Inhuman (39 page)

My eyes felt dry and hot as I nodded. Everson seemed as if he was about to say something but then he bowed his head and laced his fingers behind his neck. “How?”

I told him all that had happened since we’d separated outside the compound fence — what the queen did to Cosmo’s mother and how the handlers beat the little boy to death. I had to pause, breathe deep, and swallow. The memory of him clutching the queen’s cape, crying and moaning “Mom,” cracked my heart all over again. I took satisfaction in describing how Rafe had knifed Omar — vicious satisfaction — which was lessened only by the wish that it had been me.

Everson glanced up as if surprised by my tone. “Where’s Rafe now?”

“Chorda had him taken to the zoo. We have to get him out.”

“The handlers’ barracks are there in the zoo. And the hyboars have free run of the place.” He met my gaze. “We’ll get Rafe, but we don’t have a lot of time. I used a ham radio in the barracks to call Arsenal. The captain agreed to send a ’copter to pick us up from the Cultural Center roof at nine. They’ll drop a ladder, but they can’t land.”

I nodded, knowing the law.

He paused. “Did Chorda bite him?”

“No.”

“Okay.” He inhaled deeply. “We need to get the key from one of the handlers.” Grasping the pen wall, he hauled himself up.

I rose as well and the ache in my calf surged, threatening to swallow me whole. We weren’t exactly in great shape to run three miles to the zoo and back. “I already did.” I lifted the key from my neckline to show him. “Cosmo said that Omar had the master key, so I took it off the body in the —” I clapped a hand to my mouth. How could I have forgotten? “Follow me!”

I led Everson through the sewing room and into the walk-in freezer. Ignoring Omar’s frozen corpse, I crossed to the back shelf and flipped open the metal box.

Everson grew very still. “Are those what I think?”

“I don’t know how many different strains are in here or which ones, but there’s more than eighteen. There should be some that you don’t have.”

“You’re amazing.” He swept me up in a hug and again brought his mouth to mine. His lips were as warm and as sweetly demanding as before, but the kiss wasn’t nearly long enough. When he set me back on my feet, I suppressed a sigh.

“I can’t believe you found blood samples,” he said in a hushed voice. “In vials. Labeled.” He touched the box as I refastened the glass lid. “You’ve saved us years of searching.”

I set the box back on the shelf. “We’ll leave it here until we get back from the zoo.” When Everson didn’t reply, I looked up. “What?”

He drew in a ragged breath. “I can’t go to the zoo.”

“But — you said you’d help me get Rafe.”

“That was before you showed me this.” He gestured to the metal box with a swipe of his hand. “If we don’t make it back, no one will know these samples are here. I can’t take the risk. I have to get them to Dr. Solis. Lane, I’m sorry. I —”

“You said you would!”

“And I meant it. I want to help Rafe. I do. But this is bigger than me and what I want. A cure would save everyone.”

My anger ignited like a combustible gas. “Your captain will be so proud. You’ve put the population first — stopped seeing the people. People like Rafe.”

The muscles in Everson’s jaw shifted and clenched. “If that’s what it takes to end a plague, then yes, fine, I’ll act like a guard.”

“Act? Don’t kid yourself. You’re a guard through and through. That’s why you can’t break the rules. Why you needed me to do it for you. Because, no matter what you think, you still do what you’re told.”

I’d taken him from mad to furious — his eyes blazed with it — but I didn’t care. He’d hide it under his guard face soon enough. Not that I’d be here to see it. I shoved open the freezer door and stepped out.

Everson followed me into the corridor and caught my wrist. “You’ll never make it to the zoo and back. There are handlers and hyena-things at every gate.”

“Let. Go.” I tugged on my wrist but he held tight.

“Lane, you can’t go out there alone! It’s too —”

I ducked and sank my teeth into his hand. Hard. He gasped and his fingers sprang open. Without so much as a glance at him, I bolted.

