Chapter 13 - Hudson
By evening, Ash has finally roused out of the catatonic state he’s been in since last night.
Longer than I expected, but at least he’s alive.
His groan is the first indication.
“Hud?” He throws his arm over his eyes. “What the hell happened?”
“Dogs, man. Don’t worry, you’re safe.” Maybe I’ll get lucky and he won’t remember how he healed.
His dirty palms leave streaks on his face. “I had the craziest fucking nightmare.” He raises slightly, looking down at his shredded pants. “Oh, shit.” Collapsing onto his back, his cheeks pale. “It wasn’t a dream. It was really eating me.”
Part of me wants to kick him up so we can continue chasing Jenny.
But the haggard, sunken look around his eyes tells me he needs more time.
The tip of his boot wiggles as if he’s testing his muscles. “Hud? How? Did you sneak a vial of her blood?”
He rolls onto his side and brings his leg up, the skin still puckered over the half-formed flesh.
“I wish, buddy. You’d be all healed by now.” I’ve seen her healing factor in action. She’s regrown full limbs within hours.
His injuries would have been fixed within one.
When he looks at me, it’s with an intensity I haven’t seen from him before.
“Your gray hair is gone,” he grunts. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“It doesn’t matter, you’re alive.” I stand from the small campfire to bring him some water.
The wary expression he carries doesn’t stop him from reaching for the cup.
But he pauses with it at his lips. “Are you one of them? How do I know this isn’t poisoned?”
“Ash, if I was gonna kill you, I would have just let you bleed out while that wolf—” I jut my chin at the carcass on the other side of the clearing. “—had his way with you.”
He follows the direction of my gesture and winces. “Fuck, they’re big.”
I nod, squatting next to him. “That’s why there’s hardly any horses left. Or cows.”
“I miss real ice cream,” he mumbles. “I could really go for a quart right about now.”
“Ash, I need to, um, top you off. Don’t fucking puke, okay?” I take his empty cup and set it on my knee, then pull out my knife.
He rolls backwards, sweat beading his forehead. “What are you doing?”
I don’t bother answering.
My blade slicing through my palm should fill in the gaps. I run the wound deep enough to fill the small container with blood.
With a shake of my hand, the bleeding stops.
“Drink this.” Offering the congealing liquid probably isn’t as appealing as it should be.
But he needs it.
“Hell no.” His lips thin as he shakes his head like a damn toddler.
“How do you think you survived? Don’t be a pussy,” I growl at him. I hold up my fingers to reveal my fully healed cut. “See? But this shit goes bad. Drink it.”
“I fucking hate you for dragging me out here,” he grumbles, reaching for the cup.
After the first swallow, he gags, baring his red-stained teeth.
A dry retch or two and he finishes.
“God damn that’s awful.” Falling onto his back, he stares at the sky. “How’d you hide that for so long? We all had tests we had to take.”
I shrug, rinsing out the empty mug. “Just managed to redirect long enough, pretend I was still hurt. I snuck a razor blade into my initial interview so I could keep the cut open.”
“Oh shit, I remember that. Mine almost got infected. Dumbest crap.” He groans and sits up to look at his thigh. “I can feel it. It’s, like, bubbly inside.” Working his palm over his bare skin, we both watch as the flesh beneath fills and the scars fade.
“Holy wow,” he exhales. “I can’t believe you fell through the cracks with that kind of ability. You’re almost strong enough to end up on a tube—” His eyes widen as does his mouth. “Now I see,” he adds quietly.
“Yea.” Pushing to my feet, I go back to the fire. “Hungry? I have some taco pasta or tuna casserole.” The MRE’s are probably thirty years old at this point, yet they’re still edible.
If we’re hungry enough.
“Taco.” He lifts his leg and bends it up, rotating his foot in the air. “You know, I’ve seen some pretty amazing recoveries. This is the first time I’ve been on the receiving end.”
“Well hopefully this’ll be the only one.” After pouring the boiling water into the two pouches, I hand him the first.
His lips purse as he blows on the first bite and chews quietly.
“Hud? Why?” He pulls out another piece of pasta to cool.
“Why what, Ash?” I’ve known him for decades, but I’m not a mind reader.
“Why work so hard to stay at the institute when you know you could be found out at any moment?” He scrapes the bottom of the bag for the last little bits.
I mull over my options. It’s been a secret to anyone else but me for so long.
I told Jenny, not like that mattered.
My fingers trace my neck reflexively. Damn it, I still want her.
“I have a daughter who was born right after Dire day. She’s a grade A.” It still hurts, even this much later.
Ash lets out a low whistle. “Like Jen. Any trace of her?”
Shaking my head helps me tamp down the knot in my throat. “I don’t think I’d even recognize her.”
“That’s messed up,” he sighs, settling back on his palms. “I can see now why you’d want in. You know if you’d have asked, I have access to all the records.” The corner of his lip drops when I wrinkle my nose.
“Oh. Yea. It would have kicked up a lot of questions. All that shit is genetic.” Fiddling with the shredded ends of his pants, he fashions them into makeshift straps to keep the ends together. “Are we hiking tonight, or morning?”
My teeth hurt from clenching my jaw so tightly. “You need one more night. We’ll go in the morning.”
Ash stares at me over the flickering flames. “You got it bad for her, huh?”
“She tried to kill me,” I scoff. But I nod in answer to his question.
“What? Did she know you can…do what you do?” His mouth twists as he runs his tongue over his lips with a sour expression.
“Yea, she does.” I should regret telling her. Yet it got me one night and a lifetime of memories.
“Then she probably knew you’d be okay. I saw one Grade A get his whole fucking head cut off and it rebonded to the body. He was completely fine.” Ash shrugs like it was just a regular damn Tuesday when he saw it.
And it was very likely an experimental surgery done in the earlier days after the virus.
No wonder Jenny wanted the hell out.
With all of the organs and blood they’ve harvested from her through the years, they could have built twenty more of her.
Maybe more?
That makes my chest hurt. I’ve been there when she was suffering, those brief hours after every surgery when she had to endure the pain of the loss…and regrowth.
Over and over.
Anyone like her has turned into cattle. A product.
I hate it.
“Ash?” My tone drops as I fight the emotions threatening to pull me under. “I’m not taking her back there.”
His eyes flare open. “Why not? Do you have any idea how many people she’s saved?”
“At her own expense!” I snap. “I’ve watched her in agony for decades. Does she deserve that?” I don’t wait for his answer. “No. She fucking doesn’t. It’s done.”
He stares at me, his features mottling. “Then you should take her place. You’re Grade B. You could still help. Think of all of the—”
“Absolutely not,” I grunt.
He pushes to his feet, leaning over me as he points furiously. “I would have died without you! There’s not many humans left, you have to—”
The shot echoes in the small clearing, ringing in my ears as I watch his body collapse onto the embers of the fire.
His mouth opens and closes soundlessly under the gaping hole where his nose used to meet his brow.
“No, Ash,” I whisper over him as I holster my pistol. “I don’t.”