“I’m guessing it’s your piss,” I replied. “Or maybe the Green Guard took up a collection. Maybe they got together and—”
Grapes’s punch took me by surprise and hurt like hell, but I flashed a bloody smile, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“This is a bottle of Cladoxpan,” Greene said, quietly. “What you tried to steal.”
I didn’t answer and just looked at him in silence. I had no idea where this was going.
“It is a blessing from the Lord. If you get infected with the poison of the Undead, it keeps you from losing your life. If you’re healthy and drink even just a little, it’s extremely toxic and you die in terrible pain. Two sides of the same coin.”
That bottle made me very uncomfortable. You think you’re ready to face death, but when the grim reaper comes, your whole being screams to live, if only for five more minutes.
“I wish I could redeem your soul, but you’re beyond salvation. So, first things first.”
With a trembling hand, Reverend Greene opened the bottle and poured a generous amount in a plastic cup. He placed it in the middle of the table, clasped his hands, and whispered a prayer. I clenched my jaws. My entire body tensed. If they tried to make me drink that toxic stuff, they’d have to break all my teeth.
The reverend ended his prayer with a loud “Amen,” rose from his chair, glass in hand, stared into my eyes, and then drank the serum down in one gulp.
I was stunned. I thought that crazy old man had decided to speed up his meeting with his Maker, but then, in a flash, I understood everything. The tremors in the reverend’s hands quieted. He recovered his natural skin tone and his veins shrank. The malevolent, mad fire in his eyes, veiled by a white film moments before, flared up.
I gasped. “You’re… infected! You have TSJ!”
“The lawyer’s no dummy, Reverend.” Grapes seemed to find it all very entertaining.
“Dr. Ballarini is a genius and a good person, but he goes absolutely crazy when he moves beyond the realm of science.” The reverend mopped his forehead. “He’s so obsessed with his work on Cladoxpan, he’s not aware of its interesting side effect.”
“Side effect?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“Cladoxpan slows down not only TSJ, but all the degeneration in the human body. Only our Lord knows why. Your hair doesn’t fall out, your skin doesn’t age, you don’t get wrinkles…”
“It makes you immortal?” I asked, shocked.
“Of course not, you stupid fool!” the reverend sputtered. “Only our Lord Jesus Christ can grant us eternal life. Even if you take Cladoxpan, you die a natural death.” He paused, overcome with emotion. “You just age slower. Tests on rats and humans prove that.” He leaned forward, his face glowing. “For the first time since the Flood, God has given us a way to achieve the longevity of the patriarchs! To live as long as Enoch, Lamech, and Methuselah! For a thousand years, if need be! It’s a gift from God to me, His Prophet! I willingly accepted getting infected! I take Cladoxpan so I can preach His word for centuries and lead humanity in the Second Renaissance!”
“You’re out of your mind, Greene.” I shook my head in disgust. “Completely out of your mind. Wait till the helots find out you’re just like them, except for the color of your skin. The faithful of Gulfport will turn their backs on you in disgust.”
“No helot lives more than two years,” the reverend said in a fever pitch. “The young and old are eliminated quickly, out of Christian charity. The rest don’t last long out on reconnaissance. If they do, they’re exterminated, like the wicked of Sodom. We save only those who have the mark of the Lamb, the Elohim: the pure, white Angels of God!”
I stared at Greene. His eyes were ablaze, the flame sweeping away his sanity and his soul. A powerful, dark force boiled inside him.
In the corner of the room, Mrs. Compton gasped, and then covered her mouth. Her face was deathly pale. She struggled to her feet and gazed wide-eyed at the Reverend. “Oh, God. This can’t be true. Reverend, tell me it isn’t true. You can’t be—”
Greene waved a tired hand at Grapes. He’d forgotten she was there. The Aryan calmly stood, drew his gun, and shot Mrs. Compton three times. The first bullet pierced her lung and propelled the woman’s bulk against the wall. The second and third shots entered her heart and eye. Mrs. Compton fell in a heap on the Persian rug. Blood streamed out of her wounds, staining the carpet with strange designs.
“That foolish woman should’ve known I don’t tolerate people making their own decisions,” Greene muttered. “I’ve put up with her for too long. Reverend this, Reverend that. She took her role too seriously. The Lord speaks through my mouth and His word is law. Everyone else is expendable.”
I was paralyzed with terror. My whole cocky demeanor evaporated with the first bullet out of Grapes’s gun.
“Mrs. Compton was beloved in Gulfport.” Grapes took the spent shells out of his gun and loaded them in a beat-up revolver he’d taken from a bag. He tossed the old gun on the floor next to the secretary’s body. “When people see the tape of you stealing the documents, they’ll think the old lady found out and tried to stop you. You stupid fuck, you shot her as you tried to escape. They’ll be screaming for your balls, my friend.”
Shit. I’m going to die. I was surprised at how clearly I was thinking in the last moments of my life. I felt intense longing for Prit, Lucia, and Lucullus. Suddenly I wished I’d spent more time with my little furry friend that morning. At least I won’t die as one of those shitty monsters. It’ll be fast. I wonder if it’ll hurt.
“OK, let’s dispense justice on this sinful rat.” Greene raised his Bible and read from a page he’d bookmarked. “‘Thus saith the Lord God; I will leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee and I will fill all the beasts of the whole earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains.’ Ezekiel 32, 4–5.” He closed the Bible with a thud. “God has spoken through me.”
“What should I do, Reverend?” Grapes asked, obsequious.
“Expel him from Gulfport, as God expelled Adam from Paradise. Abandon him in the middle of the wasteland, with no water, no food, no weapons. Let the Undead, wild animals, and thirst finish him off. Let his death be long, slow, and painful, as penance.”
“Greene, you bastard. You can fuck me over, but I’m glad I’m not one of your kind.” My voice trembled with rage and relief, knowing I wouldn’t die of a gunshot.
“Even in this you’re wrong, you fool.” The reverend came just inches from my face, made a noise in his throat, took aim, and spat a wad of yellow mucus into the wound on my forehead. I felt an overpowering sting as the reverend’s saliva flooded my wound.
“You are now one of those marked by the fire of the Lord.” He brushed my hair from my forehead almost tenderly. “Your death will take longer than you thought.”
He turned away and left the room as Grapes shouted for a couple of Aryan guards.
I was too shocked to resist. A single tear rolled down my cheek. Two years. I’d survived for two years. But TSJ had finally caught up with me. I was infected.
29
When Lucia thought back, she could only recall bits and pieces of what happened, a broken mosaic of details, like a movie missing some reels.
When the siren went off, the helots scattered. Only Alejandra stayed behind, holding Prit’s hand, staring down at him with concern.
“Where’s everyone going?” Prit asked through bruised lips.