“We keep working and don’t get discouraged. Now, what kind of information did you get from the team in Lab C?”
“Some of the rats showed symptoms of illness and died within hours. Some rats didn’t show any symptoms. I just don’t think rats are a very good subject. I think that’s why Dr. Vincent was testing on humans. I saw all types of animals in his lab. I don’t think they were giving him the results he was looking for.”
“Maybe we should take a page out of his book,” Dr. Himmler said.
Elaina shot him a glare. “You can’t be serious.”
He sighed. “Dr. Morgan, I am not advocating for torturous methods on human test subjects. I want to complete the task I was given. I assume you want the same thing?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Real life is difficult to replicate in a laboratory. You know this. I’m not saying that we should purposefully infect people. I’m suggesting we find real, sick subjects and try to cure them. If it works, then we’ve done a great thing for an ill person. If it doesn’t, we figure out why and change our methods.”
Elaina nodded. She was afraid of testing on infected people, but it was necessary. They were under too much of a time crunch to spend more time with unreliable tests.
“The quarantine area is in the next building over,” Dr. Himmler said, picking up a bottle of serum and a syringe. “Let’s test this.”
“Now?” Elaina asked, scrambling up from her seat.
“There’s no better time.”
The scientists, once they received reluctant permission, entered the heavily guarded quarantine chamber. There, they were led to the cells that housed the confirmed infected people.
“We can’t open the door,” the guard said when Dr. Himmler asked for access to the patient. “It’s suicide. He’ll rip you limb from limb.”
“Fine,” Dr. Himmler sighed. “Open the slot at the bottom of the door.”
The guard bent down and slid open the small slot where food and water were pushed through. It was a small enough opening that escape wouldn’t be an issue.
While he was opening the door, Dr. Himmler filled a syringe and handed it to Elaina without any further instructions. He knocked on the door, then crouched down, motioning for Elaina to join him.
Seconds later, the Infected’s hand jutted out of the door, right by Dr. Himmler’s feet. The old professor leapt forward, grabbing the man’s wrist with both of his hands.
“Now, Elaina,” he cried, straining to hold the man’s hand still. Elaina plunged the needle into the man’s wrist and quickly shot the serum into his body.
The scientists stood up as the guard shut the small door. Dr. Himmler looked pleased with his successful plan.
“What can you tell us about this patient?” Dr. Himmler asked the guard.
“He’s become exceptionally violent in the past few hours. Any time we look in the window, he throws a fit.”
Elaina looked through the reinforced glass. The large man, who had nearly ripped Dr. Himmler’s arms off in an attempt to get away, was now sitting on the floor. He coughed and sniffled but didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that three people were staring at him.
Dr. Himmler rapped on the glass with his knuckles. The man stood up and walked to the window.
“Please help me,” the man said in a soft voice, his eyes watery.
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Dr. Himmler said. The professor turned to the guard. “Right, now take us to the next subject.”
They repeated the process on four more people, exactly half of the confirmed infected population. Each managed to show immediate improvement. Then, they returned to the first cell.
“Come take a look at this,” the guard said, gesturing for the scientists to examine the first man they’d injected with the serum. He was pacing back and forth and charged the glass when Elaina peeked through.
“You said you would help me! Why the hell aren’t you helping me? You people are worthless!”
He pounded the glass with his fist, causing Elaina to recoil. Her face fell. She was so impressed with the immediate change in demeanor. Why were they reverting back to rage?
“I’m going to send an associate down here to observe and take notes,” Dr. Himmler told the guard. “Elaina, let’s get back to the lab.”
She followed him back to their workstation, her chin hanging down to her sternum. They had failed once again. It infuriated her that she couldn’t figure out why.
“Now we have a baseline for how your serum works on run-of-the-mill infected patients,” Dr. Himmler said, picking up a marker. He walked to the laboratory’s white board and began to write. “Now, you said that you were injected with the Vincent strain by Dr. Vincent himself. You used your own serum and it kept the virus at bay. Why?”
“I—I really don’t know.”
“Think! What made it work in you and not in others?”
“It could be simple coincidence. My serum just so happened to work with the one strain he injected me with.”
“Injection,” he wrote as he spoke. “You were infected through a direct injection of pure, laboratory-made virus. Our friends in isolation most likely received their virus from another human.”
“I also injected myself with the serum almost immediately afterward,” Elaina added. “I don’t know how long the others have been infected. Perhaps it’s something you have to catch immediately to fully kill off.”
“Very good,” Dr. Himmler mused. “Any other ideas?”
“My strain, the one that Dr. Vincent ripped off, was modeled after my sister’s and my own DNA. My serum might work best on me because the original virus came from my family’s DNA.”
“Interesting theory,” Dr. Himmler said, writing on the board. “Also, have you considered the simple fact that we may not have replicated your original serum perfectly? You’ve been working throughout several different labs. We’ve been trying to replicate and refine something in a few hours that you spent weeks on. Let’s see if we can create a closer match.”
“Okay,” Elaina said, feeling excited to be closer to finding the cure. “Where should we start?”
