The guards threw the woman to the floor and swiftly left the cell. She rushed after them, pounding the door desperately until her thumping turned to a defeated, open-palmed stroke, as she broke down. She cradled her bitten hand to her chest, and retreated backwards into the corner of the room, weeping.
“You’ve given her a death sentence,” said Lucy, appalled.
“People are dying every day, Lucy. It’s our job to stop it, and for that we need brave souls like this woman here. They shall light the way for us,” said Harvey.
“This isn’t legal,” said Lucy.
“In times like these what is legal is synonymous with what is necessary. Our army are stretched to breaking point trying to battle incursions from D4 creatures of all kinds. We must do what we can to alleviate their burden. When citizens like this woman defy curfew, engage in protests, and pull against the tide of our collective survival effort, they would ordinarily be punished. But we don’t have the prison resources for such transgressors anymore. Instead of punishment, we can offer atonement. Their sacrifice here will make up for the time they’ve cost society, and will sustain our efforts to defeat the creatures. As a cherry on top, we can also observe the degradation process via time lapse cameras, which my team will be installing shortly. It’s as close to a win-win as we can get, in the present circumstances,” said Harvey, with a humble shrug of the shoulders.
Lucy knew what the degradation process did to people. The memory of the soldier she’d euthanized surfaced violently in her mind. She remembered the woman’s fingers and body degrading agonizingly around her just yards from the walls of DC. She remembered climbing into the train wreck and finding Dan’s body; the way his cheek had peeled away as she’d tried to hold him one last time.
She shuddered, and stared at the sobbing woman. An excruciating end was in store for her. Her organs and muscles would dissolve, robbing her of speech, then movement. Ultimately, she would drown in the fluid of her own failing lungs.
Lucy wanted to help the woman – to give her a way out, or a bullet, to end her pain swiftly. But she would achieve nothing if Harvey expelled her from the lab again.
“I understand. Like you said, director, it’s an elegant solution,” she said, her voice catching on the final words.
“Your inner scientist lives on,” said Harvey, clasping his hands.
“I hope so, because I have great plans, Director. Perhaps later today we could trial some powder jackets to protect today’s clean-up teams? On that note, I need to check in with Senator Jeffries about last night’s attacks,” said Lucy, hastily fabricating a reason to leave.
She stepped out into the corridor, her heart racing. A faint crying sounded from the far end – the sound of an infant. A door clicked shut; she wasn’t sure which. She felt Harvey draw up beside her and dared not explore further.
“What serendipitous timing – I’ve got a meeting with him myself. Let me deposit these samples first. I’ll catch you up in a moment,” said Harvey, warmly.
Lucy waved him off, then ran for the elevator. She had to get to Adrian before Harvey did. She had to tell him what was happening.
***
Adrian’s office was locked. She banged the door in frustration, then leaned against it, clutching her hair. The possum in the lab clawed at her mind – it would only be a matter of time before Harvey brought in another protestor to feed it. The same went for the cat-like creature, and the spider, and any other D4s he chose to capture going forwards. If Harvey was serious about scaling up powder production, the killing of prisoners would become routine. Adrian was the only person she knew who could stop him.
“You OK?” came a reassuring voice.
Karys was approaching from the opposite end of the corridor, clutching two cups of coffee.
“I have to speak with the Senator. Harvey’s out of control. He’s shattering ethical lines by the hour – he’s breaking all kinds of laws. People are suffering, it’s not right,” said Lucy, quavering.
She tried to keep her voice down as other workers milled about the corridor, giving her concerned looks.
“It’s cool – he’ll be back any minute now. I’ve actually got a meeting with him. We might be striking a supply deal with some community further north. Apparently they’ve got grain galore. White House wants me to check the crop samples are legit before we buy anything. Somehow that translates to me being the coffee fetcher. Sure, I’m the only person at the meeting with a PhD, but yeah, I can grab coffee, why not. I mean, in fairness, I did offer, but still,” said Karys, rambling cheerfully.
