Will thought back to the last meal they allowed him to have at the camp. “Besides a bite or two of a protein bar, nearly two days. How about you?”
“Same,” Alec replied. “So, do you want to tell me what the hell happened to you at the hotel? Lainey and I were worried sick about you guys.”
“It was all my fault,” Will said, realizing that he may have avoided the rebels if it weren’t for his curiosity.
“I doubt it. Where’s Natalia? I’d like to hear her side of things.”
Hearing her name made Will cringe. He didn’t know how to tell Alec about it. He felt his throat get tight and didn’t think he could get the words out. He had been holding so much in, that when Alec looked him in the eyes, every emotion poured out of him. The tears that hadn’t come after she was shot poured freely.
“Will,” Alec said, clearly concerned. “What happened to Natalia?”
“She’s dead,” he choked out. Will sobbed, wiping his eyes and nose on his shirt. Alec stared down at the ground.
Alec wasn’t in disbelief that this happened to Natalia. He was shocked and horrified, but there was nothing he wouldn’t believe anymore. He had heard crazy stories and seen terrible things. Anything was possible, especially the worst possible things.
“Can you start from the beginning?” Alec asked.
Will tried to speak, but he couldn’t get more than one or two unintelligible words out without blubbering or hyperventilating.
“Okay, okay, take it easy. It’s going to be okay.”
Alec scooted over, pushing through bags of snack foods until he was seated a few inches away from Will. He put his hand on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him. Will practically toppled over on him, hanging onto his shoulders. Tears ran down Alec’s shoulder, but he didn’t mind. He knew how Will had felt about Natalia.
Eventually, Will was able to gather himself and sit up. He sheepishly wiped at his red eyes and took a few deep, shuddering breaths.
“I heard something outside of the hotel room,” Will whispered, his voice hoarse from crying. “Natalia was scared and I wanted to reassure her. I don’t know why I did it. Curiosity got the better of me, I guess. We went out into the woods and got picked up by a group of rebel soldiers who took us to their camp.”
“We looked in the woods,” Alec said. “When we couldn’t find you, we assumed you had gone to the road. “That’s when we got captured.”
“By rebel soldiers?” Will gasped.
“No, by some rednecks practicing their own form of vigilante justice. They were in the middle of a rigged trial for Elaina when we got out. They nearly killed her.”
Will shook his head. “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t gone outside, none of that would have happened.”
“You can’t blame yourself. It all worked out in the end. We managed to find each other.”
“Did it work out?” Will asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Oh,” Alec said, feeling embarrassed. “That wasn’t what I meant. What I’m trying to say is, you don’t know what would have happened if we’d managed to stay together. We might all still be locked up with the rednecks. If they didn’t kill us all immediately, then they would have made us wish we were dead.”
“I guess.”
“What was this rebel camp?” Alec asked. “Was it anything like the military base we wound up at?”
“It was so much worse,” Will grimaced. “They tried to act like they cared about us. They tried to trick us into thinking they were going to take good care of us. Natalia and I knew better, though. Eventually, a group of them figured out that we were going to be test subjects for Bretton Vincent’s newest virus.”
“Bretton Vincent?”
“The one and only,” Will grimaced. “If I could get my hands on him, I would kill him. There’s no doubt about that. We were in the middle of our escape and he injected Natalia with his new virus.”
Alec covered his face with his hands. He knew the man was a monster for injecting Elaina with the virus, but Natalia was his daughter. There was no telling what that man would do if he would willingly infect his own daughter.
“That makes me sick,” Alec spat, feeling rage toward Bretton. “He killed his own daughter.”
“Indirectly, of course,” Will said. “She didn’t get sick right away. I thought that if, somehow, we could get her to Elaina, she’d be okay. But, she started getting agitated and one of our new travel partners shot her.”
“I’m so sorry, man,” Alec said. “That’s horrible.”
“That murderer is around here somewhere,” Will said. “There are two others as well. I’m supposed to be gathering food and water for them now.”
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Alec said cautiously, “but you know how the virus changes people. Someone else may have pulled the trigger, but Natalia was already gone the second she turned. You have no one to blame but Bretton.”
Will looked at the floor and took a deep breath.
“Yeah,” his voice quivered. “But why did it have to be Natalia?”
Alec shook his head. “I don’t know. That man is truly evil.”
Will watched Alec open and eat another bag of crackers. He had completely lost his appetite.
“Nobody agrees with me, but I still think something could have been done. I have this feeling in my gut that if we had done something differently, she could have been saved. I’ll never forgive Melissa for shooting her like that.”
Alec nodded, but didn’t necessarily agree with his position. But, he didn’t say anything. The kid had been through a lot already. He needed a familiar face to show him support, not tell him that he was being silly.
Also, it didn’t feel like the right moment to tell him that Elaina was working on a cure that very well could have saved Natalia. There were so few people who knew Elaina had become infected in the first place, and it was probably best if it stayed that way.
“Will,” Melissa called, running down the stairs. “What’s taking you so long? Derek sent me down here to find you.”
