with lines of scales running back up into his arm, as if grafting itself to his human side. His elongated fingers were much longer than the digits on his normal hand, and they ended in long, sharp fingernails that looked like deadly talons. Abby shuddered at the sight, thankful he was her friend.

“Aiden's right,” Abby said as they started down the highway. “It's like she's changed direction.”

“She's coming back for us,” Salvatore said. “She's hunting us.”

Abby felt a chill. She didn't know if it was the cold rain or the thought of her sister and what she could do. Either way, she knew she'd be seeing Pippa again soon.

You have to kill them, Pippa, you have to kill them all
.

“No, I don't want to. Leave me alone, Keenan.” Pippa squeezed her head between her palms and rocked back and forth. She was hunkered below a ruin of crumbled metal, trying to hide from the voice. But there was no getting away from the words of the angry apparition.

Look at what they did to me.
The mauled body of the doctor's dead assistant materialized in front of her.
They let me die.

“How is it their fault? I don't understand.”

Jack Tanner chose to explore that hospital. If not for him and his stupidity, I'd be alive. Aiden would be alive.

“Aiden,” she said, breathing in his name like a sweet perfume she'd never smell again.

Aiden deserved to die.

“No.”

Think about all the time your sister spent with him, fixing our boat at the marina. Her flirting made him want her, the same way she wanted him. She wanted them all, even the doctor. And they wanted her. But I only cared for you.

“You cared for me?”

I loved you, Pippa. Since the day I saw you. I would have never betrayed you. But Abby and Aiden have. They've been together behind your back. They've been together all along, since their time together in the Hunter Library. I saw her kiss him, but he pulled away. He was confused, still in love with you, but attracted to her too. She knew I was going to tell you. After I died, she let Aiden die to hurt you. If she couldn't have him, she wouldn't let you have him, either.

“Oh, Abby, why?” Pippa sobbed, and her body shuddered with competing emotions that were overwhelming her. She no longer knew who she loved or hated.

The doctor let Aiden die because with him out of the way, he'd only have Salvatore to kill, and then he could have Abby all to himself.

“Doctor Tanner.” She whispered his name like poison. She'd make him suffer.

But Salvatore is just as guilty. He could've saved Aiden, but he wanted your sister, and he planned to kill you next. Abby told him she didn't want another werecat bidding for his attention.

Pippa knew what she had to do. She had to kill them all and make them suffer like she had suffered. If only they had let Aiden live, she might have spared them.

The rain grew heavier as they pushed on in the armored vehicle. Pippa's scent would occasionally grow stronger and then fade, a cat and mouse game that continued for several days. Her scent came from different directions, as if she were not only stalking them but also toying with them. At times her scent was so strong they expected to be attacked immediately. And then the scent would disappear.

“She's hunting us, she's playing with us,” Salvatore repeated for the tenth time. “She's mad, she's rabid. I don't think we'll be able to keep her from attacking us.”

Abby scanned the road. Though they'd lost her scent, she knew Pippa was close.

“Let's take that next exit and park under the overpass for a while,” Jack said, pointing through the rain-smeared windshield. The area was flooded, but Salvatore found a way through and parked the armored car under the shelter of the overpass. Aiden was asleep, but the others got out to stretch their legs and snack on some jerky. They never saw the predator lying in the mud waiting to claim its prey.

“There's something eerie about this place,” Jack said. “I feel like we're being watched. Do either of you smell any ferals?”

“I can't smell a thing,” Salvatore replied. “All this rain and mud has my sense of smell way out of whack.”

“Same here,” Abby said as she scanned their flooded surroundings. “And I've got that same feeling of being watched, but I can't locate the watcher.”

Jack started and pointed toward a nearby stream of mud. “What is that?”

Something was moving under the surface, the muddy water rippling in its wake.

“There's a reed gliding along with it,” Abby said.

“A breathing tube,” Jack said as he reached for Excalibur.

Abby hissed, and her hairs stood on end. She and Salvatore morphed, but the mud creature was quicker. It rocketed out of the slime and launched itself at the doctor. It hit him full on, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him flying unconscious to the ground. Excalibur slipped from his grasp and rolled away.

Salvatore and Abby attacked simultaneously, tried to pin the creature to the ground. But the slime covering its body prevented them from locking it in their grip. The creature balled its fist and punched the hyena, sending him flying.

Abby felt a rush of mad adrenaline. She attacked the creature with a ferocity she'd never known, her body morphing more than it ever had before. She felt the pain of her bones and muscles changing, but she grabbed the creature and pierced its arms with her razor sharp claws. She grabbed the thing and flung it through the air and out into the rain.

