Michael pushed her forward and grabbed the gun from me. We gave one last look at the man laced to the tree before starting again.
“Are you just going to leave me here like this?” the man mumbled, causing me to jump. Michael once again handed me the gun and went to the man, lifting his head with his hand.
“Brady, why? Why did you do this?”
“She seemed to be destroying us. It seemed like the right thing to do. You’re always about doing the right thing. I’m sorry, Captain.”
Michael put his hands up to the man’s cracked mask, but didn’t say anything.
“Sir, I know I don’t deserve it, but can you give me my dignity? Don’t let me become one of them.”
Michael nodded and took the gun from me.
“See you on the other side, Captain.”
“Take care, my friend.”
The gunshot echoed off each tree around us. Brady slumped forward, his red blood beginning to soak the rest of his jacket. Michael walked away, his eyes cold, but sharp. He walked past me without a word, grabbed Clarissa’s arm, and pushed her forward. I walked behind them, silently, not knowing what might happen next.
Chapter Sixteen
The forest opened to a clearing as we stepped into small fields of waist-high corn and wheat. I waved my hand across the top of it as it danced in the breeze.
“We have six fields like this north of the compound. The Déracinés either haven’t found them or don’t care about them, but these are what keep us alive,” Michael said to me as if we were out on a nice walk together with no care in the world.
“So what about the ones we just…”
“Killed?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I’m concerned that they are going farther outside the city to find resources. If they destroy them, well, we don’t have six weeks of stored provisions before we’d have to move.”
“Why don’t you tell her everything, Michael?” Clarissa snapped. Michael pushed her forward when she spoke.
“Move? With five hundred people? How would you do that?”
“I’m not sure,” he said.
Walking through the last few yards of corn a sudden headache hit me, strong enough to make me dizzy enough to have to kneel down before I fell. Still, I couldn’t open my eyes because the pain was too strong.
“Jennifer!” Michael yelled and I soon felt his hand upon my shoulder, but my mind was showing me the wheat field, just differently. This field was much larger. At one corner, I could see a house and I could hear children laughing. I could see life before the virus.
Michael shook me and the memory faded away.
“Jennifer, are you okay?” I finally opened my eyes and looked up at him as he helped me stand again.
“I don’t know. I think so.”
“Come on. Let’s get you back so you can rest. Are you able to walk?” I nodded as Michael helped me take a few steps. Clarissa stood in front of me, a small smile on her face. Michael turned her around quickly and made her start walking again.
We met six workers coming out to tend the field. One stopped and swung his hoe over his shoulder.
“She finally go crazy?” the worker asked, his eyes wide in the mask. I wasn’t sure if he was referring to Clarissa or me but I wasn’t about to ask.
“Shut it, Bastrop, or I’ll put you in the ground where you belong.”
The worker laughed, shook his head, and proceeded into the wheat.
* * * *
Rifles went up from every direction as we approached since the compound was still on high alert. Once Michael let them know who it was, the gate opened. He took Clarissa to the first quarantine room just inside the fence, locking her in. He then took me by the arm, leading me to the next one.
“I know you’ve been through this before, but you have to go back under quarantine again to make sure.”
“I know,” I said reluctantly, faking a smile as he opened up the small room for me. We both entered and he shut the door behind us.
“I’m sorry for what they did to you,” he said. “You deserve so much more than how people have treated you.” He made his way forward and slowly wrapped his arms around me. I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as he did. Every touch of his affection seemed to remove part of the weight burdening my shoulders.
“Thank you for saving me, again.”
“It gets a little easier each time,” he joked, but neither one of us were in a laughing mood. “I’ll get Doc to come look at your arm.”
“Thank you,” I said, trying to smile.
Michael’s job of getting us home was just part of what he needed to do. Not only was he still having to run the defenses of the compound, he now had to face the burden of finding out why his sister had kidnapped me.
“You must be starving. I’ll have them bring us some breakfast shortly and I’ll try—”
“You have too much to do,” I cut him off. “Please don’t let me get in the way of that. They’ll only hold it against you later.”
Michael smiled and nodded, knowing I was right.
“I’ll post a guard I can trust outside the door. Is there anything else you need?”
I shook my head, but didn’t say anything, just enjoying the last few minutes I had with him.
He pulled me close to him again and whispered in my ear. “This won’t happen again.”
“I believe you. Thank you.”
He gave me a tight squeeze before going to the door and giving me a wink. Then I found myself in the room alone. I immediately began to watch the clock until he came back to me.
Wellstone came to clean and check my arm, horrified about what happened, but happy that I was otherwise intact. Michael returned with lunch right on time, but hardly said anything, only watching me for a little bit before leaving. At dinner he brought me a few magazines to read. He watched me eat but was still mostly silent.
“So what’s on your mind, Captain?” I tried to joke.
