Strange Blood Page #2

- I don't really get out much.

- Yeah, I've been there, done that.

Got the T-shirt.

During my... little stint in rehab,

I pretty much shut myself

away from the world.

Hey. You guys decide what you want?

- Yeah.

- I will have the... the burger.

How you want that?

Rare. Still mooing, if you can.

Got it. You?

- Pie...

- She'll have the burger as well.

Hey.

Yeah, okay, I'll... I'll have a burger.

How you want that?

Burn it. Give me extra fries.

You got it.

- What the hell?

- You need a proper meal.

Geez, thanks, Dad.

- So...

- So yourself.

Rehab?

Yeah.

High school was

a pretty tough time for me.

I...

It was just me and Dad, and Dad

wasn't exactly around all that much.

I was a stupid kid

doing a lot of stupid sh*t, and...

I got myself into a lot of trouble.

Dad caught on during the worst of it

and threw my ass into rehab

for a summer.

I cleaned up my sh*t,

actually started going to school,

and I've done pretty okay

for myself ever since then.

So boom!

This huge fireball explodes

right in his face.

Burns off, like, half his beard.

And by this point, we've nearly

burned down, like, the entire chem lab.

And Natalie Patterson, she nearly

blows the whole thing for us

because she can't stop laughing.

- And you guys weren't caught?

- Hell no.

You've never seen a pack

of freshmen girls run so fast.

When's the last time you changed that?

This is disgusting.

- You begging for an infection or what?

- I've... I've been busy.

Sh*t. Sh*t. What's the time?

7:
30.

I gotta bail.

- It's my dad's birthday.

- Yeah. Of course.

- Are you okay for a ride home?

- I'll call a cab.

- Are you sure?

- Yeah.

Okay.

Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Doc.

Take care of that hand, okay?

Get some rest!

Good night, Gemma!

Hey, where'd your girlfriend go?

What?

Your girlfriend.

- No. She's not my girlfriend.

- Does she know that?

F***!

Come on. Come on. No, no, no, no.

Doc? Henry!

Where you at? Doc!

Jesus! What the hell happened here?

You look like dog sh*t on toast.

Henry, you're burning up.

- Come on. Let's get you to a hospital.

- I don't need a hospital.

I need to finish the formula.

It can wait. Come on.

I had a son once.

I...

married a...

truly awful girl.

I was young and... dumb

when it came to that sort of thing.

But Jacob...

he was something else.

There was this...

light in his eyes. I...

can't really explain it.

It's called...

lymphocytic choriomeningitis.

Horrible thing.

We did the best we could, but...

She blamed me for his death...

if you can imagine that.

I guess I did too.

She left me immediately after.

And...

And within a month,

I was transferred

to Baxter's Special

Biologies Division.

- ELA.

- She was just a hypothesis then.

But...

if there was...

any way...

to prevent what happened to Jacob,

it was...

up to me...

to find it.

My dad is dying.

He was a scientist, like you, once.

Well, not exactly like you.

He worked...

with nuclear fission mostly.

He was a really,

really smart guy.

I think...

I think it started...

right around the time

I got home from... rehab.

Little things at first.

He'd be... absentminded.

He started...

talking to himself... more than normal.

Then he started talking to...

people who... weren't really there.

And then the tremors came.

Parkinson's... with dementia?

Most of the time...

he doesn't even know who I am.

I'm losing him...

piece by piece.

Did Moorehouse have a drinking problem?

No.

Do you?

What about after the accident?

Did he exhibit any unusual

mood swings or angry outbursts?

Anything out of the ordinary.

Everything Henry did

was out of the ordinary.

But it got worse after that, didn't it?

How bad did it get?

Gemma!

How bad did it get?

I was...

incorrect...

in my assumption of ELA's

new evolutionary step.

Fluid retrieved from the... new growth

was amniotic in nature.

Damn quills,

not a defense mechanism,

as I had hastily presumed,

rather a type of genitalia,

meant to deliver its offspring

into a secondary host body.

Me.

Baxter.

By all accounts,

I should be dying of 13 different

incurable illnesses right now.

Intelligent design dictates that anything

less than the complete form

wouldn't work at all.

It'd be so detrimental to the organ

that it wouldn't survive the process

of natural selection.

That makes you the anomaly.

"Methinks we have hugely mistaken

this matter of Life and Death.

Methinks what they call

my shadow here on earth...

is my true substance.

In fact, take my body who will.

It's not me."

Hello.

Hey, how come I'm locked out?

Gemma?

What... What time is it?

I know. I know. I'm late. It's...

It's after 10:
00.

Traffic was a b*tch this morning.

Late? No, you're...

You're far too early.

What are you...

Come back later. Tonight.

Come on. Let me in, Doc.

What the hell was the deal this morning?

Do a little remodeling while I was gone?

The lab was too bright.

It was too sterile.

Which is the point, no?

Science isn't meant to be constrained,

to be confined to a pristine environment.

It's an organic thing, and it needs

- to live and breathe.

- Okay.

Don't they teach you anything

at that school?

You know, I don't know what the hell

has gotten into you lately,

but here.

Picked you that up before I knew

you were gonna turn into Dr. A**hole.

Gemma?

Let go of me!

I'm sorry.

I'm an idiot.

I'm sorry.

Open your gift... jerk.

Now...

you're the perfect...

mad scientist.

- I don't know what to say.

- "Thanks" would be a good start.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

What's the deal?

Baxter. They're spying on me.

Surely you saw them out there.

Are you okay?

I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm better than fine.

You don't look fine.

Will you just sit down?

- How's your hand?

- F*** my hand!

Never mind.

Where is it?

Where is what?

The rest of the damn blood.

- I don't know what you're talking about.

- There's barely 10 pints in here.

And I specifically requested 40 pints.

They must have made a mistake

at the warehouse.

- I'll go back tomorrow and...

- And?

Are you trying to kill me?

I am trying to...

- You irresponsible child!

- ...to help you, to attempt to...

You know what? You're f***ing useless.

- Where are you going?

- F*** you, Doc.

I don't do bat-sh*t crazy.

Wait. Gemma?

- Gemma?

- Let go of me!

- Gemma!

- Get the f*** out of my way!

The anomalous becomes the singular,

becomes the natural.

The nature of the natural is burned down

in the fire of creation/re-creation.

The snake choking on its tail!

Only in belief of a God does man

temper his beliefs like a lowly worm.

Worm must rise... up.

What?

I need to see you.

It's 4:
00 in the morning.

Please...

just come over. I'll explain everything.

I can't keep doing this, Henry.

Please.

It's important.

I wouldn't ask otherwise.

F***. Fine. You win.

Thank you.

Hello?

Henry?

Hello, Gemma.

Jesus! You scared the sh*t out of me!

You wanna tell me what's going on?

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