into a vampire herself.
I am bombarded by image after image. The terror. The fighting. The camp in Utah where the resistance was. Sleeping curled up against the warmth of Carter’s chest. My friend McKenna, dying. Her cold hands handing me her baby. Being shot with a tranquilizer gun.
That’s why this feels familiar. Why I feel woozy and light-headed. Why I puked. Because I’m coming out of sedation. And it’s why I have so many patches missing from my memories. Why I’m so confused.
But I still don’t remember why my father is here.
We must have gone to the brain trust. We must have thought it was going to be safe, except . . .
No. It wasn’t a brain trust. It was Roberto’s ranch. My father didn’t work for some think tank. He worked for Roberto, the vampire who spread the Tick virus. As fuzzy as my brain is—still struggling to piece together the hours before I ended up here—I do know this: Roberto is evil. The enemy. And my father—
my father
—worked for him. My father helped bring down all of civilization.
I stumble back from him. “Roberto,” I gasp out. “You work for Roberto.”
“Yes,” he says simply, his eyes closing.
“You left us. You left Mom and Mel and me to go work for that monster!”
I know the way I’m saying it is wrong. That somehow I’m equating the leaving and the working for Roberto. As if the sins are equal, when they aren’t. And yet, they are related because as much as I’ve hated my father for leaving, I could forgive it when I thought he’d left to go try to save the world. Then it seemed almost noble. But this? This was monstrous in a way I could barely fathom.
His eyes flutter open weakly and he gazes at me with something almost like fondness. “You don’t understand.”
“You’re right. I don’t. I will never understand how you could be part of Roberto’s plans.”
“You will someday.” Weak fingers reach for my hand and clutch it. “Someday your own powers will blossom. You’ll become an
abductura
, then you’ll know what it’s like. Maybe you’ll even take my place with Roberto. You’ll see the brilliance of his vision.”
I wrench my hand from him. “I am not an
abductura
. That’s Mel. And she’s not one either now. She’s a vampire. And we would never follow in your footsteps.”
But the words stumble as they leave my mouth. Because there’s something there that set off warning bells. Something about Mel being a vampire. Because if she has the gene to become a vampire, that means . . .
And that’s when the big missing puzzle piece drops out of the sky and hits me square in the chest. The Tick virus.
I was stabbed in the foot with an arrow covered in the blood of a Tick.
I have the virus.
That’s why I was tranqed. To slow down the spread of the virus until Carter could get to the cure. But something must have gone horribly wrong. Because I’m not in some hospital on Roberto’s ranch. I’m in the middle of nowhere. With my father, who is wounded.
What the hell happened?
I don’t realize at first that I must have asked the question aloud, because my father’s eyes open again.
“The helicopter went down,” he chokes out.
“What helicopter?” I demand.
He frowns. “You don’t remember?”
Anger edges out my fear. “Why were we in a helicopter? Why was I even with you?”
“Your boyfriend . . .”
“Carter?”
“He thought we had the cure. Brought you to me. But the Ticks breached the fence. We left in a helicopter. Going to a Farm.”
But the helicopter went down.
I wait for another flash of memory, being on the ranch. Getting in the helicopter. Anything. But all I have is being in the white room. “Mel? Carter?” I ask.
“They were leaving together. To try to find the cure. They were supposed to meet us at the Farm.” His eyes roll back in his head for an instant and I think I’ve lost him again, but then he forces them open. He grabs my arm with surprising strength, forcing me to look at
I am bombarded by image after image. The terror. The fighting. The camp in Utah where the resistance was. Sleeping curled up against the warmth of Carter’s chest. My friend McKenna, dying. Her cold hands handing me her baby. Being shot with a tranquilizer gun.
That’s why this feels familiar. Why I feel woozy and light-headed. Why I puked. Because I’m coming out of sedation. And it’s why I have so many patches missing from my memories. Why I’m so confused.
But I still don’t remember why my father is here.
We must have gone to the brain trust. We must have thought it was going to be safe, except . . .
No. It wasn’t a brain trust. It was Roberto’s ranch. My father didn’t work for some think tank. He worked for Roberto, the vampire who spread the Tick virus. As fuzzy as my brain is—still struggling to piece together the hours before I ended up here—I do know this: Roberto is evil. The enemy. And my father—
my father
—worked for him. My father helped bring down all of civilization.
I stumble back from him. “Roberto,” I gasp out. “You work for Roberto.”
“Yes,” he says simply, his eyes closing.
“You left us. You left Mom and Mel and me to go work for that monster!”
I know the way I’m saying it is wrong. That somehow I’m equating the leaving and the working for Roberto. As if the sins are equal, when they aren’t. And yet, they are related because as much as I’ve hated my father for leaving, I could forgive it when I thought he’d left to go try to save the world. Then it seemed almost noble. But this? This was monstrous in a way I could barely fathom.
His eyes flutter open weakly and he gazes at me with something almost like fondness. “You don’t understand.”
“You’re right. I don’t. I will never understand how you could be part of Roberto’s plans.”
“You will someday.” Weak fingers reach for my hand and clutch it. “Someday your own powers will blossom. You’ll become an
abductura
, then you’ll know what it’s like. Maybe you’ll even take my place with Roberto. You’ll see the brilliance of his vision.”
I wrench my hand from him. “I am not an
abductura
. That’s Mel. And she’s not one either now. She’s a vampire. And we would never follow in your footsteps.”
But the words stumble as they leave my mouth. Because there’s something there that set off warning bells. Something about Mel being a vampire. Because if she has the gene to become a vampire, that means . . .
And that’s when the big missing puzzle piece drops out of the sky and hits me square in the chest. The Tick virus.
I was stabbed in the foot with an arrow covered in the blood of a Tick.
I have the virus.
That’s why I was tranqed. To slow down the spread of the virus until Carter could get to the cure. But something must have gone horribly wrong. Because I’m not in some hospital on Roberto’s ranch. I’m in the middle of nowhere. With my father, who is wounded.
What the hell happened?
I don’t realize at first that I must have asked the question aloud, because my father’s eyes open again.
“The helicopter went down,” he chokes out.
“What helicopter?” I demand.
He frowns. “You don’t remember?”
Anger edges out my fear. “Why were we in a helicopter? Why was I even with you?”
“Your boyfriend . . .”
“Carter?”
“He thought we had the cure. Brought you to me. But the Ticks breached the fence. We left in a helicopter. Going to a Farm.”
But the helicopter went down.
I wait for another flash of memory, being on the ranch. Getting in the helicopter. Anything. But all I have is being in the white room. “Mel? Carter?” I ask.
“They were leaving together. To try to find the cure. They were supposed to meet us at the Farm.” His eyes roll back in his head for an instant and I think I’ve lost him again, but then he forces them open. He grabs my arm with surprising strength, forcing me to look at
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