Chapter 7 – Antidote
A/N: IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ! So this chapter is CHOCK FULL of really, really important details that come to play in later chapters, especially in Caroline's apocalyptic POV. So if you're one of those people that skims through dialogue, maybe skim a little slower in this chapter. Okay that's all, please remember to review!
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"Surprise!"
Elena and Katherine's Aunt Jenna jumped in fright as she stepped into her apartment, only to be met by her nieces, Caroline, and her husband Alaric all dressed in party hats, balloons all over the ceiling.
"What is this?" Jenna exclaimed with a huge grin on her face, squealing as the three girls came over and attacked her with hugs. "I thought you guys were in New York and couldn't make it for my birthday! Did you plan this?" She asked Alaric.
"Oh no, it was all the girls." He said fondly. "I just picked them up at the airport."
"Aunt Jenna we've missed you so much!" Elena said, still hugging one of her favorite people in the world tightly.
"Guys, you're going to make me cry." Jenna mumbled, wiping under her eyes as Caroline laughed. "This is like, the best birthday present ever!"
"Oh this isn't all of it." Katherine said with a smirk, putting her hand on her hip. "We've got so much booze Jenna, you wouldn't believe – "
"Okay you alcoholic, how about we let her open her other presents before we break out the hard stuff." Caroline teased, ignoring Katherine as she flipped her off.
The night went well for the next few hours - lots of presents, lots of laughing, and lots of drinking. Mostly the girls were teasing Alaric since he was the only guy there.
When it was about ten at night though there was a knock at the door.
"Who is that?" Jenna asked, to which everyone shrugged. "Did you guys invite someone else?"
Alaric stood up and made his way to the door only to open it and reveal none other than Damon.
"Damon?" Elena asked incredulously, standing up. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize." He said quickly, striding over to his girlfriend in just a few steps. "Oh and, happy birthday Jenna."
Jenna grinned in amusement and waved at him from her seat on the couch.
"You flew all the way out here from New York just to apologize for a fight?" Elena questioned disbelievingly.
"It wasn't just any fight Elena, you and I both know that. I'm here to say I'm sorry and also so much more." He said softly, raising a hand to caress her cheek gently, his blue eyes full of emotion. "I didn't mean what I said before. You know I see a future with you Elena. It's all I've seen since the day we met."
Elena was silent, staring up at her boyfriend of three years with a shocked expression. When the topic of long term commitment ever came up, Damon turned tail and ran at the idea. He loved Elena, that much was sure, but in the days past the topic of perhaps getting married one day had come up and he had said several things he didn't mean, breaking her heart for what seemed like the hundredth time.
The sweet moment between them was broken though when Caroline and Jenna let out a chorus of "aww"s and Katherine burst out in a fit of drunken giggles.
Before anyone could tease the couple further though, a piercing siren cut through the air.
"What the hell?" Alaric mumbled, going over to look out the window. Suddenly there was an explosion outside that shook the building and everyone jumped.
"What's going on?" Caroline asked hurriedly. "What was that?"
"Turn on the TV." Damon ordered, Jenna jumping up and turning on the flat screen.
The news came on immediately, an emergency announcement of some kind. There was a news anchor talking on the screen.
"For those of you just tuning into this emergency broadcast event, major cities all over the world are facing catastrophe."
Another explosion went off outside and the group heard more sirens and screaming from below. Elena was clutching onto Damon, asking him a hundred questions he didn't have the answer to. Alaric had disappeared into a back room as soon as he had heard the explosions, and Katherine was moving closer to Caroline, instantly sobering up.
"What is that?" Katherine asked slowly, watching a crappy definition footage play on the television screen.
"What you're watching," the news anchor said, "Is a leaked piece of footage from one of Dr. Wes Maxfield's labs in Atlanta. You may know Dr. Maxfield as the creator of the so called miracle cancer cure. His creation was no cure though. As you can see here, these patients have become zombie like in appearance, and have no cognitive functioning to distinguish who is friendly and who is their enemy. It's almost like they're… infected somehow."
"Here, everyone take one of these." Alaric suddenly spoke, walking into the room and tossing Damon an automatic weapon, which he caught instantly.
