BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Twenty- Four |

Twenty- Four |

He led me further down the hall. Through more metal doors concealed by scan boards until he led us into a large room filled with both doctors wearing quarantine suits and men decked out in armor and holding rifles. There were separate beds surrounded by large clear walls. On the beds, different figures literally tied down in lab gowns.

"This is our isolation ward," Nicolaus said, "Each person we have tested the L. Delta on remain in this ward. We are constantly trying to find a way to return their conscious rational."

I moved forward. Some looked more grotesque, and others looked completely human. It was unsettling. I moved to the first cell and peered inside. It was a man strapped to the bed, he seemed calm enough, hi eyes flickering around the room almost carefully. I could feel Nicolaus move beside me and I couldn't bring myself to pull my gaze away from the infected.

"What's his story?" I asked.

"Colton Wickman. He's almost forty-three. He was a soldier before the end and after. He was a good friend but above the age to receive the vaccine. That's another issue. If you don't receive the vaccine as a child, you cannot be protected by it—"

"Why?"

"The vaccine is extremely fragile. It does not attack, instead it bonds with the immune system and alters your genetic formula. An adult's system cannot be altered by it. We've tried even disrupting an adult's immune system but it's no use."

I nodded slowly, "I understand."

"Colton was bit and infected about two years ago," he sighed, "We hoped he'd either bond with the Delta strand or it could pause the infection process until we find a better answer."

"And if there isn't one?"

He glanced at me, "You're proof there is."

"And what if I'm not?" I demanded, "What if like the vaccine you have to be a child, or I'm a mere fluke of science? Have you sought out any other answers?"

"Eero," he replied coolly, "There is no other answers. This is our last hope."

I stepped away from him, moving to the next cell. This one wasn't as calm but instead a woman zombie thrashing on the bed. I could see his jaw opening and closing as she screamed something, but it seemed the glass was soundproof.

"What's she saying?" I asked.

"It's storming. It's storming," he replied, "Over and over again. It's the only phrase that had remained and her brain's been repeating it for a year now."

We continued on. The next was a man who'd say three phrases—each one about his daughter who'd been killed in front of him. After that, a woman who looked over at us and grinned and even waved despite being chained. Each one seemed to cling to bits and pieces of their humanity like broken records.

Once we'd seen them all, he led me back down the hall and into the final back room. He told me that this room had one more L. Delta infected but this one, like me was different. I glanced at the two guards at the door carefully, before looking back to him. This door had five different scanners, each he had carefully interacted with before the door swung open, revealing a dimly lit room that faced a large mirror.

"Who is this one?" I asked following him into the room.

He paused for a moment before nodding slowly, "You need to understand something."

I nodded, as the door shut behind us, "What?"

He moved over to the mirror, his hand hovering on a large button beside it, "We have been trying to figure out the appropriate dose of the L. Delta for years. As soon as we discovered Maxwell's body we began. When we began, we started with trying to make a genetically mutated child. A child that had Maxwell's genes who could harness the virus like your mother."