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blood sample. This isn’t infected.” Robert paused to give Afana time to look at the screen. “Now I am adding the infected blood.” The reaction was immediate this time. “The infected blood duplicates at a much faster pace. After a while the results are the same, just the length of time it takes is different.”

Afana watched the hostile takeover occurring on the screen. “So we have two very different results. Did you test any other samples?”

Robert nodded. “I tried it with my own blood sample and the infection spread at an incredibly slow rate.”

“We need a wider sample pool. Take blood samples from everyone on Level One to start with, and harvest the brain and the remaining blood from Ivan’s head. The Level-One workers are a good mixture of people from different levels of the bunker. This will give us an idea if environmental factors affect the infection rate.” Afana paused. “Make sure you get samples from everyone on the level. The more we have, the better.”

“I also tested your blood. There was still some left from the samples I took for my efforts to solve your issue with the sun.”

Afana was interested in how his blood would react to the disease. “And what were the results?”

“I can show you.”

“Please do.”

Robert placed a sample of Afana’s blood under the camera and added a drop of infected blood. The two men watched intently as the infected blood did nothing.

“With yours, I found that it takes more infected blood to see results,” Robert told him, adding a few more drops to the sample dish. It was now fifty percent Afana’s blood and fifty percent infected blood.

The infected blood began to absorb Afana’s blood cells. Then they duplicated, as before.

Afana was horrified. I can be infected.

Robert rubbed his hands together, unaware of his master’s internal panic. “Now watch this.”

They both watched the screen as the infected blood continued to assimilate the vampire’s blood. Afana turned to Robert, unimpressed.

“Keep watching,” Robert told him. He was smiling.

Afana watched the diseased cells engulf his own.

Then the tide began to turn.

Afana’s cells began to replicate as fast–faster, even– as the infected ones could absorb them. The healthy cells swamped the infected ones within moments, clearing the sample dish of the disease.

Afana gazed at the screen. “Does this mean what I think it means? Am I immune to this disease?”

Robert looked at Afana hopefully. “It looks like your blood stopped the disease. But remember, these are just the first tests. I’ve got more running. We need to see how your blood reacts over time. It may simply be lying dormant.”

Afana needed to know for certain whether he could be infected by this disease. It appeared his blood had fought it off, but that didn’t mean anything. He would wait until Robert’s tests had concluded it either way. Until then, if there were an outbreak in the bunker, he’d send the generals to deal with it. That was why he kept them, anyway—to protect the bunker.

Robert cleared his throat politely. “Before I collect the other blood samples, I was thinking we should test the live specimens to see how long it takes for them to be completely overrun by the disease.”

The two men renewed their panicked struggles. This was one twisted scientist. Afana wished he had more like him. He smiled without taking his eyes from the specimens. “I was actually thinking the same.”

Robert held out a blood-filled syringe. “I thought we could inject both men at the same time. That way we can compare the different stages as the disease progresses in each of them. Unless you would like to run a different test?”

Afana nodded. “It would be interesting to compare the results between the two men.”

Afana readied his syringe. The two men were trying and failing to get free from their restraints. They had heard everything that the scientist had planned for them and they wanted no part of it, but they had no choice.

Afana injected Ivan’s blood into Knuckles’ bloodstream at the same time Roberts injected Tank.

Fear filled their eyes as the infected blood entered their bodies.

Afana was glad these two imbeciles were the test specimens. They had been a waste of a life while they were living.

Hopefully, they would be useful when they were dead.

Chapter Seven

Ryder hung back with Carter. It seemed like Leandro and Massimo wanted to talk. They looked sweet together, having a father/son moment. Massimo wrapped his arm around his son’s waist, and Leandro draped his arm over his dad’s shoulders.

Ryder watched the mismatched pair a little wistfully. She missed Terrier. She wondered for a moment if Afana had ordered him to be executed, but shook the traitorous thought from her mind.

Terrier, Natalie, Mama Lou, and all the kids were alive–and she was going to make sure that they lived free.

Carter nudged Ryder. “Staying at their place was nice, wasn’t it? It was like something from before the Worst Day Ever.”

Ryder snapped out of her daydream. “Yeah…it was. The bed was so comfortable.”

“Mine’s more comfortable back in the settlement, but you didn’t try it. You knew Leandro for a few hours, and you were already jumping into his bed. Some would say you were easy,” Carter teased.

Ryder raised her fist in Carter’s direction. “Are you saying I’m easy? He wasn’t even in the bed, unlike when you offered your bed to me. That means you’re easy.”

Carter waved his hands down, to calm Ryder. “Easy, tiger, just messing with you. You’re wired so tight it’s hard not to fuck with you. And you’re right, I am easy.” He grinned. “Is it because a special someone is waiting for you back in the bunker?”

“Oh sure.” Ryder glared at Carter. “I had to hide as a man the whole time I lived in the bunker, you idiot.”

Carter frowned as he looked at Ryder. “Oh, shit. My bad, I forgot about that.” He shuffled awkwardly for a moment. “So, if we’re not going after your boyfriend, who are we going after?”

“My friend Terrier, who put