Survival Z

Chapter 16:The Cure

Once we got in, the doors closed and inside the room  was a ginormous screen with a large keyboard beside it, along with a lot of chemical pads. Suddenly, my father started to tremble and fell, as the virus was trying to take over him. But he was stronger than it.

He went to the keyboard and started typing up some codes, saying, "The virus is trying to take over me. So, I need to make this work, fast".

He then showed us a video which had the images of two humans and said, "As you can see, if a guy turns into a zombie, he can know if the ones around him are zombies or human. The virus inside him wants to take over new hosts but doesn't want to leave it's own host or attack others infected by it. It can only be stopped by making it dormant and if it goes dormant, it would die of starvation as it won't be able to satisfy it's hunger for tissue, ligaments, bones and stuff, because it won't be able to spread or move itself ".

Jackson asked, "Then how are you able to control it?", and my dad replied, "As you can see, the virus affects the brain, triggers aggressive senses by switching off inhibitors and---", Rebecca, holding her shoulder with hand, interrupted, "Can you say in English?".

He continued, "It triggers the anger region in the brain's back part, giving us our animal instincts back to us and switches off our sense of our consciences which makes us not able to control our own body parts. I am trying very hard to keep it under control and it gives pain like over a thousand needles piercing my head. You don't know how it feels because I'm the one suffering by-----".

He started trembling again, holding his head with hands, shouting in pain, and kneeled down. I shouted, "Dad!", and went beside him. He said, "I'm fine. I just need a little time to keep it under control", and got up, taking his hands off his head, and continued, "That's better. You probably should scout the perimeter and take her to the med bay cause she's bleeding bad. It's right across the corridor. I want Julie and the guy with the shotgun and the other guy with the pistol".

Will who was the one with the pistol said, "Mr. Carter, I'm William Johan. You saved me ten years ago", and my father replied, "Will, I guess you're my daughter's best bud..... Wait, ten years!".

Jackson said, "Yes, Mr. Carter. Your daughter often says how she mourns for you for the past ten years. It might be a shock for you to see that it's been this long", but my father smiled and replied, "It's okay. I just thought it was only nine years". Of course, no one did not see that coming.

Jackson turned to me and said, "Jewel, I'll go set these guys up while you and Willy stay here for Mr. Carter", as he left the room along with others. My dad started to work on chemicals while I started to tell him about whatever happened in the past years.

Still working on the chemicals, he asked, "So, Alice is still alive! How is she doing?", and I replied, "She's fine but she cries for you often, especially on your birthdays".

He asked, "And Max? How is he?", and I said, "He's........dead".

Once he heard that, he dropped the test tube of a chemical and said, "Well, I guess he's gone. Can't bring people back from dead unless they become zombies", and continued to work on them.

He then put them in the fridge of the lab, telling, "That should do it. Let it set for a nine hours and it will be ready. Honey pie, how many hours does the sedative in the dart gun put me to sleep", taking the dart gun out from his pocket.

I quickly checked my gun holster, which was empty and asked, "How did you take it from me?", and he said, "I was trained to do tricks. Of sorts. Just tell me how long does it make me sleep?".

I replied, "Like 8-9 hours", and he said, "Just enough for me. I'm gonna get a peaceful sleep after 15 years. Finally!", before taking a dart from the gun and injected himself. Then he dropped the gun along with the dart and climbed onto a table, layed down and went to sleep.

Will said, "Never saw a guy who hot himself with a gun and injected himself a sedative to sleep except for him. Okay JC, I'm gonna see what my sister's doing", and left.

I went and sat on a chair near the table where my father was sleeping. Jackson came and sat too. He asked, "What did he mean by 'peaceful sleep after 15 years' ", and I replied, "Ever since all this started before '15 years' my father never slept without thinking about survival. When I was 5, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said he wanted to sleep in peace. Well, I gave him his wish".

Jackson said, "Okay, so how did he die?", and I asked, "Who?", and he said, "Colonel Max Dillon".

Max had become a colonel after we had got there. I said, "He died because of me. Before four years, I was climbing on the wall to do bouldering and accidentally slipped down. As I fell, Max ran to me and caught me safely by falling on his back, skidding on the way. But the speed he came in, made him get hit on the back of his head on the holders. After that, he got up and said he was alright when I asked him. We didn't know he had a blood clot in his head that had occurred by the force he got hit. We only knew about it when he died all of a sudden, bleeding from the ears and nose. Max's girlfriend at the base, Amy Rogers, who worked as a doctor in the base, was the only one who knew it before us. He died a year after his collision. She mourns for him just like my mom. That's all that happened and I don't want my dad to know that his daughter is the reason for his best friend's death", as I cried.

Jackson consoled me and said, "Jewel, you're not the reason for the death of your father's friend. You look tired. You probably should get some rest along with your dad", but even though I argued, he made me put my head on the table. After some time, I slept without noticing it. Of course, I was tired after putting up a fight with my dad when he was a zombie. I got the dream of what happened ever since all this had started. As I got to the time when Max died, the body of Max started to pull my arm, saying, "JC, it's time to wake up!".

I woke up, startled, and found it was Will trying to wake me up. He shouted, "JC, something that probably is a fridge started beeping! Please check what the hell it is!", and I said, "I think the cure is ready", as I tried to wake up my father. He woke up, heard the beeping and ran to the fridge, taking the cure out.