Chapter 7: A Visitor

Present Day

Jake was back at the house, awaiting the arrival of an old friend he had not seen for months, though he had communicated with the man by radio more recently. First contact had been a reason for celebration, learning that a friend from the old world had survived into the new.

Elena and Rebecca had left earlier, separately, and neither were back yet, and Jake could admit that he was concerned. Not for any good reason, other than that the world was a dangerous place now. And Jake was always infinitely more at ease when both woman were in his sights these days. Speaking of dangerous, he saw someone approaching. He grabbed his gun, just in case, just in case the visitor was not the one that was expected. When the visitor came closer Jake the gun smiled at his old friend.

The man walking towards the house was tall, around sixty years old, with gray hair and green eyes.

"You going to shoot me, Jake?" The visitor asked smiling.

"It's good to see you, old friend." Said Jake.

They embraced in a manly fashion, neither admitting that there was as much emotion and relief behind the action as there really was. They then moved to sit on the porch together and proceeded to catch up on a great deal that had occurred since they had last seen each other.

"You have to live so far away, Jake? We could have done this months before now."

With a broken wrist Elijah could not travel easily in this new world, certainly not long distances. It had delayed this visit greatly. And Jake had been loathed to leave his wife and property, and then Rebecca too, to make the journey himself.

Apart from a genuine desire to see each and catch up, the reason for Elijah's visit was the delivery of vaccines. He could have sent the vaccine with someone else, but he knew Jake would not have liked that. He had maintained radio contact with them, so he knew his friends were okay.

"I like the peace of the countryside, isolation has kept us safe from the disease." Jake stated resolutely.

"I brought the vaccine, Jake." Elijah handed him a small zip case. Jake cautiously unzipped the case and saw that contained within it were two small syringes filled with blue liquid.

Obtaining a few of the newly produced, but old version of the cure, had been the only option for him to bring it to his friends, as neither he nor anyone he knew that might have accompanied him on this little trip were capable of spreading the contagious cure any longer.

"These things safe?" Jake was suspicious of the objects in his hands.

"I took it and I am as healthy as a horse, and most importantly, I'm completely immune to the virus. That's been put to the test many a time at this point." He had in fact become vaccinated by the contagious version of the venerated Dr. Scott's cure, but he had every confidence that this stuff was just as good, had it on many a good friends very good authority.

Jake didn't need to know and become worried by the semantics of it all.

Though Jake did not seem completely convinced anyway.

"Where is Elena?" Elijah knew that his wife could convince him.

"Probably with our guest, Rebecca." Jake answered absently.

"You have a guest?" Elijah asked, surprised.

"Yeah, we found her two months ago. She was very badly injured. Very bad, it was touch and go there for a while…but she's a lot better now, at least physically…"

"What happened to her?"

"We don't know, but she had cuts, grazes, rope marks on her wrists and ankles, her hands and feet were a bloody mess, her hair looked like it had been cut with a butcher's knife, worst of it all were several bad head injuries. We considered trying to get her to better help but there was still the threat of the virus and Elena thought it would be too risky in her condition to travel anyway."

Elijah nodded in thought, taking in the information. Torture, he thought…and at least some length of captivity to boot. It seemed this woman was well recovered of her physical injuries now, he hoped the same was true of her doubtless emotional ones.

"How is she going mentally? Torture's not easy for anyone but I can't even imagine a woman going through something as bad as what you're describing. How is she coping with what happened to her? Does she know who did that to her? Does she know why?"

"She doesn't know any of it, doesn't remember any of it, and that's not all…she doesn't even remember her own name…not her real one anyway. Complete amnesia Elena says, due to the head injuries and quite possibly the emotional trauma as well."

"Really?" Elijah was shocked by the news, it was more like something you used to see happening all the time on television shows…but rarely to anyone you actually knew of in reality.

"And she's been with you for two months you say? We've talked by radio over than time, you never said anything about her." Elijah was curious about that, this was such shocking news to him as he had thought he and his friend had been staying up to date with each other.

"We had no intention of risking her safety by mentioning her or disclosing her location on an open channel. We will not have her hurt again. Whoever those monsters were that did this to her, they will not get another chance, I promise you that!" Jake ground out his oath.

Wow! Elijah thought, this woman sure aroused a fierce protective instinct of his friend. It couldn't be for the usual reasons; Jake was a very happily married man. It made Elijah all the more eager to meet this real live mystery woman.

"How are things in the city?" It was Jake who changed the subject, probably feeling the need to let his anger cool off a bit. Elijah followed his friend's lead, not disagreeing with the idea.

"Well, the military remain in the city; they decided to make it a base for their operations. They are producing the vaccine and trying to combat the Immunes." Elijah explained.

"You told me about them, idiots who think they're God's chosen!" Utter disgust was evident in Jake's tone.

"If I were them, I would be damn careful…and frankly scared to death. Admiral Thomas Chandler has committed himself to annihilating them off the face of the planet, he made it his personal crusade after they killed Rachel Scott."

"She's the woman who made the cure, right? And that's why they went after her?"

"Yeah, by saving so many people she made it so natural immunes just weren't that special anymore…they didn't like that much."