The elevator doors at the end of the corridor chimed open. Adrian stepped out, wearing his navy suit and sweeping black trench coat. Lucy’s heart skipped a beat, as it always did when she saw him. She recognized all of Dan’s features in that older face. But there was someone behind him. A brash, loud voice boomed out from the elevator. It sent chills down Lucy’s spine.
“We’re good for it. Our leader’s a woman of her word,” crowed the noisy orator.
Maurice.
Without a second’s hesitation, Lucy grabbed Karys and bundled her into the empty office beside them.
“What the hell?” said Karys, nearly spilling the coffee as Lucy sealed the door.
She peered through the window to Adrian’s doorway across the hall.
“That man with Adrian – what’s he doing here?” said Lucy, through shallow breaths.
“He’s the trade delegate from NYC, why?” said Karys.
“We can’t trust him. He’s a traitor.”
“You know him?”
“He knows I’m infected. He’s betrayed me before and it was brutal. You have no idea. His leader – the Queen – she’s a psychopath. He already knows I’m in DC, he saw me last night. Harvey’s coming to this meeting too, and he’s expecting to see me. If my name gets mentioned, Maurice will probe – he’s a snake, he always finds a way. As soon as he knows it’s me, he’ll tell them I’m infected – but it won’t just be me they’ll come after. Adrian’s team will investigate everyone I’ve been in contact with since arriving in the city. If I’m discovered, the whole sanctuary’s at risk,” said Lucy, breathlessly.
“Hold up, what’s the sanctuary?”
“Hundreds of people like me, hiding off-grid across the city. I’m a critical weak link. Maurice will blow the lid open on all of it, and Harvey could be coming any minute – we have to get him now.”
“You mean kill him? No way, I won’t do it,” said Karys.
“You’re a soldier,” said Lucy.
“In the same way you are!” said Karys
“You have to do it – if you don’t, think how many people will suffer,” urged Lucy.
“I’m not an assassin! I don’t know how to do it. I could get killed just trying – besides, Adrian would see! This is insane,” Karys protested.
Lucy snatched one of the coffees and and stepped back.
“Put some gloves on – quickly,” she insisted.
Karys obliged, while Lucy took the flask of white powder from her pocket and emptied it into the cup. She took care not to spill any powder on the rim, or leave any residue, before handing it back to Karys.
“If you can’t kill him, then you have to give him this. Infecting him is the only other way to guarantee his silence. You’ll be safe, I’ll handle the rest, but you have to go now,” said Lucy.
Adrian and Maurice’s voices had arrived outside. Keys jangled as Adrian unlocked his door. Lucy pulled the door open and thrust Karys forwards. Adrian raised an eyebrow at the clumsy arrival.
“Gosh, I always forget which office is yours, Senator,” said Karys, blushing.
Maurice introduced himself, then stepped inside, while Adrian held the door open graciously, waiting for Karys to follow. As she passed by, he took a cup of coffee from her hands and toasted her.
Lucy watched in horror as he raised it to his lips. She burst from her hiding place and threw herself towards Adrian, only to see him swallow as she ran. S
he collided with him, knocking the coffee cup from his hands, showering the office floor.
“What the hell? Lucy?” said Adrian, wiping hot coffee from his lips and his coat.
She looked at him in utter dismay. Panic spread through her as she scrambled to her feet.
“You!” cried Maurice, pointing a finger directly at Lucy.
Lucy dived at him and tackled him to the ground. Maurice wailed, shoving her away, but Lucy wrestled him firmly and quickly clambered onto his back. With a yell, she bit down hard on his ear. Maurice shook her off with a cry and recoiled in horror.
Karys and Adrian stared on in amazement as Lucy rose to her feet, panting.
“Ha!” she cried, pointing a triumphant finger at Maurice. “Good luck betraying me a second time. You’re one of us now.”
The color drained from Maurice’s face. His smarmy features were lost for words.
