Tainted

Chapter 11: Collateral Damage

Matt nervously paces back and forth as he waits for my blood test results. His eyes wander from the marks on my neck, to his watch, to the door.

“So, let me get this straight. You let her dig her nails into your neck?” Matt questions.

“I don’t see why that matters, she’s not even a vamp-“ I stop myself as soon as I notice that I shouldn’t be giving away Anne’s secret.

“Just because she’s human doesn’t mean that she is pure. Anne still has the venom in her system.” Matt pauses to bang his hands on the table. “Why are they taking so long?” He shouts.

I lightly exhale because he knows her secret too. That’s a relief since I didn’t accidentally tell him. A cough quickly exits my mouth. It only seems to make Matt angrier and more impatient since it reminds him of my current situation.

“You have a nice bedroom…” I say desperately trying my best to take his mind off of the test.

He simply just ignores me. After five more minutes of waiting, a knock is heard. Matt practically snatches a folder from Tatiana’s hands and almost closes the door on her. His hands firmly grip the paper as his eyes rush to scan the pages within.

Matt remains silent the whole time. Tatiana doesn’t say a word; her head is ducked and her eyes are focused on the oak wood floors of the room. I don’t think that is a good sign.

“Well?” I ask while standing up straight.

“Five percent. Five fricken percent.” Matt mutters to himself.

“Five percent? What does that mean?” I loudly ask.

I receive a sharp glance from Tatiana.

“It’s the percentage of venom that’s in your blood stream.” Matt finally answers.

A brush of hope hits me. It’s not as bad as I thought. “That’s good. It’s only five percent. It’s fixable, right?”

Matt lays down the hole-punched papers on the black coffee table. He then sits down and buries his hands in his face. Even though a big portion of his face isn’t visible, I could see his face turn red.

“It’s curable. Completely harmless. Right?” After no response, I begin to worry. “Matt?”

“It’s only five percent, that’s curable. But the only thing is that there is no cure yet. We’re barely in the early stages of developing it-“ Matt begins.

“So you’re saying that you built the virus and distributed it to hundreds without a back up plan; Without a cure if anything were to go wrong?” I almost shout.

“It’s not his fault. He really did think that only good would come from the virus.” Tatiana defends.

To relax, I sit down next to Matt on leather sofa. “How much time do I have left?” I softly whisper, hoping for a clear answer this time.

Matt stares at the papers that are left on his coffee table. He’s obviously trying hard to avoid my eye contact. “It’s a very simple process actually.”

“Once the virus enters the bloodstream, there’s a 50-50 chance that it might not bound. If it doesn’t bound, the result may be deadly. But in your case it bounded.” Matt explains.

Matt briefly glances up at me. “It’s only five percent for now, but that five percent will start to contaminate the other cells. Today it could be five percent, tomorrow it could be ten.”

“Matt, please just answer me.” I can tell he’s trying to do his best to avoid giving me an answer. “How much time do I have as a human?”

“Two weeks, three tops.” He mutters.

I sit back and exhale. I quickly shut my eyes and press them shut. This isn’t real. It can’t be. It’s one thing to lose everything because of those creatures, but it’s another to become one.

“There’s a way that I could help you though.”

My eyes snap open.

“There’s a way that we could both help each other.” He informs.

“The directors of The Hive still haven’t taken notice that you’re infected. I’ve been working on a separate project with samples of the virus. If I look through some books and work extremely hard, it may be likely that I might be able to find a cure or something that could at least postpone it from spreading.”

“How can I help you though?” I question.

“I’ll need regular blood, urine, and saliva samples. I would also need you to act as if you’re still a pure human. Which means you have to take part in The Breeding Stations.” He pauses to look at this watch. “Which if I’m not mistaken, you have to get ready to go to soon.”

Maybe that’s the reason why Tatiana is still here.

“How will you take the samples if I’m in The Station?”

“Simple. I’m Level Six. That makes me able to take anyone out from any where for any amount of time.” He pauses. “Tatiana has to take you now, but I’ll be in touch.”

The sound of foot steps gets louder and louder. Tatiana’s shadow is casted on the floor. She lightly takes hold of my upper arm and begins to pull me away.

“Where are we going?” I mutter while walking through the hallway.

“You’re going to go shower, you stink.” Tatiana replies with a smile.

“Hey! There’s not much I could do about it if you haven’t noticed already.” I complain with a smile invading my face.

I don’t know what I was expecting but when I stepped into Tatiana’s personal bathroom, I was just amazed. The bathroom’s size was the size of my bedroom at home. The black and white tiles that covered the floor cooled my feet as I walked around.

Stepping into the shower, I closed the glass plane behind me. I looked at the shelf that hung on the wall. Shampoos and Conditioners differed in smells and types. There was Coconuts, Mango, Sour Apple, and even Peach scented shampoos!

I turn the knob and the warm water begins to rise down bringing me comfort. After the shower, I look down at the clean uniform that lays on the granite sink counter. My hair is still damp as I slip out of the room.

“Now that’s much better!” Tatiana comments.

I instantly roll my eyes at her comment.

“Anyways lets get going, we wouldn’t want to keep him waiting.” She says with a smile.

“And whose him exactly?” I mutter.

“You’ll see!” She almost squeals.

The long walk through the hallway didn’t help at all. Staying in silence forced me to think about what Matt reported today; about the virus being in my blood stream. It's difficult having to depend on someone I barely met to answer a question that will haunt me forever. What will be left of me in two weeks?

But another more important question remained in my head. Who is beyond this door?

Author's Note: Thank you so much for making it to Chapter Eleven. I wanted to let you all know that I will start to upload every week on Sunday! :) Thanks again for reading, it means a lot.