Our Undead (36 page)

Erika:
Actually, I'm more into blowing things up. Nice to meet
you.
(shakes his
hand)

They lock eyes, and for a
moment she is lost in an unexpected connection. The Englishman is
much older than her, but there is something about his deep blue
eyes and valiant accent that makes Blaze want to rip off his lab
coat and show him what she could be really "super" at. Rosa tucks
her pen into her coat's chest pocket and walks around to where Gwen
and Erika are standing by the crate. She notices the spark of
sexual tension.

Rosa:
Rosa
Garza. Pleasure to meet you. Don't be deceived by his discernible
charms. A very smug man hides behind them.

She casts a snide look at
Dr. Winston and shakes hands with Erika.

Erika:
Oh,
you don't have to worry about that. It's a pleasure to meet you.
Erika Blaze.

Rosa:
Is
this all?

Rosa motions at the single
crate in confusion.

Gwen:
This
is it.

Rosa kneels in front of the
crate and opens it up.

Rosa:
It's
a nice little treat, but… there's no way this will last testing
through the final sixty-five subjects.

Gwen:
I
know.

Rosa:
Well, didn't you tell Feleid-

Gwen:
Of
course I told Feleider, but I'm beginning to think that man
couldn't care less about discovering a cure for this virus.
(sighs)
Just do
what you can with this for now.

Bernard:
Yes, you do
that
… I'll be perusing the
invalid's quarters. Ladies.

Doctor Winston bids the
women adieu, giving Erika some extra eye contact and leaves the
room.

Rosa:
That
pompous-

Gwen:
Alright, alright. Just get that stuff
sorted.

After Professor Gavine
gives her orders, she walks through the high desks towards the ones
farther back. Erika follows her, leaving Rosa to sort through the
crate by herself.

Erika:
For
such a large epidemic, there aren't many of you doctors
here.

Gwen:
Although we
have
been doing some blood testing, productivity has
been delayed for reasons I'm pretty sure you are now aware of. Most
of the doctors are taking care of the sick. Frankly, they're better
off there where they're needed. The minds in this room are more
than capable of finding a cure for this thing. Isn't that right,
Rohan?

The old Indian man raises
his head away from the lens, and his bulging eyes ogle the
professor and super soldier. The grey hair on his head is thinning
to the point of not really being there at all, and his face is not
very welcoming.

Rohan:
That is quite correct and accurate. Who is
this?

His thick accent has a
pleasant but "too the point" tone about it. He speaks very quickly,
without pausing.

Gwen:
Doctor Rohan Verma, may I introduce you to Erika Blaze. She's
one of those special task force super hero types.

Erika:
A
pleasure.

Rohan:
Likewise.

Gwen:
Any
progress with this thing, Verma?

Rohan:
I
wish I could tell you that I've found the cause of this viral
infection, Gwen, I really do, but I can't find anything wrong with
the blood work of these first thirty-five test subjects. Besides
the ones that have… well, this girl knows the deal - the ones that
have died and resurrected. Their blood is useless. It might as well
be bile, but even before the subjects pass, there is nothing in
their blood that would stimulate a viral infection. No viral
infection. There is no virus in them.

Gwen:
But
that's impossible. Influenza is the first stage all these troops
have been going through, and then afterward just escalating degrees
until they pass and turn. What could it possibly be if not a viral
infection?

Erika:
Hold on. You're testing on real people?

Gwen:
Unfortunately, Feleider wasn't exaggerating when he said
we've lost many fighters to this outbreak. Many of the infected die
out there, but those who make it back are required to donate their
bodies to our research. It's a bit sad, but their lives have pretty
much already been taken from them.

Erika:
You
mean they don't have a choice?

Gwen:
They're going to die either way you look at it, unless we can
find the reason for all of this, which can happen with a little
more delving; it has to.

Erika:
But
you said that some have passed
and
turned.

Gwen:
Yes…
The change has been the inevitable fate of many of our infected
patients and will be for a few more, respectively, but it's just as
critical we study their bodies after the transformation as before
it. We need to learn as much as possible.

Erika:
The
poor souls have become lab rats.. and the poor men that have to
exterminate their allies when you doctors are finished poking and
prodding them.

Gwen:
No,
no, we wouldn't do that. When the time comes to put subjects to
sleep, they are injected.. by us.

Erika:
I
guess that's a little more humane, but what's this about "when the
time comes"?

Gwen:
When
the time comes to terminate the patients who have already
turned.

Erika:
Are
you saying that you have the walking infected stowed away somewhere
in this compound? Isn't that… crazy? There are civilians living
here.

Gwen:
We
keep them safely contained, Ms. Blaze. The people have nothing to
worry about, at least, on that end. We need them alive, or at least
animated for proper analysis. But again, we keep them separate and
immobile.

Erika:
If
you say so.

Gwen:
So
what do you suppose our next step is, Doctor
Verma?