"What the hell!" Caroline shouted, her voice reaching a ridiculously high octave. "What are you doing Ric? I don't have any idea what – "
"Caroline." He interrupted her harshly, coming to stand right in front of the girl. "I know you're not exactly processing what's going on right now, but there are bombs going off outside. We have to get out of this city right now."
"Jeremy." Katherine suddenly whispered, whipping her head around to Elena. "Jeremy is in the city, he's probably on campus. We have to find him!"
"We will." Ric said instantly. "We'll find him, get in a car and start heading East. But right now we have to leave."
Caroline's mouth floundered open and closed. Ten minutes ago they were all laughing about the time Katherine asked their history teacher Mr. Tanner if he wanted to get high with her, and now they were handing out guns, and bombs were going off outside, and all she really wanted was for someone to explain to her what the hell was going on.
"What has put the country in a state of emergency," the news anchor continued, "Is that in almost every single major city that Dr. Maxfield had these zombie-esque patients in has had an escape in the past twelve hours. It was unknown to Maxfield that the Infection could be passed on through direct contact such as biting, scratching, and the like."
There was a dramatic pause where the camera zoomed in on the anchor's face.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We are is in the midst of one of the greatest worldwide catastrophes the world has ever faced. Martial law has been declared, the government is bombing major cities where these Infected have begun to spread, and your electricity and running water may very well be going out soon. Find your loved ones, find somewhere safe. Safe from what we have dubbed…The Outbreak."
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Caroline walked through Whitmore with a bright smile on her face despite the cloudy day. Once she had gotten back to her and Katherine's shared room the night before, she had completely passed out for a solid twelve hours until the sun started to rise. She had dreamt of the New York City skyline and blue eyes and British accents that called her "love."
But then her dream was interrupted when Katherine had shaken her awake asking what she found out about Elijah.
And now she was on her way to meet Tyler from the night before, who was going to take her to see some doctor that needed a nurse or something like that. The whole situation was really vague, and she was still annoyed that she couldn't place where she had heard the name Maxfield from.
The day was bleak, clouds covering the area that would most likely bring them rain in the next couple of hours. Normally that would terrify Caroline, but within the walls she felt safe. Every few hours or so she would hear a few shots ring out and know that one of the patrols had shot down an Infected from a safe distance away. And despite how twisted of her it may be, she always smiled at that thought.
"Caroline!" She heard Tyler call out to her from next to the well, smiling brightly at her. She smiled back at him, but not too much. She didn't want to give this guy the wrong idea.
"Hey, Tyler." She said kindly. "So, off to see Dr. Maxfield?"
"Yeah, his lab is right this way." He gestured towards a small brick building to the right of the well. To the left of the wall was the check in station by the main entrance.
"Okay so who is this guy and why does he work in a lab?" Caroline asked while they walked.
"You don't know?" Tyler responded incredulously, furrowing his brow at her. "You don't remember who Wes Maxfield is? From before The Outbreak?"
"Well I mean his name sounds so familiar, but I just can't place it." She said frustratedly, stepping through the door that Tyler opened for her politely.
The door was really just an entryway to a very creepy looking set of stairs that led underground. Caroline looked over her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow at Tyler. He laughed at her expression.
"Don't worry, his lab is underground for safety reasons, you'll be fine."
Caroline shrugged and stepped into the building, walking down the stairs slowly, hearing distant voices.
"And trust me," Tyler continued with a bitter chuckle, "You'll recognize who Wes is when you see him."
"…the results were inconclusive, Enzo."
"Inconclusive my ass!" Caroline heard Enzo's voice at the bottom of the steps. "You're the bloody doctor, why isn't she getting better?!"
"Enzo?" Caroline called out as she reached the bottom of the steps and peered around the corner, seeing her guide speaking to – well, more like yelling at – a man with blonde hair in a white lab coat.
"Caroline." He greeted her with a warm smile. "How lovely to see you."
"Yeah, you too." She murmured, looking around the room curiously. It was definitely a lab that much was for sure. There were test tubes and vials and a cooler with dry ice on the floor holding who knows what. She also saw thick steel double doors on the opposite side of the room and she briefly wondered what was behind them.
