35. Two weeks later

x

She still remembered the pointless argument with the Captain. He was refusing to take the vaccine before everyone else was vaccinated against the Red Flu. Stubborn man! She thought. What did it matter when he got his shot, she had enough doses for the people on the island.

It was already two weeks after the heated argument and he still refused the vaccine. She was supposed to check up on him soon anyway so she had a plan in mind. For some reason the Captain felt he could confide in her and talk with her about Darien and the sudden loss of her. She felt like she was almost his therapist, but she did feel it was nice that he felt he could trust in her, after everything that has happened. And he had cried openly in front of her and she had hold her arms around him. Of course she hadn't thought about it then, but after their argument, she felt the man was making her feel furious inside of her, not realizing why she was so agitated over the Captain. She had been against him before in the Arctic too, but it hadn't never felt like this.

So on her way to the Captain's quarters she was alarmed by Commander Green who said that the land team had returned with survivors. Survivors that needed the vaccine. Sighing to herself. And the Captain would refuse the vaccine once again.

Since the people on the ship and on the island had now been inoculated against the Red Flu, she could meet the survivors without a risk of exposure. But she was making the count in her mind as she looked over the survivors on the deck. A group of young teens, most of them just children and an older man. She would have to manufacture more, but she was running low on the supplies and she hoped the team had scavenged more for her. The older man had passed his shot to one of the others in the group as she only had a few doses left. She would give him a shot later, she thought.

"What happened?" She heard Chandler's uptight voice as she was standing in the wardroom with Lieutenants Green and Burk.

"Sir. We weren't the only ones in New Orleans." Burk gave a look towards Danny.

Apparently it seemed that New Orleans was taken over by some sort of cult. People that were immune to the disease had somehow gotten it into their minds that they were Chosen. Chosen to survive. The more she heard about what was going on, more she felt sick. How could someone poison the minds of innocent survivors with this kind of trash talk about being the chosen ones?

But she was even more shocked when she heard that the team had discovered that the Immunes were trying to infect the surviving people in the safe zone outside New Orleans. The survivors they had with them, the team had managed to rescue. And they were just young teens, some of them even children. Just when she thought she could finally breath. She had done the unthinkable, she had created a vaccine and a cure. How were they going to distribute the vaccine now? To save the world? To save whatever was left of the world they once knew?

"We believe their leader is one Sean Ramsey, sir." Danny said and met Chandler's gaze. They hadn't mentioned the one thing that was obvious, Slattery hadn't returned with the team.

"Commander Slattery asked to be left behind. He's going to infiltrate the Immunes, sir." Burk continued.

"And Senior Chief Taylor requested to stay behind too." Danny added.

She saw the look on Chandler's face, he was biting his lip and processing everything in his mind.

"But we have a nuclear powered ship. We can make threats." She gave a look at the men.

"And that's all they would be, threats. They know we won't nuke our own country." Tom said and met her eyes.

After Lieutenants Green and Burk had left, she was alone with Tom in the room.

"You have enough vaccine for the group of survivors?" She heard his faint voice.

"I need to make more, but yes." She answered. It was pointless to argue with the Captain about him being vaccinated. She thought that his time would come eventually. If he were to leave the island, he needed the shot.

"But I need more supplies for making the vaccine and frankly I don't know how we are going to succeed in our task." She stated.

After a moment of silence, she spoke. She had given some thought to the matter, but pushed the horrific thoughts away from her mind. But she had to mention it now.

"I have thought about another way to create the vaccine.." She started to tell not sure whether she could say it out loud. She knew the Captain, he would never agree to it. It was against the law, against the rules and against the core values of being a decent human being.

"If I could get my hands on the patient zero.. To take a biopsy of his lungs, I might be able to discover why he is contagious with the virus. Perhaps I can make the cure contagious as well." She explained. Feeling the shivers on her skin to even mention him around the Captain. Knowing all too well that he was responsible of the deaths of everyone they had hold dear.

"You're asking me a permission to what..? Cut him open?" Chandler stared at her and she saw his eyes, he was angry that she had brought him up.

"Yes. Especially since it will be against his will and it's a risky procedure." She said.

"No." She heard his voice.

"All due respect Tom, he started all of this. He has probably killed most of the population on earth and the virus is still spreading. Are we to keep him forever under guard, in a isolation tent?" She raised her voice sounding desperate.

"I know what he has done." He stated. She knew she shouldn't push the matter further and she saw he was angry.

Before leaving the room she said "Just think about it."

Later when she was sitting in her work space, she was alerted by the sound. Sound of a gun being fired. She rushed to the corridor and saw Lieutenant Smith running towards her.

"You better come ma'am." She heard him and he looked pretty shell shocked. Suddenly she had a bad feeling about it all.

As they came to the doorway that led to the room where the patient zero has been the last months. She entered inside and looked around the room. Niels was lying inside the tent, a clear bullet hole in his forehead.

"He took away everything." She heard his voice. Then she looked at Tom as he sat on the floor leaning against the wall with a gun in his hand all the while dressed in a hazmat suit. His mask was off, now that Niels was dead.

"Lieutenant, get Commander Garnett." She ordered and closed the door.

She was out of words. She felt the heavy touch of guilt pressing on her chest. She felt that it might as well have been her that pulled the trigger. She had been talking with him about patient zero a few hours earlier and if he had done it because of her.. But she couldn't stop the other side of her, the side that felt relief.

"Tom.." She sat down slowly beside him.

"If he hadn't done what he did. Darien could have had a chance." He said and she realized that he might have taken Niels's life out of anger and revenge, gone against all of his core rules and regulations he has stand for his entire life.

"It's true. There might have been a chance." She agreed saying quietly.

The door opened and Commander Garnett walked in. And she was as stunned as she felt.

"What happened?" Andrea looked at the two of them and she got up from the floor. The scene in front of her was pretty clear. Niels lying dead on the floor and Tom holding a gun in his hand.

"Commander Garnett, you are in charge of this mission as of now. Captain Chandler isn't stable enough and Commander Slattery isn't here." "Officially patient zero committed suicide." Rachel said with a clear tone. Last thing they needed was another hysteria amongst the survivors.

Andrea nodded and glanced at Tom who was just sitting there staring in front of him.

"Unofficially.." Rachel shared a look with Andrea and they both looked down at the Captain.