Chapter 35
Magical Mutant Powers
Cam
When he woke up around noon the day after the barrier battle, Allie was already awake beside him.
In silence, they untangled themselves and stood to get dressed. Finally, Cam looked into Allie’s face, and he knew she’d made her decision, even before she said, “Cameron, I have to do this.”
He swallowed hard. “You don’t actually have to.” She had to know that no one expected her to risk her life or her sanity on this quest for knowledge.
But she smiled tenderly and leaned in to kiss him. “I know that. I really do. But I have to do it because I want to.” She paused, her hands on his chest. “But more than that...” She shrugged. “It needs doing.”
Part of him—the lovesick, selfish part—wondered why it had to be now. Why couldn't it wait? Why couldn’t they take a while to enjoy being together for just a little bit longer?
He wanted time. With Allie, with their fledgling relationship. They’d only just found each other after half a year of hell.
However, time wasn’t on their side. Mal and Key didn’t want to wait because waiting wasn’t in their DNA, and Allie had made it clear that she was also impatient to find out the truth about the zombies that had destroyed the world as they knew it.
They all wanted to know, really. Even he did. That need to know, and the idea that they might actually be able to find out, would hang over everything they did from now until Allie finally did the deed.
No, Allie couldn’t simply go multiple days knowing she had to risk her life to try to find an answer to something—even something that might not even have a fucking answer.
There was a reason existential philosophy rang true for so many people at different times.
Maybe she would find out that the zombies existed because of the causal equivalent of “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.” If that was the case, Allie could be risking becoming a catatonic vegetable only to confirm that the zompocalypse was just some sort of cosmic bad luck.
The idea made Cam feel sick, imagining the universe metaphorically shrugging and saying, “LOL, shit happens. What can you do?” while Allie’s mind disintegrated from the inside out.
If that happened, Cam would do his best to kill Malcolm, right then and there. He wouldn’t like to do that to his mama, but Cam would gladly let himself be locked up for the rest of his miserable life, so long as that power-trip-loving fucker no longer walked what was left of the earth.
Once they ate lunch, which consisted of actual cheeseburgers and salad—God, he’d missed real food like this—Allie and Cam went to see Frankie to discuss what the two of them immediately began calling “the Big Seek” for reasons only they found funny.
Frankie told Allie her version of what Malcolm had described of her experiment in touching the Z, which did line up with Malcolm’s story.
“The skin itself was cold. They’ve tested it, and the flesh of the Zs is below room temp.
So I was prepared but... also not.” She shuddered.
“It felt kind of like raw hamburger under my fingers, only dry. Then I opened my mind up, and that was it. It felt a little bit like falling and a little bit like drowning for an instant. I didn’t come back to myself for a while. ”
The hairs on the back of Cam’s neck rose. “Mal said you woke up two days later.”
Frankie’s mouth scrunched up and her head tilted back and forth as she considered this.
“I mean, technically, yes. I opened my eyes and said things. Drank water. Ate food. There’s a video of me awake three days after the experiment.
” She sighed. “However, I don’t remember those days.
I wasn’t, like, me. The videos from that time.
.. They’re hard to watch. I act like a possessed toddler half the time.
Smiling and saying things like ‘I feel fine.’” She shuddered.
“Mal has them, though.” She looked at Allie.
“You should see them all—I don’t want you doing this without knowing all the risks. ”
“She will.” Cam knew he sounded grim, but he couldn’t help it. He took Allie’s hand in his, and she gripped it tightly.
“I promise,” Allie said, both to him and to Frankie.
“I actually came back—in the real sense—about five days later. Apparently, I’d been asleep for another long stretch, like nine hours, and they were watching me closely because I hadn’t slept more than a few hours at a time until then.”
She paused then stared at the ground for a moment. “I opened my eyes and saw Liam sitting in a chair by the bed. He had the beginnings of a beard, all black and silver. He always shaves.”
Frankie went on. “He wasn’t looking at me, and I saw his expression...” She shook her head. “I thought maybe I had died, that I was a ghost or something. He looked almost... devastated. And remember, the last thing that happened to me as far as I knew was touching that cold, awful flesh.”
Allie put out her free hand to touch Frankie’s. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me too.” She smiled, but it was sad. “Then I said, ‘Yo,’ or something stupid like that, and he leapt up and yelled for Malcolm and Grace. When they came in, they went nuts checking me over and taking my vitals, bringing in teams of people to draw blood and run scans. It was a lot. They filled me in on everything that had happened.”
“And Liam?” Allie said it almost casually. “What did he tell you?”
Frankie’s mouth twisted. “He left. I didn’t see him for weeks after—he left on a recon mission around the time I got out of the hospital. We’re friends still, obviously, but we’ve never really talked about it.”
During their downtime in their room, Allie had given Cam the scoop on some interesting interactions between the newest member of the Goddesses-Talk-to-Me-Club and the British second-in-command.
He suspected those days had been extremely difficult for Liam, whose feelings seemed to run far deeper than Frankie realized.
Poor guy.
Now I’m going to be going through it too.
“So, what do you think about me doing this, seeking the truth?” Allie asked.
Frankie sat up a bit. “I don’t know if Mal told you, but I was actually game to try it again. We thought maybe if we changed some of the factors, it might work better—I might actually get some clear info—but... well, it caused some friction during our discussion, so I said no.”
