“Hello,” Dr. Mills said, approaching the gate with caution.
The female screamer turned her head slightly and her eyes narrowed in on Dr. Mills. She stepped up to the gate inches away from him.
“Hello,” she replied.
Except her voice was all wrong. It was scratchy and deep. The voice didn’t fit the petite figure.
“I. Am. Hungry,” she choked and paused after each word.
She grabbed for the gate and shook it madly. The other screamers approached and followed suit.
“Calm down. We will get food for you and your friends,” Dr. Mills said. Panic underlined his tone.
“Men, run and get some food for these fine people,” He ordered.
The screamers at the fence continued to shake wildly ignoring Dr. Mills.
“I see my food,” one of the screamers shouted. Laughing maniacally. He was staring at Silas.
I stepped forward and stood by Dr. Mills side.
“I don’t think they are cured. They are eyeing us like we are food,” I said.
“You. Are. Food,” the female stated, chopping her jaw and lips. She poked her tongue out and ran it along the fence.
“I can taste your fear, dear doctor,” she sneered.
Screams echoed once again and screamers darted down the road toward the gate. They attacked the screamers that were trying to get to us. They were all teeth and furry but the screamers were not successful in killing the new screamers. The new screamers bit into the old ones and they battled each other. It was a brutal and gruesome sight. The new screamers tore the screamers apart. More screamers came out of the woods. Too many for the new screamers to fight.
“We need to get inside,” Dr. Mills ordered.
We ran into the facility locking the horror out. Everyone crammed into the laboratory. Soldiers removed the masks that covered their faces; revealing red headed males and females.
Dr. Mills sat at his computer. Typing away.
“What the hell just happened?” I asked.
“It appears the cure still needs some tinkering,” Dr. Mills stated not looking up from his screen.
“Are you serious? You sacrificed a baby tonight and for what? More people are dead and gone,” I shouted.
I glance around the room and notice the soldiers heads were lowered towards the floor, shoulders slouched, they appeared to be defeated. Even my group stalked around, brains on overload.
“It is all part of the process. You are too young to understand,” Dr. Mills explained.
“Maybe there is no way to cure the damage that has been done,” I stated.
He looked up from the screen and stared at me for a long moment.
“I cannot believe that,” he said.
“How many lives are you willing to sacrifice to try and find a cure?” I asked and then continued, “The way I look at it is there are not a lot of people left. You are going to run out of people sooner than later,” I added.
“I need everyone to leave. I have work to do. Zola. Julia. Please escort our guest out,” Dr. Mills yelled.
“Come on Layla, let the doctor work,” Julia said guiding my group away.
I looked over my shoulder when I exited the lab and saw Dr. Mills look away from his computer. His hands moved over his head and rested over his face. He yelled out in frustration.The doors closed behind me. I realized the man though mad did have emotions and his apparent failure had taken a toll on him as well. He was after all only human.
Day 115:
Six days have gone by since we came to the facility. We had planned on leaving the next morning after the horrible incident with the baby but Quinn took a turn for the worse. Later the same day Dr. Mills fell ill. Apparently the cure he thought he had concocked turned out to be another virus for the remaining humans. Both men were deathly ill and fighting for their lives. Julia and Silas worked endlessly on continuing Dr. Mills work.The soldiers were much like us. They had some special abilities but they were minimal. The virus’ didn’t seem to affect them or us. We were at a standstill.
I watched Julia stare into a microscope and I couldn’t help but wonder how in the world I could not have known I had not one but two sisters. She looked so much like me. The only difference was she had a nerdy edge to her. She was quiet and spoke softly but with a firmness I admired in the short time I had known her. I walked to where she was working.
“Are you making any progress?” I asked.
Julia sighed and glanced up at me.
“I would be making progress if everyone would leave me be and let me work.”
I turned and exited the lab quickly not saying anything. She was obviously under a lot of pressure. I tried not to take her outburst to heart but in my head it was hard not to. I wanted to help Silas and Julia find a cure but I didn’t know how I could help. I sulked and made my way to Quinn’s bedside. Lucy was sobbing next to him. Holding his grey hand tightly.
“Hi,” I whispered.
“Hi,” Lucy sobbed.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked, resting my hand on her shoulder.
“Can you make him better? That’s all I want. I’ve lost so much, Quinn is all I have left. I can’t lose him too,” she cried.
“Julia and Silas are working as we speak to fix this,” I replied.
“Do you really think they are going to be able to find a cure when the doctors couldn’t?”
I Sighed heavily. I didn’t want to lie to her. I wondered if there would ever be a way to fix the damage that had already been done.
“We can only hope at this point,” I said weakly.
Gabe entered the room and gestured for me to come with him. I smiled at Lucy and made my way to Gabe.
“Hey, I need you to come with me,” Gabe ordered.
“Where?” I countered.
“Come on!” He replied, taking my hand and dragging me behind him.
We moved quickly into the laboratory. He released my hand. We entered cell eight. Julia and Silas were standing over a glass bassinet and the sight brought back unpleasant memories. They both glanced up at the sight of gabe and me. The look of defeat traced every inch of Julia’s face. Her eyes glistened with tears and she quickly wiped away any that started to fall.
“It’s over. It’s really over,” Julia whimpered.
I stepped up to the bassinet and stared at the still figure before me. The infant once alive and then infected, now lay still. It was dead. The infant appeared to be sleeping but at closer inspection it was clear its little chest wasn’t moving.
“Silas and I checked all of them. They are all dead. The virus has mutated and is airborne. The screamers will be completely wiped out within days maybe weeks. Dr. Nickels succeeded and we have failed.”
She couldn’t hold back the tears. They fell like wild rain and I could feel her pain.
“There must be something we can do,” I quaked.
“There is no way for us to alter the mutation at this point. We are playing with fire and the results could destroy all living things,” Silas explained, “if our calculations are correct, the new gene of virus will be spread around the world within weeks. Every screamer will die.”
“If they can’t be turned back into humans then death doesn’t seem like a bad alternative,” I stated.
“The problem really isn’t that we can’t heal the screamers. It’s that we can’t save the humans that are still here. It means that every last human is doomed,” Silas responded.
He hung his head in defeat. I didn’t want to believe that the end had come for humans.