The Diseased Heart

Chapter 38

Two weeks. Two whole weeks had passed since we arrested the entire lot back at that facility and rescued the Lurkers. In those two weeks - though I was asleep for three days - many things happened. My wounds completely healed, including my arm regenerating. Nearly half of my pack of Crawlers, were no longer Crawlers, as they had taken the cure and gone through the surgery of removing their Crawler legs, their eyes would clear up in a few days, and their bloodlust and instincts would fade. The only proof they were once Crawlers, would be the sharp canines, the football sized faded scar in the center of their back, and their second ribcage.

I, and to my surprise, several others, had decided to remain as Crawlers. I was glad I was not alone, though I knew several would get cured later on as they began to miss their human lives.

Over time, as strange as it was, several Lurkers were able to be cured, though many were past the point of no return, and death was their mercy. They went through long surgeries to remove the grotesque claws, flatten their pointed teeth, and remove the horns before the cure was administered. That short bit of time was the perfect amount for the wounds to heal to human standards, yes, with some strange teeth and fingernails, but it was hardly as bad as it once was.

Elizabeth, one of the Cured Lurkers, told us what it was like for them while they were infected. Their mind was foggy, but they could remember. They were treated like animals in many ways. Fed once a day in their stables, sprayed with repellent until they gave in, and so on. Elizabeth said there was one thing she could think of during the fight: protect the queen.

Once Riley was taken down, and the sun began to rise, the Lurkers lost their way. They could tell their 'queen' had been captured, but they still had the urge to fight. She described it as, once Riley was gone, the urge to protect her was gone too, as if their instincts had no object permanence.

As I slowly walked down the hall in the lab, following Clem, I could only think about what my father had done. I could manage with him gone, I didn't care anymore. He was dead to me. What I cared about was making things right. If my father hurt this many innocent people, it would ruin our family's name, anyone who heard 'Eriksson' would think of the man that created the Lurkers.

I was going to change that.

I wanted people to instead think of the woman that saved - quite possibly - the world from that man. I was going to make sure they would have something to know me for.

"Olive?"

I jolted out of my mind. This seemed to be something that happened to Crawlers quite often, getting so lost in their thoughts they go on auto pilot. I looked up at Clem, she knew the same. She nodded to me, and opened the door ahead of us with a keycard.

The room and heavily of cleaning chemicals, definitely from yesterday's events. My finger traced the bandages that constricted my other arm. It had taken a very long time to single out and destroy the Virus in her blood. Sadly there was no way to specifically remove what my father had added. Once she was cured, though, and the horns, claws, tail, etcetera was removed, she was re-infected. This meant she had to turn again, too.

It was nowhere near as bloody as a regular turning - as she already had the Crawler legs and everything else, but it was just as straining on her mind and body. She had an enhanced healing though, so she would be fine in the long run. I had gone in to check on her after she had turned, and she attacked me. It was what we expected. It was a good sign.

It proved she was still herself, as she reacted the same way the first time. But now was the real test. Clem closed the door behind me, and I heard it lock shut.

It was just the two of us in this room.

She was laying on her back, one hand behind her head, and one leg crossed over her other one. I stared in shock at the human action. She looked over at me, before smiling and lazily waving with her other hand.

"Heya."

I covered my mouth with my hands, why did I feel like I was going to cry? I walked over to her as she stood up, I didn't wait for her to say anything before I hugged her.

"Woah! Okay, calm down Olive, I wasn't gone for that long...was I?"

I let go and shook my head, "Two weeks. You've been out for two weeks."

"Oh...that long? I'm...not surprised, what happened to me was nasty."

"You mean you remember?!"

"Only some of it. Vaguely. You're lucky, you know. If you guys had attacked even a day later, I would have been way stronger. I had just been mutated a few hours before you showed up, any later and I would have been able to breathe fire, or even make your blood freeze. I wasn't exactly...in control, then."

I nodded and sat down on the tile floor, she sat in front of me, her back against the wall. I needed to remember I was doing a job, "How are you feeling?"

"Still not great, but a thousand times better than before. Good to know I must be important to you guys, though."

"What does that mean?" I tilted my head to the side.

"Re-infecting me? That was risky, for all you knew, I could go into seizures and die permanently. Or I could wake up feral, or have lost my memory. But you guys still went ahead with it."

"How...did you know we re-infected you?"

She shrugged, "I heard some people talking in the hallway."

"These walls are soundproof."

"When has that stopped me in the past?"

I chuckled, "Fair point."

She chuckled a bit too, but then her face became serious, she looked at me, the red pupils faded as her eyes would soon blacken again, "Although, there has been something that's bothering me. It had been since I saw a Lurker that first time."

"You mean the one that police officer found and we brought in?"

"That's exactly it. No. Think about that Crawler, and think about the Lurkers. That Crawler had the claws, the teeth, the powerful venom, but what about everything else?"

I thought for a moment, confused at first. Thinking hard about the two creatures, my eyes widened, "Lurkers have tails, horns, jagged claws. Thst Crawler had neither, and even the Lurkers didn't have armored plates on their Crawler legs..."

"Exactly, it's not possible that they were like...a prototype Lurker, because the Virus wouldn't be able to be altered to fit their needs a second time without weeks or even months of alterations."

"But...what does that mean? Riley, you can't be saying..."

"I am."

We stared at eachother, this was very bad news. This Crawler had been starved when we found it. Originally we assumed they just hadn't been fed after turning, but this proved otherwise. This Crawler was most like the ones from the past, but with a few adaptations.

Would it be possible one of the adaptations would be the ability to breed? In the past, Crawlers didn't have the instincts to breed, as if turning made them forget it was possible. This was how they died out, or did they? Would it be possible that some, somewhere, managed it?

We both knew the answer. Somewhere, Crawlers still lived. Natural Crawlers that descended from the ones several generations ago.

"Well..." Riley sighed, after a long bit of silence, "It seems we have a bit if bug hunting to do."

"Agreed."