Zocopalypse (Death Fields 1)
Page 5
“My best friend Liza.”
“And why are you talking about me?” He arranges the tubes of blood in the little holder. I notice each one has a name on it and some numbers. Alexandra R. #1348 +.
“What’s the number and plus sign for?”
He shrugs. I glare at him, waiting for an answer. This may be the longest conversation we’ve ever had. Wait until I tell Liza.
“You have to know something.”
He shrugs again but also says, “Whatever I know I can’t tell you. You know that. You signed the contract.”
“What contract?” I asked. “My dad totally suckered me into this experiment.”
The crease between his eyes deepens but he still doesn’t say anything. So I laid my cards on the table. “You know Dr. Ramsey is my dad, right? He’s basically your boss. Why don’t you just tell me what all these numbers and symbols stand for and we’ll meet again next week?”
“You could ask your dad.”
Ah. Well, he’s right. I could. It would get me nowhere. Not just because it’s all top secrety-secret, but also because he’s been working 24/7 over the last month and the only time I see him is when he reminds me to come to these appointments or when I’m at these appointments.
“He’s really busy.”
LabGuy nodded. “He is.”
“Sooo….”
“I can’t tell you anything, Alexandra, but trust me when I say your dad is doing some impressive work and your contribution is very helpful.”
I eye him and crunch on the lollipop, breaking it with my teeth. “That’s all you’ve got?”
“That’s all.”
I toss the stick in the trash and mumble on the way out the door, “Whole lotta good you are.”
I heard him laugh on my way down the hall. Seriously, this whole thing was getting to be too much. I had things to do, like graduation and valedictorian speeches to (hopefully) prepare.
I sign out at the desk, checking the TV.
“No cannibals today,” the Josie points out. She seems a little disappointed.
“Nope, maybe the police finally shut that down.” The drug-crazed cannibals were big talk for a couple of weeks. But just when it seemed like the whole thing was escalating, it died down. No more attacks. No more news reports about police tasering people or neighbors biting off each other’s noses. Ugh. Gross.
“Hopefully. That whole thing was freaking me out a little.” She shudders and hands me the appointment card. “See you on Thursday.”
I stop and spin on my heel. “Thursday?”
“Yeah, you’ve got to come twice a week now.” She gives me a sympathetic smile. “Doctor’s orders.”
I narrow my eyes. “Which doctor?”
“Dr. Ramsey, of course.”
My father.
Chapter Seven
~Now~
I wait quietly at the door and listen before slowly opening the latch. The sound it makes is barely a whisper and I step outside. I take a deep breath, inhaling the fresh(er), non-animal air. I don’t know much about barns or livestock but seriously, whatever they kept in here smelled horrible.