The creature quickly regained its feet and howled and hissed. The rain washed the mud from its body, and Abby realized, even in her crazed state, that her adversary was Pippa. But the werecat she faced looked more feral than anything. Its eyes were blood red, its pupils vertical black slits. Its teeth were as sharp as daggers, and its claws were deadly. The creature stared at Abby and hissed again. Pippa was lost to Abby, and as she charged, Abby was lost to herself.

The two werecats fought like wild tigers. Screams of pain and anger filled the air, but they were evenly matched, and neither could strike a deathblow.

“Abby, Pippa, please stop this,” Salvatore yelled.

At the sound of his voice, a piece of sanity returned to Abby. “Pippa,” she cried. “Pippa, it's me, it's Abby.”

Pippa leaped and pinned Abby to the ground. “I know,” Pippa said as she raised her hand high above her head, preparing to sink her razor-sharp claws into her sister's chest. But as she struck, a strong, cold hand gripped hers and pulled her away.

She hissed and spun and saw a reptilian forelimb. She was momentarily confused. She thought she had killed all of them. But no, one must have survived to stalk her. But as she stared at it, she saw a face that didn't match the ones she'd hunted down like sheep, one by one. She found the face of redemption.

“Aiden?” Pippa cried. She reached out to touch his face, to see if he was real. “But you died. Are you real or just another ghost from my past?”

“I'm real, Pippa. I survived.”

The spirit of Keenan appeared, only a few feet from Aiden. It whispered to her, told her to kill them all, but the insanity of her rabid side was sliding from her mind like the mud that had slid from her body. Keenan's image faded away.

“It's me, Pippa,” Aiden said. “Please, Pippa, don't do this.”

“Am I dreaming!”

“No, Pippa, I'm real. Your love kept me alive.” His eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp. Pippa caught him before he hit the ground.

“No!” Pippa cried out.

“Pippa, he's still alive,” Jack called through the rain. “But he's very weak. I'll explain it all later. For now, we need to get him back into the vehicle to his gurney. Are you with us?” Jack waited for her answer, still unsure if she was friend or foe.

Pippa nodded. She was still confused, but she was overwhelmed with emotion at seeing Aiden alive. She helped the others carry him back to the armored vehicle and stayed with him in the back.

Inside the armored car, Jack relayed the past week's events. Visions came flooding back to Pippa. Aiden was unconscious but breathing regularly. When Jack was finished, Pippa began to weep, sick and ashamed of her recent activity.

Abby embraced her sister. “Don't cry, Pippa. It's going to be all right.” Pippa hugged her back, and they crumbled in each other's arms.

“I was so lost, and I couldn't find my way back,” Pippa said. “I hated everything and everybody. I was led to believe that I couldn't rest until everyone was dead.”

“It's okay now,” Abby said, rubbing her sister's back. “We found each other again. We lost you once, but it will never happen again.”

“That's where you're wrong,” Pippa said, pulling away to face her sister. “When I went rabid, I had a flood of memories, forgotten ones as well as things that I somehow knew were true. I learned that you and I were never meant to live. You're either human, feral, or werecat from birth. You can never be a combination, because the blood of the two different species will always fight for dominance until one wins and kills the other. That means that a hybrid has never lived long after birth. When Alex suppressed us, he allowed the blood types to grow to maturity together until they became one. It was inevitable that one would eventually dominate the other, which is why our werecat sides finally emerged, and why I went rabid. That means that you're likely to experience a rabid phase.”

“That could be why Aiden lived,” Jack said. “Your blood could have saved his life, and maybe the bite from those gator creatures infected him and created some sort of mutation between the species after the blood transfusion. That would explain why he's so weak. They're fighting to find some sort of balance or maybe even dominance over his body. I'm surprised he even survived. Now your blood test in Athens makes sense. It isn't the werecats that hold the key to saving the ferals, it's—”

“It's the two of us,” Pippa said. “Abby and me. We might hold the key to turning a feral back into a werecat or a human.”

“But maybe it only worked after the rabid stage,” Jack said. “It's a possibility I'd have to examine further. And it may be another reason why Aiden is struggling to recover. Your blood was entering the rabid stage when we gave him the transfusion. It may not have fully matured, but it could have been changed enough to be fighting back in his body. But it may also have been the key to keeping him alive. Now that you've regained your sanity and made it through, I'm betting your blood cells have been altered even more. I just wish I had a microscope.”

“We need to find one,” Abby said. “We should compare my blood to Pippa's and check for cellular differences. This may be the most important discovery since the Fallout. The closest city is called Houston. I say we head there to get what you need.”

An hour later they were back on Highway 10. By Abby's calculations, Houston was six to eight hours away. The road was clear of rubble, and they easily skirted any abandoned cars they encountered. As they drove, the vegetation lining the roadside became greener and more luxuriant.