“One of ‘us’?” said Adrian, looking from Lucy to Maurice and back.
Lucy’s sense of triumph vanished as her brain caught up with what had happened. A sense of sickness grew in the pit of her stomach as she processed Adrian’s appearance properly. His likeness to Dan shone out from his confused face. A bitter saliva formed at the back of her mouth. She looked at him, and at the coffee stains on his clothes, and the wetness of his lips. She vomited into the waste basket.
“What the hell’s going on here?” said Maurice, clutching his ear.
Lucy slumped into a chair, holding her head, murmuring to herself in denial. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. She’d ruined everything, and there was no undoing it.
“Can you call security?” said Adrian, to Karys.
“Not until she’s done talking,” said Karys, clicking the door shut. “Lucy, you need to finish this before Harvey gets here.”
Karys’s words landed in her brain like a distant radio broadcast, commenting on events Lucy had no part in.
“This is insane. I’m outta here,” said Maurice, standing abruptly.
“No, you’re not,” said Lucy, distantly. “And I think you know why.”
Maurice’s face fell.
“If you so much as breathe a word about me to another living soul, you’ll be locked up and tortured too. Then once they’re done with that, they’ll wear your blood like armor. So if I were you, Maurice, I’d keep your mouth shut from now on,” said Lucy.
“Lucy – what do you mean, ‘one of us’?” repeated Adrian.
Lucy tried to speak but the words stuck in the back of her throat. She couldn’t bring herself to look Adrian in the eye. Guilt swelled inside her uncontrollably. There had to be a way she could fix this. She couldn’t live with herself otherwise.
“Lucy, I think we deserve an explanation for this insane charade,” pressed Adrian.
She laughed, despairingly, stifling a sob, as she skirted around the terrible truth.
“I’m an infected,” she said, finally. “I’ve been infected for weeks. I came to DC looking for a cure, hoping the Government would do something – that you would do something. But what happened? You arrested my friend. You tortured him. You experimented on him like he wasn’t even human,” said Lucy, as the pain of the ordeal resurfaced.
“Your friend – wait, Patient Zero? You knew Major Lopez already?” said Adrian.
A crushing sense of defeat sank across his brow, as Adrian cursed himself for not seeing their connection sooner.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried,” Lucy replied, earnestly. “I came to this city believing you, or someone, would help us find a cure. But when you washed your hands of Lopez, I knew I had to keep my infection secret. I ran around, doing your investigations, jumping through your hoops. When I finally proved the Major wasn’t the source of the outbreak, I came to you with the evidence. And you did nothing,” said Lucy, the upset inflecting her voice.
“And this guy?” said Adrian.
He pointed to Maurice, who had lowered himself into a seat, and was checking his crimpled ear for bleeding. Lucy laughed again, this time bitterly.
“I made the mistake of saving that man. Lopez was there, too. It wasn’t long before Maurice realized the Major and I had a degree of immunity from the creatures. He betrayed us, and sold us into slavery. If you’re thinking of trading with this guy, don’t. He’ll double cross you twice before he’s even finished speaking,” she said.
“All this time, I was wracking my brains, trying to figure out your bizarre attachment to the Major,” said Adrian. “I guessed you were just being empathetic, or maybe you missed Dan and were projecting that. I tried to cut you slack, I made excuses for you, fought for your reputation behind closed doors. How naïve I was.”
He shook his head, sadly.
“It’s not like that – Lopez saved my life, several times. I owed him,” said Lucy.
“I thought we were family, and yet you’ve done nothing but abuse my trust since you got here,” said Adrian.
He was right, and it broke her. She’d brought nothing but destruction to his life. He was better off as far away from her as he could get. But it was way too late for that. Lucy’s face fell as he turned towards the door. The guilt and sickness raged inside her. She had to tell him, but shame had sapped the last of her courage.
“You leave me no choice, Lucy. I’m turning you in,” said Adrian, reaching for the handle.
