14. T-Virus
It took more strength, physically and mentally, for George to lift himself from the floor of his office, than all the running and fighting for his life he had done earlier that night. But that strength did not come of his own accord. Every step that he took to walk out of that office was with the aid of Cindy, who he knew was still shaking nervously. Before that night she never once touched a gun, much less fired one, and although she was more scared and frightened at the thought of having killed something, despite knowing full well Collette was already dead, she couldn't live with the idea of George's death coming without her lifting a finger to do something about it. Together they helped each other walk out of that office, holding each other close to ensure neither one of them saw the bleeding, mauled corpse of Collette.
After walking some distance, they rested in a lobby area, where George recomposed himself and remembered the strange letter he found in his inbox. He pulled it out from his inside jacket pocket and unfolded it, revealing an alarming number of pages that appeared to have been scribbled, very frantically, in plain handwriting that was difficult for George to read; the sender appeared to be in a great deal of stress at the time.
The letter was from Peter Jenkins, a colleague of his back in his days at the Raccoon University. Although he was never close to Peter, in fact he didn't take very well to him at all: he had only taken a few classes with him, wherein the two formed study groups. That was where he met Greg, a friend of Peter's, and the two had various heated debates over the ethics of science and the philosophy of life and death, discussions that, although intellectually fruitful and brilliant, were very intense and nearly led to physical violence between the two. George believe Greg was a madman; his ethical stance on a scientist's responsibility to others was atrocious. He saw no reason to strive for anything less than perfection, no matter what the cost, for he took the typically utilitarian view that in the end, mankind will benefit, and those who are destroyed are mere bugs on the windshield of progression, progression being a train that is ever speeding into the future. George tried his best to argue the opposing, but Peter's consistent support for Greg's stance gave him little reason to bother any further than that. Peter admired Greg immensely, and one could barely find Greg without Peter at his side, but George suspected Greg was only using Peter for his own devices rather than through actual friendship.
Greg also believed himself to be an artist, and saw the sciences and the arts as one in the same. George often referred to him as "Victor" in reference to Shelley's protagonist in the novel "Frankenstein." Greg was brilliant, George did not doubt that, perhaps more so than the fictional character he compared him to, and Greg had the kind of spirit any artist or scientist alike would envy; but that same drive, perhaps even obsession, resulted in Greg's suspension from the school after conducting unwarranted experiments using the school's facilities.
The letter, from what George could gather, explained a new kind of virus that was being developed by an organization named Umbrella. George found the name familiar, as the corporation had always had themselves involved, in some way or another, with much of the town's affairs. The virus was named the T-Virus, and its notable effects were the regeneration of dead cells. The letter explained various benefits of the virus, which George found fascinating, and explained that the virus had been administered under a controlled test area to determine its various effects on both people and a variety of animals. The letter further explained that a majority of humans reacted negatively to the virus, and would, over time, end their lives, then reanimate the dead cells and bring the body back to life in a much more basic, almost animal like state and increased the innate aggressiveness that lies within all humans, turning them into walking cadavers whose only drive is that of hunger.
The letter also explained the possibilities of a cure, which Peter had researched himself. He became aware of Umbrella's activities, and obtained a sample of the virus in secret. He spent weeks locked in a secret area of the University that only a scarce few knew about, researching to find a cure. The letter pleaded that George find him at the University before it was too late; he feared that reports of murders near town and the mansion incident, which he believed to be the "controlled" experiment Umbrella had conducted, were signs of an inevitable outbreak, and he had in the last few days found a way to cure the disease.
The letter also gave details on the possibility of testing people for the virus. It claimed that obtaining a sample of an individual's blood could confirm the presence of infection, and such a method could at least allow the element of surprise. It also mentioned briefly how to compare an uninfected sample with one of the virus.
"We can cure it," George said, speaking from the midst of his train of thought.
"What?" Cindy asked, confused.
"The T-virus. And we can test it too. You haven't been bitten by one of those things, have you?"
"No," Cindy said.
"Come on," George said, grabbing Cindy's hand. "I know where we can find the tools we need to conduct a test. It may prove useful."
The two trekked through the dark hospital cautiously until they reached the Equipment Room. George hesitated to enter at first, not out of fear for the creatures that lurked in the darkness, but out of the sheer pangs of remembrance for that day he and Cindy shared their sin. Cindy was hesitant as well, but neither of them said anything, and eventually they passed through the door. George collected various instruments and arranged them on a table. He then grabbed a needle and pricked himself, then let a single drop of blood fall into a beaker, where he mixed it in with a chemical made specifically to color or paint the presence of the T-Virus and distinguish its presence within a normal cell.
