Through a burning haze, Ashleigh realised she was being lifted away from the cold floor that had been her bed for the last God knows how long. Her throat burned, and she coughed, feeling as if she was fighting through a fog, her lungs on fire. The coughing fit worsened and she slipped from the grasp of whoever was holding her, one knee scraping painfully on concrete before she was once more hoisted into the air, and forced to stand upright
'Walk,' a voice ordered, 'Walk.'
Walking, that was easy enough, she could do that, one foot in front of the other, she did it every day, why couldn't she do it properly now? Her body was refusing to cooperate, and confusion swamped her. One arm had been grabbed and twisted painfully behind her back, and was now being twisted further still as she struggled to obey. Blinking, she fought to clear her vision, peering into the darkened corridor, trying to focus her tired eyes.
Ahead of her there was a figure, being marched along at gun point but remaining stonily calm, despite the barrel of the gun being pressed hard into his cheekbone. With a rush of relief she realised it was Bond. She didn't dare say anything, but she was suddenly very glad for his presence.
How long had they walked through the harsh red lit corridors? Time had lost sense of meaning to her, she was shaking, half with cold, half with fear as she realised this was probably one of the most dangerous situations she had ever been in. And she realised she had no idea how to deal with it. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, she couldn't tell if they were from the remnants of the chloroform, or the fear that filled her. She was desperate to reach out for James, for comfort, for support, for something, but she couldn't.
After an eternity they stopped, and Bond and Kain were forced into a small clinical room, one wall completely mirrored, and Ashleigh tried not to look directly at it, refusing to acknowledge how hopeless it all looked. Still woozy from the chloroform she was propelled forward fully into the room by the gorilla holding her. She growled low in her throat, if he twisted it any further he would snap her arm. James wasn't much better, the pistol still pressed hard into the side of his face, he, unlike her, was wary and aware of everything, quietly observing everything that happened. Finally his eyes met hers, and they flickered, but nothing could be said, no words to console or to reassure, they were at the mercy of these goons and the Doctor.
The man had been standing in the shadows of the room, seemingly gazing at his own reflection. But now he stepped forward, and Ashleigh found herself staring at him half with fascination, half with repulsion. He was short and balding, what hair he did have left was dark and cut close to his head, and Ashleigh decided that there was something almost fishlike in his small glassy black eyes, and rubbery lips. He wore small glasses, perched precariously on the end of his nose, he was staring at Bond and her with contempt.
Silence reigned in the room, so much so that Ashleigh thought she could hear her heart pounding. The Doctor had removed his glasses and was slowly polishing them. Perhaps it was the after effects of the chloroform making her giddy, but Ash was suddenly taken over with an almost hysterical urge to burst out laughing, anything to fill the room with something other than the eerie nothingness.
Finally, with a little cough that could easily become irritating, the Doctor finally spoke.
'Deronda is far from happy that his compound has been breached.'
A small hysterical giggle escaped from Ashleigh, causing Bond and the Doctor to glare at her. He's hardly going to be pleased, is he? Ashleigh found the thought strangely amusing. She had to. There was nothing else but fear and despair.
The Doctor continued. 'As you are so interested in what we are doing here, Deronda has allowed me to give you both a demonstration.'
'A chance to see the good scientist working on the cures that could potentially save millions of children's lives? How heartwarming.'
Bond's tone was scornful, and Ashleigh stared at him, amazed that he seemed not to be experiencing a single iota of the fear that she was feeling.
The doctor gave a small thin lipped smile that made Ashleigh's blood freeze. 'I was warned about your sense of humour, Mr. Bond, but it appears that we find rather different things amusing.'
Bond merely gave the same thin lipped smile back. The Doctor gave a nod, some kind of signal and a switch was flicked. The mirror had been revealed as a two way, Bond and Ashleigh were now staring into the next room.
Inside there was a single door, and a metal table.
