R
I'm still affected by the poison from Triffin but I'm able to gather enough strength to stand. When I see Triffin attacking Nalak, I seem to find the adrenaline I need and rush to the kitchen, grabbing the butcher knife. I run back in and use my added strength to drive the knife into the middle of Triffin's back. He screeches as Nalak practically crumbles to the ground, two puncture wounds on his neck oozing two lines of blood. I run to him and can see his eyes beginning to droop.
"Come on!" I yell. He looks up at me and I hold out my hand. "Come with me if you want to live!"
I don't mean to steal a line from a movie but the situation is pretty much this: if he stays, he and his baby will die. He lifts his hand and grabs mine weakly. I grab it back and pull him up, his full bodyweight colliding into me. I stumble backwards, but I finally get his arm around my shoulder so that I can take him out of the house. I have no idea where we are; hopefully, we're still in the city. I open the door and find that we are... on the outskirts of the city. I roll my eyes at the cruel irony of it but I look at Nalak, who seems to have gotten a little strength back.
"You alright?"
"No... I just had some dude suck on my neck to drain my blood. I'm pretty not okay." He growls, glancing at me.
I chuckle. "Sorry, I guess that was a stupid question. Either way, can you walk a little?"
"Just enough."
"Well, I'm running off adrenaline, so pretty soon I'll be as knobby kneed as you are at the moment. Help me out a little so that we can head back."
"Head back? Head back where?" he asks, looking around for the first time since we got out.
"We're on the outskirts of town. We need to go back to town to make it harder for him to find us."
Nalak seems to steady his weight and is moving a lot faster as we walk now.
"R, he's a blood-albino. They smell blood, especially yours. It doesn't matter where we are, your blood will lead him to us."
"Then I guess... I guess we'll have to find something to block my scent."
"Let me guess, lavender again?" Nalak says with a growl.
"I think that's the only way we can truly get away from him. Don't worry; it's only for him. As soon as the coast is clear, I will chuck that thing somewhere else."
Nalak doesn't look too convinced but he does seem able to help me along down the straw covered path.
"How's the baby? You don't feel anything bad, right?"
"How should I know? This will be my first and final. I think this is better left done when we're both coherent and we are safe. Right now, let's just get to the friggin city."
I nod and we get ourselves over there.
*********************
Luckily, what I was hoping for actually happened and we had pulled into the swampy forest area along the small patch of woods behind the city where it leads to the ocean. But, it is a straight shot from where we had tried to stay earlier today. I sigh in relief and look at Nalak. He looks a little sick.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine. Between getting sucked dry from the neck and then running around with a baby inside of me, finishing me off, I have to say I'm pretty peachy." He quips.
"No, I mean, you look a little sick. Are you alright to make it?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"I'm going to set you in the car and gather our stuff from the room, if it's still there, and then I'm going to drive as far south as I can."
"He'll have gotten that knife out by then."
"I meant tomorrow morning. We need some sleep... I have an idea but you may not like it."
"I get the lavender thing, so I mean-"
"No, it's something else. I'll explain it when I go get our luggage. It's a little bit cozy..."
Nalak lifts an eyebrow. "Cozy?"
"Yeah, just trust me, okay?"
Nalak sighs as I open the car door and set him in the passenger seat. I leave to go to our room and find a few pieces of clothing and stuff still left. One of our suitcases is open and so I start to shove everything I can find into the suitcase. I come across a box and pick it up. It says Nexenaf on it and I see that it's for pregnant men. I look inside of it and see two of the pills already have been taken; I stick that in the front of the suitcase. I'd have to have a big talk with Nalak when we were both alright and Triffin wasn't trying to eat us. I found the car keys and snagged the suitcase, coming back to the car.
I open the backseat and throw it in there, getting out the Nexenaf. I get in the front and hold out the pills.
"Here, I figured you'd want these."
Nalak looks at the box and takes it gingerly, putting it in the door panel.
"You have to believe me when I say that I was going to tell you about the baby, Ramey... Honest..."
"We can discuss this later. It's not that I don't want to it's just that we have to get away. We can talk about everything once we're safe."
Nalak nods and I drive off to head towards the Badlands.
*******************
When we get back into the city, I pull off into a safe-ish looking alley and Nalak lolls his head to me. The adrenaline we both had are wearing off and the remainder of Triffin's poison was still in me and I think whatever he injected into Nalak was coming around tenfold.
"You stay here for a moment, alright? I have to get the lavender."
Nalak makes a face but nods and I get out. I go to the convenience store and find these wrist things that are soaked in crushed up lavender petals and then drenched in lavender infused perfume. They're kind of expensive but I figured that if we wanted to be invisible to Triffin, we should do it right. The cashier looks at me and I try to look inconspicuous.
"You having an albino problem?" the cashier asks.
"Well, I've heard there was an albino lurking around these parts so I want to be prepared."
"Sure 'nough." They said.
He rung the bracelets up and I got us some drinks and snacks.
I get back to car and knock on Nalak's door. He opens it up and I motion for me to follow him.
"What are we doing?" he asks as we go to the back of the car. I pop open the trunk.
"Get in."
"What?"
"Get in."
"Why?"
"Because this will save us from Triffin."
"How?"
