Which she has been, I think. She’s not rotting yet so she can’t have been a zombie for too long, but long enough to take a toll on her.
She seems to be in great shape other than the two missing fingers on her hand. I can’t see any other bites or wounds on her, and hopefully that will help her calm down a little. I know that if I woke up after being a zombie and saw that half of my face had been peeling away or I’d lost all of my teeth or had several ugly scars, I’d be pretty hard to calm down. Once she realizes that two missing fingers isn’t the worst thing in the world, I hope she’ll recover quickly.
What a strange, sick world where two missing fingers is considered not that bad because it could easily be worse. That’s so terrible.
Daisy approaches the side of the table, and the girl turns and fixes her gray eyes on us. She stops screaming, leaving the lab in total silence except for the sound of her harsh, panicked breathing. Her eyes flit around nervously as she takes us all in one at a time, and we all just stand here silently and give her a chance to get her bearings. Daisy gives her an encouraging smile, but the girl doesn’t look all that comforted by it.
“Hi,” Daisy says. “I’m Daisy. Do you have a name?” She laughs nervously. “Of course you have a name, everyone does. Do you remember it?”
The girl is silent but her breathing slows a little. She just looks at Daisy with wide eyes.
“Can you talk?”
The girl nods so slightly I would have missed it if I hadn’t been watching closely.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“H-Han-Hannah.”
“Hi, Hannah,” Daisy says, her eyes lighting up at the response. “You don’t have to be scared anymore. You were sick, but we’re here to make you feel better. We’re gonna take good care of you, I promise.”
“W-where am I?”
“You’re at a special lab. There’s a scientist here who developed the medicine that made you all better. And when it’s done fixing you up, you’ll be able to get up and take care of yourself. You can shower and get some clean clothes; you’ll feel like a brand new person in no time!”
We’re all staring at Daisy in total amazement. I wondered how we were going to get through to this girl and make her feel comfortable while she’s still strapped to a table, but somehow Daisy managed to do it. And she did it so effortlessly, just by being the naturally sweet person she is. It’s amazing to watch this light inside of Daisy spread and affect others around her, like she’s a shining beacon of hope in the otherwise total darkness of the world.
“Hannah,” Madison says gently. “Are you thirsty? How about hungry? Can we get you anything right now?”
“H-hungry,” she admits.
Madison looks at me and Ryder. “What do you think? Maybe some canned fruit? Try to be at least somewhat healthy to start?”
I nod. “That sounds like a good idea. If she can keep it down, we can give her something else later.”
“Shouldn’t we be consulting Dr. Richards about this?” Todd asks, eyebrows raised as Madison ducks out of the room. “It might interfere with his studies.”
“Who gives a shit?” Reese says, shaking his head. “We’re not gonna starve a young girl just so he can get his rocks off with his damn tests. You know he’s getting some sick pleasure out of this. Woman-hating creep.”
“I think he hates everyone pretty equally. Remember his sand brats remark?” I ask. “He’s just a shitty human being all around. The only people he cares about are US soldiers, and even then I’ll bet he sees them as more of an extension of the US than as actual human beings worthy of respect.”
Madison hurries back, panting lightly. “I grabbed the first can of fruit I could find. I hope she likes peaches.” She hands the opened can to Daisy, along with a clean spoon. “Just start slowly. Don’t let her suck down the whole can right away, or she’ll probably get sick. Her system isn’t used to…you know…normal food.”
I shudder, and Ryder wraps his arm around me tightly. “It’ll be okay,” he says quietly in my ear. “We’ll start her off easy, and make sure she keeps it down. Then maybe in a few days we can try giving her some kind of cooked meat. Hopefully she’ll have all traces of the infection out of her system by then, and it’ll be okay to give it to her.”
“I wonder what would happen if we gave it to her now,” I say. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a psycho reaction like Dustin did when he first woke up. That definitely wouldn’t be pretty to see.”
