Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Thirty-Four

R
That stuff seems to be really helping. I feel much more in control of myself and I'm even having a good night's rest. Well, I haven't had any dreams, but a certain kid is digging his foot into my hip.

"Nalak!" I growl, throwing a pillow onto his head.
"Stop, Darryl. Tiffany's the one who farted this time..."
"Wake up."
Nalak mumbles something else and then looks at me in confusion before seeming to recognize me.
"R..."
"Would you mind putting your feet back at the end of the bed please? They are cold and how the hell are they in my hip?"
Nalak stretches out and then turns over onto me, laying his head on my shoulder with his shoulder over my chest: aka literally on top of me.
"You're like a pile of feathers."
"Even though you're not exactly dead with hard skin like a vampire, you are bony and heavy!"
"The baby likes you too..."
I look at him as he looks up at me then sticks out his tongue so that it touches my cheek. I just stare are him as he licks my cheek with the tip of his tongue.
"You're trying to make me punch you, aren't you?" He smiles and I smile too. "Although ew and too close, I'm glad you're back to normal."
The door opens and Waverly walks in with a stuffed camel and suddenly just runs in, getting into the bed with us. She wiggles her way between Nalak and I, getting him off of me.
"What the-"
"I had a bad dream." She says, settling herself between us. She turns towards Nalak with the camel in her arms. "I'm lonely."
Nalak smiles at me and I touch her hair a little.
"Yeah, we're kind of lonely too."
"You guys would make a cute couple."
"For the last time, we're both straight." Nalak growls.
"Not even secretly?"
"NO!" we both yell.
"This is why this was a bad idea." I tell Nalak in regards to us sleeping in the same bed.
"Well I wasn't going to sleep on the table anymore."
"Guys, it's a joke, seriously." Waverly says as she turns over to look at the ceiling. "On a more serious note, when you leave, how long will it take you to find your friend?"
"I know she works at The Jetson's Bar and Asstro and that's about it. So however long it takes me to get there."
Waverly turns to me. "For someone who is your friend, you seem to not know that much about her."
Nalak looks at me as well and I sigh, having to confess the truth about the matter.
"In... all actuality, we're not friends. We're acquaintances. When I got mugged in the city, she was there and took me in to care for me when everyone else left me on the ground to practically die. I had gotten mugged, beat up, and my clavicle was fractured but she and her brother took me in at the hotel they were staying at. They were kind to me."
"So you're just going to impose on her at work in hopes that she'll take you in?" Waverly growls.
"R, what the hell? I thought you had everything under control?" Nalak asks.
"I do. I swear."
"But you can't get a hold of your friend and you don't even know where she lives! You just know where she works and that she was kind of nice to you once!"
Nalak gets up awkwardly and rubs his face in his hands.
"Jesus, Ramey, you keep making things so much more difficult than they need to be. She doesn't even know we're coming! You met this girl once and all you got was her name and place of business?!"
"Well I was in a lot of pain at the time." I say, sitting up. "I mean-"
"THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" Nalak screams.
"What's the big deal? This is for me to stay for a bit and for us to chill for a few days until we can get you into the Badlands. It's not like that's where we're going to live."
"They could be working with the RDC or something!"
"I'm pretty sure she's not. She works at a strip club."
"Even better. She's a stripper." Nalak snaps, crossing his arms. "You know that they are notorious for working for undercover agents of the RDC right? They use them to fish out illegals and stuff."
"And where did you learn that? The TV?"
"No, my uncle worked for the RDC's undercover division."
"Then that would mean that your uncle was a Zanni because Dr. Heckler said that the only types of cops around were employed by the government from the Zannis."
"Noooo; the RDC has a unit that also infiltrates places to get information on other Altered people."
"Why the fuck would your uncle tell you about a secret operative like that?!" I yell, getting up as well. "I mean, if it were so covert then why in the world would he tell you about it?"
"It's not a covert unit, Mr. Know-It-All. It's a very well known unit. They are like the old FBI from way back when except they work exclusively for the Research and Development Center."
"A lover's quarrel." I hear Waverly say from the bed.
I point at her. "Stop making it worse, midget."
"Don't bring me into it, Skinny Hips."
"Stop! Stop..." Nalak growls. "No name calling... R, just tell me that you have at least over 80% confidence that this girl won't turn us in. I mean, we're going to the Badlands but in all technicality, we were supposed to have been there the moment I found out I was an albino and the moment you found out you were an RH-. If we get caught, we will not be treated with kindness mostly likely."
"I am 95% sure that she won't turn us in. She's an Empty herself and seemed more focus on taking care of her brother and her niece. Her brother seemed a little odd, actually, now that I think about it. And if they ask, all we have to say is the truth: we were unaware of our circumstances and have been traveling to the Badlands since we found out, which wasn't too long ago."
Nalak makes a face and then makes another face.
"I have to go to the bathroom."
He walks away with his hand over his mouth and Waverly looks at me from the bed.
"He's right, you know, about the RDC undercover unit and their use of strippers and the underbelly of the city to get information on places like Edge City and other Altered people."
"But don't they have to pay for services rendered or something?"
"I'm not sure. We don't get too many of those guys in Edge City due to the rumor of illegal people here. I would think so, though."
"Well then since mostly like an undercover guy wouldn't want to look anymore suspicious –especially if he was doing a complete blind operation- he would get his answers through sexual payment?"
Waverly put her hand to her chin. "I could see that."
"Then Sakina isn't old enough. You can strip and do all you want but you can't have sex with anyone until you are twenty-one. She's only my age."
"That's sad." She said with pity. "I hate to hear about people how end up doing dirty jobs to take care of their families because that's all they can do. I'm not making fun of her and I commend her for doing what she can for her family, but I do find it sad."
Nalak comes back in and plops back on the bed.
"Sleeping is for people." He says as he falls back asleep.
Waverly scoots herself back up towards him and pats the bed.
"Come on, R, I need you here to warm me up."
"I can just sleep on the couch or in your bed." I say, heading out the door.
I go to Waverly's bedroom and stop short as Waverly runs up behind me. I look at her as she looks down, ashamed.
"I told you that... that I had a bad dream."
"And what did you dream about?"
She swallowed hard. "I dreamt I had trapped a deer and ate it."
I looked in her room where blood and guts were everywhere, a mangled deer in the bed. I closed the door and sighed.
"I'm too tired for this."