All I Ever Will Be
Chapter 26 - The Scientist
Rick stepped forward, the reflection of the screen shining in his eyes as he stared at the woman who seemed agitated and a little on the hysterical side. She was older, Daryl would place her in her late fifties, with dark olive skin, chocolate brown eyes, framed by large glasses and short black hair. Her face was an oval shape with a short, round nose. She spoke with a heavy accent, he guessed it may have been Spanish.
She shook her head at Rick. "Well?"
"Are you real?" Rick asked, touching the screen with his fingertips. It was a fair question, Daryl reasoned. The things they'd stumbled upon over the past few weeks hadn't seemed real at all. Hell, the past two years of their lives hadn't seemed real.
"I am," she said. "Where is Watkins?" She leaned closer towards the screen with a threatening sort of stare. It was intimidating, even though the screen.
"He's dead," Daryl grumbled.
Her eyes shifted over to him, looking him up and down. "Did you kill him?" she asked through her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I didn't," he replied angrily, almost with a growl. He had a hard time with people judging him instantaneously, but Beth shifted behind him, placing her hand at the small of his back and coming up next to him - a gesture to try and calm him down. He tried to relax. "Some other fuckers did," he continued on. "Was dead when we got here."
The woman's face fell, and she took her glasses off slowly, running her hands over her face. "I hadn't heard from him in many weeks," she said as she did this. "I feared the worst, but thought maybe he had just lost his electricity. Maybe it wasn't anything serious. He'd told me how bad things had gotten out there, but he was supposed to stay safe. He had prepared for this." She shook her head, and looked at Daryl again. "You're sure?"
Daryl nodded at her, remembering the body, sloppily murdered by a bunch of bullets. "Pretty damn sure. He was shot." The woman recoiled as he said this, giving him the impression that she might not have been as used to seeing the dead as they had been. "Sorry," he mumbled as an afterthought.
She waved a hand at him. "Don't be," she said softly, regaining her composure. "I suppose I should have assumed. You gonna tell me who you all are and how you came to be in his home?"
Rick straightened up instinctually. "I'm Rick," he said. "This here's Michonne." Michonne put her hands on her hips and stared at the screen furiously. The woman nodded her head towards her. "Beth." Beth gave a slight, shy wave. After all this, after all they'd been through, she was still friendly to everyone. Cautious, but still open. "And Daryl."
Daryl grunted his hello.
"And how did you all come to find his lab? He had things locked up pretty tight." The woman's eyes bore into Daryl. He shifted uncomfortably.
"We were part of a larger group, all of us," Daryl drawled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Our home was destroyed. We all got split up. Beth and I stumbled across this bunker few weeks back while we were looking for shelter. Was taken over by two no good scumbags keepin' hostages in some of the underground rooms. We escaped," he looked at Beth who met his eyes, looking saddened by his words. "Took care of the people we found here. Found Watkins in the upstairs house, killed in one of the rooms."
Rick had crossed his arms now, stepping backwards in line with the rest of them. "Who was he?" Rick asked.
"Watkins?" the woman said, like she was surprised they didn't know. "Associate Director for Science at the CDC. Brilliant man. Scientist. He was my teacher and my friend. Taught me everything I know."
"And what exactly do you know?" Rick questioned.
The woman looked at him curiously. "That's a loaded question honey," she said. "I know that a virus meant for biological warfare was released into our world very suddenly and uncontrollably, bringing the dead back to life. I know it destroyed populations, cities, governments, organizations. It overtook almost 99% of our planet. I know a lot of people died, but I also know," she lowered her arms out of the frame, "That some of us survived."
"Yeah, well, that's no revelation," Rick said to her. "We've all survived, and others like us."
"No." The woman shook her head at him. "I mean there were small populations - places, people that weren't exposed to the virus. People that had not been infected. People that have still not been infected."
The words hung in the air for a minute. Populations. Places. People. Not infected. No virus.
"Not hit by the virus?" Rick repeated her words. "Everyone was hit by the virus."
"No," she said adamantly. "Not everyone."
Rick shook his head at her. "That's impossible. We're all infected." He looked at Daryl. "He told us, at the CDC. He told us that we were all infected." Daryl nodded at him with reassurance. "He told us we were all infected," he repeated to the woman in the television. "We die, we turn."
The woman nodded, putting her glasses back on. "For the most part, yes, you're all infected. But," she put a finger up, "the virus is airborne. It can't survive everywhere."
Beth let out a dry sob beside Daryl. He reached for her hand and she took it, her other arm grasping his forearm tightly.
"So, you mean to tell me that there's areas completely unaffected by all this?" Rick said, trying to make sense of her words. "How is that possible?"
"Oh it's possible," she said, as though it were common information. "Climates with more sunshine hours, closest to the equator can't support this type of airborne virus. The disease can't survive in the environment. The ultraviolet light or UV rays from the sun, they're harmful to the infectious particles that travel through the air. More temperate climates, with less sunlight hours, that's where this virus thrives. Stick it in an urban environment, and it will spread. Quickly." She nodded at all of them. "Close to Atlanta, aren't you? It's a miracle any of you survived."
Daryl's head was spinning. It wasn't possible. She was making it up. She had to be. How could nobody they'd come across known something? Beth was trembling. He looked down at her, her blue eyes focused determinedly on the woman. Rick seemed to be unsure of how to react, his mouth slightly open in surprise and Michonne was fumbling with her fingers, placing them on her hips, then in her pockets, then crossing her arms over her chest.
