Chapter 13

'Hello, Grace.'

Grace sniffed loudly and blinked a couple of times. Her eyes were dry and sore from all the crying. She moved her cell phone from her right hand to her left and massaged her temple with her right hand. 'Hi.'

'How are you doing?'

She looked down at the pile of books open in front of her and her laptop just beside them. 'Not good. I've been buried in research for three days with barely any sleep and I've got nothing useful.' She sniffed loudly again and shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

'I'm so sorry.'

'Me too.' She closed her laptop and looked to her left where her daughter's room was. 'I haven't said much to my daughter since I told her daddy was in a coma and I was going to help him. I thought I could help him' —she pushed her books away from her— 'but I can't. I'm a horrible mother, a horrible wife and a horrible scientist.'

'No, that's not true. You're an amazing person. You're the smartest person in the lab and no one can argue with that.'

She laughed ruefully. 'Yet, I can't help my husband and I'm neglecting my daughter… like I always do.'

'This isn't a disease or virus, Grace. It's out of your hands.'

There was silence on the line. She knew he was right but she had been too broken to tell herself the truth. 'I'm a mess right now and I don't want my daughter to see me like this. I'll leave her with grandma until I can find a way to get better.'

'One thing I know makes you feel better is work.' She chuckled in agreement. 'I didn't want to say it before but… there's a new virus.' There was a glint in her eyes and he had her full attention. 'There have been only nine cases in the whole continent and the government has them quarantined and kept a secret.'

'Symptoms of victims?'

'Aggressiveness, paleness, whiteness of the eyes, a desire to bite, to mention a few. It's exponentially worse than the rabies virus and they believe it could cause an epidemic. They're calling the best medical scientists to find a vaccine or treatment for it. They're calling us.'

Grace looked down at her books, then towards her daughter's room and then her mind was on the possibility of working in a team to create a vaccine that could save the whole of their continent, Tendra. Something she could do that was both thrilling and challenging and would let her get through her husband's imminent death. 'Alright Luke, I'm in.'

The next day, they packed and left for their grandma's place. Grace left her daughter and mum with little explanation and took a train ticket for the next three years of her life. Every month, they learnt more about the virus and every month the number of victims increased. She took out time to make video calls with her mum and daughter. She made sure her daughter was still going to school and sent money when necessary. After then, she was back to work, immersing herself in it and they were finding out new things.

It was transmitted through bites of affected individuals and it affected the nervous system. The victims lost their minds in a matter of minutes and the closer the bite to the brain, the shorter the time it took for them to lose their minds. They were moved with the sole intention of spreading the virus. They become more aggressive the noisier the environment got and would be mostly immobile or moved slowly in a noiseless environment. The victims lost their sense of danger but they reacted to inflicted pain. They could survive for long and in any environment as long as they weren't killed by external forces.

They conducted experiments on the victims and on the virus, trying to see if they could counter the symptoms. The scientists spent most of their time in the lab and the government was on their necks. They buried themselves in research and in experiment after experiment. They tried and failed and tried and failed until…

'How do you feel?'

The whole lab was quiet as the scientists waited with bated breath for the response of their thirty-second test subject.

'I feel good,' she said. She looked down at her bite mark and rubbed it.

'No tiredness, no loss of vision?' Grace asked, her fingers mentally crossed.

'No, nothing.'

Grace walked over to the test subject and pointed a small light into her eyes, no whiteness. She pushed her with a little force and the lady stood firm, no weakness. After another series of tests, she turned to her group with a large smile and they erupted in whoops and cheers.

'Finally!' one of them exclaimed.

'I told you that you're amazing,' Luke said, giving her a high-five.

'We are amazing.' She smiled proudly at him but he didn't return it.

There was the sound of guns being cocked and the room became silent. Two of the three security officers had their guns pointed to them and the other lay on the floor, knocked out. Slowly, the scientists rose up their hands in surrender; all of them but Luke. Grace frowned at him, confused, but he avoided eye contact with her.

'Now that we have the vaccine, we can begin plans for the epidemic,' he said and all the rest were ordered to be on their knees.

