Chapter 10 – More Progress is made
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Dr. Taylor set the bomb on the ground at the military base on Fortuna, and prepared it to go off. Within seconds, it was armed.
"Only thirty minutes." he said to himself, "Then you will all become flesh-eating zombies."
Suddenly, to his surprise, he was grabbed around the neck from behind! Sarah had snuck up behind him and was now holding him at gunpoint.
"Hi there." she said, "Why don't you go ahead and disarm that Solanum box?"
"Never! I will not do it!"
"Very well then. I'll just knock you unconscious, tie it to your body, and drag you to the middle of nowhere. Nighty-night."
Sarah prepared to strike him in the head.
"NO! Wait! I'll do it!"
Dr. Taylor quickly typed in the code, which disarmed the bomb.
"Good man." said Sarah, "Now you're coming with me."
Sarah knocked him out, tied his wrists together with a rope, carried him to her ship, and put him in the back seat. She then called General Pepper on her comlink.
"General, I've got him." she said, "He was planting a bomb with the Solanum virus inside, but I 'encouraged' him to disarm it."
"Good work." Pepper responded. "Get back here as soon as possible."
"Yes, sir."
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"Alright, soldier, hold still."
For hours the scientists continued trying to come up with a cure for the virus. Now they had what they believed would destroy the virus once and for all. In one of the medical beds was a mouse soldier, who had been bitten in the arm by a zombie during an attack at Katina. By now, he had started to cough up blood and his breathing was labored. One scientist injected a fluid into the soldier's wound, while two others watched. Within seconds, the soldier's coughing ceased and he started to breathe normally. Then, to the scientists' surprise, the wound started to disappear, and the soldier sat up.
"How do you feel?" one of them asked.
"Like a million credits!" replied the soldier.
The scientists began cheering and slapping each other high-fives.
"I'm assuming by all the excitement in here, that you've done it?" a voice said.
General Pepper was standing in the doorway.
"Yes, sir!" said one of the scientists, "We just tested it on that soldier there and he's fully recovered."
The soldier saluted Pepper, who returned the salute.
"Are you feeling better?" Pepper asked.
"Yes, sir. I feel great."
Pepper grinned.
"Good. Your family will probably feel much better knowing that you've recovered."
He then turned to the scientists.
"Excellent work." he said.
"Thank you, sir. There's still one more test we want to perform though. You see, Dr. Taylor was carrying a vial of some chemical, which he claimed could reanimate the already deceased. So we're thinking of adding it to our formula and then testing it on a zombie."
"And just how do you plan on doing that?" Pepper asked.
"Well, it wasn't easy, but we have managed to capture two zombies and we're holding them in containment. According to their identifications, they're both… well… they were both morgue workers from Katina."
"I see. Well, it seems unlikely to me, but I guess it's worth a try. I have some business to take care of, so let me know what happens after you're finished."
"Yes, sir."
-
"Dad, please don't go!"
"I'm sorry, Son, but I have to."
Wolf's father, Lupus O'Donnell, had been called to serve in the Cornerian air force. With Wolf's mother dead and no one else to take care of him, Lupus had no choice but to leave him with his uncle.
"I'll come back some day. I promise."
Lupus kissed him and got in his car. Wolf watched him drive off as his uncle came out the door with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
"So you're here. Well, you gonna come in or not?"
Wolf's uncle took a puff of his cigarette, then dropped it on the ground and stepped on it. Wolf just stood there, watching his father's car drive away until it disappeared in the distance. Somehow, he just knew that he'd never see his father again.
"Whaddya waitin' for, Christmas? Hurry up already!"
Slowly, Wolf made his way towards the door. He could feel tears coming down his eyes as he thought of what things would be like living with his abusive uncle. His uncle wasn't a very nice person, nor did he like Wolf very much. Suddenly, he turned around and started to run.
"Hey, where you going! Come back here!"
Wolf kept on running as fast as his legs would carry him. Eventually his uncle gave up the chase.
"All right, fine. Go on then. You'll come crawling back."
Finally, after running out of breath, Wolf fell to the ground and started to cry. He realized at that point that his uncle was right and that eventually, he'd have no choice but to go back. Soon he heard footsteps walking towards him.
"No, please! Go away! Leave me alone!"
"It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."
Wolf had never heard that voice before. He slowly looked up. Standing in front of him was a young black wolf, who was holding out his hand. Wolf took his hand and the black wolf helped him up.
"I'm Kyle. What's your name?"
Wolf sniffled.
"My name's Wolf."
"How come you're crying, Wolf?"
"My dad. He's gone, and I don't want to live with my uncle because he hates me."
