After the End

Uncertainty

When Dr Stadler arrived, she handed me a sample kit. "It really is convenient that you've had all that nursing training. You need to take the blood sample and bring it back out. Of course, it's imperative that the patient does not leave here." I looked around my little apartment. "Are you sure? It's not exactly Fort Knox." Dr Stadler looked wistful. "The government want this situation contained. We've evacuated the building under the pretence of a gas leak. Any attempts to remove the patient will be too conspicuous. Once we've received the sample and it is confirmed positive, we will barricade this door" She pointed at the door to my apartment.

I glanced behind me at the bathroom door. "What about Andrew?" Dr Stadler stared at the door. "The only patients that we've had any success at curing were at stage 4 of the infection. We need to wait until he has fully turned before we can administer the cure via gas which we will pump it in through the window." She sighed. "Even then, the success rate is very low." I stepped forward and grabbed her arm. "Is there anything I can do? Could it be more successful through injection?"

Dr Stadler tilted her head in consideration. "The last time we tried injection was with a patient who hadn't fully turned, and the trial was not successful. It's an interesting suggestion but there's multiple issues with the execution. You would need to be able to get within close contact of the infected and they really are quite violent. Whilst you don't have any risk of reinfection you could still get injured."

I took a deep breath. "I have reason to believe that the infected will ignore someone who is cured." Dr Stadler's head snapped round as she looked at me sharply. "Miss Thorne. Is that why you were happy to help Mr Dalal, because you knew he wouldn't attack you?" I shrugged awkwardly. "I suspected." Dr Stadler frowned. "Explain." I shifted nervously and looked away. "When I was cured there was another lady who survived." I closed my eyes as the pictures started to swirl behind my eyes. "She was far more injured than I was. Her legs were both gone, and she was bleeding heavily. It was unlikely she would have survived even with help."

I opened my eyes and Dr Stadler gestured for me to continue. "She was screaming and the zombies swarmed right to her, but they didn't attack her. They just milled about trampling over her as if she wasn't there. They could hear the sound she was making but it was if she didn't exist for them. I myself walked right by the crowd and none of them registered my presence. It wasn't until I fell over and made a sound on the roof of the hospital that any of them even noticed me."

She crossed her arms and stared at me. "You know Miss Thorne this information would have been incredibly useful earlier. We could have saved a lot more people." It was my turn to glare. "You and I both know that now that I am useful to you my life is forfeit. It will be like those small freedoms I've had till now never existed." She looked at me with pity. "Those freedoms disappeared the moment you infected another human being. I have to admit that I will enjoy the conversations I will be having with my peers about this. There will be an awful lot of the words 'I told you so.'"

I glared at her. She laughed. "It was inevitable Tessa. There's no point in being angry at your situation. It was only a matter of time before this happened. If the test results come back positive, I will provide you with a syringe of the cure. You will be barricaded in here with the subject and after the twelve hours have passed the patient will be in stage 4 and can receive the injection. The cure is relatively fast action, but we will know if it is effective once the patient regains the ability to speak coherently. That said we've wasted enough time and we really need that test result."

She gestured for me to get going. I took the testing kit and closed the door behind me. That cursed woman. In my heart I knew that everything she said was true, but it irked me that she took such joy in it. I placed the kit on the couch while I moved it away from the bathroom door. "Tessa?" Andrew called from inside as I leaned over and picked up the kit again.