The office was small. It smelled like stale coffee and paper.
The nurse's name was Lena. She didn't say much. She just watched me with those bulging, terrified eyes. The grey tint was spreading across her neck.
Janiella was outside. She was guarding the door. She knew the drill. She didn't want to watch. I didn't want her to watch. It wasn't about jealousy. It was about the cold, clinical reality of it.
"Drink," I said.
I didn't touch her. I didn't kiss her. There was no romance here. No heroism. Just biology.
Lena was hesitant. For about three seconds. Then the hunger took over.
The Deviant side of her was screaming for the cure. She lunged forward. She was frantic. Desperate.
I closed my eyes. I thought about a steak. A cold beer. Anything but this.
The release came. It was painful this time. Like my body was being wrung out like a wet towel. I felt the drain in my bones. My head throbbed.
I pushed her away. I zipped up.
I watched the change. It was still fascinating. In a disgusting way. The grey skin smoothed out. Her eyes settled back into their sockets.
The guttural clicking in her throat stopped.
She slumped against the desk. She was panting.
"Oh god," Lena whispered. She looked at her hands. "I... I'm human again."
"For seven days," I snapped. I was leaning against the wall, trying not to pass out. "Next Wednesday, at this exact time, you turn back. Unless you get another dose."
Lena looked at me. She looked at Janiella, who was peering through the door. The realization hit her. The horror of the transaction.
"You're... you're a monster," she whispered.
"Maybe," I said. (haha). "But I'm the only monster keeping you from being a naked, mindless beast. So choose.
You want to be a 'monster' with me? Or you want to go back outside and join the party?"
She didn't answer. She just looked at the floor.
I walked past her. I went to the breakroom. I found a bag of beef jerky. I tore it open with my teeth. I needed salt. I needed protein.
"Hex," Janiella said. She followed me. "We can't just keep doing this. You're getting weaker."
"I know," I said. I chewed the jerky. It tasted like cardboard. "But we need a team. We need people who know things. Lena is a nurse. She's useful."
"And what happens when we find more useful people?" Janiella asked.
I looked at her. Her seven-day clock was already counting down. 150 hours left. Give or take.
"Then I'll have to produce more," I said. "Or we'll have to decide who gets to stay human and who becomes meat."
The universe doesn't care about our feelings. It doesn't care about our morals. It just cares about the clock.
I looked at the window. The golden light was fading. The first night of the apocalypse was coming.
And I was already out of medicine.