Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. I don't own I Am Legend, I was merely inspired by it. This story is mine. Kind reviews are always appreciated!
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Chapter Two: The Fate of Us
After skinning and cleaning the warthog carcass, Sora left the treatment room and headed to his own section of the house Even shared with him to shower. It took the better part of an hour to wash off all the blood, mud, sweat, and other filth. He used the rest of the hour to just cool off.
He finally trooped back towards the lab where Even was, filth-free and in cleaner clothes. The lab was located in the lowermost part of the house and accounted for half of the basement itself. Even was hunched over his computer with his back to Sora when Sora strode in. He looked up as Sora approached.
"Still crabby?" Even asked.
Sora offered a rueful half-smirk. It still struck him dumb sometimes when he looked at Even. The man had just popped onto Destiny Islands not long after Sora and Riku had defeated Xemnas, with no knowledge of the four years before that. One could see just by looking at him that Vexen had been his Nobody. They looked freakishly similar, but there were definite differences. Even wore his long, dirty blond hair back in a low ponytail, and he wore narrow spectacles for reading lab charts.
"I'm not crabby. It's just hot." Sora said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the file cabinets. "What's the latest?"
Even handed Sora the chart he had been looking at. "I tried the latest formula on thirty rabbits, all of which were confirmed to be infected."
Sora glanced over the squiggles and science gibberish on the chart, "And?"
Even sighed, "The formula killed ten outright, another fifteen remained unchanged, and it actually worsened the symptoms in three cases."
Sora did the math, "And the final two?"
Even rubbed the bridge of his nose, "The final two showed signs of lessening symptoms. Lowered body temperature, regulation of UV light sensitivity, diluted aggression, normal respiration, and more constricted pupils than those with the virus."
Sora handed the charts back, "So…stage two of testing then?"
Even winced, looking almost apologetic, "Yes."
Sora offered a thin grin, "C'mon, Even. We've done this eight times already. I haven't died yet…permanently anyway."
Even rolled his eyes, "That's not funny, Sora."
Sora snickered, striding over to where the testing rabbits were kept. Ten of the cages were empty. Eighteen of the cages were rattling violently. The creatures inside, the infected rabbits, were thrashing against the cage, fighting to get to Sora. Hairless, pale things, they repeatedly smashed their heads, claws, and teeth against the cages, breathing excessively and snarling.
That was the fate of the infected. Sora sighed, looking down at the crook of his elbow. He could almost see the pockmarks from the repeated shots he'd taken to further the cause of finding the cure. Thus far, none of his sacrifice had paid off. Not even made a difference. Obviously.
"All right. Let's get this over with so I can kill you and bring you back to life." Even muttered without humor.
Sora sauntered over to the medical table where monitors and resuscitation equipment were stationed at the ready. While Even checked the equipment and readied the syringe with a look of slight distaste, Sora hopped up on the table and started strapping himself in.
Even had designed eight formulas, eight potential cures for the seemingly incurable virus, this one now being the ninth. Even wanted to test his antidotes against real patients, who truly had the virus and would give truer results. Unfortunately, neither he nor Sora could get within a hundred meters of their former fellows without getting mauled or maimed or killed.
Sora and Even were immune. Even could find no DNA evidence to support why they were immune. The virus simply wasn't interested in them. After an incident, they discovered that when Sora contracted the virus, he suffered a grand total of an hour before his body voided the effects. That usually gave them an hour for Even to test his trial antidotes, using Sora as a lab rat. So far, he'd been tested on eight times. Eight times he'd flatlined and Even had been forced to resuscitate him. Sora knew that put a lot of strain on Even's conscience, but it had to be done.
Sora pulled his shirt off and laid back, tensing slightly as the cold metal of the table contacted his bare back. "All right. Hook me up." He said with mock enthusiasm.
Even was still mumbling to himself as he placed the electrode monitors on Sora's forehead, shoulders, chest, and arms. He checked the restraints that locked Sora's wrists and ankles to the table, making sure they were secure.
"I feel kinda like the Hulk, all strapped in like this." Sora attempted to lighten the mood.
Even wouldn't buy it. He tested the syringe, "You know the drill. Try not to flatline this time."
Sora smirked, "I always try."
He closed his eyes, feeling the overhead light hitting his eyelids. He calmed his breathing and braced himself. All the time he knew there was no bracing himself for this. He felt a little poke in the crook of his elbow as Even slid the needle containing the virus into Sora's veins.
It would take only a minute or so to start feeling the effects of the virus, and Sora settled his shoulders against the table. Even withdrew the needle and Sora listened to him moving around the lab, keeping his eyes closed.
He tried not to focus on the slow burning sensation spreading up his arm. The virus had entered his bloodstream and was being pumped through his veins to the rest of his body. That was the worst part, the wait. It would start slow, creeping up his arm, through his chest, and all across the rest of his body. As soon as the virus had effectively permeated him, Even would administer the prospective antidote.
