Blood Bond

I was drifting in nothingness when I felt those pinpricks again, points of light popping on and off in the distance. I reached for them, and then I was there, floating amongst them.

They blinked in and out of existence. A point of light would appear beside me, expand with a gentle warmth, and then burst. The warmth felt familiar, as if I had touched—no, drawn upon it before…

Blood Essence.

These weren't just sparks; they were lives extinguishing, living beings dying!

Panic seized me. I reached for them, trying to grab hold, but they burst away just beyond my fingertips. One after another, they vanished into the nothingness.

Soon, only one was left, shining with a stubborn, dim light.

I took hold of it.

The world shifted around me. I was in a strange hallway, surrounded by white walls with an even grainy texture. I moved up to one and pushed. It gave, barely, but my hands—they were tiny, strange things, looking more like fleshy paws. And there was white fur all over me!

I scurried down the hallway to find a way out: dead end. I turned back, took a left turn, and stared down a long, narrow path toward an opening. I smelled food there, something rich, cheese, maybe? But alarm bells blared in the back of my mind. A memory warned that I'd be captured if I got the food. No, back out.

The right hand rule, I can follow that.

I hugged the right-side wall, running as fast as I could on all fours. After a few turns and a dead end that forced me to circle back, I finally found it: an exit!

But just as I closed in, a giant, latex-gloved hand descended from the sky and grabbed me. I squirmed and thrashed helplessly against its massive fingers.

In the distance, I saw the glint of light against a pair of giant mirrors.

"Remarkable. TX-1138 is still showing stable vitals. We actually have a survivor past the one-minute mark!" a voice boomed from above.

Giant, blurred figures in white were moving closer.

"Finally! I thought it'd never happen."

"Guess I lost the bet. Thought that guy's blood was going to kill everything."

"Get the dissection station ready," the first voice rumbled. "We need to thoroughly analyze this specimen!"

Dissection!

I twisted hard against the word, turning my body in a complete circle until my mouth found one of those latex fingers. I bit down. HARD.

"Ouch!" the giant roared.

I was shaken, tossed, and then flew through the air. The ground slammed into me, sending shockwaves of pain through my body. Get to cover. I scrambled, my paws spinning against the cold floor as I dashed past giant boxes toward a crack in a corner wall.

With one last, desperate gasp, I was through. And then the pain took me.

—

That was… the strangest dream I've had so far.

I pushed my eyes open and was staring at the pure white ceiling of the Blackwood facility. There was a tightness in my lower stomach. Panic washed over me. Did I bring the ache back from the other side? There's no way, right?!

I snatched my glasses and tossed them on. A sigh of relief escaped my lips when I saw a head with reddish-brown hair lying over my stomach. "Oh, it's just Annie."

She must have gotten into my room and fallen asleep on me. Honestly, it's kind of weird that everyone just lets her wander around as she pleases, especially into other people's rooms. She had slept in my room both nights since I've been here.

Though I suppose there wasn't any harm in it. Julia had told me that she didn't have any family after her parents were gone. That was probably why she pouted so hard when I had visitors.

I sat up slowly, taking care not to wake her or disturb her bear. There were more bare spots in her hair now. I suppose I should ask one of the nurses for a headband with a bow on it.

After a shower and breakfast at the cafeteria with Annie, we returned to my room to find Julia and Professor Herbert waiting for us.

"Leonard, I want to discuss some of our recent findings." She then looked down at Annie, who was still holding my hand. "Ah, good you're here, Annie. We'll need your input as well."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Annie smiled and waved at them both. "Okay, Julia! And hi, Professor Can't Be."

Herbert looked indignant. "That's not my name, young lady!"

Annie ignored him and hopped onto the bed. She patted the spot beside her, and I sat down.

Julia walked over to one of the glass walls and tapped it. A giant digital display materialized on its surface. I gawked; there was no projector, no hint of any electronics. Were all the glass walls here digital displays?!

"This data here shows your entire physical activities from yesterday. The results were quite impressive."

All thoughts of digital displays flew out the window. Cold sweat trickled down my back. "Wait… you were recording me? I thought you were just teaching me to dance."

"We are always recording you. You should already know that. I did enjoy teaching you, but this…" She pointed at several sharp, spiky lines on the display. "This is more important. You sustained close to eight hours of intense physical exercise without a single break. No normal person could sustain that, let alone someone just a day off chemo."

"But you did!"

"No normal person, Leonard." She tapped the display and another set of spiky lines showed up.

