Eat the Ones You Love (The Thirteen Book 2) Read online

  “Jenny, come on now, enough of this nonsense.”

  “TELL ME!”

  “Yes! Yes, it started that way. But it spun out of control. No one knew…no one was aware…”

  “That it was going to kill people? Bullshit.”

  “That it was going to kill so many people, ” said her father, talking very fast. “Some, we expected. We hoped for some. But then Mercer took away the cure. We were going to sell the formula. It was going to be very expensive and it was going to solve everything. And he disappeared with it.”

  “Who’s Mercer?”

  “The boss. The Mercer/Warnken Group. He and Warnken had exclusive watch over it. Had the written formula in a safe, and had the batches locked away in a secure location. But then old man Warnken died, and Mercer changed the plan, and everything went topsy-turvy.”

  “What did the government have to do with it?”

  “It was their idea!” he said. He laughed suddenly, a panicked thing that only served to make Jenny angrier. “State Department, the NSA, Homeland Security, they all had their fingers in the pie. And when it all blew up, when the illness went out of control — you know what happened better than anyone.”

  “Fucking right I do.”

  “Right, well, every agency involved was caught up in the first wave of the plague. They died and their families died knowing it was their own damn fault.”

  “And you?” said Jenny. “Why did you do it? Why did you experiment on children?”

  “Your mother’s job was to replicate the cure. Formula 57X1, it was called. And she tried. She tried until it drove her mad and she only served to alter the illness into a hybrid.”

  “The Thirteen,” said Jenny.

  “Yes.”

  “And the metal spines?” said Jenny. “What were they for?”

  He hesitated. “It’s nanotechnology at its finest. A computer inside your body, communicating.”

  “With what?” said Jenny. “Tiny robots that fix us?”

  “Well, yes, to put it inelegantly,” he said.

  “Fuck you,” said Jenny. “Why did you do this to us? Why did you turn us into cyborgs who won’t fucking die?”

  “That was Mercer's new plan. It was for him,” he said. “It was all for Mercer. Our job was to deliver it for him. At first he was interested in all of our research. But after Warnken died, and after we released the plague, he became obsessed with just one application of the research. Immortality. He wants to live forever.”

  “And we’re the guinea pigs.”

  “It only works on the young,” Grant shook his head sadly. “I can’t make it work in anyone fully grown. The adults just die and die and die. They can’t adapt. Mercer's just too old. We can’t make it work for him.”

  “Have you told him that?”

  “No. We have only shown him the successful test subjects. He thinks it's universally applicable.”

  Jenny thought for a moment.

  “Is Zeke —is the Prophet alive?”

  “Yes,” Grant said, confused. “Do you know him?”

  “Yeah,” said Jenny, grinding her teeth again. “I know him. Where is he?”

  “By Mercer’s side. Always by his side. He keeps him there day and night, waking him up on a whim, asking him for predictions. Between you and me, I think he’s making up these visions. But Mercer seems to take every word as gospel.”

  “Where do I find them?”

  He swallowed, looking into her eyes. He didn’t like what he saw there and looked away.

  “I can take you there,” he said weakly.

  “Fucking tell me where,” said Jenny, tightening her grip.

  “Upstairs. There’s an elevator that leads to his quarters. Down the hall and to the right.”

  “Where's Rafi?”

  “He's there too.”

  Jenny reached behind her on a table and grabbed what she needed.

  “What are you going to do, Jenny?” said her father.

  She held up the scalpel.

  “I’m going to tell you a story,” she said. “It starts with a little girl whose grandfather took her away one night…”

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  Jenny looked down at her father. She had not given into the urge to be merciful. Every cut her grandfather had ever given her, she gave to Grant Hawkins. He had not survived the halfway point. Blood pooled around him, spreading over her bare feet. Warm and fresh. His body was a mess of ragged cuts and meat and bone. Please, he said at one point. What have we done? What have we done to you? Jenny responded by severing his spinal cord.

