by C. J. Boyle
JoJo grabbed Mitchell's hand and shook it. "JoJo. Nice to meet you, I guess."
Mitchell pointed at Brody, "Tell your friend here that he has nothing to worry about." He nodded at everyone and walked off.
Brody put his drink down on the coffee table in front of him. He silently chided himself for being so jealous and protective over somebody who clearly wanted nothing to do with him.
"Bro, Mitchell is a nice guy, he's just messing with you." Carl watched Mitchell get in the food line. "He also has kind of a weird sense of humor, but he's basically okay."
Brody stood up. "I'm just going to call it a night. I'll see you guys later." He walked through the cafeteria, looking at the many people who now called the prison home. They all seemed to be happily talking to one another and having a good ole time. He saw the young woman who was hitting on him the night before, leaning on a wall drinking a beer alone. He started sizing her up and weighing the pros and cons in his brain. She was definitely very beautiful. Pro. But she was probably fourteen years younger than he was. Con. He knew if he took her home with him they'd have lots of fun. That was definitely a 'pro'. He also knew that it would only be for one night. He wasn't sure if that was a pro or a con but he kept walking. His radio suddenly came to life.
"Brody, this is Dr. Wallace. Have you seen Kera?"
Only minutes later Brody was standing back in the infirmary looking at Kera's empty bed. The bandages that had been on her eyes were on the floor.
"Why weren't you with her?" Brody gestured to the bandages on the floor.
Dr. Wallace sneered, "I am allowed to go to the bathroom."
Mitchell walked into the infirmary, "What's goin' on?"
His appearance made Brody even angrier, "What are you doing here?"
Mitchell held up his radio. "It's a party line, you know? Everyone with one of these knows that the Warden is missing."
Brody narrowed his eyes at Mitchell. He tried to remember Carl's words about Mitchell being a good guy, but he was too upset to think straight. "Maybe we should check your room."
"Maybe we should check yours!" Mitchell countered.
Dr. Wallace stood between the two. "Look, fellas, she's probably fine. I'm sure she just went home. I shouldn't have worried you."
Brody shook his head, "Whatever. I'm going to find her." He stomped out of the infirmary.
"Let us know if you find her!" Mitchell called after Brody. He turned to the doctor before leaving too. "I'm going to go look around."
Dr. Wallace nodded at him, "Thanks, Mitchell. I appreciated it." The doctor decided to stay in the infirmary just in case she came back.
Brody checked the doctor's apartment. That was where 'home' was for her. She wasn't there. He checked her old cell. It had an Asian family of four staying in it but it didn't have Kera. He checked the compound, twice. He even checked the roofs and the tunnels. No one was able to locate her. The sun was about to come up and Brody hadn't gotten any real sleep in two days. Where ever she was, she obviously didn't want to be found. Everyone else gave up long ago. He had to accept that he wasn't going to find her and go home. He quietly walked into his apartment.
Carl was sleeping on the couch but woke when Brody came in. "Did you find her?"
Brody shook his head and headed to his room. "No." He opened the door to his room and stood in the doorway, "Carl, God dammit."
"What?" Carl got up and went over to Brody. He looked past him into Brody's room. Kera was asleep in his bed. "Oh man, that's hilarious." He giggled as he walked into the kitchen. He picked up the radio that was sitting on the counter. "We found the Warden, safe and sound."
Brody walked into his room and closed the door. He sat next to Kera, leaned over, and rubbed her back. "Kera," he whispered.
She turned over and hummed softly. "Hmmm?" She pulled him down onto the bed and snuggled up to him. Brody was going to ask her if she was sure that was where she wanted to be, but he felt that the question didn't need asking anymore. He held her close to him and watched her until he himself drifted off to sleep. Life was good. It was the end of the world but at least at that moment, he was happy.
~ The Update ~
Martha sat in her office looking at some MRI's on her computer. None of this made any sense to her. If the virus was supposed to evolve the human species so that it would survive a global environmental event, then why is it getting rid of the human species? The virus and the changes it made were as interesting as they were confounding. Every human being on the planet was infected by the Link Virus, but only around half changed. Kera was right. The reason should have been obvious. The Links were the only ones meant to survive because of genetics. Her ex-husband thought that they could re-awaken the Links human memories. If they could do that, it would bring back their humanity. It's a good plan in theory. But what would they use? Chemistry and hormone tests on the Links have all shown normal levels of everything except testosterone and she didn't think that would change anything. She suddenly became aware that someone was standing in the doorway. She looked up and saw a rather large, sweaty man standing there. He wore a white lab coat and held a briefcase.
He smiled when he noticed her looking at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to disturb you." He walked into the office and held out his hand. "My name is Dr. Rodriquez. People call me Dr. Rod. Cockran just transferred me to your team."
Martha wondered if her face displayed the mild disgust she felt. "From where? Why?"
He held out his hand for a few more moments before finally realizing that she wasn't going to shake it. "From Obstetrics. And because I dabbled in genetics."
