Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Nineteen

I am sleeping at the end of the couch where R is, making sure I am here when he needs me. I wake up a couple of times when he is coughing really loud and crawl over him to make sure that he is alright. Every time I touch his cheek to make sure his fever is down he opens his eyes and smiles saying, "It's okay, Matt. Don't worry." It is freaking me out a little because I don't look anything like Matt and why in the world is he delirious over him? This last time, I hover over him for a few moments, taking in his weak state with confusion and a little awe. R was always strong, calm, and honest but seeing him so weak and unable to even keep his ramblings from escaping...
"Matty..."
I turn my head at him as he opens his eyes and looks like he is in a daze. He smiles a little at me and reaches up to touch my face.
"Matt, it'll be alright."
"Are you sure?" I answer, trying to get a conversation out of him to see what's up.
"I'll be okay. You don't have to worry about me."
The phone rings and I hiss at it but get up and answer it.
"Hello."
"Nalak, it's me, Apelles."
"Oh, hi."
"How's R?"
"He's... delirious still."
"How much blood did Lexara take."
"Only one vial, I promise... Mr. A, why does R keep talking about Matt?"
"What do you mean?"
"He keeps telling me 'it'll be okay, Matt' when he opens his eyes."
Mr. A is silent for a while and I thought he hung up.
"He must be thinking about when he got his surgery."
"Surgery?"
A sighs. "R's first swell was his last. His uterus was already fucked up to high heaven but we didn't know until he had his swell. When his body tried to make a baby, it rejected and caused problems. He was in a lot of pain. R and Matt used to be really close and R was actually the only one of the kids who knew that Matt was a flux."
"What do you mean? He was denying it up and down when I told him."
"That's because he forgot."
"What do you mean?"
"R found out about Matt and they both knew that Matt was a flux. They were very, very close. When R went in for his surgery, there was a chance that he could forget what happened due to blood loss and how long he was under. We thought he'd be alright. Matt trusted him with everything and he was the one person besides me and his mother who knew his secret. Matt was really scared that he would be alone with that secret and so R told him that everything was going to be alright."
"But it wasn't."
"Exactly. R almost died on the operating table and he lost a lot of blood. He was under for far too long and he forgot about Matt. The doctors said that sometimes when something like this happens and someone is thinking about a person too much, they can forget them."
"He forgot Matt? As in altogether forgot about him?"
"Yeah. He forgot who he was and it hurt Matt really bad."
"So... Matt already knew he was a chimera?"
"Yes, he's known for a while. When R found out again, that's why Matt acted the way he did. He knew R didn't remember and had to act like he'd never heard of it himself."
"Then why did Ilaen act the way she did? She was pretty cold."
"There are things that should not be remembered once forgotten."
I make a face at that. "Mr. Fountain, I have no business telling you what to do but... if you would just tell your family what's going on, then wouldn't it make things so much easier? Why all the secrecy?"
"I understand your concern for us and I appreciate it but there are some things that can't be said. They must stay a secret. It's for the good of my family as well as the security of them."
"I understand." R moans and looks like he begins to cry. "R's crying... What can I do for him, Mr. A? I feel useless and he's always been so strong... I mean, he was so calm when my parents died and all I did was try and kill myself. What can I do for him?"
"Just be there, Nalak. That's all you can do. Keep him comfortable and keep him hydrated. Lexara should be coming by with some medicine for him. I'm trusting you to keep him safe."
"Yeah... I'll keep him safe."
"And if he calls you Matt again, just tell him you forgive him. That's all you have to say."
"Okay. Thanks, Mr. A."
"Sure thing."
He hangs up and I walk over to R, who has scrunched into a ball and is crying. I touch his shoulder and he looks up at me.
"Nalak?" he sniffles.
"Yeah it's me."
"I'm cold."
I smile a little and tuck the blanket around him.
"That's because you got out of your blanket, stupid."
"No... from the inside."
"Well, you're hot on the outside so that is what counts. Do you want some water?"
"Yeah."
I walk to the kitchen and get a glass to fill up with water for him. I walk back over and hold the glass to his lips as he drinks it slowly. I put my hand to his head and he smiles a little.
"You feel nice."
"Thank you."
"Do you still want to eat me?"
I chuckle a little. "Not right now. You smell gross because you're sick... I need to tell you something though."
R looks at me in anticipation.
"I... I wanted your blood. Dr. White was drawing it to make sure you were okay and to get medication and I... I asked her for some. To put in a vial. I'm so sorry, R... I... I feel like a failure."
R smiles just a little. "But you didn't get any, right?" I shake my head. "Then you're not a failure... I thought you were a meat-albino anyway?"
"I am but Dr. White said all albinos are attracted to RH- blood. I wasn't going to eat it, just smell it, but she said that it can cause me to become a blood-albino and not only that, I'd be a blood-and-meat-albino. I didn't want that so..."
R looks like he's about to go back into LaLa Land and I sigh, smiling at him.
"Do you even know what I'm talking about?"
"Yeah... I'm just tired so it's not registering that well."
"Go to sleep then. I'll turn the air up though."
He smiles a little and falls straight to sleep.

