Dead But Not Gone

The "Hope"

Hazel

We continued into Midtown without any problems. Stella talked about how upset she was that her friends were able to leave her so easily.

"It's just not fair. We've been through almost everything together." She said softly.

"Sometimes people make last second decisions based on the circumstances. When we told you guys about Rodney and Machton, the three of you looked worried. I guess Violet and Riley were scared off when John mentioned the possibility of him receiving the transmission and showing up to the docks. But you stood, even with the possible threat of Rodney. You're strong, Stella. And I'm glad you stood with us." I comforted her.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Hazel." Stella thanked me.

We got closer to the docks and Xander stopped in front of a barricade. Two soldiers greeted us.

"Leave the vehicle here. Bring your stuff to that guy over there." The female soldier ordered as she motioned her head towards another man next to a table. "His name's Jenkins. He'll check your things."

Xander and Star carried Derek out of the Humvee and the soldier gave me a worried look before turning away and checking the Humvee. We approached the older man and put our things onto the metal table. Jenkins looked up at Derek while he emptied the contents of our bags.

"What's up with your friend?" He had a country accent.

"He's temporarily unconscious. He had a bad fall not too long ago." Xander answered.

Jenkins saw our guns and looked amused.

"A k100? Fancy. It's rare to find nowadays. Ooh, a m1911. You only have two guns with 5 people? That's risky." Jenkins then picked up a vial of wiz touch. "What's this?"

"It's uh...well its for my medical condition called Luwaria Martom. Its all I have left." I half lied.

Jenkins gave me a soft look before putting our things into a basket. I gave him a confused look and then he remembered something.

"Oh! I almost forgot to mention that no weapons owned by survivors are permitted on board. Its a safety precaution, but I am almost positive that we won't have any threats on the ship. All weapons that are confiscated will be held in a safe space where it will be able to be taken if necessary." Jenkins explained.

"That's bullshit! We worked for these guns!" Aless objected.

"Sorry sweetie. We're trying to make life on board as safe as possible and that means no senseless violence. Now please, follow me."

He brought us to a medical area and told the doctors to check us for bites before walking out. It was uncomfortable but I managed to withstand it. They took a sample of our blood for testing and then we were cleared for entry. Then they wrote a number on our wrists in permanent marker. Mine read 445. The doctor that checked Derek seemed very concerned and approached us.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Marlon." He introduced himself. "When I examined your friend here, I saw multiple wounds. One was from a gunshot and it healed abnormally fast. Would you mind explaining what might have accelerated the process?"

"Derek's just...really lucky. Maybe that's why he survives through the worst of things?" I tried creating a bullshit reason.

"It's funny because I ran through your blood work and found a cluster of green cells in your bloodstream. I cut Derek with a small blade, just enough to see how the cells would react to the wound. To my astonishment, they rushed to the cut and sealed it up. However, the green cells also died once they did their job. If you and Derek both have cells, that means you are capable of enhanced healing too. It isn't a cure, but it can save lives. The bad thing is that Derek has so many of these cells clumped up that its preventing the proper amount of blood to flow to his brain which explains his unresponsive state. We'll have to do an operation to scoop out the cells so his blood can travel correctly."