by Kadin, Karri
“Hello, Allison,” she said.
Allison looked at the woman who sat next to her. She had on green scrubs, black shoes, and her blonde hair was on top of her head in a tight bun. Not a stitch out of place on her, like the airmen on the military base back home. Maybe she’s in the military. The woman flashed a mouth full of pristine white teeth, but the smile never reached her eyes. She handed her a cup of water. Allison drank it eagerly.
The woman cleared her throat and proceeded, “My name is Catherine and I’m a nurse. You are in a government-run medical tent in Chapel Hill receiving treatment and you are safe. I’m sure you have many questions and we will answer them. However, first you must rest. Your body needs to reco—”
“No!” Allison interrupted. She felt energized as the effect of whatever they had given her through her IV was wearing off. “I do not need more rest. I need answers.” Catherine studied Allison for a minute. Her face tensed, and a flash of anger gave way in her eyes. She forced a tight smile.
“Well, then,” she responded curtly. “Let’s get you some answers. Wait here. I will be back shortly with . . . your answers.” She snatched the now empty glass from Allison and set it down a little too hard on a table behind her, causing a loud thud. Allison jumped, surprised by the sudden change in Nurse Catherine’s demeanor. Catherine walked out of Allison’s makeshift room.
Allison’s gut rolled. Her skin tingled as goosebumps spread on her arms. She examined the black lettering on the IV bag hanging above her head: Midazolam. Allison’s mind struggled to recall her pharmacology tutor’s last lesson. The answer slammed into her like a quarterback going for the winning touchdown. Midazolam is a sedative, used to keep a patient relaxed, sleepy and unaware. It can even cause memory loss. Allison grasped the IV catheter in her arm, pulled it from her vein, and buried the tip in her blanket. She positioned her arm so she could apply pressure to the area while still maintaining the illusion the IV was still in place.
Catherine returned in the company of a middle-aged man in thick silver-rimmed glasses carrying a manila folder. The man took a seat near Allison as nurse Catherine left, pulling the curtain closed behind her.
“I’m Dr. Richard Neff,” he spoke softly. “I heard you had some questions.” He adjusted his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose only for them to slip down again as soon as he removed his hand from them.
“Why am I here?” Allison shook as the words left her lips and she sniffled away tears. Dr. Neff placed a hand on Allison’s back but said nothing. Dr. Neff’s touch, although gentle, made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She stiffened, as the warm rage sparked to life in her belly. Danger. Dr. Neff removed his hand as Allison’s muscles tensed underneath it.
“I think it would be easier if I tell you some things before I answer your questions directly. Is that okay?”
Allison nodded.
Dr. Neff cleared his throat and began, “Dave and Sandra Wilton say you are their niece and that you survived the Earlsboro Massacre. Surviving that tragedy is impressive, and we do not want to put you through any more trauma. However, we ran some tests on your blood whilst you were asleep, and though we do not have all the tests back yet we have identified some unique markers in your blood. Markers we have only seen in those formerly infected by N87.” Dr. Neff raised his eyebrows to emphasize his last remark.
“Is that a crime?” Allison snapped.
“Being a former Infected? No, but it is interesting. Scientifically, of course.” Dr. Neff stood and paced the room. “You see, very few people recover; most die. Those who don’t, turn into veritable monsters. I’ve been on the front lines treating Infected since the outbreak. I’ve treated three who had recovered. That makes you the very special fourth.” Dr. Neff smiled at Allison.
Allison stiffened. Dr. Neff continued and paced across the floor. “We have created a vaccine. Its effectiveness is limited. It was not the answer we hoped it would be.” Dr. Neff abruptly stopped pacing and faced Allison. “But, you see, we have been unable to find a cure. All the remaining great minds of the world working on one problem, yet it eludes us. It’s quite sad.” Dr. Neff took a seat in the chair next to Allison again, opening the manila folder, glancing down at its contents.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” Allison asked.
