Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Thirty

I park the car in the empty parking lot and undo my seatbelt, Nalak falling over more onto the seat. I push him into his own seat but he just leans on the window. I lock the door and walk into the clinic, the bells on the door jingling as it closes. The office is pretty small and actually looks like it was built onto a home. The waiting room only has about ten seats in it and there is a small desk for reception of some kind.
"Can I help you, Skinny Britches?" I hear someone say.
I turn around and find a young girl that looks about ten staring at me from behind the receptionist desk.
"Um... I saw your sign and it says that you treat albinos?"
"If that's what it says then obviously that's what we do." She looks at me with a frown. "You're not an albino."
"No, but my friend is. He got bitten by a blood-albino-"
"Say no more." She said, holding up her hand. "Bring him in and be quick about it. The sun's going down and the Zannis are getting pretty heavy after nightfall. That's when the Altered try to escape into the city."
I nod and go back out to the car, unlocking it and opening the passenger side door. Nalak practically oozes out of the car, but I catch him and try to carry him but he's so heavy. I'm not an albino so I don't have any strength. Besides, he probably weighs the same amount as I do and I can hardly get myself where I need to go... I finally get him into the clinic and the girl comes back, looking at me.
"You need some help?" she asks.
"Do you have a gurney or something? He's passed out cold and I can't hold him."
She left again and then came back, pushing a gurney. I just barely get Nalak onto the gurney when she is pushing him to the back. I start following her but she turns around and stops me.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"With him."
"This is a patient only zone. Can't you read?" she growls, pointing to the sign.
I look at it as she tries to leave again but I grab the handle of the gurney, making her stop.
"Listen, little girl, I'm in a very uncomfortable place and my friend happens to be an albino, something not exactly well looked at in society. Do you really think I'm going to just let you take him back there without coming with you? If you did, you've lost your god damned mind."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not letting him out of my sight. Like I could really trust you with him. You could have an RDC bounty hunter back there ready to slit his throat for all I know."
"Bounty hunters don't work for the RDC. Man, you're definitely not from around here."
"Where are your parents? The doctors?"
"I am the doctor, thank you very much. If you want to know family history, my father was a surgeon and my mother worked for the RDC as a medical doctor. They taught me everything they could possibly teach me and then they were killed. They wanted to make a clinic that accepted everyone and treated everyone. They were saviors to all but they never got to make that a reality. So, I used my home to build this place and help those out who needed it."
I frown. "You're, like, three years old."
"I'm twelve. You can always go to another clinic if you just don't trust me."
"What's your name?"
"Waverly Stront. And you, city slicker?"
"Ramey Fountain, but most people call me R. His name is Nalak Ghoti but it's spelled G-H-O-T-I, fish." Waverly blinked her pale blue eyes at me. "I'm not joking."
"What makes you want to save him? You said something about him being your friend?"
"Yeah... he's my best friend, actually... doesn't matter. I'm not letting you take him back there without me."
Waverly sighed but motioned for me to follow her into the back.

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

"If you're going to be back here then you can help me out." Waverly says as she buzzes around the only patient room there is, opening cabinets and climbing step ladders to get to the top shelves.
"I can try. What all do you need?"
"First, get him onto the bed. Then I'll need you to go to the back of the house where the garden is and pick me some flowers."
I frown. "Flowers? He needs medical attention, not a bouquet of flowers."
Waverly turns to me, her eyes narrowed.
"You asked what you can do and I'm telling you what it is. Besides, it's not a normal flower garden. Just do as I say; who's the doctor here anyway?"
I turn and head toward what I assume is the back of the house, mocking Waverly as I go. I'm not really accustomed to kids younger than me, especially those five years younger, treating me with such rudeness. Yeah, Matt did a lot of the time but he's my brother, I get that. This little girl, though... I almost feel sorry for her since she doesn't have any parents but that can't be the continued excuse. I'm sure someone has been helping her...
I get to the back door and turn on the light and find a metal bucket there labeled 'FLOWER POWER'. I assume it's for the flowers and open up the backdoor. The smell hits me first and then I see that about 90% of the backyard is covered in lavender. I gawk at the amount and turn back into the house, going back to the room.
Waverly frowns at me. "Where are the flowers?"
"Why do you need lavender for him? Lavender-"
"I know what lavender does, you idiot. If you'd hurry up and get the flowers for me, I might be able to educate you on your friend and what the Altered have in store for them. Hurry it up, the infection is spreading quickly and we have to stop it before it interferes with his child."
I blink at her. "You can tell he's with child?"
"Don't worry about it. Get the flowers."
I sigh, walked back to the door and going outside in the small lavender field.