"Oh. My dad's gone too. So is my mom."
Wolf wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Really? Who do you live with?"
"No one. I've been living alone on the streets for days."
"Oh."
"Hey, Wolf, you okay?"
Wolf snapped awake. He was sitting in his chair at the command post, daydreaming about his past.
"Is something bothering you?" Kyle asked.
"Now that you mention it, yes." Wolf replied.
"I bet you miss Sarah." said Falco.
"Well, yes, but that's not the only thing. I've been thinking a lot about the day I met Kyle. You see, it was also the last time I saw my father again."
Wolf told them everything.
"So you never knew your mother?" Fox asked.
Wolf shook his head.
"She died shortly after I was born."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Well, I don't blame you for running out on your uncle." said Falco, "I wouldn't want to live with a scumbag like him either."
"Incoming transmission from General Pepper." said ROB.
General Pepper appeared on the screen.
"Star Fox, I have some more good news." he said, "Firstly, our scientists have successfully found a cure for the Solanum virus."
"Really? Did my formula help?" Kyle asked.
"As a matter of fact, it did." Pepper replied, "Therefore, our scientists and all our soldiers, who have been cured of the virus, want to send you their thanks. Oh, and Lieutenant Eva says hi."
Kyle blushed a bit.
"Secondly, we've captured the scientist behind the zombie infestation and with a little 'encouragement' we were able to get him to talk. He has a hidden laboratory on Venom."
"Venom." Fox said, "Why am I not surprised?"
"General," said Wolf, "is there anything you can tell me about Sarah? Is she alright?"
"I'm sorry, but that's classified information."
Wolf nodded gravely.
"I understand." he said.
"As soon as we can produce samples of the cure in sufficient quantities," Pepper continued, "I'll have some of them brought to you. Then I'll need you to head over to Venom, and stop the zombie operations once and for all."
"You can count on us, General." said Fox.
"Good to know. Pepper out."
The transmission ended.
"Don't lose hope, Wolf." Kyle assured him, "She'll come back."
"Thanks." Wolf said, standing up, "I think I'll go check on Ray."
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"That's it, Jennifer. Over here."
The zombie started limping towards the scientist.
"Now!"
The other two other scientists grabbed her from behind. One of them held her arms back, while the other one grabbed her head and held her muzzle shut, thereby preventing her from attacking. The first scientist then pulled out a syringe and injected the fluid into the zombie's neck. The zombie struggled, but couldn't escape from the scientists' hold. Then her struggles suddenly stopped. After the scientists released her, she fell motionless onto the floor. Two of the scientists pulled out pistols and kept them aimed at the zombie's head, while the third scientist put on a stethoscope and checked her heartbeat. At first he got nothing, then her heart suddenly lurched back to life.
"Holy crap!" cried the scientist, "She's… she's alive again!"
Jenny slowly opened her eyes.
"Ugh, my head." she moaned as she sat up.
She began looking around the room.
"Wh-where am I? What happened?"
The scientists stood back in awe.
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Logan paced around the laboratory, waiting impatiently for Dr. Taylor to return. Meanwhile, Igor was still trying to remember who he really was.
"If I could just remember my real name." he said to himself, "Then I'd know who…"
"Where the Hell could he be! He should've come back hours ago!"
Igor sighed. It seemed like he could hardly go for five minutes without Logan interrupting his thoughts.
"I don't know." he replied, "He was probably either killed or captured."
"Hmmm… well, if that's true, then I guess I'll just have to take over this operation. With these undead soldiers at my command, I will crush the Star Fox team and take over the Lylat system."
Logan picked up a vial containing one of the samples of the virus.
"Igor," he said, "bring in the first body. Let us begin reanimating our army of the undead."
Igor nodded, and went to retrieve one of the dead soldiers' bodies.
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A female mouse sat on a bench, holding her daughter, who was crying her eyes out.
"Why?" she sobbed, "Why does Daddy have to die?"
Her mother just held her while tears ran down her eyes.
"You can save the funeral, Mrs. Franklin." a voice said, "Your husband is going to be fine."
They both looked. General Pepper was standing in front of them. Next to him was the soldier, who had just been cured of the virus and was looking healthier than ever.
"Daddy!" cried the girl.
She leapt from her mother's arms and ran to her father, who picked her up and hugged her hard.
"Jim!" cried his wife, "You're alive!"
Jim kissed his wife.
"That's right." he said, "And I'm so glad to see both of you again."
General Pepper's comlink started beeping.
"Excuse me a moment." Pepper said.
He walked out of the room and pulled out his comlink.
"Yes? What is it?"
"General, this is Dr. Richards. I know you're not going to believe this, but…"