Lucy looked at Karys imploringly, and the botanist intervened. She stepped in front of Adrian, placing her hand firmly against the door.
“You don’t want to do that, Senator,” said Karys.
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Because you’re infected too.”
***
Karys cleaned up the spilled coffee, then wrapped the tissues up in her gloves. She tossed them into the trash can, then ditched it in the store room opposite. Adrian took a shaky seat behind his desk, as she returned.
Lucy looked from him to Maurice. Her head swam. She was utterly torn, and time was against her. She longed to make right what she’d done to Dan’s father, but she knew there was little that could be done.
She knew the room as it was looked suspicious. If Harvey discovered that any of them were infected, it would be over. She urgently needed to regain control of the situation. She needed to know what Maurice was doing in the city.
She grimaced, swallowing the bitterness of her choices, as she turned to confront the Canadian. As she did so, she felt the sum of her anger focus on him like a laser.
“You’ve got two minutes to tell me what the hell brought you slithering into DC,” she said
The Canadian glared back.
“The Queen sent me, obviously,” he replied. “One of our spies reported on this new body armor you guys have been trialing. We got hold of a jacket and tested it out – it worked pretty well, for a day or so. Then it stopped working, which was not so fun for the guy testing it. So the Queen sent me here to find out what the deal is, and whether it’s worth us trading some of our food for a bunch of them.”
“Are D4 attacks becoming more of a problem in New York?” said Karys.
“I gotta hand it to those creatures, they sure love killin’. Hey, so where’s Lopez now? And what’s her face – the grumpy one?” said Maurice.
“Jackson? She’s dead, asshole. You saw her die,” said Lucy, with disbelief.
“How about the Major?” said Maurice.
Lucy bit her lip.
“Holy crap – he’s alive, isn’t he? Well ain’t that dandy,” said Maurice.
“He’s alive?” said Adrian, distantly.
“I’m glad to see Harvey lied to you, too,” said Lucy, angrily.
“Speak of the devil – he’s coming,” said Karys, peering through the window.
“Stall him,” said Lucy.
Karys obliged, stepping outside and intercepting the director. Maurice stood up and fidgeted, anxiously.
“You’ve ruined everything. I should leave. No way I’m inspecting some jacket farm now. Jee
z, it could be my blood in those things,” said Maurice. A tremor had crept into his voice.
“What do you mean ‘farm’?” said Lucy, aghast.
“What if they test me on the way in?” said Maurice, ignoring her.
“They’ll only test you if you show symptoms, or look suspicious. Presumably you were swabbed on your way into the city, so as far as the authorities are concerned you’re still clean,” said Lucy.
“How long before I show symptoms?” said Maurice.
“I don’t know. Yours will be slower. Adrian’s will be fast – his dose was stronger. I’m so sorry,” said Lucy, glancing at her father-in-law, ashamed.
The senator continued to drill into his desk with a thousand-mile stare. Maurice started to panic, pacing the room and wringing his hands compulsively.
“I don’t wanna die,” he whimpered, pathetically.
“You don’t have to. Most people survive the adaption. I can delay it and mask your symptoms for a while, with the right drugs. But if you want them, you’ll have to get me inside that factory,” said Lucy.
A plan was formulating in her foggy mind. If it was going to work, they had to act quickly. Her emotions nagged at her, distracting and exhausting her. She bargained with her guilt-riddled brain, assuring herself Adrian would be OK if she got him to the sanctuary. She tried to salvage the reason she’d come to him in the first place. Harvey’s methods threatened all infecteds. There were God knows how many counting on her. She had to get this right.
“Why can’t you go yourself?” stammered Maurice.
“I have limited clearance. Harvey only trusts me so much. To be honest, I think he only keeps me around because he’s studying me as some behavioral psychology pet project. I can live with that if it gets me lab access. But I need you to get me inside that ‘farm’. I need to know the layout, the security, and the number of people inside,” said Lucy.
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