by RM Hamrick
Audra watched the patient on the table. She remembered the time her sister got sick and stayed in the hospital when hospitals were still big corporations, light switches worked, and her family existed. She remembered looking down at her sister, hoping the medicines worked so they could go play again. Now, she looked down at this guy, not knowing his life, and wished the same. She hoped the medicines worked, so she and her sister could go play again.
Her soak in the creek had refreshed her, but she had not replenished all her energy. A wave of tiredness washed over her as the adrenaline, emotions, and nervous energy dissipated. With the sun still up, she wanted a nap. She would need her rest to cover her shift later. Audra gave Dwyn a small touch on the shoulder to signal her upcoming disappearance. They both exited the conference room and Audra found her way to an office that served as her room for the nights she stayed in the industrial park.
The brightness from the windows showed the contents of the converted office. There were papers and books shoved in the corner, the remnants of the previous tenant. She would have left them where they were, but they were stacked precariously on all the horizontal surfaces. She did not want them to topple in her sleep or during a quick exit. To slip on a pool of loose paper was not her idea of an efficient escape plan. Messes like these were rare. No one had this amount of stuff anymore.
She dry-brushed her teeth before fluffing the blankets and soft things she had collected. She considered pulling another blanket from her pack, but that would be a blanket she would not have if vultures forced her out. Sleeping inside was still difficult despite having done it for the last week. The ceiling seemed so far away as compared to her tent. She lay her head underneath the desk for some protection. From what, she did not appreciate. She slipped into a fitful sleep.
Audra woke up to a dark room. Was it time for her shift? She hoped no one had peeked to find her tucked under the desk. She wandered out into the main area. No one was out and about. The silence was heavy. Perhaps they had retired to their rooms. But as she reached the observation area, she discovered the entire crew, having pulled all manners of seats together to watch.
“We considered waking you, but there isn’t much to see,” whispered Dwyn.
Despite his claim, his eyes did not veer from the subject. The others barely acknowledged her. Audra looked through the window frame and understood. Inside was not quite human and not quite zombie.
“Did he untie himself?”
“He did.”
Zombies did not have the fine motor skills to untie knots or even the problem-solving skills to realize they were tied up. They gave constant force to whatever was in their way. Some things moved, and some things did not. But, despite Subject Three’s ability to untie himself, he still did not seem aware of his surroundings. He did not examine the door or attempt escape; however, Audra noticed a chair was propped underneath the doorknob on their side as a new fortification. The subject shuffled around and around the conference table. He directed his eyes downward, which was not uncommon for zombie or human alike, but he also occasionally brushed his left hand on his shirt, as if he was pressing out wrinkles. A nervous habit from his previous life, for sure.
“Have you made any attempts to communicate?” Audra asked.
“Not yet,” said Satomi. “He doesn’t appear to be in any distress, so we don’t want to stimulate him and activate any lower portions of his brain based on survival or hunger. We don’t want to slow his progress.”
“If he looks distressed, we’ll try to talk to him,” added Ryder.
Every time someone considered retiring for the evening, or even just spending time elsewhere in the laboratory, Subject Three would perform some new subtle task that would leave everyone talking about its meaning, his progression, and what they thought his next steps would be. Satomi believed functions would return in order of importance to survival based on the structure and hierarchy of the brain. Ziv based his theory on biochemistry. As the levels of neurotransmitters increased, the brain would wake up as a whole, but slowly. Ryder with no complete medical knowledge still thought a good theory was that he would be like a stroke victim, with damage and healing unique to the patient.
Then, Subject Three did what no zombie would do.
He sat down.
Zombies sat up, stood up, walked and ran all the time, but they did not sit down. It was an unforeseen milestone. They cheered and hugged. Subject Three was still in a mental fog, but he had the modern human tendency to sit when given the opportunity. Ziv offered everyone high-fives and went to work on creating the aerosol version for this antidote version. Even if the antidote formula needed tweaking, his work would not be completely off. He hurried away, excited and patting himself on the back for his part. Ryder disappeared and reappeared with a sheepish shrug and a bottle of champagne. She smiled and reported laboratories usually had a bottle hiding around for that special breakthrough.
“It’s not time yet,” she said with a sly smile, “but soon.”
“Maybe he can drink it with us,” said Satomi with honor and pride seeping through her words and into her smile.
They all nodded and Ryder slipped out of the room to tuck away the bottle until the proper time.
Dwyn and Satomi retired for the evening. Having just taken a nap, Audra was not ready for bed, and stayed up with the enthusiastic Ziv and dedicated Ryder. Audra tried to balance learning with not getting in the way. Ryder loved to teach and explain. She showed her how she was using cell cultures to create the antiviral proteins she desired. Audra had to stay a safe distance away to avoid contaminating the cultures under the sterile hood. It was easy to accidentally introduce bacteria that would kill or overwhelm the colony. It amazed Audra that these microscopic cells contained the answers to their big world problem.
