Page 86 of Uprising

He should be convulsing, blood hanging from his mouth, flesh peeling back. He should be turning or turned.

My breath hitches as the realization crashes over me. He was bitten, and while he should be dead, he’s not.

He’s immune.

Slowly, I lift my gaze, already finding him looking at me. His expression is unreadable, but something heavy lurks there. He knows what I’m seeing, and now he’s waiting to see what I plan on doing.

I should be mad; I should just hand him over. He lied to me again—again.But how would I have reacted if he had told me? This disease is new, even several months later. But while I don’t blame him for not telling me, it begs the question if I can trust him.

“Noah, back away from Patient X. We can discuss whatever you want when I’m done,” Mom's emotionless voice hits my ears. Breaking Reed's gaze, I peek over at her and the other doctor. The guard jerks the leash back, holding the thing back. It’s the teeth snapping towards us.

And like all at once, I’m done.

I’m done waiting for her approval—it’ll never come. I’m done shrinking myself to fit into this mold they’ve carved out for me. My fingers tighten around Reed’s wrist, his eyes waiting—questioning what I’m going to do.

Climbing to my feet, I swallow the lump in my throat and square my shoulders. The weight of not needing their approval is slowly slipping away.

“He’s coming with us,” I announce, my voice only shaking a lot. Stepping in front of Reed’s weakened body, my hand forms into a fist, ready to square up with a zombie if that means saving Reed.

“Let project X go,” Mom orders, raising a brow.

All at once the guard unleashed the zombie, the thing rushing towards us. I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the thing to attack. Only it doesn’t. Peeking through my lashes, Mallory stands in front of me, her arms open wide.

“There’s no way,” The other doctor mutters in disbelief as Mom says at the same time. “She’s what we’ve been waiting for.”

CHAPTER51

Noah

“What are you talking about, lady?” Mallory questions.

The zombie stops in its tracks, sniffing the air but not rushing towards her. It's odd watching something I’ve seen a dozen times attack anyone else, but Mallory just stands there. The zombie couldn’t care any less about her. It’s not going after her like a happy meal you would expect.

“It’s beautiful; I–I could never imagine, this is just beautiful.” The other doctor mutters, his eyes glued to Mallory.

“Don’t be creepy,” Mal hisses. “I’d appreciate it if you'd tell me what you mean by ‘she’s what we’ve been waiting for.’Not great first impressions.”

“Leash subject X,” Mom orders. The guard does as he is told, backing the zombie up.

“There’s only one percent in the entire world who has Rh-null. It’s almost unheard of to find a living person with it. You see, the human body is unique, especially when it comes to their blood. A positive, B positive, all of them. But only two in the world who stood a chance during the outbreak. Rh-null has a unique makeup; it’s been known to be called ‘the golden blood’. They lack the RH antigens in their red blood cells. It makes them the universal recipients for all blood types. But unfortunately they can’t take any other blood. So while useful during most transfusions and operations, it can be… difficult to keep them alive. Our late Rh-null patient unfortunately died.”

I stand there, Reed’s head pressed against the back of my leg. I try to hold my composure, but I just can’t take it anymore.

“So what you’re saying is I’m some kind of freak?” Mallory asks. I roll my eyes; of course that would be her first question.

“No, darling, I’m saying you’re special. So special that they don’t care about you. I would love if we could test?—”

“Yeah, no. I’m going to stop you there. I don’t do well on tests, and we’re in a little bit of a time crunch.”

“We’re not testing you; it’d be your blood.” Mom tries to reason.

“What does this have to do with Reed?” I finally speak up. Mom glances over Mal at me, the slight twitch in her brow as if she had forgotten I was even here. No love. Nothing.

“Patient X, he has the other rarest blood type. While it’s rare, it’s not uncommon to find. You just have to search a little harder.”

“What are you talking about?” I snap.

“AB negative. Just like Rh-null, only one percent of the population has it, but it’s their plasma that we want. You see, while Rh-null is undesirable to subject X?—”

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