“No, it wouldn’t be. But I think she’ll be fine. We just need to take things a little more slowly than we did with Dustin. Dr. Richards put too much on his shoulders right from the start, trying to get him to talk about what he remembers. It was a stupid thing to do and it’s probably why Dustin took his life.”
We fall silent and watch as Daisy slowly spoon feeds Hannah. At first, it almost looks like Hannah doesn’t know how to chew. Her mouth is wide open and I can see the peaches flapping around in there. Daisy has to actually stop and demonstrate how to chew properly, but once she does, Hannah gets the hang of it pretty quickly. She downs piece after piece of peach with no real signs of trouble. When Daisy scrapes the bottom of the can, Hannah’s lips turn down in a frown. “More?”
“You should probably wait a little while,” Daisy says kindly. “We don’t wanna make you sick by giving you too much too soon. In a few hours, I’ll come back and you can try something else.”
Hannah’s hand twitches, reaching for Daisy. “D-don’t…”
Daisy allows Hannah to grab her hand and she doesn’t pull away. “You want me to stay?” she asks, eyes wide.
Hannah nods. “Please.”
Daisy looks at us, asking for permission to stay with her. “Not alone,” Ryder says, glancing at Hannah. “If someone wants to stay with the two of you, that’s fine, but you’re not gonna be in here by yourself.”
“Ryder, she’s strapped to the table,” I say quietly.
He lowers his voice and ducks his head. “And you don’t think it’s possible that Daisy might feel bad for her and undo the straps? Especially after a couple of hours of talking and watching over her?”
Unfortunately, I do see that being a tiny bit of a problem. Daisy is gentle and kindhearted, and if she feels like Hannah is suffering, I could see her undoing the straps and letting her go. She might not pay close attention to any small things, like agitated twitching or a change in Hannah’s behavior, and by the time she notices, it would be too late.
“She’ll be fine,” Madison interrupts. “She’s not stupid,” she says quietly. “She saw how Dustin was. She’ll know better than to put her life in danger, no matter how sad Hannah is.”
Ryder makes a disapproving noise in the back of his throat. “Alright, she can stay if she wants.” He looks at Daisy, and she wavers a bit under his gaze but she doesn’t look away. “Do not unbind her. Not for any reason. Do you understand?”
She nods. “Yes,” she squeaks.
“Come and find us if anything happens.”
We leave Daisy alone with Hannah, and I hope nothing goes wrong. With nothing else to do, we find Dr. Richards secluded in his private lab, where he stays up until the early morning hours pouring over his notes again and again. He looks up when we enter, and slides his notes back into a manila folder. I’m surprised the words “top secret” aren’t stamped across the folder in bright red, mostly because I expect a man like Dr. Richards to drive home his own self-importance every way possible.
“Hannah looks like she’s in good shape,” Aaron says.
“She was in good shape to begin with,” Dr. Richards replies, folding his hands in his lap. “I have high hopes. The last couple of days have reaffirmed my belief in the cure. In fact, I believe it to be ready to pass off to your group.”
“What do you mean pass off?”
He gets to his feet and heads over to a cabinet anchored to the wall. He inputs a four digit code and the case unlocks. He grabs a small metal case and presents it to Ry
der. “I have no way to spread the serum from this facility. We would have to catch every zombie in the area and administer it by hand, which I assure you will not make any difference. In order to spread the serum, you must take this case to our other facility in Detroit.”
“Detroit! Are you insane?” Reese shouts. “Why would we want to head right into a hugely populated city? Do you have any idea how impossible that is?”
“Roberts told us about the facility in Detroit,” Madison says, “but I thought you’d be able to do it from here if we helped you.”
Dr. Richards ignores her. “It’s what you must do if you want to spread the cure. You will have to risk it, or else the cure is meaningless and nothing will ever change. There is a stronghold in Chicago that I was in contact with. I’ve written the address down for you in the files. Stop there to rest if you need to. When you get to the facility, I need for you to input some data into the machine, add the serum, and start the program. When you do that, the serum will rapidly replicate, and be released into the air. It should be harmless to anyone still living, but those who are undead will begin the transformation back to human.”
