Hello Darkness

Chapter Forty-Seven

I pull the first box out of the back of Gabby's truck, and a burst of lemon and pine pops from it. Home. The smell swells through every inch of me. I finally have some of my things and a piece of home.

My hand reaches for the door handle just as the neighbor's door bursts open. Screams silence the birds. Two men dressed in white push a woman restrained on a hospital bed from the house.

The woman thrashes on the bed, snarling her wicked teeth at the men. Gabby slides from the front door and casually stands by my side, like we're about to watch the sun set..

"What's going on?" I ask.

"The Sickness. She's in phase two."

"Victor made it sound like it stopped."

"We've become familiar with the smells of infected humans, but that doesn't mean they won't slip through the cracks every now and again. For some, it becomes too tempting."

Victor's broad frame emerges from the woman's house, looking out as they push her across the lot to the security building.

I stroll across the grass divide of the two plots. "What are they doing with her?"

He hesitates.

"No more secrets."

He nods. "Grab the briefcase and follow me."

As we cross the community, the suitcase weighs heavy in my hand, but it's not just from the loads of paperwork. Nana wouldn't have kept this without good reason, and it feels like I'm about to find out. We approach the security buildings main entrance, not the back one Julian had brought me out a few nights ago.

Once inside, Victor flashes his card in front of the scanners to gain clearance to a back hallway. Beyond the door, security uniforms are replaced by lab coats and large rooms full of monitors are replaced by small private offices. This is where these papers should be—this is where I'll get my answers.

Victor stops in front of an elevator. The doors open with a chime, and Victor steps in first punching in a code before hitting the ground floor button.

A loud metallic thud vibrates through the cabin as the elevator stops deep beneath the ground. The doors slide open and a rush of memories flow back. The white walls, doctors in lab coats—the blood.

The woman's screams echo of the brick, sending deep aches to my bones. Any way I look at it my father played some role in creating this disease.

"What is this place?"

"The recovery platform." But something tells me she won't be recovering. This is the beginning of the end for her. He steps from the elevator and leads me down the hall. "We bring new vampires here for their protection and ours. Newborns can be very unpredictable. But..." he stops at a door. "We've also made it a containment center for cases like this." He looks through the small window. Something like regret flickers in his eyes before he pushes the double doors.

"So they come down here to die?"

He clears his throat. "My labs are working tirelessly to find a cure, but nothing's working. And it's becoming more common. It seems the injection mutates the genes, and it can be transferred to offspring. But mutations aren't always predictable. We know the signs of the original injection, but they seem to be more subtle in those born with the gene. "

We walk into an identical white hall, except this one is lined with silver doors and dead ends with another set of double doors. Moans and the occasional pound come from the individual rooms we pass. The woman's screams fade when the doors close behind us.