“Immune 7
Sacrifice of the Dead”
“The needs of
the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”
I sit in my
room and stare at the sterile walls. Spending the last week working with Jenner
on this cure, he finally tells me something I never thought I would never hear.
That I must die so others can live. Isn’t that a kick in the butt. I survived a
zombie apocalypse only to forfeit my life for a possible cure. I can hear Rick
and the others talking in the next room. I didn’t know how I was going to face
them. Jenner is in there as well arguing his case. I wasn’t able to give him an
answer right away. I needed to think.
“I’m not
trying to sound harsh or cruel, but the facts speak for themselves. Vanessa’s
brain is the key. I need to collect deep tissue samples that will ultimately
kill her.” Jenner paused. The children were thankfully in the game room with
Carol, Lizzy didn’t need to hear this. “You’re talking about someone’s life.”
Dale spoke up. “You’re asking her to kill herself in the hopes that the brain
samples you collect will enable you to find a cure. There’s no guarantee, is
there?” Dale asked.
“No, there is
no guarantee, but I’m sure I can find it. I’ve been studying the samples I have
since this all started; I’m also recording all my findings and sending them out
to any other CDC that could still be in operation so if I’m not successful,
someone will be.” Jenner pleaded. “That’s just it; if you’re not successful
Vanessa would still be dead.” Dale countered.
“This will be
her decision.” Rick spoke. “We’re not going to force her to do anything she
doesn’t want to do.” “And how is that going to work?” Shane’s voice sounded. I
hadn’t heard much from him lately, but he sounded determined now. “So she
decides she doesn’t want to save the world, then what? We just go on from here?
One of those things bites us and she watches us die while she gets to live?
Well that doesn’t seem fair. She has the power to help us all and if she says
no, she’ll be dooming everyone.”
“Is it fair
to ask someone to die for others like this? You make it sound like she had a
choice in being immune. That she had control of that. What if it was you,
Shane? What if you were immune? Are we suppose just expect you to die for us?
Are you prepared for that?” Dale asked.
“I hate to
say it, but Shane is right.” Daryl’s voice expressed. “We’ve been hiding out
trying to just survive; now we have a chance, we should take it. I’m tired of
running.”
“So kill her.
Just kill her likes she’s nothing. She saved our lives on that mountain, or did
we all forget?” Emotion filled Dale’s voice. He is always so kind-hearted, I
took an instance liking to him. “No
one’s saying that, Dale. We’re just saying that…” I walked in and interrupted
Shane. The room was silent and I looked about. Some were able to look me in the
eye, some weren’t.
“I’ll do it.
I’ll do it, Jenner.” I spoke softly, my voice filled with fear. I tried to hold
in the quiver in my voice but couldn’t. I tried to be strong but tears soon
flowed down my cheeks. I turned and walked out the room and found a dark corner
to cry. I don’t know how long I was there until Lori laid a warm hand on my
shoulder. We exchanged looks and I fell into her arms. I thought at times that
Lori could be full of herself but in that moment I needed a kind face. I had to
face the fact that I was going to die but that the others and Lizzy were going
to live.
The day of
the surgery came faster than I would have wanted. Jenner was meticulous in the
preparations and the documentation. He had been using video journaling to
document his research and sending out a signal in the hopes that someone was
watching the feed. He had been doing the same with his research on me. I walked
into the exam room and lay on the table.
Jenner and Rick were there, I guess Rick was going to assist while
Shane, Daryl, and Glen stood in the observation area to watch. It was hard to
try to explain to Lizzy what was going to happen, she didn’t take it well and
locked herself in her room. I heard her crying behind the door and my heart
hurt. Now that I’m lying down, I stared at the ceiling reflecting on the life I
lived. Not sure that I made all the right decisions but I think l lived a good
life, I just wish I had more time. Jenner inserted a needle in my arm and my
mind thankfully started to go numb. He looked me in the eyes and I could see he
wasn’t a bad man, just a man who lost a love and was doing the best he could. A
warmth fell over me and the fear I felt evaporated. The outside edges of my vision rolled over
black and I sank into oblivion, ready for what the afterlife had to offer me.
