The Falling Stars (The Vamps and One Direction Zombie Apocalypse)

Chapter 40- The Experiment

Jake had us all called in to the laboratory about five days after we settled in to Army Base 2. He had a sombre expression on his face so we knew it couldn’t all be good news.

I mentally prepared myself for the worst, but to be honest I didn’t know what the worst could be.

“I have some... bad news everyone,” Jake began. We looked around the room nervously at one another “But... if you, if you understand that we have to do this, it could be our next step to finding the cure, and this time, with the facilities I have now” He gestured around at the equipment “We really could find it.”

“Fine, what do we have to do?” Asked Casey eagerly.

“Well,” Jake gulped “We are going to need to... infect two people, a man and a woman, so that I can run tests on the change in DNA and cells from the tissue samples I took earlier this year, but it won’t be a full version of the illness, as if we gain the smallest amount, a fraction of what a bite contains, it will just enhance bloodlust and maybe put the patient into a medical coma”

“So you’re asking one of us to die?” Asked Ellie, sounding outraged.

“I’m afraid, if all does not work, then-“

“I’ll do it” Said Louis, whose eyes lit up the minute Ellie said ‘die’

“No.” Replied Liam flatly “L, Louis and Ellie are out of this on medical grounds. You can’t”

“Can’t catch a break more like” Louis muttered, deflated and annoyed.

Niall wrapped an arm around Liam’s shoulders protectively, before saying

“Then who?”

“I’ll do it.” Ava said after around a minute of complete silence, stepping forward bravely into the circle.

“And one male?” Said Jake, staring right at where James, Harry and I were standing.

“Me” Volunteered Liam, standing up from his seat beside Niall.

“But Liam, why?” Asked Harry, standing up too.

“Because it’s simple... Ellie and Brad have each other, Niall has family, you,” He gestured towards us “Have your whole freaking band, and you, L, have two people at the very least who would jump in front of a rampaging herd of zombies for you, and Casey has her music, and Zayn and Perrie had each other! I have no one! No one!” His voice, which was reaching hysterics, quietened to a sad whisper “There’s no one left for me, there’s no one left I love”

“Liam I-“ Niall put his hand on Liam’s shoulder, but he looked back, hurt.

“No Niall, don’t try and pretend this was real, I’ve made my decision”

And so he had made his choice.

****

The liquid was dark grey, gloopy in consistency and sluggishly sat in its syringe, seeming to look right at us as Jake held it up to the light.

“Are you 100% sure about this?” Jake asked to Liam, who was sitting back comfortably on a medical bed in an isolation room, hands behind his head as if he was sun bathing.

“Oh yeah” He said, half smiling “Anything to get out of this mess for at least a while.”

“Fair enough” Jake muttered under his breath, air hissing a little through his teeth “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be!” Liam nodded, slapping the top of his arm so a vein came to the surface “Go for it.”

I held Liam’s arm out straight and watched as Jake wiped down the skin with antiseptic before inserting the needle into the prominent vein in Liam’s bicep. The millilitre or two of grey liquid pulsed into his skin, the veins near the surface grey and unpleasant as the toxin made its track.

Jake ushered me out of the isolation chamber and we shut the door, watching Liam through the viewing pane as he changed.

Because he only had a little of the virus, it affected him less so than a bite would have. His eyes became deadened and sad, and his most prominent veins had a greyish hue and pulsing quality. He was alive, but he wasn’t himself. Liam was dead and had been replaced with some kind of dead creature that glared in what could have been anger or even just pure pain at us through the viewing window as we walked across to where Ava Rose was waiting in the other medical quarantine area.

We did exactly the same, once again standing back to watch her change. L skidded into the room at a sprint, pink hair wild, chest heaving  as she had run the length of the compound. She looked in at Ava as the viscous grey fluid pulsed into her waiting veins.

Ava reacted differently from Liam, shaking her arms as if to try and rid herself of the liquid, grimacing. Her eyes rolled back when the grey reached her throat, but she gagged and choked a few times and when her eyes were back to normal they stayed normal, no deadness. All of a sudden she collapsed, heaving, shaking her head as if a great pain had leached its way in and was destroying her senses.

“Help! Oh my god help me!” She screamed at the very top of her lungs, clutching her forehead, her eyes squeezed shut as she repeatedly banged her head against the wall, screaming and wailing at the obvious agony. Greyish blood trickled out of her ears and nose, I wanted to help but Jake stood resolutely by the door, watching as if she was an amazingly interesting tv show as grey blood mixed with her own red blood trickled out of her eyes like tears along with a liquid which almost looked blue under the lights. She wailed and coughed again, screaming louder as she resigned herself to die, laying on the ground. We could only watch as a small pool of the liquid accumulated around her head, the tears still weeping from her eyes as she sobbed in pain.

She moaned and convulsed, gagging like she was about to vomit but nothing came out.

She spluttered and blood spit out of her mouth, grey and black tinted. She expelled all of the infection within a few minutes of convulsing in pure pain and tears. She did not change. We had injected pure zombie infection directly into her veins and she had not changed.