Apocalyptic Pathogen (Full Version)

Chapter 12: Escape

"I'm curious about something," Anna said, staring at the door as if trying to get a better view of something far away. Her focus returned to Wayne for a moment as she pulled him toward the door. "I want to test my theory, and I'll need you to observe."

"What's your theory?" Wayne questioned.

"Our skin was badly damaged," Anna explained. "Thankfully, we couldn't feel it. With the regeneration completed and our skin healed, we've got sensation back, but the epidermis repaired itself very quickly when exposed to the nutrient mix."

"Are you wondering about the possibility of accelerated healing?" Wayne inquired as the idea came to his mind as well. "I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before."

"Let's find out," Anna suggested.

They returned to the primary work room where they'd been transformed and restored. Anna dug through drawers, looking for the right medical instrument. Because she didn't have the storage system memorized, it took her a few moments to find what she was looking for.

"Since we don't know if the accelerated healing is a perpetual condition," Wayne cautioned, "let's try something small."

"I wasn't planning to hack my hand off at the wrist," Anna answered, pausing her search to grin over her shoulder at him. "But, your advice is duly noted."

Finding a scalpel, she held it up. "How about a small cut?"

"Good enough," Wayne agreed. "I'll get the solution."

Anna used the scalpel to slice into her thumb, inhaling sharply through her clenched teeth as she fought against the pain. Blood seeped from the wound, but she ignored it, holding out her hand toward Wayne as he returned with a metal canister.

Removing some of the black gel from within the container, Wayne smeared it over Anna's injury. After a few seconds, Anna nodded to him, and Wayne wiped away the regenerating mixture of nutrients with a rag. No trace remained of the cut on her thumb.

"Fascinating," Anna marveled. "I wonder to what extent the regeneration can go."

"Let's not find out," Wayne countered, appropriating the scalpel from her hand. "Pain would be a constant, and I'd rather not put anyone, least of all you, through such experiments just to find out if they can survive. I'd hate to have inflicted something on a person only to find out they couldn't recover and either had to live with it or died because of it. I wouldn't want that on my conscience. Furthermore, we don't know if the healing might burn out the body's natural regeneration ability if it's overtaxed, essentially compressing all the healing a person could do over their lifetime to a few incidents. Once destroyed, the body wouldn't be able to heal at all, causing the rot to return for the duration of the subject's life."

Anna nodded in agreement. "What's next?"

"Something interesting," Wayne answered while working on the computer. He shut down the data feed from the cameras and audio pickups in the room. Anna noticed but waited until he finished before questioning it.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Time to leave," Wayne told her. Jumping up from his computer chair and grabbing her by the hand.

"Leave?" she queried.

"Yes," Wayne confirmed, pulling her toward the door and hurrying down the hallway at a brisk pace.  His words were equally hurried.  "While waiting to see if my regeneration was stable or had side effects, I set a few things in motion, just in case."

Wayne typed in a key combination in the small pad beside the last door of the hallway. The door slid aside for them, opening the way into the garage. Because of the risk of infection, vehicles had been made for use by the scientists working inside the city. Heavily armored and with their own tunnel in and out of the city, the vehicles could come and go without risking the rest of the survivors.

Unfortunately, years of use and abuse had led to their eventual breakdown, one of which had occurred during their last research trip into the city, leading to Anna becoming infected. During the last few months, Wayne had managed to cannibalize the remaining science vehicles for parts, restoring one to working order while the others were reduced to piles of scrap. His skills as a mechanic were somewhat poor, and although what he'd patched together wouldn't last on a long range voyage, he felt certain it would hold together long enough to get them down the tunnel and into the outside world.

Armor plated and originally pristine white, the transport had six wheels in total, forward, center, and rear compartments, various ports for guns to fire through and a double-barreled machine gun mounted on the top of the rear compartment. Scratches and welding scorch marks covered nearly every metal surface. No blood or dirt showed as power sprayers the length of the tunnel had been designed to clean the vehicle on its return to prevent accidental contamination.

Pressing a button on the wall, Wayne opened the inside door of the tunnel. Lights switched on in sequence to the far end of the concrete passageway. Cement support struts marked the walls every few feet and gave the tunnel the look of the ribbed interior of a snake.

Wayne slid in behind the steering wheel as an explosion rocked the lab, artificial thunder reverberating through the floor.

"What was that?" Anna demanded.

"I think the Council is trying to break in here and kill us," Wayne answered casually as he fired up the engine.

"Why would they want to kill us?" Anna pressed, climbing into the passenger seat.

"Remember how I thought you might be an intelligent zombie using Anna's knowledge to get me to lower my guard so you could kill me?" Wayne asked.

"Yeah," Anna confirmed.

"I took the chance I might've been wrong about you when I raised the containment wall, but they really can't take the chance with us," Wayne finished. "If we're still zombies, we could kill what's left of humanity, so they're never going to let us out, especially after I stupidly mentioned about spreading the disease in order so others could leave the city."

"Shutting off the cameras certainly didn't help matters," Anna pointed out.

"True," Wayne agreed. "But, they can't risk letting us go to make smart zombies outside the barrier. Since they can't let us rejoin the city or go outside, they'd either imprison us forever or kill us. I'd rather not find out which."

Wayne stomped on the accelerator, and the engine roared as the transport surged forward and through the tunnel.