Chapter 12 – Part 2

"Dr Mayford?" Carl calls from behind a lingering crowd of people who just received the cure.

Dr. Mayford's head turns towards the call and his eyes expectedly light up with excitement and curiosity as he spots Maddy beside me. Her hand in mine, we walk together over to the Doctor; pushing through the crowd.

"Maddy… I can't believe it…"

I sigh, "I can't believe it either. I was hoping maybe you might know how… how this is possible?"

"How –how long have you been alive for?" He asks, ignoring my first question. I screw my eyebrows in confusion but then say, "I don't know. A while I guess? It took me a while to realize what happened and then I had to track you guys down…"

"We can take a scan of your brain inside my caravan; we changed it into a mobile lab, sort of." He suggests and I nod in agreement as Carl and I follow behind. We snake around people until we approach a large but oddly furnished looking caravan. I smell the chemicals as we enter through the doorway.

He gestures to a strange looking chair, like it was ripped out of a dentist's room and screwed to the floor. I shrug, remembering that we don't exactly have as many resources now. "This will be real quick."

"I thought brain scans take forever…?"

"Not with my equipment." He pulls out a black rectangle with wires poking out from underneath. He holds it above my head; black side facing downwards. I hear a few clicks and buzzes while I squeeze Carl's hand before he slides the gadget over to the computer and loads the picture up onto the screen. I strain my neck to see the x-ray but Dr. Mayford blocks my vision as he scribbles things down onto a pad of paper.

"Alright Maddy… the results aren't actually that surprising."

I screw my eyebrows together, does that mean its good news or bad news?

He shoves the photo of my brain into my line of sight, and where excess lump was removed is now filled again. "Remember how I told you that this part of the brain is where the virus grew? And latched itself deep inside?"

I nod my head and so does Carl, vaguely remembering that horrible day of good news, bad news and every bit of news in between.

"When we removed that lump, the virus became active and began to spread all over your brain as I explained that day which would have killed you instantly. But, just like before, as the virus started to grow again, your brain developed an exact replica of that cure to recover it and stop the overgrowth thus making you immune again and well –alive."

I let go of Carl's hand and I feel the anxiety rise up in my stomach. "So, that's good, right?"

"You're back to normal, the same as you were before." He confirms and the anxiety slowly diminishes.

"Phew… I guess you're right; it's not that surprising that it happened again."

"Why don't we celebrate? They're holding a big feast tonight in their rec hall, we were invited to stay."

I turn to Carl and he nods, "I'm sure my Dad wouldn't mind. I mean, its food; who wouldn't accept?" Carl gives me a reassuring smile before he leaves the caravan to go talk to his father.

"So, how long have you guys been doing this for?" I ask, curiosity seeping through my words.

Dr. Mayford starts shuffling things around, writing things down and pushing pots and glasses around the steel table situated in the middle of the room. "It's been six months."

"So you've been doing it since right from the beginning…"

"Pretty much, it wasn't too difficult to replicate the cure. Once we traded some for goods we were able to trade those good for supplies we needed to make more." He pulls out a long sheet of paper and spreads it across the table. Things brings my attention and I try to peer over his shoulder. I see a few diagrams of the brain and various scribbles around it before he rolls it shut and gives me a glare.

"Uh…"

"Sorry, I'm just working on something that is very-

"Dad said we could stay for the night." Carl says as he walks in. "Do you wanna see our room?" He directs his words to me.

I nod my head and mumble a goodbye to the suspicious Mayford and follow Carl to our room. "We share it with the rest of the crew; the adults have another room."

"Cool." I reply, Carl reaches for my hand but I pretend to itch the back of my neck. I see the frown out of the corner of my eye and immediately regret it.

"Are you OK?" He asks, sincerity laced through his voice.

I stumble for words, "I- I'm just a little tired and overwhelmed."

"I'm not surprised, a lot has happened in the past five hours." He continues.

"I just want to sleep." I suggest, "But I'm also hungry."

"How about we feed ourselves silly, we deserve it, and then hit the sack early?" He suggests right back.

"You sure know how to please a woman."

Carl goes slightly red but soon shakes it off with a bit of laughter, "Oh how I missed you."

I slip my hand in his, "Right back at you."

So yeah... I still kind of care about this story since there's so many awesome reviews and views. I'd like to thank you guys a lot, for every review you've written and even just taking the time to read it. I don't know if this will be the last chapter or not; I don't really want to end it yet. And I've got ideas to keep it running but it all depends on my motivation in the end. Give me ideas or your thoughts, usually that kind of thing motivates me. Seriously, feel free to say whatever you want.

Like always, hope you liked it.