BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Forty |

Forty |

Mom led me to Dad's office as the rest of our little crew fanned out to secure the rest of the building. My heart caught in my ears as I hurried after her. There were so many things flashing through my mind and all I wanted to do was go after Cora—she had to be on the island or even in this building still. There was no time to fuck around here and yet, my need to know the truth was greater than any threat.

Was the selfish?

Yes.

"Mom," I said as we reached Dad's office. "We don't have time—"

"Eero."

I shut up quickly as she held up her hand. I peered past her. My lips parted as a small and terrible gasp passed my lips and I cold chill danced through my body. The door of Dad's office had been broken; a line of blood smeared across the floor. My eyes flickered back to Mom. I'd never seen her like this before—so calculated. As if a switch had gone off in her brain that forced her into a new mode.

A deadly mode.

She twisted on the ball of her foot, kicking the door open hard enough and the knob -slammed into the wall. Her body moved forward at a speed I'd never seen, and I quickly followed after her only to find the office empty.

A mess but empty.

"Damn it," she hissed.

I looked around, not able to see what had annoyed her. "What is it?"

"She took a gun," she seethed, rushing over to Dad's desk and flying into a frenzy as she yanked open the different drawers. "Damn it!"

Cora taking one of Dad's blood guns was a huge issue, but it seemed like Mom was less concerned about that and onto something else. I'd never seen her so angry—not even when Rose died. Part of me wished to move, to demand answers or an explanation as to what was going on and yet, it felt like my feet had been glued to the floor.

"Something's wrong," Rose's voice whispered at the back of my mind.

I tilted my head back to the door. There she stood like the terrible hallucination that she was. My stomach lurched as I felt my eyes widen. These little moments...they'd never appeared like this. I'd never had a fucking mental break down in front of another person before.

So, I just stared at the ghost of my dead sister.

She looked as she did before. This time wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a woolly black sweater. Her hair was brushed back into a tight ponytail and her skin was tanned like it did in the summer. Like her words, her visual also was wrong. Her outfit was something she'd wear in the winter and her body was in the state it would be in the summer.

Like my mind couldn't quite create her as she'd be.

"Why hasn't Mom asked?"

I just blinked at her. Clearly my own mind was catching onto something I couldn't--but what? I looked back to Mom as she tore through the desk hunting for something that was beyond my understanding.

What could be more important than a gun full of blood that could melt metal?

"Where is it?" Mom yelled, sliding her hand across the surface of the desk.

Papers and pens went flying.

Behind me, I could see ghost Rose moving to stand at my side. I tensed, but she made no move to touch or distract me. I held my breath, watching helplessly as Mom continued on her war path. She turned towards Dad's filing cabinets now, ripping them open with desperation.

"Come on!"

"There's so much beauty in this world, too much beauty to hate..."

I tilted my head towards ghost Rose as she talked.

"...it's so important to think of the good..."

Annoyance filled me. She wasn't saying anything she hadn't said before.

I had enough. "Mom—"

"Not now Eero!" she snapped. "I need to find—"

"Find what?" I demanded, stepping forward.

She paused, looking over at me as if realizing I was there for the first time.

"...especially when this world is so bad..."

"Eero," Mom whispered, her face paling.

"...think of the good, and how sometimes even the bad can save us..."

Suddenly, ghost Rose's words were making a lot more sense, and so was everything leading up to this moment. Why no one was surprised by me being immune and why I was the only fucking one immune to the Delta virus. Bile rose in my throat, and I turned my head to the illusion of my dead sister begging for her to finish her words.

"...when we turn it good. Just like Z—e-ero."

There it was.

I looked back to Mom slowly, tears dripping down my face. I felt so silly. All this time I thought they kept me here for my own safety. BioGen didn't want me because I was Mira Brooks daughter, I didn't survive the delta virus because I was special—hell, I didn't survive because I was immune. This was why Mom trusted me to take on Cora, this was why she suddenly had so much fucking confidence in me.

A bitter laugh left my lips.

"Eero," Mom whispered softly.

"So then," I hated how my voice cracked. "what variant am I?"

Her face only confirmed my truth as she shut her eyes. "Alpha."

I stumbled back as if she had hit me. "And what did Cora take from Dad's office?"

Her eyes opened as she looked at me with what I could only explain was sorrow.

"Your pedigree."

It was like the entire world had imploded around me in a millisecond then got glued back together. The pieces fit but no longer in the same way. I felt a surreal numbness claim my mind as I allowed the truth to click into place. I felt my knees finally give out as I fell to the floor, and I cried. I didn't care that she was watching--I didn't care about anything. I cried for the truth that had been robbed from me and I cried for the family I thought I had. Ghost Rose was gone, and Mom—was I even allowed to call her that anymore—rushed over, falling to her knees as she hugged me to her chest. She sobbed, begging for my forgiveness but I just didn't know.

I didn't know anything.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. My baby girl. I'm sorry."

Maybe it was fucked up, or maybe I was just fucked up but having her hug me so close and feeling her love made it almost seem like nothing else mattered. Who cared if I wasn't her real daughter, who cared if I wasn't anything more than a grown lab rat? I had always known love and protection and I had always been treated as a daughter, a sister, a friend.

Still, I needed the truth.

"Tell me," I begged.

Mom hesitated.

"Please."

"Okay," she whispered, hugging me close. "Here's the truth."