'And so our demonstration.' The Doctor smiled as the light above the door in the room changed from red to green, and the mechanical hiss of an airlock was heard. A figure in a biohazard suit entered, carrying a smallish dog. Placing the creature on the table, he hurried out again, and the light changed once more, from green to red.
Ashleigh stared into the deep eyes of the animal. She wasn't very good with dogs, but she thought there was a trace of greyhound in him somewhere. He was thin, and his coat was ruffled, but he was obviously well fed. Now though, his entire body shook, and he opened his mouth in a pitiful whimper. As if he didn't know what else to do, he simply huddled on the table where he had been placed.
The Doctor was speaking, but Ashleigh barely heard it, staring instead at the animal with growing sense of fear. 'We have discovered that Hermes has a similar reaction on the canine genus as in that of humans. What we are testing now, is a new version of Hermes, one that acts up to fifty times faster than the original version. You see, this has been our main problem, that once released, it takes a while to work, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as, of course, it means more time for the infected individual to make contact and infect other members of society, but, well, we are impatient, and so this version was developed...'
Ashleigh saw then the air vents in the room, and realised. With a moan she saw the way the animal now shook more, and began to gasp for breath, giving a long silent howl that ended in the dog coughing violently.
The doctor heard her moan, and misinterpreted it. 'Oh I wouldn't worry. This room is entirely safe, there is no risk of the virus seeping through.'
Bond was watching too, and she noticed a muscle ticking in his jaw, and knew that he was as disturbed as she. The wretched animal was now lying down, back legs kicking out in agony, his brown eyes rolling in their sockets, tongue lolling out helplessly.
'Of course, Hermes works by attacking the respiratory system first, then finally the central nervous system, which has also been deprived of oxygen, and all muscle control is lost. The lungs can longer no perform, the victim half drowns as their lungs fill with fluid, half suffocate as at the same time the lungs collapse. Its not the most pleasant way to leave this life,' the Doctor gave a small shrug, as if this simply was a minor inconvenience, 'But it can't be helped unfortunately.'
The dog was twitching madly now, eyes half closed, panting desperately, as its body was wracked with pain. Ashleigh could no longer watch, turning her head she tried to stare anywhere else in the room, but the man holding her grabbed her head roughly and jerked it back to face the dog, laughing sadistically at her horror. She could still close her eyes, so she screwed them shut as tight as she could. Now all she could hear was the voice of the doctor.
'That is what makes Hermes so destructive, every time your body produces the right antibody to fight it, it simply shifts forms, and so your body has to produce new antibodies. Still Hermes continues to mutate, your immune system simply can't keep up, until finally Hermes destroys the body.
'Surely then,' Bond interrupted, 'It would be impossible to create an antidote, or a vaccine for such a virus.'
The Doctor seemed delighted to answer this. 'Of course, it at first seemed impossible, but we realised that like every virus there is a small percentage of the population that are naturally immune. We studied several individuals that proved to have such an immunity, and discovered a common gene within their DNA. Thanks to my research,' here he allowed himself a self satisfied smirk, 'We were able to create a vaccine that simply alters the genetic code of the receiver, and provides them with the immunity to the virus. It took a lot of time and patience, but finally we have perfected it. It will of course be available to certain individuals, for a price, I have already administered it to Deronda, and several others, with an excellent success rate.'
Silence fell within the room once more. Slowly Ashleigh opened her eyes. It was painfully obvious that the dog was dead, its body contorted by its death throes, its eyes staring dully into nothing. The figure in the biohazard suit returned and removed the pitiful creature, and Ashleigh felt tears spring to her eyes at such cruelty.
'Excellent.' The Doctor was evidently pleased at how the test had gone. 'But nothing can measure up to a satisfactory human test...'
Both Bond's and Ashleigh's heads snapped towards the doctor. And then they saw.
Inside the room, where the Hermes virus still lingered, invisible and lethal in the air, his ashen face even paler than usual, his dark eyes wide, and filled with fear, stood Vasili Dmitrov.