Page 93 of Grave Danger

“I’ll help,” Oliver said, placing a firm hand on Dave’s chest when he’d started forward. “You’ve done enough.”

Agatha came over as well, and the three of them got Dr. Willoughby into a chair. Sam wrapped thick restraining bands around her chest, arms, and ankles, securing her to the chair. He stepped back, then cursed quietly.

“What?” Agatha asked, taking a nervous step back. “She awake?”

“No. I should have removed her lab coat before I restrained her.” He sighed before crossing the lab and fumbling through drawers until he found a pair of surgical scissors. Returning to Dr. Willoughby, he started cutting away material.

“What are you doing?” Dave asked.

“Looking for the bite,” Sam said. “I need to place the injections directly into the wound.”

“Gross,” Oliver muttered.

Sam’s watch beeped, and he turned to Agatha, holding out the scissors. “Can you finish cutting away material until you find the bite mark?”

She gave him a raised-eyebrows look and crossed her arms. “Please?”

He scowled. “Please.”

Agatha accepted the scissors, then cautiously approached Dr. Willoughby. She slumped in the chair, chin on her chest. A long runner of drool hung from her mouth and left a small puddle on her thigh. Demetrius wondered what Dr. Willoughby would think of her current condition. He watched Sam deliver another injection to the wound on Cody’s forearm, and moved to his opposite side to take his hand once again.

“How many is that now?” Demetrius asked.

“That’s number four,” Sam said, tapping at his watch. “We should see some real results with the next injection.”

It wasn’t the next injection, but the one after it before the skin around the bite began to improve. Agatha had started assisting Sam by keeping notes on changes she saw in the bites on both Cody and Dr. Willoughby, who, they discovered, had been bitten on the shoulder. Sam had searched through the back of the lab and a couple of storage closets and procured a few rolling desk chairs for them all to sit in, and Demetrius caught himself nodding off more than a few times as he held Cody’s hand. He didn’t know if it was his imagination or wishful thinking, but Cody’s hand started to feel a little warmer.

“I’ve done this with animals, but didn’t think I’d ever do it for people,” Agatha said as she noted the most recent changes in Cody’s condition.

“Well, he’s always been a bit of an animal,” Dave said, and they all managed a tired chuckle.

“Fuck you.”

The words were slow and slurred, the voice scratchy and thick with phlegm. But the familiar sound of it kicked Demetrius’s heart into a gallop. He jumped out of his chair, sending it rolling off across the lab to crash against the wall.

“Cody!” Demetrius said.

Cody’s eyes fluttered open, but quickly shut again as he winced. “Why did you install fluorescent lights in our bedroom? And why is my brother in here with us?”

Everyone laughed again, even, Demetrius noticed, Sam.

“We’re not in our bedroom. We’re in a lab.”

Cody’s forehead creased as he frowned. Moving slowly, he turned his head toward Demetrius and opened one eye halfway. “Lab?”

“Yeah, a lab.” Demetrius leaned in over him, clutching Cody’s hand to his chest. He ran his fingers through the spikes and whorls of his hair and gently massaged his scalp, feeling dirt and bits of leaves beneath his fingers. “Do you remember anything?”

“No. My arm hurts like a motherfucker, though.”

A siren began to wail, and emergency lights mounted near the ceiling flashed.

“What the fuck?” Oliver shouted, putting a hand to his chest. “Holy fucking shit. I can’t take much more of this bullshit today. Fuck!”

“The outer fence has been breached!” Llewelyn shouted.

“What the fuck is that?” Cody said with a groan. “That’s the worst fucking alarm clock I’ve ever heard.”

“Can you shut that thing off?” Dave shouted over the siren.