Toxic (44 page)

His purple shell shone under the light of the transparent screen. On a world map, two points were plotted. Naakrit approached the projection.

A team of troopers was prepared to embark on board a T-J. Kjet showed his impatience through his rigid posture, ready to get a move on at the slightest sign from his commander. The second officer was staring at the central display, likely absorbing information useful to the accomplishment of his future mission, without paying attention to Kuhn, whose large frame Jave saw moving away. The emissary had mentioned his exceptional behavior in Antarctica. Naakrit had then decided to reward him. The Kathari’s black eyes shone with pride.

The wait grew longer. The Primark was studying the map.

The two sites were situated in opposite locations. One of them was in the middle of an arid zone on the South American continent, and the other on an island in the China Sea, according to the references from the tera-servers. Naakrit turned towards the soldiers. “Officer Kuhn, as your first assignment as section head, I’m giving you the island as your responsibility. Come back with results as good as the ones in Antarctica.”

Kuhn expressed his pleasure with a guttural voice. Naakrit then addressed his second in command. “Kjet, your team leaves for the Atacama desert.”

The reptilian whistled in approval and left the room without looking at the Kathari, Jave noted. His anti-Kjet device could work, as long as the mountain of hair created sparks. Kuhn didn’t possess the intelligence or the experience of his rival. The important thing, the Lynian reflected, was to preoccupy the mind of Naakrit’s second in command so that he felt threatened in his position.

Jave went back to his quarters after the two T-Js took off. The mercenaries would launch their respective attacks in three or four octains of minutes. While waiting, the emissary allowed himself a moment of rest in his earth bath. His rootlets tasted the strange soil. The more he visited this world, the less the idea of taking root here revolted him. Of course, he couldn’t contemplate it. Not with his current commitments. After all, the chances that the planet would remain intact after the troopers left were rather low.

After a brief immersion, his oblong head emerged. His eyelids flickered and he stared at the vial on the desk. The humans had carried out numerous experiments with what was available on board. The antidote didn’t work, according to his own observations.

He thought about the video once again and about the individual surrounded by the horde.

And if it weren’t a lie? If it were true?

“I
t’s been such a long time,” Alva sighed, her eyes shining.

The singer rose off of Hector’s hips and then let herself fall on her back. After a short post-sex daydream, she revived herself with an ancient tradition: she lit a cigarette. Her mouth released rings of smoke in the direction of the false roof stained by rings of humidity.

She had chosen an isolated room in the wing opposite the one where the group had chosen to make their home. While they were all sleeping, she had gotten up in the middle of the night to drag the trafficker from his bed. Explaining to him the nature of her desire at that hour was easy. She didn’t need to force his hand. The words “desire” and “sex” had the effect of a sledgehammer on the Latino, who forgot his pain. The hardest thing had been undressing him, because of his bandages and the lack of light.

She had judged this to be the opportune moment to offer Hector the thing that he most wanted deep down inside and to propose an arrangement to him. Under the sheets, they had just sealed their pact with the sweat of their bodies. Sex for drugs. A simple deal, as old as the world at death’s door. Times hadn’t changed at all, she realized. Alva though about the bag of powder that would be waiting for her this very same night. She was anxious to have it and to intoxicate herself with that pleasure, which was just as ancient.

Hector got up onto his elbows and gazed at her, a troubled look on his Spanish features. He was healing from his wound but wasn’t yet in full possession of his faculties. Alva had spared him from pain by forcing him to stay on his back during their thrusts. That had seemed to please him.

“Why now?”

The diva took a puff and played with the smoke inside her mouth before exhaling it. “Because I need it and we’re more stable than on the boat. I don’t want them to know. And also, you’re the only available dude with four hundred kilos of good coke in the area,” she joked.

“That’s not a solution.”

“You think? We’re all losing our grip on things. Look at Masters with his ex-turned zombie. He can’t decide to kill her. Elaine overprotects Alison and Dew as if they were her own children. And Bruce... you could call him a young boy that has just discovered an adoptive father.
Y tú, hombre
, Marisol is in your thoughts, even when you fuck.”

“I...”

“
Cállate
. You said her name when you came.”

Hector closed his eyes.

“Listen to me. I don’t give a fuck who she is or what she does or doesn’t mean to you. That was the complicated world of before. Our past life. Now, the situation is very simple: I give you pleasure and you give me pleasure. An exchange of goods. That’s how this works.”

The Colombian gratified her with an annoyed look. He scratched his neck.  “I wonder if I shouldn’t get rid of that damned coke. It’s not worth anything anymore regardless.”

The diva put her hand on his stomach. Her fingers slid downwards, caressing the brown mane at the base of his cock, which became hard once again. They then brushed over his balls. She noticed a tremble in the trafficker’s thigh. Her finger slid along the length of his dick and then stopped on the foreskin.

The Latino turned his head the other way. Alva moved away. The reaction was unexpected.

“
¿Qué mierdas?
 What are you looking for there?” he asked spitefully.

“I’m sending you a message,
mi hombre.
If you control the drugs, you control me as well. ¿
Entiendes
?
 Your cargo still has value, or else you wouldn’t be here in this bed with me. Don’t forget your promise from tonight.”

She grabbed her clothes and left the room.

After she left, the Colombian swore a few times. He lit a cigarette in turn and stared at the false ceiling. The diva was deceiving herself. She was so like Marisol. The junkie was on the road to ruin and he always had the same role, that of the supplier. He persisted in his wrongdoings. Maybe it was time for a change. But did he have the will power?