"Wes, this is Caroline Forbes." Tyler introduced her to the doctor. "She's offered to be your new…nurse."
"Ha!" Enzo barked out a laugh sarcastically. "Caroline really? You want to be a nurse for this bloody arsehole?"
"Enzo, relax." The doctor urged. "She's showing improvement everyday - "
"But she's still Infected isn't she!" Enzo roared back.
"Woah, woah, woah." Caroline said quickly, holding up her hands to make the men be quiet. "Can someone please explain to what the hell is going on, who the hell he is, and why the hell I'm here?"
All three boys were silent for a few moments.
"I'm Dr. Wes Maxfield." The blonde man finally spoke, extending his hand which Caroline shook slowly. "I was a scientist before The Outbreak and I have…experience, you could say, with the virus that makes the Infected…well, infected."
"If that isn't the vaguest statement you've ever said in your life." Enzo grumbled, rolling his eyes as he leaned back against the wall.
"Wait, experience?" Caroline asked. "How do you have experience with the…"
She trailed off, eyes widening as she began to realize.
'…You may know Dr. Maxfield as the creator of the so called miracle cancer cure. His creation was no cure though…'
"Now you remember who he is." Tyler murmured under his breath in a disgruntled tone.
Wes had the audacity to look apologetic as Caroline glared at him, still processing her revelation.
"Now Miss Forbes, I assure you – "
He was cut off as Caroline launched her fist forward and connected it with his jaw as hard as she could, sending the doctor sprawling to the ground.
"Oh damn." Tyler hissed, bringing his hand up to his mouth in shock. Enzo burst out laughing and held up a hand to high five Caroline to which she just glared at him.
Wes groaned from the ground, glancing up briefly at Caroline's still fuming expression.
"You know you would think after that happening about fifteen times since The Outbreak I would be used to it, but it never hurts any less."
"Good." Caroline seethed, stalking towards Wes as he stood up. "You're the reason for everything." She hissed, reveling in the terror that showed up in his eyes. "You're the reason that I had to watch my friend Jenna be shot by her own husband. You're the reason," she shoved his chest with both hands, "One of my friend's doesn't know where his brother is. You're the reason," Another shove, "that I hear my best friend cry every night because she doesn't know if she'll ever see her husband again. You're the reason," Wes was against the wall now and Caroline just inches from his face, "I haven't seen the love of my life in eight months and I don't know if he's dead or alive!"
The room was deathly silent, the only sound was Wes' labored breathing.
"You're the reason for the apocalypse." Caroline said with finality, looking right into his eyes.
Having the decency to look ashamed, Wes looked down at the ground, his jaw already starting to swell.
"I know." He whispered. "Trust me, I know. And now I'm trying to fix it."
"Oh yeah and how is that?"
"By creating a cure." Enzo answered from behind her with crossed arms and a stern expression. "An actual cure that is, one that works. And surprisingly enough, he's been making progress. Slowly."
"Slow progress is still progress." Wes shot at him. "I've designed an antidote to the Infection."
"A cure?" Caroline asked immediately, eyes lighting up in shock.
"No, not quite." Wes sighed. "An antidote is different than a cure. What I've created is only effective if administered within the first six hours of Infection."
"So…that means you can fix them if you get to them like, right after their nose starts bleeding?"
"Precisely." He said with a slight smile.
"Don't stop there." Enzo murmured. "Tell her the rest."
"The rest?" Caroline whipped around to Wes. "What does that mean?"
"The antidote has some…variables, to it." He said vaguely. "If administered in the right timeframe, it can keep the Infection from spreading, no doubt. But it isn't capable of removing what Infection is already in their blood stream."
"I don't…understand." Caroline mumbled, confused.
"Why don't you just show her?" Tyler suggested, making Wes and Enzo both glare at him. "What? She needs to know, she can help."
"Show me what?" Caroline asked. No one spoke for a few seconds. "Show me what?" She repeated, her voice raised.
"Oh fine." Enzo grumbled, walking over and putting his hands on the handles of the steel double doors she had been eyeing earlier. "But just remember, you asked for it."
