Rifle

Chapter Thirteen

Elizah and Bant went to the lab together.
She led the way, though, since she seemed to be the only one the scientists trusted.
She still lacked the understanding as to why that was.

Bant noticed her wearing finger-gloves and a long-sleeved shirt; she was hiding her case. She had covered most of it up for a while, he didn't even know how infected she was anymore- which only made him worry all the worse. She was getting more and more sensitive about the topic- her hope was becoming more and more diluted with what she thought was reality.

The scientists noticed them outside of the lab. One stepped out and took his headgear off. It wasn't Thom, the scientist they had spoken to days before, this one looked sterner, and his appearance scared her a bit. They had all wondered, though, where Thom had gone.

"Where's To-" Elizah had started to speak, concerned. Immediately, though, before she could finish, the stern man started to shake his head back and forth. His eyes were sad, but he kept that straight face.

It wasn't that hard to figure out; Thom was dead.

Elizah brought her hands and covered her mouth, but the scientist only shook his head.
"Listen, we're all in this together, and we're willing to die to find that cure. We all knew about the risk of doing this and we accepted that."

"How did…?" She trailed off. She couldn't exactly put into words what she was asking. 'How did Thom Die?' she couldn't say it. It was hard to mention death at all anymore- with it seeming to be creeping up so close to them at every turn.

"One of the samples took him over…completely. We…" he looked away, obviously shamed. He rubbed his forehead. He seemed, to them, to have known Thom fairly well. It wasn't easy for him to let Thom go.

"You did what you had to do." Bant cut in, before the situation got anymore depressing. It was only going to make everyone upset- especially her. God knows what happens when Elizah's upset.

The scientist already knew it was his duty, but he still wondered why 'what he had to do' seemed to do more harm than good; seemed to cause more pain and stress than relief.

"Has there been any progress?" Bant asked. He was glad that this scientist was actually communicating with him. Thom had been so much more specific about talking to Elizah. He felt like he had more authority.

The scientist only shook his head from side to side- no progress had been made with experimenting on the flood. Nothing had gotten them closer to getting better. Nothing was helping.

She turned on her heel and ran away again. She hated it- all of it. She thought she might as well die at any moment. She would have rather experience being struck down by God than have to become a creature of the night. She kept running and running.

She didn't know, as always, where she was headed- in life… in the building… anywhere. She was just about to pass the waiting room before she stopped.

Kyle was there.

She hadn't seen him in forever.

"Hey Kyle!" she waved with one hand, her right hand. She was too sensitive about the Disease the wave with her left.
He waved back, silent. Why's he sad? She thought- I know what will cheer him up.

"When's the wedding?" She raised her eyebrows and turned her head almost completely to the left side. She always had fun teasing him about it, she knew about his cute obsession with Aron. The way he followed her around. She would usually joke with him about a "wedding" he didn't know about.

After awhile, when he had caught on, he would reply with 'tomorrow hopefully, I still need to ask'. She awaited this fun reply that they always had laughed at. She wasn't really as close to Kyle as Aron or Bant was- but she sure liked to tease people- and Kyle was very easy to be teased.

"What wedding?" He shrugged- a causal up and then down of his shoulders.
He hadn't responded like she wanted him to.

Wait…what?
She laughed, confused, but laughed. She wondered if he didn't remember- if he had just forgotten. She reasoned that it had been quite a long time since she had cracked that joke. Yeah, that had to be it. He forgot, right? Right.

"Whatever, I'll see you later." She walked away, a little worried. It had always worked on him. Always. Something was wrong. It felt weird- like the time Kyle and Bant started to argue on that mission. That wasn't like Kyle, either.
Aron went missing on that same mission.

Actually, it made more sense than she really wanted to admit. Kyle was on that mission and would've stuck by Aron's side no matter where she ran- even if she said something or did something he couldn't forgive. Kyle wouldn't let her walk off. He wouldn't let her be left alone.

Maybe he just forgot, she reasoned, it was just a joke.

No, that joke involved Aron, he wouldn't forget.

Who was that person she had just talked to, she wondered, because for sure, it wasn't Kyle. What bothered her more than the fake Kyle being there was that it had taken her so long to realize it.

She had to get away from there. Had to. She didn't know where to go or what to do.
She kept walking on and on. She couldn't run because of her fears. She was trapped in this hospital with a fake Kyle, and Lord-knows what else.
And Aron was missing.
Where did Aron go? Is she okay? How am I supposed to find my way without her? I'll get lost.

