The Blood Bargain (19 page)

The front room was an empty meat counter and a register. Overhead a giant chalkboard outlined a variety of deals for the day. It appeared the last day this shop ever opened was a Wednes
day and ground beef was the ‘in’
food. The air was stale, like visiting a museum where

dusting was optional.

Wasting no time I backed up to the front door and flipped the deadbolt lock. Daylight poured in behind Cole
’
s tall frame making him look like some sort of angel or alien.

“Looks pretty blah.” I said as he walked into the room.

“Office over there?” There were two doors behind the counter, both unlabeled with the same design.

“Maybe? You want left or right?”

“I
’
ll take left.”

On that I walked around the meat counter and approached the right door. The brass knob turned easily. The wooden door opened with a loud creak from its hinge.

I took a step f
orward into the darkened hall.
A scrapin
g sound registered in my ears.
I immediately backed up and rechecked the main room. Cole was ruffling around behind the left door. I heard what sounded like a file cabinet open. No real cause for alarm there.

Returning to the corridor I checked my surroundings. The only light that was entering the space was from a back window beyond several doors that ran the length of the corridor. According to the little white man on the black background, directly to my left was a bathroom. I opened the door according to my training, just as I had the last one. Swing wide, step back and wait for any sound or movement.

Nothing of interest there, just a small room with tacky nautical wallpaper a neglected pedestal sink and a stock frameless mirror.

Since the area around the door was well lit, I grabbed the edge of the frame where it was hinged to the wall and pushed. When the knob came within
arm’s reach
,

I pulled it shut. Another great pair of survival tactics:
Don’
t reach into unknown areas, close all doors.

Continuing down the hall there was only one door left. I followed the same methodical process. Nothing but a dark void and the thin cracks of light coming in a small square box in the corner. Looked like someone had blacked out the window, I thought walking forward. Pulling that down should give enough light.

I was halfway into the space before the smell hit me. The leathery rancor of flesh so long dead it had mummified combined with the sickly rot of fresh decay.

From the black void a series of dull moans chilled me to the bone.

I was unarmed and without visibility. I backed up as fast as my boots would move.

In the light of the doorway I waited. I grabbed a mop out of the bucket that was haphazardly laying in the hall. There I stood, wielding cleaning supplies as though it were a mighty sword.

I waited.

Nothing came forward.

Against my better judgment I edged forward, waving the broom handle in all directions like a maniac. Nothing lashed out at me on my trek to the window. When I was within arm
’
s reach I ripped down the cardboard blocking the daylight.

And screamed.

Not a foot from where I stood was a head on a table, eyes still tracking my movement while the jaw tried to open despite its lack of room to do so.

On impulse I flipped the broom around and bashed the thing in the head over and over until it was a pile of mush.

Cole who had heard me scream came running in behind me. In fact he was moving so fast he nearly plowed me over.

“What the...what is this?”

The room was probably the butchers cutting room. Now I guess the best word for it would be a lab. Laid out upon the butcher's block in the center of the room was a deadhead. It had been dissected, it
’
s cranium open revealing the brain matter which had been pinned and labeled with a series of surgical instruments. Small jars set beside it on the table containing a collection of body

parts floating in milky looking liquid. Its chest cavity open and pinned back with more of those metal clamps.

A supply closet with fingers sticking out below the door.

I pointed to the diseased digits and he nodded.

“
Good thing some of us come prepared.” He muttered. Having been on duty earlier in the day he was armed. I backed up as his large body edged in front of me, blocking my view of the door.

With expert precision, he drew one of his blades, pivoting hi
s body into an attack position.
Unsure of what awaited him in that closet I backed up, holding my bloody mop handle at high point.

He kicked the door in.

In a blur of motion, there were two freshly disposed deadheads littering the closet floor. Slowly I released my grip on the wooden handle, it clattered to the floor.

“So...what did you find in your search?”

“Nothing like this.”

I walked around the room, my eyes trailing over the utensils lining the butchers block. How organized they all were sitting in their neat little rows.

“
Liv
get down!” Cole screamed at me from across the room. I didn.t question. I ducked. There was a whirl of metal and a sickening thud.

I turned around in a daze. A dead man lay on the ground behind me, the door to the cold storage ajar. It was so close. It could have bit me in another step...

Then the unthinkable happened. The big strong me, the one who never feared anything, started crying. As the water poured down my cheeks, Cole enveloped me in a bear hug.

“Stop that. You
’
re fine. It
’
s okay.”

“I am most certainly NOT okay. I almost died. Again. I do not like this growing trend.” Cole wiped the tears off my cheek and smirked at me.

“You could go marry Mr. Wonderful still, I
’
m sure that
’
s a cozy danger free life.”

“Shut up.” I mumbled into his chest. We stood like that for a moment, until I felt like a dork for having a little freak out. I pulled back awkwardly, blushing.

