Of Royal Descent (34 page)

I arched my hips and bucked him off me.  We both got to our feet with lightning speed and began to circle one another.  The colony howled and paced as they watched, mesmerized. 

I wondered if anyone had ever challenged William before.  My confidence faltered momentarily.  He was a pretty big guy, but I was bigger.  I hissed before I leapt.

William crouched lower and craftily extended his claws, sailing me over his head.  I landed with a thud behind him.  I rolled before his fist punched where my head had been.

Okay, so maybe William had a lot more practice than I had
at fighting other royals, but I was undeterred and blinded by rage.  I sprang, landing my shoulder into his abdomen.  We landed in a heap with me on top.  The next few seconds were a blur, as teeth and claws seemed to come from thin air.

The colony began to chatter uncontrollably
, and both William and I fell slack at the same time, immediately calmed by the sound of beating helicopter blades in the distance.  We disentangled, standing erect.

William stared at the royals.  "We run.  Who's with me?"

With no clear winner pronounced from the challenge for alpha, the other royals hesitated to answer.  I figured I had two choices:  lead them in another battle or swallow my pride and bow to William.  Not only did I ultimately agree with William, I also really wanted to see Addy tonight.  Wherever this irrational desire to be in control stemmed from, I could deal with it later. 

"I am," I said, stepping forward.  William nodded
his approval.

The others followed suit
, and in one massive blue streak, we headed south before the helicopter arrived on the scene.

* * *

Hours later, I stood in front of the Oak Ridge clinic.  I knew this would have been Stephen's destination for not only Chuck, but also my father. 

Who knew what information had been relayed to the government bigwigs before the royals had massacred the ground troops.  If Russell was being viewed as a traitor, there was nowhere "safe" for our family to run to.  This would be the best option with medical staff and facilities.  It may have been a
n Anomaly building, but ultimately, it was ran and operated by doctors and scientists - not agents.

Having parted ways with the colony, I suddenly felt alone and vulnerable standing by myself on the sidewalk.  William ha
d continued to lead the royals south, further into the mountains.  Before the separation, Dylan had promised he would see me soon and thanked me for the rescue.

"Your mother and I are so proud of who you've become," he had said to me with all the melancholy of a man who's missed out on his son's childhood.

"You see her too?" I asked, smiling.

"The seventh sense runs in the Clark bloodline," he replied proudly.

I had watched them race into the mountains, wondering if a zombie apocalypse was imminent.  I considered it.  The royals already knew to kill off the MZs left behind from their feedings.  I had watched them do it.  It made good economic sense.  No MZs left behind equaled no competition for food.  Yes, very good economic sense.  But why then was my sixth sense twisting my stomach into knots?  I sighed and raced down the mountains into Oak Ridge, wondering if I had done the right thing by releasing the colony upon mankind.

The lights that spilled from the lobby doors of the
clinic were warm and inviting.  I shoved my hands in my pockets and tapped at the first step with the toe of my shoe.  I debated walking in or just hiding on the grounds and waiting for someone I knew to emerge.  No matter how warm and inviting the lights were, I was a royal, and I was standing in front of a royal containment facility.

I didn't want to be caged
, and I didn't want to fight anymore.  I just wanted to know how Chuck and Russell were.  I climbed the few steps to the entrance doors and peered in.  A receptionist sat behind an L-shaped, cherry desk.  Seeing no guards, I made my decision. 

Pushing
in the door, I stepped inside.  The receptionist's initial smile wavered as she took in my clothes - shredded and covered in blood.

"Hello, may I help you?"

"I'm a friend of Russell Hawthorne and Chuck Johnson.  I'd like to see them," I spoke warily. 

There was the briefest of pauses as recognition lit her eyes. 
"Of course.  Take the elevator to the first lower level, and your friends will be in the first room on the right.  Dr. Ambrose is with them now."  She was polite in response, but I could taste her fear.  She knew who I was, rather,
what
I was.

"Thank you," I said
, antennae alert for entrapment measures. 

I crossed to the elevator and pushed the button.  Her growing fear made my mouth water as we waited in awkward tension for the elevator to surface.  I was now grateful William had insisted we stop to eat on our trip.  I don't know if I could have resisted killing her otherwise.  I was going to have to eat again soon.

