Reign of Blood (15 page)

“This is Brian Sands, head hematologist of our hive.” Blaze waved toward the lab coated man. “Brian, this is April, the only human we have found so far.” Brian stood up, a scrawny and scraggly man with deep chocolate eyes and messed up, fading blonde hair. The ring of gold in his eyes seemed to almost clash with the deep brown of them. He reached out to shake my hand and sat back down.

“Good day, April,” Brian said as he turned back to the computer screen in front of him. I waited as I craned my neck to see what he was looking at. The screen was full of gibberish and numbers that made no sense to me. I gave up staring at it and scanned the room, interested in all the equipment when Blaze yanked me out of my thoughts.

“April, we have isolated a compound in your serum that very well could hold the key to the immunity you’ve developed against the virus.” I turned to look at him, his eyes studying me as if I was a very interesting item on display. The twinkle in his eye made me feel a bit guarded. He didn’t make me as nervous as Rye did but he had a certain air about him that made me think twice before I said anything.

“That’s good then, you don’t need more blood do you?” I asked nervously, feeling a bit dumb for asking. Being around others was not comfortable to me. I realized how familiar my isolated lifestyle with my mother and brother had become. The cocoon we had created had apparently kept my social skills at bay. Now I felt like the new kid at a school full of people that weren’t one bit like me. I wasn’t quite yet sure how to feel about it.

Blaze gave a short laugh as he grinned, nodding as he stood up and pointed at the screen.

“No, we don’t. Not yet. These are you antibodies here, the red are your blood cells. They are usually spherical and concave in a human, something we don’t see anymore. Vampires like us, our cells are more like round spherical balls, bouncing around in our vessels, full of nothing but fluid, we have to ingest massive amounts of blood to keep our hemoglobin attached to our cells or we die.” He paused, looking gravely serious for a moment. He waved me over to another monitor where another kind of blood was on display.

“This is a sample of a wildling’s blood. See how withered it looks? This one had not fed in a long time. But they have the ability to fill their cells up once they feed and they look similar to yours but the surfaces of the cells are a bit rougher, like they’re encased in a muck that sticks to them. These are the differences between the three of types of ‘beings’ left.” He straightened up and sighed, looking a bit worn out for a moment as he rubbed his brows.

“So why do you need my blood? What can it do for you?” I asked, curious to hear an answer, if they even had one, to this outbreak that had ended the world.

Blaze’s eyes rolled up to meet my stare. His eyes were now cold and a dark blue, like an ocean before a storm, no longer twinkling as they studied me. This made the hair on my neck stand on end as a chill passed through me. I rubbed my arms as he averted his eyes from my face.

“We are reproducing this antibody you carry in hopes that it could help us stay alive longer.” His voice came out dry and rough as the room stared at him in silence with only the hum of the machines to interrupt the awkwardness. I pressed my lips together, realizing that whatever he was going to say next would change many things.

“What do you mean stay alive longer? Does that mean…are you guys dying?” My voice came out slightly accusatory. I sucked my breath in as I waited for an answer, fighting my impatience with every ounce of my strength. I had to wait for him to answer. I knew I didn’t want to hear it, but what choice did I have?

“Yes, some of us. Not all.” He turned toward Brian and gave him a nod. The hematologist nodded and hit a few keys on the keyboard to bring up another screen of blood cells. This was a time lapsed film that repeated over and over again. The red blood cells appeared spherical like their blood had, little balls bouncing around the screen. Eventually those balls changed colors, morphing into a sickly green that rippled the balls on their surface as they collapsed into themselves and then lay suspended like crumpled green bits of paper scattered in green fluid. It was sickening and I suddenly knew what was coming next.

“Some of us disintegrate, wither in a sense. We have no way of knowing when it will happen and the end comes quickly, usually within a week. We start to feel feverish, turn pale and sickly green. Then we bleed, our blood turning into a green sludge, pouring out of every orifice right before death. So far it seems only one in five of us suffer from this disease but we don’t know how to track who is vulnerable. We have already lost about one hundred and fifty people. We bury them in the nearby water containment ditch, which has been dry for a long time. We usually set them on fire to disintegrate what is left.” He shifted his weight, for he was still standing, his words wearing on him as he spoke. I soaked it all in, still waiting for him to bring up my own blood in all this.

