The morning was beautiful. Nature proved to be undisturbed despite the state of the human world.
It was calming and yet controlled a fierce revelation.
The world never revolved around humans...it never needed us.
Alexander's eyes were concentrated on the office above him. Everyone had already left the storehouse to do their individual tasks. He was assigned the task of counting the amount of ammunition they had and recording it in the logbook that was once used to keep track of the storehouse's storage. Alex completed his task in under the intended two hours and was on his way to find Elaina when he overheard Cap's voice coming from Storehouse five.
Alex hid inside the storehouse, avoiding detection from both Cap and the woman who was with him.
Her melanin coated skin complimented her fluffy afro. She wore thin spectacles that only attracted more attention to her light brown irises. Her eyelashes were long and curved upwards effortlessly.
Around her neck was a golden crucifix, resting neatly against the yellow turtleneck she wore.
"The more we know about this, the better we can be equipped against it. Tell me you can see that!" She pleaded. Her voice was neither soft nor deep, but smack dap in between both extremes. It sported a great authority and yet offered a sincere friendliness.
"Amanda the risk sounds too great for a simple chance. You're asking me to deploy my men on the possibility that we might find something?" Cap's voice was softer than usual, holding a considerable level of restraint.
There was an audible sigh before she spoke. "Look, at this point, we're making no progress at all. We can't even hunt animals dammit! Why? Because we know absolutely nothing about this damn virus. We don't know what it can affect or how the hell it's even mutating! We finally found something solid and you're just gonna give up on it like that?!"
"Doc, listen. All I'm saying is that this is risky b-"
"S-"
"Wait just let me finish Amanda," Alex heard Cap mutter before the doctor could interject, "it's a huge risk but wasting this opportunity would be foolish."
"Thank you!"
"Now it's just a matter of deciding who goes."
Alex heard the door of the office opening, signaling the time for him to leave. He quickly snuck his way pass the roll-up door and started to walk away, refusing to look back as it may make him seem suspicious.
What was that about?
Could they...
His eyes came into contact with Elaina. She was seated down in front of Storehouse three, a book and pen in hand as she scribbled away.
"Elaina!" Alex called out as he approached, waving his hand.
She met his gaze and returned a wave, closing the book, and standing to her feet.
"Hey," she replied.
"What are you writing?" Alex queried, pointing to the red notebook that was drawn close to her hip.
Her face flushed an identical red as she shook her head furiously. "It's nothing lol!"
"Come on now, be honest. Someone writing a little diary or something?" He teased.
Elaina rolled her eyes and shoved Alexander back. "Of course not moron. Don't you have work to do?"
"Finished that already."
"What did you have to do anyway?" Elaina hid the notebook behind her back, a nervous look trapped in her eye.
Alex could sense it, all the signs were there. The sound of her nails scratching into the leather cover of the notebook, the slight twitch of her left eye, and the small droplets of sweat gathering atop her forehead.
Just what are you hiding Elaina?
"Just had to count some ammo, nothing spectacular."
➽~➽
In her hand, she held a test tube high. Inside was a clear, thick liquid swishing around in the confines of its glass cage. The test tube was sealed off with a bumblebee yellow plastic cap, preventing any spillage of the liquid.
"What I have here is of great importance to us and our survival," Amanda started, her eyes creeping over all sixteen of the meeting's participants.
Alex looked around at the others, tracing their gazes back to the doctor that stood next to Cap, all except Elaina who moved her eyes away quickly when he noticed that she was looking at him. He laughed to himself before turning his attention back towards the good doctor.
"Inside this test tube is our best shot at finding a way to deal with those 'variants' and maybe even a cure or some kind of vaccine."
Alex noticed just how bedazzled the males of the audience were. Maybe it was the possibility for a cure but he doubted that highly, after all, Amanda was quite beautiful. The way her dark blue jeans and the turtleneck hugged her figure only further attested to the fact.
