Life After Death

Chapter 11

The room is dimly lit and most definitely not a bedroom. There are tables full of supplies. When I look closely, I see it's mostly medical equipment. Bloody medical equipment, at least. The metallic smell is thankfully pretty faint and the blood is dry. I walk through the room, carefully stepping over the mess of papers. This room is larger than the other bedrooms, or rather longer. Its width is about the same.

There's a room within the room, a door sitting at the far end. I wonder what could be inside that. Or what this room is used for. It gives me the creeps. I shake the curiosity from my head. One mystery at a time. I look back at the door we came through. Vlad is pressing his ear to the door, listening for something.

"Is Hythe going to be okay?" I ask, keeping my voice low. I'm not entirely sure why, but with how quiet it is both in and out of the room, it only feels appropriate.

"No. I messed up. I knew we were low on time but got distracted with Clarity, and Cinthia clearly lost track of time too... and then there were fewer symptoms than usual. Ah, fuck. I didn't prepare enough for this situation." Vlad says, his voice is low as well, though it's closer to a whisper than mine.

"What's going on? Does this have something to do with... the screaming?" I ask, bringing my voice to the same volume as Vlad. I'm not sure why we're both quiet, but I'm starting to worry about what would happen if either of us raise our voices.

"In a way, yes. Damn it, this was ever supposed to happen... Alright, we need to wait in here for a bit. I'll explain everything to you. I was hoping Cinthia would be able to tell you himself when he was ready, but there aren't many options now. Let's go over here." Vlad says, walking away from the door. I glance back one last time. Adam is still out here, unconscious, and something weird happened with Hythe. It's only eight in the morning and already this day is shaping up to be a crazy day.

"What about Adam?" I ask as I join Vlad at the far end of the room. He glances at me before staring down at his shoes. 

"Nothing can be done but hoping for the best." He says, his voice now a bit louder than before, though still low. I slump against the wall and let gravity pull me to the ground. It's only slightly better than standing, the cold concrete ground providing nothing but a chance to relax my muscles. 

"It sounds like the situation is grim. So what exactly is the situation?" I ask. Vlad joins me on the floor and removes his glasses, letting out a long sigh. He runs a hand through his hair before beginning.

"I think the best way to explain would be to start from the beginning when he and I first met. It was six years ago. I was traversing the forest and found Elysium..."

~***~

I shift in my provided seat, the leader of this new colony staring me down. He's young for a leader, about eighteen or nineteen. He had introduced himself as Hyacinth. I saw quite a few older people in the colony, so for a teen to be the leader must mean he's good at what he does. I've come to ask for a place in his colony, though it seems I have to be interrogated first.

"Look, usually I'd be happy to add anyone and everyone to our ranks, but right now we just can't afford that. The recent surge left us with not nearly enough food or space for people to live. Most people have left back to their homes, and even now we're struggling. If you want to join this colony, you need to be useful. So, what do you bring to the table?" He asks, his voice remaining neutral.

"I'm a scientist and researcher," I say, matching his tone. 

"We have one of those already, she's great at what she does. She's actually gotten really far with a bite immunity formula. What research have you got?" The leader continues, and I grin, pulling a notebook from my bag. I could definitely beat that.