To Be A Warrior

Chapter 51: Poison

"Are you nervous?"

Tom's voice holds a slight bit of curiosity, but as he and I both enter Banktown's gates, I know he's asking mostly to break the silence that has been weighing heavily on the both of us since we left Abel's gates hours ago. I'm already feeling tired and I know it'll probably be dark by the time we get home since it was such a long run to get here. Maybe next time we can convince Janine to let us use a transport vehicle or something, since Abel is getting something out of this even though it's not our main reason for me coming here.

"Slightly, but I don't think today's supposed to be too bad. They're not-I mean," I pause and sigh, "the nanites aren't ready yet. Right now they're going to be taking some blood samples and giving me something that make weaken my uh, ability to heal. Sage says he doesn't think it's needed, but I'm the guinea pig, so it's best to test it out. If it's not needed, then it's one less needle that will be stuck into Peter."

"Thanks for taking the day off to come with Callista today," Sam says over the headset, and Tom gives him the smallest nod in reply.

"I think Jane would be curious as to why Runner Five came here and stayed if she wasn't spending time with Peter. It's a good distraction for Peter as well, since I'm sure he'd be wondering why you are staying."

I nod. "That's true." I hand my bag of supplies to one of the women at a table at the gate, and Tom does the same. Wordlessly, the woman points to a small building, with no windows and a single door where a person waits for us, probably to check for bites.

We go inside, giving polite greetings, although the most we are given back is a nod. She's got that same wordless efficiency that the woman had as she ushers me into one room and Tom into another. There's a doctor waiting in my room, and I don't have to be instructed to strip down. It's become a habit after all these years. I don't even feel embarrassed about the hands grazing my skin, checking for wounds I know they won't find.

I notice there are three things on the table-a vial of the cure, a gun for if the cure fails, and a communicator. I suppose that's to call for help if the doctor believes someone has been bitten by a V-Type. It's probably to someone can bring in a burn cube.

Abel's given a few settlements some and have shown them how to use them. Some settlements are too far away for us to rush to their aid if there was a V-Type attack. As dangerous as it is, people need their own weapons to protect themselves. We can only pray they use what we gave them wisely.

"You're clean," The doctor says, and I quickly get dressed, humming to myself as I leave the room and meet up with Tom once more.

"Do you know where you're supposed to go?" Tom asks, and I shrug.

"Uh, Sage told me he would send someone to meet me and get me to a lab, or maybe the hospital." I rub my temples. "That day I was kind of all over the place. I had to write down the date and time to get here just so I could remember."

"And I had to help set up the supply run," Sam says. "Sweetheart, I say this in the nicest way possibly, but you were a little... hysterical after everything that happened. You may not have been thinking clearly when you talked to Colonel Sage. Are you sure you-"

"I'm sure," I say. "Veronica lost so much research. She lost any potential ideas from the information she sent as well. You sent what we had to Sage and I wrote down everything I could about the nanites. If Sage can replicate them-"

"How do we know you won't have a reaction like the zombie did?"

"Because Veronica said she believed it was because of what was going on inside the zom. She said she thinks it was caused by a fungus that makes V-Types. I'm not a V-Type, so chances are that fungus isn't inside me. But, since Peter was bitten, there's a chance it may be inside him, but his cell regeneration stopped it from, you know, turning him. That's why I asked Colonel Sage to ensure something like that doesn't happen. Plus it may be a way to stop the immortality of P-Types if another one happens to bite Peter."