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

I pick a good amount and come back into the room. Waverly has taken Nalak's shirt off and I can see the bite mark clearly now. It's pretty nasty and is starting to smell like it's rotting. Waverly comes back in and hands me a stone bowl.
"Take some of those lavenders and throw them in this mortar. That's the bowl, in case you didn't know. You'll need to grind them up with the pestle until you get a good paste going. Then take this triple antibiotic gel and mix it in with a full cough syrup cup of alcohol and another of peroxide."
I do as she says and throw a bunch of lavenders into the bowl, beginning to mash it up.
"Lavender isn't just something ward off albinos." Waverly suddenly says and I look at her. She is leaning on the counter. "That's a misconception that most of you High City folk have."
"High City? What's that mean?"
"People like me are called Edgers, since we live at the edge of the city. Hell, this place is called Edge City for a reason. We have the most dealings with the Altered than you guys in the High City. It's what we call you guys from the better parts of the city."
"I actually don't live in the city. We live on the outskirts between the Heliotrope Sector and Section N."
"Oh, a fancy guy..."
"Not really... Is this good enough?" I ask, showing her my paste.
She looks in. "You need much more than that. Add some more lavender." I do as she says. "Anyway, High City folk don't look too deeply into the dealings of the Altered and what actually works and doesn't work for them. True, lavender will deter an albino because they can't smell you but unless you use a large amount of lavender, it's not really toxic to them. It will hinder them and cause them some issues but nothing serious."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, say for instance, for regular people to cure a snake bite or a spider bite, a small amount of the venom is actually in the cure. The same is true for the Altered. Small amounts of their flower will not do any harm to them at all."
"Wait, the Altered have different flowers?"
Waverly pulls down the mortar and points to the alcohol.
"You need to put that in and the others I told you about."
I nod and mix the other ingredients in, making a paste of sorts. She hands me a small tube of triple antibiotic.
"Empty this into it."
I do and then stir the mixture up some more. She grabs it and puts a pair of gloves on, walking over to Nalak. Nalak has been deathly quiet since we got here and she opens his eye to look at it.
"You came just in time." She says. "He's suffering from a blood infection. I can tell by the red in his sclera..."
"I knew it... What can you do? Can he be saved?"
"Sure, it will just take a bit."
"How long?"
"If I go ahead and get started with the treatment right now, about a week."
"A week?!" I yell, scaring her.
"You got somewhere you need to be?"
"Not really... It's just..." I run my fingers through my hair. "We've been trying to get to the Badlands for months now and it seems that every time we are on our way, one of us ends up hurt in some shape or form. It's like it's impossible for me to deliver him to the Badlands."
"Why are you trying to deliver him to the Badlands? I mean, he can do that on his own... well, I meant before this."
"It's a long complicated story."
"We're going to be spending a lot of time together, dude, so you may as well share the adventure. Besides, an RH- like you shouldn't be wondering around the city anyway."
I step back a little, suddenly very wary of her.
"I don't know what you're talking about..."
"Did you think I didn't know what you were?" she says, putting her fingers in the mixture and pulling out a wad. She slathers it onto Nalak's shoulder. "I'm not an idiot, despite my age."
"I really don't know what you're talking about."
"I can smell you as plain as day." She looks at me. "You really can't hide a delicious smell like that."
I back up again. "Y- you're an albino..."
"Not yet." She says, lathering more gunk onto Nalak's shoulder. "But once I hit fourteen when my swell is supposed to come, I'll turn then, just like your friend did. Unlike him though, I won't have the luxury of having a child. Shame really..."
"Wh- why?"
"I'm an Empty too." She gives me a smirk. "How's that for irony? Nature doesn't even have the decency to let me have one kid."
"Yeah..."
"You're different though. You're an Empty due to a whole different reason." She says, smiling at her handiwork. "Look in that drawer behind you and hand me a large piece of gauze and some wrap."
I quickly fumble behind me to get her stuff and then go to the end of the bed, leaning over to hand it to her. Seeing the way I'm acting, Waverly makes a face.
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Well, yeah."
"Look, I promise I'm not going to hurt you or your friend. I can tell you everything you ever needed to know and more about the Altered, yourself included. You just have to trust me."
I didn't want to trust her but she did seem to know a lot about the Altered and she was actually willing to give me some information. No one else seemed to want to...
"I don't trust you but you're all I've got at the moment. I just want to make sure that Nalak and his baby are safe..."
"They are in the safest place they could be."
I nod and she has me help her with some other things.