The relief in the room was palpable when we both heard the elevator bell ring.  Mine, however, was short-lived.  When the doors slid open, I realized the female passenger already inside wasn't stepping out.  Had she not been distracted by the ring of her cell phone, surely she would have noticed the state I was in, thereby fleeing the elevator for her life.  But as it was, she moved aside to make room for me to climb aboard while she fumbled with her phone.  I swallowed and entered the confined space.  The doors slid closed as I saw the receptionist pick up the phone to make a call.

The woman next to me deposited her cell back into her handbag as the elevator began to lower.  She looked up with a smile and froze.  I smiled politely back.

"I'm sor-ry," she said, recovering.  "You, uh, you have a little something, right here," she said nervously, pointing to the right side of her mouth.  She looked away quickly and took a slight step backward.

I glanced into the reflective surface
of the elevator doors and saw my entire face had been splattered with blood.  I brushed nonchalantly at the area she had pointed out.

"Thanks," I said, not knowing where else to go with the conversation.

"You got it," she smiled with unadulterated terror blazing in her eyes.

The elevator stopped
, and she sprinted out, heading down the corridor and throwing herself behind a door.  I heard a lock click.

Well, she was tactful
, I thought.

I stepped from the elevator and headed for the first door on the right.  I was surprised to find it unlocked.

"Doyle, glad you're here.  He's been asking for you," said Stephen.

"Which one?"
I asked, spotting both beds against the wall.

"Chuck.  He's been in and out for the last hour."

"Is either of them going to die?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst.

Stephen rubbed his eyes.  "There's good news and bad news.
Have a seat, Doyle.

26

I staggered a few steps forward, dazed, before taking the first empty seat. 

"Let's start with Russell," Stephen continued.  "The good news is that he
’s alive and his vitals appear to be stabilizing now that he's getting fluids.  The bullet entered his torso, just under his right lung, and made a clean exit.  Russell's very lucky.  Another millimeter higher and he wouldn't have survived the drive here.  And he also wouldn't have survived if Addy hadn't ridden with me.  It's because of her, he's still with us.  The bad news is, he's lost a lot of blood and he hasn't regained consciousness.  He's not out of the woods yet.  We're just going to have to wait and watch."

I swallowed.  I was hearing mostly good news.  Russell had a nice chance at recovery.  It was all I could've asked for.

"And Chuck?" I asked.

Stephen pressed his lips together and inhaled slowly.  Immediately, bile rose in my throat.  Stephen's expression didn't have me expecting as good a prognosis for Chuck as he
had given Russell.

He sat in a chair opposite mine and searched for the right words.  He rubbed his palms together, stalling.  But I knew.  He didn't have to say it.  Chuck was dying.

My vision blurred.  I gripped my stomach, feeling nauseated.  Stephen put a hand on my shoulder, and I thought I was going to pass out.

"Tell me why.  I need to know why," I choked out.

Stephen removed his hand and began, "Here's the best way I can explain it.  Have you heard of MRSA before?"

I nodded.  "Yeah, it's an infection that you can't treat with certain antibiotics, right?"

"Pretty much.  The bacteria has adapted to fight off drugs that used to kill it.  The viral cure Chuck received presents a similar situation.  In low dose trials, the cure effectively killed the virus.  However, Chuck's blood is now telling us a different story.  The virus is mutating, adapting for survival."

"What does that mean, exactly?  He's entering the first shade?" I asked, confused.

"Best case scenario, yes." 

I put my head in my hands as I considered this.  "What do you mean
best case scenario
?  What's happening to him?"

"We don't know. 
If he makes it past the first shade, he will be infected.  But how much the virus will change, we have no idea.  No one’s taken the cure before.  There's no rule book."

I gaped at him in shock, "So, Chuck could die, or he co
uld shade, or he could become a completely new classification?  Those are our only options?"

"Yes."

Chuck began to mumble and I ran to his side.

"Hey," I said,
wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.  His eyes opened and focused on me.

"I'm sorry I always boss you around," he spoke faintly.

"No you're not," I said, smiling.  He gave a weak laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you're right.  But if I come out of this, I'll work on it, alright?"

"Just work on coming out of this."