"Bastards!" Jake exclaimed. Right then and there Jake decided he was no longer so suspicious of the syringes he held in his hand. This fallen woman seemed like a goddamn hero and if she had given her life to give this cure to the world…the least he could do was trust it.

"How did it happen again, a car wreck, right?"

"Yeah, they abducted her right form the hotel where the President and the military have set up shop. This all went down on the very first day they arrived in town, there were still some understandable holes in security at that point, let me tell you, the place is like a fortress now!"

"Abducted her? But she was killed? Things went wrong then?" Jake queried.

Elijah nodded. "Very wrong, we still have no idea why they took her like that. Why they wanted her alive instead of just killing her in the hotel, we'll probably never know for sure. Though knowing what these sadistic bastards are capable of, I'm betting they just wanted to make her suffer longer…to have her under their control. In that regard it might be a mercy that she died that night...as opposed to us failing to rescue her from their clutches."

"You were part of the rescue mission?" Elijah was ex-military and knew the region well; it only made sense that he had been part of the search party.

"Yes, I was, but we failed…she didn't deserve to die like that. The soldiers from the James, all the people that knew her and had been with her on her journey for the cure, they were all devastated by her death...they still are, especially Admiral Chandler."

Both men sat in silence for a good while. Jake absorbing the horrible, but certain to be historic, events his friend had shared with him. Elijah lost in his own memories and regrets of that tragic night.

Not long later, Elena and Rebecca finally returned. Jake let out a breath he was only half aware he had been holding. He was definitely a lot more comfortable these days when both women were in his constant sight.

"How are you, Elijah?" Elena went to greet her husband's old friend warmly, however, she noticed he was just staring at Rebecca who was at her side, his jaw slightly slack.

Elijah couldn't help but stare fixedly at the woman who had just stepped onto the porch with his good friend's wife.

"Oh my God! It's you!" He exclaimed.

"Elijah, what's wrong? What you're saying? Wait…are you saying that you recognize Rebecca?!" Questioned Elena excitedly.

"Yes, I recognize her! Every person who wasn't living completely cut off from modern society would! She is Dr. Rachel Scott!"

"What?! But how can that be? You just told me she died!" Said Jake, shocked and confused by his friends seemingly certain pronouncement of the famous identity of their long time guest.

"We made a mistake! We must have! It's the only explanation, for I am looking at a very much alive Rachel Scott standing right in front of me at this very moment, I swear it! I need to get back and tell people, I need to tell the Admiral!"

Elijah knew his words must sound more like rants, but he couldn't help it, he was just so excited, so overcome with joy! He personally may not have known Dr. Rachel Scott, but back in town, and many other towns across the country, and even world, the people had taken this amazing woman, their saviour, their beloved martyr, into their hearts. Seeing her standing before him in the flesh was the most surreal experience he could imagine.

LSLSLS

Rebecca was in shock. Throughout the entire revelation she hadn't spoken a word, stunned into silence and lost in her thoughts. It was all just so overwhelming to take in. All this time without her memories, without an identity, and now this strange man was telling her he knew exactly who she was, that she was someone named Rachel Scott…and that she was a Doctor no less! Surely he was wrong, surely she would know? Surely this was the moment that he would say her name, if it was her name, and she would recognize it, and maybe memories that showed the truth of his words would return to her in a flood….but, nothing…

Elijah soon departed, eager to inform his friends of Dr. Scott's miraculous, if still unexplained, survival. Jake would not allow him to share either his news or their location by radio, Elijah agreed but made a very important counter demand, that the other man make sure 'Rebecca' went nowhere before he could return…for he would return very soon, and he wouldn't be alone. Jake agreed.

Later than night, Rebecca…or Rachel, lay curled up on her bed shedding silent tears in the darkness. Helplessly tormented by a mixture of anxiety and fear about what she might soon discover about herself.

LSLSLS

As soon as Elijah made it back to town, he headed straight for the Naval Command Centre and asked to speak to Admiral Chandler about a matter of great importance.

"Elijah, how are you? The wrist is healing well I hope?" Said Tom, curious at the man's unexpected and apparently urgent arrival in his office.

"Going fine, recovery takes a bit longer when you get older, but no dramas." Elijah answered absently, his mind an along way from his nearly completely healed wrist.

"That's good." Tom answered appropriately, before getting down to business. He knew this wasn't a social call. "What brings you here today?"

"I went to visit an old friend who lives a fair away from the city… they have a guest staying with them…" Elijah smiled brightly, he just couldn't help himself, but of course he only saw confusion in the Admiral's eyes.

Elijah just couldn't hold in his joyous and history making news any longer.

"Admiral, She's alive!"

"Who?" Tom asked, confused.

"Dr. Scott!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Tom felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. He could barely hide the agony in his eyes.

"What?!" He asked, shocked.

"I don't pretend to know how this happened, Sir. All I know for certain is that the woman staying with my friends is Dr. Rachel Scott!"

"Impossible!" Tom growled more than spoke. "Rachel died!" He continued miserably, his façade cracking.

Tom did not want to feel hope, it would be too painful when it inevitably came to naught.

