by J. R. Knoll
Zoe nodded, staring at the floor.
"You'll stick with your team from now on," he ordered. "You'll follow orders and fight as part of a unit. That clear?"
In a meek voice she answered, "Yes, Sir."
He nodded, then, "Did you get something to eat?" When she shook her head, he commanded, "Get to the chow hall and…" He trailed off as the door burst open, and he looked that way.
Doctor Caswell rushed in first, then Doctor Kavorski and a lab tech behind him in a white lab coat.
Rachel had a folder full of papers in her hand and hurried to the Colonel, and when she got to him she slammed them down in front of him, declaring, "We've isolated the virus! The strain in Zoe is much weaker than the others we've cultured, no doubt by its unsuccessful bout with her autistic brain. Colonel, we have something we can work with here!"
Doctor Kavorski stepped forward and took her side, adding, "This virus we found in Zoe is not quite as aggressive as the others. It affected her body as it meant to, but it was unable to take control of her nervous system. We can confirm this with a few more tests, but I'm willing to bet that the virus that infects her can't even be passed on! Unlike the other victims, her body continues to fight it."
"So what's all this mean?" Colonel Halstead growled.
"It means," Doctor Caswell replied, "We are one step closer to a vaccine!"
Everyone looked to Zoe, and her eyes darted nervously from one person to the next.
The Colonel nodded. "Well, Private Princess, it looks like you just got a whole lot more important to us than working recon."
Her brow rising up slightly, Zoe hesitantly asked, "I'm… I'm important?"
Doctor Kavorski answered, "You're the most important person here."
Turning to the Colonel, Rachel insisted, "This means we can't risk losing her. We simply can't take any more chances with her. For God's sake, she could hold the future of mankind!"
The Colonel's eyes slid to the girl again.
"Just imagine," Kavorski added. "We could send inoculated soldiers out to fight off the zombies without any risk of any of them becoming infected. We could also bait out wild dogs, cats… Everything that could be infected! This could mean the end of the zombosis epidemic!"
"There are a few more things we should talk about," Rachel informed. When she had the Colonel's attention, her eyes flitted to the zombie girl.
Motioning to the door with his head, Colonel Halstead ordered, "Go get some chow, Princess. We'll talk later."
Zoe nodded and complied, "Yes, Sir," then she turned and strode to the door.
Morgan and Josh followed, and Josh half turned and waved to them, bidding, "See you later, General."
CHAPTER 11
They all watched as the door closed behind the girl and the zombie fighters, then Doctor Caswell pulled a chair out and carefully sat in it, her eyes on the folder she had dropped on the table near the Colonel.
Halstead nodded in slight motions and confirmed, "That was the good news. Now you're about to hit me with the bad news."
"Afraid so," Doctor Kavorski confirmed. Looking to the medical technician, he asked, "Would you mind looking in on the incubators?"
The tech nodded and left the room.
"Out with it," the Colonel ordered.
Rachel drew a long breath, then she turned her eyes down to her hands and reported, "We discovered that the zombosis virus she has is reversing her autism. That's kind of a blessing since there really is no cure for that condition and she will end up mentally and emotionally being a normal girl, but it will come at a high price."
"How so?" Colonel Halstead demanded.
Doctor Kavorski answered, "Once her brain is what we would consider normal, once it works like a normal functioning brain, she will be vulnerable to what the virus does to the brain right after infection, and she is already infected."
The Colonel vented a hard breath through his nose and looked away. He stared across the room in silence for a moment, then he grumbled, "How long?"
"Maybe a week," Doctor Caswell replied. "Could be a little longer, we don't know for sure. As soon as the last symptoms of her Asperger's Syndrome are gone, it will only be a matter of hours, then she'll become what the others are. She'll need to be observed at all times and we'll have to watch for signs that she's…" She loosed a broken breath and finished, "That she's becoming one of them."