“A little bit of everything right now,” he said. “Clarissa said she wanted to apologize to you, but she’s a horrible liar. I’m not sure she was going to kill you, but you wouldn’t have come back if it was up to her.”
“I know. I also know they are all scared of me. I’m inconclusive and an outsider. If I was someone on the inside, I would be scared of me too.”
Michael nodded, but there was something he wanted to say.
“What is it?” I asked. He reached into a pocket in his camouflaged jacket and slowly pulled out a syringe.
“Let Doc look at your blood. There has to be a reason for all of this. Let him see if he can come up with some reason why your blood is inconclusive, and if we can find something, maybe people will be more accepting of you.”
I looked at him and then at the needle as he uncorked the safety plastic from around it and held it out to me. Then, in a flash, a severe headache hit me and caused the room to spin. I looked up at Michael, but he wasn’t there. There was the large man, the main agent, still in his plastic suit, holding the syringe. His eyes were sharp and demanding, but he held the needle that was once in Michael’s hand.
“You will fix all of this,” he said, before everything went white.
* * * *
I felt sharp little slaps against my face.
“Jennifer, wake up, Jennifer.”
I heard Michael’s voice.
“We need Doc down here at Q2. Tell him to hurry!” I barely got my eyes open before they fell closed again. Michael slapped me again.
“Jennifer!”
“What?”
“Are you with me?”
“Yes.”
“Then open your eyes.”
I forced my eyes open, but my head was still spinning. Slowly, the room came together and Michael stared at me, holding me in his arms.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You passed out. I was handing you the syringe and you just hit the floor.” Slowly, he picked me up off the floor and held me steady unti
l I regained my balance. Doc arrived a short time later and checked my vitals.
“You seem to be okay. It was probably just the night out there in the rain,” he concluded. “Just get some rest tonight, and by morning you’ll feel right as rain.”
Michael stayed for a few more moments, wishing me a good night.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to me.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest, okay?”
“Yes, Captain, but what about the blood?”
“I took some while you were out. I hope you don’t mind.” He pointed at the bandage on my arm.
I shook my head as he held me again.
“Just feel better, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
I smiled as he gave me another wink and shut the door behind him, leaving me for the night.
I tried to sleep, but my mind kept wandering in the darkness. Too much had happened to me. The kidnapping, the bite from Alex, the attack by the Déracinés, and now Clarissa was in trouble and I was yet again under quarantine. I couldn’t help but toss and turn all night long until finally the door opened and I saw Michael again.
“Rise and shine,” he said, a bounce in his step that he didn’t have the day before. I stretched, but was surprised when he practically fell on top of me, letting out a small chuckle when he did.
“Well, hello there,” I said, smiling.
“Good morning,” he gleamed, stroking my hair as he did. “How did you sleep?”
“Like a baby.”
He cocked one eyebrow and pointed toward the ceiling. “Well, little liar, you forgot there was a camera up there, so I already know you had a rough night.”
My cheeks turned red at being caught. I just didn’t want him to worry about me.
“So did you just spend all night looking at me?”
“I couldn’t sleep either knowing you were out here again, so yes,” he said, pulling me up to a sitting position, “but the good news is your twenty-four-hour quarantine is over and you can go back inside now.”
I smiled as he pulled me to my feet, holding me a little longer than usual just to make sure I was steady. We opened the door together as the new morning cast a golden hue upon the grass. We walked hand in hand into the Block A unit and all the way up to my cell.
But when I got there, the door was closed and hanging on the bars were many small trinkets from pieces of clothing to necklaces and rings.
“What is all of this?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Michael said. He was just about to make an all-call on his radio when Stacey and Sam ran up the stairs.
“Is it true?” asked Sam, nearly out of breath.
“When do you think there will be a cure?” asked Stacy, just as excited. “I can’t believe you’re resistant.”
“Resistant?”
“What are you two talking about?” asked Michael. Neither one of them had even seen Michael with me and automatically snapped to attention in his presence.
“Sorry, Captain.”
“What is this about Jennifer being resistant?” he asked again.
“Doc Wellstone has been saying it all morning. He said he ran tests and that her blood…your blood is resistant to the SA8 virus.”
“How? How does he know?”
“Who cares? You could bring all of this to an end!” said Sam, “We can all get our lives back. Isn’t it wonderful?”
Michael and I looked at each other.
“We need to talk to Wellstone,” I said.
* * * *
“Come in, come in!” Wellstone stood up as we entered, shaking Michael’s hand, but then wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“I knew it had to be out there. I knew someone would have to come forward that was resistant to this virus. I just didn’t know I would be the one to actually find out who the person was.”
“Are you sure, Doc?
“Yes!” He waved his hand to a large microscope that was sealed behind a plastic lining, “I’ve run test after test with it and the virus.”
