Chapter 4: They Want the Toxin

I started getting my pajamas ready in my room, and I was prepared to sleep after a few minutes. Someone knocked on my door, and I went to open it. Rosy was there.

"I came to see you three times; where were you?"

"Why the urgency?" I replied.

She looked at me suspiciously.

"Just curious. I didn't find you the other night either."

I snorted and started fixing my bed.

"Is nothing."

"Are you seeing someone?" She smiled, feeling close to the answer.

"Of course not," but the tone of voice didn't help me.

The girl opened her eyes wide.

"Anthony," she whispered, making me nervous. I had screwed it up.

"No..." She shot out of my room, and I followed her right away.

I found her knocking on his door, so I approached and took her arm to get her out of there, but the door opened before we could disappear.

There he was in front of us, with a bare torso, wearing only pants. I blushed in shame, and sure, Rosy was the same. He was really tall and of standard build, but his muscles were well-marked and toned. I was surprised; he was in good shape.

Broad shoulders, narrow hips. What a man. We had been dumbfounded like two complete idiots for a couple of seconds. Our career involved seeing naked bodies often, but I hadn't been in front of... Well, one alive, where I could feel the heat even without touching.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Sorry," Rosy said, smiling at him. "Wrong door."

She pushed me, and we ran back to my room like two crazy people. After entering, she closed the door and stared at me in surprise.

"Are you sleeping with him?" she asked, almost horrified.

"God, of course not!" I exclaimed.

"Do you like him?"

I shook my head in denial. It didn't feel right seeing her worried about those things. Affairs had no place in the current situation, and I couldn't afford to feel anything. Humanity was facing something serious. There was no time for meaningless love or to start acting in childish ways.

"Maybe he likes you."

"Seriously, Rosy?"

"I see him looking at you nonstop," she insisted.

"Rosy... Nothing happens, okay? Good night." I tensed my lips. "Listen... Yes, maybe I feel kinda attracted..."

"I knew it!" She jumped.

"But it's nothing. I'm a professional!" I rushed to explain for her not to make a fuss. "I'm an adult woman," I tried to convince myself.

Rosy smiled mischievously.

"Well, let's see. I let you rest," she told me in a better mood.

I smiled at her, we hugged, and she left.

***

The moon was high in the sky. I was walking down a dark street, bright eyes looked after my back, and somehow, I felt safe. I suddenly stopped when I heard a low growl...

I opened my eyes. Ugh, another of those dreams.

The horrible grunts still rumbled in my head; I had heard them so much that night of the attack that my brain reproduced them perfectly in my nightmares. I sighed and looked at the ceiling. I only dreamed nonsense.

When I tried to sleep again, a loud noise made me jump in surprise; it was the building's alarm. I was horrified; they had managed to infiltrate the facilities, and I knew they could be evolved humans.

I ran out, and when I passed through the main hall, I heard Marcus calling me, but I kept going. My goal was to protect the toxin; I had to get it out there. I didn't know where the intruder was, but all the staff gathered in the main hall, leaving the laboratory and the toxins at the expense of whatever it was that had entered.

After entering the laboratory, I immediately regretted arriving alone without any armed security member. The EH turned to see me with his eyes shining, reflecting the dim emergency light.

If an evolved is after you, don't run; they're faster...

It would do no good to run now; he would reach me in a matter of seconds. I could scream, and someone would come, but that wouldn't stop the EH from killing me and escaping. It was too late.

The man approached.

"What do we have here?" he purred. I couldn't answer. "So, you really keep that toxin in this place..." he said as he showed me some papers in his hand; it was my notes about the toxin.

"It's hidden," I replied with my last breath of courage.

The EH took a small bottle out of his pocket and threw it at me with such force that it burst into my forearm and face. It was swift; I couldn't cover myself well.

"Now we'll see if that was the toxin," he scoffed at me.

He watched me for a few seconds without blinking, stalking me. My throat started to itch. It wasn't the deadly toxin, but it was another very potent one too. I felt fading. The being showed me the fangs in a cruel smile and attacked me.

"No!" a male voice shouted.

Anthony surrounded me with his arms, covering me and receiving the EH's strong bite right on the shoulder, letting out a short cry of pain. I screamed too. He backed away and hit the being with the elbow, causing him to release him. The evolved man, in response, bit his arm. I covered my mouth, horrified; he was crazy if he thought he could fight against one of those evolved humans.

