Taken Over (The Ravening #2)(33)
Author: Erica Stevens

“No not like that, it’s different.” Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! My mind screamed over and over. I was trying not to shake, trying to remain calm, but it was taking every ounce of strength I had to do so. “The alien cells must have mixed with your blood and changed it somehow while they were in the fridge, that’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“But you believe there’s something different about me? That my cells are different?”

My voice was barely more than a whisper. “No Bethany I don’t believe that. They couldn’t be anywhere near as different as what I’m seeing. There are still many human characteristics visible, but the differences are too much, and too startling. Your DNA would have been changed at a genetic level; it would have rendered you something that was neither human, nor that creature. We would have noticed the differences; it’s simply not possible that we wouldn’t. That you didn’t.”

Of course it wasn’t possible; of course I was completely human. My mother and father were entirely human; Aiden and Abby were entirely human. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off; that I wasn’t entirely like him, like them. Not anymore anyway. I had noticed differences, not many, and I could explain all of them away by our strange new world and new existence. Well my new eating habits were a bit strange, but even that could be explained away. I had eaten little red meat before all of this had started, but lately it seemed to be all I wanted. And I liked it rare, or at least a lot rarer than I had ever liked it before. I shuddered at the thought of the still bleeding meat, but even as disgust rolled through me, my stomach rumbled in hungry expectation. However, even that could be explained away by anemia or some other vitamin that my body was lacking due to my increased exercise and lack of a consistent, and well balanced, food supply.

My better night vision was due to my increased night activity, my hearing seemed better but I attributed that to the fact that I used the sense more now in order to survive. I was more graceful and faster because I had to be, because I had been honed into more of an athlete and had been trained to fight and move more quietly through the world. I was more aware of my body now than I ever had been, that was the only reason I noticed all of these differences in me. Even as I thought it though, I had the niggling doubt that I was wrong, that I was lying to myself.

“You haven’t noticed anything have you Bethany?”

His gaze was keen, sharper than I like. I swallowed heavily as I shook my head. “No, nothing,” I lied though he didn’t know that. “Aiden and Abby are normal?” I managed to choke out wondering if perhaps their blood was abnormal too.

“Their blood’s normal, I checked it to see if maybe there was some strange genetic flaw in the three of you.”

“Am I…” I broke off as I nearly choked on the words. “Am I somehow one of those things? When that thing grabbed me on the beach, did it somehow do something to me that changed me?”

Bishop chuckled softly as he shook his head. “Not at all, that thing did not change you I assure you. There are others here, Darnell and Lisa Blake have been grabbed by those things and lived to tell the tale. Their blood is still perfectly fine, I made sure of it. I’m telling you it was just cross contamination Bethany.”

Though he said the words, I could tell that even he wasn’t completely convinced of them. He was troubled, that much was clear, but he was trying to hide it from me. We both knew that my blood had never been like anyone here to begin with. My stomach rolled over, I was going to be sick. But not in front of Bishop. I didn’t want him to know that there were a few doubts of my own rolling rapidly through my head. But they made no sense, they couldn’t.

I had to be like everyone else. Abby and Aiden were, my parents had been, and just what the hell else could I be? If that thing hadn’t changed the others, why would it change me? I had been hit twice by one of them, but these blood samples were from before that thing had gotten a hold of me in Plymouth. There had been no fresh blood samples taken since then. There was no answer to any of my questions; Bishop had to be right about it just being cross contamination.

Then why the hell was I suddenly terrified of giving Bishop a fresh sample of my blood?

Something primal and instinctual was clamoring against my insides. I studied Bishop intently, but couldn’t come up with any reason not to give him blood when I had given it so freely before. The antibiotics were keeping me safe, for now, but what would happen when I came off of them? What would happen if he took a fresh sample and discovered that there was something wrong with me?

Bishop touched my arm gently, looking to soothe me, but I found no comfort in his kind gesture. My hand trembled as I squeezed his hand for a brief moment. I couldn’t shake the nausea that twisted within my belly as I watched him walk away. I tried to convince myself that Bishop was right, that cross contamination was the culprit, but it wouldn’t sink in. There was something else, something savage clamoring inside of me, and begging to be heard.

I couldn’t help but feel that it was the voice of truth.

CHAPTER 11

I ran that night. I ran like I had never run before. I ran like the hounds of hell were on my heels. Ran like I could escape the clamoring terror thumping through my veins and pounding in my blood. If it was my blood anymore. I was afraid that this strange entity was inside me now, that it had somehow gotten inside and pumped and pulsed rapidly through my veins. My blood, this thing that I couldn’t escape from, this thing that was the very life of me, also felt like my enemy now.

It was inside of me, pushing me faster, driving me onward as it tore at my insides.

I wanted to shout my horror and terror to the world. Wanted to fall to my knees and scream until I couldn’t scream anymore. But that would only bring them, and if they came, they would kill me. If they came they would split me open, like they had that boy in the hospital, and poke around inside me to see if they could find what made me different too. I wondered if they would finally be able to discover what Bishop was so desperately seeking.

I stumbled, fell, but scrambled swiftly back to my feet. My knees ached from the impact, but I kept going, leaping and dodging and zigzagging around the obstacles in my way. My labored breathing was harsh in my ears, I fell again as exhaustion claimed my legs. I attempted to scramble back to my feet, but slipped in the lose leaves and plummeted back to the ground. I lay there, gasping, trying hard not to cry as my fingers dug into the earth.