Chapter 9
Six weeks to take down Richard. And now three weeks flat in little Lucy. I was getting good, but not good enough. Entire medical books aren't written about viruses that kill you weeks after infection. Unless you're HIV and you want turn the entire Immunity force against their body and take over. But I'm a solo act. I don't need a million and one white blood cells to do my dirty work for me.
"Thrax?"
I only have one.
Tilting my head to the side, I let Kat know that I was listening. She was fiddling with the radio in the car, a few words breaking through the static. Eventually, she got a good enough signal and turned up the volume.
"Welcome back to Lucy At Night. I'm you're host A. T. Phineas and we have Hank Nucleus and Sarah Sartorius in the studio with us to give their professional opinions on the dramatic rise in crime in Lucy."
"This is all the mother's fault! If she hadn't made Lucy get that flu shot, the streets wouldn't be filled with Influenza virus and the body temperature wouldn't be on the rise like this!" a male voice shouted angrily. I glanced at the dashboard. 101 degrees. Glancing out the window, I could see smoke starting to rise from some of the skyscrapers in the distance. I couldn't keep the grin off my face.
"How can you blame her!? It's all Immunity's fault! The department isn't prepared to handle this kind of infection!" a female voice responded.
"I've also heard that Cerebellum Hall was attacked in addition to the hostage situation in the lungs and... Oh! I'm getting word from my producers that news just broke that Lucy's mother is taking her to the hospital."
"Let's hope for all our sakes that she isn't too late," the female voice said in a somber tone. I chuckled lowly as Kat turned off the radio.
"This is perfect. Head for the mouth. We'll wait there and once we get to the hospital we can make our escape in a cough," Kat said and pointed out the exit that was headed towards the mouth.
"You seem to be forgetting that hospitals have antiseptic," I drawled.
She chuckled before patting my arm. "Hospitals are full of people, Hun. You promised me that there wouldn't be any more animals as a part of the getaway plans," Kat pointed out.
"Yeah yeah," I drawled. When I saw her cross her arms and pout at me, I chuckled. "Relax, baby. Don't you trust me?"
"About as much as you trust me," she answered. I looked away from her with a frown on my face.
~:~
Once Lucy was in the hospital, she was pushing 104 degrees and sweating worse than a sinner in church. Kat and I didn't have to wait long before she was taken inside on a gurney with doctors and nurses crowding around her. We sat on the hood of the car, Kat examined her manicure while I fingered the chain in my pocket. After a few seconds, I look it out to examine it.
A repair cell, huh? Did she take it from his body before or after putting the cat to rest, I wonder? After turning the chain over in my hand, I noticed a blue glimmer on it as it pulsed. Squeezing at the chain, I watched as a familiar DNA bead bulged out towards me. My yellow eyes widened as my hand shot down to my pocket.
I hummed quietly as I moved the chain. Two DNA beads moved within the chain. Obviously, Kat had mistaken the chain the purpose of the chain. I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes. She was still looking at her chipped nails with a frown. I'm not surprised. She must have just thought that it looked nice. With these beads- proof of my first two, real kills- it was downright beautiful.
Suddenly, the sounds of Lucy's wheezing reached my ears. I stood up while wrapping the chain around my hand. Kat pulled on the straps on the backpack with all our things while making her way over to me. Once again, she fully pressed her form to mine. "Aim for a nurse. They see more patients than the doctors," Kat told me.
After a few seconds, we were riding the winds away from Lucy.
~:~
The forty-five year old nurse, Mary Beth, was going to be my next victim. I can't explain it. But I just know that she's the one. Call it superstition. But I think it was a sign that someone up there wanted me to have her. She just happened to be leaning over little Lucy to check Lucy's breathing when Lucy coughed me right into her eye. Mary Beth was a perfectly wrapped gift that I was going to unwrap in a week's time. Mark my words.
When I told all this to Kat, she was less excited than I was.
"A week? It took you six to take out Richard and three to finish off Lucy! You want to do this in a week? And why this woman especially?" Kat asked with so much derision that I could feel it hitting me in the back of my head as she shouted at me.
"I'll excuse your ignorance because I can tell that you're incapable of seeing the big picture," I replied with a roll of my eyes.
"I don't think-" she started but I whirled around quickly and shot her a threatening look.
"You don't think I can do it?" I asked in a frosty and dangerous tone. Her eyes widened slightly as I started to approach her slowly. "Let me tell you something, baby. This is what I do. I'm getting good and I'll just get better.I'm better than any other virus that came before me! It's only a matter of time before everyone knows it," I said. I was looming over her now, my claw poised over her chest. I didn't heat up the appendage. I just wanted her to get the message. I could kill her at any time.