“Because I am working on some theories. A theory about people like you. A theory about how to cure Lyssavirus N87. From your blood work I know you had been Infected a long time and have just recently recovered from N87. You seem to have one of the earliest strains of the virus. As close to the pure original as we will probably ever get. I believe the answer to curing everyone infected is in the bone marrow of former Infected, like you. The bone marrow contains stem cells altered by N87 that can be used to create the cure. I am hoping you can help me and millions of others.” Dr. Neff placed the open manila folder on Allison’s lap.
Allison looked down at the folder. Newspaper clippings showed pictures of people, headlines like “Body Fluids Spread Death!” and pictures of Infected strapped to gurneys, pain strewed across their faces. Allison pushed the folder to the side, shifting the contents onto the bed, revealing a picture of an adolescent boy on the bottom of the pile. His chestnut hair was messily swept to the side with a mischievous smile plastered on his face, a classic school picture.
“You can help me save them all,” Dr. Neff pleaded as he placed the pictures and clippings back into the folder and set it on the table near him. “I just need you to stay here for a little while.”
“You need my bone marrow. You said it. How much would it take? Is it painful?” Allison asked.
“Oh, I cannot say for sure, however I doubt it would be much at all. The pain is minimal.” The downward turn of his lips and lack of eye contact as he spoke showed that was a lie. Danger. Her core burned like hot coal. The anger boiling.
“I need time to think about this,” Allison said, jaw clenched as she turned away.
Dr. Neff scowled, crossing his arms. “This world has suffered from a pandemic of mass proportions that continues to this day. You can help fix this! You can reunite families, save children, make the world whole again.”
Allison felt the heat in her core flow through her body. The room went black, and the world was in shadow. She wasn’t on the cot anymore. She was in a tree, on a board of sorts. She was tired, weak, scared. At her feet someone was trying to climb up onto the board, and Allison was frantically kicking, kicking, kicking to keep them away. Pain, she felt pain. Something sharp digging into her skin, ripping at her, tearing away flesh. Dizziness overtook her; she struggled to breathe, struggled to live. Her body was hot like fire but the world around her seemed muted, like it was underwater. Her vision blurred, and her hearing muffled. Almost as fast as it happened, it was gone. That world faded away and the makeshift hospital room cascaded back into reality.
Dr. Neff called out to her. She felt him holding her upright, preventing her from falling off the cot, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying.
She held herself upright, closed her eyes, and focused on the world around her while pushing away the fuzziness and pain from her brain. The feel of the cotton sheets locked in her balled-up fists, the sound of Dr. Neff’s voice trying desperately to reach her, and the smell of cleaning agents she recognized but couldn’t name. The tension of her clenched jaw and the metallic taste of blood in her mouth as it flowed from her inner cheek, caught between her teeth. Slowly the room around her became clear again. The burning heat slipped away as her body relaxed and she fell back onto the bed.
“Allison, are you okay? Say something.”
Allison looked up at Dr. Neff, surprised by the genuine concern glimmering in his eyes. Something within her pushed back against the brief softness she felt for him. Danger.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I had a . . .” Allison’s words faded as she tried to put the experience into words but could not. Dr. Neff sighed with relief and looked at Allison with understanding eyes.
“Many of those who were sick and recovered have flashbacks from the time they were ill. They come and go. Sometimes they occur randomly, at other times certain things can trigger them. I’m assuming that is what you just experienced. But I have never seen someone react as strongly to one as you just did.” Dr. Neff filled a glass with water from a pitcher off a table behind him and handed it to Allison. She eagerly drank it. “It took over a year to manufacture a vaccine that could be produced in large enough quantities to distribute to the world population. New infection seems to be under control now. But there is still much work needed and it cannot happen without people like you.”
Allison pulled the cotton sheets up to her neck and sank into her cot as she studied the concerned Dr. Neff. She had to remind herself of the thought she had when he first touched her. Danger.
Allison cleared her throat. “I think I need to rest,” she said while rolling over, her back to the doctor.
