ANTIVENOM Read online

June raises a single eyebrow.

  Eddy smiles at his dad. Yesterday, we cried when we laid him in that tree, and now he’s back! “Dad…he’s back!”

  June sighs. “Did he go somewhere?”

  Charlie nods. “We thought he died, down in the lab where we found you. He…well, helped us down there.”

  June smiles. “He helped me… Anyway, when are we leaving?”

  Charlie shakes his head. “June, you should stay with your dad. He’ll need you.”

  “He can wait until I come back. You all need me with you.”

  “Actually, we don’t. June, I’m sorry, but no. That’s final.”

  She stares at him, not blinking. Charlie stares back. Eddy looks back and forth between them, not sure exactly what to do. Enrique hits the button on the bed’s remote to call the nurse; his IV is empty.

  June closes her eyes, and Charlie thinks the discussion is over. He turns to climb back into his bed. In a flash, June grabs the long dagger that she left on the table last night—the dagger Li Chen stabbed her with. She leaps with it toward Charlie.

  Eddy blinks and wonders what’s happening.

  She lands on Charlie, wraps her legs around his torso, and twists around to his front. She holds onto his shoulder with one hand, and with her other hand, she presses the dagger’s black blade to his throat. “You need me.”

  Charlie swallows and feels the knife cut his neck as his skin moves. “June. Put that down.”

  She launches herself back and lands on his bed, standing upright.

  Charlie grumbles and touches his throat. He looks down at his bloody fingers. “June—”

  “I’m not done, watch this.” June takes the long, thin dagger and stabs it into her side. She feels both the dull ache from inside her body and the sharp pain from the cut through her skin. She starts to fall over, but she catches herself.

  Eddy screams, “No!”

  “JUNE!” Charlie lunges to take the knife before she kills herself with it.

  She leaps away, dodging Charlie. She lands past the foot of the bed, her hands at her side, the blade buried in her to the hilt. Her eye twitches while she takes a breath. “I heal extra fast now… Watch.” She slides the blood-slicked blade out and presses on the wound. Heal me. Heal me. Heal me... She feels a flash of heat under her hand, and the pain disappears. Ah… That wasn’t so bad. She removes her hand and tears open the hospital gown where she stabbed through it. “See?”

  Eddy, Charlie, and Enrique see her unbroken skin.

  With a smile, she lifts the dagger and licks the blood off it. My blood stays in me.

  Technically speaking, Eddy’s eyes have NEVER been bigger.

  Charlie is the first to regain control over his speech. “How did you do that?”

  She shrugs then walks the knife back to the table. “Dunno, but I can. Also, you know I have insane hearing, and there’s something else I never told anyone...except Beatrice.”

  Charlie swallows. “What’s that?”

  “I can sense people’s emotions or something. My brain routes the information into another sense, like synesthesia. I can tell right now that you’re all scared, but you shouldn’t be. I’m not going to change again and hurt you. Sorry I cut your neck, by the way.”

  I’m scared for a very different reason, June... Charlie steals a glance to Eddy, who is frozen stiff.

  June sniffs. “You shouldn’t be scared for me either. I’m much stronger than I used to be.” She turns and walks toward the door, but she stops before leaving. She turns back. “I will be going with you.” Then, she leaves.

  When the door is closed, Eddy falls backward against the wall. “Dad? What the hell just happened?”

  He doesn’t respond. He plops down on the bed.

  Enrique hits the button for the nurse again.

  In the hall on the way to Skip’s room, June asks a nurse for a new hospital gown. She follows the nurse to a supply closet, and when the nurse hands her one, she changes in the hall. “Thanks.”

  “Uh, sure.”

  Outside Skip’s room, June hears him talking to Katlyn. She walks in, and when he’s once again greeted by the new image of his daughter, whatever peace his painkillers are granting him withers. “June, come talk with me?”

  She nods. “Hello, Katlyn.”

  Katlyn tries not to stare. Oh my god. She glances at Skip. I thought you were exaggerating. “Would you two like some privacy?”

