Out of Time

O- Negative

It takes the boys about three hours to get back and I honestly didn't know if they would be back. When Chloe and I look over the group, we expect to see Jamie, but she isn't with them. I give Jackson a hug. Eleanor had met with us as well. "Where's Jamie?"

Mitch huffs as he walks past me, "ask him." He points back to Abe.

I look up at him confused, "there was nothing you could do for her?"

"We were surrounded," Abe sighs.

Mitch whips around, "didn't even look for her."

"It was not viable."

I turn to Eleanor, "can you send a team back up there to look for her, immediately?"

"Yes. I'm on it."

I nod, upon hearing Eleanor's answer and basically drag Jackson away. When we get into a stairway Jackson looks at me confused, "I need to talk to Eleanor."

"Look, I have to tell you something...." I look around to make sure no one is around, "I got a copy of your blood tests."

"What did they find?"

"Nothing. You're perfectly healthy."

"Okay?"

I take a deep breath, "except your blood... You said you were a universal donor, right?"

"Yeah, I am."

I shake my head, "not anymore."

"Uh, maybe they got it wrong. Right? A universal donor, universal recipient."

"I got your medical records. You were born O-negative. But it changed. Recently," I glance down at his arm and the bandage over his arm.

"The mutation isn't contagious, all right? It can't spread to humans. We know that."

"Maybe we don't know as much as we thought."

Jackson shakes his head as I rub my temples. What happens if the mutation is contagious? Sadly, we don't have long to think about that before the lab techs are ready to test the cure. The group is in an observation room and we watch as they test the cure on a dog. We wait and watch, but Mitch gets impatience, "it's been ten minutes since we administered the cure."

I nod, "it took a while for the cure to work in Zambia, too."

"Not this long," Mitch rushes down onto the floor and the rest of us follow.

The tech turns to Mitch, "it's not working."

"It works. You're doing it wrong. You did something wrong."

"Dr. Morgan, we followed your protocols to the last detail."

"Dog seems to disagree. Did you verify the viability of these stem cells?"

"Measured 89% with 7-AAD dye exclusion."

"Cross-check for contamination?"

"Zero ppm detected."

"Resuspend at the right temperature."

"Obviously."

"Well, obviously not. Something's wrong," Mitch begins to mix the cure himself and the tech protests.

"You don't have clearance."

"Clearance? We didn't fly around the world for that leopard so that you textbook hacks could screw it up."

The tech step towards Mitch, but Jackson steps between them, "hey, what's he gonna do, Doc, huh? Make it not work more? It's okay."

Mitch finishes the cure and steps in front of the dog that is barking and growling. Mitch sprays the dog, "easy. Easy, easy. Good boy..." Mitch looks over to the monitor next to the dog, "just drop. Come on, just drop. Just drop!"

The heart rate of the dog doesn't drop and Mitch moves over and flips the table next to him. I look over to the monitor, "this baseline heart rate is way higher than anything we've seen before. It's like it's like the dog is still mutating."

"We're too late. Everything that we've done, all for nothing. Total waste!"

Abe walks over to him and puts a hand on his shoulder, "wait."

"Get your hands off me, Kenyatta. All right? Don't touch me, don't even think about me, all right?"

"We can find another way!"

"We will not find another way! We will not find another way. This is over. I'm done," Mitch storms out of the lab, leaving the rest of us.

Soon after we all head out as well, I look over to Jackson, "what happened in New Brunswick?"

Abe sighs, "I had to leave Jamie, she wasn't with the leopard and we had to leave her. We couldn't even look for her."

Chloe and I head to Eleanor's office to meet with her. When we do, I take a deep breath, "the cure didn't work."

"Believe me," Eleanor sighs, "I'm just as disappointed as you are. Whatever was in the leopard when it cured the dog in Zambia is gone. We're starting from scratch."

I shake my head, "it's still there, The leopard, the cure, was isolated for three months, showed no signs of contamination. The cure didn't change."

"Then why didn't it work?"

"I looked through everything, the cure did not change. I believe the animals did. The mutation in the animals has moved past the Mother Cell. I think that the mutation is still mutating."

"Assuming you're right, what is it you're asking for?"

"More time."

"Okay, time is something we have fairly little of. Amelia and I were some of the last IADG members looking for a non-lethal solution to the animal problem. After today's attacks, the Noah Objective seems unstoppable."

Chloe steps forward, "well, we found a solution once, we can do it again."

"Eleanor," I step forward a bit, "we will do everything we can to get ahead of this thing. All the animals out there are still changing. Everything that we have seen so far could just be the beginning."

Eleanor nods, "I've heard this before."

"What do you mean?"

"Dr. Mark Vickers. Another scientist I'm working with. How did he put it? The initial mutation is just the preamble. The main event is coming."

I look over to Chloe, "we need to talk to him."

"He's on a research mission in Argentina with a team of Army Rangers, searching for an animal with what he calls a phase two mutation."

"Then Argentina is our next stop."

"I can help with that," Eleanor smiles, "I have someone who is more than happy to help us, with anything we need."