"You bastard!" Anthony yelled and punched him, throwing him aside.

His strength must have been tremendous to achieve it; I was sure the boy had one bone broken after doing that. They were heavier, like lions. In seconds, Anthony grabbed one of the heavy wooden chairs and hit the man, who was getting to his feet, breaking the object into many pieces.

I fell to my knees, feeling very ill because of the toxin. The EH threw himself against Anthony, and I no longer had the strength to warn him; I could only beg the man not to hurt him.

The EH grabbed him by his shirt's collar and hit him against a table, breaking the test tubes and other glass things. He hit him again against the surface, and I could hear the air escaping from the boy's lungs with the blow. He continued, and I squirmed with every impact he gave him; I begged the EH to stop even though I knew he wouldn't listen to me.

I struggled to stand up to help, but in seconds, Anthony managed to grab the heavy microscope and used it to hit the man in the head. The staggering was enough for Anthony to kick the man away, hold the table by the legs, and hit him again with all his strength. I was on my knees, still on the ground, shocked to see how much resistance he had.

"What's wrong with you, kid?!" screamed the EH on the floor, trying to stand up.

Anthony kicked him in the face before he could keep talking, and the man fell unconscious. My vision clouded, and I also fell to the floor, squeezing my stomach and listening to his deep breathing. He turned and ran towards me.

***

I felt like I was flying between the clouds.

My hand was squeezing a piece of cloth, and an aroma was very familiar to me. Feeling secure, I cocked my face to bury my nose in that soft, warm surface and smell it. I pulled the fabric to cover myself, but it didn't work. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that my hand was gripping the collar of someone's shirt, that someone had me cradled in his arms while I rested on his lap.

I opened my eyes completely and suddenly turned to see the small room where we were all sitting in chairs. A medical and security team checked those present, and I recognized the people who worked with me. Marcus was with his arms crossed; he looked at me sideways with a frown. Rosy was at his side, and her countenance was concerned and sad.

I reacted and released the shirt; Anthony tilted his face to look into my eyes.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

He seemed to be very well despite having faced that EH. I wanted to straighten up, and he helped me. I immediately sat down as I could in the chair next to him. I took his arm, remembering the bite he had received, and saw it was bandaged. I turned to see his shoulder but only observed the bloodstain on the cloth.

"It's also bandaged," he told me, answering my question not asked.

"Don't you have any broken bones?" I asked, scared.

The medical team appeared in front of us.

"Very well, young lady, the antidote has already begun to take effect. You will be better in a few hours. As for the young man, he hardly has any cuts..."

Cuts? How was it possible that he had cuts only? He should have his hand and ribs broken, at least unless the EH didn't want to kill him, which was very unlikely.

"You can stand up," said the doctor.

I did it, and Anthony held my arm just in case. I staggered a little, but I succeeded. Rosy stood up and ran towards me to hug me.

"Silly, how come you thought of taking the toxin yourself? It didn't matter if they took it away. It wouldn't have mattered as long as you didn't put your life at risk," she told me with tears in her eyes.

"Forgive me, I know. I made a mistake," I replied. The toxin was indeed safe, but I had worried that they would get away with it somehow.

"And what a mistake," said Marcus, who was already at our side.

Security men entered the room.

"We already took care of the problem, and we have also improved security. Everything is already in order, gentlemen. You can return to your business."

"Thank you," Carlos replied.

Everyone started to retire. I felt that I had come back to reality. This was the actual situation: an imminent war between humans and evolved people, a problem that could get out of control. I felt that Anthony had let go of my arm, so I turned around and realized that he had separated from us and gone to his room.

Rosy took me to mine; she talked about a few things, so I started paying attention.

"... I was terrified because you know that this toxin causes hallucinations in the worst case, or general illness, especially in the digestive system. If you had not received the rapid antidote, you would have fallen with the hallucinations and the stomach pain, and there would be irreversible damage and..." I stopped listening to her.

It was a mystery to me. How was Anthony alive? That evolved man had the strength to destroy his body. But if what Rosy told me was true, then everything could have been a kind of exaggerated hallucination of what was happening. Now that I had recovered, I felt that what had happened was part of another reality or a dream. I couldn't remember well and saw it blurry.

