Page 15 of Ruined Omega

Tal sighs and rubs the furrows out of his brow.

He turns in his seat, reaches into his trench coat, and from some inner pocket concealed in its depths, he retrieves a flat, black box about the size of an old fashioned paperback book.

“Sorry,” he mutters, a hint of embarrassment creeping in. “Need to take care of something.”

He sets the box on his lap, and opens it. It contains sterile syringes and several vials filled with some kind of fluid.

Is this guy a nihiloxin user? Most people take the mind-soothing drug in pill form, but hardcore addicts like to shoot it up. Tal certainly doesn’t have the unhealthy appearance that I would associate with a drug addict though. Then again, I have no idea how an Alpha would even respond to that drug.

Tal notices me watching him.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

That’s turning into his pet phrase tonight.

He selects a syringe, removes the protective cap from the sharp tip of the needle, and stabs it through the rubber stopper of one of the vials before dragging back the plunger to fill the syringe.

As the substance fills the clear cylinder, I get a better look at it—as good a look as I can get in this unlit room. Whatever it is, it’s definitely not nihiloxin. This stuff appears metallic, kind of like liquified mercury.

“What is that?” I ask in a hushed voice.

Tal extracts the needle. He flicks the syringe to settle any bubbles and pushes the plunger slightly. The pointed tip dribbles a few drops onto his thigh.

“It’s Source Serum,” he answers.

“Source Serum?”

I know about the Source. Lily has explained all about it in her messages. It is a massive machine located in the center of the Zone, and it produces a field of microscopic nanites that cause the mutations of the Quarantine Zone—the Alphas, betas, and omegas.

“Yeah. We Alphas derive our power from the Source,” Tal says. “We can survive for a while beyond the Quarantine Wall. But eventually we need to go back to recharge. However, Sloane and Lily didn’t want to leave you unattended. So they gave me this nanite serum, which allows me to stay here without the need to constantly go back into the Zone. Lily and Seraph came up with it.”

Seraph. That’s the artificial intelligence that controls the Source. It was created by SynerGen, but disobeyed its original masters.

Tal shifts in his seat. He pulls his jeans down his hips, revealing a good half of one meaty, tanned glute. He stabs the needle into his flesh and injects the metallic nanite serum.

The change is nearly immediate.

He was intimidating before, but now that just increases twofold. His muscles seem to knot. Striations appear. Veins pop out along his arms.

And something quite large strains at the crotch of his jeans.

I try to swallow, but my mouth has gone desert-dry. My breath catches in my throat.

Tal removes the needle and discards the used syringe in the shadowy corner. I see now that there is a little pile of old syringes there.

“Ah, that feels better,” he murmurs.

Tal stands, rolling his big shoulders. He slips the box containing the vials and syringes back inside his coat.

“Look, you have to stay here, Hines. Just for tonight. It’s just a precaution, in case the cops come calling, okay?”

“All night?” I stammer.

Tal nods. “Come on, you can sleep back here.”

He ushers me to the almost pitch black room in the back, which is even smaller. There’s a window here too, but it’s been completely boarded up, blocking out all the light. On the floor there is a mass of sheets and blankets and quilts. Tal stoops and begins arranging them. It’s hard to see in the dark, but it looks like he’s making a…nest.

I’ve studied Alphas. I know all about their nesting instincts. Building nests like this is something that they do for their omegas.