I took the stairs two at a time, heaved open a slanted storm door, and crept into the castle yard. Two handlers stood guard by the gate. I slipped through the shadows to the lionesses’ enclosure, which was lit by a single overhead light. In the center of the cage, Mahari lounged on a couch piled with furs, her golden eyes hard and bright as she watched me make my way to a dark corner by the bramble fence. The others strolled forward, curious as well. I stopped within an inch of the cage, feeling as wild as the lionesses within.

Deepnita arched a brow at my maid’s dress and leather collar. “You’ve come down in the world.” Her voice was low and gravelly, much like a rock star’s after a concert. “Did the queen decide you were too much of a threat?”

“The queen is dead.”

Mahari stretched, arching her back like a cat. “Oh my, the girl’s gone wild.” She sauntered to the edge of the cage.

“Chorda killed her, not me.” I unbuckled the leather collar around my neck and threw it aside.

Mahari’s fangs flashed in the shadows — a smile. “And you were just beginning to impress me.”

“I came to make a deal.”

She stepped so close I could see the golden starbursts in her irises. “I’m all ears, little human.”

“The handlers took Rafe to the zoo and I need to get him out.”

Charmaine tossed back her curls with a chuff. “Good luck.”

“They’ll put him in the cage outside the feral house,” Deepnita informed me. “Smack in the middle of the zoo.”

“Which will be crawling with handlers,” Neve added and dropped into a leather chair.

“Or they might put him in the small cage,” Mahari said conversationally.

“The small cage?” I asked.

“It’s not a real cage. It’s the space between two exhibits in the feral house.” Her voice turned so rough it was almost a growl. “One used to house a man infected with lion, the other, baboon. The space is so narrow that if you move more than a foot in either direction, one of the ferals will snag you and pull you to him.”

“Is that what happened to you?” I swept my gaze over them. Had they all chosen to be bitten by a lion-feral over a baboon? That would have been my choice too.

“Infection is grounds for an instant divorce, by the king’s law,” Charmaine explained. “That way he can marry his next wife, the very next day.”

“Whether she wants to or not,” Mahari added dryly.

“If Rafe stays very still in the center of the small cage, then the ferals can’t reach him, right?”

Mahari lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “The one who infected us was killed in an initiation test last year. I don’t know what lives in that cage now. Maybe something with a longer reach.”

I began to feel frantic. “I have to get Rafe out of there.”

Deepnita snorted. “Even if you could get past the handlers, the cages are locked.”

“And one key opens them all, right? The same key that unlocks your cage.” I stepped back before unclipping the key from my maid’s dress. Good thing, because when I held it up, three of the queens slammed against the wire fence. The cross-hatching wasn’t wide enough for them to push their hands through, but their fingers strained for me with their claws extended. The hair on my arms stood on end, but I didn’t back up any farther.

They yowled and hissed until a voice cut through their inhuman sounds. “Get back!” Mahari ordered, hauling one away from the fence and then flinging the other two aside as if they were sock puppets. No wonder she was the head lioness. For all her voluptuous beauty, she was stronger than three jumpsuits on steroids. She licked her palms and ran her hands quickly over her dark hair, smoothing it down. “So, about this deal … ?”

I knew that they weren’t as tame as they looked and that if I let them out, there would be no way to re-cage them. I also knew that once released they’d unleash their fury on the handlers who’d tormented them. Mahari had made that very clear this afternoon. And I was counting on it. “I let you out and in return you get me past the gate.” I pointed at the briar fence where the two handlers stood. “And then create a distraction at the zoo while I free Rafe.”

Mahari’s eyes smoldered and a smile crept over her lips. “Little human, you have a deal.”

She looked so savage, I wondered if she’d rip out my throat once she was free. Maybe. But I was willing to take that chance because if anyone could clear my path to Rafe, it was the lionesses. I unlocked the cage and threw open the door. The women stalked out, grinning and stretching. Their muscles rippled under their dusting of gold fur.

I pulled my dial out of my maid’s dress and pressed record. If I died tonight at least there would be a record of what happened, though I doubted anyone would ever see it.

“All right, girls,” Mahari purred, tipping her head toward the handlers by the gate. “Let’s get feral.”

