Book 3, Chapter 78 - The Unkindness of Ravens (2/2)

He’d been their guinea pig for most of the day already. Hellflower had only visited long enough to take a vial of blood, and then she was gone. The next time she appeared she carried a syringe filled with some mysterious liquid.

She jabbed the needle into Cloudhawk’s neck. The contents of the syringe were pumped into his veins.

The first thing Cloudhawk experienced was the pain ebbing away. It washed down like a tide, starting from his head and moving down. Good… good stuff. He was surprised and delighted that a single shot would have immediate effect. The woman really knew her stuff!

“You’re lucky. A few days later and I wouldn’t have been able to help you.” Hellflower was not as excited about his change in circumstance as Cloudhawk was. Her eyebrows were wrinkled tight as she thought. “Don’t celebrate yet. Reversing this problem won’t be so easy.”

Cloudhawk rolled his head from side to side. “I feel pretty good. Everything seems normal to me now.”

“The injection I gave you temporary paralyses the trespasser virus. They are only a tenth as active as normal for the time being, almost dormant.”

“In other words you weren’t able to kill it.”

“You can’t kill it.”

“How long will it be dormant like this?”

Hellflower shook her head and said, “Trespasser’s adaptability is unprecedented. Sooner rather than later it will find a way to neutralize the medication. I imagine it won’t be long. More importantly, the injection won’t work a second time.”

His affliction wasn’t so easily solved. What were they supposed to do, then?

Her response was frank. “I’ve been carefully studying Roste’s Trespasser virus over the last several years. I have even been able to replicate a portion of it, but so far I haven’t been able to crack its secret. Do you know why?”

“No. Why?”

“Because of the complexity of the virus itself. It is constantly mutating. Roste spent most of his life researching this biological creation, and used himself as the experiment subject. At least thirty years he spent cultivating Trespasser. Extrapolating the changes is very difficult given the data we have.”

Complicated was putting it mildly.

“What is important in your case is that Trespasser has begun to spread at an increased rate. It integrates with the host’s genetic material and so won’t be transferred through blood or fluids. In other words, if I injected myself with your blood Trespasser still wouldn’t take hold and spread. After using himself as a petri dish, Roste transplanted the virus he incubated into you. Since then it’s changed considerably, almost an entirely different strain at this point. After three years it’s had time to insert itself into much of your DNA, making it even more unique from when Roste infected you.”

Cloudhawk shook his head. “I don’t understand a goddamn thing you’re saying.”

Hellflower rolled her eyes at the Warden’s ignorance. She tried to explain as simply as she could. “In short, Trespasser is unstable. It will change with its host, so Trespasser is different inside you than it was inside the Academician. What I was able to extract in your blood is completely different from Roste’s information. Two completely different things.”

Hellflower motioned toward a microscope. “See for yourself.”

The equipment in Nucleus was far superior than what they had access to in Blackwater Base. For instance, the microscope was much clearer. After setting up a sample and arranging the lenses Cloudhawk could see what was going on. He remembered the first time he had a look at Trespasser. It was a sample from Roste, and aside from mutating his blood and cells he’d seen countless green structures swimming through the plasma. That was Trespasser.

He didn’t see any little green things this time.

In his body Trespasser had become more golden in color, and the virus didn’t flow freely like in Roste’s sample. Flecks of gold were inserted in his cells like tiny jewels and visibly changed their construction.

Cloudhawk sucked in a breath. “How did this happen?!”

“That’s a question only you can answer.” Hellflower regarded him with a look of slight suspicion. “I’m beginning to wonder if there’s something more fundamentally wrong with your body. Frankly, whether you’re even human.”

He didn’t know how to respond. That was a bullshit statement, wasn’t it? Was he human? Of course he was!

Cloudhawk thought about the various ways he was different from other people and had to admit to feeling bewildered. If he was normal than what would explain his strange talents? He didn’t have an answer.

Cloudhawk shook his head. “Whether I’m normal or not, I don’t want this nasty shit in my brain. You need to help me find a way to get rid of it.”

“There is a way, but we need time.”

It didn’t matter, so long as it stopped him from becoming a monster! Cloudhawk found himself unconsciously breathing a sigh of relief.

For the time being, his illness was under control. Whatever else needed to be done to cure himself, Cloudhawk was willing to do. Living was more important than anything else.

Cloudhawk was going to ask her more questions to see what the next steps were, when he was interrupted by an explosion. The doors were blown off their hinges!

Guards that had been posted outside flew through the door frame in pieces. Blackened chunks of flesh were a precursor to a crowd of people rushing in. The one who led them was tall, really tall, and dressed all in black. He wore a cloak that looked like metal feathers, and when he entered the room it was immediately filled with a cruel aura.

“It’s Raven!” The surprised shouts came from Hellflower’s assistants. One of the braver ones had the gall to stand in his path. “What do you think you’re doing? What gives you the right to come charging in here!”

He answered with the barrel of a gun. The scientist’s head opened like a grotesque flower and splattered brains everywhere.

Cloudhawk had no idea what was going on, but he didn’t need to be a genius to figure it out. These people were here to kill Hellflower. She was the only person here who could help him, so he didn’t want to see her life cut short before she did. He shouted her way. “Go! Hurry!”

Raven’s grim voice slithered from his throat. “No one’s going anywhere.”

[2]

1. Well fuck this guy. He better die in a particularly nasty way, and soon.

2. Did you know a group of ravens is called an ‘unkindness’? Seemed fitting.