Sora didn't like thinking about what happened after that, so he instead let his mind shift to how hot it had been today. He bet he'd sweat off five pounds just walking around out there, not to even get into carrying that carcass back. The thing had been bleeding all the way, so he would probably have to get out there and clear off the bloody tracks so that they didn't lead directly to him and Even. Maybe the sun had boiled the blood away. That sure would make things easier.
A stab of annoyance and irritation flared up Sora's spine and he gritted his teeth.
Even must have noticed. "Easy." He offered nonchalantly, a few steps away.
Sora's temper flashed up again. What did that idiot know? He wasn't the one being used as a lab rat. Even had no idea what Sora had been through. He hadn't seen his friends lose their minds as they became infected. He had never been up close to the infected.
Sora felt the urge to free himself from the straps and attack Even for being so casual about this business. He knew the straps were thick and there was no freeing himself, Sora still wanted to thrash around and destroy something. The surge of aggression was strong and made his pulse pound. He started breathing heavily, his lungs not seeming able to satisfy his body's thirst for oxygen.
The reasonable part of his mind knew this was the virus setting in. The part of his mind being affected by the virus didn't care. He just wanted to attack something. Did Even have to shine that light down on him like that? Wasn't it bad enough he was lying there, strapped down, unable to breathe properly, that he had to try to burn his skin off with that damned light?
A strangled groan escaped Sora's lips at his inability to move his limbs.
"All right." Even soothed.
He kept speaking, but his voice was muffled by the pounding of Sora's pulse between his ears. This was a mistake. He shouldn't have done this. This was finally the test that was going to kill him. Maybe that was a good thing. He hadn't made any progress in the last three years to help his friends and family who'd fallen to the virus. He had been no help at all. What a fitting way for the immune to die, by injecting himself for the sake of science and for finding a cure.
Cold fingers were touching his elbow. Sora recoiled involuntarily, then tried to lash out at the touch. Who was that? Why were they touching him? Why were they so cold? Why was he strapped to this horrid table? Where was he? He couldn't remember.
The fingers tightened around his arm, holding him still at the same time a tiny prick of pain poked at the crook of his elbow. Was that a needle? What was he being injected with? By whom? How—
From the point where the needle had punctured, it felt like someone had touched a match to the gasoline running through his veins. Fire licked through the insides of his arm, setting his bones aflame. It rushed thirstily up his arm, around his shoulder, and started attacking his chest.
Sora threw his head back as far as he could, connecting it solidly to the table under him, and screamed. The pain hit his chest like a battering ram, knocking what little air he had from his lungs. He arched his back and gripped the edges of the table with his hands as tight as he could.
Heat rushed across his skin, like the fire in his blood was trying to escape through his pores. His eyes flew open and the light above was blinding. Daggers of light stabbed his eyes and he jerked his head to the side, clenching his eyes closed, screaming in agony.
Then the pain reached his core and the cold fingers of death wearing the gloves of unconsciousness swept over him, silencing his cries and ripping all the heat from his body in one fell swoop. Sora felt the life leave his body.
A moment passed. Perhaps an eternity passed. It was hard to gauge time when you were dead, but suddenly life was being forced back into his body.
A new pain hammered into his chest, sending a brief pulse through his system. His heart wasn't interested in beating again, so it ignored the artificial pulse. But the force came again, harder now, and Sora felt his body jerk in response. His throat felt full of cotton and his thoughts were muddled.
"Come on. Come on, come on, breathe, you idiot." Someone was hissing above him.
Was that Even? Was he dead too? Another force pumped against his chest and this time his heart responded. It felt like he was being hit by lightning. Life flooded back through him as his body remembered how to function.
He had to breathe.
He jerked, gagging for air. He couldn't move for the straps around his wrists and ankles. Then someone was clawing at the straps, releasing his limbs and rolling him onto his side on the table.
"That's it. Easy. Easy." Even's voice was close.
Sora breathed in short, shallow pulls, lying in a weak, sore heap while Even checked his pulse and ran some other vital tests as was routine. Through the foggy mess of his mind, Sora clawed his way to the surface.
"W-Well?" He coughed out, his throat suddenly dry and sore.
Even wordlessly helped him sit up and handed him a glass of water as soon as his hands stopped shaking.
"Well—obviously THAT formula didn't work either." Even finally muttered; all the blood had drained from his face and a shadowed expression had clouded his eyes.
Sora swallowed the water slowly, letting it soften the raw nerves of his throat. Upon hearing Even's words, he dropped his head, that familiar wave of disappointment crashing over him now as well.
"So, nothing? Not even a repression?" Sora croaked out hoarsely.
"I just killed you again for no reason." Even muttered.
Sora sighed, rolling his neck and flexing all of his muscles to make sure everything was working properly. That was it then. Another failure. More sacrifice and effort for null.
That was the fate of the immune.