The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (18 page)

“Riss?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good,” he said and opened the door. His
attractive face was muddled with worry. A prickly web of fear crept
over me. “I’m glad you’re here. I was just going to send someone to
get you and Hayden.”

“Get us? Why, what’s going on?” I looked past
him. Shante, a nurse, sat next to Dr. Cara, looking utterly pale.
Dr. Cara’s back was to me, but it looked like she was holding
something.

“Cara,” Padraic said and put his hand on the
back of his neck, “she’s infected.”

“What?” I blinked and leaned away from
Padraic, not wanting to believe his words. “How?”

Padraic looked behind me. “Come in,” he said
softly. I hurried in and shut the door. It took everything in me
not to storm over to Dr. Cara and interrogate her. Though if she
was crazy it wouldn’t do any good.

Padraic, who knew me and my quick temper well
enough, put his hand on my shoulder.

“She’s like Hayden,” he rushed out.

“What?” I asked, my voice shrill. I pulled my
shoulder back and moved past him. I didn’t even think about what he
had said. Hearing Hayden’s name and knowing Dr. Cara was infected
was enough to make me angry.

“She’s infected but not contagious,” he said
quickly. “Just like Hayden.”

I whirled around, looking at Padraic. His
blue eyes met mine and he nodded. Dr. Cara turned around in the
chair she was sitting in. Her arm was bandaged. I looked next to
her. Shante, who was shaking and pale, was wearing gloves. She
tossed a bloody bandage in the trash.

“You!” I yelled, pushing past Padraic. Anger
seared through me. “You brought that crazy in here and it bit you!
Then you didn’t say anything!” Padraic ran over, putting himself
between Dr. Cara and me.

“How fucking stupid are you?” I shouted.

“Riss,” Padraic said and held up his
hands.

“No!” I said. “I can’t believe you would do
that! What if you were infected,
really
infected. And then
went crazy and tore this place up? But you don’t care, do you? All
your care about is your fucking research!”

Shante stared at me, wide eyed. With
trembling hands, she took off her gloves. Then she looked like she
wanted to run out of the room as fast as she could. Dr. Cara
cradled her injured arm close to her body.

“I needed to test the vaccine,” she said.

“The vaccine?” I asked.

“Yes. I told you I was coming close to a
breakthrough.”

I opened my mouth, set on continuing to yell,
but was at a loss for words. She tested the vaccine? On herself?
Wait…it worked?

“Riss,” Padraic said. “Let her explain.”

I took a step back and crossed my arms. “This
better be good,” I muttered.

Dr. Cara stood. She had on a pair of candy
cane striped pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt with a print
screen wolf howling at a full moon. Her hair was in a twisted messy
bun on the side of her head.

“Like I said, I was coming close to a
breakthrough. I inactivated the virus and injected it
intramuscularly. I waited forty eight hours then let the S1 bite
me.”

“But you’re infected,” I said pointedly.

“As is Hayden,” she reminded me. Her eyes met
mine. “He’s not insane. The virus is in his body, but his body
doesn’t react to it,” she said slowly, making sure I was following
along. My heart sped up. Yes, Hayden was infected. He had been
since the day he received his first bite. But nothing had happened
to him.

“So this vaccine…it will keep people from
turning into zombies?” I asked, feeling dizzy. I subconsciously
fiddled with Hayden’s dog tags.

“Theoretically,” she answered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I tailored this vaccine specifically to my
body. And I took the virus from the same subject that bit me.” Her
gray eyes clouded over with disappointment. “I don’t have the means
to test this any further.”

“What do you need?” I blurted. If she was
this close to finding a vaccine, we couldn’t stop now. This could
be our saving grace.

“A proper lab,” she stated. “And people to
test the vaccine on.”

“Oh.” I let go of the dog tags. “Yeah, that’s
not gonna happen.” I crossed my arms and inhaled. It killed me,
being so close to an answer.

“We should tell Hayden,” Padraic said.

I wanted to tell him no, that Hayden had
enough to deal with right now. “I’ll get him,” I said, knowing it
would be impossible for me to keep this from him. Besides, it was
almost good news. Hayden could use some right now.