There was a long pause and I had thought Chuck had fallen back asleep until he spoke again. 
              "Hey, listen, you remember our conversation about the possibility of the monster gene?"

"Of course," I said, laughing softly
.  "Did you just want to rub it in my face you were right?" 

"Actually, I was going to say my point of view had been changed."

I bunched my eyebrows together.  "How so?  You argued there was a monster gene.  Good call."

"Yeah, but I also argued
I yam what I yam
, and I can't believe you let me get away with quoting Popeye.  But my point is, I always thought people just had to play the cards they were dealt.  I don't believe that anymore.  You actually had a monster gene.  Imagine the odds.  But here you are, not trying to eat me.  If you're capable of fighting against your own instinct, then who am I to say it can't be done."

I listened without interrupting.  I couldn't tell whether or not he was in his right mind.  But if he felt the need to say these things, I was going to let him.

"And then there's Kai.  She's changed me.  No, that's not right.  I mean, I changed myself because I love her.  Some changes were intentional and some were not.  But I'm different because of her.  Can I tell you a secret?"

I nodded, despite not knowing if he could even see me.

"I've been practicing a Grayson Lee song to sing to Kai."

I choked, and flew into a coughing fit.  "Wait, what?" I asked, suppressing genuine amusement.

"That night Kai called me a sissy for being afraid of him stuck in my craw.  So, I decided I didn't want to be afraid of a pop singer anymore.  I started listening to his music and once I got over my unfounded fear, I realized that he actually has some catchy songs."

I had no words, so I just smiled like an idiot, wondering at my friend.  He really had changed quite a bit since we had started out on our road trip.  I sobered,
thinking I could lose him.  There was never a better friend than Chuck Johnson. 

"So
what was the song you chose to serenade Kai with?" I asked, trying to deflect the new onslaught of emotion.

"A classic, apparently.
  It's called
Get Over Here
."

Yes, my friend really had changed. 

"She'll love it," I said.

* * *

By the time Jenny was brought in, Chuck had fallen back asleep.  I arose from my seat to make way for Kai.  She passed by it without even slowing down, crawling into bed next to Chuck.  She laid her head on his chest and sobbed.

Gretchen walked over to Russell's bed and sat on the edge, holding his hand and kissing his forehead
, while Stephen helped the staff reposition Jenny into a clinic bed from the stretcher she had been brought in on.

Everyone was here, everyone except Addy.  Not for the first time, I wondered where she was.

Stephen began to deliver the news of Russell and Chuck's conditions.  If I had thought Kai was crying hard before she heard the news, I was sadly mistaken.  I stood, unable to bear the sight of all the grief I had caused.  I had to leave for a minute, get some fresh air, change of scenery, something.  No one even noticed as I slipped out the door.

A
lab coat was standing in the hallway and I shaded to royalty without thinking.  The man didn't scream nor did he run.  In fact, he just continued to search for loose change in his pockets for the vending machine.

I shaded back.

"You wouldn't happen to have a dime, would you?  The things we'll do for a cup of coffee, right?"  He smiled genuinely at me.

"No, sorry, I don't.  Coffee's not really my thing," I said as I hovered by the door, not sure what to do or where to go.

"Yeah, I kind of picked up on that.  Ah!  I knew I had one somewhere," he said, withdrawing a dime from his lab coat.  He dropped it into the coin slot and pushed the button required to begin his coffee selection pouring.

"I'm sorry to hear about your friends.  I hope we're able to help," he said.

I eyed him suspiciously.

"Oh, right, sorry.  My name is Wells Stevenson.  I'm the director of the facility.  Doyle Hawthorne, right?"  He extended his hand.

I tried not to recoil in horror from the déjà vu.  He picked up on the hesitation and I quickly extended my hand to shake his. 

"Sorry, it's just that the last facility director and I had a conflict of interest," I said.

His smile widened.  "Yeah, Edgar and I never really saw eye to eye either," he said, bending down to retrieve his coffee.

I smothered a chuckle at his choice of words.  I didn't think Bradbury would be
seeing eye to eye with anyone ever again. 

"Why is it you're not unsettled by my presence, but another clinic employee locked
herself in a room to get away from me?"

