Merman - Romance

Chapter 27

“You can’t save all,” Jessel said slipping her dagger up the back of the first ones skull and watching it slump to the ground lifelessly.

“You don’t have to take so much pleasure in doing that,” Ridec muttered.

“You think I take pleasure in this?”  She jabbed the knife in the second ones skull and stepped onto the third.  “I don’t, I just know what needs to be done and I do it.”

“Mmmmm….” Ridec didn’t bother to respond, it was pointless arguing with Jessell, he couldn’t win anyway.

“This one actually has blood in it,” Jessel remarked.  “At least what looks like blood.”

“My preliminary tests indicate that one was the closest to human still.”

“There was a real chance of saving that one?”  Jessel questioned.

“Yeah,” Ridec paused from the samples in the jars in front of him and turned to look at Jessel.  “If I could find the cure on time.”

“That’s a big ‘if’,” Jessel pointed out.

“I know I can…”

“Well, if anyone can it’s you.”

“Thanks,” Ridec grinned turning to stare at Jessell appreciatively, that was probably the closest thing to a compliment Jessel had offered him.

“By the way,” Jessel wiped the daggers off in the pants of one of the zombies lying on the floor and then stuck them back into their cases.  “That was madness Rea was spouting out there, right?”

“What…um…what madness?”  Ridec turned to stare down at the samples in front of him again.  “I wish I had more chemicals here so I could see how the samples respond to various mixtures.”

“I’ll search through some drawers and cabinets and see if I find anything,” Jessell suggested turning about and starting to pull open drawers and cabinet doors even as she spoke.

“Based on what I’m seeing here I’d really like to find…”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Jessell cut in.

“Oh?  What question was that?”

Ridec could feel his heart fluttering nervously.  He knew what Jessell was talking about and he just wasn’t ready to deal with the subject.  Why had Rea told Jessell they had kissed?

“What Rea said when we were out there, was all lies, right?”

“I don’t know if one can say that a person tells all lies,” Ridec countered hoping to buy himself some extra time.  “People tend to speak a combination of truth and lies, I guess that is what makes the lies so much more difficult to decipher.”

Ridec slipped the knife from the table and dissected the portion of flesh he had taken from the zombie, it was the first of the three and there was no sign of blood whatsoever in it.  From the tests he had done earlier he was sure the creature couldn’t have been turned more than a year before but yet every drop of blood in its body was already gone.

“I’m talking about the lie she told when she tried to suggest that you kissed her,” Jessell chuckled at the very thought of it.  “If she only knew just how completely ridiculous that attempt to irritate me was.”

Ridec didn’t respond.

“I’m thinking that we probably have a very narrow window for this cure, from my initial testings it would seem to be less than one year after making the change,” Ridec said trying to sound as if the only thought on his mind was of the cure.