***

'The last time I saw my mum, she was in a hurry,' Emily said as she stood in the midst of Amelia, her group and other survivors. Everyone saw when Gabrielle froze in front of her. Victor came closer to Gabrielle and she immediately unfroze and lunged at him. Before she could do any damage, Winston shot a bullet to her head. She fell and began getting soaked in a pool of her blood. Everyone was still in shock about what happened and after the initial shock was gone, they bombarded her with questions.

'She rushed in and said she wanted to see me. It had been years since I last saw her so I was excited to, but something about her seemed off. My grandma was shouting at her that we hadn't heard from her for too long and then they went to another room and had a discussion. By the time they were done, mum left. I was sad that she left so soon but then my grandma told me she would be back and that we would all go together to Alka.

She told me how we would get there by train and that I had to be vaccinated against a particular disease before I could go there. Mum had left her with a box and the vaccine inside. I trusted my grandma so I got vaccinated and then I was extremely tired for the next three days.

After the zombie outbreak, I was still waiting for my mum but she never came. I left home when the zombies got there and I kept on running away from them. I had countless run-ins with zombies and after some time, I realised that they wouldn't hurt me.' She kept quiet and then looked at the crowd still taking in her words.

'So you're saying they're some people that are vaccinated but the others were just left to die?' Victor angrily asked and Winston calmed him down.

'I don't know,' Emily answered, looking away from him, terrified. 'My mum didn't say much to me. All I know is that I'm meant to go to Alka.'

'Your mum knew there were zombies even before the outbreak,' Dave said, frowning. 'People knew about it but no one warned us.'

'They were making vaccines for only a selected group? That's sick!' a survivor angrily shouted and an uproar began.

'I'm sure some people already travelled to the other continent and left us to die here!' someone else shouted.

'Where are they keeping the other vaccines?' someone shouted at Emily and she began to tear up.

'I don't know, I don't know anything, please.'

'How do we know you're telling us the truth?'

She looked around at the people angrily throwing questions at her and then, her eyes landed on Tyler. He looked at her sadly and she couldn't help but feel horrible at how much of an untrustworthy person he must have thought she was.

Amelia rose a hand up and after a short while, they all kept quiet. She put her hand back down and took a step closer to Emily.

'Emily, what you are saying is that there is a vaccine for the zombie virus.' Emily slowly nodded and Amelia gave her a thoughtful look. 'It's been too long since the zombies were spotted in different parts of the continent, if there were a vaccine, more should have been made by now.'

'I'm saying the truth,' Emily pleaded and Amelia sighed.

'I'm not saying I don't believe you. Alka is the only place that they can make vaccines for the virus now. Everywhere else would be invaded by zombies. If you can get there and see that they have been able to make more, I'm sure you'll remember the Amelican and you'll get us our vaccines too.'

'I will,' Emily said, relief washing over her.

Amelia smiled at her and then she turned to Dave's group. 'It will be best if she has company, but I am going to need at least one of you to stay back.' She looked back at Emily. 'So I know you'll have more reason to get back to us.' Emily looked at her group hopefully but they didn't say anything. She looked away, realising it meant she was making them go against their will and back outside into danger.

Amelia then turned away from them and to a few of her men. 'Get everything she'll need for her journey ready. She can leave tomorrow.' They nodded and then stepped out of the tree house. Amelia then left and the other survivors left with her to begin preparations for Gabrielle's burial.

'I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner,' Emily said when they were alone. 'I didn't think I would need to. I know you all love this place, I don't want to force you to go anywhere with me.'

Tyler walked up to her and looked at her sympathetically. 'I didn't know things were that bad with your mum, Emily.'

She was taken aback by his sympathy. 'We didn't really talk about our problems then,' she sadly said with tears pricking her eyes.

'That's true… but I'm sorry for what you went through and don't worry, I've got your back.' He smiled at her and she smiled back.

'If there's a way we can stop more people from turning into those monsters' —Lucy stepped forward towards Emily— 'then I'll gladly do all I can to help.'