Her plump, pink lips parted once more. "The problem is resources."
The atmosphere shifted as the high hopes of many dropped but deep down Alex knew that they could not deny that this was to be expected. It was impossible to expect a groundbreaking cure to be developed in a storehouse that lacked many medical and scientific resources. It was just too much to ask for given the circumstance and strain on one doctor.
"Here at Safe Haven, I've utilized all the available resources to run a few experiments. H-"
Scott rushed to his feet and Alex noticed the army tattoo on his arm, behind the crumpled sleeve of his black shirt. It was an eagle with two AK-47's crossed in front of it. A proud motto lined the bottom of it; For My Country. The entire crest was enclosed in a shield and beneath it was another tattoo, roman numerals for the date, 22/05/19.
"Doc, what exactly is in there?" Scott interrupted.
Amanda let out a laugh that quickly became contagious before she shook her head.
"I'm so silly sometimes. Cap had an encounter with a mutated zombie and well, it left behind a little parting gift. The teeth Cap recovered were coated with this liquid and it definitely is not like anything we've ever seen before. I tried it against materials like cotton, polyester, and silk and it easily burnt through them. It's a corrosive substance but leather seems to be resistant to it, hence why Cap still has his hand," she joked.
Cap facepalmed himself at her remark before she continued.
"Fully understanding what this is and how the virus is mutating is our best shot at fighting this thing. To do that, we need to find adequate resources, the kind you can only find in a research facility geared towards the study of viruses themselves."
Cap walked towards the wooden table to the right of the storehouse, diverting all attention to him with such a simple move.
He gestured for everyone to gather around the table and Alex watched as they did without hesitation.
He watched as their bodies swarmed around the table with such an impressive level of obedience.
Cap sure is a good leader.
Alex stood to his feet and fell in around the table, looking down to see a giant map.
On top of the map, was its title; Map Of West Point State.
West Point had originally been a large island on its own, however, back in the 17th century, a bridge had been constructed to connect it to a nearby continent as an attempt to reduce the use of ships to and fro. The bridge was considered a success and West Point later was recognized as a state of Cansa, or that's what Alexander learned in History at least.
"We're here," Cap pointed to the words 'Haymarry District', "and the closest research facility is four hundred and twenty miles north-northeast of us in Cayman."
Alexander's heart skipped a beat and his jaw clenched. Unconsciously, his eyebrow raised as he continued to listen.
"It's best if we use the jeeps but it's impossible to say how far they'll get us and if we'll have to abandon them. That being said, I'm only permitting the use of two of the four jeeps. We have a lot of prep work to do before we can leave so I'll be assigning each of you with a special task and I'll decide who goes on the mission and who stays here to protect this compound soon enough."
Cap paused and Alex traced his gaze back to Elaina. They exchanged a strange look before Cap continued.
What was that about?
"We need to siphon enough gas for the jeeps, gather enough food supplies, and devise a strategy to ensure both those that go and stay here have enough ammunition for their respected task pronto."
Alexander swallowed the lump in his throat and fought back the tears that welled up in his eyes. His voice cracked under his words, holding a heavy rush of emotions.
He let out a faint sigh and grabbed onto the shirt he was wearing, squeezing in on his chest in the process.
"This research facility," he muttered, turning everyone's attention to him, "is...is it Los Sientos?"
Author's Note
Hey everyone! It's AlreadyWritten1 here and I'd like to thank everyone for reading this book, commenting, and voting! It means so much to me honestly and it brings such a warmth to my heart to see this book surpass 500 reads. It's just so amazing to know you all are reading and enjoying this book and I'd like to get to know each of you more and show you just how much I appreciate you guys. As a writer it really makes me happy to see all the engagement from you guys. Again, thank you so much for reading, and please continue to vote and comment because it motivates me to work harder and bring you even more. I'm definitely looking forward to completing this book!
May 10th, 2020
~AlreadyWritten1 Out!