Cam raised his eyebrows. “Friction?” he asked. “Malcolm said he and Liam decided not to go forward with the idea.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Liam wouldn’t allow it, and he made a good case.
Pretty sure things got physical between them after I left the room.
Mal’s eye was swollen when I talked to him the next day.
Liam and Malcolm haven’t been in the same room since, I don’t think.
” She sighed. “I don’t know if I really wanted to try again, or if I was just determined to find out the truth.
I think I was equal parts relieved and disappointed. ”
Her hazel eyes met Allie’s worried ones again, and they were full of regret. “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t failed the first time, you wouldn’t have to do this. Risk yourself.”
“Everything is a risk these days.” Allie shrugged and tried for a nonchalant grin. Cam knew it was bravado, but maybe it would convince Frankie. “I’m looking forward to the challenge—using my gift for something big instead of finding gas or food.”
Frankie gave her a fond, concerned look and a hug. “Please be careful, if you can. I’m hoping Mal will be okay with me being there throughout. Morrigan girls stick together.”
Key came later to get Allie. “We need to talk to Mal, walk through how we’re going to do this.” She looked at her son. “Cam, honey, it’s your turn to talk to Mal’s people. They’re going to want to start testing you.”
He sighed. “If I don’t have some sort of magical mutant powers, you two are going to look pretty ridiculous.
” He just couldn’t imagine that there was anything truly special about him, not like that.
Plus, who cared if he could run for a long time when people could set fires with their mind?
“It could wait until after...” He gestured at Allie.
Key tilted her head at him. “Go. No one’s going to do anything without you being there.”
Fine. “Yes, Mama,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm tamped down.
Her eyes narrowing, she drew herself up and stared down at him. “I could haul you down to the lab by the ear if you want.”
He grimaced. “Sorry. I’ll go.” He gave Allie a quick peck on the lips and kissed Key on the cheek. “Love you both.”
“Get out of here,” his mother said, but at least this time she was smiling.
Cam went to the larger lab to meet with two of the scientists on Malcolm’s team. He recognized the blond woman, Grace, from his team during the battle, but the man with curly dark hair was someone he’d not yet met. He introduced himself as Samir.
“Okay, so you’re here because you travel with two people who have prophetic or psychic dreams, one of whom has a special ability.
They think you have enhanced stamina.” Grace smiled at him.
“I also got to see firsthand during the fighting the other night that, of pretty much everyone there—except those who we already know have abilities—you didn’t appear overly tired or fatigued after hours of fighting. ”
He nodded. That was true enough. “Only scared shitless most of the time.”
Her smile faded a bit. “You and me both.”
“You’re also of note, however, because we’ve heard you outran a zombie horde.” Samir picked up a notebook and sat down at a table while Grace did the same and opened a laptop. “Tell us about that experience.”
Ugh. He hated this kind of thing, but he described those days as best he could, making sure to stick to facts, while the two scientists made notes.
Once he finished by telling them how Allie plucked him out of the horde’s path with her rifle and her truck, they nodded, and Grace stopped typing.
Samir looked excited, shaking his head as if in disbelief as he finished jotting down notes.
Grace’s eyebrows arched as she looked at Cam. “Well, you’re definitely gifted,” she said. “Not sure if it’s only stamina, only enhanced strength, or both.”
“It could also involve his pain receptors,” Samir added with a smile, giving Cam the once-over, “but I’m not sure how that would work.”
“How do you know?” Cam asked. “You haven’t even examined me.”
Grace gave Samir a quelling glance. “Stop grinning. You’re freaking him out.”
“Sorry.” Samir cleared his throat. “First of all, Cameron, there’s no other way to explain what you’ve told us. We believe you, one hundred percent. Your story matches up with what Allie has told us already, and you have nothing to gain from making things up.”
Cam nodded.
“However, the important thing is that what you’re describing isn’t actually possible for a normal human being, not with new zombies.
They’re too fast and too relentless. You should have been dead or bitten sometime after the first day of constant pursuit, whether you were able to take breaks or not.
” Samir lifted a hand, palm up. “You could get lucky, sure, but the statistics are against you. And when you factor in additional days, the odds get worse.”
“Hence our conclusion.” Grace looked up from her computer, giving him a small smile.
“Now it’s a matter of measuring your physical health, reflexes, strength, endurance, and so on so we can figure out precisely how you’re gifted.
We have someone here who can deadlift six hundred pounds.
We have another person who can get information from items and people by touch.
” She smiled. “Which you know. We’ll be testing Allie, too, but your tests will be easier.
Like determining athletic prowess, kind of. ”
Samir and Grace left the table to confer over their notes, murmuring in the corner, and when they returned, Grace said, “Based on what we know, we want to first test your endurance, your pain responses, and your strength.”
Pain responses? Cam stared at them in some shock. “You’re going to poke and prod me?”
Samir shrugged while Grace shook her head. “Basically,” he said at the same time she said, “Not quite.”
They side-eyed each other, and Samir, a bit chagrined, said, “It’s a bit more complex than ‘poke and prod.’ I guess.” He added the last bit under his breath, rolling his eyes at Grace.
Cam leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Great. “Could we start with something a little less invasive? Like a treadmill or something?”
“Sure,” Grace said. “Samir?”
Samir stood. “Right this way.”