Moi-Moi: Wow, guys. Can you believe that this story is almost done? You guys have been SO supportive of this story and it makes me so happy. So, this chapter is for all of you who have read, reviewed, or regularly follow this story. Thanks for the support!
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I sometimes wonder why I ever bothered with she-cells. They really were more trouble than they were worth. Yet again, I couldn't help but think about how much easier it would be if I left Kat behind right here. The look in her eyes definitely told me that she wanted nothing to do with me.
On some level, I could understand why she was a little peeved with me. But was she really gonna hold it against me for doing what I do naturally? It's not like I'm HIV. Infecting immune cells wasn't an interest or priority of mine. I chose her because she had appealed to me in the moment. I kept her by my side and took care of her. Did none of that matter? I nearly rolled my eyes.
Luckily, there had been a small first aid kit in the Immunity car. Kat and I were sitting on the roof of the car, parked on the tip of Mary Beth's tongue. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I finished doing my best to tend to her wounds. What did she want from me? What did she expect? For once, she was completely silent as she stubbornly stared away from me. After wrapping the last of the bandages around her torso, I made sure to tie the bandages tight.
"Ow," she hissed at me and shot me a dirty glare from the side of her eyes.
"So, you do speak," I responded.
Instead of answering me, Kat slid off the hood of the car and tried to walk away from me. With a silent groan, I brushed my dreads back before getting up to try to calm her down.
"Don't...come near me," she warned from over her shoulder.
"I already apologized, Baby. What more do you want from me? You want new clothes? You look like you could use some. Maybe a new necklace to replace the one you lost?" I said and stepped behind her. I tried to gently turn her head towards me, but she pushed me away roughly.
"I don't want your damn apology. What I want you to do is get me out of this dying body and then leave. Me. Alone," she said and turned around. She folded her arms over her chest with a scoff.
"You wanna leave me now, Kat?"
"I want you to leave me. I've already decided to leave. I need you to decide, too."
I sneered. "You make it sound like I need you around," I said with dark undertones. Just as I was straightening up to loom over her, she turned back around to glare up at me. "I don't need-" I started, but she cut me off.
"Anyone. I get it now. Well, now you've got no one. You and your medical books can go straight to hell for all I care!"
"You think you'll make it with out me!?"
I shouldn't be shouting like this. She was just some she-cell. She was supposed to be. I shouldn't be this angry. It was a shame Mary Beth was already going up in flames. I could really use the therapy of ripping something apart right now.
"I don't need spit from you! You need me, you ungrateful bastard! You won't get anywhere without me," Kat sneered as she pointed to herself.
"I hope Immunity puts a bullet in your skull," I sneered softly as I got into her face. She hissed violently at me just before she struck out her hand to slap me across the face. My eyes went wide in shock. I could feel a burn on my membrane and reached a hand up to inspect my face. She'd scratched me! Turning my gaze on her, I could see her glaring furiously at me.
Before I could even think about it, my hand had already pulled the gun out of my coat and was aiming it at her. "Why don't I do the job for them?" I threatened. Her eyes looked surprised for a second before they looked furious again.
"You gonna kill me now, Thrax?"
Was I? I wanted to. But I didn't want to. I've thought about it so many times! I've thought about all the different ways I could kill her whenever she'd annoyed or irritated me. How I felt now was so far past annoyed.
She didn't get to look so resigned. She didn't deserve to look so... She wasn't crying or begging for her life. But I could see it in her eyes. She was scared. Of me or of death? Not just scared... Sad?
With a sound of disgust, I slipped the gun back into my coat before turning my back on her. "You're not worth the effort. We go our separate ways after this," I said and slipped my glasses onto my face.
"Fine by me."
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Kat and I had waited in Mary Beth's mouth for an uncomfortable fifteen minutes before the last cough had sent us both flying away from the scene. It took some maneuvering, but I was able to land us near the nose of some old cat. From the moment we landed, Kat and I walked towards the nostrils in complete silence. I wanted to get her to just take back what she said and move on, but every time I was ready to forgive her and move on, she would huff and speed up to get away from me. I rolled my eyes.
She-cells aren't worth it.
As soon as we were inside of the body, Kat stared at me for a long while before turning to leave without a word. I'll never forget how she looked. I've seen her be vicious, malicious, deadly...This was first time I'd ever seen her broken. Her eyes were watery, and her lower lip trembled, but then she blinked a few times and all the emotion was gone. I don't know if her looking broken hurt more than her looking so cold.
Whatever. I had a job to do. Good luck to her trying to make it as an infected cell in a foreign body.
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My next victim was going to be the sixty-three-year-old man, Marcus. He'd only been standing nearby when Mary Beth had collapsed at the wedding reception, but he was close enough to have me change his life forever. It'd taken a whole week to take down Mary Beth. But I was gonna have old Marcus six feet under in seventy-two hours flat.Which meant that I had to make moves as soon as possible. With a seventy-two-hour deadline, I had to get started on the flu symptoms before recruiting some germs. Since I was entering through the nose, why not check something off the list on my way into town?
Breaking into the control room for the cartilage dam in the nose was easy enough. No matter whose body it was, regular tissue didn't stand a chance against my greatest weapon. After slicing off the door knob, I entered the room and pushed up my shades. "It must be lunchtime," I said when I saw the nearly empty control room.
"Excuse me. You're not allowed to be in here."
Turning to the side, I saw a cell sitting at the controls. He watched me warily but didn't make a move to leave. His mistake.
"Why don't you go take a load off, my man? I'll take it from here," I say and heat up my claw. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the cell stand slowly and edge away from me. I observed my claw for a few seconds before jamming it right into the control board. I watched the red cracks steam and hiss as the spread out from the control board to the rest of the room.
I could hear the cell muttering panicked words to himself just before he tried to make a break for it. With a movement too fast for him to dodge, I reached out to grab him by the shirt. He was positively quakingin my grip. With a wide grin, I stared down at the terrified cell. "J-just let me g-go, man. Please," he begged.
"Phlegm! I think there's someone trying to get over the dam!"
I glanced down at the walkie talkie clipped to his waist. He gulped loudly as I reached down to take the walkie from him.
"I just saw them. It's a female! Call Immunity and have them send some officers here stat! Phlegm? Phlgem!? Do you copy?"
Just as I was about to respond to whoever was on the other end, I heard a pained shout and some gurgling. My eyes narrowed. "You're not exactly playing it safe,"I said into the walkie. It took a few seconds before I heard a response.
"And just what are youdoing? I know you didn't just borrow that walkie."
"Actually, I did. From a real nice fella. Why don't you say hi?" I said to the cell with a grin and held out the walkie for him. He whimpered as beads of sweat rolled down his face. The room was getting a little heated.
A scoff came from the walkie. "Whatever. Goodbye, Thrax."
I heard the click come through the walkie and narrowed my gaze at it. She had just walked away? I sneered and crushed the walkie in my hand. In disgust, I roughly threw the cell down onto the flaming control boards. He started to cry out in pain, but he had barely made a sound before I was slashing across his torso with my claw. With a whip of my trench coat, I was stalking out of there.
The flames had already spread to the whole building by the time I'd made it out. I slipped my shades back down over my eyes as I watched the flames burn away. Normally, watching my handiwork was enough to put a little pep in my step. But I couldn't shake the funk that had settled over me. Just as the building exploded violently and caused a large crack to form in the dam below me, I turned to escape down the nasal cavity. I would have to shake this funk somehow. When another explosion gave me the breeze that I needed to propel me forward, I smirked. I knew exactly what would make me feel better.
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Moi-Moi: As usual, don't forget to review and let me know what you think!