I left the hospital ward and sped down the
hall to Hayden’s office. There was no light spilling out from the
crack under the door. Still, I tested the knob; it was locked. I
hurried into the cafeteria, thinking Hayden might have stopped to
get something to eat. He wasn’t there either.

Great, he was upstairs and I was going to
have to make him come back down here again. Cringing at the idea of
bringing more stress to him, I walked through the halls and jogged
up the stairs and into our room.

“Get lost?” Hayden said when I opened the
door. He had taken his shirt off. The sight of him, half naked and
tattooed, sent a tingle through my core. He unbuttoned his jeans.
“Uh, forget something?”

I shook my head and crossed the room. “Stop,”
I said.

“Stop what?”

“Getting undressed. I have to tell you
something.”

Hayden pushed the button back. “What’s
wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Dr. Cara tested
the vaccine on herself and it worked.”

Hayden inhaled, holding his breath. “Are you
sure?”

I nodded and held out my hand. “She’s in the
hospital ward with Padraic right now.”

Hayden picked up his shirt and yanked it over
his head, not noticing that it was inside out until I told him. He
fixed it then took my hand. We rushed out of the room together.

Shante had left the surgery room by the time
we arrived. Padraic was sitting on a wooden stool with his arms
crossed. His dark hair was rumpled and his shoulders sagged
forward. He straightened up as soon as he saw Hayden and some of
the tiredness in his eyes disappeared.

Dr. Cara, on the other hand, looked as if she
was ready to fall asleep. She was leaning back in the chair,
holding her right arm close to her body. Hayden stopped short. I
didn’t know what he had been imagining, but this wasn’t it.

“Uh, I heard you found a vaccine,” he said,
eyes darting back and forth between Dr. Cara and Padraic.

“Yes,” Dr. Cara said with a curt nod.

“And?” Hayden asked when she said no
more.

“It worked.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that.” He moved closer to
Dr. Cara. “Explain.”

Dr. Cara took a deep breath. “I inactivated
the virus from that S1 that I brought in here.”

Hayden held up his hand. “How did you even do
that?”

A smile crept across Dr. Cara’s face. “It
took some time.” Then she launched into details of how she did
it.

Hayden nodded. Was he following along? I was
lost and getting bored. I looked around the surgery room. It was a
mix of modern and old fashioned. We had scavenged equipment from
hospitals, but obviously we hadn’t been able to get anything big.
The operating table was a refurbished exam bed and the lights that
hung overhead were nothing more than hanging bulbs and a few
fluorescents. The sterile surgical tools were wrapped in blue
towels, stashed in a cabinet with glass doors. Strips of tape were
across it, letting Padraic know when if it had been opened.

“So this
isn’t
going to protect
everyone from getting infected?” Hayden asked and rubbed his eyes.
I felt so bad for him. He had to be fucking exhausted.

“No,” Dr. Cara told him. “As I told Orissa, I
have no way of testing this for mass production.”

Hayden bit his lip and ran a hand through his
hair, not knowing how good he looked when he did that. “Oh, ok.”
His hand fell and he pushed off the wall he had been leaning
against. “Wait a minute.” His eyes narrowed. “If you let that S1
bite you a few days ago, why are you bleeding?”

Shit, he was right. I hadn’t even thought
about that.

Shante came back in and sat next to her. The
gloves the nurse wore were covered in blood.

“Since she was hiding her bite,” Padraic
answered. “The wound got infected.”

“Of course it would,” I mumbled. “Did you
think to wash it? You’re supposed to be a doctor.”

Dr. Cara pressed her lips together. “I did
clean it.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Not very well.”

“I didn’t want to wash out the virus. I
waited a day.”

Padraic sighed. “The infection—the bacterial
infection I mean—had gotten sealed in by that point. I gave her
antibiotics and a pain pill. She should rest,” he added and looked
at Hayden. “But I wanted to make sure you were informed first.”

Hayden nodded. “Good thinking. Uh, Cara, you
can go back to your room.”

She got up and scuttled out of the surgery
room. Padraic let out a heavy sigh.

“That’s it?” I asked, my arms going up. “You
just let her go to her room as if nothing happened?”