“It looks as if this area of the United States was barely touched by the Fallout,” Jack said, as he pointed through the greenery to a group of intact buildings just off the roadside. “Those buildings look better than any I've seen before.”

“They definitely look better than the ones in New York,” Abby added.

Aiden was shivering with cold. Pippa climbed up on the gurney and covered him with her body like a blanket. His skin felt cool, and she wondered if it was because of his new reptilian side.

Aiden stirred and opened his eyes. “I love you.”

She leaned in and kissed him.

“I wish I could marry you,” he whispered before closing his eyes.

“One day you will,” she whispered back as she closed her eyes and fell asleep next to him.

“Houston, ten miles,” Abby said, reading the faded road sign. “We should stop and sniff the area for ferals, then wait till morning to enter the city.”

Salvatore nodded and pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He and Abby got out, followed by Jack, who had moved to the front of the vehicle to give Pippa and Aiden time alone.

The werecats sniffed through the rain for any scent of danger.

“Anything?” Jack asked.

Salvatore shook his head.

“I'm not detecting anything, either,” Abby said.

They climbed back into the car, locked the doors, and slept until morning.

They made Houston early the next day. The streets were overgrown with weeds, just like the highways, but the buildings stood erect, their glass intact. They parked in front of the first hospital they came across.

“I wonder why no one turned this city into a safehold,” Jack wondered aloud as they climbed out of the vehicle. “It seems to be completely deserted.”

“It is,” Aiden responded, sniffing the air. “There are hordes of ferals close by, but I can't tell exactly where they're hiding.”

“We'd better get back in the car,” Jack said.

“Don't worry, they don't smell like they're in the city,” Pippa said. “They're miles away, so we can do what we need to do and then get out of here.”

“All right,” said Jack as he watched the four teenagers sniffing the air. It occurred to him that he was the only human left in the group. He'd be happy to trade a bit of that humanness for the ability to detect ferals.

They entered the hospital and methodically checked the first floor, looking for a hematology lab or a clinical chemistry lab. Pippa found a wheelchair and coaxed Aiden into it. He was reluctant to use it at first, but at her urging he swallowed his pride and let her wheel him around.

They found what they were looking for, an intact lab with hematology equipment and medical supplies. Aiden used his sun ring to illuminate the room, and Jack found alcohol, cotton swabs, needles, and syringes. He extracted blood from Abby and Pippa and put the samples under a microscope. When he looked up from the microscope, he was smiling.

“What?” Abby asked.

“I want to extract blood from all of us.”

Jack took blood samples from Aiden, Salvatore, and himself and studied them all under the microscope. He found some test tubes and mixed some of the blood samples together, then examined those as well. The entire process took more than an hour. The others waited quietly as the doctor worked.

“It's just as I thought,” Jack said when he was finished. “Pippa's blood is an anomaly, assimilating all blood types at once, as well as the three known species of human, feral, and werecat. It's bizarre, but the cells are living together in harmony and working together in some sort of symbiotic relationship. Her blood is stabilized, but Abby's is still evolving. The hemoglobin from Abby's werecat side seems to be the dominant source and is moving about aggressively. So I applied Pippa's sample to the four of ours. Every test gave the same result. The werecat gene takes precedence, multiplies rapidly and balances the system without destroying the other cells. But when I tried Abby's sample, it had no effect. Not yet, anyway.”

“I guess that means I have to go through what Pippa did,” Abby said.

“We'll be there for you, sis,” Pippa said. “We'll be better prepared this time.”

“What if you injected me with some of Pippa's blood,” Abby asked. “Maybe that would stop the transformation. It seems to have worked for Aiden.”

“Aiden doesn't have the same makeup as you do,” Jack replied. “And at the time, we had no choice. We were trying to save his life. We can't chance it with you. Besides, I'm not sure what we're dealing with concerning Aiden. He's still having trouble, so I can't say how it would affect you in your current state. You might have to approach a feral-like state as your sister did. Maybe it's like emerging from a cocoon. I just wish I had a feral blood sample to test my theory.”

“I guess you're right,” Abby said. “I studied a bit about genetics and blood types back at the library. I'm just worried that I might lose my mind like Pippa and try to kill you all, no offense, Pippa.”

“None taken.”

“Let me grab a bag, gather some medical supplies, and save these samples,” the doctor said. “I'll also take the microscope. Maybe we'll find a feral specimen along the way.”

Pippa sniffed the air. “It's time to get out of here.”

“Do we have time to scavenge for food and supplies?” Jack asked.

“No,” Pippa said. “Pick up whatever you want from the lab, and then we need to get as far away from this place as possible.”

The doctor nodded and quickly gathered some supplies. Then they left the hospital and went to their vehicle. Outside, the rain was slackening, and a glimmer of sunlight shone through the clouds. Aiden, Pippa, Abby, and Salvatore sniffed the air.