“The virus?” I asked.
“You have it inside?” Michael looked at him sternly as well.
“Don’t get angry with me, Captain. It’s well contained and the only persons who know about it now are standing in this room. Plus, it would only attack two of us,” he quipped.
Michael didn’t say anything, but his eyes gave away his feeling.
“Well, if I didn’t have it, I couldn’t show you this.” Wellstone waved us over to the plastic and sat down in front of it. He ran his hands into gloves built into the enclosed testing structure, and picked up a petri dish, putting it under the large microscope.
“This is the last bit of Jennifer’s blood. I wanted to show you what happens when I add the virus to it.” Wellstone took a syringe and pulled some blood from another dish, adding it to the one under the microscope, then stood up and smiled.
“Just watch and see what happens. It’s really an amazing thing. The virus acts so quickly, but her blood—your blood—is even faster!”
Michael pulled the chair back for me to see first. When I looked in the microscope, I saw the red cells, but then noticed the smaller, cone shaped virus next to it.
“The SA8 will use the blood as a host to get to the brain. It will catch a ride there. The end of the virus, along with its legs, attach itself to the blood and live off of it, but never kills it, like other viruses do. It gets to the brain and then, well, you know. But your blood actually absorbs the virus. Keep watching, keep watching…”
I looked into the microscope again and saw a virus now attached to my blood, but slowly, it pulled the virus inside of itself, keeping the virus contained.
“Oh, my God.” I looked at Michael and he looked into the microscope.
“This is…”
“Amazing. I know,” said Wellstone. “Somehow, some way, your blood has worked out the molecular structure of the virus and is able to contain it and slowly kill it. That’s why your original tests were inconclusive. You have the virus, but your body kills it.”
I looked at Wellstone and then at Michael. I couldn’t believe it and I could tell that he couldn’t either.
“Does this mean my blood might offer a cure?”
“It’s a high probability, but many more tests need to be run before we can come to that conclusion. What I would like of you, if I may, would be to get more of your blood so we can start those tests as soon as possible.”
“Sure, of course.”
“Captain, may I have her for the next hour or so?”
“Yes, Doc, but be easy on her okay? She was out there for a night, remember?”
“I will, I will.”
Michael nodded and reached out and held my hand. I smiled at him and squeezed his hand before going across the room and lying down on a table. When I looked back, he was gone.
“Roll up your sleeve. I want to get this on the first shot.”
* * * *
I rubbed my arm where the large, blue bandage was. On the other arm, I still had the white bandage from Alex’s bite.
Wellstone told me the human body holds about five pints of blood. He only took half a pint, but the half-filled bag looked like much more. He gave me some juice and a few pieces of bread afterward, saying they wouls help me feel better, and now I ate them while walking down the hall, trying to find Michael.
“There she is,” someone said.
I looked up to see many people I didn’t know coming forward, smiling at me. The crowd gathered around me, pushing forward, reaching for me.
“Please, my son, I have not seen him in three years. He is out there somewhere. Please help him,” said a short lady up front holding up an old picture.
“Do you have the cure?” another man yelled.
“Can you stop the Déracinés? Cure them so they stop killing everyone.”
Someone grabbed my arm forcefully and I pulled away, taking steps back, overwhelmed by the reaction. I looked around for an es
cape, but the crowd surrounded me, asking me questions I had no answer to and making requests I couldn’t fulfill.
“Please, I can’t help anyone.”
But the group wouldn’t relent. I continued to pull away, to turn, and to look for a way out. Their fear of me had become hope, the same hope Michael had seen in me, but now they wanted something I didn’t know how to give them.
The next few seconds happened in a daze. A large hand fell upon my shoulder, and I turned swiftly to knock it away. The juice and bread flew through the air as my hand went forward, fingers out, and bashed into the man’s neck. My foot went up and jabbed him in the lower abdomen. I turned again and got into position, fists up, waiting for someone to try and touch me again, but they had backed away.
“Please. I can’t help you right now. Mr. Wellstone is doing his best to find a cure. He told me I am resistant, but you’ll all have to wait for him, not me.”
Nobody moved.
“Yeah, what she said.”
I saw Michael and Lt. Higgins hurrying down the hallway. They entered the group and stood on each side of me.
“Go back to your living areas people. When we know more, you will know more.”
The crowd slowly began to disburse, frustrated, but at least not antagonizing me.
“You okay?” Michael asked as we walked away.
“Looks like you got here just in time.”
“Yeah, to save them from you,” he joked.
“Where were you?”
“We were about to go out and question Clarissa again,” Higgins interjected. “We’ve been trying to find out how and why she kidnapped you the other night without anyone seeing her, but she has refused to talk to anyone.”
Michael stopped.
“She doesn’t know.”
Resistant, no. 1 Page 14