"Now," George said. "Let us take a sample of yours, Cindy."
Cindy nervously put her finger out, covering her eyes, her hand shaking violently.
"Please Cindy," George pleaded. "Hold still, or I might hurt you."
"I'm, I'm so sorry George," Cindy said, but couldn't resist from shaking.
George then pulled Cindy to him and kissed her cheek. Cindy opened her eyes wide, overcome with surprise and stared at George as if in a trance, during which George pricked the tip of her finger, although she gave little to no reaction to the pain.
George squeezed a drop of blood into another beaker, then mixed it. He then observed his sample under a microscope, and confirmed his fears.
"I am infected," he said. "But I don't understand. How?"
"Were you bitten?" Cindy asked.
"No," George said. "But, if I do recall, a large rat bit my finger not very long ago. Curious."
George then observed Cindy's sample under the microscope. The look of terror on his face raised the hairs on the back of Cindy's slender neck. George looked at her as if she were one of those zombies.
"No," George said. "It can't be."
"What is it?" Cindy asked.
"You're infected, too," George said, slumping into a stool. "How can this be? You weren't,"
George then looked down at Cindy's leg, which was bandaged.
"You were bitten?"
"A rat," Cindy said.
"I see. The rats, they were the vehicles that spread this disease. It just as Mark said, like the Black Plague."
"George," she said. "How much time do we have?"
"I don't know," George said. "Peter said in his letter, that the time in which one submits to the infection is determined by a number of factors, and even then the chance is always random and indeterminate. Either one of us could turn at any time."
Cindy became frightened for a moment, but then stepped towards George.
"I trust you, George," she said. "You wouldn't hurt anybody."
"Cindy," George said in a very serious tone, as if delivering his own funeral speech. "If, or when, I cease to be myself, I expect you to do the right thing, and destroy me. You will only be freeing my body of a harsh and cruel torment, my spirit will have long passed away. You will be killing my body, not my soul. You must promise me, Cindy."
Cindy's eyes began to tear up. "I can't, George," she said. "I just,"
"Please, Cindy."
Cindy thought in silence. "Okay George," she said. "I will, but only if you promise the same for me."
George felt her shifting the responsibility to him just as uncomfortable as she not doubt felt upon accepting his request.
"Fair enough," George said.
"But I promise George," she said, grabbing his hand. "I won't let you go, not ever. I still trust you, and I will until the end."
George squeezed her hand and smiled, but said nothing.
George gathered the instruments he need and packed them in a duffel bag he found in the back of the room.
"I still have those keys," he said. "One should be to the parking garage, and another should, I hope, allow us to access the room that holds the keys to the vehicles. We will make our way there, before,"
Suddenly a door in the back of the room burst open, and in strode the leech man, very sturdily and slowly. At first it didn't appear to notice them, and George and Cindy cautiously stepped away from it, until Cindy tripped over some instrument strewn on the floor and scraped her arm against the table, causing it to bleed. The monster suddenly stopped and raised its head as if smelling the air, then let out a shriek. It took incredible strides toward the two and stretched out its arms. George threw a stool at it, stunning it a bit, then helped Cindy get to her feet. He noticed the cut on her elbow, then looked at the monster, whose attention was suddenly turned to the blood samples he had left on the table.
"It wants blood," George said. He then ran to a cabinet, pulling Cindy with him, and pulled out a blood pack. The monster leaped onto one of the tables and let out a shriek, when George ripped the pack open and let its contents onto the tabletop. The monster then hungrily slurped and sucked at the exposed plasma, its attention completely consumed by the crimson liquid. George stuffed a few more packs into his bag and took Cindy out, trying to help her cover up her injury. The two then ran to the elevator and closed the door, then let out a sigh of relief.
"Of course," he said. "It's covered in leeches, it's attracted to our blood. That is why it attacked Hursh. But it appears we're safe for now."
No sooner did George utter those words than did a panel above their heads burst open, a shower of leeches filling the elevator. Cindy screamed as George looked up to find the monster there again.
"But how!" George said. "It couldn't have caught up to us!"
Cindy stomped on the leeches as George fired his gun at the monster that stood on top of the elevator, each blast only sending more of its spawns into the cramped elevator. Several leeches began to cling to Cindy's legs as she tried desperately to kick them off. The monster began to bash each panel until it had enough room to climb in, when George hit the emergency stop button, sending the monster crashing down into the elevator with great force. George then opened the elevator doors as the monster tried to regain itself, then slipped him self and Cindy through the narrow opening from the elevator to the parking garage floor. Once there George dropped a blood pack on the floor, and in an instant the leeches relieved their spots on Cindy and slithered towards the pool of blood.
