Kat Falls - Inhuman

“Hey, buddy,” Rafe called from the corridor. “You want to keep the monkey?”

Cosmo glanced back at him. I too shot Rafe a look, although mine was annoyed. I’d thought he was going to let me handle it.

“You can,” Rafe went on, “but you have to do something for me.”

Cosmo sat up, clutching the stuffed monkey to his chest. “What?”

“Come here and I’ll tell you.”

Whatever Rafe had in mind, it had better not be mean. And he’d better not even think about reneging. I held out my arms to Cosmo, but he leapt off the bed without my help and scrambled into the corridor where Rafe stood waiting.

Curious, I picked up the book that Cosmo had been reading — The Runaway Bunny . I remembered that one. Every place the little bunny ran off to, his mother found a way to follow him. I wished Cosmo’s mother could follow him and keep him safe. I wished my father could find me as easily out in the world. I breathed for a moment, forcing down the sadness. Behind me, the cell door clanged shut.

“Very funny.” I dropped the book on the cot and turned to see Rafe pocket the key.

“George is all yours,” he told Cosmo.

“Jasper,” Cosmo corrected and then cast a worried glance back at me.

“What are you doing?” Everson demanded. “She said she wasn’t bitten.”

Rafe pinned his gaze on me. “People lie.”

Now I understood what those looks had been about. Rafe thought I might be infected.

“We’re short on time,” he said, sounding more serious than I thought he was capable of. “I know. But if you get fevered while we’re out in the zone, it’ll end bad. You’ll run so far that by the time you cool down, you’ll be completely lost.”

I hurried to the bars, making my calf throb. “I’m not hot. Feel my forehead.” I reached for his hand but he slid back, pulling Cosmo with him.

“It can take up to ten hours for the fever to show.”

I looked to Everson for help. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “He’s right. There’s no way to know if you’re infected this soon. Even a blood test couldn’t tell us.”

“But Chorda didn’t bite me. I swear. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

“You said he knocked you unconscious,” Rafe reminded me. “Maybe he chomped on you then.” He slid down the wall to sit cross-legged on the floor, clearly settling in for a long stretch of time.

I pressed my forehead to the cold metal bars. “I can’t waste ten hours stuck in here.”

“It’s been a while since we picked you up. We’ll round down to eight,” Rafe offered.

No , I wanted to yell, but it would probably come out sounding fevered. And what if Rafe was right? What if Chorda had bitten me while I was unconscious? No, that would have defeated his purpose. He wanted to eat the most purely human heart he could sink his fangs into. I tried explaining that to Rafe and Everson, but neither trusted Chorda to follow his own insane logic.

I couldn’t spend the next eight hours worrying if I had Ferae. I’d go crazy. And even if I came out of it okay, we’d never get to Chicago and back by Thursday morning. I had to get out of this cell now. I had to prove to them that I hadn’t been bitten. I lifted my arms. My skin was scratched from running through the hedge, and it was hard to tell what was a scab and what was just caked-on dirt, but nothing came close to looking like a tiger bite. I checked my stomach. Nothing. To see more, I’d need to take off my tank and pants, which were half shredded into ribbon. I opened my mouth to ask the guys to leave, but what would be the point? I couldn’t see every inch of my body and even if I had a mirror, Rafe would still doubt whatever I said.

“I’ll take off my clothes,” I said before I could think about how that would play out. “And you guys check for a bite mark.”

Well, I’d sure shocked the two of them. If I weren’t so scared and desperate, I would have laughed at their twin expressions of wide-eyed surprise. Cosmo, on the other hand, screwed up his face and scampered from the cellblock. Guess the idea of me naked was just too gross to stick around for. I pulled up my tank.

“Don’t,” Everson said hoarsely and I froze. “It won’t be enough. Even without a bite mark, you could still be infected. Chorda’s blood or saliva could have gotten in one of your cuts. We’re going to have to wait it out.”

“He’s right.” Rafe cast a sidelong look at Everson. “But you could have mentioned it after she took off her shirt.”

“It crossed my mind,” Everson admitted. He moved to stand within inches of the bars. “I’m sorry, Lane.”

I swallowed against the ache in my throat and looked away. I’d just condemned my dad to a death sentence because I’d been stupid. I’d fallen for Chorda’s act and gotten myself quarantined.

Rafe hefted a thin mattress out of the next cell and dropped it on the floor. “We’ll split up the time, so that one of us is always with her. I’ll take the first shift.”

Everson watched me as if worried I’d start throwing myself against the bars. “Are you hungry?”

I shook my head. I wouldn’t be able to eat until I knew for sure that I wasn’t infected. I slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

He crouched by the bars. “You’re probably fine.”

I waved him away. “Go get something to eat so we can take off the minute eight hours is up.”

“We’re not hitting the road at midnight.” Rafe pulled out a knife and started cleaning his nails. “Too many things hunt at night.”

I leaned my head back against the wall. I might as well forget trying to do the fetch. I’d never get back to the tunnel in time.

“You’ve done this before,” I said to Rafe after Everson headed back to the infirmary to refill his med kit. “You’ve locked someone up and waited to see if they were infected.”

He shrugged and strode off. Guess he didn’t want to talk about it. He was back a few minutes later with a sponge, soap, and a bowl of water. He pushed it through the opening at the bottom of the barred door. “It’s not that goop you like, but it’s better than a bucket of dirt.”

I was too thrilled over the sight of soap and water to care if he teased me — too desperate to scrub away every trace of Chorda.

“The stiff would turn around now, wouldn’t he?” Rafe asked and then gave an exaggerated sigh. “Of course, he would. I’m going to get some blankets.” He set off down the row of cells, giving me his back in his own way. Despite everything, I smiled. Gallant might not come naturally for Rafe, but he was trying and I appreciated it.

I retreated to a corner of the cell where I washed my face and limbs thoroughly. By the time I finished, Rafe had returned with an armful of blankets. He dropped them in front of my cell.

“There are clean clothes in the metal trunk,” he told me, without glancing my way.

I lifted the lid and found an assortment of prison-guard uniforms and bright orange jumpsuits. I opted for a uniform. Boring brown, but not too bad a fit. “You can turn around,” I told him. “Thank you,” I added, once he was facing me. “For everything. Well, except for locking me up.”

“You should stay here tomorrow and let me and Ev do the fetch.” Before I could protest, he went on. “If Chorda thinks your heart is the only one that’ll cure him, he’s not going to stop hunting you. And when a feral knows your scent, you’re easy prey.”

I wasn’t going to fight with him about this now, especially since I might be so fevered tomorrow that I wouldn’t be going anywhere. “The weird thing is,” I said, “Chorda’s not really feral. Not the way you’ve described it.”

Rafe shrugged. “Some manimals go from sane to feral in a heartbeat. Others turn little by little. Sounds like cat-chow is halfway there.”