Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

TwentySeven - Ella

Zero slumped onto the leather couch that I'd only sat on a handful of times in the two decades I'd lived here, worn out. It was odd for me to be the one that still had energy. I guessed it was nerves that kept me going. Too much excitement. I went to through the hall toward the kitchen and stopped at the basement door. I pressed my ear against the closed door and heard nothing. But the house looked untouched and the door was still locked. He was in there. I knew it. And I would have to face him. I would have to kill another zombie tonight.

I stood in front of that door, letting time pass. I knew we'd been out longer than we intended. The whole scene on the overpass - where someone died, where three someones died and a fourth was left for dead, where I was responsible for one of those deaths - took a while. It felt lightening fast, but the stand off was nearly half an hour. How long had we all listened in stunned silence as the guy I shot bled out?

I closed my eyes. Now was not the time to think about that.

I stared at the door. I wasn't sure what prevented me from opening it, the fear of seeing my father as a zombie or the fear that this, too, would be for nothing. Was H-26 even down there? Part of me didn't want to find out. Like Schroedinger's Cat. As long as I kept the door closed, H-26 was there. And it wasn't there. But the moment I opened it, I would find out the truth.

I don't know how long I stood there, working up the courage to enter. Maybe an hour. Maybe two. I shook my head and walked away. Using the stolen flashlight to guide my way, I went to the kitchen and pulled out a light from the junk drawer. I lit a couple of candles so we could better see, but really I was stalling. I would check on Zero and light some candles and then I would go back to the door. And I would actually open it.

"Are you okay?" I asked setting a candle on the end table by Zero. She hadn't moved from where I left her when we first arrived. I knew she was tired, and she looked pale, but it was unsettling. I opened my mouth to ask again, thinking maybe killing those people had really gotten to her after all.

"I think I'm immune to the virus," she said.

"What?" That was about the last thing I expected her to say.

"It's what I wanted to tell you. I have this memory of being bitten. Vividly. But I don't remember a lot and Hunter thinks it's just a dream. I wanted to see if it could help you if I was immune."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Like back when we were in the lab, before I dragged us both out here. It would have probably been helpful to know something like that prior to deciding my only option was to lock four men in the labs and leave on my own so no one else could get hurt.

"I'm telling you now," she snapped and then sighed. "I couldn't be sure. My memory can't be trusted and it wasn't a theory I could really test. Hunter convinced me it was stupid to get your hopes up, and he was worried if I told you I'd become some lab-rat anyways, you know? I don't have any scars or anything to prove I was bitten before. So I thought maybe it wasn't worth mentioning after all and then after what happened, I didn't want to upset him."

I didn't really understand why she wouldn't be more willing to help, or why Hunter would be so against it. If there was a chance she was immune, her blood could be the key to a cure. More so than trying to use the original virus to create one. I knew they didn't realize there was government left, but the moment they met us they should have said something. A lab rat... what kind of people did they think we were?

"Why say something now?"

She let out a bitter chuckle. "Well, now... I'm testing the theory."

"What do you mean?" I barely managed to get the words out as my stomach plummeted into oblivion. I took in her pale skin. How tired she was. She hadn't moved. And Zero, who was a take-charge person, hadn't barged down into the basement, rolling her eyes at what a whimp I was. I shook my head wanting to deny the truth even as the words left my lips. The truth had been in front of my face. The way she yelled as we worked our way through zombies. She rolled her shoulders and rubbed at her neck as if she were sore — hurting.