Professor Herbert spoke up. "Ah, this part is fascinating. This is your EEG from that period. With that level of extended activity, one would expect a significant drop-off due to cognitive fatigue. But here," he indicated a rising line, "yours actually increases, nearly doubling at these points."

Julia nodded. "Those are the times I introduced faster-paced dances. Your mind seems elastic enough to adapt even after prolonged stress. The level of activity is interesting as well. It almost seems like there are two of you in there."

"So, I've got a big brain? And has endurance… What's wrong with that?" I said, feeling defensive.

"It's just anomalous. Now, we noticed that your grades at school are exceptional, and you won awards for endurance competitions," Julia said as she tapped on the glass to show another display. "The question is, do you feel like your abilities have actually improved since undergoing induction treatment?"

"I'm not sure… If it actually was eight hours, I don't remember lasting that long. My cross-country meets are over in less than half an hour." I squinted at the display, which now showed race times from my entire running career. "Wait! Why do you have all that data?! That's mine."

Julia ignored my protest. "That's what we thought as well. Here's the issue, Leonard. Your body seems to handle Cytarabine quite well. In fact, it seems to be thriving on it."

"That's impossible. We haven't conducted enough tests for that conclusion," Professor Herbert interjected.

"In either case, what the treatment definitely has not been helping is your malignant cells." She tapped the screen, showing a graph where a line sloped steadily upwards. "They haven't dropped at all. This is why your doctor contacted us."

I felt myself rocking on the bed. I'm doomed, was the only thought I could form. "My cells are protecting the malignant ones. Isn't that what you said before?"

"It is a conjecture," Julia shrugged.

"Yes, and a fascinating one. We are trying to figure out ways around it, but your blood is… resistant. So the solution might have to be… extreme," Herbert said, wringing his hands together.

"He means it will be painful," Julia clarified, her tone flat. "The process will involve even more caustic chemicals. But first, Annie, can you tell me what you see when you look at Leonard?"

"You can't be serious!" Herbert cried out.

"She hasn't been wrong yet, Stanley." Julia nodded to Annie.

Annie's face lit up. "She's just Big Sister Leo! Her hair is fire, and her eyes are green fire! She's beautiful."

"You've mentioned that before," Julia said, looking at her touchpad. "We've checked testosterone, estrogen, and all physical characteristics. All male."

I felt utterly exposed, humiliated. I looked down at the black wristband. Did this thing track everything?

"You don't see boy Leonard at all, Annie?" Julia asked.

"I do! That's just where the roots are."

I felt a lump in my throat, but I had to know. "Annie, those roots… are they red?"

Annie smiled, nodding her head furiously. "Yes! They're red and thick, and they cross all over each other. And they…" She made a pulsing motion with her hands, expanding them outwards and pulling them back in. The sight of it made me want to throw up.

Julia's eyes narrowed. "Leonard. What do you know? I've seen that look on your face before."

"I… I don't know," I forced myself to admit. "I have visions sometimes… dreams of root-like things in my chest, coming out of my heart. And they, throb."

After a moment of silence, Professor Herbert couldn't seem to contain himself anymore. He stepped forward. "This is pointless! All the scans show nothing of the sort. He's physically normal inside."

Julia nodded, her focus returning to the little girl on the bed beside me. "Annie, you mentioned Leonard being scary. Who is he scarier than?"

"She's very scary," Annie whispered. "More than me, and… the man in the big box. Well, he doesn't know it yet, but he should be scared."

"The man in the big box?!" I cried out. "What is she talking about? What kind of place are you running here?!"

Julia ignored me, noting something on her touchpad. "Alright. How much longer does Leonard have?"

Annie repeated what she'd told me before. "Big Sister Leo lives forever. But the roots… not so long."

"How many days is 'not so long,' Annie?"

She just shrugged back at Julia. Professor Herbert threw his hands up in exasperation. "I can't believe we are using this child to make medical decisions."

Julia was singularly focused on Annie, their eyes locked. "Of the people in this wing, who does Leonard, or his roots, have more time than?"

Annie tilted her head, thinking. "He has more time than Aunty May, by many days. But only a few days more than Mr. Norman."

Julia smiled and patted Annie's head. "Good girl. Thank you, Annie. I'll get you that popsicle later."

"That's it? What does that even mean?" I asked, my head spinning.

"We estimate Julius Norman has approximately three months left," Julia stated calmly. "That means we need to move up the timeline for your new treatments. Drastically." She glanced at Professor Herbert, who seemed to shrink under her gaze, nodding as if taking a direct order.

My eyes drifted down to his hands.

The index finger of his right hand was wrapped in a bandage.