Killjoy (A Lesbian Story)

30: Max

The man in the room wasn't my father.

I could smell it. He smelled like one of them instead of the usual scent of tobacco and linen. There was recognition in his eyes when I first saw him. It was only behind his eyes. A soft spark.

We sat in the room together, Mom taking our blood. The entire time, Dad's eyes stayed on Grimes. His facial features were stone and his brow furrowed as his hand squeezed the arm of the chair. If Dad was alone in the room with him, Grimes would surely be on the floor with blood pooled around him.

That wasn't a horrible image to have in mind.

"What happened?" I asked Dad, "Before we came in."

"He tried to kill me!" Grimes exclaimed with a scoff, "Can you believe it?"

"Was I asking you?" I snapped, my eyes going to Grimes in a glare.

Looking back to my dad, I jumped softly to see him looking right at me. His eyes were milky with the black veins. Red rimmed his blue iris'. His head tilted softly as he studied me.

"Max..." His voice was a low rumbling, "My girl..."

"Dad," I took his free hand in mine, "it's me. Please, what happened? How are you awake?"

"I heard you." Dad said. "I heard you call for me. It was so loud it shook me awake."

Grimes laughed from the corner, "Told you it would come in handy."

My eyes cut to him again, but all he did was grin. This jackass really knew how to piss me off. Even if this thing did save people and wake up my dad, that's the only good it can do. I could cause serious harm if I wanted to.

"But he tried to kill you." I reminded Grimes, "How could he? I thought your plan was fool proof to keep you safe."

Grimes shrugged, leaning back in his chair, "Maybe because your DNA is similar to his and mine is so wildly different. I may have a few things to tweak when I get back to the lab. Wouldn't want to make that mistake again."

"You're not going back." Mom said as she walked back in.

Glaring at Grimes, she walked our way to study our bags of blood. Mine was a deep red. My father's was just pure black with a slight red tint to it. Worry wrinkled Mom's brow as her hands fiddled with the needle in Dad's arm. She noticed me watching and quickly smiled before pulling the needle out.

"I think this should be enough." Mom said, cleaning dads arm and putting a band aid on him. She did the same to me. "I need to go get this to the lab real quick. I'll be back soon. Call me if Steve gets back before I do."

Mom buzzed out of the room with the two blood bags.

I stood, my finger pressing on the band aid slightly as I walked to Amelia. Her breaths were heavy and sweat soaked her shirt. Her eyelids fluttered before they opened, looking to me. The whites of her eyes were pink. Black veins were crawling up her neck.

"Max." She breathed out. "I hear you. You're so loud."

"I'm sorry." I shook my head, resting my hand on her arm. "I need you to hold on, Amelia. We can help you."

"You have." Amelia nodded with a slight smile, "You've saved my ass so many times. You're doing it again."

Nodding, I laughed softly, "Exactly. Don't let it be a waste now."

Her eyes went to the ceiling as she swallowed hard. I reached to the side table and took the water bottle to pour some in her mouth. Amelia nodded as she gratefully swallowed.