April finished her cup of tea, but the mellow brew failed to calm her like usual. Perhaps it was the double shot of bourbon she’d put in it. Lynne had dropped off the bottle earlier after hearing about April’s time at the Pure church. Or rather, the time before it when Damon had treated her like a sack of potatoes and a piñata at the same time.

She had left word at headquarters that he was to stop by after the raid.

It wasn’t because she was worried about him and needed to see for herself that he was all right. Nope. Not at all.

She sighed. Yeah, she was a dork.

Moonlight filtered in through the shadeless window in her kitchen. It had to be about midnight. That was good. She straightened her shoulders. It was too late for Damon to come by. That was a good thing. Yeah. Her mind was fuzzy now, and her body way too relaxed. She’d deal with him in the morning when she was at a hundred percent.

Rapid knocking on her interior door had her biting back a yelp.

“April? April, wake up,” came an urgent voice.

April ran for the door and opened it to see two teenage girls. “Julie? Molly? What are you doing? Curfew was an hour ago.”

Molly, a short brunette of about sixteen, grabbed her arm. “There’s something wrong with Freda.”

Panic choked off April’s breath.

Freda was a sweet seventeen-year-old who had somehow made her way from Texas by herself. April hustled into the main rec room and ran up the stairs toward the teenage girls’ floor. Reaching it, she ran into Freda’s room and stopped cold.

The girl thrashed on her bed, sweat rolling down her face. Her long, blond hair went in every direction, and her slim body convulsed with the fever.

Oh, God.

April looked around for restraints and ran for a belt. Her hands shook violently. “I thought she’d survived the bacteria?”

Molly nodded.

Julie shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “She lied. She wanted to stay here with us, so she told the intake folks that she’d survived the fever.”

April secured Freda’s left arm to the bedpost. During the fever, sometimes the victim tried to gouge out their own eyes because of the agonizing headache. Restraint was protocol. “Why would she lie? She’d still be on this floor, just down in the safer rooms.” They’d tried to keep the uninfected as safe as possible. Maybe the Pure did have the right answer.

Tears rolled down Julie’s face. “She wanted to stay right here and be one of us. I should’ve said something.”

April secured the girl’s other hand and looked over her shoulder. “Go get a doctor. I think Tace is at the Bunker, so bring Doc Penelope. Run. Now.”

The girls turned and ran out of sight.

April sat and smoothed the girl’s hair back from her face. Flashbacks of losing her own daughter caught her and squeezed the air out of her lungs. She shook her head. Stay in the moment. She had to stay right here. “It’s okay, Freda. Hold on, sweetheart,” she murmured.

Freda arched her back in the throes of the pain.

April’s entire body hurt for the girl. While she hadn’t experienced the onslaught of the bacteria, she’d witnessed it several times, and the pain was palpable.

A ruckus sounded on the stairs, and Doc Penelope hurried into the room, already filling a syringe with a complex mixture of Vitamin B complex. Nobody knew exactly why or how, but the Bs helped new victims survive, and then also assisted survivors in staying sane. She reached the bed and injected the girl.

Freda continued to struggle, kicking out her legs. The bedclothes fell to the floor, leaving her in only shorts and a tank top. Even so, sweat soaked through the material.

Doc Penelope sat on the bed and felt the girl’s head. “Not good,” she murmured, looking over her slim shoulder at April. The doctor was petite with very dark eyes and long, black hair. Her features were Korean, and her skin tone darker than average. “Any idea when she was infected?”

April shook her head and looked toward the doorway where Marcus Knight blocked the exit. Jax’s brother stood about six and a half feet tall with pure, raw muscle and a whole lot of anger. Or insanity. His eyes were more green than brown, and his features more hard-cut than chiseled. “Marcus? Let the girls by,” April murmured.

He didn’t move.

Doc Penelope sighed. “I’m fine here, Marcus. Please, let the girls in.”

He instantly pivoted to the side.

The girls carefully skirted Marcus and hustled inside, their eyes wide and trained on their thrashing friend.

“I remember this part,” Julie said, wincing. Her face was incredibly pale against her long, red hair. “It’s awful.”

“How did she get infected?” Doc Penelope asked, running her hands down Freda’s arms. “There are no bite marks.”

The girls shrugged.

Shit. This could be really bad. April patted down Freda’s leg. “We don’t have any cold water, do we?”

“Maybe in the basement of headquarters,” Penelope said quietly. “We have water down there, and it’s semi-cool.” She looked at Marcus. “Would you please go and get rags and a bucket of the coldest water we have?”

The man faltered.

“Please, Marcus,” Penelope urged. “I’ll be fine.”

He gave her a look and turned, his large footsteps eerily silent on the stairs down the way.

April exhaled. “Is he getting any better?”

“Yes,” Penelope said. “Believe it or not, he is.”

April wanted to talk about anything but the ill girl in front of her. Another sick child. “I’ve watched him with you, but nobody has told me the story. I’ve meant to ask.” Penelope and Marcus had only been with Vanguard for a couple of weeks, and April hadn’t had much time to get to know either of them.

Penelope took Freda’s wrist and silently counted. Then she shook her head. “I worked at the Bunker that Jax now controls, but I didn’t know what was happening in the underground labs. They were experimenting on Scorpius survivors, seeing what they could handle in terms of torture and such. Marcus was one of their subjects.”

April’s stomach lurched. “You’re kidding.”

