Page 57 of Rebirth

SOPHIE

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to think. All I know is that I clutch my gun between my fingers, holding on to it as if it will give me life. Because in the next few moments, that might just be the case. Life or death may come right down to how good of a shot I am, because the scene in front of me…

I take a step back, He’rox like a rock when I bump into him.

Before us, the people who’d been sitting in the camp, watching me with eyes that were too cold, too unfriendly for me to ever feel comfortable, have now turned to face us.

They must have seen what evolved. They must have seen Bert transform into something dark. Insipid. Not entirely of this world.

But they aren’t running, screaming for their lives.

Instead, they’re standing one by one, all watching us, unmoving in a way that is so completely inhuman that I take another step back, pressing into He’rox as I swallow a lump that’s risen in my throat. The pistol trembles in my hand and I hate the fact that fear’s shooting so strongly through me, it’s making it hard to breathe.

Because right before me, I see the people watching us changing.

Those veins that seemed to pulse and grow, completely overtaking Bert, seem to be growing underneath their skin, too.

“They’re all infected,” I whisper, eyes flicking from one to another. “Bert said it’s been a few weeks.”

My heart hammers as there’s movement in my peripheral vision. Two or three of the camp people walk slowly toward us from far to my right.

“What do you hypothesize, scientist?” my companion says.

I glance up at He’rox. He seems more focused on me than anything else around us, despite that my heart’s hammering in my chest, anxiety curling my gut, as everything within me screams that we’re in danger.

He’s plastered with Bert’s blood, but it doesn’t even look like human blood anymore. Too black. Too thick.

But despite all that, I’m frickin’ happy to see him here. I thought he’d really gone. Hearing that growl, knowing it was him, had sent something warm and sure right through me.

I gulp, turning my attention back to the slowly advancing people. “Whatever this is, it doesn’t appear to be airborne.” I’d take another step back, but He’rox is rigid, facing the danger before us. “No coughing, sneezing or other airborne transmission modes that would spread an infection.”

“And…” He’rox presses. Something tells me he’s already figured this out but wants me to do so myself.

“And…” I continue, back pressing into his chest. “Not bacterial or viral. Bert’s transformation was too quick.”

He’rox makes a sound in his throat as if he agrees.

“Not fungal,” I continue, watching as two more people appear to our far left. “Fungal infections don’t usually cause such severe symptoms.”

He’rox makes that same sound in his chest and it vibrates against my back. He feels so strong behind me. Unmoving.

I take a deep breath.

“Could be prions…”

“Hmm,” He’rox says, his nonchalance the only thing that’s keeping me calm.

“They’re, um, misfolded versions of normal cellular proteins. But…”

“But what, little light?”

“That’s not what this is.” I’m not supposed to make declarations such as that without proper evidence. But this has nothing to do with my study of science or past lab work I’ve done. This is just my gut.

“Humans don’t act like this.” Even as I say the words, the change continues in the people before me. I can see the veins crawling up their necks, getting darker the paler their skin gets, as if they’re being sucked dry from the inside out. And their eyes…the hollow darkness of their eyes.

“It’s parasitic,” I say, back pressing even harder into He’rox. “Those veins…they’re parasitic. Just like that woman back in your ship. She’s infected. You’ve healed her but she doesn’t wake because you haven’t removed those veins from her back.”

“If I do—”

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