"We allow our royals to walk the sub-basement freely, but this level is res
tricted to them.  Only a few employees actually walk among them.  We promote equality, but that doesn't mean people aren't afraid."

I could understand.  After all, hadn't I been terrified of my own father and grandfather in the beginning?

"You hungry?" Wells asked.

"Starving."

"Follow me," he said, gesturing down the hall with his shoulder.

I held back.  Gone forever were the days I would blindly trust that people weren't looking for ways to restrain and/or kill me.

"It's just food.  Well, maybe a shower too," he said, staring at my shredded clothes.

"I don't know.  I probably shouldn't be wandering off."

He focused intently on me, and I had a creepy feeling he was reading my mind.

"Use your sixth sense."

"What do you mean?"  I asked.

"I don't blame you for being wary.  Use your sixth sense and you'll see it's safe.  The more you use it the more it'll become second nature."

Crap, maybe he could read my mind.
 

I nudged my third eye open.  It swiveled to assess the situation, yawned, and went back to sleep.

I nodded and followed Wells down the corridor.  We stopped just outside a door.

"I can't go in with you for safety reasons," Wells said.  "There's livestock behind this door and sometimes a royal gets carried away and puts the staff in jeopardy.  You can eat your fill of the animals, and I'll wait for you out here."

I nodded and he opened the door.  As soon as Wells closed the door behind me, I set about doing what zombie royalty does best.  It was the most fantastic bender of my life.

From rats to cows, every farm animal seemed to be present and accounted for.  I tried them all.  After one-third of the food source had been depleted, I'd finally had enough.  I knocked at the door as a warning I was coming out.  Wells remained on the other side, nursing his coffee.

"Full?"

"For the first time in a month."

"Good, let's get you cleaned up."

"Hey, thanks, but I really should get back.  They'll be wondering where I've went."

"It's okay, I've already spoken to Stephen.  He's asked me to see to your needs."

I checked in with my ESP.  It was a go.

"Okay then.  A shower would be nice.  Lead the way."

Thirty minutes later, I was slipping back into the room that held my family.  Neither Gretchen nor Kai had moved.  Stephen was shining a penlight into Jenny's eyes.  Addy was still missing.

"Any changes?" I asked softly, sliding up next to Stephen.

"Chuck roused long enough to know Kai was with him. 
Other than that, no."

I stared at Jenny.  Honestly, when Gretchen had told me Jenny wasn't human, I had
begun to doubt her sanity.  But, hey, I was a zombie.  I hadn't thought that possible a month ago.  And clearly, Jenny wasn't reanimating.  Whatever she was, the virus wasn't having the normal effect on her body. 

I was tempted to ask Stephen what he knew of her condition, but I refrained.  Not one of them would have been in the mess they were in if I had listened to Russell in the first place and just came back home to Maine when he'd asked.  I didn't trust him to answer my questions then
, but I was going to trust Gretchen now.  When she was ready to tell me, she would.

"Go get some sleep, Doyle. 
Addy's already lying down in your room."

"My room?"

"One room down the hall on the left."

I wanted to sprint to her and not look back.  I wanted to pretend the majority of my
family wasn’t potentially dying.  I wanted to hold her and kiss her and feel carefree.  But I could never be carefree again.  Destiny had seen to that when she crotch-kicked me a month before.

"I should stay.  I want to be here if there's a change with anyone."

Stephen faced me.  "I promise you, I will let you all know when anything changes.  The best thing you can do now is to get some sleep."

"
What if I'm sleeping when Chuck dies?  I can't take the chance.  He wouldn't leave me and I won't leave him."

Stephen's expression softened.  "We were all prepared for your passing.  We had a time frame.  Outside of that time frame, yes, Chuck slept. 
Just as you will do.  What if he doesn't pass for two weeks, as was the case with you?  Would you stay awake for two weeks?"

I downcast my eyes.
  "You'll come for me when it's time?"

"I promise at the first sign, I'll come for you."

I nodded as I tucked a lock of hair behind Jenny's ear.  Before I left, I hugged Gretchen, who also promised to alert me to any changes.  I wanted to say good night to Chuck, but I would have felt like I was intruding on a private affair.  Kai wept bitterly as she whispered to him.  She touched his face tenderly, and I had to look away.