The Vines by Shelley Nolden (ebook and pdf reader .TXT) 📕

at Finn. “They claim they only want blood samples, but I know Kristian would cut me open again if given a chance.” As she rose, she pulled Finn’s utility knife from her shoulder bag and extended its blade.

“Rollie, tell me where your tunnel is or I’ll”—she nicked her finger with the blade—“infect your son with all eight of my germs.”

“No!” Rollie shouted.

“Tell her,” Finn demanded, kicking to yank free the bolt anchoring the chain.

Kristian raised a sleek gun, and Cora ducked down against the brick wall.

“Empty that tranquilizer, now!” she screamed, taking a step back, closer to Finn.

Adrenaline and fury surging through his blood, Finn tried to lunge away from her, but already the chain contained no slack.

Rollie snatched the air gun from Kristian. “I’m removing the dart,” he called to Cora, and she popped her head up just high enough to watch.

“Store it with the others,” she yelled, “and throw me the case, or Finn dies now.”

Kristian pivoted away from Rollie, who sidestepped to close the gap. Their heads came together, and Finn could tell they were arguing.

A moment later, Kristian fiddled with the dart case and hurled it toward them.

It landed on the roof, near Cora, with a crack.

Her eyes gleaming, she snatched the container with her clean hand and shoved it into her messenger bag. “I’d been wanting a few of these,” she said, getting to her feet.

Her voice had held that same gleeful yet menacing tone as when she’d been wearing the World War II gas mask.

With the knife raised, she glanced at the pair below, then took a step toward Finn.

Behind her, the eastern sky, almost overtaken by the storm, had lightened to a midnight blue. Soon the sun would rise unseen.

“Dad, just tell her!” He tugged on the chain, but the eye hook remained lodged in the concrete.

“Ricksettia prowazekii!” she shouted. “You’ve got till I’ve finished naming the other seven. Then my blood meets his.”

Rollie rocked on his heels, and Kristian grabbed his arm. “We’re micrometers away from Pasteur’s dream of eradicating disease—Otto’s dream, too. If you give in to her, a hundred years of progress will be wasted. Otto wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Finn stared at his brother. Kristian couldn’t possibly have meant . . . yet his words had been crystal clear.

“Rubeola.” She dodged a tangle of bricks.

Rollie shook his head. “He wouldn’t have wanted me to sacrifice his great-grandson, either.”

“Sacrifice,” Kristian said. “That was his motto.”

“That’s enough,” Rollie snapped. “You may be in charge at the hospital, but here, you remember your place.”

“Kristian,” Finn yelled, “have you gone nuts?! What’s wrong with you? I’m your brother.”

“Half brother. But Sylvia’s just as much my mom as yours. We’re so close to her cure.”

“Variola major!” Cora shouted, seemingly oblivious to the light rain spattering her forehead and chest.

To maximize the distance between himself and any air that escaped her mask, Finn dropped to the ground. Wildly, he searched for an errant brick.

“Zagazig 501.”

Finn grimaced.

Cora smirked as blood ran in a rivulet down her finger and smattered on the ground. “What, you haven’t heard of that one? It’s a deadly strain of Rift Valley fever. The mosquitos here seem to love my blood, which I why I insisted you put on my bug spray.” She smiled coldly. “Though surely the rain’s washed it all off by now.”

“Stop,” a new, higher-pitched voice shrieked from the path.

Lily. Finn sprung to his feet. Although the cloud cover had lightened to an angry gray, the rain still obscured his view. Shielding his eyes, he spotted her yellow life vest.

“You need to leave!” Finn shouted down to her. “Now!”

“No.”

He spun eastward. “Kristian, get her out of here.”

“I’m on it!” Kristian shouted, rushing to her.

Finn couldn’t hear their dialogue over the rising wind, though Lily’s excited gesticulations suggested it was a heated exchange.

Lightning tore across the sky, and Finn worried that the bright flashes would trigger a seizure.

Kristian put his arm around her, and she wriggled free.

Rollie joined them, and his hand motions suggested he was attempting to placate her.

“Trust you?” Lily shrieked. “Look at you! In that suit, with your son chained to the roof!” She backed away from Rollie. “She’s about to murder my boyfriend. I’m not leaving without him.”

Cora whistled. “Quite the spitfire, isn’t she?”

Unsuccessfully, Finn tried to stifle a smile.

“Why didn’t you call me for help?” Kristian touched Lily’s shoulder.

“She warned me about you Gettler men. She may be a crazy bitch, but there’s usually some truth in crazy.” Backing away from him, she called up to Cora, “Let my boyfriend go.” The expression in her eyes as unyielding as rock, Cora strode to the northern end of the roof and waved the utility knife. “His family has maimed and tortured me, and they will ruin you, too. Leave him while you still can.”

“No.” Lily’s right shoulder jerked.

“Then you’re weak,” Cora spat.

“Strength is what got me here. He’s my soulmate, and I won’t leave without him.”

Longing to run to her, Finn turned toward the locked stairwell door.

“Your céadsearc,” Cora murmured, standing stock still. “Who am I to get in the way of such love?”

Afraid to break the spell that had transcended her anger, he stayed silent.

She twisted the handle of his utility knife, and the metal blade sparked with light. “‘Sentimental value.’ That’s what you said. She gave you this, didn’t she?”

Finn sensed the loneliness that had gripped her body. A walking biological weapon, she would never experience such a bond.

He nodded.

“Kind of like with the scalpel you took from me. So now we’re even,” she said, wiping the blade clean, then folding it closed and dropping it into her scalpel pouch. From her shoulder bag she pulled a strip of cloth and bandaged her finger.

“A fair trade,” he said, trembling with relief that she’d decided not to use it on him.

Suddenly, sheets of rain pummeled them.

Finn felt as if he were suspended ten feet below the surface. He ripped off his mask.

To block the deluge, he put his arms over his head. Still, he