Apocalyptic Pathogen (Full Version)

Chapter 08: Exposure

Wayne's muscles were tensed, waiting for Anna to attack. Although most zombies walked with shuffling steps and uncoordinated movements of their hands and arms, Anna strode out of the containment area with full control of her muscles, taking every step as if she were still fully human. She drew closer to him before taking a seat on the empty work chair across the desk from him.

He sighed slightly but didn't fully relax. She was still out of arm's reach, so he considered she might simply be waiting for a better opportunity when he wouldn't be able to escape. Wayne hated waiting for something bad to happen and decided if it was going to occur, it was best to get it over with. Reaching out an arm, he stuck it directly in front of Anna to see her reaction.

Nothing. Anna looked at the offered arm before her ghostly pale eyes shifted to him directly. She didn't even twitch in a manner showing she was restraining herself from wanting to bite him. Finally, Wayne relaxed, lowering his arm.

"I think it's official," Wayne announced with a wide smile. "You're back."

"Partly," Anna amended, holding up one of her decayed hands. Some of the muscle and bone showed through near the wrist.

"It's a least a major step in the right direction," Wayne insisted.

"I'm not so sure," Anna countered.

"What do you mean?" Wayne asked.

"Even with my consciousness returned, I'm still a zombie. I don't want to spend my life this way," Anna told him. She brushed some of her blonde hair away from her face, half of it coming loose in her hand. "See what I mean? I'm still decaying, so how long have I got before I really start falling apart? How long are you going to be able to share a lab with a corpse? The smell alone has got to be intolerable."

"I can get accustomed to your new scent," Wayne suggested.

"Oh yes," Anna returned, clasping her hands in front of her in a mocking pantomime of bliss. "Early graveyard is such a popular fragrance."

"I'm serious," Wayne said. "The longer a person is exposed to a particular smell, the less they will notice it. This will simply take time."

"It's one thing to look for a cure while trying to save someone," Anna pointed out. "It's another thing altogether to work beside the deteriorating remains of your dearly departed. It seems worse."

"Wait a minute!" Wayne interrupted. "You made me promise to consider ending things after a year if I didn't find a cure. We've taken a massive leap forward, so I know we can figure it out."

"And what if we don't?" Anna demanded. "How long are you going to prolong this?"

"As long as I can!" Wayne snapped, losing all patience. "I swore to you when we got married, we would always be together, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, and this certainly qualifies as sickness and worse."

"You're taking this too far," Anna dismissed.

"How else am I supposed to take it?" Wayne questioned tersely. He crossed his arms while frowning at her. "What if it wasn't you being a zombie? What if you'd been disfigured in an accident? Would that be reason enough to abandon you? What if you had a mental disorder? Should I kick you out of my life for that? What level of deterioration is considered acceptable to throw away someone you love? Please, tell me because I don't know!"

"Death!" Anna shouted, matching his anger with her own. "The person you love is trapped in a rotting body that is coming apart at the seams. You haven't saved me, you've only made me endure longer. It's time to end this."

"No," Wayne denied.

He stood up so quickly, he kicked his chair over backwards in the process. It crashed to the floor, but he ignored it, rounding the desk to take hold of Anna by the shoulders, pulling her up from her chair to stand eye to eye with him. Her gray skin was dry and soft, similar to the feel of well-worn leather. The stench of her decay was nearly overwhelming, but he fought against the nausea it induced, concentrating on what he had to say.

"This is only undeath," Wayne told her. "You're still here, and as long as we're both alive, I will never give up on you. Never."

Tears rimmed his eyes, and Anna placed a gentle hand against his cheek.

"You always were stubborn, my darling love," she told him with a smile. Leaning forward, she kissed him on the lips, only to immediately flinch back with a horrified gasp as she realized what she'd just done. "Please don't tell me that I..."

Wayne wasn't listening. He rushed to a cabinet and threw open the doors, removing a microscope slide and a sterile swab. He drew the swab across the inside of his cheek before applying it to the clear slide. Placing the slide under the microscope, Wayne examined it with a powerful magnification.

Everything looked normal enough, and for a moment, he felt relief. One cell near the edge of the slide suddenly darkened until it turned a deathly shade of ash gray. Other cells followed it in a chain reaction until the entire sample had transformed. As much as he wanted to deny it, the evidence was clear. He tore his gaze from the microscope and turned it toward Anna pacing nearby and told her the truth without shielding her from any of it.

"I'm infected."