Her eyes glanced down at my long claw before slowly moving up to lock gazes with me. She raised her chin before folding her arms over her chest. "If you're such hot spit, prove it," she said before brushing past me and strutting away from me. "I'll be counting down the days, Thrax."
I sneered at her back, my hands clenching tightly. She was the most infuriating she-cell that I had ever met. One second, she was hanging off my every word and willing to bend over backward for me. The next, she was daring me to wring her little neck. I don't know why I didn't do it. I glanced down at the chain in my hand. It'd be simple. She gave me the chain. I could just give it back. The mental image of the chain tightening around her slender neck flashed in my head. I frowned.
"Are you coming, Thrax? Medical books aren't written about losers," I heard her voice call out to me.
Glancing up at her, I watched her stand with her hand on her waist and an impatient look on her face. Slipping the chain into my pocket, I scoffed once. "Coming, baby."
~:~
A week would be more than enough time. I was sure of it now. Mary Beth's Immunity forces were adequate at best. For a woman who worked in a hospital, she didn't a very good job of keeping her immune system in top shape. I could almost laugh at how easy some of these humans made it.
As I stared down at the map of the body that I had laid out on the table of the motel room Kat and I rented, I couldn't help but grin. "I think six men should be enough again. All we need is a little distraction to get Immunity's attention and then I can make my move," I said with a chuckle.
"So, it's we now?" Kat asked as she kept flipping through her magazine.
"Excuse me?" I asked with a raised brow and a dull look in my eyes.
"I thought you said that this is what you do. You're the one man show. Remember?" Kat said as she stared at me coldly from over the top of her magazine.
In the back of my mind, I was wondering why she was so quiet. She hadn't said a word to me since our discussion in the eye. I just figured that she was finally going to give me the respect I deserved. Should have known better.
With an easy chuckle, I slinked towards her. She turned up her nose and turned on the couch to face away from me. "Don't be like that, baby. You know what I'm about. I told you in the beginning. Didn't I?" I said and rested my hands on her shoulders.
"I remember. I just assumed that you realized that you're so called "one man show" has had me backstage to help things run smoothly."
The sly grin that I'd had on my face fell at once. There she goes again. Frustrating the spit out of me.
"You can try for your seven day deadline. But you'll be doing it solo," Kat said and got up quickly to brush my hands from her shoulders. I watched her grab her purse and the room key with a huff before heading towards the door. When she slammed it loudly behind her, I groaned lowly and rolled my eyes.
"I don't got time for this," I muttered to myself and pulled my shades out of my coat. I need to make moves. I said seven days and I meant seven.
~:~
After about three days of doing things on my own, I was barely any farther along in my plans than when I started. It was frustrating! Not to mention downright embarrassing. I was better than this. But every time I got close, I was always set back by someone else meddling in my plans. Not Immunity. They aren't good enough for that. It's the other goddamn bacteria in this city! It's like everyone was drawn to this woman like I was and they're all trying to go in for the kill. They better pick somewhere else to incubate. I had big plans and they didn't involve any other infections.
I just needed to take out the competition. That's all. But how?
"People who spend a lot of time in hospitals can contract bacterial infections pretty easily. That's why I wanted to choose one of the patients who hadn't been in the hospital long instead of a nurse who works in a hospital," Kat said aloud while flipping through her newspaper.
I nearly rolled my eyes in exasperation. Kat had been doing this for three days now. She'd been ignoring me and my plans while still talking around me. I was honestly surprised that I hadn't yanked her tongue out yet.
"Did you know that Mary Beth is getting on a flight tomorrow? She's headed to Detroit for her sister's wedding. Going through an airport is going to expose her to a lot of germs."
"Well, what do you suppose I do?" I asked through grit teeth. I stared down at the map before leaning over it and resting my hands on the table.
"You want my help, Thrax?" I could hear the immense pleasure in her bright voice. My shoulders tensed as my claw heat up and pierced the table. The furniture cracked and popped, but my temper was already blazing hotter than the boiling furniture. I felt Kat's small hands press into my back before rubbing circles into it. Before I knew it, I was taking deep breaths as my muscles relaxed. How was she doing that?
"It'll be your name in the medical books. You'll be more famous than the bubonic plague, Hun. Just don't forget that we're a team," Kat said as she moved to stand in front of me. "I don't want your glory, Thrax. I just want to help you."
I wanted to ask why. It wasn't hard to figure out someone's motivations. I was good at reading germs. Everyone had a price and everyone could be bought. Kat liked shiny, expensive things. But she didn't need me to get them. She and I could part ways and she would be fine. But she wanted to stay. I guess love really does make a cell do crazy things. I smirked. "You have any ideas, baby?"
She grinned slyly. "I got a few."
"Well, tell Big Daddy Thrax all about it."