Selected (Book 2 of the Immune Series)

The Final Hours

"Are you able?" Jay asks, cocking her head at me. I shrug, letting go of Lexi.

Isaac offers me a hand, which I gladly take.

"Quinn, don't push yourself," Jay continues, jumping out of her seat. Lexi hasn't yet moved, watching my pained steps across the room instead. "You're weak, and you don't have much time left. Wouldn't you rather-"

"Jaelyn, shut up," Isaac says, cutting her off, "He wants to go say goodbye to his mother."

Jay takes a step back, eyes wide.

Isaac helps me to the door, where we are joined by a quiet but helpful Lexi. She takes my bad arm, holding my hand with a gentleness I've never felt from her before.

"Are you coming?" Isaac asks Jay, who has her arms crossed over her chest and is chewing on one of her fingernails. She nods, chasing after us.

We load into the elevator, and Isaac pushes the button directing us toward the basement.

In my sixteen years, I've only thought once about saying goodbye to my mom. Even then, when I was considering that I might have failed the Exam, it didn't feel like an actual possibility.

Yet, here I am, ready to say goodbye to her for a final time.

What do I even say?

Do I thank her for allowing me to be annoying when I obsessed over subjects? Do I tell her how much I loved her cooking, even when she burned it? Do I apologize for coming home late sometimes and for sneaking out other times? How do I sum up sixteen years of a life in a few minutes?

I cling to Lexi, fighting the nausea that comes with the movement of the elevator. When the doors open, I shiver, but the air that washes over us is warm.

"Jaelyn," a male voice says, and Jay rushes forward out of the elevator to the first cell.

The silhouette I see has to be Dr. Price. He's a dingy white colored blob, which can only be his dusty lab coat that Kovach brought him in wearing.

"Are you okay?" Dr. Price asks, standing to greet us.

"Yeah," Jay and I say together. She glances at me, but I just shrug, turning away from them. They aren't why I came.

"Cathy," Lexi says in the smallest voice I've ever heard come out of her. I follow her trail of red to the back corner of the cell. As I get closer, Mom comes into view.

Her jaundice has faded, replaced by an ashy gray. All color has left her face. Sweat drenches her clothes; the smell of decomposing flesh fills the cell. It's a strong smell, a mixture of spoiled meat and milk, and it only makes my nausea worse.

"Alexis," Mom whispers, opening her eyes so she can see us through her lashes.

Lexi falls down onto her knees, reaching for baby Elliot who is asleep in Mom's arms. She hands him over without fighting it, sighing in relief when her arms fall into her lap weakly.

"How are you feeling?" I ask as Lexi walks away holding Elliot.

Mom's laughter comes quick and dry.

"I feel like a corpse," she says, closing her eyes again, "The- um, I know the word. It starts with an 'h'."

"Hallucinations?"

"Yes. The hallucinations will start soon."

The fact that she forgot the word tells me that her mind is already failing. The virus is affecting her at a faster rate than expected. She is already past saving.