  Skip nods, but June answers. “I’m sorry, I’m interrupting. Please stay.” She walks to the chair set by the window where Rusty sleeps, and she slinks in beside him. “Dad? I need to tell you something.”

  He hears his daughter’s voice, but he stares at a stranger. Her eyes haven’t looked like her mom’s—Monica’s—for a week. Now, her skin is taught, her head is shaved, she has dozens of scarred dots on her scalp, and the same scars travel her arms and legs. He swallows. “What’s up?”

  Katlyn rests her hand on Skip’s shoulder.

  June smiles at them both. “This is going to be very hard for you, Dad. I’m not the same person I used to be. The old me was killed, and whatever I am is what’s left. I still love you, but somehow, it’s hard to think that I’m still the June I used to be.”

  Skip shakes his head. “What those men did to you was…evil. You’re still my June. You’re you, June. You are you.”

  “I think I’d like to use a new name.”

  Skip blinks a few times, then quickly shakes his head. “Umm, I don’t think that’s necessary. Give it some time and—”

  “No. If I’m me, and if I feel like I’m different, then I am. I want my name to reflect this change. I want to be called July.”

  Skip furrows his brow. “I... I umm…” He groans, and Katlyn squeezes his shoulder.

  A pair of green-and-silver eyes wait, unblinking, for his response.

  “I guess that’s okay, if you really want... July.”

  She smiles.

  You’ll always be my June.

  She frowns. “Also, there’s a mission leaving today to stop Dr. Melgaard. I’ll be going because I need to kill him.”

  Katlyn tightens her grip on Skip’s shoulder.

  He shakes his head. “No. No, that’s not happening.”

  July stands and approaches, then sits on the edge of the bed beside him. She places her hand on his arm. “I’m not asking for permission. I’m telling you that I must go.”

  “...July... No. You’re not going.”

  She stands up. “I’ll see you after. I hope your leg heals well.”

  He grabs for her arm, and she lets him get a hold of her. “I said no!” His eyes are stern, not pleading and not blinking. He waits for his daughter’s response.

  “It’s not your decision, it’s mine.” July looks at Skip’s hand on her arm, then closes her eyes.

  After a split-second, he recoils his hand with a yelp. “Ow!” He looks at his palm and watches a red mark well up. “What just happened?”

  With Skip’s yelp, July sees the colors around him shift. She feels an overwhelming sadness. I hurt him... She swallows. “Don’t worry about me.”

  “Get back here!”

  July holds back all emotion and leaves as tears form in Skip’s eyes. Katlyn watches and bites her lip. She rubs her hand across his back, not sure what to say or what else to do.

  Charlie finally spots Sadie in the hallway. She’s stepping out of a room, a few yards ahead. “Dear… I need to talk with you.”

  She turns to him as she sips a less-than-terrible cup of coffee an elder brought in. “Where?”

  “In private.” He looks to the sides of the hallway and spots the men’s bathroom. June won’t go in there...

  Sadie notices where he’s looking. “No, I’m not bringing my coffee in there.” She turns and starts walking. “Follow me.�
�

  She leads him out of the quarantine wing and into the same room where Zaman interrogated Robert. She glances at the empty bed closest to the window—where she hid underneath and listened to Robert’s pleads and screams of agony. She swallows and looks back at Charlie. “What’s up?”

  Charlie sits down on the other bed and just stares.

  Sadie sighs and sits beside him. “Carles, what’s going on? Is this about the mission?”

  “No, it’s June. She’s... Something has changed with her.”

  “That’s an understatement… What happened to your neck?”

  Charlie turns to his wife. “June got the jump on me with a dagger—she literally jumped on me—and she gave me that nick. Dear, she was FAST. Then she...”

  “What?”

  He swallows. “Then she stabbed herself in the side, pulled out a bloody blade at least six-inches long, then pressed her hand on the wound and healed it.”

  Sadie tilts her head and forgets to breathe for a moment.

  “And she says she can read people’s emotions and she’s insisting on joining the mission.”

  Sadie shakes her head. “Obviously she can’t go, but... She stabbed herself?”

