Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 38877 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38877 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“I did what had to be done,” I grit out.
“Where’s your mask?” Hadrian growls, his eyes flashing with anger.
“I took my protective gear off,” I tell him simply.
“And he injected himself with poisonous blood!” Zoe snarls.
Willow gapes our way, but Lyric frowns at Zoe.
“Like you did?” Lyric asks, making Zoe flinch.
“It’s different,” Zoe hisses. “We need him.”
“We need you both,” Lyric barks back. Then, to me, she asks, “Why?”
“I think there are answers in Zoe’s blood, though I can’t discover them under a magnascope. I need to test it on a live subject. Who better than myself? I can study it in real time and find answers quicker this way.” I rub my thumb over Zoe’s skin, loving the way it feels. “It is the only way.”
Her stormy gray eyes are flashing with fury, but I don’t miss the slight tremble of her bottom lip. She’s upset. For eight solars straight since I arrived, we have done nothing but argue endlessly as we try and understand how to cure this disease. I figure she’d be irritated as per usual, but fine with it so long as we were steps closer to our answer.
“Breccan is going to go rekking mad over this,” Theron says, shaking his nog. “He’ll probably run his big self right over here just to kick your rump, Av.”
“We can’t tell him,” Hadrian barks out. “Least not yet. He wants us home, and eventually, we’ll make our way there. With the new mortlings and the Kevins coming, we can’t burden him with this.”
“So we lie?” Zoe asks, no longer trying to pull out of my grip.
“We leave it out,” I state. “Tell Breccan what he needs to hear. That we’re working on the cure, which we are. I’ll even put my gear on for when we meet over the comms so he doesn’t suspect anything.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Lyric asks me, her brows furling. “I need my two best people on this.”
“I don’t,” I admit, “but I will. Zoe is going to help me. She can observe any changes I don’t notice. Together, we’re going to find the cure.”
Zoe plucks her arm from my grip finally and pokes me in the chest. “You just became a patient. I’m in charge now. When you’re done making a plan to lie to your superiors, meet me in the office. We have our work cut out for us.”
She storms out of the room, taking her lovely scent with her.
The room goes quiet. It’s a somber moment. If it doesn’t work, I’ll get sick and perish. I’m not ready to give up my life, but if it gives us answers, it’s necessary.
“Av,” Hadrian says, coming to stand in front of me. “This has to work.”
“It will.” If I’m lying to Breccan, I may as well lie to Hadrian as well. “I promise.”
3
Zoe
Six Solars Until Kevins Arrive…
For someone so smart, Avrell can be so dumb.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I lecture as we head back down to the Medical Bay. “How could you be so short-sighted? There were plenty of ways to go about testing without putting yourself in danger.”
Already, a sheen of sweat paints his brow. His pure-white skin has turned gray with fatigue and the beginnings of the illness. A disquiet settles over me. What if he doesn’t make it? I can’t lose anyone else. I don’t think I can survive it.
He doesn’t need me to hold him up yet, but he will soon. Too soon. I thought I could cure everyone on my own, but what if I can’t? If he dies, what will happen to the rest of us?
To me?
I won’t think about that.
“That would take too much time. Normally, I’d agree with you, but we don’t have the luxury of protocols now. This is the fastest way for me to test my hypothesis.”
I smack the elevator button a little too hard. “And the dumbest. I thought you were supposed to be a genius?”
“I am,” he says plainly as we enter the elevator. “That’s why I know this will work.”
“What you are is an arrogant bastard! Did you ever think about what it will do to everyone else if your little stunt goes wrong?”
What it’ll do to me? But I don’t say that out loud.
Saying it will mean the real reason for my anger. I care about him. And that can’t be. I won’t let myself care for him. Feelings aren’t an option when we could all be dead in a few days.
“It won’t. I’m certain of it.”
“Of course you are.”
“Hmm…”
I grit my teeth. This whole ordeal puts a very bad taste in my mouth. He was supposed to be curing the disease, not getting infected by it. Now we’re lying to Breccan and the others about what’s happening and they’re all depending on us. If he’s wrong…I can’t even think about it.