The Wastelands

Chapter 34

Frank ushered Blue into the kitchen, giving Casey the time to rest.

The girl was upset. He practically felt the anger pouring from her skin. It radiated from her pores like steam rising out of a sauna. He hadn't meant to upset her, but knew the secret would have come out eventually. He only hoped they had known each other longer before he needed to spill his guts about his role at the Hospital.

Blue moved faster than Frank and took a bottle of water from the refrigerator as well as a stick of deer jerky. She hadn't eaten in a while and figured she should snack on something. The small meal was no match for the discomfort in her mind as the monster leered to the man standing across the room.

The monster wanted to hate him. To rip him apart for what he helped create. For working with the very man who ruined her life. The agony she went through during the last injection nearly killed her. The doctors let her suffer for days in the small cell, writhing and sweating on the cot. She screamed until her voice was hoarse, gaining no response. Those were the moments she begged death to take her away. When her monster became stronger and helped her slip into a darkness until the pain faded.

"I want to hate you." Blue said, out of nowhere.

Frank passed her an apologetic stare and said, "Go ahead. I won't blame you for it."

She clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut tight to fight the impending twitch that was sure to come. The back of her neck burned for a brief moment and she took several deep breaths to put the fire out. As she calmed herself down, she leaned against the counter and slowly opened her eyes.

Frank, who had watched her brief moment of chaos, felt compelled to ask her a personal question, "What did he do to you?"

Without clarification, Blue knew exactly who "he" was. Her hands trembled as she took the time to respond.

"He made me regret volunteering to save my sister's life. That's all you need to know."

"Alright. I won't ask about it."

Blue took charge of the conversation and said, "Do you regret what you did for them?"

He lowered his eyes, afraid to say the wrong answer, "Mostly."

"Then why did you do it?"

"When they first brought me in, they told me I was helping them create something good for humanity. I spent eight years developing that serum with them, learning their lies as they used it to murder innocent people—apparently Dr. Pierce was the biggest liar of them all. I hated what we were doing to people and trusted Pierce enough to believe when he said he wanted to destroy it. He made me believe that we had and I watched him get shot three times in the chest because of it." Frank said. "I guess I should've stayed long enough to see that he was dead, but I bolted. I got out of there as quickly as I could. That was over ten years ago."

She nodded, "Then what don't you regret about being there?"

"Getting to find out that you were the outcome." He answered quickly.

She smirked and pushed past the horridness of his confession and said, "I am pretty amazing, aren't I?"

"You have no idea."

Blue watched him for a long moment. His worried eyes stared at the floor. She knew what he was thinking. It would be unnatural for a man in his position to think anything else.

"I don't hate you, Frank. I want to, but I can't." She said. "I mean, you eventually did the right thing and got out of there."

"You have every right to hate me or want to kill me. I'm part of what ruined your life."