“You don’t know how lucky you are to have overcome this illness. Think about what I’ve said. Please,” Dr. Neff uttered before exiting the room.
She was lucky. How could this be lucky?
Allison stared at the sheet walls of her room, listening to footsteps and chatter beyond them. She debated between staying and trusting the medical professionals who had provided her care, or listening to her gut and getting the hell out. The liquid medication that was to go in her vein dripped from the disconnected tubing and soaked the sheets beneath her pillow. A woman’s angry screams interrupted her thoughts.
“Where is she? What have you done with her?” the woman demanded.
Allison recognized the voice but couldn’t quite place it as the medical fog still lingered in her mind. Other voices were trying to hush the woman.
The familiar voice said loudly, “You can’t keep her here if she doesn’t want to stay. I want to ask her myself. Allison!” The woman was almost frantic. It was Sandra.
Allison got up and let the disconnected IV tubing hit the floor. She made her way through the labyrinth of curtain walls toward Sandra’s voice. She found both Sandra and Dave at the open entrance to the tent. Allison could see people walking through the camp behind them. Blocking their way was Dr. Neff, Nurse Catherine, and a few armed Collectors. When Sandra saw Allison, her face lit up and the tightness in her jaw disappeared.
“There she is,” she said, trying to push through the human blockade, but they stood firm.
“What’s going on?” Allison asked. Nurse Catherine rushed to Allison’s side, trying to maneuver her back into the deeper parts of the tent, but Allison batted Catherine’s hands away and asked again.
“The Wiltons wanted to see you, but we told them you needed your rest and could not be interrupted.” Dr. Neff’s voice has an undertone of hostility; his face was tight, his eyes wide. Catherine placed an arm around Allison’s waist and another on her shoulder, directing her back down the hall with a little too much force. Allison smacked Catherine’s hands away again. Dr. Neff glared, making alarms sound in Allison’s mind. Her skin crawled as if it were trying to jump off her body. Allison shuddered. The Collectors rested their hands on the weapons slung across their bodies, fingers on their triggers as their eyes darted back and forth among the Wiltons, Allison, and the doctor. Rage grew in Allison’s belly.
She looked at the couple who saved her from the road. Their faces were taut with worry, their eyes softly pleading with her. The faces of the medical staff held no warmth, no compassion, no kindness. Something was not right. She had to pick a side. She went with her gut instinct. Allison lunged toward the Wiltons. Dr. Neff and the Collectors blocked her way as she tried to push past them.
“Excuse me. I’d like to leave,” Allison demanded, her tone firm and voice deeper than she had ever heard it. She attempted to make eye contact with Dr. Neff but faltered when his furious eyes hit hers.
“I’m afraid I cannot let you do that. It is a matter of public well-being,” Dr. Neff sneered, his voice snide and slithering with repulsion. Upon hearing his words, the fire in her core spread, filling her with confidence.
“Have the laws changed? Because I know my rights and you cannot hold me against my will,” she said, her voice deep, and a low growl escaped her lips. She locked her eyes with his. This time he faltered and shifted his gaze.
“He cannot hold you, sweetie. You have no active infection,” Sandra announced, her voice so loud it attracted the attention of people outside the tent.
People glanced in their direction, some pointed and whispered. Dr. Neff stepped aside, allowing Allison to pass, and waved his hand toward the guards. They took off in opposite directions and Catherine disappeared deeper into the tent, out of view. Sandra wrapped a blanket around Allison, pulling her close. That’s when Allison realized she was in a hospital gown with her whole rear end hanging out, putting on a show for the world. She blushed and pulled the blanket tightly around her, covering her exposed skin. Dave put his arm around her shoulders. It reminded her of her grandfather. He steered her away from the tent. The onlookers were dispersing, going about their business.
