The Breeders (30 page)

Rayburn swipes his badge and the door swings open. The hallway outside is dark and quiet. Little nightlights throw triangles of light on the tile floor. Rayburn scuttles out and motions for us to follow. I take Ethan’s hand, my heart in my throat.

We skulk down the hallway. Rayburn takes a quick left, then right. He stops at a set of double doors, takes out his swipe card. The automatic doors slide open with a smooth hiss. The room before us is pitch black.

Rayburn disappears into the inky darkness. My heart thuds as I will myself forward. I know what horrors await me, but there’s no time for fear. I tug Ethan along. Betsy shuffles so close behind, heavy breathing pulses at my ear. Together we walk into the darkness.

The door clicks shut behind us. A thick nothingness descends. The only thing anchoring me is Ethan’s hand in mine and Betsy’s breath at my back.

“Rayburn, the lights,” I whisper.

They snap on with blinding brightness. We wince and blink into the light. When I look up, I take a step back. “Rayburn, what the hell—”

We’re not in plan B. This room is smaller, about the size of a classroom, with echoing tile floors and low ceilings, and there are no beds, no unconscious pregnant girls. Most of the room is empty except one occupied bed in the corner.

Ethan stiffens. “Riley!” He points to the bed ten feet away. “Is it—” He starts to tremble.

It’s our mother. I run over and put my hand on her skeletal arm. I mark every blue vein in her semi-transparent skin. She looks worse than when I last saw her. Her belly bulges round and grotesque. She looks far too along to be only impregnated a few weeks ago. But she’s alive. The wires run from under her gown to the computer monitor above. The jagged green lines show her breathing, pulse and heart rate all steady.

Why is she here alone?

“Rayburn, what’s going on?” I ask, turning on him.

He freezes, giving me a sheepish half smile. He’s backing quietly to the door. “You, uh, you wanted, uh your mother. There she is.” Beads of sweat have popped up on his hairline. His flabby chin trembles. Warning bells clang in my head.

“Rayburn, what’ve you done?”

The door opens with a hiss. We’ve been found.

The Sheriff strides in. My mouth drops open. I tuck Ethan behind me. Betsy’s hands tighten around my arm.

“What is this?” I ask Rayburn again. He says nothing.

The Sheriff gives me his dangerous grin and then steps aside. A woman strides in and the door slides shut behind her.

“Oh no,” Betsy whispers, sliding close until her gown swishes against my arm.

The woman is dressed like those business ladies I’ve seen in magazines. She wears slacks with pressed creases and a matching jacket. Her smooth brown hair is clasped at the back of her head. She’s about Mama’s age, but with none of the wear and tear that comes from life on the outside. Her chin and nose are sharp, her lips thin, unwelcoming, but there’s something familiar about her sky blue eyes. They fall on me now as I’m staring, speechless.

The woman lifts her lips in a smile that’s supposed to be welcoming but borders on nasty. She takes a step toward me, her shoulders back, her chin held high. “You must be Riley. I’ve wanted to meet you for a while now.”

There’s something familiar about her voice. It takes a moment before it hits me. It’s the voice I heard over the intercom reprimanding Rayburn when he tried to be kind. She’s one of the head Breeders.

We’re screwed.

I swallow and raise my own chin. “Who’re you?”

She takes another step. “I’m Dr. Nessa Vandewater. I’m one of the people in charge here.” She gestures toward the hospital. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Riley. I’ve heard a lot about you.” She clasps her hands in front of her and I note her manicured fingernails, long and red.

The Sheriff snorts and she shoots him a pointed look. He grumbles but quiets. He rests his palms on the set of revolvers on his wide hips and glares at me.

Her shiny black shoes click on the tile as she takes another step forward. She’s close enough I can smell her perfume, something like wilting roses. I focus on her eyes, piercing blue with flecks of gray around the irises. Where have I see her before?

She studies my face and gives a nod of approval. “I can see why Clay’s taken a shine to you. Feisty, bold. Just like his mother.”

I cock my head. “You know Clay’s mother?”

“Yes.” Dr. Vandewater smiles faintly. “Quite well.”

The Sheriff snorts again. He slouches against the wall, his belly folding over his belt buckle. He’s bored with this whole exchange and cranky, like he’s being forced to be here. Is she in charge? How much power has been handed to the Sheriff by this blue-eyed woman? No wonder he’s staring at the back of her head like he could smack it.