“Okay, Rick I
need you to hand me the tools I ask for, quickly. The ones we went over,
remember?” Jenner asked me. We had gone over the procedure an hour before, I
didn’t want to volunteer but someone had to help Jenner. I thought this was
wrong, but Vanessa seems willing, however there was fear in her eyes and it
wasn’t easy to watch her lay on that table. Suddenly, Lizzy burse into the
operating room.
“You can’t!”
she yelled, tears drenched her face. “Lizzy, you need to leave, now.” I calmly
told her but she was scared. “No! I won’t let you kill her!” Lizzy ran to the
monitor and yanked on the tubes, the
leads fell out of the machine and the monitor went blank. I grabbed for her but
she dodged my hand and headed for the sample table. Using the stool she began
to smash the samples left and right.
“NO!” Jenner
shouted. “Daryl, Glen, get in here!” I yelled to them but the sound of the
computer’s voice over the loud speaker stopped them. “Contamination eminent. Facility will be sealed. Containment protocol
active.”
“Shit! You
have to get out of here, now!” I had a struggling Lizzy in my arms, “What?
Why?” Jenner started unhooking Vanessa and lifting her off the table. Lizzy
stopped fighting sensing an urgency in his voice and Jenner placed Vanessa in
my arms. “Because this building is going to be deystroyed. To protect against
pathogens being released, the computer has sense a threat and it’s going to
destroy the whole complex. You have to get Vanessa out of here now!”
Jenner pushed
us out of the operating room and sealed the door shut. I watched him run past
the broken samples into the main control area to the console. “Daryl! Here,
take Vanessa. Shane, get everyone and whatever supplies they can carry back to
the surface, hurry!” Shane, Daryl, Glen and Lizzy ran off with an unconscious
Vanessa, I ran to the nearest intercom. “Jenner, we’ve got to go! Come on!”
“I can’t. The
computer is sealing everything down. I need to try and get the outer doors
opened or you’ll never get out.” Jenner pressed buttons on the console and
began speaking into the microphone. “This is Jenner, I hope someone has been
receiving this. The surgery to extract brain tissue samples has failed. Vanessa
Summers is still alive and it is vital that if someone out there is hearing
this finds Ms. Summers and takes her to a medical facility to complete the
procedure, if she’s willing. You don’t know how important this woman is.” I
ran. Back to Lori and Carl and the group waiting in the outer lobby. The steel
doors remained shut as a countdown started. Everyone was here but…”Where’s
Jacqi?” I asked.
“She’s
staying.” Andrea answered but sounded disappointed. At that point the door
began to rise and we filed out quickly. We were unable to grab as much food and
water as I hoped and it seemed that we were no better off now than we were when
we arrived. Once inside the convoy, the building exploded in a brilliant
fireball. The heat was felt through the minor protection of the camper. The
sound was deafening. Jenner and Jacqui
were gone and so was the hope of finding a cure. Jenner must have been talking
to whoever he thought was listening, pleading with them to find Vanessa and
complete what he started. What if someone was listening? Did Jenner just turn
Vanessa into a target? And what if the people who were listen had less than
good intentions? I glanced back at a sleeping Vanessa in the rear view as the
convoy headed out, how safe were they really now? How safe was she? The thought
of a cure would be tempting to anyone left alive, but what is someone desperate
willing to do for that?
“Guys, listen
up. Jenner didn’t have a chance to finish what he started, but for right now, I
think it’s better if we don’t spread the fact that Vanessa is immune to anyone
outside the group; for her safety and for our own. Agreed?” Lori, Dale and
Andrea nodded their heads. At their first stop he’ll make his decision known to
the others.
The group in
Atlanta was not aware of man in an expensive suit sitting at a monitor; he had
just finished the video stream of Dr. Jenner’s research and an immune test
subject peaked his interest. “Colonel Marsh,
do you know what people would do for the chance to live without fear of
infection?” A man in camo stood just behind the man in the suit. “I doubt money
is of any interest to anyone any longer, sir.” He answered. “No, not money
Marsh; power and control. I want you to go to Atlanta with a team of your best
men and bring this Vanessa Summers back for testing.” Suit man printed out a
picture of Vanessa and handed it to Colonel Marsh.
“What if she
refuses?” Suit man simply smiled back at him. “Convince her.” “Yes, sir.”
To be
continued…..
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