“I’m over here,” Will groaned, making all sorts of grotesque faces at the sound of her voice.
Melissa shrieked at the sight of Alec and pointed her gun at him.
“Relax,” Will roared. “You can’t just point and shoot at anyone you see. Go back upstairs, I don’t want you down here.”
“I’m just doing my job. Derek gave me the gun to protect us. Who is this guy? Has he infected you?”
“I’m Alec,” he said, turning to face her. He held his hands in the air to show her that he was not a threat. “I’m not infected, either. I was traveling with Will and Natalia before we got split up. Could you lower your weapon?”
She hesitantly brought the gun down to her side.
“Good,” Alec said in his calm cop voice. “It’s nice to meet you. Melissa, isn’t it?”
She nodded, her body still tense.
“I’m Alec. I have two friends who are currently on the third floor. I promise you that they’re not a danger to you.”
“Two?” Will asked.
“We picked up a stray along the way. Actually, he saved our asses. He earned what little protection we can afford him.”
“How long have you been here?” Melissa asked. “I didn’t hear anyone when I checked out the place.”
“We heard you,” Alec chuckled. “Luckily, I looked out the window when I heard the noise and recognized Will. Otherwise, Thomas would have come down here, guns blazing. He’s a good shot, too.”
Her face turned red. The thought of someone beating her at her own game embarrassed her. It was terrifying to know that not even a gun could give her the protection she desired.
“Yeah,” Alec continued, speaking casually, “Thomas was working as a sniper when we got picked up. He could have gunned you all down before you ever saw it coming. Not to mention, I’m a cop. I have some experience with shootouts. You’re lucky you’re with Will.”
Will felt a small smile come to his fa
ce. He knew what Alec was trying to do and appreciated it. Seeing Melissa squirm really did raise his spirits.
“They were infected,” Melissa stuttered. “I was just trying to clear the way for the others to get to safety. I didn’t want to come to this stupid hospital in the first place.”
“Neither did I,” Alec sighed. “We must have arrived a few minutes before you did. Did you walk here?”
Will nodded.
“That stinks. We managed to get Thomas’s truck. We’re pretty much out of gas, but it brought us this far.”
“So why did you come here?” Will asked. “I know you hated the idea of coming to a hospital. Is everyone all right?”
“Yeah, everyone is fine,” he said quickly. “Lainey’s idea, you know?” he said, raising his eyebrows.
“Oh,” Will answered. “I suppose that makes sense. Is she working on something?”
Alec gave him a tiny nod, not knowing if he could trust Melissa. “Thomas is with her in the lab right now.”
“I’m glad everyone in your crew is doing fine,” Melissa blubbered. “Because things aren’t great in our camp.”
“What are you talking about, Melissa?” Will asked, getting annoyed with the girl.
“That’s why Derek wanted me to come down here. Did you forget about Victoria?”
“No,” Will answered. Though, to be fair, he had been so taken aback by Alec’s appearance that he did forget about everything else. He picked up the bottles of water that Derek requested and put a few bags of fruit snacks in his pocket for him. “I was sent down here to get water, remember? Alec helped me open the machines. I’m on my way up right now.”
“Don’t bother,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
“If you’re so concerned, why are you down here? Why aren’t you helping Derek with Victoria’s wound?”
Melissa gritted her teeth. “I was helping him. I even gave her some of my blood. It was no use—there wasn’t anything we could do. She’s dead, Will. Victoria is dead.”
Alec looked at Will, ready to support him through another devastating loss, but his demeanor was surprisingly calm. Will stood up straight and simply nodded his head.
“I’m going to go upstairs to give these to Derek,” Will said, holding an armful of food and drinks. “I’ll come find you in the lab once I’m done.”
“Are you sure?” Alec asked. “I can come with you.”
“Yeah, it’s no problem. Could you do me a favor, though?”
“Sure.”
“Can you tell Elaina about Natalia? I don’t think I can do it.”
Alec patted him on the shoulder. He didn’t want to deliver the news either, but it would be too much for Will to recount the story again.
“Sure thing,” he said. “I’ll see you up there.”
Chapter Thirty
“What’s this?” Thomas asked, pointing to a round machine that Elaina was trying to hook up to an emergency generator.
“It’s a centrifuge. It’s going to separate the blood into different parts so I can look at it. Didn’t you use one in high school chemistry class?”
Thomas shrugged. “I didn’t take a lot of science classes. I’m sorry I’m not going to be much help.”
“Do you know anything about generators?”
He nodded and got to work, figuring out how to power her lab. Like everything else in the hospital, the place had been ransacked. Specimen containers littered the counters, as if the lab technicians didn’t have time to put them in order and just tossed them wherever there was room. Elaina carefully cleared off a counter into an already full trashcan.
Even in its messy state, the hospital’s lab was better than anything she had used since the epidemic started. It still wasn’t on the same level as her university’s laboratory, but it was much better than the others she’d tinkered in. Though some of it was broken, the equipment was top notch. She didn’t know much about the town they were in, but she figured it had to be somewhat wealthy for them to afford such nice equipment.