I point to my mama asleep on the bed next to me. “What about her?” I say, touching her hand. Her skin feels like brittle paper. “What’s going to happen to her?”

Dr. Vandewater turns her graceful neck and gazes at my mother placidly. “Nothing’s been decided. This batch of plan B pregnancies aren’t going well. We’ve had to change plans.” Her tone tightens and her hands claw around each other for a moment. Then she takes a deep breath and continues. “With the right treatments, she can be saved. Not the fetus, unfortunately. We weren’t able to stop the mutations.”

“What?” I snap my eyes to her.

Her head snaps back, eyes wide as if she’s revealed too much. “Nothing.” She smoothes a hand over her hair and forces a smile. “What happens to your mother is going to be up to you and Clay.”

“To me and Clay?”

She touches an index finger to the metallic disk inside her ear. “Location of Clay?” she asks and then waits for a moment and nods. “He’ll be here in twenty seconds.” She gives a little smile. “Perfect timing.”

Ethan drops my hand and takes a step forward, fists clenched at his sides. “What’re you gonna do to Clay?”

She leans down and smiles at him. “Clay will be fine, little Ethan. Don’t you worry about that.” When she smiles her teeth are straight and white as bleached tombstones.

The doors behind us swish open. Clay charges into the room. He squints against the blinding lights, throwing up a hand to shield his eyes. He stumbles over to me. “Riley, Ethan, what—” His eyes fall on his father and the woman in the suit. “Pa? What …” Shock creeps over his face. “What … the hell is going on?”

Dr. Vandewater claps her hands, her face unfolding into a giddy smile. “Oh, Clay, look at you.” She rushes over to him. “When I saw you on the monitor screens, I said to myself,
Look how much he’s grown.
Not a boy now, are you?” She pauses a few feet from him, admiring him. “A man.” She looks to the Sheriff for confirmation. He frowns back, but she just keeps smiling like a rabid coyote. “Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come.”

Clay mouth drops open, his eyes wide. “You … You’re—”

“Yes,” she says, clasping his hand. “I’m your mother.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Now I understand. Clay has his mother’s eyes.

Clay stares into her face, slowly shaking his head. “But, I—I thought you were dead or gone or … Right?” He lifts his eyes to his father.

The Sheriff shakes his head. “It’s your ma, alright.”

She nods, inserting herself in Clay’s line of vision. “Sweetheart, darling, I wish you could understand why I’ve been gone for so long.” Her tone speeds up. Her eyes are too wide. Her hands flutter like panicked birds. “It was
impossible
to have you here while I focused on my work. What would I do with a child running around the labs? You would’ve just gotten into trouble. But now, it can all be different.” She reaches a hand out to touch his cheek and he steps back.

“You left when me I was a baby. Pa said he was forced to bring you here to breed.” He points to his father who shrugs, drops his head and twiddles his fingers on his revolvers.

She clasps her hands together. “We couldn’t tell you the truth, darling. It was better you thought I was out of your reach. I’ll admit I did get a little obsessed. We were
so close
to perfecting the procedure.” She looks up at Clay. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is when I saw you on the monitors when you came to get Riley.”

Eyes turn to me, then back to the doctor.

“I knew I had to see you. I asked your father to bring you earlier today, but he was unable.” She shoots him a glance.

The Sheriff eyes Clay. “Gave me the slip, didn’t ya, boy? Beat me back home to see
her.
” He nods to me, disgusted. “Yer ma and I figured you’d come after the filly. Guess we was right.” He smirks, but Dr. Vandewater shoots him another glare.

“Clay, darling, listen. I’ve given so much of my life to this job. Now it’s my turn. I need to connect with you again.”

Clay blinks and shakes his head slightly. “I—I don’t understand. You want to come back now?”

She takes a step forward, her hand outstretched. “I gave up a life with you and with your father so I could help them here at the hospital. It was the right thing to do, but I’ve given them eighteen years of my life and now it’s my turn. I’m stepping down from the experimental program. I have time now. Time for you.” She cups Clay’s cheek. This time he doesn’t pull away. “It’s not too late for us.”