Colonel Halstead was quiet for another moment and just stared down at the file before him. With a little nod, he finally, softly said, "Okay. Okay. This stays in this room for now. Nobody is to be informed unless I clear them, and for God's sake do not tell the girl about this. She has enough on her mind. I'll keep her in so that she can be observed, and I want you two to keep working on that vaccine. Do whatever it takes and work as fast as you can. Caswell, you're to stay in the hospital. That new team has a medic that we can send out and they tell me he knows what he's doing."
With a nod, Rachel confirmed, "Eric. I trust he can do the job in the field."
"Good," the Colonel said almost absently. "While we still have time with her, get that vaccine figured out." His brow tensed as he turned those hard eyes on them in turn. "And if you can figure out how to help her, then do it! That's your secondary priority. Got it?"
"Understood," Doctor Kavorski assured. "I have a couple of working theories. It's just a matter of putting them to use."
"Theories?" Halstead questioned.
With a nod, Kavorski elaborated, "Just theories, mind you, and just based upon observations. We always see the zombies move in the morning and in the evening, but not usually after dark or in the heat of the day. That new team that came in from Texas told me much the same thing. In fact, they told me that zombies that got caught out in the heat of the day often fell and died. We know they can't see well in the dark so their movements stop after sunset in areas that are not artificially illuminated."
"I heard one of them say that most of the zombies in Texas were wiped out," Doctor Caswell interjected. "I heard similar reports from people coming in from Arizona, New Mexico… Areas where it is really hot are those that seemed to get under control first."
"People can still be infected," Doctor Kavorski added, "but the virus does not seem to do well in a high temperature environment. That's why we're having such a problem here as well as north of here. In fact, one of the first things the virus does when it infects a victim is it shuts off the body's metabolism."
Halstead nodded. "That's why we don't pick them up on infrared. They don't put off body heat."
"That would be why," Kavorski confirmed. "I don't know how useful all of this is, but it's something to go on. When we find ourselves in communication with the outside again we'll share what we have and see what others have been able to determine." He turned his eyes down and shook his head. "With winter coming we could have a real problem coming with it. The zombies will be able to move around all day, and that will accelerate how fast they spread."
"Then we'd better work like hell before that happens," the Colonel informed. He loosed another deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "Just make sure we take care of what we have here, and see about doing something that will help Zoe out. We need to keep her on our side as long as we can."
"Agreed," Doctor Caswell confirmed.
CHAPTER 12
Three days later things at the hospital were relatively quiet. The team from San Antonio embarked on daily seek and destroy missions that always turned into supply runs for whatever they could find. Fresh troops were shuttled to the power plant daily, as well as the water treatment center. Making sure the zombies did not find the hospital was a priority and barricades were erected in a two block radius to redirect them should they wander that way, and it seemed to be working.
Zoe was kept under the watchful eye of one of the doctors or someone they trusted with her at all times. They noticed that she was afflicted with periodic headaches, but a little aspirin seemed to be the best cure for that. She also seemed to lose interest in
the childish endeavors that she had come to be known for. Cartoon watching gave way to more advanced things. She spent as much time with Zachary as she could and there were rumors circulating that they were becoming more than friends, though with Zoe under such watchful eyes, any developing relationship would surely have been better observed. She also spent more time with Morgan, and a more open and bubbly personality began to emerge. The person Zoe was becoming was a girl that everyone was growing to love, but the doctors and Colonel could only see her evolving personality with a certain sense of dread. She was half zombie, and they expected the other half to succumb to what she was at any time.
A decision had to be made, and it was time for precautions to be taken.
Without being told why, Zoe was moved to a smaller room in the ICU where she could be closely monitored at night, and where she would be closer to the rooms the doctors stayed in.
