Life Ch. 06

"Where are you going?" She asked from the couch.

"The car, I forgot something." He said and then left. He got to the car and sat in it for about 5 minutes. Flashes of a life he could have had, or would have had if this thing wasn't killing him, began going before his mind's eye. He let out another scream, turned on the car with a roar and burned out of the garage.

*****

When he didn't come back up, Samantha became concerned. She thought about what he had told her. He had bitten her. She would die too if the same thing was going to kill him. She didn't want either of them to die. She paced back and forth through the apartment. She was unconsciously rubbing at her stomach as eyes went back and forth while her mind thought about what was happening. She was worried more about Rashad then herself at the moment. She looked to the clock several times before trying to call his phone. He didn't answer.

"You need to answer your phone. You should have been back by now, where are you?" She begs over his voicemail. She hung up the phone as her stomach begins to twist. Her hand goes to her mouth before she bolts into the bathroom and over the toilet. Her eyes squeezed shut as she became sick. She trembles on her hands and knees as she becomes sick once more before the dry heaves come. She flushes the toilet, washes her mouth out, and curls up into a ball on her bed and slips off to sleep.

*****

Rashad found a bar and went in. As he ordered his first pitcher he remembered something that Stephen had taught him. He mumbled the words that Stephen had taught him and then he watched as the beer began to bubble up. After a minute it calmed down. He began drinking from the pitcher and immediately felt the effects of the beer. He sat back and enjoyed the mind numbing effects. He didn't want to think about what was happening to him.

As he sat there, he saw a tall, burly, bald man walk in wearing a black leather jacket and jeans. Rashad rolled his eyes as Stephen walked up to his table and sat down. He smelled the beer and then looked at Rashad.

"You awoke the spirits of the beer?" He said, not really asking. Rashad just nodded his head as he poured himself another glass. 'Maybe enough of these and it will drown out Stephen.' Rashad thought. As Rashad was about to drink of the glass, Stephen reached out and stopped him. He grabbed the glass from Rashad's grip and put it back on the table. He signaled for the waitress to come by and get the pitcher and bring a cup of coffee.

"Hey, that's my beer. What are you doing here Stephen, other than ruining a good buzz?" Rashad asked as he sat back and waited for the coffee.

"Arthur wanted me to find you. We went by your house and watched as you left, you lost us at a light, We started to drive around and then saw your car out front. Arthur is in the car waiting for us. He has something he wants to discuss with you." Stephen said as the coffee showed up in a to-go cup. Rashad stood up, dropped some money for the check and grabbed his coffee and followed Stephen out the front entrance. Sitting in Stephen's black 2013 Audi Allroad was Arthur. Rashad got into the back.

"I'm glad that we found you. We may have found a way to save your life." Arthur said as Stephen got in the car, started it and headed toward Cabrera Inc.

"How?" Rashad asked.

"The Japanese branch of Cabrera has been experimenting in Nano-technology. Dr. Hitomi Kayo was running trials when we found out about your condition. We sent her a sample of your blood and all test have come back positive. Full regeneration of blood cells with no complications." Arthur said as he handed Rashad a stack of papers. Rashad looked them over and barely understood the lab results he was looking at. From what he could tell though, it was a viable solution.

"So what now?" Rashad asked as he was looking through the paperwork.

"We inject the nanites into you and hope for the best. I want you to know, we don't know what will happen with a live subject. It could cure you or kill you. It's your decision on what we do." Arthur said as they arrived at Cabrera. They parked in the garage and took the elevator down 4 levels. When they got out of the elevator, they were in a giant laboratory. There were people moving back and forth among huge machines. Arthur led the group to a man standing in the middle wearing a lab coat over jeans. He was tall, skinny and was wearing horn rimmed glasses. When he saw Arthur and the group coming up he made a few comments to a person he was talking to and then turned to Arthur.

"Rashad, this is Dr. Isaac Strong; he is Dr. Kayo's assistant and knows the ends and outs of the nanites. We had him flown in this morning and he will be the one administering the nanites and supervising the operation." Arthur said. Rashad nodded to the man who nodded back.

"So this is the new breed. You are the talk of the Japanese branch. A few of them were on the team that created the process that created you." Isaac said with a slight southern drawl.

"Do I have to do this now?" Rashad asked

"No. we can do it whenever you are ready." Arthur said.

"Good, when I do this, I want Samantha here with me." Rashad said. He had a look in his eye that prevented any argument.

"We don't normally allow humans in here, but..." Arthur started to say.

"She isn't human, anymore." Rashad said. He saw the shocked look on Arthur and Stephen's face. He explained about biting her, leaving out the sexual scenes that led to it. When he was done Arthur looked at Stephen and then back to Rashad.

"We will need to bring her in and see if she is starting to show any signs of the degeneration. Other than that, I have no problem with her being here. She will have to go away for the training, like you." Arthur said.

"No, she will stay with me. Stephen and I will train her here. I will not allow her to leave my side, ever again." Rashad said. As he talked, the trio could see his eyes were starting to pulsate between his normal color and red. Then they returned to normal. Arthur nodded his approval.

"Very well, Stephen will return you to your car. Let me know when you want the operation to start." Arthur said as he and Isaac turned and began discussing other issues. Stephen led Rashad back to the elevator and returned him to his car at the bar.

When Rashad got back to his car, it was 3:30 am. He picked his cell phone up and saw that he had voicemails waiting. He checked them and heard the sadness in Samantha's voice.