The Black Rider - J.B. Trepagnier Page 0,21
waste food, and I was hungry. I was always hungry even before things went to shit.
“What’s on the agenda for today?”
“I need a blood sample. You can either stay in the lab with me after that, or you can go with Aeron. Aeron gets twitchy in my lab and starts breaking things, so he’s banned. Aeron will go out and help scout for survivors we could possibly bring back and kill anything that causes trouble.”
Well, shit. I wanted to do both. I wanted to be there in the lab and ask Leif a million questions about how my blood caused all this and be there if he found a cure. I also wanted to be with Aeron finding as many people we could to bring to the protection of this city.
I’d been outside these walls on the way here. Some land was totally scorched, and people were desperate enough to eat Rage Heads. My father had the dregs of what was left of humanity trying to herd Rage Heads here. Life was meaningless to him. I was his daughter, and the only reason I was still alive was that he wanted to do terrible things with my blood.
I didn’t think this mysterious Doctor X was locked in his little lab with samples of my blood for the good of humanity. The rest of that lab may have thought they were protecting a girl in a coma who was immune and could give them a vaccine, but anyone who went by the name Doctor X was just up to no good. That was a comic book villain name. I felt terrible for some people at that lab that died who were there for moral reasons, but I really hoped a Rage Head ate Doctor X’s face right off.
I needed to find out what he was doing with my blood. I’d made my decision. Aeron and Leif didn’t get to hog that laptop with answers about my past on it.
“While Aeron is off killing things and Leif is playing with my blood, I want to go through what was on that flash drive.”
“You can be an honorary Horseman and help with research,” Leif said.
“Aeron? Did you find this Doctor X at the facility? Did a Rage Head get him?”
“How do you think I got his research? I found him in an underground bunker and killed him myself.”
I think I just fell for Aeron a little harder.
Chapter 14
L
eif’s lab was pretty high tech. I could understand why he initially set up shop here, and they defended this place when the war broke out. The lab was underground and secure. There were so many gadgets here. I couldn’t even imagine what most of them did.
“What was this secret underground lab meant for before the apocalypse?”
“Me. I was called here during the Cocoliztli epidemic. Another Antichrist, another engineered disease. At that point, it was becoming a pattern. It was usually Dice, or myself that was called first, and Aeron often followed. The Antichrist has traditionally been a little predictable, no matter when they are born. They usually start with disease or war.
“I decided it would be an excellent idea to have a lab and a base I could call home instead of floundering around trying to find one every time I got called. It doesn’t matter who is in power in Mexico. They know if shit goes down, this lab will be staffed to save them, and there’s a bank account to pay for upgrades. They don’t know we’re angels, but there’s a lot of superstition around this lab. It’s not just the money or the promise of help. They think it will bring evil luck not to do it just in case.”
“Well, technically, it is. We’d be fucked without this lab.”
“I’d make do, but I prefer it here. Do you mind if I take a blood sample?”
“I hate needles,” I said, holding out my arm.
“You’re covered in tattoos, and you regularly jam them in people’s skin to create art. How are you scared of needles?”
“Tattoos are different. Something beautiful comes out of that. Every time I get blood drawn, it just reminds me of those experiments when I was a kid.”
Leif jumped up and pulled me into an enormous hug.
“Sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. Do you want to do this later?”
“No, do it now. I can deal with it. We’re on a time table.”
I didn’t look, but there was something to be said for Leif’s bedside manner. I barely felt the