I sigh. "Look, Triffin will be looking for our scents or most likely the car. When he sees the car, he will investigate it and then try to pinpoint where we are. I have some lavender stuff to use so that he won't even detect us but... we have to hide in the trunk."
"Why?" Nalak asks, a look of anger in his eyes.
"I just told you."
"I meant why the car? Why can't we go to a hotel?"
"The closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm."
"What the fuck does that mean?!"
"It means that if we stay in the car, the first thing he will look for, then when he checks it and doesn't see us, we can wait and then sneak back into the car and drive away."
"Yeah, well, you need to get out of the trunk first. Your plan has holes."
"No it doesn't. The car locks from the inside and the trunk can only be accessed by the outside."
"So you want to trap us in the car... forever?"
There is this monstrous screech and I look at Nalak.
"There's no time for debate. We have to act now. Here." I growl, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the back of the car. I open the doors, grab the food, and drag him to the back of the car in the trunk. I shove the food all the way to the back and then climb in.
"Hurry!" I yell.
Nalak looks skeptical but takes my hand and climbs into the trunk with me. He closes the door and we lay there in darkness. I fumble around my pocket for the keys and play around with the switch to lock the doors. I place them in a place I can grab them and then feel around for the bags. I grab the flashlight I had bought and turned it on, illuminating the dark trunk. I find the pack of lavender bracelets and pull one out, slipping it on my wrist. I then turn to Nalak, who is looking at me cautiously.
"Here, put this on."
"I don't want to."
"He'll be able to smell you, Nalak."
"I don't know what that will do to me. What if my hand rots off?"
"I highly doubt that's what it does. From what we've seen, all it does it make it where you can't be scented."
"Isn't your bracelet well enough?"
"Nalak, for God's sake, just listen to me and do what I ask!"
Nalak stiffens and I curse. I didn't mean to give such a direct order but he holds out his wrist to me and I sigh.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay... I'm sorry too."
"About what?"
"The baby. I wasn't trying to hide it from you, I promise. It's just... we had gone through so much and... it's not fair..."
"What's not fair?"
"You're Normal, you get to be with people in society... I'm not and yet I get the one thing you've always wanted."
I sigh and turn back on my back to look at the very close ceiling. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic or this would be a hell of a thing.
"I'm not mad at you, Nalak. I'm happy for you. I mean, you're pregnant and you're an albino... that's really rare."
"Stop trying to be so self-sacrificing and so god damned nice." Nalak spits.
I turn to him as he looks at me. I can tell he doesn't feel well.
"Ramey, I stole your joy, the joy of a Normal person and you want to say you're happy for me?"
"Well what do you want me to do, Nalak? Do you want me to be mad at you?"
"I want you to be upset! It's not fair about everything that's happening to you and yet you sit there and are still just... I don't know..."
We're silent for a moment.
"Nalak... I can't be jealous of you because I never had a chance. I'm an Empty and have been an Empty practically all of my life. I came to that conclusion when I was ten. Seeing friends and family having their own children while I was left behind is something I've come to terms with. All I can do is be happy for those who work right... besides, I have no right to be mad at you for all the things I've done."
"What are you talking about?"
"I turned you into an albino, Nalak." He looks at me. "My blood... it turned you into an albino."
"It was bound to happen..."
"True, but that's why Dr. White couldn't fix you. All albinos are blood-albinos, it's just in a different context. No matter what type of albino you are, you are attracted to your specialty by the scent of the people who have it. You crave flesh... you said you'd had the taste for a while but it didn't full activate until you met me. My blood attracts albinos of all types but it also activates them. If you hadn't met me, you would have been able to take some pills and it'd be a long time before you turned."
"Then we wouldn't have become friends."
"Maybe that would have been for the best... Your parents would be alive and maybe I would have found out that I could still at least harbor a child."
Nalak looks away. "So... you wish we hadn't met."
"I never said that. I'm glad we met. You're the best friend I ever had."
"Better than Girvan?" he said with a slight tint of jealousy.
I laugh a little. "Yes, better than Girvan. Girvan was only friends with me if others weren't around. He's a good guy and I'll always be grateful to him, but you're probably my only true friend."
"Mine too... all of mine abandoned me when they heard I was sent to the nurse during the exam –which as you know usually means being Empty- and then when they heard rumors I was an albino. You're the only one that wasn't scared." He shivers. "I think that new dose of poison is kicking in."
"I think my adrenaline's wearing off."
"You sure we'll be safe back here? I mean, you don't think he'd be really crazy and throw the car into a river, right?"
"At least we'd die peacefully and not alone."
"Not helping."
"He doesn't seem the type."
Nalak's head touches my shoulder and he squirms a little.
"I hope I don't get morning sickness in here."
"That's for sure." He finally stops moving and I frown at him. "Comfortable?"
"Yeah."
"I'm glad we're in the trunk or this would be so misleading."
"I think the fact that we're in the trunk is misleading in and of itself."
"True..."
"I think those bracelets were a good idea."
"Glad you agree."
"Well... this would be even more awkward without them I think. In this confined space, if I had smelled you, I would be going crazy and I could hurt you. But right now all I smell is... sweat."
"Yeah. Get some sleep, Nalak."
I look at him but see he's already beaten me to it. He looks so tired and I sigh, leaning my head on his for a better pillow than the trunk.