Chapter Eleven

"Okay, where would the vaccines be kept, if they were going to be distributed to the whole city?" asked Leon.

"The municipal garages," said Cecil, walking swiftly between Leon and Carlos. They had slipped out through a back door, down the alley behind the City Hall, and were now working their way down the street, attempting to seem as normal as possible.

"Okay, can we get in there?"

"I think so," said Cecil. "They're a couple of blocks away, on the edge of town, by Route 800, by Marshall's Gorge."

"Carlos," said Leon. "Do you know anything about the T-Virus?"

"A little," he said. "I was very interested in the events of Raccoon City, and I'd be lying if I didn't wonder about its composition…"

"Here," said Leon, giving Carlos his communication device. "There should be some information on here that you can use. Maybe not everything about the virus, but enough that you can maybe start synthesizing your own vaccine, if necessary. I'm just assuming you have that sort of technology."

"I may or may not," said Carlos. "I haven't had to synthesize any chemicals since the incidences of butter mold a half a year ago, so I don't quite remember." He adjusted his glasses, which were sliding down his nose as they continued walking. He took another quick look at Leon's phone, and slipped it into the pocket of his lab coat. "I'll see what I can do. Are the files on this encrypted?"

"Nope," said Leon. "I had Hunnigan un-encrypt them as soon as I got the damn thing. I can't be bothered to deal with that every time I need a little extra intel."

"Alright," said Carlos. "I'm off, then. If you need me, I'll be at my lab." He focused his attention on Cecil. "And be careful. The Sheriff's Secret Police are probably looking for all of us already, so stay vigilant."

"I'll be fine," said Cecil. He stopped walking and gave Carlos a small peck on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too," said Carlos, who then noticed Leon, blushed a little, and hurried off in the other direction, back toward his lab.

Cecil turned back to Leon. "Alight, let's go." They kept on, past the Night Vale Community College, the Museum of Forbidden Technology, Gino's Italian, and Mission Grove Park. Leon caught sight of something in the park, something somewhat darker than the dusky purple sky around it, but when he blinked, it was gone, or formed into another sort of shape. He couldn't quite tell. He decided not to think about it.

Carlos made it back to his lab, after powerwalking the whole way, and slumped into the high-backed swivel chair at his desk. He quickly looked over his cluttered desk, scanning for what he needed—and found it, a piece of cord that was about a yard long. This he connected to the CPU of his desktop computer and to Leon's comm device, which luckily had the same micro USB port as Carlos's cell phone. Carlos brushed his hair out of his face and leaned forward to his desk, letting his fingers fall on his ergonomic keyboard. The little bar on the monitor let him know that the device had been recognized, and a password-protected dialog box appeared.

Carlos typed in a few commands on the keyboard, and the normal desktop display disappeared, replaced by a black screen covered by bright green strings of code. His fingers flew through them, finding and detaching the bits that held the phone closed. He typed in a few more keystrokes, and pressed another button, returning to the desktop display. The password box sat there expectantly. Carlos typed in the password he had gleaned from prying into the code. "pomade"

Once the phone's files were opened up, all of the files were unencoded, just as Leon had said. Carlos clicked through a folder or two to find a file titled " ." He double-clicked it and began to read. As he did, his hand strayed to his cell phone. His thumb flicked through the contacts until it found the one it was searching for, and pressed dial.

"Hello?" came the voice at the other end.

"Hello, Simone?" asked Carlos.

"This is her," said Simone. "Who's asking?"

"Carlos—the scientist!"

"Carlos? Why didn't you say so?" asked Simone. "What are you calling about this time?"

"Well," said Carlos, "I was wondering how much you knew about the T-Virus. And about creating vaccines."

"Ah, I thought that whole mass-vaccination thing seemed sketchy," said Dr. Rigadeau. "I think I have some of the technology here in my lab. What do we need for the vaccine?"

Carlos read off a small chain of amino acids.

"That shouldn't be too much work at all!" said Simone. "Plus, I know a little bit about viral weaponry myself."

"Do you?" asked Carlos. "I thought your specialty was earth science."

"It is," said Simone, "but in the late '90s, the Umbrella Corporation called me up, asking about climate control for plants in sterile environments. Apparently I gave them the kind of information they were looking for, because a week or two later, I was working with them in Phoenix, helping design a special greenhouse type thing."

"You helped create viral weaponry?" asked Carlos, appalled.

"No, not really," replied Simone. "I helped them create a control room for testing of their viruses on plants. Or maybe they were trying to re-create the initial conditions of the virus in nature, before they modified it."

"What do you know about that?" asked Carlos, leaning over his desk in anticipation of new scientific information.

"A fair amount, actually," said Simone. "And I'd love to share it with you, while we take care of whatever it is that you're supposed to be working on. Honestly, Carlos. Remember, you called me. You're looking to see if we can synthesize a vaccine. Bring me what you've got, and we'll see what we can do."

"Thanks," said Carlos. He settled back into his chair. "I'll be over as soon as I can. And thanks—you know I don't really like to call in favors like this."

"You have to do what you have to do," said Simone. "I'll leave the door to the Earth Sciences building unlocked. I'll be waiting." She hung up the phone.

Carlos placed his phone down on his desk next to Leon's comm device. He copied some of the files, easily overriding their anti-copy protocols, placed there by some high-up security programmer in whatever vague but menacing government agency Leon worked for. When he was finished, he placed a cell phone in each pocket and rushed out the door, barely remembering to log out of his computer before leaving. He didn't need the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home to search for the best deals on bulk orders of Activia yogurt again.

"Here we go," said Cecil, gesturing toward the large, low, and almost featureless garage ahead of them. It was built of sturdy gray blocks, and had a series of five large doors on the front of it. "It's where we keep the snowplows and street sweeper and other trucks."

"Snowplows?" asked Leon. He shook his head. "Never mind. Look, do you know if there's any way to get in that isn't through the big front doors?"

"I'd try that door," said Cecil, pointing to the right of the garage doors. There was a small door labeled "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" inset to the wall, with a small light shining on it.

"Oh," said Leon. "Of course." The two went to the door, and Leon held up a hand to stop Cecil before they kept on. "Cecil, I don't know what's going to happen in there, but I think it's best that I go in first. I'm armed, and you're not, and there could be hostiles."

"You're the professional," said Cecil. "I mean, I'm a professional, too, but in a different trade. So I'll let you take the lead here."

Leon gave the other man a little grin, took a deep breath, and opened the door.