Page 65 of Black Bird

“No, no … you don’t understand.” Sarah grabbed her phone off the table and pulled up pictures that were taken from the party. So. Many. Pictures. She handed it to her.

“Oh, dear God.” Rhaena covered her mouth with her fingers, grinning and trying her best not to laugh as she scrolled through them. “Sarah!” She cackled.

“I know.” Sarah dropped her head face down onto her arms against the table. Rhaena stopped on one photo of two women dressed as an angel and a devil, and behind them was Sarah—on her knees with her hands on Athan’s collar. She wondered if he’d realized the way he’d been looking at her while her ex looked on from beside them … or if he’d realized both his hands were on Sarah’s waist and that they both looked as if they could tear each other to pieces. She poured coffee into her mug and handed the phone back.

“What’s eating at you? Aside from the fact that we found a body that looked like you.” Rhaena asked, turning and sitting next to Sarah at the table. Sarah turned her face and kept her head down, staring off at the cabinets.

“I haven’t told him yet. I haven’t told anyone, actually.”

“Told him what?”

“I—I tested my blood at work the other day. And I compared what I found to the lab reports at the hospital.”

Rhaena sipped her coffee. “Bad?” Sarah tightened her mouth.

“I wouldn’t say it was bad. Actually … it’s probably really good, I just—don’t know what it means.”

“Could you be more specific?”

Sarah raised herself to sit and propped her elbows on the table. “I think they used my mom’s body to make some kind of drug. Obviously, I can’t be sure about that. I need a specimen from her to test that theory … but I think that’s exactly why they kept her.”

Rhaena stilled. “But what does that have to do with your blood? You weren’t sick, were you?”

“No … no, I wasn’t. But I could potentially be a carrier. Maybe that’s why they want me. We still don’t know what she had. The only thing in that set of papers they gave me, they called it VN-1. Remember?”

Rhaena nodded. “Yeah, they weren’t ever very specific. I guess they had to call itsomething.”

“Well, I dunno if you’re aware of how it all works, but when illnesses are named, the names are specific to the virus, or bacteria … or you know … whatever the specimen is. It’s most of the time abbreviated like this … and numbered. But what does it mean? There isn’t a single record that I can pull to figure it out that isn’t sealed by the government. Not one.”

Interesting.

“So, what was different about yours?” Rhaena asked, leaning in with intrigue.

“Everybody’s blood cells work together. The red ones have a protein—”

“Hemoglobin.”

“Right. That carries the oxygen to your body. The white cells are your immune system’s little Vikings. They fight off disease. So, like, forinstance when someone has cancer … say leukemia. You already have a militia in there fighting shit off. Leukemic patients have a full out army of white blood cells, and it causes abnormality. They start hammering off at everything, causing your bone marrow to have a hard time producing the red cells that one would need to survive. They’re outnumbered, you see?”

Rhaena stared at her for a moment.Damn, this girl was smart.You would never have guessed it by looking at her, but the passion in her voice and the steady flow of her words while she explained it … she really loved this. She couldn’t help but feel deeply sorry for Sarah, then.

She could be so much help to the world if this hadn’t happened to her family. The life she could have had … this girl could save humanity with this kind of passionate dedication.

“So, are you saying that your blood cells have an abnormal number?” Rhaena asked.

“No … that’s the strange part. Both my red and white cells are—well, they’re … perfection. In fact, I was able to get my hands on one of those contaminated bags. I dropped a couple dots of it into the slide and watched. That blood was tainted with influenza. I don’t wanna sound … crazy.” Sarah rubbed her face and shook her head.

“No, no … tell me,” Rhaena urged, placing her hand on her arm.

“My white cells? They … almost had this weird glow. They didn’t attack the virus … theyhealed—andabsorbedit … like the virus never existed. Almost like my blood cellsfedon it and became stronger.”

Rhaena’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my … Oh my God.”

“I thought I was tripping. I put a couple more drops in there, but they reacted the same way. The cells didn’t expand. They didn’t get bigger, they didn’t split, or grow in number. They just … I dunno … buzzed and pulsated like superheroes. Then, after a few minutes they were normal again. I even left the slide covered under plastic for a few hours and came back to check on it to see if anything had changed. They looked normal.”

“Do you think you’ve always been this way?”

“No … I remember getting shit when I was a kid. I once was so sick with strep that I couldn’t swallow, or eat, or drink anything. My mom had taken me to the hospital, and I ended up staying longer because antibiotics wouldn’t work. Scared her to death. I think—” Sarah paused and looked down at her arms.

---