Plagues

Chapter 26

It was a good couple of minutes in a terrorized trance before we were snapped to by the stale silence. Kali had texted her mom, who called twice during the ordeal, but we were unable to answer. I got up to go check the peephole while Kali called her mom back. The hallway beyond the door was empty.

I called my parents from Kali's home phone and told them I would be home late. I told them it was a BIOTRANS thing. I wasn't really lying. Kali's mom called 9-1-1 after getting Kali's first text, so BIOTRANS vans and police cars were flooding onto the scene as Kali's parents rushed in, her mom hugged us both.

The police had Kali's parents wait out in the hall while BIOTRANS officers talked to us in the living room. They were a man, officer Jamieson; and a woman, officer Grimsby.

“Were you aware of anyone following you on your way home from school?” Grimsby asked.

“No,” Kali answered, both officers writing down our answers on notepads. “We came straight home from school, they wouldn't have been able to.”

Grimsby and Jamieson looked to each other, their faces grim with an eyebrow cocked each.

“Why wouldn't they have been able to follow you from school?” Jamieson asked.

“The sun was still up,” Kali said with a hit of condescension.

“Ah, yes, your mother did tell us you were complaining about infected, as they're being called,” Grimsby said. “But we can assure you the only infected threat is maniacs. There's no need to worry about vampires or werewolves, or whatever else.”

“But we've seen them,” I said. “I looked through the peephole when they were knocking.”

“How can you be sure?” Jamieson aggressively interjected. “Peepholes can be deceiving.”

“I saw them!” I shot back, trying to match his aggressive tone. “I know their pale skin, large pupils, sharp canines and incisors.” I stopped and took a breath, taking an opportunity to eye each officer, starting and finishing on Jamieson. “We were at Sneaky Dee's the night of the bombing.”

“All the hype of that being the work of mutated infected was bandwagon chatter started by a leak site that was recently shutdown,” Grimsby said. “We have dealt with those involved, they were human, that's that.”

“Besides,” Jamieson added, “most people were too traumatized to give an accurate description.”

“The police will take it from here if that's all,” Grimsby said.

I nodded and the two officers left. The police then came in, took a brief statement from us, said they'd find the impersonators, and to give them a call if anything else happens, then left.

“Why'd you tell them about Sneaky Dee's?” Kali asked as she accompanied me to the elevator. “It was obvious they'd shut you down.”

“I know, that's why I did it. I almost told them enough to imply involvement with the vamps and land us in jail. Remember, they full well know about the vamps, and the mutts, they're just denying it. They're probably passing off being here as checking up on the maniac situation in these parts. I bet you any money that BIOTRANS is working behind the scenes on this investigation.”

“You think they know about Marcus?”

We reached the elevator and I pressed the down button.

“I don't know,” I said. “But, I'm positive they're hot on the heels of the vamp cell that pulled off the attacks and they're gonna keep digging 'til they find the core, which is Marcus.”