****************

I decide later, when I see that R was not just deliriously talking, that he really was cold. I pick him up and take him to the bedroom so he can get under the covers. He moves his arms and wraps them around my neck, so I adjust him and feel like I'm carrying a child.
"You smell different, Nalak." He mumbles.
"What do you mean? You're the one that stinks."
"You're not the same..." he mumbles again as his head lolls on my shoulder.
I make a face at that but put him in the bed and wrap him in the covers. He smiles at the warmth and I yawn, walking back to the couch. I go to the other end of it and flop down on it, feeling exhausted for some weird reason.

*****************

I'm with R and we're walking along when he suddenly doubles over. I watch him and he lifts up, his face rotting away and an eyeball hanging from its socket. He yells at me and it causes his jaw to dislocate, making it stay open. He doesn't care though and reaches out to me, making gargling noises. I back up, looking around and I realize I'm trying to protect my stomach. I look down and find that I'm pregnant. I hold my stomach with both arms cradling them as R keeps coming closer.
"I need it." He gargles, spit and blood falling out of his dangling jaw. "I need it to live..."
"W-what do you need?"
"That creature inside of you. It's alive but dead... Just like me... I need to eat it for new life... Help me, Nalak. Help me..."
"No! Ramey stop! STOP!"

********************
I wake up and look around, hearing someone pounding at the door. I shake my head and get up, going to the door to look in the peephole. Dr. White is standing out there and I open the door.
"Dr. White..."
"Hey, are you alright?"
"I had a really bad nightmare." I say, rubbing my eyes. "Is that R's medicine?"
"Yes, it is. May I come in? This is a little different than regular medicine so I need to tell you how it works."
I open the door wider for her and she puts the bottle on the small table as well as a syringe and a little ream of needles.
"The cause of his illness is due to the radiation trying to create a baby that can't be created. As I had said, now his body is rejecting the intrusion with every defense mechanism it can think of. This medicine will actually have to be injected into him to work."
"Injected?"
"Yes. You'll need to inject about 3ccs of it into his stomach area every twelve hours for three days. This will counteract the radiation effect on the ovaries to try and create something that's not there."
"Are there any side effects?"
"Uh... no..."
"Dr. White." I say, glaring.
"Not necessarily bad for him but... bad for you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well-"
We both hear the bathroom door open and R vomiting into the toilet. Dr. White looks at the bedroom door sadly.
"Well?"
"The blocker will send the radiation to be absorbed into the blood stream so... it will pretty much be like he bathed in RH- blood and is standing in front of a fan and it's pointed at you."
"Oh."
"It will be very, very strong."
"I see... Do I need to go away?"
"No, but I did bring something for you to help." She pulled out another vial. "This is lavender extract."
"Okay?"
"Albinos can't smell anything if lavender is near."
"What do you mean?"
"Lavenders repel odors for albinos. If you rub this under your nose, you won't smell R."
"What do lavenders look like?" I say softly, already knowing but wanting to be sure.
Dr. White pulls out her phone and looks up a picture of a lavender flower. Just as I thought... it's the same flowers that were around my door in my room at my house.
"I see."
"What is it?'
"Someone placed these around my room at my house to block the smell of my parents' rotting corpses."
Dr. White puts her hand on my shoulder.
"I'm so sorry... I don't have to leave it if you want."
"Please don't... I'll somehow manage..." I look at the clock. "I guess I should give it to him now. I think twelve and twelve are good, yah?"
"Yes... Nalak, be careful and don't give in."
"It will be a test for me."
She smiles and leaves, leaving me with this stuff. I sigh and open the door and then open the door to the bathroom. R is asleep, leaning on the toilet seat. I make a face and shake his shoulder.
"Hey, I got something to help you."
"Mmm."
"Come on..." I say, getting him up again.
"No, you smell funny..." he mumbles as he falls into me anyway.
"Yeah, yeah..."
I take him over to the bed and lay him down on his back. He immediately falls asleep and I put the syringe in the bottle and pull out the liquid. I stick the needle into R's stomach and dispense of the liquid.
"I hope this works..."