Chapter 12

Elliot woke up on a hospital bed, but only allowed her eyes to open for long enough to realize she was in some sort of clinic surrounded by strangely familiar faces also lying down hospital beds. Voices were coming her way, and she closed her eyes and pretended to remain unconscious while focusing on slowing her heart rate so as not to raise an alarm. She knew something wasn't right, and her head was killing her.

"You're telling me we're missing Jarmont, of all people? You understand that she is the worst possible person to lose, don't you?" Something about this woman's voice rang an alarm in Elliot's subconscious, arousing an impulse to stand up straighter and talk professionally. The voice also sounded like it belonged to a person who was on the verge of breaking down. The response that followed sounded scared out of its mind.

"Chief, that's not the only person we're missing. There's a janitor that's also unaccounted for."

"Who the hell cares about some janitor when we have a crazy mad-woman that is probably the most dangerous woman on the planet for me right now? And if anyone is dangerous to me, they're dangerous to you, Timelyson. Besides, those custodians don't have any idea what you guys are doing."

"Were doing. But ma'am, you don't understand. Jarmont might be the worst person on the world for you right now, but that janitor wasn't just some sad loser off the street, like the rest of the cleaning staff. He was a test subject in our most important study to date. He was found unconscious in an apartment building, the sole survivor of a small outbreak in Alaska. The ice stopped the infected from getting out of the town, but when the team arrived for clean-up the only person alive was this young college student locked in his own closet, passed out. He was covered in bites, but they were all several days old, much too long for him to still be alive. They almost shot him on the spot, but when they realized he was breathing they packed him up and brought him in. We treated him and even got rid of any scars. He had contracted the virus, but hadn't reanimated. So we wiped his memory, and we even got him a job. He thinks he dropped out of college, and works normal hours. What he doesn't know is that we would do tests at night then wipe his memory afterwards. It was top secret, and only I and two other people in the research department knew about it. Jarmont must have found out about it somehow and taken him hostage. She has a fiancée, ma'am. I know in most situations he would be the first place to look, but that janitor is more important than anything else right now." Timelyson was cut off by violent hacking from the chief.

"Chief Fritz, you only have about an hour left before we need to get you in isolation."

"Shut the hell up, Timelyson, this mess is all your fault. Goddammit, I am not going to die. You're damn lucky you convinced me that killing all these people wasn't as good a solution as wiping their memories. You have a few hours to come up with a cure, or you're left with an outbreak larger than you've ever seen and no annihilation squad to get rid of it and- did she just twitch? Aren't these people comatose for the next six hours?"

Elliot's head erupted into a string of curses as she tried to remain still, but could feel her heart beginning to race.

"I think Elliot is coming out of it, chief."

"Dammit, of course Greenwall would be the one to wake up early. Wipe her, Timelyson. I think we're done here. You know how to contact me. Get that janitor, and get Jarmont, or all hell will break loose and you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

Elliot flinched as she felt a needle insert in her neck, and her eyes opened to look directly into Timelyson's face, who stared back in horror. Elliot blacked out before she could even hear Timelyson begin to apologize.

Nathon ran into the back room, and saw Elliot sprawled over several crates that smelled terrible. When he reached her, she was unconscious, and there was a zombie with its face blown in hanging from a trap door more than ten feet above them, dripping dangerously near to Elliot's unprotected face. He quickly pulled her towards him and away from the ladder and area anywhere remotely near the zombie. A quick examination of Elliot verified that she wasn't bleeding and was breathing. Nathon grabbed her under her knees and around her shoulders, and he carried her to the front of the store.

With some difficulty he opened the backseat door to her car and placed her inside across the seats. She looked to be okay, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He refused to stay in that house alone with Sarah. He closed the door carefully, made sure the trunk was shut, and got into the driver's seat, where he rejoiced to find that Elliot had left the keys on the dash. He turned on the ignition and exited the parking lot, driving as fast as he dared back to Elliot's house.

He kept an eye on Elliot in the rear view mirror, who appeared to be stirring. As he looked up to turn the corner onto Elliot's block, he immediately regretted it. Disbelief and terror consumed him as he braked sharply at the sight of the scores of zombie huddled around the gates, and at Sarah standing on the roof, shooting at them with fervor.