An Inch Of Infinity (Short Version)

CHAPTER 66- Mixing Potions

"Then what are we waiting for?" I ask and push past the boy trying to stop us.

"At least let me get you masks!" he demands. We are forced to wait another fifteen minutes. He comes back with exactly enough masks and we all run to the boat. We go up the closest ramp and through the maze of halls. That's when the boy has to stop.

"Don't, worry. I, will, catch, huff, up, later, huff." He puffs out and kneels over clutching his stomach. We did make him run a lot I suppose. I fling open the door to the kitchen and we search through the fruit baskets and the freezer. Nothing, not even one. We ran out, past the boy, to the next kitchen.

The next two kitchens were also empty, but the third one, was also empty. On the fourth, we found one. Just one. Emma says it would make maybe enough juice for three antidotes. The next kitchen, we hit the jackpot. We found a bag of them frozen in the freezer. We grabbed as much as we could. I helped Emma squeeze the juice from the small fruits. We use a juicer but also try to use our hands to save time. When we have enough I leave to check on Coral. I am really bad at chemistry, so I might as well tell some good news.

It takes me only fifteen minutes to get there. I walk in and nobody notices me. Everyone has a book or a tv or headphones. All the tvs are on the same channel and go at the same time, making it seem distant but close, the sounds overlapping to create one creepy melody of voices and sounds. Coral is in a weird state. Her eyes follow me, but don't see me. A doctor passing by tells me she can hear me. I see the book we were reading earlier and sit down with it. I pick it up and take off the headphones.

"Hey Coral." I start off uneasy. Her eyes seem to focus like she can actually see me. Some of the people around me are watching. "We have the medicine that will make everyone better. You are gonna be O.K." I add awkwardly. Several doctors and nurses stop at this and for a few seconds I feel like the whole world's hanging on my every breath. In an attempt to feel more comfortable I look at Coral. Coral stares into my eyes as if she can see my soul. I'm not exactly more comfortable.

"Can you understand me? Yes is a blink, no is no blinks" I ask her. She blinks, slowly, as if she is fighting herself just to blink.

"Um, I'm gonna ask a few questions. Yes is two blinks, no is one." I say. ""Can you move or control your body?" I ask hopefully. A few seconds go by and she blinks, once.

"Do you want me to read to you?" I ask her, feeling like someone in a nursing home or a mother or father tucking in their child before bedtime. She rapidly blinks twice. If she could, I'm sure she would be nodding.

"Are you bored?" I am amused. She blinks twice, thrice,over and over. I laugh lightly. I swear I saw a hint of a smile flash across her otherwise emotionless face, just to have it fade into the blank look she has adapted as her own. I open the book to our bookmark and read, with emotion and zest. I make different voices for each character and show her every picture, which is a lot considering it's a comic book we are reading. Just as the heroes were about to stop the evil villains from destroying their vague happy ending, not mention their evil clutches on the world -sort of reminds me of something- the boy from earlier joggs in. He scans the room and soon discovers me.

"They are almost done, Emma said you need to see it." He declares with honor. Yep, messenger boy got honor, maybe we will give him a medal for running back and forth. I get where he's coming from, and he is helping.

"I'll be right back Coral, and we are going to fix this, so you get to read the rest of the story to me." I declare boldly. I feel like she is trying to glare at me. I put the bookmark on our page, and gently placed the book on the bedside table. I take one last look at Coral and I charge out of the room, past the children, all asleep, past the Keeper, who now also is in the weird paralyzed state, and past a dozen fresh graves. I hope that none of those were children, please. Please don't let kids die.

I reach the boat in five minutes and the lab in six. I almost knock Emma over. She is in a lab coat and saty glasses. Her hair is pulled back in a messy ponytail and has thick rubber gloves over her arms. She is holding a beaker with steam drifting from it with tongs. The liquid inside is tinted purple-my new least favorite color- with small bubbles rising from the bottom. Where do those bubbles come from? I step back. She pours it into what looks like a cauldron. I watch as she pours it into the dark mixture inside. She steps back and I do as well. Maiki dumps a box of white rocks into the cauldron. What seems like fog seaps over the edge.

"Dry ice. We would normally try to freeze the serum into clumps with liquid nitrogen and let it slowly melt, but we can do this with the same outcome, in half the time, plus eerie fog. I feel like a scientist from the movies!" Emma bubbles. She looks like one to.

"I thought you were just a botanist, but clearly you also know science." I remark. I regretted it almost immediately. Just from her expression I know that I am about to learn from my mistake.

"Kari, botany is only one branch of science! It is the science of studying plants, and chemistry is quite often included in botany, for many purposes. We use it for,"

"I know! I know, I'm sorry, I just didn't really think you would be in a lab coat working with dry ice and liquid nitrogen." I concluded the conversation, but she just picked it up again.

"Actually, we didn't use any liquid nitrogen because we don't have any." she says and I interrupt her again.

"Is the antidote done?" I ask. She nods.

"It should be, and since we're out of sunlight infused citric acid and we don't know how to make more this is it, but this is enough for everyone in the hospital and then some. They should mostly only need small dosages." she confirms.

"Then what are we waiting for?" I inquire and we all help push the cauldron onto a rolling cart, then get that at up the stairs. We carefully guide the cart down the board to the shore. We hit a foothold and some sloshes over the side. Maybe a cup, which for some people is the difference between life or death. We move more carefully, and come to a problem. At the bottom of the board, there is a six and a half inch drop of air. If we aren't careful, there will be more split than we can afford, and we can't exactly pull the people we aren't giving the serum to out of a hat.

Congratulations, you're not going to live! Have a nice day and thank you for coming with us on this trip, better luck next time.

Something tells me that won't work. We have to get the rest there. I hear shovels on earth in the distance. They must be digging another grave. Please, just don't let it be a kid.

We barely made it over the ledge with only losing a few drops, most drips down the side and we were able to get back into the cauldron. I realize we have a much more demanding challenge ahead of us. We have to cross a beach littered with rocks and sticks not to mention covered in wheel jamming sand, then we have to cross a meadow full of holes, rocks, sticks, stumps, and plants that will surely get caught into our wheels as well. I groan. We slowly but surely get across the beach part.

"Why don't we just have someone hold the cauldron from the sides to steady it?" Kiki ponders. I smack my head. Emma, Kiki, the messenger boy and I steady the cauldron as we walk across the meadow. I wish those people could just come to us! We finally make it, just to discover it won't fit through the door, so we leave it there. I ran to Coral. She is still there, and her headphones are on her head, her eyes covered in a cool washcloth. I take the cloth off. She stares slightly to my right when I do. She can't even follow movement. I take her body mass index sheet, and cover her eyes again. Emma showed me how to determine how much each person will need and I fill a needle just under one third full with the antidote, tap it for air bubbles then squirt a little out the tip. I walk over to Coral, and inject the needle into her neck. I make a quick wish and push the plunger down. I hold my breath, but nothing happens. Then Coral gives a violent shake and a long beep rings out from the machine beside me. I've learned what that beep is called since last time I heard it, it's called a flat line.