Ziv huffed and grunted as he moved objects around his counter. Audra did not bother him. His efforts appeared to be more trial and error, so the process was not fun to explain. He was attempting to add air to protein solutions of similar weight as the antidote. Ryder explained there were a lot of big questions about the process. Could they aerosolize it without denaturing the protein? Would the method of inhalation work? What would be an effective dose? What was the ratio of dispersed versus delivered? Most would be lost to the environment, the patients’ clothes, the ground, their face. Would it have to be inhaled or could it be absorbed through other mucous membranes - eyes, nose, tongue? Why did zombies have to breathe so shallowly? Ziv had a lot on his plate.
Audra didn’t have to understand it all to realize it was a complicated undertaking. In the back of her mind, she considered a Plan B. If they provided a supply of antidotes to the villagers, the villagers would seek and demand their families. It would be a different structure of a rebellion and maybe safer for her sister. Audra said nothing for now. The scientists seemed hell bent on doing things for the greater good, not for individuals, not for themselves. They would take convincing.
Audra’s mind and body were tired. She did not realize how long difficult days and nights could be. They were usually shortened by a strong concoction which let her mind swim in soporific numbness. Choosing to stay sober was not just one decision, but many. It was much easier to say ‘yes’ the first time than to say ‘no’ one million times. Tired of the process, Audra made motions she would try to sleep again. Ryder looked over her shoulder.
“You look wiped. It’s been a long day for everyone. Have you eaten?”
Audra shook her head and wandered to their collective food store for something she might find appetizing. She did not know why she bothered. If you were not excited about food blocks or other dried food, you were long lost for something to strike your fancy. Audra chose a food block that appeared to have more oats than the protein substance Audra found chalky.
When the food bar was finished, Audra wished them both a good night. Ryder gave a small smile over her shoulder. Ziv made a humph noise that Audra assumed meant that he was upset she would go to bed when he was wor
king on something important. But Audra could not help him with his important thing, so there was not much to do.
Subject Three was still sitting on the floor against the wall, slumped with his eyes closed. For a moment, her heart crept to her throat as she watched for breath. Was he dead? No, he appeared to be sleeping, another impossibility of the zoms that moved unceasingly. Audra wondered how much longer the process would take. Sleep healed, but she imagined that an awakening brain did not produce a dreamless sleep. He twitched, confirming Audra’s thoughts. She wished him and herself a still night. Audra did not want her thoughts to devolve into dreams, but she already knew they would.
The next morning, she pulled herself out from under the desk and wiped the cold sweat from her brow. Last night’s clothes hung over the wooden chair to freshen. It was not the same as rinsing them in the creek and letting them dry in the wooded sunshine, but at least they were spending time away from her body. Audra slipped them on over her base layer. She always left some semblance of clothes on, just in case. Most of her life was about just in case, because many times, it was the case.
As she slipped into the hall, sleepiness muffled her hearing, but she recognized conversations in the laboratory. One voice was strange. Without another moment passing, she was awake, alert, and her knife had made its way from her waist to her hand. She crept down the hall searching for signs of distress. The voices sounded neither happy nor strained. Audra stood just on the other side of the doorway, out of sight and listened.
It was Subject Three.
It must be Subject Three.
They were questioning him. And he was answering them.
Audra stepped into the doorway and saw that the conference room converted into an observation room for Subject Three had now become a conference room once more. Subject Three sat upright in a hard-backed chair. He almost looked to be interviewing for a job, except one lens of his glasses was broken, which was not acceptable interview attire. The man looked pale and nervous, but otherwise trying to give a good impression. He shifted nervously in his chair, and Audra wondered if they had offered him necessities such as the bathroom, food, and water, prior to his inquisition.
Dwyn stood up from his seat and smiled at Audra.
“Audra. Meet Gordon. He was a scientist here before the infection. Gordon, this is Audra. She is a warrior.”
Audra’s eyes narrowed a bit at this description of her occupation. It brought up images of warring people attacking each other with blades like she had seen glimmers of in the movies and television. Her parents had tried to keep her away from that stuff when she was young, to protect her from violence. Little good that did. She judged it against her reality, which was battling zombies, suffering under Lysent goons, and fighting the elements outside. Maybe she was a warrior, but it was because she was a runner.
“I’m a runner. How are you feeling?”
This man was a walking corpse just yesterday. These scientists had replicated the antidote and now he was sitting with them, aware and alive. She needed to understand how he was doing as it related to how Belinda might do under the same circumstances.
“A little disconcerted,” he replied, his strong face drawn into an honest worried look.
“Well, you remember the word ‘disconcerted’ so that’s good,” she replied wryly.
Audra abstained from showing her excitement, but her heart was pounding. It took all that was in her not to run out and into the corporation to demand her sister.
She almost forgot, too.
“Do you need anything?”
“I don’t know. You’d think I’d be hungry, right?” he asked, confused about his body’s continued contentment.
“Yes, you should eat something,” chimed in Satomi. “Your body needs it whether your brain has caught up or not.”
Ryder stepped out and retrieved a protein bar. She handed it to him with a grimace on her face.