As they walked, Allison saw there were multiple large tents, military in appearance, all around. The area was crowded with people going in and out of the tents, forming lines in front of them, and walking between them. A large fence surrounded the camp, and Collectors armed with automatic rifles guarded it. Multiple parked cars were outside the perimeter along with vendors selling a variety of items. Food sizzled in skillets over fires and the smell of well-seasoned meat permeated the air. Dirty mannequins with missing limbs displayed an array of clothing items available for purchase, none of it fashionable. Tables covered in everything from survival gear to children’s toys lined the walkway. The voices of customers haggling with vendors created a garbled chatter that drowned out most other noise. A few live chickens in cages squawked with disapproval of their confined spaces. The longest line of all was at a table advertising barber services. Behind the table a woman had a man sitting in an old folding chair as she clipped his hair with a large pair of scissors.
They moved through the crowd at a brisk pace until they arrived at the couple’s car. Sandra opened the back door and Dave helped Allison climb into the back seat. Allison looked out the rear window, toward the medical tent as it shrank from view. Dr. Neff had not wavered from his spot. He glared at the car as it drove away, his eyes fixed, hostile, confirming her initial feeling when he touched her.
He was dangerous.
Chapter Five
Dr. Neff
Dr. Neff stormed back into the tent after the car carrying Allison drove out of view. With a clenched fist he threw his arm at a table as he passed it, knocking the contents to the floor. The loud clang of medical instruments falling to the ground and the heavy footsteps of the doctor filled the tent.
“Catherine!” His voice boomed. Catherine came around the corner and stood, arms crossed in defiance, but her eyes showed a glimmer of fear lurking beneath. Good.
“Yes, sir?” Catherine maintained her distance. Staying far out of his reach. Smart girl.
“Seeing as how you could not secure my newest subject, I would like to know how our littlest guest has held up?” He strolled toward the back of the tent, to his office. Catherine followed behind, still keeping more than a yard between them.
“He’s stronger than expected,” she answered. “We have never had one so young showcase such strength.”
“The gene mutations the virus has made affect large segments of his chromosomes and are much more extensive than we have seen in previous subjects,” Dr. Neff said, rustling papers on his desk. “We haven’t even begun to understand the extent of his abilities. I have been comparing them to the limited samples we have from that girl, Allison. The similarities are intriguing.”
“Perhaps they were infected by the same strain of N87?” Catherine suggested.
“That is a possibility. The research is still inconclusive. We shouldn’t speculate; we need solid evidence. F
inish telling me about the boy.”
“The electroshock experiment didn’t go as we had hoped. It did not elicit as intense of a response as anticipated. However, we stumbled across something.”
“Which is?” Dr. Neff sat in his chair and flipped through papers on his desk.
“Emotional stimuli produces a far superior result when compared to anything else we have tried,” she continued, standing across the desk from him but still near the exit.
“Explain.”
“A Collector taunted the child about his mother. He gave a very graphic description of the things he planned to do to the boy’s mother. The child broke free of his confines and shattered almost every bone in the Collector’s body. It took an elephant’s size dose of Versed to get the child under control again.” She smirked. Dr. Neff froze.
“Extraordinary. Just extraordinary.” He vaulted from his desk. “I want to see him now. Have a car brought around.”
Dr. Neff hurried from the car into the cool gray building. His footsteps reverberated down the halls, followed by the muffled whispers of warning among staff members. He felt a tinge of satisfaction.
He paused in front of a tall metal door with a tiny window and peered in. A sallow boy curled into the fetal position lay on the cot. His tiny spine protruded from his shirt. His toffee skin was spotted with bruises at varied stages of healing. He couldn’t be over seventy pounds. Weak.
The child rolled over and made eye contact with him. A chill crept up Dr. Neff’s spine at the realization the boy had known he was there without laying eyes on him. Defiance danced across the child’s eyes as he held Dr. Neff’s gaze. His skin tingled with excitement. Maybe not so weak after all. He broke eye contact with the boy and pointed to a nearby Collector.
“Bring me your commander. I need more specimens. Also get Dr. Samuel. We are making some tweaks to our program.”