She didn't realize the signs or where she was walking to, but somehow she ended up back at the lab. She wondered if there was a reason she was back here.
Maybe there was.
Maybe there wasn't.
There was only a single way to be certain; and that was to wait and see.
Maybe there was a force pulling her there at that point in time, a secret force, that as she stepped around the corner to the hallway and saw Bant, a scientist stepped out of the lab- it was the same one they had talked to earlier that morning. He held a clipboard and had a worried look on his face. Elizah didn't like that look.

At that very moment, Bant stood up and walked over to the scientist, while, at the same time, Elizah approached from the corner she had stood halfway behind. She scurried and scuffled to get closer. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
She could only guess what had happened. Unsurprisingly, her guess was right.

"One of the samples has died. Again." He shook his head. "There's only one left, now."

Not only had one died, but also died so quickly- within the time she talked to…that person… and her running around the hospital. She wondered if she could have stopped it if she stayed behind. She wondered if it would have been any better if she had stayed there with Bant and waited.

No.

She had found a traitor among them. To her, she couldn't decide if that was really worth it- whether it was more important or not.
She turned her thoughts around.
What was done was done.
There was no way she could have stopped the sample from dying, either, but she still felt sort-of guilty.

The scientist returned to the work in the lab- cracking down codes- testing.
Bant sat down. He wondered what it meant to her, the dying sample, if she would run away this time, or if she'd finally get over it and realizes that everything wasn't going to go perfectly.
She had always wanted life to play out that way- prefect. Everything she wanted in life had to be perfect.

Why then, he wondered, did she become a soldier?

Once again, she confused him. She didn't even do anything to confuse him that time, it just happened between thoughts.
She sat down next to him, speechless.

Something was formulating in her brain, she felt like she was so close to the answer, yet so far away. It itched at her, almost as much as her hand did. Her hand started to tense up. She was afraid she would lose it- and then what would become of the perfection she craved?

Truly, though, she confused herself.
It wasn't just everyone else. She couldn't understand it either- her strange behavior- er strange thoughts- her strange everything.

"Bant." She leaned on him, she was breathing slowly. Her voice almost rang like a light bell. It would have been an intimate moment if the setting were right- if so many things hadn't gone wrong. No. They both felt a distance- they were almost as distant as strangers from each other.

"Hm?" He just adjusted his shoulders a little, and kept staring straight forward. It was as if time was stopping- slowing- life was swallowing them up. Time was what was killing them. They needed more time. Time to find a cure; time to find Kyle's research. Time.

"Pray with me?" He heard her ask. He turned his head slowly, but saw her staring right at his blue eyes- he own eyes were dull and bright. It was a strange thing to see.

Praying was something she did often. She believed in a God somewhere out there. He didn't, but he always prayed with her when she asked- it meant a lot to her, somehow. She believed that there was a God who could heal people and answer wishes, and who made and loved every living thing. If she felt like praying, then there was still hope.

Maybe it was that full shine in her eyes.

One thing he didn't understand about her view of a "God" was why He made the Flood- or why he let it come into existence. Those itching and evil parasites were what had thrown them into such turmoil in the first place. He hated the Flood.

"Sure."

"Dear Lord, please help us to find the cure, and find Aron, and Kyle, and that you'd hold Thom's soul in your hands. Amen."

Usually, her prayers weren't that short- but she felt it was appropriate that she didn't constantly push her beliefs on Bant. She had wanted him to see things the ways she did, but she didn't want to scare him away, either.
She had scared a lot of people away in her life.
She didn't want to repeat past mistakes.

Endlessly, it seemed, they sat there in silence.
After her short prayer- it had seemed that anything they could say to each other drifted away from their minds. Both of them just stared at the white wall ahead.

Bant's mind, though, began to formulate. It began to connect everything that had happened in the last few sleep-deprived months he had been through.

Kyle was researching the Flood.
The Flood caused the Pry.
Elizah and Aron have the Pry.
The Artifact mission was a miscommunication.
The artifact attracts Flood.
The second artifact repels Flood.
Trying hard to use the Flood.
Haza…found the artifacts.

The artifacts.

The arti-…

The artifacts!

Could they maybe be used to…!

"Elizah!" He halfway jumped out of his seat, but stopped, in fear she might fall over. She almost did. A smile was beginning to break over his face.

A solution.

Maybe even a solution to the Pry.

"What is it?" She groggily blinked. She had been falling asleep on his shoulder.
He had no idea how he missed that. She started to feel alarm, and immediately leaped out of her chair.

"I have an idea." He smiled at her, as he finished standing on his two feet.

To her the smile could only mean hope- there was something they could do. It meant there was possibly a way out. It meant an escape.

He grabbed her by the hand and went to knock on the lab door.