"What? Are there just so many Obstetricians in the Mountain that they didn't need you?" Martha knew she was being rude but she couldn't help it.
"Actually, there doesn't seem to be much of a need at all for an Obstetrician." Dr. Rod decided to sit in the free chair across from her desk. "You know, usually I have between ten and twenty-five new pregnancies per month." He shrugged, "Maybe people just aren't having sex anymore." His words visibly upset her. She turned her head away, "I'm sorry, did I step on a sore subject?"
In actuality, he had. She was never able to have children. It was the reason she took her work and job so seriously. But that isn't what upset her. She believed she finally discovered how the rest of the humans were changed. They can't procreate anymore. "So no one having babies anymore, and it didn't alarm you?"
"Actually, ma'am, it did. That's part of the reason I'm here." He tilted his head and looked her in the eyes. "As an Obstetrician, what was I supposed to do? Start asking random men for sperm samples? Start asking random women for pictures of their uterus?"
Martha shrugged, "How bout we start with basic blood tests and work our way up?" She scrunched up her nose and nodded.
Over the next few days, Martha and Dr. Rod ran a barrage of tests on both men and women. Cockran made it voluntary with the threat that it would be an order if no one volunteered. All the blood tests came back normal. Martha let Dr. Rod deal with the men and the collection of sperm samples. He reported that everything seemed to be normal on that front too. Everything seemed normal for both men and women until she started doing the ultrasounds. She only had to do a few to realize the problem and there wasn't anything she knew of that could fix it. After Martha collected all of her information, she found herself back in the War Room trying to explain her findings to a bunch of non-scientific, non-medical people who often looked at her through blank, lifeless eyes. She had conferred with her colleague, Dr. Dixon, days before she called the meeting and his findings were the same. Even though she was appalled by the fact that the people of Wiltshire City were hand selected based on what they could contribute to society, she secretly wished that she were there and not in the Mountain with a madman.
"I'm sorry to inform you, Sirs and Madams, that humankind will cease to exist completely in one hundred years." Martha clicked her remote and an MRI image appeared on the screen behind her. She pointed at it. "If you look here, you c
an see that this woman's uterus has shrunken to the size of a walnut. This, of course, would make pregnancy impossible for any woman, but unfortunately...it appears that this is the case for all women. Normally speaking, it should be about the size of my fist."
The "leaders" of the world decided that they wanted to run their own tests. That was to be expected. Colonel Cockran was a different story. He informed her of the fact that they had millions of eggs, sperm, and embryos stored inside the Mountain. She shuttered when she recalled the conversation.
"Are you ordering me to try to implant an embryo into a Link?" Martha's jaw dropped.
Cockran's eyes softened, "No, I'm asking you to find a way for the human race to continue. If that means using chimps or Links as surrogates, theeen that's what we have to do."
She pictured rows and rows of sedated, pregnant Links being force-fed a vitamin slushee and being used for nothing more than growing babies. God only knows what they'd end up with. Perhaps the babies would be born vicious and with a full mouth of teeth. If this is what they have to do to ensure the human race's survival, then she wanted nothing to do with it. It was at that moment she thought of the "false" Link. If she was capable of bearing children, then perhaps they could create more false Links and the human race can be saved. It was time to visit New Hope.
~ The New Leaders of New Hope ~
Brody was a man on a mission. A week had passed since he'd been in the same room with Kera for more than two minutes. She was actively avoiding him and he wanted to know why. He was due to go on a Shopping Spree that morning but he was determined to speak to Kera first. He heard that she was in one of the cell blocks in the common area. He walked out of a guard corridor on the second floor and walked up to the railing to get a better look at what was going on below. After a moment or two, he spotted her. She was talking to Amy, the girl he brought to New Hope the night of The Turn. He felt a presence beside him so he turned slightly only to find Mitchell looking at him and smiling like the idiot he was.
"What are you staring at?" Brody gripped the railing hard.
Mitchell chuckled, "What am I staring at?" He looked down at the crowd below and spotted Kera. "I'm starin' at this really big guy." He pinched his finger and thumb together as squinted through his fingers at Kera's head. "Who's starin' at this really tiny girl." He looked Brody down and up. "You know, I don't think one size fits all."
Brody grabbed Mitchell's shirt and pulled him forward. He kept his voice low. "Was that a sex joke, Mitchell?"
Mitchell looked like he was having the time of his life. His eyes flicked to the left for a moment. "She's lookin' at us." He spoke in a tattle-tale tone.
Brody quickly let him go and looked back at Kera. She was gone, but his eyes quickly located her again. She was walking out of the common area. Brody turned back to Mitchell only to find him making a quick exit. He trotted down the stairs after Kera. Brody's blood started to boil. He was going to catch that asshole and wipe the arrogant smile off his face once and for all. He ran down the stairs, skipping several at a time and then ran through the crowd trying to close the gap between them. He was able to keep Mitchell in view as he rounded a corner. He was half jogging after him, so when Mitchell stepped to the side, Brody barreled right past him and into a conference room. Kera sat at the table with a few people. She looked up at him when he came in. Being pissed at Mitchell and the run after him, coupled with suddenly being smack in front of Kera, made Brody's heart thump against his chest.
