Scully forced herself to exude an air of confidence which was nothing close to the trepidation she felt within. She felt her old FBI badge weighing down her right pocket as she approached the doors to the makeshift hospital. Skinner had felt it prudent to liberate the badge from her file at the Bureau before he left to join her small group. That time now seemed like an age ago. So far the badge had sat forgotten in a box containing many of her old possessions but today she felt reassured by its familiar presence and the appearance of authority it generated. Even though Scully knew she had the official backing of the CDC, she still felt nervous. Pushing her way through the plastic inner doors which helped maintain the sterile facility, Scully looked around and was unsurprised to see nobody in the room. Hundreds of beds were laid out in neat rows, each one containing a comatose patient, all hooked up to a drip and a single monitor, every one beeping in unison. She made her way between the beds taking in the details of each patient - a pale-skinned young blonde woman, a red headed curly haired man, a dark skinned young boy, an elderly Native American man. Every age, gender and ethnicity was covered here. The alien virus didn't care who it consumed. Reaching the end of the room Scully pushed through the plastic sheeting into a second room beyond, this one almost identical to the first. In here she found a single nurse who turned at the sound of Scully's entrance and hurried to meet her.
"Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to leave, this is a restricted area, no visitors." Scully reached into her pocket and withdrew her ID, flipping it open and showing it to the nurse in a movement so entrenched in her muscle memory she didn't even have to think about doing it.
"My name is Special Agent Dana Scully, I'm here with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," she began, the lie tripping off her tongue easily, "I'm here to oversee the administration of a vaccine to these patients."
"A vaccine?" the nurse asked in astonishment, "I haven't heard anything about that, why is the Bureau handling distribution?"
"I'm a medical doctor," Scully continued smoothly, "all medically trained Bureau staff have been asked to assist in this operation in cooperation with the Center for Disease Control. Is there someone in charge who I could speak to?"
"To be honest with you ma'am, we've kind of been left to our own devices," the nurse explained sheepishly. "There's only me and two other nurses employed here for over 300 people. The patients don't really need much in the way of looking after and there's just not enough staff to go around. All the doctors are needed in the real hospitals to look after the living." Scully flinched involuntarily at the nurse's casual suggestion that the patients under her care were already beyond saving. It was a belief that many people seemed to have adopted recently but she had hoped the hospital staff at least would be exempt. "I can take you to meet Mr. Kryder if you like," the nurse continued after a moment's thought, "lately the clergy have been taking over running these facilities and Mr. Kryder is as close to being in charge as anyone. He just deals with the administration though, pays us, makes sure there's enough TPN bags delivered each day, that kind of thing. I'm not sure what he'd know about administering a vaccine."
"Please," Scully replied with a smile. The nurse led her through another set of doors and Scully saw the figure of a man dressed in the typical black garments of the clergy. He was bent slightly over one of the beds, apparently in prayer. As she watched, the man made the sign of the cross and moved down to the next bed. Again he bent over slightly, appeared to say something, made the sign and moved on.
"He does that every day," the nurse told Scully, her eyes flickering momentarily to the gold cross which hung around Scully's neck. Scully continued to watch the man who turned and spotted them, he finished with his patient and strode across the room to meet them. Scully was astonished to see his face. Where she had been expecting to see an older man, she found herself facing a boy who could not be more than 18.
"Pamela?" the young man asked the nurse.
"This is Agent Scully with the FBI, she's here about a vaccine," the nurse explained quickly. Scully stared at the young man who finally met her eyes and stared back.
"Agent Scully," he smiled widely, reaching out to shake her hand, "I do believe we've met before." Scully's mind raced through the files of her memory, much of it now foggy not from time but because she had grown accustomed to razor sharp vampire recollection. Her eyes widened as the file she needed was located and the memories flooded back.
"Kevin?" she asked in wonder. They shook hands, the young man before her not flinching at the unusual sensation of her skin.
"I told you I'd see you again one day," he said with a smile, nodding at the nurse to acknowledge that he could handle the situation from here. "What brings you to sunny California?"
"I'm helping to distribute a new vaccine," Scully mumbled distractedly, "but Kevin what are you doing here? The nurse said the clergy were helping run these hospitals."
"Yes," Kevin agreed, leading Scully to a small desk that held only a laptop and a few files before offering her a seat, "I joined the seminary in January when I turned 18. Normally new students would never be expected to go out and do service work just months after joining but we are living in exceptional times. There are three of these hospitals in San Diego alone. Each of us was given some basic training on management then assigned to a hospital and so I wound up here. I do my best, I minister to the patients each day and make sure the hospital pays its bills and has everything it needs." Kevin studied her closely, "you look different," he mused slowly, "honestly you look younger than I remember, must be my memory playing tricks. I thought about you every day for years after our time together, you were like an angel to me."
Scully shifted nervously in her seat. The room was illuminated by clear panels in the plastic roof that let in the bright California sunshine. One panel was almost directly above her and as Scully sat she was acutely aware of the sunlight streaming in through it. The light made her skin tingle warmly and she knew it must be glowing slightly, even if the effect was almost indiscernible to human eyes.
"There's still something angelic about you," Kevin continued almost to himself before shaking his head and looking sheepish. "Sorry," he apologised, looking down at the loose papers on his desk. Scully got the feeling he was trying very hard to keep from staring; she couldn't blame him. She knew very well the strangeness and beauty of vampire physiology on human eyes and to an 18 year old boy presented with the image of a woman he had effectively deified since childhood, the effect must be more than slightly overwhelming. "Tell me about this vaccine."
"It's only recently been developed," Scully began, grateful to change the subject back to her intended cause. "The FDA has effectively disbanded at this point but trials on other patients in the North East have been successful so it's being rolled out across the rest of the country beginning with comatose patients." Kevin frowned.
"Wouldn't it be more effective to vaccinate uninfected people first?" he asked, "contain the outbreak and then treat those already infected." Scully swallowed hard.
"We have reason to believe that what we are seeing right now is just the first stage of a more extreme and damaging infection," she explained slowly, choosing her words with great care, "we don't yet know how long the comatose stage lasts but we want to cure as many people as possible before these infections have the opportunity to become fatalities." Kevin looked around them cautiously as if he expected something to happen but the room remained still and quiet with only the rhythmic beep of the machines to break the silence. He swallowed and turned back to Scully.
"You have the vaccines with you?" he asked.
"Yes, 426 doses, that is correct for this hospital?" Kevin checked some papers and nodded.
"I'll call in the other two nurses to help administer the doses. Will you be helping? I remember you were a doctor right?"
"Yes," Scully agreed as she stood. "We'll need hazmat suits, do you have access to some?" Kevin nodded, looking frightened. "Good. I'll fetch the supplies, then is there somewhere I can scrub up?"
"The nurses station is in the first room but the facilities are pretty basic," Kevin apologised as he reached for the phone, "I'll have those extra hands to you within the hour, good luck." Scully smiled at him as she made her way back outside to retrieve the cases of vaccine from the trunk of her rental car. As she felt the sun beating down on her she sighed and took a moment to enjoy its warmth, wondering how Mulder was doing almost 3000 miles away. The thought of the distance stabbed at her heart a little so she pushed the thought deep down and locked it away. There would be time for sentimentality later, right now she had work to do. Opening the trunk she gathered up the cases labelled River Park Field Hospital and locked the car again before heading inside to help deliver the vaccine and begin the long process of fighting colonisation.
