One to Won

Chapter 6: The Cure

"You must be commander here? My name is Lynara, sub-captain of Doldrum City Base." "Sub-captain you say? In that case, you are now in A-Class rank!" "You have got to be kidding me! You get to skip to A-Class too?!" "Relax Aura, she deserves it." "Mei is right, Aura. This sub-captain has experience in fighting. Have you heard the stories Mei had been through? If Mei was impressive, no doubt this young woman is also impressive." A bell ringing interrupts the conversation, bringing their attention to the irritating sound. "Ah! That's my cue to check on the crops. We recently installed a bell for the farmers to see if it can help us at all." "Well, I guess we'll see you in a bit." "Bye Mei, Lynara, and commander!" Waving goodbye, the commander grabs them by their arms, pulling them into chairs. "Now, Lynara. I would like to hear about your adventure when you were separated from Mei. Why were you separated in the first place?" "Well, I almost turned into an infected. When I got shot however, I turned into normal." "Is that why I heard about potential treatment earlier?" "Exactly so. I'm trying to figure out until now about why I turned normal." "How interesting... I want you to oversee the red team. Everything is color coded, so you should be able to catch up easily. If they oppose your presence, just mention Mei and they will immediately gain respect for you." "Got it... What else?" "I'd love to talk more, but I only had time for this. We are working on expanding the entire base, and I must be present to make sure my vision is recreated." "Where will you expand it, commander?" "I'm glad you asked Mei, I will expand it underground!" "Underground?!" Both Mei and Lynara shout, completely surprised at the sudden move to the underground. "Commander, that is an insane project!" "Which is why I'm doing it!" "Commander, if things to south, the entire base will collapse!" "I got that covered! The underground expansion isn't under our feet but is in another place nearby! There is a tunnel from a hatch near my office to the underground!" "Well, I guess you must be on your way now." "I'll catch up soon, don't you worry! I'll be back as soon as I can!" The commander leaves in a rush, leaving just Mei and Lynara behind. "Hey, I've got something for you, Mei." "For... Me..?" Lynara places a group picture of the old team of her old friends. Seeing the photo, Mei tears up, but she tries to hide it.

"I have one of my own, your brother just gave me an extra. I thought you'd like to have it." "I... T-Thanks..." "Look, Mei. I know betrayals are the most painful thing for you... But remember that she was once a loyal member." "I... I got it... Thanks..." "Aww, Mei don't cry... Come here..." Lynara takes Mei's head to her shoulder, letting her shed a few tears. Mei's muffled sniffing and mourning were both heartbreaking and adorable to Lynara at the same time. Somewhere in the tough mind Mei has, the old, sensitive, and heartwarming Mei can still be sensed by Lynara. "It's in the middle of the day, Mei. How about we go inform the medics about a potential cure?" "Yeah... Sure thing..." My sniffles, trying to stop her tears. Once she calmed down, they headed for the medical center, greeted by a veteran doctor who was available. "Why, hello there! Anything I can help with?" "Yeah, we're here about a potential way to treat infected people?" The doctor's face became serious, not showing any signs of joking around. "You better not be playing with me, this is serious." "We're not, this is Lynara. She was once infected." "Are... Are you serious?!" "I'm as serious as you are. Tell her!" "Right, I was infected at one point. I was cured when I got shot." "How much bleeding was there?" "A lot of bleeding, why?" "We found that the blood of the infected Zombies doesn't actually travel through the blood streams." "Wait, what are you saying?" "We're saying that these infected bloods make use of their quick replication to create new bloodstreams. However, when we tested this blood on animal meat, disrupting these bloodstreams in any way will kill the infected blood and make all the leftover blood rush out of the bleeding injury." "So, it's just flushing the infected blood..." "Precisely. So, when you got shot... You must've gotten shot on a vital connection of that infected blood stream, disrupting it, then flushing all of them out the wound!" "So, within the time of being infected and the time of transformation..." "We can extract the infected blood out of infected people!" "With the extracted blood, we can even make antibiotics! More treatment!" "With proof like this, we now have a good reason to start our experiments!" The three cheers for the newfound treatment they might have unlocked.