  She wiped her hands on her front, which was also thick with blood. She turned and met Trix’s eyes. There was no judgment there, only hunger. She licked her lips. Jenny turned her eyes to Sarah. She was staring at the mess of human organs on the floor, for once expressionless. She looked up to Jenny and opened her mouth, then closed it.

  “He deserved it,” she said finally.

  At the sound of crying, Jenny turned to see all of the doctors huddled in the corner, except the neurologist, who still had his tiny hands in Declan’s brain. Jenny looked at the neurologist instead of Declan. She couldn’t bear what she had to do.

  “Get your hands out of his head,” she said.

  “If I do that, I can’t guarantee the damage he’ll suffer,” said the doctor, his reedy voice shaking. His hands were steady, though, as he slid them out. There was sweat pouring off his forehead as he backed away from Jenny’s cold anger, his hands dripping with black blood.

  “Take them out of here,” Jenny said without turning around, staring at a spot on the ceiling. She heard footsteps as the doctors shuffled out, accompanied by muffled crying, and the wheezing of one of them hyperventilating. Jenny waited for silence before she took her eyes off the ceiling tile.

  She turned and took in the machines, the bags of blood, the sheets smeared with black. She stepped forward and pulled the IV needle from Declan's arm. Jenny walked around the operating table to the small tub that contained the top of Declan’s skull. She picked it up gently and set it back on top of his head. Then, finally, she looked at him. Looked into his face, the face she had loved for so long.

  “I did this once already,” she said. “I already watched you die.”

  Declan’s eyes rolled around, hearing her voice and working to locate her.

  “I know you don’t understand,” she said. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I never should have brought you back the first time. I just couldn’t let you go, Deck. You always said that if it weren’t for me, you’d be dangerous. I think you had that wrong. Without you, I’m the one who lost my humanity. There’s nothing for me to come back to, nothing to keep me here.”

  Declan’s eyes had stopped rolling and he was still. He blinked as he seemed to listen.

  “I’ve turned into a monster, Declan. I mean, I always was. Ever since that rotter in the subway car, maybe long before that. I was made for this, I think. They made me in a lab over a period of years. For years and years, over and over they hurt us, children, adults. They did all this. And for what? Money? Money, Deck. This is why we’ve scrambled to survive all these years, this is why we’ve had to kill and claw and kick our way through the world. Because a couple of people wanted to make insane amounts of money by holding a monopoly on a cure. We’re all crazy now. This fucking world. This fucking shit world.”

  She reached out and took Declan’s hand.

  “I love you more than anything, I think you know that. I tried so hard to be good with you. But I can’t take these motherfuckers down if I'm human. They did this. They killed Casey and Grayson and Fisher. They killed Beacon and V and even Sully and Lucy. They may as well have killed the whole fucking world. They killed us. And they’re here, with electricity and warm beds and weapons to feel safe. They have lives here, with warm food and friends and work. What happened to us never happened here. They’re not afraid. They never had to be afraid.”

  Jenny was surprised when the tears came.<
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  “They’ve never had to be afraid until now,” she said. She looked at Declan and found his eyes looking at her. “Jesus,” she breathed. “Declan.”

  He worked his mouth like it was full of marbles, slowly, pushing his tongue around, trying to make the words.

  “Jennneeey,” he said. He squeezed her hand then.

  “Declan,” she said. It was all she was able to say.

  He worked to form the words, his tongue clicking as he tried to make the sounds.

  “Killlll them alllllll.”

  Jenny nodded.

  “Killlll meeee too.”

  All she could do was nod. No words would come.

  “It hurts.”

  Jenny stared at him. Black blood was dripping down his forehead where his skull had been sawn off. Jenny wiped it away, leaving bright red streaks of her father’s blood.

  “Yes,” she said. “I know.”

  Jenny bent over and kissed his cold, dry lips. He didn’t kiss her back.

  “I love you, Declan.”

  He didn’t make a sound as she removed the top of his skull. And she sobbed as she picked up a long silver instrument and thrust it into his brain.

