A Little Word Called Love

Part 11: You Can't Win A War Without Losing People

Paralyzed and shaken up Lilith walks over to her bed still not used to seeing people die. She pulls out her camera and turns it on. She sat down on her bed as she starts the recording. She stared at the ground as dead silence filled the room; half a minute passed when she finally spoke "When will it stop? When does this pain end? Every time you experience death it hits you just..the same. every. single. time it hurts. Why...you would think I would be used to it after everything. Zargo was the last one to go...and today just," she sighed "made me realize death is still here. We should not focus on what we have lost, but on what we have left. The only people left are me, Tiffany, BB, John, and Jorge and the bond that we have is strong enough to last. We are fighting a war that can only be won if we work together and you can't win a war without losing people. As long as we let these deaths pull us together and not apart we can win until the very end to make the biggest difference that we can."

At this point everyone's attention was on Lilith "The bond that we have as family is the only thing keeping us together. As long as we stand together to fight a greater evil we can rise as the greatest good. Tomorrow we will set out to the hospital and find a way to cure this virus."

She looked back at the camera "For everyone who has died to get us here; that is what we fight for."

Lilith turned off the recording as Jorge said "That was fantastic Lily."

Tiffany was sitting in the corner of the room still trying to process the prior events. John noticed and said "You know Tiffany you can take all the time you need to-"

She interrupted him by the turn of a shoulder; annoyed John tried to speak again, but BB put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head then said "We need your weapons Tiffany."

"She isn't going to do anything," Jorge spoke out "She is the only here who knows how to make the cure turn out as perfect as possible."

Tiffany turned around to speak, however she was hesitant. BB noticed and spoke "What is it?"

Her mouth opened slightly until words came out "There really...isn't a cure."

Everyone had disbelief and hopelessness in their eyes Jorge barley exhaled one word "What?"

"Um...I did work with Dr. Jones on the virus; he just never started on the cure. The only thing on that flash drive is documents proclaiming he also made a cure which was false. I was supposed to deliver it to a secret contact in Sarasota and they would bring it to Washington. There is no cure, there is no faith, and there is no more hope."

Jorge started to get angry "You mean to tell me that we traveled the perimeter of the south side of the hottest state in America, almost blown to bits, and had three of us die because of your fucking lie?!"

"Why did you lie to us?" Lilith asked.

"I thought maybe if I had a purpose to be protected then I would survive longer. Now that Damien isn't here I feel no other reason for me to be here."

Jorge balled up his fist and grabbed his magnum "Oh I'll make your wish come true."

"JORGE NO!" John yelled as he tackled Jorge's arm to prevent him from raising his arm, Jorge immediately swung back and punched John off of him onto the floor. Lilith stepped in front of him trying to stop him too. He raised his magnum against Lilith's head as she stood completely still Jorge said "We have no reason to be out here and its all because of her."

"And do you expect to go back to Salutem?"

John got up from the floor to grab his rifle and pointed the barrel directly at Jorge's temple while BB was behind him with her katana drawn ready to strike "Put your gun down Jorge," she said.

"You would really be willing to shoot your own brother?"

"I would prefer not to."

Lilith tried to convince Jorge "She did what she had to do to survive; we all have."

Jorge slightly smirked, tipped his gun, lowered it, and exclaimed "Fair point, but just know I don't care if she is the next person to die," he walked back to the deck to sleep on the bench chairs.

Lilith went to console Tiffany "Are you okay?"

"Thanks for defending me..."

John spoke "I don't appreciate the lie, but you still have more medical experience than anyone here."

Lilith talked directly to John "We should take shifts on protecting everyone from your brother."

"I agree...he can be kind of over the top with a lot of things; Jorge is still a great person."

BB suggested "We should get some sleep so we can think of what we're going to do tomorrow."

Without another word everyone just nodded, but before Tiffany went to her bed she pulled out her pistol and gave it to BB; then nodded. Everyone went to sleep as Lilith stayed up for a few hours then woke up John further into the night to stay up the rest of the night until he walked out to Jorge who was already up and sitting down enjoying the sunrise.

"Morning," John said "You know about last night-"

Jorge interrupted him "Don't sweat it...I was overreacting and you did what you had to do; like any brother would."

John smirked "Except the average brother wouldn't point a sniper rifle at the other's head."

Jorge chuckled "Well I guess that's what makes us unique."

John sat down next to him "How long do you think we can survive together?"

"If we follow what Lilith says and stick together as a family then we will see."

"And what do we do from this point? If anything everyone would still look to you for a plan."

"Don't worry about that," Jorge said "I came up with something."