And She Kissed a God

12. Kiss

Sam was about to crawl to her grandson when a gun's barrel reached my head. She was caught between us, not sure whom to save. We were her cage.

"See, you are special," said the Scientist. "We want a lot from you."

Anil breathed in and out. "You can't hurt her."

"I understood that," said the Scientist. "That's why I'm here for a little experiment."

A hand reached my shoulder, grabbed my shirt, and towed me up and I sat on my knees. Four people each enclosed Anil and me, their gun looking down at us.

Katrina handed another knife to Samidha. "Will you please cut yourself, darling?"

Sam looked at them scared. Holding the knife by its handle, Sam drew the knife's edge on her skin. A bloody straight line prolonged up to her elbow. And blood seeped out the wound. Even in pain, Anil's face had spared a shock.

I glanced at the wound, healing as fast as the blood flooding down.

"That's the craziest thing I've ever seen," Katrina exclaimed. "And I kill people." She was jumping on her toes, adjusting her hair.

The scientist brought a creepy smile. His hair flew to the wind too, and he took back the knife. "Thank you, Sam," he said. "I want your blood, bone marrow, DNA and the skin that doesn't age, and heart and brain."

He talked about dissecting her body as plainly as taking a photograph of her. His poisonous wish stung me. I couldn't imagine the things he wanted to do to her. I didn't want her to sacrifice for the people who would die, anyway. It was more logical than sacrifice. I explored my options to save Sam. I got none. What miracles could humans do?

"What if I refuse?" Sam said. I didn't understand why she bothered to ask. They already put a knife in her grandson. How much proof would she need?

"It's easy, Sam. You can save only one of them; your boyfriend or your grandson." Katrina placed her hand on Anil. He shivered; he tried not to, but he did. "Torture is always an option and I mostly consider it."

Sam knew Katrina wouldn't think twice to kill. I saw the horror on her face. Where were the gods when she needed them the most?

"You are thinking too much," Katrina said. "You always think a lot. Your immortality made you meticulous. Listen, thoughts are like scars. They shouldn't scare us. Instead, they should make us confident. Whatever may happen, we have to let them into the world."

I was sure those lines were from one of Sam's books.

"You read my book," Sam said, stunned.

Katrina shrugged. "When the police tortured me, they didn't just hurt me. They broke me. They gave me this scar. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror. But when my dad told me to find this immortal girl, I also found out she writes books. So, I read them. I think I attended a few reading sessions too."

"We met before?"

"No. But I was in the session you two love birds met." She giggled. "You are my inspiration, Sam. You are the reason I am proud of my scar now. Later, bombing the airport, I showed the world what I am. But that's a different thing."

Sam's face was incomprehensible. When a psycho takes our words as inspiration, it was hard to feel proud.

The scientist stood up and arched his back. "Come with us, Sam. We only need one of these two."

Sam widened her eyes. "You need one of them?"

The scientist scoffed. "I mean, we need leverage over you. What if you try to kill us and escape?"