  Charlie nods, replaying the scene in his mind. There was blood on the knife when she pulled it out. Then she licked it off the blade... Her skin didn’t have a mark, not even a scab. Instantly healed.

  “She acted crazy last night. Like an animal... And that boy, Steve—the one who stabbed Enrique—he says she ripped into his belly with her fingers and tore his scalp off. And he said that the gang’s leader stabbed her in the chest.”

  Charlie shakes his head.

  Sadie frowns. “Remember I asked her about that blood on her bra? That must have been hers, but she lied to me.”

  Charlie sighs. “I’m almost afraid to say this... Remember back in the bunker, when Rusty found her?”

  Sadie nods. “Yeah, before he ate Michael’s face and then got thrown by the explosion into an incinerator. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that.”

  A smile creeps on Charlie’s face. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, he’s back! Rusty is back!”

  She sighs. “He’s something else, alright. Damn him for putting us through that.”

  Charlie nods. “But dear, what I was saying was, that before we found you all, he and I fought through tons of zombies, and we were wounded.”

  “Yeah, so were we, Eddy and Enrique and me.”

  He shakes his head, then he leans to her and whispers, “You don’t understand. Rusty was wounded. He was coughing up blood.”

  In a flash, the same realization plows into Sadie’s mind and shoves everything else away. She whispers back, “He lapped at her wounds. He bled into—”

  Charlie covers her mouth with his hand and nods. “Yup. What’s it mean?”

  Her brow quivers as she shakes her head back and forth. At first, she only moves a few microns at a time, then millimeters, then centimeters, then with a great sigh, her head reaches both extremes. “I have no fucking clue.”

  Charlie sniffs. “I think I should bring her.”

  “WHAT?”

  “Yup. A: she’s insisting and she probably can’t control whatever’s happening inside her. And B: what better way to unleash it than on this mission?”

  Sadie stands up from the bed and turns around to face him, planting her hands on her hips. “That’s incredibly selfish and irresponsible of you. How could you even consider such a thing? She’s like a daughter to us!”

  Charlie stands and faces her, then he takes a step closer and whispers in her ear, “I know, but this daughter of ours might have a certain immortal’s blood in her now. Also, I don’t think she’ll take no for an answer.”

  Sadie closes her eyes and dips her head, then she reaches around Charlie and hugs him. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not going…and neither is Eddy.”

  He pulls away from her. “Hold on, he’s my squire.”

  “He’s the prime minister’s son.”

  “That’s… So?”

  “He’d be a valuable hostage, and he’s only fifteen.”

  “But last night when I said I was bringing him, you—”

  Sadie shakes her head. “Charlie, you thought that you just lost your best friend, and you had so many fresh injuries that your endorphins were making you high as a kite. I didn’t feel like having this argument then.”

  He shakes his head. “I wasn’t high, I was—”

  “Yes, you were. Zaman mentioned that becoming an old vampire gave him new abilities—how he can sense new things—and I started to think more about the different things I could sense. You were not yourself.”

  Charlie’s mouth hangs open. “I—”

  “We can talk about this until the end of time, but you’ll still not be bringing Eddy. That’s final, as your wife. Don’t make me say it as an elder, and if you make me say it as the prime minister—”

  Charlie waves his hand. “Wife is plenty…”

  She nods. “June stays too.”

  He sighs while considering how he’ll deliver the news and avoid another blade at his throat, and in that pause, Sadie steps in and hugs him again.

  When Dr. Lars Melgaard arrives at The Plant with his equipment and samples, he orders the security detail escorting him to carry everything to his lab. Once there, he’s pleased to see his two small teams already working. They take the bags and containers from the security guards, then set them on tables to empty and organize their precious cargo.

  Dr. Anne Kirchner, head of the Virology team, glances up when she hears the door again. Oh, they’re leaving. Where’s Michael? She looks at Dr. Melgaard. “Doctor? When will Michael be joining us?”