George and Cindy then ran through the garage until George spotted a door. He sifted through the ring's keys, testing each one, until he found the right one and opened the door. Inside was a small, compact room that contained more keys to the ambulances. George grabbed one, then sped off down the parking area when the leech creature suddenly emerged from around a corner directly in front of them. George pulled out a blood pack and held it in front of the monster, who became visibly excited. George then handed Cindy the key to the ambulance.
"Hurry," he said. "Go start the ambulance, I'll keep it distracted."
Cindy complied and ran off toward the ambulances sitting in the back of the garage. George then held the pack in front of him as he stepped backward, leading the creature away from Cindy. He then flung the pack to the side and ran, letting the monster follow it, when a second leech man suddenly dropped from a vent overhead.
"Two of you!" he said, looking at the monster, whose face was partly revealed. "Hursh!" he said, recognizing the lifeless and vacant face. Finding himself without any means of defense, George turned to run when the monster sent its long, extendable arm of leeches into his back, knocking him to the ground. George tried to crawl away from it, only to find it standing over him. He closed its eyes as it stretched its arms out to pounce on him.
"George! MOVE!"
George spotted Cindy, driving an ambulance full speed towards them. George rolled aside as the monster shrieked at its hulking metallic assailant, only moments later to be smashed between the front of the vehicle and the concrete wall of the garage, sending glass and shrapnel everywhere.
George got to his feet and noticed fire emanating from the engine of the ambulance to see Cindy's unconscious body slumped against the steering wheel, her head bleeding but resting against an air bag. George opened the door and pulled her out, along with the duffel bag and the key, and helped her move away from the ambulance. The leech man let out a final shriek as the ambulance exploded in a burst of flames.
George helped Cindy into another ambulance, tying her in and turning it on. He drove it down the garage until he reached the metal gate that blocked the garage exit. He stopped the ambulance and ran down to the security station and flicked the switch, allowing the gate to slowly rise. Upon his return to the ambulance, he saw the second leech man stride quickly towards him. George then ran quickly to the ambulance and started it, begging the gate to open faster as the monster approached. Soon the door to the back of the van came ripped open and the monster put one grotesque foot in.
"Never!" George said, stepping on the gas. The ambulance quickly jerked forward, causing the leech man to lose his footing and cling to the other door at the back of the ambulance, the top of it scraping hard against the metal gate. George then drove up the long hill to the surface, glancing back at the monster, who was slowly pulling itself in to the ambulance. Using its extendable arms, it clasped onto a surface in the ambulance and pulled itself in as George approached the outer large, back parking yard, which was filled entirely with a sea of zombies. The leech man slowly approached, smelling the blood that seeped from Cindy's forehead. George began to panic as he looked back at the monster and then forward at the sea of undead, then quickly hit the brakes, sending the leech man spiraling forward and crashing through the windshield. Its hulking body rolled over the hood of the ambulance and it collapsed directly in front of the sea of zombies. Each of them turned towards it, and as if out of fright the monster struggled to get to its feet. Soon the horde was on it, biting and scraping, the monster trying desperately to ward off their attacks, until they consumed it, pulling it to the ground as it let out a horrific shriek that echoed through the night air and blood seeping from the mass of bodies that covered it. George could barely believe his own eyes, when he noticed another mob approaching him. He then backed the ambulance up and drove off to his right, plowing through the zombies as a ship plows the sea, the disheartening and sickening thuds of their bodies being crushed, mangled, and mutilated by the wheels and front of the ambulance. George tried to remind himself that they weren't human, and proceeded to plow through the mass of human bodies until he reached the chain linked exit gate, which he burst through with relative ease.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw long streaks of blood and gore where his path through the sea of people was, the mob of zombies still sluggishly pursuing him but none of which was able to cling to the vehicle. He let out a sigh of relief and looked over to Cindy, who was beginning to wake up.
"What," she said, awakening from a daze. "George, are you okay?"
"Don't push yourself," George said. "You may have a concussion. It was foolish of you to do something so reckless, Cindy. You put yourself, and even my own life at risk. You could have killed us both in that insane collision. You know that don't you?"
Cindy sat looking at him sadly, unable to understand George's anger. George shut his eyes and realized his foolishness.
"I'm sorry Cindy," he said. "I, just don't want you to risk yourself for me like that ever again. You could have killed yourself, but you saved my life."
George put his hand out and wrapped it around hers.
"Thank you, Cindy. I am forever in your debt."
Cindy looked down at their interlocked hands and back at George, the blood now running along her cheek.