Wings of the Walker - CoraLee June Page 0,127

Lackley laughed, then turned back to Maverick.

“Where is that trial serum you made earlier?” Emperor Lackley asked Maverick.

“I put it in the refrigerator. I haven’t run any tests or even checked for toxicity. You told me to come up with something, so I did, but I doubt it works.” Maverick’s words were rushed as he worriedly scanned the room.

“Let’s test it!” Lackley said with a smile while walking towards the fridge and pulling out a tray of vials.

“It has at least forty stages to go through before it’s even ready for animal trials!” Maverick yelled as emperorLackley prepared a needle and walked towards me.

“Please, please, it’s not ready. I’ve only had a day, don’t—" Maverick cried out until the guard punched him in the mouth.

“Watch his head, Number Three. We need that brain of his to work,” Lackley said. He tapped the tip of the needle and a bead of liquid came out.

“Oh, pl-please!” I begged while putting my arms up to block my face. The guard behind me gripped my waist against him, and I struggled to break free from his hold. It felt like I was back at Stonewell. Hopelessly fighting against those more powerful than myself.

“Stop whining, you fool,” emperorLackley said with a snarl before waltzing over to Josiah. He yanked Josiah’s arm out and stuck the neon blue liquid into his protruding vein.

Josiah didn’t fight emperorLackley. His eyes met mine in severe desperation. He looked at me like someone that understood his limited mortality and wanted to burn the image of me into the last pounding breaths of his existence.

“You knew when I caught you trying to escape with her that I had to punish you, Josiah,” emperorLackley said while sliding off his gloves and placing the now empty vial of liquid on a tray. “I simply can’t tolerate keeping people around that I don’t trust. It’s nothing personal, boy.”

“I know,” Josiah said softly. The injection spot where Lackley put the serum in was turning an odd shade of green and black, his veins a purple swirl of color against his shadowy skin.

“I love you,” Josiah whispered to me as the blackness of the serum spread to his neck.

“Oh Josiah,” I cried out in agony. The last hateful words I said to him on our call flickered through my mind as his legs collapsed from beneath him. “Jo!” I sobbed frantically while he started convulsing. His breathing became shallow, and I pulled against the guard holding me. Pain like I’ve never experienced before drummed beneath my skin, burning me out of existence. My cries of distress echoed throughout the Clinic as emperorLackley furrowed his brow.

Josiah continued to convulse and emperorLackley punched a code on his tablet, releasing Maverick from his chains. Maverick then rushed over to Josiah and turned him on his side, just as Josiah threw up. Foam formed at his mouth. After a few moments, Josiah stopped convulsing and his breathing evened out.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked in a whimper.

“I don’t know. I don’t even completely understand what he was injected with,” Maverick replied while balling his fist and staring at Lackley.

“Number Three, please send someone to clean this up,” he said while walking over towards Maverick. “That’s your first warning. The next serum you create is going in her,” emperorLackley said while pointing at me. “And once you’ve killed her, I’ll bring in each member of your little makeshift family one by one until you figure it out. Get it done. Get it done now,” he growled out while stepping over Josiah’s passed-out body.

The guard and emperorLackley left and locked us in the Clinic. I kneeled by Josiah as Maverick cleaned up his vomit. Swirls of black peeked through his skin, and occasionally his face squinted in pain.

“What are we going to do?” I sobbed. Everything hit me at once, and despite wanting to be strong and hold my emotions together, I couldn’t help but shake with fear and distress over all that had been revealed to me.

“You’ve all received the vaccine, haven’t you?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“All but Kemper. He’s immune,” Maverick said in a sad voice.

Everyone I knew and cared about was in danger.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I spent the next hour wiping Josiah’s brow. Sticky sweat rolled down his face, and he alternated between shivers and shouts of pain.

Maverick ran a multitude of tests on the central computer to see what within his trial serum was causing such a horrible reaction.

“I don’t even know where to begin looking, Ash,”