Hell On Earth

Chapter XI: Dr. West's Discovery

After our encounter with the 5 Fangs, Dr. West and the rest of our hospital group were all in the laboratory to hear what Simon had to present.

"Thank you guys for letting me present," Dr. West said. "So, I've studied that people who were either previously in a traumatizing experience or who are considered racist are the ones who were infected first. As far as the death of the Washington D.C. High School students to the 5-6 gas, I don't know. But my theory is that a second source activated and killed them."

"This is quite awful Dr. West," mom said. " Is there any way that we can track them and find their motives going forward?"

"Quite honestly Ms. Carver," Dr. West replied. "I'm not specialized in that particular field; I'm a medical doctor, but not a psychologist."

I thought about everything I had been through up until now and despite how long we've been outside of D.C., it's felt like 6 months.

"I have a question," I said. " If people who are racist or simple-minded were infected, how come Tyson's behavior in the past didn't affect him? I'm not saying that Tyson deserves to turn, but it has me wondering."

Tyson looked at me nervously as if he could see that I didn't trust him. He then looked as if he was going to speak, but didn't.

"Eric," Taylor remarked. " Tyson was raised in a racist household. You and I both know that Tyson didn't choose to be racist and was only raised to be."

My mom gave me a look as I got in trouble, in which in a way I did for accusing Tyson.

"My apologies Tyson," I said.

"No worries," Tyson replied. "I'm just glad that this experience has taught me about caring for other people."

Suddenly, Dr. West's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he announced. " I've got a hypothesis on how we can turn people back. Instead of using medical science or anything special, what if this attack was psychological?"

"How so," mom inquired.

"If we decide that instead of trying to kill the infected, which in their mind further proves their point," Dr. West said. "What if we try to befriend and understand who they are and try to work with them?"

I personally felt off about this idea. I know that it was a chance, but it seemed too crazy to me for Dr. Simon to propose this.

"This all seems crazy to me," I said. " How can we know for sure that this is going to work? If we fail, this can cost us our lives."

"Eric," Taylor pleaded." We can save other people's families, unite them again. I've already lost my family and with everything we've been through, we could end this."

I'm going, to be honest, sometimes Taylor is a pain in the ass, but oftentimes she speaks reasonably. I sighed, then grabbed her hands.

"Taylor," I said. "If you sincerely believe that this could work, I trust you."

Taylor nodded and everyone seemed to be in agreement.

"So it seems that kindness will be our cure," mom said. " I'm terrified about this too Eric, but violence hasn't worked so I'm willing to try anything."

Suddenly, someone was knocking at the door, and it was pretty loud too. When I went to open it, Abigail stood there with a member next to her.

"Why hello there Eric," Abigail said. "This is my brother Seth."

After greeting Seth, I spoke to Abigail about our hypothesis on how to end the infection and to finally remove all hell on earth. At first, she was confused but then started to laugh at the idea.

"This is complete bullshit, " Abigail snickered. " You expect me to believe that us being kind to the infected, despite how they target specific individuals, is the only way we can stop all of this?"

I nodded at Abigail, who all she did was pull a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and rolled her eyes. I left Abigail alone but moved to talk to Seth to see what he thinks.

"W-W-well," he said nervously. "My sister doesn't think there's any hope in us trying to change people back and I personally don't know what side to believe in."

Seth was a nervous teenager, about 13 years old, which was a full 10-year difference from Abigail. He may have appeared in physical shape, but his lack of confidence is what had him made fun of, at least that's what he told me. After talking with Seth for a while, I decided to go to Tyson and talk with him.

"Eric," Tyson said. " I agree that kindness will be our only option. I know that you must be thinking that I'm a dumb ass for following bullshit, but Dr. West has a point: violence hasn't solved anything up to this point, otherwise, this all would have ended years ago."

As long as I've been friends with Tyson, deep down, I still felt that everyone was wrong. If I showed that emotion, then perhaps I would drive my friends and new family away?