“Your serum may be a vaccine for us to defeat this ailment. So you see, that is why we need you, April.” Blaze was staring back at me, awaiting my reaction. My indifference surprised me. I didn’t care if it helped them or not. They were still vampires–killers and dependent on blood. Whether they came up with a cure or not, I didn’t care.

“Well, good luck with that. You got what you wanted. Now, are you still going to help me with what I want?” I narrowed my eyes at him, my voice spilling out icy and hard. I wanted to feel something for them, just to remind myself that I was still human, but I couldn’t–or wouldn’t. I wasn’t quite sure which it was.

“We might need future specimens to make this work; you have to be on board to help us every time we need more samples.” Blaze’s eyes were open in surprise; he had obviously expected a different reaction from me. “It won’t be much, I promise you that.” His voice cracked in a slip of desperation. I shook my head and turned, surprising everyone and even myself as I headed out the door of the lab. The air inside had started to feel thick and dry, suffocating me. I ran down the hall a ways until I realized I had run the wrong way.

I stood staring down another hall and turned to run back but had followed too many turns to be sure it was the right way. I groaned in frustration as I slid to the floor and leaned against the wall, smacking my fist on the hard, cold concrete floor. I was rubbing the soreness on my hand when I heard someone approaching. I scrambled to my feet and came face to face with Rye.

His statuesque face was still and his eyes had darkened over like a coming storm. He was obviously angry but I stood my ground, waiting for him to speak first.

“What’s wrong with you?” he snapped, taking a step forward, closing the space between us.

“What do you mean?” I growled back, my lips twitching at his disgust.

Rye tilted his head as he narrowed his steely eyes, sizing me up. “You think you’re so righteous, don’t you? This so-called mission of yours–killing the wildlings like animals–and for what? Just to find your family. Does that make you better than us?” He started shaking his head as he further closed the gap between us, a sinister grin dwelling on his lips. “But you’re not better than us, April. You, my dear, are just another kind of vampire.”

The heat of his breath seared my cheek as I pressed myself against the wall, pulling my head away from him, though my heart was racing. His warm nose brushed my cheek as he put his hands against the concrete wall and leaned in, surrounding me. I tried ducking away from him but he moved so fast I found myself pressed against the wall once more. My fear was mixed with want, fogging up my thoughts as I turned my head away, refusing to look into his gun-metal eyes. My hands pushed at his chest, but not with the force I would have used against an attack. My feelings were conflicted; I wanted to run, run so far that I would never see this place or his face again. And yet, I couldn’t run. I didn’t want to run, really. My feet would not budge and my heart longed for him to brush his lips across my cheek and press them against my own lips, with as much want as I felt.

He stepped away, breaking off a piece of my soul with every step he took. I let my eyes find his, my breathing fast and short, my heart in my throat, expecting to see malice and taunt dancing in his eyes.

But there wasn’t any of that at all.

He looked more serious than anything else. Rye’s eyes glinted bright like fire on steel, desire burning in them. He seemed as surprised at the feelings we had evoked as I was, if not more so. Sighing, his eyes lowered to the floor as he gathered himself once more. I could almost see his energy retract within himself until it no longer rippled about him.

When he was done, Rye glanced back up, once again sporting the stoic blank mask he’d had the first time I met him. I felt a twinge of loss without him near. I tried to shake it off but I knew the damage was done. I would help them, and not just because I wanted them to help me save my family, but because I could not bear to ever witness him wither and die.

“Come on, let’s go back,” he whispered, holding out his hand for me to take. I nodded, feeling slightly exasperated that the moment was over. Clasping his hand, I could see it shake before he curled his fingers over mine. He pulled me along, down the narrow halls and turns as if he could walk it in his sleep. I was pretty sure he could. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, a feeling of calm flushing over me as the warmth of his skin bled onto mine. I was glad to have met him. In a twisted sort of way, it felt right. I only hoped that no matter what, he would help me find my family.

