Among the Dead

Joanne (before)

Joanne (before)

The pressure was getting to Joanne. Terry wanted updates and the updates weren't coming in fast enough.

She sat at her desk staring at the figures she had on her screen, dragging her fingers through her hair in desperation for an answer they were hiding. She couldn't remember when she last had a shower, it had been a few days since she last went home for a decent night's sleep and good food; it must have been nearly a week. She didn't know what time it was either, she didn't dare look at a clock to see how much time she had wasted.

Everything started to dance on the page. She blinked and tried rubbing her eyes but she was slowly started to fall asleep again.

With a groan she let her head drop to her desk. She would love to experiment with DHS but she didn't know how to get some, all she could go on was numbers she was hoping would find a cure.

"Joanne," Terry's voice suddenly made her jump awake. "Not very professional to sleep at your desk is it?"

"I didn't mean to, I've been working for hours," Joanne replied groggily.

"I know you have," he replied softly, "Do you think you can stay awake for a quick meeting and then I want you to go home and rest for 48 hours?"

Joanne rubbed her eyes but slowly nodded her head. "Let me get some coffee before we go, otherwise, I'm going to fall asleep at your desk."

The rich smell woke her a little and the bitter taste kept her eyes open as she pushed her way into Terry's office. Looking around, hoping to find other people inside, but only found Terry sitting behind his desk.

"Please take a seat," he offered and motioned her towards the empty seat in front of him.

"Am I getting fired?" Joanne asked as she sat.

"The opposite actually," Terry answered and pulled a large glass jar from a case next to his foot. "Do you know what this is?"

Inside the jar was a small bush with small buds growing all around it.

Joanne stared at the plant with its twisted stems, crumpled leaves and almost colourless buds. Her sleep deprived mind struggled to recognise the plant, until finally she woke up enough to see what was sitting in front of her.

Her eyes widened and she scooted closer to the desk to get a better look at the plant. "Is that White Night Bloom?" she asked breathlessly. The sketches she had seen were nothing compared to seeing what was truly in front of her, but she had been reading as much as she could find, she would recognise it anywhere.

"WNB I believe you are calling it," Terry replied and put the jar away behind his desk. "We

"We've been looking for it for several months; before your research started."

"So I've wasted a month of research for something that already is going on?" Joanne asked feeling very annoyed about not being kept up-to-date with research.

"Actually no, I have been keeping up with your research and what you achieved in a single month took a group of researchers, nearly six. I would like to offer you a job in that team."

"In research?"

"No longer, we have the plant and now we can experiment. Firstly we need to be able to grow more WNB; the last guy almost died getting this small sample."

Joanne chewed her lip; this is what she had been longing to do. "When do you want me to start?" she heard herself saying.

"Get some rest," Terry instructed as he got to his feet to guide her out. "You can start Monday morning."