Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Eleven

Dad doesn't say anything for a moment and I get anxious.
"Are you going to say something?"
"I don't know where to start."
"How about I ask questions and you answer? I've got tons of them and it will be easier to just get the answers I need."
"That might be for the best."
"Alright then, first things first: why am I so special?"
"You're not... special. It's just that you're my son. I think you're special but to the RDC or anyone else, you're nothing but a tool for them. For what, I will never say. If you find out for yourself on your own then that's your problem but I won't be the one to tell you."
"Okay then, self esteem builder..." I said, feeling a little humbled and crushed at the same time.
"Well, R, like you said, you're not the only RH- in the world. You're special to me because I gave birth to you, you're my last child before your mother and I started Tradding. To you I'm making it difficult and that's only because you're special in my eyes; but the rest of the world doesn't see you that way. It's how parents are, son."
"Alright then. I guess that makes sense. Next question: how are RH-s made and is that why I'm an Empty?"
"Yes, that's why you're an Empty. How is a little more complicated. RH-s are made from birth. As I said, you can't just go out and turn someone into an RH-... RH-s are made when someone has what's called a 'blue baby'. It's when the baby is born with its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, thus strangling as it tries to come out of the birth canal or while it's moving about in a man. Most of the time it's only detected in a man in the last week or so before they are to give birth. You were born a week early because it was already wrapping around your neck... Either way, you were a blue baby.
"RH- happens because a blue baby is usually close to death while being born. A doctor gives it oxygen and makes it come back to life. The problem lies in the radiation around us, in the air we breathe. When the radiation detects the deoxygenated blood, it invades the cells as it goes back to the veins. There it mutates the blood cells into RH-, the rarest blood type there is. It takes a long time for the cells to get into every crevice of a person's body, which is why it isn't found out usually until a person goes into their first swell. By then, the blood should be permeated into every muscle, fiber, bone, and everything else in the body.
"As for making people unable to have children, it... makes it very hard. You see, once the body has realized that the blood is now RH-, it begins to attack things... such as a uterus. There is legend that says that RH- blood is not of this world because it's the only blood type that doesn't recognize its own body making another life. It rejects it... As a person grows up, little by little, the blood attacks certain things it deems incompatible. When a person reaches their first swell, the other half of the person that 'doesn't belong' so to say, has been mostly deteriorated. The body tries to make a child out of rotten things and the body reacts.
"Ah, Ramey, I didn't mean to make you upset."
I look at him odd when I realize that I have been crying. I quickly wipe my tears away and sniffle.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to be like this."
"Maybe we should stop with the questions..."
"No! I want to understand everything that's happening. You said I needed to weigh my options and I can't weigh anything if I don't have a counter measure." Dad nodded. "Now, how about albinos?"
"Albinos are created after birth but before their first swell... they're made kind of the same way: they almost die." I gasp. "Yes, Nalak was on death's door before his first swell. Once on the brink of death, the radiation immediately begins to mutate genes just in case the person is able to live again. If someone gets saved, the gene just lays dormant, waiting to be activated. It activates when the body starts to make a baby and changes things around in the first swell."
"But Nalak told Dr. White that he had been smelling a sweet odor in the air for some months before."
"Well, I'm sure Nalak didn't just turn fourteen. It takes a little bit for Altered bodies to get up to their first swell but he will show symptoms, like the odors."
"What I don't understand is why he's showing symptoms so fast. Dr. White said that there was something he could take to help him get through at least all of high school."
"That's... if he were doing a normal phase. Here's where you get special again." I made a face at that as he smiled. "RH-s can control albinos for a reason: they are the closest thing to albinos. The blood literally sings to albinos and releases the gene that makes them turn. Under normal circumstances, an albino will gradually turn and with the pill you were speaking of, can make the process so much shorter. But because of the draw of the blood, when an RH- is around, it makes albinos turn quicker."
"So it really is my fault that Nalak is the way he is..."
"I'm afraid so..."
"But how do you get the different types? I mean, Nalak isn't a blood-albino but he says I'm delectable and smell sweet all the time. If he doesn't eat it then why does it attract him?"
"Just remember one thing, R: all albinos are attracted to RH-. Every one of them.. It doesn't matter what they eat or not, the blood still sings. Will he suck you dry? No, but you'll be very, very alluring."
"He said I was like a bakery to him that he just wanted to stay in or something."
Dad laughs. "That's a good analogy. It's a craving to be around but more tempting for blood-albinos. To answer your question, the only conclusion that the RDC has made about how the different types are made is by how they died. Some aren't like that, like Nalak, while others are. The only ones that stay the same are the blood-albinos. They are strictly made when they are saved by blood transfusions. What saves their lives makes them crave it."
"I see..."
I am silent as I think about all of this. I have to think about what I will encounter when I take Nalak to the Badlands. What Dad has just explained to me doesn't make me want to do it less. Now it makes me want to do it more. I guess Nalak and I really are friends, or I wouldn't care.
"Hey, you said that RH-s can control albinos because they are closely related. How do I do that?"
"Remember when you told me you told Nalak to not come out of your room?"
"Yeah."
"You said it directly didn't you? As in 'don't come out'?"
"Yeah?"
"Well there you go."
"Wait, if I say a direct command like that, he has to do it?"
"Yeah."
"Are you serious? That's it?"
"Basically. It has something to do with the stress done on the command. Usually people don't like to actually force people to do anything. So making someone do something is a little stressful, which raises the blood pressure. That's the theory of it so far."
"Then I should be home free if I take Nalak. If we run into any blood-albinos I'll just tell them to not do anything."
"It's... more complicated than that."
"Of course it is..."
"If that were the case, there wouldn't be a pamphlet on zompires... It has to do with connection between the two. Sometimes people have a natural connection and can control a lot of albinos and some just control one. You, my son, can only control one so far and that would be Nalak Ghoti."
"It's 'fish', not 'go-tee'." I correct.
"What?"
"His last name is pronounced 'fish'. Something about phonetics... Anyway, so is that where that master/slave thing comes into play?"
"Precisely. I said that most people don't like to dominate other people but there are some who enjoy dominating others... especially something as powerful as an albino."
"I see... Say um... how did Nalak... um..."
"Almost die?" I nod. "I think you should ask him yourself, Ramey. He looks up to you and I think he would tell you anything you wanted to know."
I nod and stand up. "I've weighed what you've told me and... I have to do it myself."
Dad smiles sadly at me. "I know. Halfway through it, I knew you wouldn't change your mind."
I smile. "Thank you for telling me what I wanted to know."
"I only told you what you could take."
I leave the room and head upstairs.