Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Yes,” Doctor Greenly said as he continued to hold the mirror in Frank’s face. He slowly guided Frank into one of the vacant offices. Once Frank was fully inside the room Doctor Greenly closed the door, locking him inside. “I’ll deal with Frank later,” he said.
“Vampires,” Kyle said again, not asking a question, but making the radical statement.
Greenly tapped his nose with his index finger. “Mythical creatures. There are many animals that share similar traits to vampirism. Vampire bats being the most well-known. This is all just too astonishing.”
“So let me get this straight,” Kyle began, looking at Frank through the glass window. “The cause infected humans, showing zero evidence that an infection was taking place.”
“Correct, that was from my earlier statements.”
“It killed those infected and reanimated their bodies. Then those same infected people infected and ate other people thus creating more.”
“Still following.”
“Okay, so now, those same infected are evolving into mythical creatures?”
Greenly began to think about that statement. It sounded crazy when it was laid out that way. Greenly’s smile quickly turned into a frown. “Everyone out,” he said.
One at a time, the people in the lab began to file out.
“Wait a moment there, Kyle,” Greenly said.
Kyle turned, as did Albert. They both walked toward Greenly. “Excuse me, Albert. Mind if I have a few words with Kyle?”
Albert wasn’t sure of what to do. He didn’t want Kyle alone with Greenly.
Kyle nodded to Albert and without any words being exchanged, Albert walked out of the lab, closing the door behind him.
“You are brighter than you make yourself seem,” Greenly began.
“Well, I did graduate high school with a 3.0 GPA,” Kyle said as Greenly began to walk in a circle around him. “Though most of my classes consisted of auto shop and Home Economics.”
Greenly laughed. “And you’re funny. Did you like my explanation?”
“Something’s do make sense.”
Greenly stopped in front of Kyle. “Perhaps they do.” He gave Kyle a caring look. One any mother would give their child to show compassion. “Look into my eyes, Kyle.”
Kyle suddenly felt a complete loss of control over his body. His head rose and his eyes locked with the doctor’s. Greenly continued to utter complementary words to Kyle, telling him how intelligent and strong and brave he was. Kyle’s head fell limp as his eyes closed. Greenly carried on, regardless.
Kyle saw things in his mind. Happy things. He was flying high into the sky, flapping his wings higher and higher until he looked down and saw the spherical shape of the Earth. He smiled, but his joy was short lived. He flapped his wings, but nothing happened. Freefalling to the planet at ten thousand miles an hour, Kyle’s heart began to race. He saw the ground fast approaching. Again he tried to flap his wings, but nothing happened. He continued to fall.
He glanced to his left. Mary and Eddie were there falling with him. He glanced to his right: Susie, Angel and Chet were also there. Under him was Morgan, holding hands with Victor as they fell. The ground drew closer. Any second now he would hit the ground. But what would happen? Would he die?
As he took his final breath, he saw the image of Jasmine flash before him. His body collided with the ground.
Kyle opened his eyes. Greenly stood before him. His mouth was open, exposing fangs. His eyes shone bright red. Kyle jumped back. He was stunned. Was Greenly infected? He couldn’t be. He, as far as Kyle knew, never died, nor had his brain been destroyed.
“I have to say, Kyle. This is probably the best thing I have ever created.”
Kyle’s feet felt cemented to the ground. He couldn’t run. “You started all of this?” He managed to ask.
Greenly laughed. “No. This was by accident. Before I ran into this place, I created what I thought was a vaccine. I took the same general idea from the flu shot and injected a killed virus into my blood stream.
“Killed?”
“The pink substance is filled with the cause’s dead cells.” He paused for a moment, showing Kyle his fangs. “It worked. My body protected itself against the virus, but soon after, I was bitten. My body tried to fight off the infection, I felt every last second of it.” Greenly turned to look at the office where Frank was contained.
Kyle glanced down at the scalpel on the table that Frank had been strapped too. He quickly reached for it. Before Greenly could utter another word, Kyle raised the knife and stuck it into the side of Greenly’s neck. The pink substance shot out of the wound and Greenly fell to his knees. Kyle found his legs. In fact, he found them long before he realized he was already outside.
“Albert!” he yelled.
Albert emerged like a shadow with his pistol drawn. A black bag was on the ground at his feet. “We have to leave now. Here.” He handed Kyle his Glock. “What happened in there?”
Kyle took the pistol. “I’ll explain later. Let’s go. I need to get Victor.”
“No, forget him.”
Kyle didn’t hear him. He ran into the room where Victor’s body lay. It was dark. The only light in the room came from the stars outside. Kyle flipped the light switch.
Victor remained perfectly still.
“Come on buddy, we’re out of here,” he said, panic edging into his voice.
Albert walked into the room with the duffle bag in his hand. “Hurry.”
Kyle put his arms under Victor’s neck and legs. The boy felt cold in his arms as Kyle lifted him. Victor’s head snapped back, revealing two small puncture wounds on the side of his neck. Kyle’s heart sank.
“Check his pulse,” Kyle said, almost in tears.
“We don’t have—”
“Just fucking check it!” he interrupted.
Albert put two fingers to the side of Victor’s chin and waited a few seconds. He looked at Kyle and then shook his head.
“Pah,” Kyle said as he let out air trapped at the bottom of his throat. Tears fell down his face as he hugged the boy. His Victor, his adopted son, his boy, was dead.
Chapter Thirty
“I’m sorry, Kyle. But we have to leave,” Albert said.
Kyle continued to cry, holding Victor’s limp body closer to him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and put Victor back on the medical bed. “I killed her and I’m so sorry.”
He looked toward the ground, and his stuff was still there. He grabbed the robot backpack and the blood-stained Winchester. “Let’s go.”
Albert walked out of the room with the bag in one hand and the pistol in the other. Kyle took one last look at Victor’s body. “We’re leaving now, okay, buddy?” He waited for a second for a reply, but it never came. “I love you,” he said and let the door close behind him.
They began running toward the cafeteria. No one was outside.
“Where did everyone go?” Kyle asked.
“When we left the room everyone went separate ways. No one said anything, it was like they were zombies.”
The gate that led to the parking lot was a few yards in front of them.
“Hey!” they heard someone yell from the roof. It was Carter. “Where you two going?” He pointed his rifle in their direction and fired.
Albert kicked the gate open as bullets whizzed past their heads. Kyle raised the pistol and fired twice. Both shots missed, but Carter didn’t even try to take cover. They ran through the gate, but standing at the roof of the gym were Ignacio, Ricardo and Virginia. All three had their weapons trained on them. In their path three men Kyle had recognized from dinner, though he didn’t know their names, blocked their escape.
Kyle glanced up at the three who that morning had saved his life. Now they were looking to end it.