Burning Red

Natasha had always hated getting her blood taken. She would never admit it out loud but needles made her skin crawl. She could handle them just fine on any other person but with her it was a different story. Maybe it was because of being constantly poked and prodded as a child and well into her late teens. There was always a price for perfection, even though she was still far from that. Joke's on them.

"What's the point?" She can hear Andrea asks the man. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me at just be thorough." He releases the syringe and sets it down. "All done."

Andrea takes a few shaky steps after getting up before pausing. Her eyes are closed and she begins to breathe in and out her nose slowly.

"Are you all right?" Once a doctor always a doctor, it seems.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." Jacqui answers for her before leading Andrea over to sit down. A looks of sympathy and compassion comes over Jenner's face as he looks them all over.

"I'll fix something for all of you, after this." He picks up the blood samples and puts them away before turning back the group. "Come on, follow me."

Dr. Jenner treats them all to dinner and Natasha can see the almost normalcy return to the group, as if there wasn't flesh eating monsters outside their newfound sanctuary. However Natasha was trained to have a watchful eye; no movement is able to get past her. She sees the way Jenner moves cautiously around them and the way his body tells truths that he is not yet willing to spill. It's obvious to her that he is hiding something. The rest of the group cannot tell or are either to naive or tired to see.

Rick rises out of his chair and raises his glass of wine. "It seems we haven't thanked our host yet."

"He is more than just our host!" T-Dog calls out and the others agree in unison, clinking their glasses.

Before Natasha can get the chance to ask the questions that's been weighing over her head Shane beats her to it.

"So when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" The room begins to quiet down; all drawing their eyes between Jenner and Shane. "All the other doctors, where'd they all go? Aren't y'all supposed to be figuring out what happened? "

Rick puts his drink down and the hardships of the past few days began to show again. "We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now."

Natasha speaks up; she gets the feeling that they don't have time to wait around. "It's a good question, Rick. And an important one, it's the reason why we're here."

"Red's right, Rick. It's why we're here, right? For all the answers but we only found him, one man. Why?"

The group looks to Jenner again, now all curious and wondering the same questions Shane asked.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner explains.

"Every last one?"

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out." The realizations dawns on the group. "There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave." Andrea inquires. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Glen sits back in his seat looking tired and sickly. "Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man."

Later on, after they've all finished eating, Jenner leads them to a place they can rest and set down their things. At the mention of hot water, the group becomes less tense and happier. The worry etched on their faces put away.

For awhile, Natasha just sits on her makes shift bed of a couch. For the first time since New York she feels truly weak and exhausted. Everything begins to crash down on her and she realizes that she doesn't know what to do. Or what she can do. She doesn't recognize Jenner and there is no one else at the CDC. She has no connections anymore as far as she knows. Lydia Bradley was the last SHEILD agent undercover at the CDC and now she was gone. Natasha feels unbelievably lost.

Natasha gets up; she can't stand thinking like that. It's not like her and she was trained not to think like that. But this wasn't a part of training either, this whole situation was nothing she was ever meant to deal with but then again neither was New York. So she stops thinking and opts to go looking for the showers, it will do good to clear her head.

When Natasha shuts off the water she can hear arguing from down the hall. The voices sound familiar, of a man and a woman. She dries off and dresses quickly. If it's who she thinks it is, Natasha knows they can't afford his hot-headedness to cause problems.

"And there was no way! Yeah, but then I had y'all to think about, didn't I? I had you and car; to think about."

"Okay! No no."

"That's what I had to do! Just stop." Natasha can hear the sound of a table being pushed across the tiled floor. She puts her hand on the door and readies herself to burst in.

"Shane, stop! Get your hands off me! Get your hands off me!" She can hear Lori cry out and Shane yelps.

Natasha pushes open the door hard enough for it to bounce off the wall. "Back the hell off, Shane."

It's quiet and Lori looks lost and scared.

"Go, Shane." Natasha orders.

He looks at Lori one last time before walking out the door, hitting it with his fist as he goes. Lori begins sobbing and looks likes she's on the verge of having a panic attack. Natasha walks over to her quickly but carefully. There's no need to frighten her anymore than she already is. She puts a comforting hand on her arm and leads her to the couch.

"Calm down and go to bed, Lori. It'll be alright. Catch your breath. It's okay."

Lori nods her and her sobs began to calm down. Natasha isn't really sure what to do but this seems like it might be enough.