With that being said, Enzo grunted as he pulled open the doors as hard as he could. Caroline heard what was behind them before she saw, and she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Oh look at who it is! Enzo! Yet again! Can you not take a freaking hint already and just disappear?"
"Dad! How wonderful to see you! I'm surprised you haven't put a bullet in your brain yet. I mean, the whole world wants you to so why don't you just go ahead and do it? Or better yet let me."
Insults continued being thrown from the people behind the two jail-like cells. In the left was a young man with blonde messy hair, dirty and gaunt – he had been the one who called Wes his dad. In the right cell was a mixed woman, who – despite her current disposition – Caroline could tell was very pretty.
"Is that – "
"Maggie?" Enzo finished for her sadly, gulping as the woman screamed something about never having loved him. "Yes. Sorry I lied to you about her being dead love, I just didn't know how to explain…this." He gestured to the cells.
"And who is this?" Maggie sneered venomously, looking at Caroline. "Is this some new whore? She certainly looks like a whore. Do you spread your legs for my man, honey? Is that how you got the honor of coming down here and seeing where they keep us prisoner?"
"Alright, that's enough." Tyler said firmly, grabbing Caroline by the shoulders and pulling her out of the room.
Maggie and the boy kept screaming at the top of their lungs as the four left the room they were kept in and Enzo closed the door shut again, immediately drowning out their voices.
"What…the hell?" Caroline finally spluttered out after a few tense seconds. "What the hell was that?"
"Like I said." Wes answered sadly. "I can't remove the Infection, I can only stop its progress. When my son Aaron and Enzo's girlfriend Maggie were given the antidote, the Infection had already worked its way into their hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls emotion. That's the first place the Infection goes, which is why you get irritable and angry for a few hours before you get…"
"Murderous? Cannibalistic?" Enzo supplied sarcastically.
"Yes. That."
"So they're stuck like that?" Caroline asked. "They're going to be awful human beings that say awful things they don't mean for the rest of their lives?"
"No." Wes said firmly. "I'm studying their cells at this very moment, and I'm close to developing a serum that will completely eradicate the Infection from the neurons in their brain, essentially curing them."
"Wow." Caroline breathed out, shaking her head in disbelief. "I just…I think I need some air." She said quickly, turning on her heel and running up the stairs and out the door back into the street.
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"Rebekah! Rebekah!" Klaus screamed, kicking down the door to his sister's apartment where he knew she lived alone. He ducked out of instinct when another bomb went off a few blocks down.
"Nik?" He heard a weak voice, whipping around to see his little sister sitting on the floor in her kitchen, knees drawn to her chest in fear. "Nik!"
Rebekah stood up instantly, rushing forward and throwing her arms around her brother's neck, sobbing into his chest.
"Bekah, Bekah love it's alright, I'm here." He soothed, crushing her tightly to him. "But listen," he held her out an arm's length, "We've got to get out of here. Elijah is downstairs with Stefan and Lexi, we managed to get some supplies together before the bombs started going off."
"What's going on Nik?" Rebekah cried, tears streaming down her face. "I don't understand – "
"I don't have time to explain." He rushed. "We have to go now, the city is too dangerous, those things are everywhere, we have to leave."
"Okay, okay." She nodded hastily, Klaus grabbing her wrist and dragging her towards the door. "Wait, wait!" She cried out, digging her heels into the carpet of her apartment.
"Bekah we don't have the time – "
"What about Matt?" She interrupted. "He would be at the bar, we have to go get him too!"
Klaus scowled, forcing himself not to knock his sister out cold and just drag her unconscious body downstairs.
"We can't afford to make any more stops little sister – "
"We must!" She screamed, somehow managing to cry even harder. "I love him Nik, I won't leave without him!"
The silence between the two siblings was deafening, despite the sirens and screaming and bombs going off outside in what used to be New York's famous streets.
Finally Klaus looked away and growled under his breath. "Fine! We will stop and get your boyfriend if we leave right now!" He reached forward and grabbed her wrist yet again, pulling her out the door and into the stairwell of her apartment building, the lights flickering above them and the foundation shaking.
Rebekah came to a stop once again and Klaus rounded on her furiously.
"Rebekah Mikaelson I swear if you say one more – "
"Thank you." She interrupted quietly. "Thank you Nik, for coming for me."