“Let’s go through your notes and really take our time to replicate your serum. We’re not going to rush through it.”
The two virologists get back to work, careful to read each step, think about the science behind it, and then follow the instructions perfectly. They paid extra attention to their surroundings, ensuring that everything was clean and contaminant-free. They worked tirelessly, double-checking every step before making a move. Hours later, when they were finished, Elaina sat down on her stool. She was both mentally and physically exhausted.
A lab assistant sent the new batch of serum to the isolation chamber to test on the enraged occupants.
“Are you going to observe?” the assistant asked the lead scientists.
“I’m an old man,” Dr. Himmler said. “I’m going to rest while our capable associates observe. I expect a full report in three hours. You can find me in my sleeping quarters until then.”
After Dr. Himmler left the lab, Elaina wondered if she should also try to rest. She found a soldier to escort her back to a small office with a mattress in the corner and lay down for a while. She closed her eyes and saw Alec’s face. When she opened them, tears spilled out.
She quickly mopped her face, admonishing herself for becoming emotional. It must have been due to a lack of sleep, so she willed herself to fall asleep so she wouldn’t think of him. But the thoughts persisted, so she got back up and sat at the desk.
Elaina sketched diagrams of the virus so many times that the legal pad she wrote on looked like the doodles of a bored student. The daydreams about her work sent her into a trance, and before she knew it, a soldier was knocking at her door, ready to escort her back to the lab for a briefing.
When she returned, Dr. Himmler sat at the front of the room with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. He looked slightly more refreshed, but his eyes
were still rimmed with red. Elaina felt a little sorry for him. He had been trying to retire for years but had to come out of retirement to work on a huge, exhausting project. She hoped the stress wouldn’t do him in.
“I have some bad news,” the assistant said, looking nervous to be in the presence of two brilliant virologists. “We administered the serum, per your specifications. It appears that the subjects are reacting to this round in the same manner as they did the first time. It appears to have an immediate yet mild effect on them, but it doesn’t take long for them to revert to their old ways.”
“Can we get more information about them?” Elaina asked. “How long have they been infected?”
The assistant looked at her chart. “On average, you’re looking at about a week. There’s not a single one who’s been infected for fewer than five days.”
“Thank you,” Elaina said softly. “I’d like for you to continue to observe the subjects for the next twenty-four hours,” she told the assistant, who quickly shuffled out of the room once she was dismissed.
“I’m not surprised.” Elaina groaned. “I think my serum only works in cases of new infections. How are we going to find subjects who have recently been infected? Do we just hide in the bushes and wait for someone to be attacked?”
She looked at Dr. Himmler, who only shrugged his shoulders in response.
“I wasn’t being serious,” she said. “If we’re close enough to watch a person become infected, then we’re close enough to shoot the attacker. It’s so unethical, it isn’t even funny.”
“Would you rather inject healthy people with the virus, only to give them the serum?”
“I don’t want to do that either,” Elaina said. “We’re seriously putting people’s lives at stake by allowing them to become infected.”
“Then I believe we’re at a standstill with your progress. We have a very complex cure in front of us, but we can’t understand its full potential in theory. We need to see it in practice. I don’t want to violate any ethics laws, but what choice do we have?”
Elaina pursed her lips. People were dying at an exponential rate. She didn’t want anyone to suffer for her science, but Dr. Himmler was right—they didn’t have any other options.
“Fine,” she said, looking up at her colleague. “We should probably talk to the Colonel about this. I’d hate to be charged with another felony.”
“If we don’t, I don’t think we’d have any more prisons to house you,” Dr. Himmler said grimly.
10
“Are you still doing okay?” Alec asked for what felt like the tenth time in the past thirty minutes.
“Yeah, fine,” Thomas answered.
“Good. Let me know if that changes.”
As they walked toward the closest town, Alec noticed that more and more space came between the two of them. He wasn’t sure if that was his subconscious warning him to be careful or if it was Thomas’s.
“I don’t think I was attacked,” Thomas thought out loud.
“Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know. I just get this feeling that I was the instigator. I usually don’t get into fights, though.”
“We don’t know what happened,” Alec said.
“If I got attacked, then why don’t I have any cuts?” he asked. “There’s dried blood on me, but it’s not mine. I think I’m covered in someone else’s blood.”
“It looks like you have a couple of scratches and bruises on your forearms,” Alec pointed out. “It doesn’t look like the skin was broken, though.”
“Defensive wounds,” he said. “It looks like someone was trying to stop me.”
“Hey, don’t say that,” Alec reproved. “You can’t beat yourself up for something that didn’t even happen. For all we know, you tried to help someone who was seriously injured and got covered in blood. Your memory will take some time to come back.”
Thomas nodded. “Okay.”
Alec bit his lip. He didn’t think this was a good time to confirm Thomas’s fear. He wondered if his memory was starting to return in flashes. If that were the case, then he would eventually realize that he did kill a defenseless person who did not appear to be infected. Alec shuddered at the thought of being with Thomas once he remembered the atrocities he’d committed.
