CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
you talking about?” Casey said.
“I’m just telling you what he told me,” said Jenny. “He said I died in those experiments. More than once.”
“That’s crazy,” said Grayson. “How is that even possible?”
“Something Bierce did to me,” said Jenny. “I don’t know if it’s true. I don’t know if anything he says is true. But I do believe one thing. Guy’s a scientist.”
“So?” said Fisher.
“So he can help us,” said Casey.
“That’s what I was thinking,” said Jenny. “We have no idea what we’re doing, and all this book research is getting you nowhere. We can watch him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, but he can help us figure this out. Sully has to want to stop all this. Everyone wants it to stop. Everyone wants the rotters gone. Besides, he’s too terrified of Declan to go back to Expo right now.”
“Jenny, we can’t kidnap the Living and force them to work for us,” said Fisher. “Besides, most of us can’t handle having Sully around all the time. This is our place. We don’t have to fight the cravings. It makes no sense to bring a Living in.”
“We have no idea what we’re doing,” said Jenny. “Do you mean to tell me you can’t control yourself long enough for him to look at some blood under a microscope? I’m the first to admit that Sully’s a dick and a liar, but he knows what he’s doing. And this is his thing. This is what he did when he worked for my mom.”
Grayson pursed his lips and looked at Casey. Fisher looked away.
“I say it’s worth a shot,” said Casey.
“Yeah, okay,” said Grayson. “Whatever.”
“This is a bad idea,” said Fisher.
“What the hell do we have to lose?” said Jenny.
Fisher shrugged, his face still tense. “Okay, Jenny. Let’s save the world. With an untrustworthy douche who’s already gotten you killed.”
“Could’ve done without that last part, dude,” said Casey.
“Where’s Trix?” said Jenny.
The other three exchanged dark looks. “Out with Abel,” Grayson said.
“Should we be worried?” said Jenny.
“Yeah,” said Grayson. “That guy is shady. Why did you guys bring him here?”
“He’s one of us,” said Casey. “We don’t need a reason other than that.”
“Well, if you want to keep creepy scientist guy here, you should watch out for Abel,” said Fisher. “I get a bad feeling about him.”
“Maybe he has a point,” said Jenny. “Maybe it is the natural order.”
“You say that like hunkering down in a busted-up museum eating live goats isn’t satisfying you on a spiritual level,” Grayson said.
“It’s what I always dreamed it would be,” said Jenny.
said Sully, looking around. “This shit is old.”
“What the fuck do you expect?” said Jenny. “It’s the zombie apocalypse.”
Sully shook his head. “We can’t even power this place up. I need light. Lots of light. I need to fire up the equipment.”
“Fisher’s working on power,” said Jenny. “He’s been working on it all night.”
“What do you mean?”
“They had solar in here in the end,” said Jenny. “They took the panels down in the end so no one would steal them.”
“So you’re hooking up solar panels?” said Sully, looking impressed. “Will it work?”
There was a whirring sound and a light above them flickered to life. It was weak at first, but after a moment of quiet buzzing, the light bulb blazed with light. Several lights under the microscopes glowed.
“Yes, it will work,” said Jenny. “Now compare the samples and tell me what you see.”
“Like what, for instance?”
“I want to know how we are different from the rotters, and how we’re different from the Living. Look, Sully. This could mean a cure. My mom said we were the cure. We have to try.”
“She said you were the cure?” said Sully. “When?”
“There was a note,” said Jenny. “The point is we all want this bullshit to end. And as much as I don’t trust you, we need to help each other.”
“What about the others?” said Sully. “Can you guarantee one of your friends isn’t going to chew on my face?”
“You’ll be safe,” said Jenny. But even as she said it she could feel the clutch in her chest, the red around the edges of her vision. Her hands were shaking and she held them behind her back. “What do you need?”
Sully looked around. There were a dozen or so microscopes in various states of repair. The room had a thick layer of dirt on everything. Jenny couldn’t even tell what color the counters were because they were so covered in dust and dirt. Plants were sprouting between cracks in the floor and vines weaved through a broken window. The light shining from above made it look like some kind of greenhouse experiment.
“Centrifuge,” said Sully. “I’ll need a centrifuge.”
“Do you know where one is?”
“No,” he said. “But I’m sure you can figure it out. I’ll need alcohol or vinegar or other disinfectant.”
“We have water,” said Jenny.
Sully sighed. “I guess that’ll have to do. Eyedroppers?”
“We have those,” said Jenny, recalling some of the supplies she’d seen in the basement. “I can bring a bunch of equipment up. Slides and whatnot.”
“Fine,” said Sully. “I’ll need syringes.”
“No.”
“I need to be able to draw the blood,” said Sully.
“We’ll do that,” said Jenny.
“Whatever. Just get the centrifuge.”
“Why do you need a centrifuge?”
“To study the blood,” said Sully. “I’m no pathologist, and I’m not as good as your mom, but I do know a thing or two about research. I’ll take a look and see if I can figure something out.”
“Can you teach us to do it?” said Jenny.
“Why?”
“We can’t protect you from Declan forever, Sully,” said Jenny. He stiffened, staring at her. “You must have realized he wouldn’t be happy with you for organizing my death.”
“It crossed my mind a time or two,” he mumbled. He looked at her. “I thought you wanted to kill me.”
“I did,” she said. “I do. But, I can’t. If I kill you, where do I draw the line? But I won’t stop Declan from killing you.”
“Understood,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Jen. You don’t know how it tears me up inside. Knowing what I did. I’ll help you. Of course I will.”
“I’m not forgiving you, Sully.”
He nodded. “You have good reasons for that.”
“Someone will be watching you,” she said.
“Someone like you?” he said.
“Not me,” said Jenny. “I have centrifuges to fetch. Just get this place cleaned up and we can get started.” She turned to leave.
“Jen?” said Sully.
“What?” she said, her voice harsh.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you had a pretty good life. Considering. Sorry it turned out the way it did.”
“I had everything,” said Jenny. “And you took it away.”
“You might want to consider the fact that you never really had any of it in the first place. It was always borrowed time for you, cupcake.”
Jenny barely felt the few steps she took to close the distance. Sully’s eyes bugged when she punched him. In moments he was laid out on the floor clutching his nose, which was bleeding all over the place.
“You might want to clean that blood up,” said Jenny. “You know, because of science.”
She resisted licking the blood off her knuckles as she left.