  She didn’t fight the red this time. She let the red replace the emptiness that hollowed her out. She felt it pouring in and submerging her and all she could see was the red, warm and sweet and tasting of meat. She closed her eyes and let it come.

  Jenny floated, lying back, letting the red take her over. She didn’t have to think in the red. She didn’t have to remember. And she didn’t have to feel.

  Kill them all. That’s what Declan said. Declan. Right before she…

  Jenny opened her eyes but the red was all she could see. The color of pain. The color of blood. Hazy images shone through the scarlet. Figures running, faces frozen in fear when they came close, people screaming. Jenny tried to push away. She wanted to go back to the warm floating feeling. The escape. But the images wouldn’t stop. They were talking to her, yelling at her.

  Jenny blinked and looked down. She held something that looked suspiciously like a liver in her hand; it had a bite taken out of it. She dropped it onto a man whose abdomen was straight out of a horror movie. Jenny stepped back. It was the neurologist.

  Sarah was on the other side of the hall, her face buried in a female doctor’s neck. Jenny turned to see Trix, wiping her face, looking angry.

  “Motherfuckers,” said Trix. “They didn’t have a right.”

  “Trix,” Jenny said, her voice still far away. “I'm sorry, I lost control.”

  “So fucking what?” she said. “Those fuckers doing that to…” She shook her head. “That shit wasn’t right. What you did to your dad, though. Shit, cheerleader. You are one twisted fuck.” She said it like she was impressed, as though Jenny had made her proud.

  “Where are the kids?” said Jenny.

  “I don’t know,” said Trix. “They must have run off.”

  “Sarah, get up, let's go,” Jenny said.

  “Look, Jenny,” said Trix. “I think she’s gone even more batshit than usual. That guy’s been dead for like ten minutes.”

  Jenny looked at Sarah, who was still ripping chunks out of a corpse.

  “Sarah?” Jenny said, so tired she couldn’t stand it. “Get up, Sarah.” She didn’t move, just kept chewing. Jenny crouched down.

  “Doesn’t it make you sick?” she said. Sarah finally turned her head to look at her. Her scars were fading.

  “What?” said Sarah, as though she hadn’t heard her.

  “To eat the dead,” said Jenny. “Doesn’t it make you sick?”

  Sarah shrugged. “Meat is meat.”

  “It’s time to go,” said Jenny. She rose and started walking down the hall.

  “Where are we going?” said Trix.

  Jenny turned. “I came here to find my friend Zeke, and I’m not leaving here without him. And you can motherfucking bet that I’m going to kill as many as I can along the way. We’re going upstairs, bitches. Grab your guns.”

  “You’re going to need help,” said a voice behind her. Jenny spun to find Faron grinning at her.

  “You,” she said.

  “Come on, Jenny. How many times can I say I’m sorry?”

  “I should kill you again.”

  “You could,” he said. “But then who would help you take down the Pentagon?”

  Jenny looked past him to see the children, all armed to the teeth. And behind them, six others: Jenny recognized Rayanne, but the others, two men and a woman, Jenny recognized from her wheelchair visit to Faron; they’d been locked in rooms on his ward.

  “Who are they?” said Sarah.

  “I think we’re looking at what’s left of The Thirteen,” said Jenny.

  “Holy shit,” said Trix.

  “Still want to kill me?” said Faron.

  “Not just yet,” said Jenny. “But there’s time.”

  “That’s the spirit,” he said.

  THIRTY-NINE

  Faron led them down the hall and around the corner. Jenny noted the set of elevators set off to the side, but Faron veered left down a more narrow hall. The walls were painted cinderblocks here, dingy near the floor. There were doors on either side marked “Janitor” and “Private.” The children and others walked behind them with Faron at the front.

  “Where are you taking us?” said Jenny.

  “I want to show you something,” said Faron.

  “What for? We passed the elevators. We could just go up.”

  “Illumination,” said Faron.