Rohan:
My
first guess would be extinction, Ms. Gavin, but if I can do some
more studying on those undead fellows, I might be able to come up
with another hypothesis.

Gwen:
Then
that's what you need to do. Doctor Keung will assist
you.

Keung:
Did
I here my name?

Erika hears a thick
oriental accent coming from behind them and sees the man who was
sitting at the computer looking at them from his desk, a Chinese
man with glasses and a happy face. He gets up and walks over to
them.

Gwen:
Yes,
Doctor Keung. Rohan is going to need your help examining more of
the altered patients. Rosa is sorting the supplies we were waiting
for. You can both take what you need and get to
work.

Keung:
Ooookay. Doctor?

Rohan:
Right. Good. Let's go.

Erika:
Check the heads. I guess, besides your injections, those
things don't die unless you completely destroy their heads. I blew
a ton of them sky-high once and even still, some were crawling
around because their heads were still intact. It's gotta mean
something.

Rohan:
Oh,
thank you for that valuable piece of advice, Ms. Blaze. How could
we have forgot to study the cranium? Yes, yes. We will definitely
make sure we do that because you said so.

Erika is well aware of the
sarcasm in the doctor's voice, but she lets him get away with it.
The two men leave Erika and Gwen to get what they need from Rosa.
Gwen sighs and walks to her own desk. Erika follows her.

Erika:
Ever notice how it's like festival of foreign accents in
here?

Gwen:
Comes with the territory. We doctors have come from all over
the world.

Erika:
I
like it. It's very multi-cultural.

Gwen:
(exhales)
Yes, it
is.

Gwen sits in her desk's
chair and leans her head back, exhausted. Erika looks for a space
on the edge of the desk to sit on, but its surface is completely
filled with papers and equipment. She makes some space anyway and
parks her butt down on the edge.

Erika:
Tired?

Gwen:
Mentally, physically, emotionally, you name
it.

Erika:
I'm
sorry. I would love to offer my assistance, but this science thing
really isn't my forte. I work with test tubes, but I usually make
things for destroying life, not saving it.

Gwen:
Mmm,
that's quite all right, Ms. Blaze. We all have our place. Some save
lives, and some take them away.

Erika:
I
like to think I'm a balance of both. I take lives, yes, but I take
the lives of bad things and people to save the lives of good
people. Some people just take lives because it's fun for them. I
find them disgusting.

Gwen:
And
some may not take lives or kill directly but do everything in their
power to prevent heroes like you from succeeding. Those people are
just as bad.

Erika:
Our
team has been known to take people like that out as well. They fall
under the same filthy category. Sometimes, some people just have to
be removed so that the world can be a better
place.

Gwen:
I
wish someone would remove Feleider from
my
world.

Erika:
The
General?

Gwen:
Yes.
He's made our jobs very difficult. It's like he goes out of his way
to delay our progress. He needs to be dealt with… Maybe if
you-

Erika:
Ha,
I'm sorry, Ms. Gavine, but I can't assassinate the
General.

Gwen:
No!
Of course not, but maybe you might be able to apply some of those
special skills for us… in the form of recon?

Erika:
(intrigued)
Heh. Oh, I see. Mmm,
well, what do you have in mind?

<><><>

Doctor Alyster continues
his own research in a rarely visited area, deep inside of the
compound. The old man brings medium sized a glass case out from the
clutter on his desk and places it on the high desk where Holden
sits on a stool. The giant man leans over the desk, resting his
elbows and forearms down on its surface, watching the doctor's
every move.

Dr. Alyster:
Here she is. Zhe newest von.

Holden:
Fausta.

Dr. Alyster:
Hah! Yesss. Fausta zhe mouse.
(coughs)
I named her zhis becaws
she haz displayed only posative results.

Holden:
This is the mouse with the new parasite?

Dr. Alyster:
A prototype of zhe newer parasitic-chip, yes. She has been
able to receive und follow shrough vit all instructions so far, but
only time vill tell if her stable condition vill
last.

The good doctor goes back
to his desk and looks around in the unending clutter of papers for
something. He lifts one of the piles and under it is a rectangular
piece of glass about the size of two palms. He picks it up and
walks back to Holden and Fausta. The little white mouse sits calmly
in the middle of it's cage, waiting patiently for the customary
treat that she has come to expect from the balding man in the white
coat, but Doctor Alyster is in no rush. Holden watches curiously as
the doctor double taps the corner of the see-thru slab of glass.
Neon blues and reds begin emanating from it, and Holden realizes
that it must be some sort of controller.

Dr. Alyster:
Ah, sheisse…

The doctor places the
controller by Fausta's case and goes back to his desk. After
shuffling through more papers, he finds a crinkled up white plastic
bag. He brings it back, places it on the table, and Holden sees
that it is a bag of cookies.

Holden:
Don't mice eat cheese?

Dr. Alyster:
Zhat is a meeth. You tell me, vhere can you find cheese in
zhe vild?

Holden:
I
never thought of it like that. What's this all
about?