“This is all we have,” she said, wishing she could offer him something more special for his first meal back.
“Thank you,” he said genuinely.
Audra remembered that he had not been eating the bars for years like they had. It was new to him. Hell, eating was new to him.
Gordon seemed to notice Ryder’s hesitation, though.
“Is it bad out there?” he asked. “It was just getting started. We didn’t realize what trouble we were putting ourselves into by bringing one of them in for studies. We thought we could help. I’m betting many people did the same.”
Ryder and Dwyn shared how things were terrible at the start, but now everyone was rebuilding. Gordon was not surprised that the corporation was a key part in that. It made sense. They were so big before the world ended.
“So, is this outpost one of the last few to be treated?” he asked, confused.
“No. Unfortunately, Lysent does not want to cure all the infected,” said Satomi.
Gordon’s face buried in on itself in confusion while Dwyn explained Lysent’s role, reasoning, and the process and payment system behind waking people up.
“They’ve commercialized a public health crisis?”
His half-eaten protein bar hung forgotten in his hand.
“Haven’t they always?” asked Ziv.
“I recognize you.” Gordon blurted as if Ziv’s snark had woken up that memory.
“Yes, I had just started working here. That’s why we’re at this lab – because I knew of its existence. I, um, survived when everything fell apart here, while we were trying to figure it all out.”
“Thank you for coming back,” said Gordon.
Ziv just gave a small nod, not going on about a rescue like Audra expected. While Ziv was typically a pain in the ass, maybe there was more to him than sarcasm and a keen sense of survival.
“So, if Lysent doesn’t want to cure people… Why am I awake?”
“We woke you up illegally,” Ryder said carefully.
They hoped Gordon would understand and appreciate. They did not know him. He might sympathize with the corporation. Gordon could need something from Lysent, like a family member, and turn them all in. He did not understand this world, but they woke him up hoping he would be a good and helpful person as they set this world on a different path.
“We stole a dose of antidote and have been working to replicate it. You were a trial subject given the replicated dose. As far as we know, you are the first unregulated awakening.”
Gordon’s eyebrows rose. He absentmindedly raised the protein bar to his mouth and chewed for a moment.
“Well, I always wanted to be part of a scientific breakthrough that changed how the world worked,” he said, gesturing to the lab. “I never thought I’d BE the breakthrough.”
Ryder and Satomi smiled. As part of the science and engineering fields, they understood. They too were excited about making scientific history. As an added bonus, their work had produced another of their kind.
“So, no one knows I’m alive?”
The entire group stole glances at each other.
“How do I know about my family? Are they alive? Where are they?”
Gordon seemed to remember his life outside the laboratory. It had taken awhile. This place must have meant a lot to him. What had become of the rest of his life?
“I have a daughter, Eliza. And, I guess, an ex-wife.”
Audra weighed the pros and cons in her head. She had her biometric reader. She could sample Gordon’s DNA and process it through the system. They could find out if his ex-wife or others had inquired about his status. But, a lack of inquiry could weigh heavy on someone’s mind. Likewise, using her reader would tie her and this GPS location to the illegal awakening.
If Gordon wandered into a Lysent-sponsored village and asked about his family, there would be questions after so many years. Travelers were not welcome. He would be brought forth in front of a committee and questioned about his previous whereabouts. Lysent worried about others. They feared something much like themselves, large, organized, and pre
datory. Gordon would not be able to answer the questions satisfactorily, even with help.
“We will give Vesna, our leader, your family’s names. She will get the word out, see if they are still in the area. She will help you,” said Audra.
“I remember Vesna. Her husband?”
“No longer with us.”
It seemed to sink in how different the world was. He did not push an urgency concerning his daughter. He had been ill for years. The world had and still did continue without him.
“Look, guys,” Gordon said, looking each person in the eye before continuing. “I appreciate on a very personal level the efforts you all have taken here. I imagine this illegal process had risks, some of which you haven’t even considered yet. If what you’re saying about Lysent is true, and from my experiences I know it to be feasible, then I want to be an even bigger part of this. I want to help. You chose me because I looked like the scientist type, right? I am. Let me stay and let me help.”
Audra was not sure if the speech was given because he felt conviction in his few hours of consciousness, or if he was playing his best card for survival. For all he knew, the world had not ended, and they were just experimenting with his body and brain. Audra felt all the suspicions she felt Gordon should have. The request was probably just his play at survival, to get on their good side - the provider of protein bars and information. Either Ziv seemed to share Audra’s suspicions or he did not want another in the group. His face showed disdain. Dwyn and Satomi were not readable. Ryder seemed convinced. She grinned and nodded her head. She went to say something and Audra cut her eyes at her. Ryder changed what she was going to say.
“We will have to talk about it and decide. To be honest, we were not getting our hopes up that this trial would work. Sorry.” Ryder said nervously.
She did not realize the others were not behind her.
“You’ll, of course, want to get to know us before you join our group anyway,” said Audra in a more diplomatic way. “We will not kick you out to the curb. Don’t worry about that.”