“So...do we go tell everyone about this?”

             
“Let
’
s finish looking around, I bet this file cabinet is more useful.”

“Holy crap
Liv
.”

“What?”

“Listen to this:
Iatome
Solution #14 shows no
sign of success, subject’
s infection level in the medulla oblongata continues at 100% cellular saturation. Increased dosage of the
iatome
solution #15 caused temporary mutation resulting in increased strength and cognitive response.

Attempting to repeat results TS-134 was given IAS-16 on delayed drip combined with increased steroids. It just goes on like this.”

“
Tommen
is trying...to cure them?”

“
Liv
...I don
’
t think
Tommen
is a pediatrician. This is chemistry. Like...big time organic chemistry, I recognize just a few of these compounds from AP Chem.”

“Maybe he’
s just really smart?” I saw the header on the notepaper, the familiar eagle and Latin credo.

“This paper is from my dad’
s agency.”

“Found two more folders, same label. This one is marked classified.” Cole pulled out some of the papers. “More research notes.” With a frown he threw the file at me. “Check the date.”

I pulled up the first page and gasped.

It was dated three weeks before the outbreak first hit the news.

Chapter
11

Seated in the cramped confines of
Smittys
warehouse, everyone was edgy. I watched from the side as Cole explained in detail the entirety of our findings. With
each word the crowd’
s eyes grew wider, Sammie brought a hand to her throat at one point and gasped. Was probably

hard to swallow that her boss may as well have been Dr. Frankenstein. When he was done, Cole sat down his wide shoulders resting back against one of the cardboard boxes in the room.

“I don
’
t think we should go to the council.” Adam spoke quietly.

“Why not? They owe us answers!” Ben hollered, still holding the very upset Sammie.

“You trust them to tell the truth?” I interjected
on Adam’
s defense.

“
I don
’
t trust them to do anything.
”

“What if there are more deadheads floating around town in basements?” Offered one of the guys whose name I hadn
’
t learned yet.

“We need to patrol the streets!” His friend added a me too, which got many nods of agreement.

“If we do that they
’
ll know we know. Plus we don't need to cause a panic! There are hundreds of people here.” Adam tried to keep them calm. He made legitimate points.

“I still don
’
t see what this has to do with the caravan.” Ryan whined, pushing his glasses further up on his nose. Leave it to the accountant to want to zero his books above all else. From there I was lost in the sea of voices, everyone was talking at once. Sammie started crying which made its own drama. I looked across at Cole, who was trying to get the two hot heads in the corner to calm down. This was unproductive and pointless. We
weren’
t getting anywhere.

“Hey.” My voice was drowned out by the chaos.

“HEY.” No use.

I stood up and did something very unladylike like. I threw a small cardboard box labeled bulbs across the room. The resulting glass shatter sound did the trick.

Heads whipped around.

“All the papers at the clinic have the same government logo that all my dad
’
s stuff has. If you think about it...our
candle maker was a chemist...we’
ve got engineers workin
g on solar tech on roofs. Doesn’
t it seem a bit strange to all of you to have a bunch of highly educated folks in this small town?”

“What are you saying
Liv
?” Adam asked.

“I
’
m saying I w
ant answers. They said the
scav’
s
are gone but I
’
ve seen one. They said there was no caravan but we know there was...plus they knew about the outbreak before it spread. The way I see it. There is only one place we can go.”

His arms still wrapped around his quietly crying girlfriend, Ben ra
ised his head and asked. “Where’
s that?

             
“We go into the city and we search the agencies building.” I announced trying to look impressive at my short height.

I may as well have thrown a grenade into the room. The guys erupted. Cussing and arguing, mostly yelling at me.

“Are you insane?”

“That whole area is crawling, scraping and
moaning! It’
s a suicide run.”

I held up my hands in defense. “It could be, but I think I have a way to get in and out without loss of life.” They continued to bicker. Then Adam jumped down off a box and let out a

whistle. A high pitched shriek of a sound that drowned everyone out. While everyone stared at him in shock-surprised such a sound could find its way out of his slender form-he turned to me.

“What way is that?” Adam asked me in a level tone. Okay here we go. I couldn.t believe I was letting the cat out of the bag.

“My
ahh
...I have a friend who...” Deep breath.

“He’
s kind of a vampire.”
             

I expected the room to erupt again. Instead it was quiet.

Dead quiet.

I shuffled my feet, trying not to look as awkward as I felt at the moment.

A thick hand grabbed me by the forearm.

“Excuse us for a minute.” Cole growled to the confused crowd.

He led me into the back office and shut the door.

His sho
u
lders were tense, his eyes wild. The guy looked like he could pick up a car and throw it through a house at any minute.

“Your new roommate?” He hissed.

I nodded.

“And he’
s a he?”

“Yes I said he! Okay?” I snapped back.

“I...you.re dating a vampire? And here I thought we were...”