“I thought that kind of technology only existed in shitty science fiction movies,” I say.
Ryder snorts, earning a glare from Dr. Richards. “It surprises you that our government was keeping advanced technology a secret from us?”
Dr. Richards continues, ignoring Ryder. “I need to know that you will do everything in your power to get this cure to Detroit. I’ve written down the data for you to input into the computer, and the machine will do the rest. Promise me that you will see that this cure makes it. Fulfill my work, reverse my biggest mistake and spare my name.”
Ryder takes the case. “We’ll get it there, no matter what.”
Dr. Richards closes his eyes, breathing deeply. “Thank you.” He opens a drawer and pulls out a gun. Ryder instantly pulls me behind him, reaching for his own weapon. He points it at Dr. Richards, but Dr. Richards already has his pressed against his temple.
“Put it down, Doc.”
“I’ve made so many mistakes,” he mutters, his voice soft and care free. “I forced myself to tough it out until I fixed them. And now that I have, I can rest in peace knowing that you will save everyone that I failed. All I wanted was to make the world a better place for those that proudly served our country. This is my penance.”
“I thought suicide was the coward’s way out?” Reese says.
“I never claimed to be a brave man.” His hand wavers, but the gun doesn’t leave his temple as his eyes lock on mine. “I was the greatest patriot to ever live…”
The gun goes off, nearly deafening in this tiny confined room. I scream as blood splatters the wall beside him, covering his computer and files. Dr. Richards’ body drops to the ground, taking a chair and some papers with him. My ears are ringing loudly in my head, and the room is starting to spin in front of me. I hear the gunshot replayed in my mind over and over again, getting louder and louder with each passing second. I hear Ryder say my name, but it sounds muffled, like I’m fifty feet underwater.
My vision begins to fade around the edges, as if I’m swallowing myself up, and I feel my legs give out from beneath me.
*****
My head is pounding like a drum, and I wince in pain. “She’s awake!” Madison’s voice is so shrill and loud that I cringe, moaning at the force of it. It feels like there’s a large jackhammer trying to break through my skull to reach my brain.
The seat beneath me gives way as someone sits beside me, and I can smell Ryder’s musky, natural scent. I know it’s him before I even open my eyes. His thumb gently strokes my cheek, silently encouraging me to wake up. Even though I don’t want to, I force my eyes open slowly, prepared for the burning pain as I’m blinded by the harsh artificial lights above me. Ryder moves until his broad shoulders are blocking out most of the light, and I cautiously open my eyes once again.
“What happened?”
“You passed out,” Aaron says from behind Ryder’s shoulder. “Nearly hit the ground, too. But I caught you before it happened.”
I push off the seat beneath me, trying to sit up. Ryder helps me into position, holding onto me even after I’m up. His hands are gentle but firm on my shoulders, steadying me in case I begin to sway or pass out again. “Is Dr. Richards—”
“Dead,” Todd says. “And if there is a God, he’ll be burning in hell by now.”
Madison glares disapprovingly at him. “Don’t be that way, please.” She comes over to the side of the couch and grabs my hand. “I was so worried about you, Sam. You’ve been out of it for a couple of hours now.”
“I can’t believe I passed out. I’ve seen people get eaten alive by ravenous freaks, but watching a dude commit suicide is what pushes me over the edge.” I shake my head, feeling embarrassed for my actions. “I’m sorry for worrying you guys.”
“It’s okay. You’re not the only one who had a bad reaction,” she says with a smile. “Todd puked all over the floor.”
He coughs and shuffles his feet. “It caught me by surprise is all. I’m not used to watching people blow their damn brains out. It’d be a shock to anyone that’s not a cold-hearted bastard.”
Aaron clears his throat. “I hate to interrupt this, but we have some decisions to make, and now that Sam’s awake, we can talk about them.”
“What decisions?” I ask.
“We need to decide where to go from here,” Aaron says. “Dr. Richards wants us to take this case with the cure all the way to Detroit, which is a long journey to make in and of itself. With the extremely high population, it’ll be even more difficult. It doesn’t seem very practical.”