When they didn't speak, the woman continued on. "I'm sorry, I know this might be a bit overwhelming. I'm not sure how much information you've been exposed to…"
"Nothing," Rick said, interrupting her, his voice unsteady. "We've been exposed to nothing. We haven't heard anything. For years." Rick turned back towards Michonne. She placed her fingers around his arm, to steady him. He was bouncing on his heels, as though he was going to lose it. If they heard much more, Daryl thought they might all lose it.
"How many uninfected people are there with you?" Rick asked.
"Here?" the woman asked, not allowing Rick to answer. "Last I saw in our city, I'd say a few hundred left, if not more. But I have no way of knowing for sure."
"A few hundred people?" Michonne spoke up.
"Yes," the woman leaned back in the chair she was sitting in, taking a heavy sigh. "It may not matter soon anyhow. So much of the world has crumbled." She shook her head sadly.
"Where areyou?" Rick asked, ignoring her words, his tone getting angrier. Daryl knew that tone - Rick wanted answers. He wanted to make sense of this.
"Macapá, Brazil" she responded. "The equator runs through the middle of our city. When things started getting bad, I moved across the river to a more remote location we had built when Watkins first warned us. Once news broke of what was happening in the rest of the world, many decided they didn't need to follow the rules anymore. Crime rose. The system failed. Many people died, from lack of resources and not being able to fend for themselves. Some left. Medical care was scarce. But in all the cases I have seen here, the dead have not come back to life. We remain uninfected."
Rick was shaking his head at her in disbelief.
She continued, "Of course I am using extra precautions. It's no exact science. Watkins had prepared me long before this all happened so I'm secluded, along with a few others on my team. Perhaps the virus will spread over to us, we've always been prepared for it to do just that, but until it did, Watkins and I were continuing our research."
"Research of what, exactly?" Rick asked.
"For, a cure," she responded, like it was obvious.
"A cure?" Rick said in disbelief. He laughed then, a nervous, short laugh, looking around at Daryl, then Beth, then back at Michonne. Had he heard her right - a cure? But there hadn't been hope. There'd been nothing at the CDC. Not any glimmer of a solution left. There was no one coming to save them, and they'd made do. They'd adapted to the world.
"Yes. A cure for those still living, so that if they die they don't turn. But now that Watkins is gone," she hung her head. "Doesn't make much sense to continue does it? He had half the research. Half the knowledge. I can't get access to the infected from where I am without putting myself in danger. In order to determine a cure, I needed to understand the differences between the two. Human trials. Where's the difference, and how can we cure it? But I can't do that on my own, and certainly not without Watkin's guidance."
Rick cocked his head. "No," he shook his head. "No, this isn't possible." He turned around to face Daryl, eyes wild and wide. "I don't believe this," Rick whispered. Daryl shook his head in disbelief, not sure how to answer him. Angrily, Rick pushed past Beth and Michonne, reaching for the door and exiting the room quickly, slamming the glass behind him.
"I'm sorry," the woman said to the rest of them. "This loss of Watkins is great. He truly was our last hope. I'm so sorry I couldn't help you further." She smiled at them with pity, sadness deep in her eyes. "I wish you luck. I wish us all luck. It's up to God now."
"God ain't done nothin' for us so far," Daryl grumbled at her.
"What if, we helped you?" Daryl was surprised to hear Beth's voice, steady and strong, filling the room. She stepped forward, closer to the screen.
"How do you mean, help me?" the woman looked at her suspiciously.
"Help you," Beth responded. "Got you the information you needed. "All the equipment is here. Nothing's been touched. If we're all infected - can't we help you somehow? Just tell us what to do."
"Oh," the woman hesitated. "I don't think so. I can't do this without Watkins. I need him."
"Why not?" Beth pushed on. "Can't you try? Isn't it worth a chance? You can't give this up so easily." She was so determined. So fucking hopeful. He instantly felt how badly she wanted this to be a real possibility. "We're here now. We can help you. Let us help you."
The woman shook her head again. "I don't, I don't even know where to start. He was my mentor. He guided me through all of this."
"Then he'd want you to keep going," Beth said, stepped closer to the screen until she was close enough to touch it. The woman stared at her curiously. Daryl knew that feeling. Beth made you think. She made you keep going. She kept people determined. She was the light at the end of a dark, fucked up tunnel.
The woman looked flustered. "I can't promise you anything. It will be like starting over, without him." She suddenly looked very tired and sad, her shoulders slumping forward and Daryl realized she was on the edge of tears.
"You have nothing to lose," Beth said quietly, placing her hand on the screen.
"Twenty-four hours," the woman said with a sniffle. "Be back in twenty-four hours. I need to get sorted. I'll be able to tell when the power turns back on in the lab, and I'll be sure to be here at the same time tomorrow."
Daryl nodded and placed his hand on Beth's shoulder. "Tomorrow," he repeated. The woman nodded, and with that, the screen went black, leaving the group to themselves.
The silence was deafening, none of them quite knowing what to say. Michonne shifted, looking back out the door for Rick and she exited the room slowly, her face filled with worry and concern.
It was just Beth and Daryl again and suddenly, Daryl wasn't sure it had been real. He almost felt as though he might have just imagined or dreamt up what had happened - what they'd just heard, but when he looked at Beth, her eyes just as hopeful as ever, he knew it had been real.