Page 19

After I tell my mom that I’m ready to talk, she hops off the bed to notify the other leaders.

Anna and Jeremy offer me sympathetic smiles as they walk to the other side of the room to stand next to the window while Amos and my mom chat quietly by the door.

When Norman enters, taking the chair across from my bed, I can feel the tension in the room thicken.

Now that I have a good look at Norman, he instantly reminds me of Ben from the TV show LOST .

Large nose and forehead with a small mouth.

A mouth that likely talks a lot.

He even wears small round glasses.

I cross my legs as I push myself further back on my hospital bed, bracing myself for all the questions they want to ask me.

No surprise Norman is the first to speak.

I don’t really hear his words as I’m still preoccupied with Amos, who is now leaning against a wall, staring at the floor.

Why is he ignoring me?

Why do I care so much?

I glance at my mom, who’s leaning against the same wall inches away from Amos.

She offers me an encouraging smile.

Then I remember Norman was talking to me, so I turn my attention back to him.

“Sorry, what was the question?”

Norman sighs as if I am nothing but a waste of time.

“Dr. Gabriel Tuwile. How did you become involved with him? And how can you survive a bite without turning?”

“A few months after the outbreak, my boyfriend and I were raiding our local ShopRite. We were captured and brought to Novus Seclorum,” I say.

“Novus Seclorum?” Anna asks, fidgeting with her long brown hair.

“That’s what Doctore and his cult followers call the bunker he rules over,” I explain.

“And what is this Novus Seclorum all about?” Jeremy asks as he leans against the wall of windows.

His dark brown skin glows from the sunlight pouring in, a brightness that’s reflected in his kind brown eyes.

I smile up at Jeremy, then laugh when his question registers in my brain.

“Just a bunch of Roman-obsessed muscle heads who think they’re saving the world.”

“Are they? Saving the world?” Anna asks.

“I don’t really know what they do apart from the experiments Doctore did on me and…the Colosseum.”

My mom holds back a sob and when I look at her, she’s barely holding it together.

Amos wraps an arm around her in comfort, still avoiding eye contact with me.

“What experiments?” Norman’s voice brings me back to him again.

“He was attempting to mutate my DNA. Not just me, others too. He said it was a cure.”

Norman gags a laugh at my answer, pushing his glasses up.

“A cure? For what? The virus he created?”

“What?” I ask.

Ignoring my question, Norman asks me another, wanting to know more about how I became immune.

“Can you tell us more about the treatment?”

“Treatment? He tortured me. And countless others.”

“Was he able to replicate his success? Are there more super soldiers like you?”

“Super soldiers? What?”

“Genetically modified soldiers. Difficult to kill because they can heal quickly. And not just heal, regenerate skin as if they were never wounded. Amos told me he saw you get ripped apart, yet here you are all intact. Even your wounds from yesterday are nearly gone.”

“Norman, stop!” my mom screams. “My daughter obviously was not in his inner circle and knows nothing about his experiments except for the torture she endured.”

Norman ignores my mom and looks right at Amos.

“This is why we should not have included her in the interrogation. If Cathy cannot handle herself, you need to escort her out.”

“No, Norman. If you cannot handle yourself, I will escort you out. We all know your history with Gabriel Tuwile. You are closely involved in all this too. Why don’t we let Jeremy and Anna ask Laurel some questions?” Amos stares with deadly aim, looking down at Norman.

That seems to put Norman in his place.

He rolls his neck, then falls against the back of the chair.

Even though he is done questioning me for now, I can’t help but repeat his words in my head.

Super soldier . Genetically modified soldiers .

I know I won’t get any more information on that subject with the current company, but I will try to ask my mom about it later.

Anna walks over to my bed and gently sits down on the edge.

In a honey-glazed voice, she asks, “Laurel, I’m so very sorry for what you’ve been through. Would you mind telling us what you remember about what Dr. Tuwile did to you?”

“Please call me Lori.” I look down at my hands, fingers twirling around each other as I find the courage to relive my worst memories at Novus Seclorum.

“I was hooked up to an IV for months. He kept me in a drug-induced coma during that time. I don’t have very many memories of what he did to me because I had very few lucid moments. But I remember the pain. Hot, searing pain. It felt like my veins were on fire.”

“How did you know it had been months?” Jeremy asks from the window.

“My…someone told me.”

“Who?” Norman can’t help himself, he needs all the answers.

“No one you need to worry about, Norman.” There’s a warning in my mom’s voice.

Not wanting him to urge an answer out of me, I continue my story.

“When I finally woke up, I was in a large room with five others. One by one, they turned. Not realizing I could survive a bite, I fought for my life. I put them all down, including a little girl.” My voice falters for a second and I look to my hands again.

“After I killed them all, I noticed a bite on my ankle. I thought I was going to turn. Instead, the bite vanished.”

Silence followed, lingering for so long I thought they all had left.

Anna places a hand on my knee, gently squeezing.

“That sounds horrifying, Lori. I’m so sorry we are making you relive all of this. But it is important that we know what your role was in this Novus Seclorum.”

That’s a simple enough answer.

“I was a test subject. Even when I was used for entertainment, I wasn’t just the unkillable gladiator. Doctore wanted to see what I could withstand. If I could heal from fatal wounds. I was allowed a room to myself in the Praetorian Guard’s quarters. I think that’s because it’s the safest area in the bunker. Doctore might have tested my body to inhumane limits, but he didn’t want his lab rat to get harmed by anyone else, especially if he wasn’t watching.”

“Are there more of you?” Norman stands up, walking to my bed but keeps his distance.

“I don’t know.” I shrug, avoiding eye contact.

I’m so tired all of a sudden.

All the healing my body has had to do on its own without the help from the drugs that Doctore would give me after every test and fight in the Colosseum drains my energy quickly.

“How can you not know? You were right there.” Norman takes a step closer to my bed.

Somehow I find the energy to look up at him, saying again, “I don’t know.”

Before Norman can fire another line of questions at me, Amos grabs him by the shoulder.

“Enough.”

“We are just getting started, Amos.”

“I said enough.”

“You are not the only one in charge here. I am not done questioning our prisoner.”

“Prisoner?” I ask shyly, my voice giving away the fear I thought I trapped deep inside me long ago.

Amos turns to me, finally looking me in the eyes.

“You are not a prisoner here, Lori. You will never be a prisoner again.”

Our eyes lock together for a moment that seems to go on forever.

His golden with my blue.

I see so much in those eyes, and maybe that’s why he was hiding them from me all this time.

Fear, sympathy, anger, curiosity.

I nod at him in understanding and my body relaxes from the relief of knowing that I haven’t been imprisoned again.

“But,” Norman shouts one last time.

“We are done, Norman.” Jeremy steps away from the window.

“I’m sure Lori will be available for us to question tomorrow.”

“She needs to rest,” Anna says, standing up from the bed.

Jeremy and Anna walk Norman out.

Before Amos turns to follow, he looks into my eyes one last time.

“Norman can be an ass sometimes, but he has good intentions. When you are ready, we can continue our conversation. There is much to unpack from what you’ve already told us. Thank you, Copperhead,” he adds with a smile.

“Yeah. It’s the least I could do,” I mumble.

Once the door closes behind Amos, the weight of tiredness presses against my body.

I collapse down on the bed and am barely still awake when I hear my mom say, “I love you, sweet girl.”