  Lars pulls out his deepest frown and wipes his eyes. “He didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes water, and she sniffs suddenly loosened mucus. “I understand.” Yet another sacrifice for our great purpose… I really liked him. She turns back to the material on the table, brushes her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder, and stares for a moment. She clears her throat and starts to organize the different viral strains. She finds the one she’s most interested to see, and she bites her lips as she reads the label. It’s marked only with the Greek letter tau. It’s the fastest acting zombie-virus-variant in existence.

  She picks up the tiny vial with the black cap. “Let’s see what we can make of you.”

  As she turns, her eyes are filled with the opportunities hiding in her hand. She’s bumped by Dr. Trinn Soun, head of the Biotechnology team. Anne overcompensates and grabs the precious vial with both hands, then glares at Trinn.

  “Sorry, Anne.” Trinn lifts the homemade organ transporting device that Michael invented. She smiles. “Got a live one in here.”

  Anne’s eyes, shoulders, and head sink.

  Ah fuck, that’s right… “I’m sorry Anne, I know you and Michael were getting close.”

  She shrugs.

  Trinn swallows and motions to the device. “His machine worked. Both ovaries are in great condition.”

  Anne walks away. “Good for you.”

  Trinn rolls her eyes. I said I was sorry, jeez. She glances again at the small cooler with tubes and wires sticking out of the sides and with a microprocessor and LCD stuck on top. Time to get you little babies—Ha!—into your permanent home. Then I get to harvest the oocytes from one of you! Won’t that be fun?

  Someone nearby clears their throat, and Trinn realizes she’s smiling like a fool while holding up a mini cooler. She huffs, then—looking first—she turns with the cooler and walks to her workstation.

  Charlie and Skip whisper together about July’s insistence on joining the mission and about Sadie’s prohibition of it. Skip sighs and throws his head back against his pillow. “This whole thing is crazy. She’s obviously not going, b
ut I mean, she’s just a kid, Charlie.” He lifts his head and stares at his friend. “MY KID… You’ve seen what they did to her...” His lip curls into a snarl, and he clenches his fists. “Those fucking monsters. Those goddamned, evil motherfuckers. They tried to kill her!”

  “But they didn’t, and they won’t get away with it... I’m not going to lie to you, Skip, now or ever. June...err…July, by all accounts should be dead. The fact that she survived what she did, and that she can do the things that she can, means that... Well, I don’t know what it means exactly other than that we have no idea what her limits are. I don’t know how to break the news to her that she won’t be coming with us.” He shakes his head and whaps his hand against his knee. “I mean, she stabbed herself in the guts, and then instantly healed. I’ve never seen a vampire heal that fast. Never... Not even Sadie can pull something like that off, and she’s really old. I doubt Zaman could either, and he’s crazy old. July might be—” He lets out a pained and confused sigh. “—the strongest vampire alive.”

  “Exactly what I’ve always wanted for my little girl.” Skip closes his eyes. “She’s changed so much and so fast. A week ago, she was June, my June, but now...” He opens his eyes once again to his friend. “I can’t lose her, man... I just can’t. She’s my…” He gasps as he wipes away a tear.

  Charlie nods. “I know, and you won’t. How do we get her to stay?”

  “No, you don’t understand. She’s my whole world. If I lost her…”

  Charlie swallows. “If she stays, she’ll be out of harm’s way. I’m afraid of what she’ll do when I tell her no again, so how do we make her stay?”

  Skip shakes his head, remembering back to that last family vacation he, June, and Monica took to the beach, and when they went up to the top of that lighthouse. He lifted his daughter up then, showing her the world that laid before her, and Monica smiled. Then in that moment, the world was huge and magnificent. But now, in the hospital, it’s small, it’s scary, and it’s caving in all around him.

  Skip opens his wet eyes and sees his best friend, Charlie, beside him. “Earlier today, she told me that she was going, and that it was her decision... Somehow, I understand—I mean, if someone did that to me, I’d…” He chokes a tear. “Ugh. She feels like she has to go.” He lets out a huge sigh, then shakes his head with an inhale. “I don’t think I can physically stop her, she did something to my hand when I touched her, and it felt like I was touching something red hot.”