"I can walk on my own, thank you." Alexa let go of Ross's arm.

"Got it." His hands flew into the air. "I'll check on Ellie."

While her right foot ached and her head throbbed like an ECG blip, she didn't need a man to walk her to her distressed daughter. It's not that she didn't find his chivalrous gesture charming. She appreciated his help but could take care of her own.

"I'd call and check on Beef but have no idea where my radio fell off." His eyes danced across a moat of lit green grass into a squall of black. One hand held his ribs, the other his neck. Trickles of blood seeped through his fingers. A shotgun dangled from his left shoulder. Her dart gun's handle stuck up from his waistband.

"Are you going to be okay." She nodded toward his wound.

"A few tiny reminders from Savannah of who's boss in these here parts."

Not funny. And he's still using the tri-allele's human name.

Teagan lay on her side with her knees to her chest, head resting on the concrete. The blood alarmed Alexa but Teagan's catatonic stare truly frightened her. She wasn't tending to her wounds or acknowledging her mother's presence

"Take some deep breaths." Her sweat filled hand trembled against the back of Teagan's head. She pulled her daughter into her lap. Another action she hadn't done in a long time.

Ross returned with a wool blanket and a medical kit. He'd taken off his jacket but still had his weapons with him.

Smart.

"You're supposed to be checking on Ellie."

"She's alive. A little bruised but sleeping soundly in the back seat." Ross opened the medical kit and handed her a 5x5 piece of gauze.

"Thank Goodness, she's safe." Alexa covered the wound and pressed the gauze firm against the cuts.

Ross glanced back at the truck. "Looks like Curly lost a lot of blood."

"He was too weak to hurt her." She mused.

"I think you're right." He shrugged. "At least we know a couple of ways to kill them, though, not everyone will have a tire iron with them."

"Maybe they should be standard issue to all women. Can you imagine everyone carrying around tire irons? Oh, the irony." Really, Alexa? 

Ross guffawed at her joke fail. He placed two pieces of medical tape across the bandage. Then he Superman-caped the blanket over Teagan and kissed her forehead.

Alexa hadn't expected the show of genuine affection from Ross. It almost startled her. She pulled the blanket around her daughter the rest of the way.

"What we need," Ross said, "is to get this wonder serum to the military and police across the globe ... ASAP."

"Yes. We'll have to do that." A fact she hadn't overlooked.

"Jesus. Your head." Ross dug through the tiny kit. "There's no more gauze." Again he caught her off guard. White buttons shot in every direction as he tore his shirt off. "Here. That was the only piece of gauze. We'll use this."

Alexa watched his hands as if he had a more serious agenda. With the shirt folded in fourths, he placed it on the back of her head.

"You're bleeding," he said. "Put pressure on the wound."

For a moment she marveled at his half-clothed appearance. The woman inside of her (the one who reared her head ... on occasion) forced her to take another glimpse. Thick striated muscles rippled under matted chest hairs which dwindled as they arrowed toward his ab surrounded belly button.

"Teagan's in shock." Ross interrupted her mild swoon.

"I'm aware she's in shock." The harsh retort wasn't intentional.

"Okay. Sheesh. Don't bite my head off."

"I'm sorry." She'd rarely if ever, said those words.

In a quick smooth motion, Ross scooped Teagan into his arms and they started walking to his car.  

"Why didn't it kill her?" Alexa asked but hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"Savannah told me ..."

"Wait ... you talked to the tri-allele?" She hadn't heard the interaction between the two. Ah ... the wonders of head injuries. 

He nodded. "Yup."

"What did you say to her ... er ... it?"

"She told me she didn't kill Teagan because Teagan has one of them inside of her."

Not for long. If she had any say in the matter. Instead of acting like a crazy person and whining about this terrible fact, she followed Ross back to the running vehicle in silence.

She opened the back door and gasped. Under a wool blanket, and two firefighter coats, Ellie shook like a wet dog. She had a single surface abrasion dotted down her right cheek. She'd clenched her eyes shut; a child's ward against the monsters in the dark.  

Ross took great care with Alexa's prized possession. "Think we should get the hell out of here?" he asked Teagan.

The warmth and fatherly love in those words weren't lost on her. He'd managed to save himself and four other lives. In the process, he procured two fully matured tri-alleles. Not bad for a day's work. Although, he'd also put Teagan and Ellie in harm's way, nearly losing them both in the process. She'd have to give him her mind about it when they got back to the Hospital.

Keep it together. Be strong. Forever an agnostic she had her opinions on life. It began in the womb and wasn't supposed to end there. Of that, she was sure. She helped Ross lay Teagan down on the third-row bench seat. Ellie had stopped shaking and slept soundly. Alexa clicked her seatbelt in and made sure the strap settled between her breasts.

"Your serum worked well." Ross rummaged through a bag in the back seat and returned wearing a form-fitting navy-blue t-shirt with his gun in a shoulder holster. He put the shotgun between them on the seat.

"How quickly did the serum go into effect," she asked.

"Guy caught a couple in the chest and when I shot him, almost simultaneously, his wounds seemed to open. My shotgun finished him off. I'd say we had a successful field trial."

"I hate to ask," she said. "But we need those bodies." If they didn't get the specimens they'd have to procure them elsewhere. The idea made her more than uncomfortable.

Ross drove down the road and stopped a couple of feet before her car. It sat in the middle of the road. Steam billowed from the crushed front end.

"Curly's in the back. I'll get Guy. Give me a minute." He hopped out and pulled a black tarp from the trunk.

"Be careful. We don't know where the female ..."  The nomenclature didn't feel right to her but Ross seemed fine with naming them. Maybe she needed to be fine with it as well? "... Savannah went." She reached over and turned on the brights. The overhead Halogens also flashed on and illuminated the field in front of them.

"She's long gone. No worries," he said as he ventured into the field. He didn't look back.

After a minute and several large curse words, Ross emerged from the dark. Two bare feet stuck out the front of the tarp draped over his shoulder. He grunted as he lifted the tri-allele, Guy, onto the hood of the Navigator.

Alexa stuck her head out the window. "You're just going to strap it to the hood like a deer?"

"Nope." Ross climbed onto the hood and dragged the Trill's body up to the roof. A blood-smeared stripe followed them. "Gonna tie it to the roof like a Christmas tree."

The joke mildly amused her. She giggled and her head bing-bonged as if she'd stuck it into Quasimodo's bell at toll-time.

Metal crinkled under the weight of his feet. Even though the car's roof should be sturdy enough to hold the weight of a two-hundred-pound man, she still ducked a couple of times, thinking he might fall through.

What he'd brought held the keys to solving this horrific, nightmarish riddle. Each drop of blood, inch of tissue, and clumps of brain matter would lead her to her goal and could save millions. The most important being the lives of her daughter and unborn grandchild.

Ross climbed back in.

"Look what I found." He pulled out his radio.

"That's good news?"

"Not really. I can't hail dispatch or Beef."

"Then let's get back to my lab." A logical conclusion given their situation.

Ross's hand slammed into the steering wheel. "No. We're gonna check on him."

The engine roared as they sped down the highway toward the lights of the downed fire truck and more than likely, human remains.

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