“But we’ve come this far already,” I say, swinging my legs over the side of the couch. “We have the cure in our hands! We can’t just let it all go to waste and chicken out now. Naomi died for this cure, with the hope that her brothers would have a chance to come back. We have to see this through to the end. There’s no other decision to be had.”
“Sam, Naomi’s death is a tragedy, but if we go to Detroit, I guarantee more of us are going to die.”
“We have to risk it,” I say. “We can find that stronghold in Chicago that he told us about, and we can stock up on supplies and maybe even recruit some help while we’re there. I know it’s dangerous, but guys, we can do this.”
“I agree with Sam,” Madison says. “We have a responsibility to see this through. What would people say if they found out that we could have ended all of this and we didn’t? We’d be the biggest villains in history, even worse than Dr. Richards.”
Ryder sighs. “It seems like an impossible mission, but it’s one we have to take. No risk is too great for the possible outcome. This is going to be the most important, most defining moment in history, and we’re going to be a part of it. Even if some of us do die, the rest of us will have a chance at a better life, and we can live for those who die.”
“I hate to say this,” Aaron says, “but there are a couple of us that are far more likely to die during this trip.” He glances at Daisy. “I think we should give them the ultimate say. Daisy, Sam, and Todd are probably the ones least likely to make it. Let’s hear what they have to say.”
I’m a little hurt that Aaron thinks I’m one of the ones most likely to die, but I understand his way of thinking. I’m kind of middle ground, not super useful but not a huge burden. But I’ve already said what I need to say, so I leave the floor open to Daisy and Todd. He looks pissed to be lumped into the same boat as me and Daisy, but he speaks first.
“I ain’t dying anytime soon,” he says defensively. “Even if we do end up going to Detroit, I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself, and I have for months before I joined this group of idiots. And I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I guess now I am one of you idiots, because I think we should head to Detroit, too. We’ve come too far to pussy out now.”
Madison throws her arms around Todd and kisses him fiercely.
“I knew that there was a hero underneath all of that carefree exterior!” His cheeks turn red beneath their normal dark tan color, but he pulls her closer and holds her. Madison looks at Daisy. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” she admits. “The only thing I do know is that I’m weak, afraid, and I’m going to die if we go.”
“Daisy—”
She looks at me. “I’m not ashamed to admit that. I’m the weakest link in this group, by far, and I’m either going to die, or get someone else killed and still die anyways. I am not going to survive a trip into Detroit; I can almost promise you that.” She takes a deep breath. “But I want you guys to go anyways, and I think I’ll stay at this place in Chicago until you guys succeed. I know it’s cowardly, but I don’t want anyone to die because of me. I’ll be safe, and you guys won’t have to worry about me.”
“We can do that, no problem,” Ryder says. “Nobody will think less of you if you decide to stay in Chicago.”
She nods. “Thank you. I would just feel awful if one of you got hurt trying to protect me.”
“We understand,” Aaron says. “I think anyone who wants to stay in Chicago should do so without any shame or regret. If your heart isn’t in this to the end, stay behind.” His eyes flick over towards Reese, which he doesn’t miss.
“I’m not going anywhere. Now that we have this cure and I know for sure it’s not a wild goose chase, I’m one hundred percent on board.”
“Then I think it’s settled,” I say. “We’re trying for Detroit. When are we gonna leave?”
“As soon as we can pack up some more supplies and ammunition. I’m sure there’s some still left over in this place, we just have to find it.”
“Wait,” Reese says, surprising everyone. “We still have one more thing to discuss.”
“What?”
“Hannah,” he says, looking at me. “What are we going to do with her? We can’t leave her behind or she’ll die on her own for sure, but we can’t bring her with us. She’s too much of an unknown risk. We saw how Dustin was towards Dr. Richards when he lost control. There’s no telling what damage Hannah could do in a car with any of us.”
Zombie World (Zombie Apocalypse #3) Page 25