“No. The Bunker scientists, at least the ones at that Bunker, were evil.” Penelope shuddered, her gaze on the now moaning girl. “I got called in to treat Marcus and saw what was happening. I promised I’d get him out.”

“And you did?”

Penelope nodded. “Yeah. When Jax took the facility, I was injured, but I went to help Marcus. He was bleeding, but I didn’t care. His blood hit my wound, and I contracted the Scorpius fever.”

Whoa. So the doctor had risked her life to save Marcus. No wonder he was so dedicated to her. Even so, it was a lot. Obsession was often a side effect of surviving the bacteria, but Marcus seemed to take it to a whole new level.

“I’ve heard he doesn’t remember life before Scorpius,” April said softly, moving over for the girls to sit on the bed, too.

Penelope nodded. “Yeah. Whatever the doctors did to him messed with his memory. Sometimes I think he remembers his brother, but he’s just not ready to reach out, you know? We’ll see.”

It had to be a lot of responsibility on Penelope, trying to keep Marcus sane.

Suddenly, Marcus stood inside the room, a bucket of cold water in his hands. He wasn’t breathing heavily, but he must’ve run like crazy. He handed over some cold washcloths.

“Thank you,” Penelope said, drawing another syringe out of her lab coat pocket. “I can give her morphine now. The B should be taking effect.” She quickly gave the girl the painkiller.

Freda subsided into small and snuffling whimpers.

Penelope dipped a rag into the water and pressed it to the girl’s head. “It’s better than nothing,” she said.

April did the same with Freda’s legs and feet, trying to cool them. “Girls? She wasn’t bitten. So we have to figure out how she contracted the illness.” If bacteria were still living on surfaces after all this time and all the numerous cleanings, then they were in trouble. Without question. “Where has she been, and what has she been doing?”

The girls exchanged a look.

April’s instincts rose along with the hair on her arms while Doc Penelope busied herself with trying to cool Freda. “Girls? Nobody is in trouble, but this is a big deal. How did this happen?” April asked.

Julie bit her lip. “I don’t know. Not really.”

Okay. Tread lightly. “Give me your best guess,” April said softly. “It doesn’t matter how crazy. Was she somewhere she could’ve easily gotten infected?” Where would that be? The girl wasn’t a scout or a soldier. She remained and worked inside Vanguard. “Did she leave?”

“No,” Molly said. “She hasn’t left.” She ran more water down Freda’s arms.

April bit back impatience. They had all night—if Freda kept fighting. “Talk. Now.” She used her best mom voice.

Julie broke first. “She’s been dating one of the Vanguard soldiers, and this was their first night together. You know, their first night. She came in late from curfew.”

Nausea dropped into April’s stomach. “Scorpius lives in bodily fluids. She knows that. You all know that.” She shook her head. How had this happened? “Who the hell is this soldier?” The soldiers were all over eighteen, and this was a seventeen-year-old girl. “Give me his name.”

“Monty Jones,” Molly whispered. “He’s only eighteen, and I don’t think he knew she hadn’t been infected. If she didn’t tell me, she probably didn’t tell him.”

“They used a condom,” Julie snapped. “I know they did. I gave her a couple before she left this afternoon.”

April’s head ached. The whole room spun. The girls were right. The boy probably hadn’t known that Freda wasn’t infected with the bacteria. Even so, if they used a condom, they should be all right.

Julie winced. “She wanted to try giving a blowjob.”

Oh, God. April hung her head. Kids should be allowed to have stupid moments without facing the fear of death. Even so, what had Freda been thinking?

“I don’t know if she did,” Julie rushed out to say. “Just that she was thinking about it. Just doing that wouldn’t transfer the bacteria, would it?”

Nobody knew exactly what transferred it besides fluid. It was still possible that Freda had touched a surface with the still-living spores on it. Or that the condom had broken, and since it was probably Freda’s first time, there might’ve been blood. Who the hell knew? “We have to find out if the bacteria still survives on surfaces,” April muttered.

“We are. There’s definite intel at the newly discovered Bunker,” Penelope murmured. “I think Jax is planning to take it soon.”

If that were possible. Those places were seriously protected. Right now, April had to get this kid through the night. That was all that mattered.

Freda stiffened and cried out. Then she went limp.

“No.” April grabbed her arms.

Doc Penelope levered up on her knees and started CPR, calmly counting. Then she breathed into Freda’s mouth. For minutes. Then more minutes.

Julie gave a low sob and put her arm around Molly.

Tears pooled in April’s eyes. “Wake up, Freda. Right now. You wake up.” The room narrowed from the outside in.

Penelope grew frantic, her movements stronger. The girl remained unresponsive beneath her hands. “Come on, Freda. Let’s go.”

Julie and Molly started crying harder. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be.

Finally, Marcus moved forward and touched Penelope on the shoulder. “Penny. Let her go,” he said, his voice a low rumble.

Penelope’s head dropped, and she gave a low sob. “We have to examine her at the office. See if we can find the infection.” Her hair covered her face.

Marcus lifted her away from the bed and then covered Freda with a blanket, picking her up against his chest in a surprisingly gentle move. He looked down at the girl, his expression stark. “I’ve got her,” he said quietly.

April turned to see Jax Mercury and Lynne Harmony in the doorway. When had they arrived? Lynne was crying, and Jax looked like he wanted to murder somebody.

Lynne reached for her to hug. “Go on. We’ve got the girls.”

April nodded. She couldn’t talk right now. Everything was too fresh and too painful. And there was an entire bottle of bourbon with her name on in it her apartment. She turned and walked blindly down the stairs.