“Now we’re up and running,” Thomas said, watching the whir of the centrifuge.
“Thanks,” Elaina said as she loaded it with test tubes.
“Is there anything else I can do?” he asked. He was hovering over her, too close for her to be able to think.
“No, that’s all I can think of right now. I’ll let you know if I need anything else, though.”
Thomas found a stool and sat down for a moment, but quickly became bored and started wandering around the lab. He would pick up a piece of glassware and examine it before setting it back down.
“When do you think Alec is going to be back?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Elaina answered. “I think he’s going to talk to Will. Maybe he’ll meet the other people he’s with. Hopefully, he’ll find some food.”
She pricked her finger with a lancet and smeared a drop of blood on a microscope slide. She dropped a glass cover on top and put it underneath the microscope.
“Aren’t you curious about what happened to him? Who do you think the other people are? Wasn’t there another girl with him?
Elaina tried not to look up from the microscope when she spoke. “I’ll find out eventually. I’d like to get as much work done as possible before we get too many distractions. I’ve been through this before—I’ll be working on something and then we’ll have to pack up and leave. For once I’d like to finish what I started.”
She looked at her blood again and was surprised with what she saw. Bretton’s virus was still very much apparent, but so were her antibodies from the serum. It didn’t look like her serum could completely knock out the other virus, but it had weakened it.
Often times, viruses never really went away. Symptoms would pass, but a virus could remain dormant in a person’s body for years. Sometimes, it stuck around for life. Usually, it wouldn’t do any harm to the body, but, occasionally, symptoms could return under times of immune weakness due to stress of other health conditions.
Elaina was in decent health to begin with. She didn’t have a superb diet and fitness regimen, but she wasn’t sickly. However, she knew that in her current state, her health mattered more than ever. Unfortunately, she only ate what she could find, slept very little, and encountered more stress than she had during her days as a doctoral student.
She feared that at her current rate, she would find herself in trouble. But there was nothing else she could do. She couldn’t make more time for sleep when she was fleeing her captors. She couldn’t eat better when there were no fresh foods to be found. She couldn’t relax when infected people were trying to rip her to shreds.
“How does it look?” Thomas asked her after a long bout of silence between the two of them.
“Surprisingly, not too bad. I think my serum is doing exactly what I want it to do. Of course, there’s always room for improvement. I’m just glad to see that Bretton’s virus hasn’t completely taken over my blood.”
“That’s good news.”
“It is. I wonder if I introduce a higher dosage of my serum if I can completely kill the bad virus off. I’m going to tweak it and replicate it now.”
“Cool,” Thomas said, still wandering around. “Is there anything you want me to do?”
Elaina didn’t have any work for him and his presence was starting to really irritate her. She liked to work in silence. Someone asking very basic questions threw off her concentration.
“Could you see what Alec is up to? I could use some water.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be right back—don’t worry.”
“I won’t,” she said under her breath.
She scribbled down some notes in a lab notebook, and then returned to the microscope. She watched as the little viruses swam around in her blood. She could look at them all day, just marveling at how much work it took to create such unique specimens.
In fact, she was so enthralled with her discovery that she didn’t even look up when she heard someone walk past the lab. She sighed
, having hoped that it would have taken Thomas a lot longer to find Alec.
“Back so soon?” she asked, adjusting the lens.
Silence.
She looked up to see a man she had never seen before, wearing a bloody lab coat. His skin looked grey and his hair was disheveled. The second she acknowledged the man’s presence, he snarled at her.
“Help,” she screamed, but this only enraged the infected man more. He jumped at her so quickly that she didn’t have time to defend herself. She was only able to grab the lancet, which hardly affected the infected man when she jammed it into his side. It didn’t appear as if he could feel pain in the same way healthy people could.
She toppled over off her lab stool, onto the floor. The man pinned her down, his face inches from hers. She could smell his putrid breath and felt his scaly skin on hers.
The man contorted himself and craned his neck in order to sink his teeth into Elaina’s flesh, trying to injure and infect her. But, at the last moment, she wrestled her arm free and shoved her hand in his face, snapping his head back.
“Lainey,” Alec shouted, having finally returned with supplies. He dropped his goods on the floor and rushed to help. Will was right on his heels, having heard the commotion from the stairwell. They both grabbed the man and managed to shove him into the side room.
Locking the door, they listened to the man scream and thrash around for a moment before falling silent. The adjacent room had a wide, tinted window and Alec watched the man, studying his curious behavior.
“Are you okay?” Alec asked Elaina.
“Yeah, fine. I’m just a little startled,” she said, sitting back on her stool. She smoothed a hand through her hair and gathered her notes into a neat pile.
“Why is he acting like that?” Will asked.
“It’s like he can’t see through the glass,” Melissa said, standing in the doorway.
“He can’t,” Alec said. “It’s a two-way mirror. We can see him, but he can’t see us.”
“Why is he so calm now?” Will asked. “It’s like nothing was ever wrong with him.”
The Morgan Strain Series (Book 2): Point of Proximity Page 20
