Chapter 18
“Stop it!” Julie’s screams did nothing to save her. Which really pissed her off and completely terrified her. At the moment, it was an even match between the two emotions, but she picked the one that got her motivated. Too bad it didn’t matter.
No matter how angry she was, no matter how much adrenaline was pumping through her system, she could not stop her captors from pinning her down and injecting shit into her arm.
They didn’t even open the cage door but reached in and held her flush against the bars.
She tried to fight, but she didn’t have any maneuverability in the small space, and they were strong.
Shifter strong, if she had to guess. And the one with the Diamondbacks ball cap on had freaky cat eyes.
“I’m cooperating,” she screamed, even though she wasn’t. “Don’t do this! Don’t!”
Too late. The crap went into her arm, and she felt the heat of whatever it was roll through her body like an evil wave. It was probably her imagination, but hell, even they didn’t know what the compound was going to do to her.
They released her, and she scooted back as far as she could.
Not more than eight inches, but it was enough for her rub her arm and glare at her captors.
Not Elisssabeth, but Evil Einstein was here in all his manic glory.
Plus his minions, one huge guy who said nothing and the freaky boy who kicked at her companion’s cage whenever he could.
“Wake up, stinky!” the kid called.
“Leave him alone!” she shouted. It didn’t help. The kid turned to grin at her, then kicked the bear’s cage harder.
“Oops!” he said, mocking her with every breath. “Did I scare the dead bear?”
“He’s not dead yet,” she growled.
Evil Einstein pushed the boy aside. “But he will be. Soon. So if you’re going to do something, you better get it done now.”
“There isn’t anything to do!”
Evil Einstein huffed out a breath. “You’re already starting to stink. Even I can smell it.”
Thanks a lot, bastard.
“Just talk to him. Try to bond.” Then he glanced at the big henchman. “Put her in the cage with him. Maybe that’ll help.”
“No!” she cried out, ashamed that she didn’t want to be locked in with her fellow captive.
With light and time, she’d been able to make out more details.
He was more like a lanky, furry man with paws, a big nose, and hair coming out of his ears.
And he was just as much a victim as she was, but she still didn’t want to climb into the same cage with him. “I, um…I can reach through the bars.”
Einstein nodded, then gestured for the helpers to shove the cages closer together. They couldn’t budge the other guy’s, but hers slid easily enough. And then there was nothing stopping her from reaching through the bars to stroke the creature’s furry leg.
The texture was coarse, the fur uneven. Was that ahead for her, too? Huge, knobby joints and oily fur? A fever she could feel radiating off the skin? Sympathy surged, bright and poignant. This was her future, and she would give what comfort to this creature that she could.
“It’s okay,” she said gently. “We’ll figure this out.”
His eyes opened, golden brown and sheened bright with pain.
A quick stare, long and steady before fluttering shut.
Enough time for her to realize that he was not only awake but smart enough to fake sleep.
How much of his apparent illness was faked?
Probably none of it, she thought with a grim kind of sadness.
There was no way to simulate that shallow pant for as long as he had without it being real.
And the mottled, thin patches of fur were definitely real.
“How much more time does he have?” she asked, already knowing that he would probably lie to her. Except the man rolled back on his heels and consulted a chart that was hanging on a nail on the wall.
“Hard to say,” Evil Einstein responded. She’d already watched them take blood samples, temperature, and other readings on the guy.
All while the creature was mercifully unconscious.
Or so she’d thought. “The others died within a day of their fevers reaching one oh three.” He tilted the clipboard to show her the marking.
The last check listed his fever as 102.8.
Well, hell.
“And the ones who survived?”
He glanced at the two minions. “Elisabeth stabilized them long before then.”
Right. “What’s his name?”
The man shook his head, as if in disappointment. “He’s Alan Carman. And he ought to have stabilized faster given that he’s half shifter.”
Carl’s brother. Shit. She tried to remember him from that summer in high school, but all she got was an image of a gangly boy who had his nose in a book almost as much as she had.
He was only three years younger than Carl and Mark, but at that age, it put him in middle school and completely beneath her notice.
Though she did remember him offering her a sad smile one day from across a park.
She’d been reading a mystery, and he had a legal thriller.
And though they never spoke, he had crossed the entire field to sit at the same picnic bench as her and read.
She remembered thinking that was nice of him even if he’d ducked his head back into his book every time she tried to speak to him.
Pre-teens boys can be so dorky shy, but she held that image of him in her mind even as she spoke to the misshapen man he’d become.
“All right, Alan,” she said as she squeezed his leg. “You probably don’t remember me, but I remember you. You were nice as a kid. And wicked smart. So together, we’ve got enough brains to get through this, you and me. Okay, Alan? Okay?”
Then apparently the kid with the baseball cap got impatient. “Wake up!” he bellowed as he kicked the cage. Since Julie’s arm was through the bars, it painfully jolted her arm and one of the edges dug deep.
“Watch it!” she snarled as she looked at the cut on her arm where the edge had cut into her. It wasn’t deep, but it pissed her off. “We do not need that kind of help.”
“Sure you do,” the kid said, with a sneer. “Doc says blood is part of it. Maybe he should lick it.”
She was about to tell him to go fuck himself, but decided Einstein was the better leverage point. “You want us to bond? Get teen nutcase the hell out of here.”
Einstein sighed and gestured the kid back. And when the kid didn’t move, stoic minion grabbed hold and jerked the teen back. Progress, she supposed. And then she looked back at Alan. The man’s eyes were open. Golden brown and fever bright.
“Okay, Alan,” she said with as much lightness in her voice as she could manage. “Let’s do this, okay? And then when you’re better, you can break open these bars and crack their heads like eggs, starting with junior, okay?”
His lips might have twitched. That might have been a smile. Or a mindless jerk of his facial muscles. She had no idea. But in this one thing, Einstein was right. They were out of time. So she settled against the bars and began to talk.