He found it quite bizarre that Thomas could murder a man in cold blood and have no recollection of the events. If he could turn his rages on and off, then when would he return to his violent disposition? It wasn’t something Alec wanted to find out for himself.
“Will you help me figure it out?” Thomas asked. “Let’s piece this together.”
“Sure,” Alec said reluctantly. “What do you want me to do?”
“Tell me everything you saw. Start with the moment you came upon me.”
“I—I saw drops of blood on the ground. I followed them and found you. You were on the ground, crying.”
“You didn’t see anyone? Not even a dead body?”
“No,” Alec lied. “You were alone.
“Are you absolutely sure?” He whimpered. “You aren’t lying to me to protect me, are you?”
“I swear I’m not. I don’t know why you’re so focused on this,” Alec said, desperate to change the subject. “Whatever happened—it doesn’t change anything. We have to keep moving forward.”
“What if it were you?” Thomas asked, stopping dead in his tracks. “What if you woke up and all signs pointed to your being a murderer, an Infected? Wouldn’t you want to know what you had done?”
“I don’t know if I would,” Alec admitted. “I think it would be easier to be blissfully ignorant. I’ve had to live with my sins. I sometimes wish I could forget all about this.”
“Then why don’t you? I mean, I bet we could find the assholes who made me like this,” Thomas said, getting agitated. “Why don’t you forget?”
“No matter how many terrible things I’ve seen, there are still good things that I would never want to forget. I’m sure you understand.”
“I guess,” Thomas said, giving up on receiving Alec’s help.
Alec was a little relieved that he’d dropped the subject but had a feeling he’d bring it back up again. Thomas was not stupid. He would eventually piece the parts of the puzzle together.
“Feeling okay?” Alec asked, noting Thomas’s silence.
“Actually, I don’t feel that good,” Thomas replied.
“If you need to stop for a minute, let me know,” Alec said, trying not to look at the kid if he was about to be sick again.
Thomas entered a coughing fit, wheezing and hacking. This worried Alec immediately. Lethargy and vomiting was one thing—those symptoms could be explained by drugs or exhaustion. A nagging cough was another worrying symptom of a more serious condition.
By this point, Alec already knew that Thomas had to be infected. He couldn’t remain in denial anymore. He needed to be smart and protect himself, but he still couldn’t shake the urge to deliver Thomas to New York in one piece.
Thomas let out one last booming cough and immediately looked at his palm. Pink fluid dotted his hand, the droplets telling the men everything they really needed to know. Thomas was seriously ill and his survival didn’t seem likely.
Alec and Thomas locked eyes. They both knew what was happening but were too afraid to admit it. Thomas didn’t want Alec to ditch him—or worse, kill him—because he was infected. Alec didn’t want Thomas to get too upset and enter into a rage.
“What’s wrong with me?” Thomas asked, his eyes wide with fear. “It isn’t a drug reaction, is it?”
“I don’t know any drugs that would do that to you,” Alec answered. “Try not to get too worked up over it. Let’s just focus on finding a car and driving to New York.”
“Am I—”
“No,” Alec said firmly. “You’re going to be just fine. You have to stay positive.”
“I don’t know if I can,” Thomas croaked. “My chest feels heavy. It’s hard to stay positive when I feel like I’m
going to die.”
“I can see buildings from here,” Alec said. “Once we get into a car, you can rest up. We can even try to raid a pharmacy if you want. Just stay with me.”
They continued walking until they approached a fenced-in field. It looked like somewhere for animals to graze, but the barbed-wire fence was nearly six feet tall. Alec wasn’t sure what kind of animals were kept there.
“This is weird,” Alec said. “If this is a farm, maybe we can find a truck somewhere around here. At the very least, maybe we’ll find some horses.”
“For food or for transportation?” Thomas asked.
Alec’s stomach rumbled. “At this point, either would be fine with me,” he replied.
“How are we going to get over the fence?” Thomas asked.
“There’s got to be an opening around here somewhere. We just have to walk around the perimeter until we find it.”
They began their trek along the wire fence, but it didn’t take long until they heard a rustling near a barn. Alec’s eyes lit up, as he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a live animal. Seeing a non-human form of life would be a refreshing change of pace for him. Plus, the prospect of fresh meat would really tame an insatiable hunger that couldn’t be quieted with packets of chips and cookies.
Alec whistled in an attempt to coax the animal out of hiding. Expecting to find a goat or a calf, he was shocked to see three gaunt figures emerge from the dilapidated barn.
“Oh, shit,” Alec shouted at the sight of the Infected. He pulled out his gun but realized that the Infected couldn’t reach him from their gated prison.
“I get the feeling they aren’t in this pen by accident,” Thomas said shakily. “There’s a building right over there, and it looks like it’s connected to the pasture. I think someone captured these people and put them in here.”
“If they’re a danger, why not just kill them?” Alec asked himself out loud. “I mean, why hold infected people like this unless you have a reason to keep them alive?”
“Like an experiment?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah, or a cure. Something weird is going on here. I don’t know if we should continue into town.”
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