Sanctuary by Alan Janney

parents. Maybe siblings. He never got the chance to meet people like him, to have things explained to him.”
    “I know. But,” she consoled me, “don’t forget. The virus was going to kill him anyway, most likely. It almost always does. At least we tried.”
    “Walter said the Chemist would keep him alive,” I said. I was numb, just thinking out loud. “Should we have let Walter take the guy? Walter gave me the choice, for the kid to live with them, or for the kid to die. What if the Chemist really can save all their minds from insanity?”
    “The Chemist puts those kids in comas, wakes them up, brainwashes them, and then forces them to do terrible things,” Samantha said. She stood from her chair, stretched, and laid down spread-eagle on the living room carpet near the couch. “That cannot be an option we consider acceptable.”
    “Do you get depressed after action?”
    “Yes,” she said, and she blew a mouthful of air at the ceiling. “An ocean of adrenaline is filtering out of our system. It’s normal. Plus, I usually have to pee a lot.”
    “Tell me about the witch,” I said.
    “The what?”
    “That girl. The hot one,” I reminded her. “Blonde hair, blue eyes. She used magic on me, or something. Right?”
    “No,” she chuckled. “You’re just a dumb boy who does whatever pretty girls tell him to do.”
    “That’s not true! She…like…mind-controlled me.”
    “Carter warned me about the girl with blue eyes.”
    “What’d he say?”
    “Said a few decades ago there was an Infected girl in Europe who could make people do whatever she wanted. Her charms mostly worked on men. Carter spotted the blue-eyed girl in Compton, and guessed she had similar abilities.”
    “What do you mean, her charms?”
    “The disease heightens our natural assets. Right? For Puck, that’s his mind. For you, it’s your speed and strength. For her, it’s her beauty. The disease blessed her with better hair, a better figure, seductive voice, you get the idea. But. I think her real secret is that she produces pheromones. Normal bodies don’t do that.”
    “Pheromones. Like…mating pheromones?” That made a lot of sense. I felt like the girl had assaulted my entire sensorium by just saying ‘Please.’
    “Yes. Mating pheromones. That’s Carter’s theory. You saw her, you heard her, you smelled her, you sensed her, and so you wanted to mate with her.”
    “Stop smiling.”
    “I’m not!” But her face was contorted with suppressed laughter.
    “You are too,” I scowled. “It’s not my fault.”
    “I didn’t say it was! Science proves guys are idiots around a hot girl. And Blue Eyes is a hundred times more attractive than normal. You fell in love with her instantly.” She was still smiling.
    “Not just me. Everyone in that hallway did. So…shut up.”
    “Outlaw and Blue Eyes. Sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g,” she sang.
    “Mooooving on. I noticed she had locomotion trouble. She ran with a weird limp. Most Inflected move like the wind, but not her.”
    “Happens a lot. Infected have enlarged bones sometimes, like Carter’s fingers. I bet Blue Eyes has a misshapen pelvis.”
    “Gross.”
    She shrugged.
    I said, “I knocked her unconscious. Then you knocked Carla unconscious. It wasn’t hard. Shouldn’t the disease have given them reinforced skulls or something?”
    She tapped her head and said, “Tender brains, remember? All newbies have them. Except maybe Tank.”
    Dad walked in. He was wearing work khakis and a dark blue polo. A pistol and badge were clipped to his belt. He looked fit and alert.
    “You two are up early.”
    Samantha sat up and said, “Good morning, Richard.”
    I said, “Richard? Don’t call him Richard.”
    “We went for a run. Chase is getting fat.”
    Dad frowned at me. “What happened to you , kiddo?”
    “What? Oh,” I said, looking down at my destroyed vest. I should have removed it. Hopefully Dad wouldn’t notice it was a ruined version of the Outlaw’s