“Riss,” Hayden started. “Nothing—”

“Bullshit!” I interrupted. “She brought that
thing in here and
let
it bite her! Don’t you realize how
stupid that was? What if she went crazy?” I whirled around and
stared at Padraic. “What if you were in here? Or Olivia? We could
have had two crazies on our hands. We all know that the crazies are
evolving somehow. This could have ended so very badly and you just
let her go to her room?” My voice was high and shrill. My ears grew
hot and my heart raced.

“Riss,” Hayden said, stepping close to me. He
took one of my hands into his. “You’re right.” His fingers curled
around mine. His words shocked me. Again, his understanding
dissolved my argument in just seconds and he didn’t try to tell me
I was wrong. “She was reckless, so incredibly reckless. And trust
me, every bad scenario has gone through my head. Even one involving
you…” he trailed off, closing his eyes in a long blink. He shook
his head. “But it didn’t happen. And what can we do? Ground her to
her room and ban her from the lab?”

I raised one shoulder in a shrug. “Sounds
like a good idea to me.”

Hayden pulled his arm back, moving me closer.
I suddenly was very aware of Padraic’s eyes on us. “Enough is going
on right now,” he said quietly. “I will try to monitor her better.”
He looked past me to Padraic. “You’re her boss, technically. You
are in charge of all the Bs.”

I turned around to look at Padraic. His face
was blank and I knew he didn’t want to have to tell Dr. Cara what
she could and couldn’t do. “Yeah,” he said. “I will ask her to run
everything by me from now on.”

“Thank you,” Hayden said.

I tightened my hand on Hayden’s and
outstretched my other arm toward Padraic. His eyes flitted from me
to Hayden and he hesitated before he stepped in, taking my hand. “I
don’t want anything bad to happen to you guys. It’s so bad out
there. In here…this is my safe place. And the thought of somebody
making it anything but that pisses me off.” I forced a smile.

Padraic smiled back. “It still is safe,” he
said right away. His voice was calm and he sounded so sure of
himself that I almost believed him. There was something about
Padraic that was so serene, so trusting, that he made me feel
better just by talking to me. “You guys made it this way,” he added
softly. “You’ll keep it safe.”

Hayden’s hand squeezed mine. “We will,
Riss.”

I nodded. “Good, because if this place goes…”
I shook my head.

“It won’t,” Hayden and Padraic said at the
same time. Padraic pulled his hand out of my grasp and took a step
back.

“Get some sleep,” he said to both of us. “You
look like you could use it.”

Hayden laughed. “Yeah, I could.” His eyes
moved to the mess of bandages and bloody gauze on the operating
table.

“Go,” Padraic said. “I’ll clean up.” He
winked at me. “I have high standards when it comes to this room,
anyway.”

“All right. Night, Padraic,” I said. Keeping
ahold of my hand, Hayden said bye to Padraic and moved to the door.
“Oh,” I said when we got in the threshold. “I put Argos in your
room.”

“Thanks,” Padraic said with a smile.

Hayden didn’t let go of my hand when we
walked through the hospital ward. The B3 at the desk eyed our
fingers laced together and smiled politely as we left. We detoured
to the cafeteria for food and then went up to our room for the
night.

* * *

“Good morning.” Hayden rolled over and put
his arms around me.

I blinked open my eyes and smiled. My arms
were already above my head; I stretched them out until my fingers
hit the wall behind the bed. Hayden pulled me close and pressed his
lips to my neck. I put my hands on his back, sticking my fingers
under his shirt. He lifted his arms up, letting me pull it over his
head. I threw it on the floor.

“You’re so warm,” he whispered, pressing his
body against mine. I grabbed the hem on the back of his boxers and
pulled him between my legs. I ran my fingernails up his back and
through his hair. I arched my neck when he nipped at my skin. A
shiver ran through me.

Hayden propped himself on his elbows and
reached down, sticking his hand inside my panties, and pressed them
against me. I softly moaned when his fingers started moving in slow
circles. I could feel Hayden’s desire start to grow, pressing hard
against me. I grabbed the top of his boxers and tugged them down. I
wrapped my fingers around his erection, slowly pumping my hand up
and down. Hayden pushed my tank top up and moved his mouth to my
breasts, his tongue circling my nipple.

Then the door burst open and Hannah jumped in
“Surprise!” she exclaimed, arms open.