We arrived at my room's door.

"Anyway, seeing you appear in his arms was a relief..."

Oh no. Again, the topic would come up. This made me uncomfortable. The problem was severe, but that was not what bothered me. It bothered me to feel that I really liked him too, as I confessed to her earlier. That was a significant problem because I didn't have time to think about those things, and I hadn't tried to stop that feeling when I realized I enjoyed his scent when I was in his arms.

"I wish they gave us the day off tomorrow," my friend complained as she walked away.

"I'd like that," I replied.

I remained in the doorway after she disappeared from my sight. I kept thinking. He had worried about going looking for me. Maybe it was because since he arrived, I was the only one who was understanding, and now he took care of me. I, who no longer had anyone except Rosy and Marcus, who were my friends, now felt I had him too.

Somehow, he wanted to get under my skin, and I feared it because I didn't want him to break my heart, not him. I appreciated him somehow despite still being someone new in my life. The pain was the inevitable end of love.

I pondered a few more seconds about what happened and headed towards the other sector of the building. I had to make sure that everything had been a hallucination.

I knocked softly on the door to not wake him if he was already asleep. I felt I was annoying. Maybe I was exaggerating. Who would want his sleep interrupted during the morning to answer silly questions? I thought about turning around to get out of there as fast as possible, but the door opened.

"All in order?" he asked kindly with that soft voice.

I was speechless. He withdrew, opening the door further and extending his arm, inviting me to enter, so I did. He closed the door and leaned back in it. Suddenly, a chill ran through me, that strange feeling of being with someone dangerous. I shook my head. I was still scared and nervous.

"Don't do that again," he said in a slightly severe tone.

I looked at him.

"Do what?" My voice was tiny. That was a silly question.

"You went to the laboratory alone for the toxin; don't do it again," he replied in the same tone.

I felt like a girl whose father reprimanded her for her bad behavior.

"I know," I said, embarrassed. "Because of me, you could have died. But, understand that I must protect the toxin at all costs."

"You understand that death wouldn't be a good solution."

He didn't understand.

"I know..." I murmured barely. "I'll be careful."

"Good," he replied with a tone of approval. His eyes of intense green didn't detach from me.

"How...? How is it that this evolved man didn't destroy your body?"

"What do you mean?"

"You fought against him."

I told him what I remembered about the fight. He frowned; it was as if I had asked him a question he might not expect to hear. He looked away, like searching for an answer.

"That didn't happen like that. I mean, almost. I assume he didn't want to kill me. I don't know. And I somehow remember that I know how to fight them. They are slightly more vulnerable if you hit them in the head. Maybe that helped."

"Wow. That is a good fact."

He showed me a slight smile.

"You don't learn much if you only study their bodies. I think there are many more things to learn from them."

"It's true. I don't know how they behave in their society or at what age they mature. Anyway, so many things."

An idea appeared in my mind. He was in good shape and knew how to fight EH. Perhaps he had belonged to the Security Guard men. Only they learned to deal with evolved people but focused more on using weapons. Nobody could face them this easily in close combat, only in cases of extreme emergencies, such as what had happened, but that was almost a death sentence.

"Maybe I can remember and tell you more," he said as he approached me.

"Oh, it would be great if you did me that favor!" I exclaimed. "You know that maybe you belonged to Security Guard..."

He stopped a few inches from me and smiled sweetly. His face covered me from the light bulb in the room. I was looking up, planted in his gaze, in those eyes of intense green color, like the bright green leaves of the trees seen against the light. My pupils went down, stopping on his masculine and tempting lips. My heart had accelerated.

I shook my head.

"Wow, I am so sleepy. I should go now," I excused myself as I stepped back.

He also stepped back and withdrew to the side to let me pass, keeping a half-smile.

"Get some rest, miss," he kindly said as I passed.

"You too." I hurried to my room.

Upon entering, I first saw myself in my mirror to confirm that I was blushing. I felt ashamed. He was just a guy, but he took me out of this cruel reality. 'I wish he didn't notice my blush,' I thought. That would be even more embarrassing because he would know his effect on me, and worse if I misunderstood his intentions. To top it off, now he seemed my protector, and I liked him. How pathetic I was.

***