On outings, she had collected quite a collection of clothing and shoes, and these she carried in a single big armload to the small, windowless room where she angrily dropped them on the small chest that had been moved in there for her. Setting her hands on her hips, she stared down at her belongings, and as she heard Doctor Caswell enter with a few more of her things, including her teddy bear, she grumbled, "I don't see why I have to move. Morgan and I are getting along really well and there's no reason to move me." She looked around the room, her temper boiling up as she asked with very harsh words, "Can I at least get a TV in here?"
"Next thing on my list," Rachel assured as she set the bear on the bed. "I need you to get changed into a gown real quick. We have a couple of things to do before bed."
Zoe vented a hard breath and shook her head. "You've been testing me for stuff all day! I just want to go to sleep!"
Doctor Caswell just stared down at the bear for a moment, then she turned to the door and said, "I'll give you a moment to get changed, then we should talk."
Watching with defiant eyes as the Doctor left the room, she set her jaw and finally reached for the hospital gown that Caswell had left on the bed for her. "This is bogus," she grumbled as she angrily pulled her shirt off.
Rachel returned a few moments later, this time with a couple of soldiers with her, and both soldiers were armed with pistols on their hips.
Looking nervously to the soldiers, Zoe backed up a step and demanded, "What's going on here? What are you doing?"
"Just get into bed," Doctor Caswell ordered as gently as she could. "I'll explain everything in a moment."
"Explain now!" Zoe cried.
Rachel clenched her jaw as she stared back at the girl. With a slight nod, she closed the distance between them with three hesitant steps and raised her hands to the girl's head, gently grasping the sides of her neck as she spoke very softly. "Okay. I think you deserve to know." She drew another breath. "Zoe, the virus inside of you is still hard at work. Remember how we talked about what it is doing to your autism?"
Zoe hesitantly nodded.
"I think it will completely reverse your Asperger's, and that would be great, but then your brain will function normally, probably better than any of ours, and we think that is what the virus wants to do."
Tears began to well up in the girl's eyes.
Her lips tightening, Rachel gently went on, "We think it is only a matter of time until you…"
"Become like one of them," the girl whispered.
Doctor Caswell nodded and confirmed in a slight voice, "Yes."
"But I don't want to be like one of them!" Zoe whimpered. "Can't you just make me autistic again?"
"I wish we could," Rachel said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Believe me, we're doing everything we can to save you. That's what the tests have been about the last few days, to keep this from happening to you. I promise you, Zoe, if there is any way we can keep that from happening to you, we will find it."
Zoe reached up and grasped the Doctor's arms, turning her eyes down as she said in a very slight voice, "But for now I guess you have to make sure that I don't hurt anyone."
"I'm afraid so," Rachel confirmed. "We don't know when it will happen, and that means we have to take precautions to protect the people here, your friends."
With a nod, Zoe added, "From me."
"Yeah," Rachel confirmed. "I wish it didn't have to be this way. Look, I'm going to give you something to help you sleep, then I want you to get into bed, okay?"
Zoe nodded again.
She was given a pill and swallowed it with some of her favorite fruit juice. She and Rachel stood by the side of the bed, leaning on it and talking about matters that girl's talk about until a wave of sleepiness washed over the girl and her eyes grew very heavy.
"Okay," Rachel ordered. "Into the bed."
Laying flat on her back, Zoe settled her head onto the soft pillow and turned her half closed eyes to the Doctor who stood beside her, and she watched her reach under the bed for something. Her eyes closed fully, then she forced them back open as she felt something soft wrap around her wrist. "What are you doing?" she asked with sleepy words.
Rachel would not look at her and instead buckled the leather restraint around her wrist. "I'm just making sure you don't sleepwalk. Don't worry. You'll be fast asleep in a moment and you won't even know you're restrained."
"Do you have to?" the girl whined, tears welling up in her eyes again.
Turning to the foot of the bed, the doctor took another restraint and buckled it around the girl's ankle. "I'm afraid so, Sweetie."
Zoe watched the doctor work, and when she stood on the other side of the bed and reached for the restraint, she offered Rachel her other arm and assured, "It'll be okay."