A tense silence hangs, the only sound the delicate beeping of my mama’s heart monitor. If my heart had a monitor, it’d be beeping out of control. I watch Clay in his dirty jeans and cotton t-shirt torn at the shoulder. His boots are grimy, his chin dark with stubble. He came after me today, risked angering his pa. Now he stands between his mother and I and doesn’t look at either of us. His blue eyes, his mother’s eyes, are locked to the polished tile floor. His hands twitch at his sides, but other than that, there are no signs of a war raging inside him. I want to close the gap between us, throw my arms around his neck and lean my head to his chest. Instead I stand stock-still and await his judgment.

He looks up at his mother. “What’ll happen to them?” He points at Ethan and me.

“That’s the best part,” she says, smiling too wide. “They can stay here at the hospital. Your father has already agreed to move the two of you to town so we can all be together. You can visit Riley as often as you like. She’ll be safe here, free from disease, war, enslavement. She’ll have the best food and medicine. And you two can still be together. It’s perfect.”

She makes it sound too good to be true. But as I look into her eyes, I don’t see a future free from pain and torment. I see imprisonment, plain and simple. Yet, it’s not my decision to make.

“What about her ma? And Ethan?” he says, shooting him a glance. “What’ll happen to them?”

“We’ll use every technology available to save Janine Meemick’s life. Out there, she might survive, but …” She looks at my mother. “It won’t be pretty. Ethan can stay with you and your father and visit his family on weekends. When he’s old enough, we can get him a job. There are perks to knowing someone in the upper offices.” She smiles slyly, raising her perfectly rounded eyebrows.

Clay frowns. “And what if I say no?”

Dr. Vandewater stiffens. “Why would you?”

He locks his jaw and stares at her. “What if I say no?”

Dr. Nessa Vandewater lifts a slightly trembling hand to smooth her hair. “Well, things could go
rather badly.
” She enunciates each word as she shoots eye daggers at me. She softens as she turns back at Clay. “I don’t want it to come to that, Clay. Please.”

Clay turns and walks toward me, reaching for my hand. I slip my fingers into his. I love the feel of his calloused palm in mine. But his eyes are so anguished. Will I be able to forgive him if he chooses his mother? I chose mine. I feel like I’m swallowing a throat full of cotton as I think about what I’ve set into motion.

“Riley,” he says, leaning in until I can smell his aftershave, “could you be happy here? Your family would be here.”

Dr. Vandewater leans over his shoulder. “We could even bring your Auntie in. She’d make an excellent nanny.”

He ignores her and stares into my eyes. Emotions zap through me like lightening. I don’t want to be a prisoner here, but what’s the alternative? Death? Being put back in plan B? And if it will keep Mama and Ethan safe and give Clay what he wants? I can give up my freedom for them. A tear wells in my eye, blurring Clay’s features for a moment. Can’t I?

I try a smile. “If they were safe and you were happy, I’d be happy.”

He steps closer. My eyes trace over the hollow at his throat, the stubble on his chin. “You’d do that for them?” He cups his hand around my cheek. “For me?”

A tear traces down my nose as I rest my cheek in his palm. “All I really wanted,” I say looking deep into his eyes, “was to be with the people I love.”

He pulls me to his chest and wraps his arms around me. I throw my arms around his shoulders and press into the warmth of his chest. His heart thuds against mine. I have wanted this so long. Now it’s so bittersweet.

His arms drop from around me as he twirls around.

His guns are silver blurs. Before anyone can move Clay points both revolvers at his parents. Clay’s blue eyes narrow. All emotion is gone. Only the gunslinger remains. “We all walk or none do. Your deal may sound sweet as candy, lady, but I’ve made deals with your kind before. They turn sour real quick.”

His mother steps toward him. “Clay, I—”

He gives her a hard look. “You may a birthed me, but you weren’t never a mother to me. No sense in starting now.”

Dr. Vandewater starts a shrill protest, but the Sheriff’s chuckle cuts in. His belly shakes as he strides around the doctor and stands in front of Clay.

“You was never a one to make a good choice, was ya, boy? Shoulda taken your ma’s deal. My deal won’t be so sweet.” His nasty grin widens to reveal missing teeth. “Not sweet at all.”

Clay doesn’t waiver. “One more step and you’ll be leakin’. I ain’t afraid of you no more, pa.”

The Sheriff grins and clomps forward. “You don’t really think I’d leave bullets in them shooters, do ya?”

Confusion darkens Clay’s face. He looks at his guns. “You’re bluffing.”

The Sheriff laughs, his belly jiggling. “I’ll jist give you a minute to check.”