He looked down at her. "Kera," he took a breath, "you've been avoiding me."
Kera looked at him confused. It struck him as understandable. He probably looked like a crazed maniac. "I'm in the middle of something."
"We need to talk," Brody insisted.
Kera looked at the other people at the table and then back at him. "Brody, I said not now." She pointed to the door. "Go stand outside the door with Mitchell."
Brody felt and looked like he was just slapped in the face. He looked at the people at the table and then at the door where Kera pointed. Mitchell's back was against the doorframe but his head was turned and looking right at him. He winked at Brody.
"Yes, ma'am." Brody fumed but did what he was told. He walked out of the room and stood on the opposite side as Mitchell. He looked at him and growled, "I'm going to kill you."
Mitchell chuckled, "Okay, buddy."
Inside the conference room, Kera looked at the other three people at the table. She touched the side of her face where the blisters were almost healed. Her face was peeling and terribly itchy. It made her extremely self-conscious. "Sorry about that."
It was Rose who spoke first. "Why did you call us here?" Her long, white hair was braided down her back. Her bangs were cut straight above her eyebrows. "I wanted to put up a couple of Christmas trees before the big day."
Kera nodded, "Good, Mrs. Rose. That's good for morale." She looked at the other two. "I assume you all know each other?" They nodded, but she introduced them anyway. "Rose, this is Mr. Walters, and this is Mr. Alexander." They all nodded and said hi to one another. The men were about the same age. One of them was white and the other was black. She looked at the three of them knowing that she didn't make her choice based on race, sex, or age, but it might appear that way. "I'll get to the point. I asked you three to meet me because all of you are natural leaders in our community. You've stepped up over the last few weeks and helped out where needed and I really appreciate that..."
"We weren't doing it for you," Mr. Alexander interrupted, "We were doing it for the people."
Kera grinned, "That's why I asked you here." She reiterated, "You all seem to care a lot about our community and it's growing bigger and bigger almost every day." She paused for a moment. No one said anything. She was never a leader or public speaker. Both of those things made her extremely uncomfortable. "I was hoping you would like to continue to be leaders in the community by taking the initiative and either taking care of problems on your own or bringing the larger ones to this table...where we would figure out how to handle them together."
Rose smiled and looked at Mr. Walters, "I told you."
Kera looked at them all, "What?"
"Nothing. I'm just impressed by you." She flicked her eyes over to Mr. Alexander, "Some people were concerned about an ex-con being our leader."
Kera shook her head, "Look, I only want what is best for everyone. And I don't think one person should be in charge of everyone else. There are 1,328 people living in New Hope. I can't do it alone." She tapped the table with her palms, "Plus we live in a world where one or all of us might get killed suddenly."
Rose put her hand on Kera's to stop it from tapping the table. "You do seem to go on a lot of those Shopping Sprees."
Kera pulled her hand away almost instantly. "Yeah, well, that may stop soon." She rubbed the side of her face near her eye. She didn't want to scratch at it, but it was itching so badly she couldn't help giving it some attention. She looked at the door where Mitchell and Brody stood. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she knew they weren't being friendly.
Most of the problems discussed over the next hour were about living space and how it didn't seem fair for some people to have more space than others. After a while, Kera looked at the time and asked them if they could continue the meeting later that day. She was happy to give some of her responsibilities to someone else. If she had it her way, she'd give all of it away and just be Kera for a while. When they left the room, Brody came in followed closely by Mitchell. Kera had never seen Brody so angry.
Brody glanced at Mitchell then spoke to her. "I don't appreciate the way you spoke to me, Kera. I am not your guard dog!"
Mitchell waved his hand at Kera. "I'll be your guard dog! I'll even wear a collar if you want me to."
Kera looked back and forth from Mitchell to Brody. "Mitchell, will you leave us alone, please?"
Mitchell bowed to her, "Yes ma'am!" He gleefully left the room.
Brody watched him leave. "I hate th
at guy." He looked at Kera and took a deep breath, "You make it really hard to love you."
Kera looked as if she had been stunned. For several moments, everything stopped and she couldn't even breathe. She looked away briefly and then back. Brody suddenly realized what he said but it was too late. Kera searched for the words to say but nothing except the obvious came out. "You love me?"
Brody cleared his throat and furrowed his brow. "You know what? Yeah, I'm not going to take it back." He almost looked relieved, "I love you. I'm in love with you. But, Kera, it's like a roller-coaster ride. You sleep in my bed with me for two days straight and then you avoid me like the plague." He shook his head, "I'm not interested in that kind of relationship."
"You're telling me that you love me but that you don't want to be with me in the same sentence?" Kera fought to stay in control of her emotions but she was about to lose the battle. Her eyes started to sting.
"What? No!" He took her hands into his, "I'm not saying this right."