"I don't know how this could have happened either, Admiral, but it's her! I've seen that video of her healing the child…more than once…most people have. It. Is. Her. And she's alive! I'm sure of it!"

Tom considered Elijah's joy and exuberance at his news. The man seemed so sure, it was tempting to allow himself to be infected by that joy…to believe in the miracle he was exuding…but… "If she were somehow alive, Elijah, a very big 'if'…she would have returned to us..." Tom explained sadly.

"She lost her memory! All of it! Gone! She didn't even have the faintest idea who she was until I showed up. My friends have been calling her Rebecca!"

"That was Rachel's mother's name…" Tom whispered, almost to himself.

Then, in a flash of sudden movement, Elijah watched the Admiral stand up and run to his office door; there he yelled orders to his aide.

"Martinez! Find Captain Slattery, Tex, Green, Burk and Dr. Milowsky, have them report to me now!"

"Yes, sir!" The young man answered immediately.

Tom turned back to Elijah, now committed to this path, even if he was still more than half convinced it could only lead to further heartache...and not only for him. Rachel had been beloved...and widely so, even by those who had never even met her. Something that had become excruciatingly clear when the news she had perished had spread.

"Tell me what you know, Elijah, everything!" He ordered.

Elijah did, though there was little else for him to add, he had hightailed it back here so quickly after making his amazing discovery. He explained that both Jake and Elena were his long term trusted friends, that his visit had been about bringing the cure to them, and ultimately how he had quite shockingly come face to face with the very much alive woman that so many people knew of so well.

He also explained how 'Rebecca' had been found. The timeline matched up, that was an important piece of evidence. And he gave a brief listing of her injuries, injuries she had since thankfully largely recovered from…at least the physical ones. He confirmed the amnesia she suffered from appeared to be a severe case, to have lasted so long and leaving her still not able to even recognize her own name when it was spoken.

The worst scenarios passed through Tom's mind, more images to add to his list of nightmares. "How bad were these injuries?"

Elijah sighed, now the other man just seemed to be trying to torture himself, but at least he seemed to be onboard with at least the possibility that his lost woman was indeed miraculously alive…that was what everyone called her, though never in the Admiral's hearing.

"There were a lot of cuts and bruises…" He admitted. "It was clear she had been bound by rope at both her wrists and ankles, her hands and feet were a mess apparently, likely from both breaking free of her bonds and making her way a great distance on bare feet when she escaped…" Elijah cautiously explained.

"But the worst of it was several severe injuries to her head, they were the cause of the greatest fear for her life in the early days after my friends found her, and of course a likely reason for her amnesic state, though I don't think emotional trauma can be discounted as a contributing cause."

Mike was the first to arrive.

"Elijah! How are you?" Mike was surprised to find that the other man was somehow a part of whatever this great emergency was. "Tom, what's going on?"

"Elijah has just come to me and shared his belief that not only does he think Rachel is alive…he also claims to know where she is."

"What?!" "How?!" They all exclaimed in shock.

"Now, can someone explain to me how and if this is even possible?! Mike, you told me a body was found, that it was positively identified as being Rachel…do you still stand by that?"

Mike was shocked almost speechless, but knew better than to keep his friend waiting right now, he looked about at the end of his tether. "Tom, you know we don't have the facilities to make the in depth identifications…especially given the…condition…of her body…that would have been possible in the old world. But, she was seen in the car just before the crash and the fire, the clothing matched, what was left of it… The jewelry recovered was recognized and identified as hers and we did manage to get a clean sample of blood from a handkerchief found on the scene and run it…it matched, Tom. We were as sure as we could possibly be. We still are as far as I know…what exactly has changed?"

Tom ignored the question and directed his gaze to their remaining resident scientist. "Dr. Milowsky?" He questioned, not even needing to specify that he was directing the very same question at him.

The man keenly felt the anxiety of the room but preceded to share what information he could, none of which was information he had not shared before. "I was the one that ran the DNA from the handkerchief recovered from the scene, I compared it with that of a toothbrush I personally recovered from her hotel room…the test resulted in a positive match."

Milowsky hesitated to continue further, for the most part everyone had tried their best to spare the Admiral from the most gruesome details of Dr. Scott's death, but right now he felt that he had little choice, though he still tried to gloss over the worst of it as much as possible.

God knew, Rachel had merely been his friend and a fellow Scientist he respected immensely, and the examination he had been forced to preform had been hard enough for him! He could only imagine the idea of the Admiral seeing her like that. "I examined her body too…" He began tentatively. "It was extremely badly burned, so much so that it was not viable to retrieve DNA directly from, not with out more basic testing abilities…and as far as dental and medical information, we had none to compare them too, so such clues were useless for identification.

Tom considered both men's explanations again. None of it was new information, but Elijah's arrival and conviction of belief did make him consider it all in a different light. And that light did allow a shadow of doubt to be cast over events…

"Prepare the helicopter. I will have my answer…one way or the other…before this day is out! Elijah, you're coming too, give the pilot the coordinates." Ordered Tom, and everyone rushed to obey, just as eager to find the answer now that this shocking question had been asked.

TBC