Free Rippled by Erin Lark

the nurses. “Follow me.”
    I didn’t argue. I’d already spent too much time in the clinic for one day. My back ached from the hard exam table, and my mind was swimming with drugs, or the lack thereof, as well as Brian’s interference and the other shifter we more than likely were about to leave behind.
    “Wait,” I said, pulling against Brian’s arm. “What about her?”
    We both looked into the exam room beside mine, and with a little hesitation, Brian stepped inside. “Wait out there.”
    “But I can hel—”
    “You can’t shift. You won’t be able to fend off her attacks if she wakes.”
    I focused on Brian, on his rigid posture as he knelt down beside the new shifter. Her chest didn’t move. She didn’t wake. My stomach tied knots around my middle. When Brian stepped away, his head was down, his eyes looking everywhere but at me.
    His cheeks coloured, and when I finally met his gaze, his was as distant as it could possibly get.
    “Come on,” he choked, walking a lot faster than before, as if he couldn’t get out fast enough.
    “What’s happened to her?” I glanced back over my shoulder at the exam room as it shrunk behind us. Was she breathing? Is she still alive?
    “Malcom’s taken things too far this time. We need to get you out of here. Out of the clinic. Out of the camp. We can’t let him do this again.”
    “Do what again?”
    “Murder.”
    My shoes scuffed the floor as I tried to keep up, losing my balance a few times. Brian caught me before I could fall, and we continued through a variety of halls and doorways.
    I’d never really paid attention to how large the clinic was, or how far you had to walk through the halls to reach one of the rooms. It was probably some kind of security measure, but given the fact that Brian had helped in formulating the virus, it didn’t surprise me when he knew his way around.
    We stopped at one of the intersections so I could catch my breath. The guard to my right stirred, but he didn’t wake.
    Pushing the memory of the other shifter from my mind, I asked, “Where did you get the tranquiliser anyway? Actually, I take that back. I don’t want to know.”
    Not that it would’ve taken much for him to get his hands on it. He’d been loyal to Malcom up until now. At least, that was what he’d tried to make me believe.
    “Good,” Brian said, squeezing my hand. “Because I wasn’t planning on telling you. All you need to know is that they’re asleep, we’re safe and there’s more where that came from.”
    “You think you’ll have to use it again?”
    He bowed his head. “To exchange the vials with ones that have placebos in it, I will. Other than that, no. Not unless I really have to.” He wrapped an arm around my waist. “Come on, the exit’s this way.”

Chapter Eight
     
     
     
    Krista
     
    Brian wasn’t kidding when he’d said it had got cold outside. I must’ve only been in the clinic for an hour at most, but even in that short amount of time, the overcast skies had grown heavy with snow. Why did it have to be Nebraska? Of all the dumb places to put a camp of shifters, why did it have to be Nebraska? The least they could’ve done was to send us someplace where we could kind of feel like we were on vacation.
    It wasn’t even winter yet, and already we’d had two major snow storms. Must be something in the air. And that was something else I didn’t get. Our reservation wasn’t exactly small. Didn’t anyone notice us when they flew overhead? Didn’t they wonder what this place was?
    Brian had told me that when they had first been building it—when the government had first got their hands on Malcom and his vials—they’d decided to make it look as if it was a rehabilitation centre for addicts and those who had poor mental health. It was a lie, and a pretty good one at that. I was neither of those, and yet, here I was. Just like everyone else.
    Unfortunately for us, even if someone did come looking for answers, the drug addict