He swore once again at his fate before getting dressed and going out for a breath of air. Outside, the Colombian crossed the clinic’s parking lot and then the median. On the other side, he came up to the shopping mall via the steps that led to the door indicated as the entrance to the movie theatre.

“Why not?” he told himself, ogling the cash registers from the side. This would keep his mind busy. His examination of the hall and main room was of no interest. On the other hand, after a good half an hour of exploration, he found a little marvel in a neighboring room destined for an audience of movie lovers. He remembered that the young guy had spoken of an electric generator the other day when he sat down. It was his turn on watch this morning. He knew where to find him.

In the parking lot, he ran into the nurse, who was also looking for the biologist. She accompanied him until right in front of the restaurant, where the soldier had been hiding since their arrival. Hector told her his idea.

“Excellent! A moment of relaxation is the best thing for us.”

They met up with Bruce, who was sitting on the sidewalk, putting holes in couches with the tip of his machete. He turned his head towards the duo. “Do you think we can get back the electricity in one of the projection rooms?”

“Possibly. There’s still a bit of gas in one of the jerry cans.”

“
Perfecto
. Can you lend me a hand? I can’t move heavy objects.”

“Go with him,” Elaine told Bruce. “I’ll finish the watch. Is Masters still inside?”

The biologist nodded in agreement. “Yeah. He’s not about to leave anytime soon, in my opinion.”

Elaine watched the two men move further away. The Colombian wouldn’t be long in recovering. While visiting the neighboring pharmacy, she had found some pain-killer pills to help him. Shortly, they would have to manage his return, while a weakened Masters risked changing the situation. Because of that, she needed the colonel to be in shape to play his part, she thought, walking towards the restaurant with an assured step.

They couldn’t allow themselves to keep an infected person, even if she was tied up. What would happen if she escaped from her chains? Or if the soldier decided to break them? The creature could hurt Alison. She had forbidden the girl from going near the building, while keeping a constant eye on the play area. At least Dew wasn’t at risk, but that wasn’t an excuse.

She pushed open the door and announced herself.

“It’s me, Elaine. How’s it going?”

For lack of an answer, which she considered a type of authorization, she went inside. Her running shoes squeaked on the floor covered in broken glass and the debris of tiles as broken as their lives. Towards the end of the room, behind the counter, the creature reacted to her presence by pulling suddenly at her chain. The grunts increased. Elaine plugged her nose. With a rapid movement, her gaze swept the dining area and stayed on one corner. The colonel, sitting on a stool with his back hunched, had his 45 in his hands. Without a word, Elaine brought an overturned chair to the marine’s lair. Once she had sat down beside him, she contented herself with keeping the silence.

Often, she remembered, her father would isolate himself after a fight with her mother. Sometimes she would go cuddle up against him in the armchair in the living room. He always ended up saying some sweet things to her. Masters shook his gun.

“She bought it for me for my thirtieth birthday. I can’t... kill her with it. Do you understand?”

“We have a shotgun and a machete,” Elaine remarked in a soft voice.

“Yeah. I’m looking for excuses but I know what must be done for everybody’s safety. It’s not like I don’t know.”

Health professionals offer solutions, but only the patient can make a decision, she remembered. She had juggled with these commandments so many times.

“What’s her name?”

“Carrie. We met in high school, just before I enlisted. After that, we changed. I think.”

The nurse easily imagined the path strewn with pitfalls, the same as in the case of her dad. Couples didn’t hold up well under the demands of a profession such as the army and of a married life tossed about from base to base depending on allocations and deployments abroad.

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you know what makes me hesitate the most?”

Elaine shook her head, encouraging the marine to go on and to get it off of his chest.

“This fucking cure. What if I kill her and it actually exists? I’d like to give her a chance, to take her far away from here and when we get our hands on it, I’ll find her and she could come back.”

“Come back?”

“She’s not really dead, is she?”

“I don’t know how the virus reactivates certain elementary functions,” she admitted. “I guess that it has to do with the primary brain circuit, a bit like paraplegics stimulated with electrodes implanted in the spinal column. That being said, even if the cure eradicates it from her body, how is she going to heal from her wounds?”

He lifted his surprised glance towards her. The colonel hadn’t thought of that.

“The majority of victims have suffered significant body wounds,” she continued. “Severed limbs, shredded faces, damaged organs or even at times pieces of flesh ripped right off. Curing them of the virus is the easy part. We would also need to find a way to heal them, otherwise it won’t be of much help. The antidote might exist but as for the rest, unless we have surgeons who are miracle-workers...”

“Will she suffer?”

With the reestablishment of her higher faculties, the possibility seemed more than probable. The torment would be short and intense, depending on the damage inflicted by the disease, the shock and the confrontation.

“Yes, she will suffer. Unfortunately, it’s up to you to decide what’s best for her and for the group. If you keep her in... this state, you should take her elsewhere and far from us. Do you understand?”

“Of course.”

“Good,” she said, getting up from her seat. “There’s still one more question.”

At least the colonel had kept his lucidity.

“Who tied her up here?”

“Whoever those people are, they could come back.”

“I know. We need to stay on our guard and together.”

The nurse left the restaurant. Behind her, she heard the clanking of the chain links and the grunts of the creature, which was getting excited once again.

Bruce came for news. Elaine merely reminded him that Masters needed to accept a difficult but necessary decision. Alva showed up for her turn at watch. The singer had a glazed look to her.