Klaus paused, his heart constricting.
"Of course." He finally spoke. "You're my little sister, Bekah. It's my job to protect you."
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"Nik!" Rebekah screamed, half of her body hanging off of the wagon as the carriage flew through the fields, trying to outrun about fifteen Infected who were sprinting after them and making inhuman noises that could scare even the toughest men.
"I've got you!" Klaus shouted back at her, his hand wrapped around her wrist, hauling her back into the wagon where she had fallen off as an Infected had snapped at Stefan, making him step back and incidentally knock into Rebekah.
"Niklaus!" Elijah called from the back of the wagon where he kicked an Infected in the chest away from him, slinging his sword to decapitate another.
"I got her!" Klaus answered his big brother's implied question. He drew a knife from his belt and threw it across the wagon, the blade narrowly missing Lexi's head and flying past her, hitting its mark between an Infected's eyes.
Suddenly they heard Liv scream and Klaus looked back just as Infected caught up to the front of the carriage and grabbed her arm, pulling her down to the ground where the wagon flew past her.
"Liv!" Luke screamed as he heard his twin sister cry out in pain as three Infected began tearing the flesh off of her body.
"Luke don't do anything stupid!" Matt shouted as he narrowly dodged an Infected's scratch, hitting it in the side of the head with a wooden plank.
"Liv!" The boy screamed yet again, moving to jump down from the front of the carriage where he was the only person manning the reigns.
"Don't you dare!" Klaus yelled as he saw Luke's intention, momentarily being distracted just enough for an Infected to reach up to the moving wagon and wrap its flaky hand around Klaus' wrist, trying to pull him to the ground as they did Liv.
Before Klaus could even react, Rebekah sliced off the Infected's hand with her sword. The two siblings glanced at each other briefly, Klaus nodding his thanks.
"Klaus!" Lexi suddenly shouted. "The reigns, you have to get the reigns!"
Klaus looked up in realization that young Luke had in fact jumped to the ground to avenge his sister and was promptly killed within seconds, and now the horses were running erratically with no one steering them.
He took two long strides – cutlass still in hand – before jumping across the back of the wagon and onto the moving carriage where the reigns were located. He landed gracefully, taking the reigns in hand and snapping them, guiding the horses in the direction of the gray walls he saw just about a quarter of a mile ahead. Whitmore.
His group behind him was finishing off the Infected that had come out of the nearby woods about half an hour ago, and for a while there Klaus had honestly thought they weren't going to make it. But as Elijah shoved his sword through the last Infected's chest just as they reached the outside of the sixty foot tall walls, he realized they were going to be okay.
Before the last Infected had even fallen to the ground, about ten men with large guns came running out of the walls screaming at all of them to put their hands up.
They all immediately complied with the men that had much better weapons than they did. All except Klaus of course, ever the stubborn one who was yelling that they were obviously just killing the Infected and not joining them. Elijah's stern voice shut him up quickly though, but not without a few more grumbled choice words from Klaus.
Elijah explained to one of the patrols that they were from the east, and that they had met a woman named Rose who had told them about Whitmore, a safe haven. It took a little convincing, not aided by Klaus' constant irritated grumblings to just 'let them inside the bloody walls before more Infected show up dammit.'
Eventually they were let inside the walls, the clouds getting darker overhead. It would rain soon, so they made good time despite the fact that they were attacked three different times on their last leg of the journey.
"Hallelujah!" Lexi shouted as they stepped inside the walls, literally falling to her knees and kissing the ground.
And despite how absolutely irritated, sleep-deprived, and physically weary he was, Klaus couldn't help but agree at Lexi's exclamation.
They had made it to Whitmore.
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A/N: Okay soooo, I really don't like this chapter, but oh well. I just was so worried about including all the little details about the antidote and Wes' involvement that I didn't give a lot of entertainment. Idk. Maybe I'm overthinking things. Basically I just had to set up the scene for the NEXT chapter, WHICH IS THE KLAROLINE AND KALIJAH REUNION OMGGGG. REVIEW AND TELL ME HOW EPIC YOU THINK IT WILL BE. xoxo