  “Fucking drama,” snorted Trix.

  “Jenny, I’m hungry,” whispered Sarah.

  “Shhh, I know,” she said.

  Faron stopped in front of the dingy double doors marked “Private.” Faron pushed them open and stepped inside, turning around with his arms outstretched.

  “Behold,” he said, “illumination.”

  Jenny stepped into the room and looked around. It was glowing inside from dozens of tiny television screens. Jenny peered at one and recognized the surgical wing, bodies littering the floors. Faron pushed a button under the screen and it switched to an operating room. Jenny recognized the door that she had shoved askew. She looked at the next monitor and saw the room piled with security guards and rotters.

  “Is this where you have you been watching us?” said Jenny.

  “Oh, most definitely,” he said, his eyes shining. “And it has been glorious. You’ve really outdone yourself, Jenny. Beyond all my wildest dreams.”

  Jenny looked at him.

  “You said you waited for me. Why?”

  “We’re the same, you and me,” he said, leaning too close. “We want the same thing.”

  “What’s that?” said Jenny.

  “A cure,” he whispered gleefully.

  “A cure,” Jenny repeated. “Fuck you. I don’t believe we’re the cure anymore.”

  “Not us,” said Faron. “But we can make it happen.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Jenny.

  “The cure,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t give a shit if these breeders live or die. But between you and me, we’re going to need something to eat, am I right? At the rate they’re going, the Living are going to be extinct before we know it.”

  “You want to cure the world so you’ll have a snack later?” said Jenny.

  Faron shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “And what makes you think we can cure anyone?” said Jenny.

  “It’s already begun,” said Faron. “I’ve taken something that was very precious to Mercer. That’s why Warnken had me locked up. I took it and hid parts all over this fine nation.”

  “Parts of what?” said Jenny.

  “Come on, Hawkins,” said Faron. “Surely you’ve figured it out by now.”

  “You’re saying you have the cure,” said Jenny slowly.

  “I’m saying,” said Faron, “that they had the cure since the beginning. Mercer just refused to use it.”
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  “What did he just say?” said Trix, pushing her way into the room.

  “He has the cure,” said Jenny.

  “After that,” said Trix, her voice hard.

  “They’ve always had it,” said Faron. “Anna refused to release the virus until she knew they had a cure.”

  “How do you know all this?” said Jenny.

  Faron stepped across the room and looked at a monitor. “Research,” he said. He pressed a button several times, then gestured for Jenny to watch. Jenny looked at the screen and saw Sarah gutting her mother. Jenny stepped back.

  “It really was beautiful, what you three accomplished,” said Faron. Jenny looked past him and saw her father pleading to the camera, hands clasped in prayer.

  “Where else are the cameras?” said Jenny.

  “The bunker. A few other places.”

  “How did you get the…what? Antidote?”

  “There were thousands of vials,” he said. “And there was a formula. Rayanne can put it together when we run out. It was actually easy. The hardest part was to pretend to be normal. As you know, people like us tend to go off the deep end every once in a while.”

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” said Jenny.

  “I became a trusted advisor to Mercer. He once told me I was his only friend. Just like your friend Zeke is now.”

  “Zeke?” said Jenny.

  “Oh yeah. Poor bastard. That infection hasn’t been kind to him.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “No, he’s not okay,” said Faron. “He's a fucking goner.”

  “So you stole Mercer’s shit,” said Jenny. “And then you hid it.”

  “I took down an armored car full of the cure. Mercer was moving it, he told me all about it. He thought Warnken had found out where it was and he was transferring it from a military base in Galveston to somewhere he deemed safe. Somewhere in Arkansas, he said. We waited outside Galveston and took it. Then we transferred it into some vans, and took off cross-country,” said Faron. “This was before we met. I started handing it out from town to town. Like candy. I just told them it was medicine. No one turns down medicine when they find it. Whether they’re sick or not. The formula itself I split up and hid in different parts of the country. It’s safe with friends.”