The other queens extended their claws and roared in answer. The sound sent an electric current down my spine. The handlers whipped around to peer at the enclosure. In the split second it took them to realize that the queens were free, the lion-women sprinted for them with long effortless strides. Deepnita flung one into the air. He landed on the coiled barbed wire on top of the fence, where he thrashed and screamed. Neve took the other down, laughing as she straddled his back, her blond hair spilling around his head. “He’s a big one.”

“Play later,” Mahari ordered. She vaulted over Neve and threw open the gate.

With a quick twist, Neve snapped the handler’s neck. She rose and dashed after the others. I ran after them as well, but they were too fast for me. I raced onto the street and nearly fell over when two figures stepped from the shadows. Dromo and the Pekingese-maid named Penny stared after the bounding lionesses.

“The queens …” Dromo gasped and dropped the shovel he’d been holding. “What have you done?”

“I set them free.” I lifted my chin, daring him to berate me, but then I noticed the mound of freshly turned dirt behind them. My breath caught. “Cosmo?” When Dromo nodded, I flinched and very nearly bolted. But I wouldn’t let myself run away from Cosmo. Couldn’t. I dragged my wet palms down my dress and ventured closer to the small unmarked grave.

“The queens will … They’ll” — Penny dropped her voice to a whisper — “go after the handlers. They’ll kill them all.”

“They’ll try,” Dromo agreed. “We have to tell the others.”

I sank beside the mound of fresh earth, pulled down by the heaviness in my chest, and began patting the loose soil into place.

“With the queens free, we have a chance,” Dromo went on, his voice rising. “More than a chance.” I glanced back to see him unbuckle his collar. “We serve no more,” he declared and threw his collar to the ground. Penny dropped hers too, though with less fire.

I gave the dirt one last pat. “I’m so glad I got to know you,” I whispered to the small mound. “Good-bye, Cosmo.”

I rose and cut past the others. “Good luck.”

“Where are you going?” Dromo asked.

“The zoo.”

“You can’t,” he sputtered. “The queens have gone to free their followers — friends and family who were rounded up and infected after each divorce. No human will make it out of there alive.”

I stared at him, aghast. “Rafe!” I took off running for the bridge.

“Wait!” Dromo shouted, but I didn’t.

When I reached the bridge that crossed the Chicago River, I heard a clatter of wheels behind me. I turned to see the bull-man, Irving, trotting up with the rickshaw. “Dromo sent me,” he said. “I can get you there faster.”

“Thank you.” I scrambled onto the padded seat and felt no guilt about being hauled around by a manimal this time. Nor did I feel guilty to see that the queens had taken down the guards who patrolled the gate.

When we arrived at the south entrance to the zoo, Irv stopped the rickshaw by an iron fence. I climbed down, feeling shaky. “Will you wait for me?”

“You can’t go back to the castle.”

“I have to. A hovercopter is going to pick us up off the roof.”

He shook his immense head. “You’d never make it to the roof. Tonight we’re declaring war on the handlers. The smartest thing a human can do is stay away from the castle. Better yet, get out of Chicago for good.”

“But I have another friend who’s still in the castle.”

“Then you better pray for him.” Irv dropped the rickshaw poles and strode back toward the compound.

I slipped past the freestanding cages inside the entrance, which contained mongrels, each stranger than the last. I slunk up the brightly lit path toward the stone animal houses in the main part of the zoo. It was all so quiet. Maybe Mahari and the other lion-women had run off and not caused the distraction as promised or even freed their followers as Dromo had predicted.

I arrived at a row of cages along the outside wall of the primate house. Each enclosure contained at least one person, all in advanced states of mutation. Some growled as I hurried past, others hunkered down, moaning and rocking. Most were wild-eyed and foamy-mouthed — well into stage three of Ferae. A girl with spines down her back gnawed on her fist and licked off the blood. A dark figure hurtled out of the shadows of the next enclosure to mash his bumpy face against the steel wires. “Taaassste.” He grabbed for me. I whipped away, feeling hot claws drag over my back.