Chapter 3- There's Another Way
"WAIT!" The usually soft-spoken doctor yelled. Everyone in the room was startled and stopped momentarily.
At a flash, Makoto ran straight at Haruka and flung the katana out of the way. Angered, Haruka stood up and swung a left hook. Makoto dodged and sent a punch straight into the blonde's gut. Ami stretched out her arms and stood in front of Usagi, intensively staring at Minako and Rei. With the rifle still raised, Minako slowly advanced.
"Get out of the way, Ami. She could turn any minute! Get! Out! Of! The! Way!"
Rei drew her hunting knife and got ready in a fighting pose.
"STOP! STOP! EVERYONE JUST STOP!" Usagi's desperate scream echoed through the house. "Please… just stop." She collapsed to the floor sobbing.
Ami glanced back at her old friend but kept her protective stance. "Everyone, please just calm down. I saw the wound; it is at least a week old. Something weird is going on here. Maybe it was a bite from an uninfected human?"
She turned towards Setsuna but the other one merely shook her head. "The wound was infected. It was a zombie bite. Although I did see some healing around the edges, which was something I've never seen before."
"Setsuna, what did your data say?" Ami's heart pounded fiercely. Half of her was scared that her instinct might be wrong, and her old friend here would jump up and chew her neck off. Half of her was hopeful, because if she was right, this would be the Holy Grail.
The older woman looked at Ami sadly and replied, "It was inconclusive still. For some people, it took as little as 24 hours for them to turn, usually correlated with people with suppressed immune system. For the majority, it could take anywhere from one day to a week. Then, there were two documented cases where they didn't turn for 8 days."
"Usagi, tell me when you were bitten…" Ami's voice shook a bit. Things weren't looking good, Haruka had managed to subdue Makoto, Minako and Rei's weapons were drawn, and with the damning data from Setsuna….Ami gulped.
Usagi wiped her tears and slowly stood up. "You guys don't have to fight. It doesn't matter when I was bitten. When it first happened, I locked myself in a separate room for three days. Chibiusa actually took care of me and passed me food and water under the door. When I eventually got better from the fever, I just assumed I was okay. If I had known I was still putting Chibiusa in danger…..I would've killed myself already. Now, I am putting all of you in danger."
She slowly walked back to the couch and bent down to kiss her younger sister. "Please take care of her when I am gone. I will leave now and go back to my house. I will lock the doors and windows so that I won't hurt anyone when I turned. Michiru and Haruka, thank you for saving us. Ami and Makoto, thank you for trying."
Thud. Something heavy was put down on the table. With her back turned to the group, Usagi stopped in her track and held her breath. She wasn't ready to die yet…..
Setsuna cleared her throat. "Everyone, stop fighting. I have a better solution for this."
Ami's arms went down as everyone lowered their weapons. Haruka let go of her grip and Makoto stumbled out from the chokehold, coughing as she touched her sore neck.
Setsuna came forward and gently led Usagi back to the couch and sat her down. "Look, we are not bad people but sometimes, in extreme cases, we have to do things we don't want to. You see, before you arrived, there was another boy we rescued. We were inexperienced and we thought we had it under control. When he was bitten, Ami brought him back here and tried to heal him. We didn't kill him until he turned…and it almost got one of us in the end. It was too close a call…"
Nodding slowly, Usagi looked down. She wasn't blaming them. Compared to these girls, she was such an apocalypse rookie. She thought she was all better when the fever was gone, but she didn't think that it would still be a possibility for her to turn.
"So, what is your proposal?" Usagi looked uneasily at the giant shackles on the dining table.
"If we let you go now, you will die. Simple as that. If you stay and let me lock you up in a room, we can wait to see if you will turn or not. Granted, we have never heard of anybody not turning into a zombie after a bite, but then again, without access to the usual information network, there was no way to tell for sure. Meanwhile, Ami and I could study you a bit, and maybe figure out why your wound was showing signs of healing…" Setsuna smiled slightly.
"What if I turn inside the house? Will those hold me?" Usagi looked at the group and saw fear in everyone's eyes. She thought of Chibiusa, and the little girl sleeping upstairs.."Maybe I should just leave…"
"We will take turns guarding the door. Ami and Setsuna will focus on the research. " Minako finally spoke up. She walked over with the shackles and tossed them to Usagi.
The room fell into awkward silence as the shackles clicked loudly as they locked. Usagi felt the extra weight and felt better. There was no way she could break out of these, Chibiusa and everyone would be safe.
"It's only for a little while, Usagi." Ami patted her on the back.
Usagi nodded and flashed a big smile at everyone. "Everything will be okay. I know." The smile faded as she turned and followed Minako to her new cell.