Natasha is quiet; she can't afford to make a sound. She walks carefully, slow to make sure her steps don't make a noise in the dead of the night. The room is quiet and dark, everyone is asleep, even Jenner. It's the perfect time to make her move. She walks in front of the main computer, activating it. It takes only two tries for her to crack the password and hack into the system, within only a few minutes every piece of information and event recorded is before her.

She types hastily; she can't linger around for too long. No telling when someone might come along.

She sorts through the files, scanning over every detail until she finds what she needs. Virus Z. (XZ*), it reads. She reads the contents thoroughly and furrows her brow.

Virus Z. (XZ*) Report, Draft 3.1

7.3.10

New theories on how Virus Z. have surfaced, there are still very few actual answers. After much pestering and pushing on our part, a breakthrough has finally provided some much needed answers.

On the 16th of May, it is believed that a new strain that had mutated rapidly in only twelve months time was somehow released and exposed to Scott R. Green, Melissa J. King, Jon R. Jones, Henry D. Daniels, and Kari B. Docks, who had all been assigned to the strain. Within only a week of being exposed to the virus two of the five scientists had become severely sick and were emitted to the hospital by their family.

Subject One: Melissa J. King

Melissa J. King was the first one emitted to the ER on May 27; her symptoms were less severe and treated as an unknown infection. King stayed in the hospital for the next four days where she became even more ill and aggressive. According to hospital records her skin had become clammy and leather like, her eyes began to yellow and her behavior changed dramatically. She refused to eat the food the hospital provided for her and demanded meat, nearly raw. Her behavior continued to become more erratic and dangerous to herself and others.

On June 4th King attacked and gravely injured two nurses and a civilian to escape the hospital. King was not seen for three days, a series of suspicious attacks on civilians was brought to attention during the time she was missing. The civilians had been bitten and chunks of their flesh missing. One civilian would later die of infection and the other's status is still pending.

After a wide spread search through Atlanta, King was found by two fishermen dead, her body had been floating under a dock and was already rapidly decomposing.

After gaining permission from King's family, the CDC was allowed to take the body and examine it for further research. After many samples were taken from Kind's body, she was cremated.

Subject Two: Henry D. Daniels

Daniels was emitted to the hospital after his wife reportedly discovered he had a temperature of 104.5 f. After a week in the hospital Daniels fever and well-being had seemed to be back to normal circumstances, he was given antibiotics and sent home. Daniels was home for three days before his fever returned and he became aggressive towards his family, according to his wife and son. After Daniels attacked his wife and son, his family left the house. It is unknown what Daniels did during the two days he was alone.

When his wife returned to check up on him she discovered the inside of the home in dismay and packaged raw meet thrown about everywhere. She immediately called the police. Daniels was never found, his location was not been discovered and his body never came up.

It is still unknown whether Daniels is dead or alive.

Other Members of the Virus Z. Team

Scott R. Green, Jon R. Jones, and Kari B. Docks were put into quarantine when the connection between King and Daniels was discovered. Their blood had been infected with the virus. There treatment is still an ongoing project. Nothing so far had been successful.

Natasha doesn't know what to think. This doesn't sound like anything she's ever heard of before, not with SHIELD and not when she was working at the CDC. Natasha hears a throat clear behind her and she spins around quickly, a hand reaching for her gun. She mentally berates herself. She hadn't been watching her surroundings. She was too absorbed in the report.

It's Jenner. He raises his glass of water to show he's not a threat. Natasha takes her hand off her gun.

"I thought I'd find you down here." He tells her as he walks down the stairs to the computers.

She's surprised. "Why is that?"

"You worked with my wife."

"Candace. Candace Jenner is your wife." She realizes.

"Was, she died. But before she died she told me about you and SHEILD. She told me that if I could get a hold of you somehow, you could help us. I tried and I tried but when I asked about SHEILD they just laughed."

"I'm sorry. Candace was a smart woman."

"You can't help us anymore, can you?"

It feels as if there is a lump in her throat. "I'm not really sure anymore."

Jenner sits down in the computer chair and sighs. "Yeah, I thought so."

"What happened to Candace?"

"Same thing that happened to everyone else out there. She got infected and waited to die. Then she did."

"How much time is left on the clock, Jenner?"

He looks up surprised and looks as if he's about to ask 'how' but shakes his head. "Less than twenty-four hours."

"Were you going to tell the group?"

"I don't know." Jenner looks older than he is now. "You're blood is clean you know. There's a pathogen or something, hell, I couldn't even properly identify it. And that may be the answer to this, but it doesn't matter now. It's too late."

Natasha sits down beside him for awhile, not saying a word.