"Yeah," Rachel whispered as she buckled the last restraint into place. She withdrew a strap and locked it around a D-ring on the wrist restraint, then she reached over and locked it onto the other, pulling it snugly across the girl's waist when it was secure. "Too tight?" she asked.
Barely keeping her eyes open, Zoe shook her head and assured, "I don't think I'll be falling out of the bed tonight."
With a smile, Rachel repeated this with the ankle restraints, then she laid a thin blanket over the girl, bent over her and kissed her forehead. "Get some sleep, Sweetie. I'll be in the next room if you wake up and need anything, okay?"
Her eyes closing one more time, the girl whispered back, "Okay. Good night."
**
Morning meant new misery and awakening from one nightmare to another. A horrifying dream woke Zoe with a start and a breath shrieked into her as her eyes opened wide and were filled with the bland white ceiling overhead that was illuminated by the dim light from the outside. Breaths continued to shriek into her one after another as she slowly got her bearings. Trying to raise a hand to her head, she realized she was bound to the bed she lay on and she struggled to pull her hands free of the soft restraints that held her firmly in place. Another was across her chest, right under her shoulders and had clearly been put there in the night. Her legs were similarly bound as well as her ankles and there was a strap across her knees. Whimpering like a frightened child, she looked down at herself, seeing that only the blanket covered her, and it was held in place by the straps that held her down to the bed. She struggled violently for a few seconds, trying to wrench her way out, but finally fell back to the bed, her head slamming into the pillow as she fought to catch her breath.
Something moaned outside the door.
Her eyes opened wide again.
A shuffling of many feet across the floor outside alerted her further and she looked to the door, seeing a rotted dark gray hand, a bony hand, grasp the inside of the door and slowly push it open.
Slowly shaking her head, Zoe breathed, "No," as the half decayed zombie in the tattered and blood stained medical scrubs opened the door fully and locked its empty eye sockets on her. Its lips had rotted away at some point and yellow and ivory teeth laughed at her as it slowly drew closer. Others were behind it and they followed the first one into the room. Looking around her wi
th frantic movements, she realized that they surrounded her, that her bed was amid a sea of zombies, the very bed she was bound to, and all of the zombies had her in their sights.
Shrinking away from the first as it reached for her, she shook her head and pled, "Please. Just leave me alone. Please!"
It grabbed her arm, another grabbed her, another, another… Their mouths opened and they descended on her like ravenous dogs at a fresh kill.
Zoe screamed and struggled anew, trying in vain to get away. They all began sinking their teeth into her flesh, biting into her arms. She could feel it, but not the pain of what they were doing to her. Others clawed the blanket from her, the gown from her to expose her body. More descended on her and began to bite her flesh away, and tear it away with their powerful, decayed hands. Her intestines were pulled out, her hair torn from her scalp, her skin split open at her chest and belly and thighs.
They were eating her alive!
Zoe sat up, screaming in primal hysterics. Her wrists were still securely bound and the images of the zombies eating her were very fresh, so fresh she could still see them!
The guards stormed into her room with their weapons drawn and she panicked further, wrenching her body back and forth to pull herself free of the restraints, but unable to. Finally falling back to the bed, she turned her head to one side and closed her eyes, crying hysterically, and finally she managed, "Please don't eat me! Please! Go away!"
"Zoe!" Rachel's voice beckoned. "Zoe!"
The girl felt someone grasp her hand, then felt another hand gently stroke through her hair.
"Zoe, it's all right," the doctor assured. "It was only a bad dream. You're okay now."
Dream and reality slowly went their separate ways and Zoe drew deep breaths to calm herself, and finally opened her eyes. Turning her head toward Doctor Caswell, her vision was blurred by tears, but she did recognize who she was looking at. Swallowing hard, she finally relaxed, and squeezed the Doctor's hand in an unspoken sign that she was okay.