Emily's eyes turned glassy and she smiled at her. 'Thank you.' She looked at the others hopeful, but Brad's eyes didn't meet hers.

'It looks like I'll be the one to stay back,' he said. 'I know getting this vaccine is very important to our survival, but I don't think I want to leave here.' The group turned to him and he looked away from them. 'This is the safest I've felt in a long time. I don't want to leave another good place again.'

Emily and Lucy had sad looks on their faces and then Emily mustered a smile. 'I understand. It's definitely better here than on the road.' He smiled back at her.

'I'm going to really miss you Brad,' Lucy said.

'There's no other person that can drive for so long,' Tyler joked and Brad laughed.

'I'm sure you'll be fine.' His smile left and his eyes saddened. 'I'm going to miss you all too.'

They all turned to Dave and Ruby with expectant looks.

Ruby looked at Dave, waiting for his reply and then he looked at her and frowned. 'What?'

'Can I talk to you outside?' Ruby asked and Dave thought for a while before he turned and headed outside. Ruby followed after him and came to a stop beside him, closing the door behind her. She looked around at the place and sighed. 'This place is really wonderful,' she said and then she turned to face him with a small smile on her face. 'But, nowhere is wonderful without you.' She placed her palms on his chest and then slid them up and intertwined her fingers behind his neck. 'Wherever you go, I'll follow.'

Dave brought his hands up and gently pushed her away and her fingers left his neck. That little gesture sent a pang of pain to her heart. 'Listen, Ruby. I'm going, but I don't want you coming along because you want to be with me.'

Her eyebrows came together and her hurt was evident. 'I know you're still hurt about Helena… I am too. But you see, this is all the more reason you don't have to push me away anymore. Let's get better together.'

Dave slowly shook his head. 'No, I'm sorry.'

Her smile faded. 'You can't tell me you don't want to be with me, not after all this time.' He kept quiet and then a frown grew on her face. 'Look at me and tell me our relationship didn't mean anything.'

'We weren't in a relationship.'

Ruby scoffed in disbelief and in a split second, her hand went down hard on his cheek, turning his head 90 degrees. 'Unbelievable,' she said. She turned away from him and left to the tree house where the survivors slept.

Dave watched her go and he was troubled with guilt. He remembered the numerous times she made advances on him and he wondered if he shouldn't have stopped refusing when he knew he didn't feel the same. He stepped back into the tree house, where the others were and met their expectant faces. 'I'll go too.' They broke out in a grin and Tyler walked forward and gave him a handshake.

'What about Ruby?' Emily asked.

'She didn't say,' Dave said, thinking about the way she angrily left. 'Let's get prepared for tomorrow. By then I'm sure we'll know.' Then nodded and then they left to bed.

The next morning, the whole group met where their car was parked. The cargo bed had bottles of water, some grapes, canned food, their weapons, more ammunition, jerry cans, a first aid box and some other things they would need. Amelia was there with their map in her hand. She walked over to Dave and handed it to him.

'My men found this in the cargo bed.' He took it from her. It was torn at the edges, had dirt on it and some blood but their way to Alka was clear. 'It's very detailed. Where did you get it?'

'Some store before my phone died,' he replied. 'I figured we would need it.'

'That's good. It shouldn't take you longer than necessary to reach Alka then.' She turned to the cargo bed of their truck. 'There are enough supplies to last you till you get to the next town. I wish you a save journey.' They thanked her and then Ruby stepped forward.

'I won't be coming along,' she said with a small smile on her face and her eyes didn't meet Dave's. 'I can't wait to see you all again though.' She spread her arms and Lucy and Emily went in for a hug. She turned to Tyler and he gave her a silly face, making her chuckle. 'I'm going miss you too.'

Dave stepped towards her with a small smile and she turned her head away from him. 'I truly am sorry Ruby,' he said sincerely and in a way that the others couldn't hear.

She kept quiet for a moment and then her eyes met his. 'Just be safe, okay?' He nodded in response. They all hugged and said their goodbyes and then, the group left, waving back at Ruby and Brad.