Zombie Soap 2: Conspiracy

Twenty- Three

Echo/Jeannie: Part II

"No blood sample today?" Echo glanced around the lab she'd become familiar with over the past month. Every day, she was forced to sit while a nurse in a hazmat suit waited with an elastic band and needle. Then a pair of armed guards would lead her back to her room, locking her inside without a word.

This time was different. Monica wore only a white coat over a black shirt and pants, and there was no nurse or soldier in sight.

The other woman cast her a smile and motioned for Echo to take a seat. "I won't need it for at least another week. I've been studying the samples already taken, and frankly, they should have stopped. You've developed anemia as a result of your blood loss, and I'm not going to treat you like an experiment for the sake of finding a cure."

That was a first. Until now, everyone treated her like a pariah with no regard for her feelings or well-being.

Echo sank onto one of the plastic chairs and stared at her lap, biting her lip. She wanted to ask what Monica had gleaned from all those samples or what they were being used for, but she didn't know if that was something she would be privy to.

Daniel sat beside her and clasped her good hand, entwining their fingers. Echo raised her head and met his gaze, and he offered her an encouraging smile. "It's okay," he whispered.

Taking a seat at a rolling chair in front of a computer monitor, Monica spun to face the pair. Her shoulders were relaxed as her elbows rested on her thighs. "What would you like to know first?"

Echo straightened her spine and gaped. "You'll tell me, just like that?"

"As much as I can." Monica released a heavy sigh before frowning. "The way you've been treated is appalling, and I'm sorry you had to go through that. You're right to distrust the staff, but I do want to rectify what was done. You deserve answers."

"I--" What should she ask first? There were a dozen or so questions, from how she became infected to who she was before everything went to hell.

She faced Daniel, imploring him with wide eyes for help. Giving her hand a squeeze, he looked at Monica. "Perhaps it's best if you start from the beginning. You said she was infected while you were trying to leave Phoenix. What happened?"

With a deep breath, Monica's gaze fell as she fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve. "We were trapped on the freeway when the attack happened. The only way to the Army Reserve unit was the I-10 because most of Phoenix had caught on fire. There were vehicles everywhere, and it made our progress difficult. By the time we saw the zombies, we had nowhere to go except forward. Jayson did his best to plow through the horde, but the broke through the glass and bit Jean--Echo."

Echo's mouth gaped. She remembered the name, attached to a brooding man with blond hair, smoking a cigarette in the middle of the night. "He- he's here, right? I saw him. He called me Jeannie."

Not to mention, he'd looked like shit and an absolute wreck, traumatized by ghosts in his past only he could see. His eyes had said it all, filled with shock and relief, anger and grief. And when their gazes met, for a brief moment, Echo had the strangest sensation that she knew him.

A muscle flexed in Monica's jaw as she blinked rapidly. It was as if she were trying to stop herself from crying, and when she spoke, her words were throaty and tight. "He was. He's gone now."

Daniel sighed beside Echo. "He pissed off Benson, didn't he?"

Monica's head snapped in his direction, and her lips parted as she stared at him with wide eyes. "How..."