Chapter Eighteen

Rye didn’t lead me back to the lab but he did lead me back to the room I had woken up in, the sleeping quarters. I had protested but he had shushed me with a finger to my lips, the longing returning to his eyes. He managed a slight smile and left quickly after telling me to rest up. I laid back after kicking off my boots, feeling more tired than I had thought I was. My lids sank closed as I let the dark embrace take me, replacing my thoughts for the time being. I was all too willing for this silent sanctuary.

*****

I woke later, not knowing what time it was. The hum of the overhead lights was the only sound that hovered in the atmosphere of this underground bunker. I wondered where everyone was and how late it was. I checked my watch and realized that it was about one in the morning. I had slept for so long I had missed dinner. Sighing, I swung my legs out and stretched, wishing I hadn’t slept so much. I would be up for a while now because of it. It hadn’t occurred to me that maybe the vampires were nocturnal, even if they could walk in the sunlight.

I got my boots back on and ran the brush through my straggly hair, pulling it back into the ponytail it had fallen out of. Pretty sure I looked like I had just rolled out of bed, I stood up and flattened the wrinkles in my outfit. My stomach rolled, filling with hunger pangs as I licked my lips, feeling definitely parched. The dry desert air lingered down here too, sucking the moisture from my body. I had to eat and drink something but finding my way around this underground labyrinth would not be fun alone. I wondered what Rye was up to, if he was still awake or not. No one else was in the sleeping quarters; the place was as silent as a tomb. I walked to the door and hoped I would find him, Miranda or Blaze nearby.

The hive was vast. I was sure that it ran the length of the airport, at least. The long runways above used to vibrate above the freeway tunnel that led to this bunker, now forever silent. It had been so long since I’d seen a plane in the sky. This had been a place full of planes, twinkling in the evening skies like stars lined up and evenly-spaced as they came in to land. Now not even the bright lights of The Strip kept the night sky from showing the real stars, no lights to take over the natural brilliance of nature.

I wondered how long it would take for nature to overtake the city. It was already evident after one year of neglect. Weeds and litter were strewn across every street. Dead landscaping and crumbling trees were everywhere. A thick layer of dirt and mud stuck to the windows of the once magnificent Strip of Las Vegas and Fremont Street. Shimmering glass shards lay everywhere. No place was untainted by the viral epidemic. Apparently not even me.

I rounded the corner and came to dead stop. Before me stood a woman, dirtied and with wild hair. Her face was streaked with grime and rips ran through her clothing. Blood had dried in dark red and brown splats on her shirt and pants and the large Rambo-like knife that she fingered in front of me. She was ready to pounce, slowly shifting on her legs as she narrowed her eyes at me. Sucking in my breath, I instinctively reached for one of the machetes strapped to my side.

I was too slow.

The woman moved inhumanely fast, faster than even Miranda. She snatched my arm and twisted it behind me, forcing my fingers to lose their grip on my weapon as she pushed me to my knees and held the knife to my throat. The machete clanged onto the ground, far from my sight. Her breath felt hot on my neck as I struggled against her. She was incredibly strong, like there was a powerful beast inside her. My eyes bulged wildly, unable to pull my arm away from her as it burned in pain. I tried to claw at her with my free arm but she shoved me down to the floor, smashing my cheek against the rough concrete slab.

“Get off me!” I grunted, bucking as much as I could as she dug her knees into my back, making me groan instead. She was a bit smaller than me but she had me pinned pretty well. I stopped squirming as she brought the knife back to my neck, snickering as she whispered into my ear.

“Stupid fool, I could slice your throat like nothing.” She pressed the blade against my skin, slightly dragging it along the surface. The sting of the blade on my skin made me gasp as my crimson blood slowly dripped down to the ground. She stopped suddenly, sniffing at the air and shifting her weight but still pressing down on my back painfully.

“You don’t smell right.” She stated. Her voice was now cracking and uncertain. She pushed off me and stood up, letting me catch my breath as I scrambled off the floor, turning to face her as my hand flew to my throat. It was just a scratch but my fear welled up in me like an overwhelming flood, my eyes wild as I stared at the filthy creature before me.