Chapter 11

Ralph flew out of the building and headed for San Miguel. When he got closer to the village, he could see a convoy of trucks headed up the dirt road toward the town. He slowed and used his binocular vision but couldn't see Beth Gomez in any of the vehicles. Where was she?

The convoy contained equipment to dispose of the bodies from San Miguel. Human clinical trials were anticipated to be successful, and everyone in the village would die. The large green guys were excited that their plan would succeed where the supreme commander's had failed. This virus would even kill the red-suited Heroes. The large green guys would have another garden planet to control.

Ralph continued towards San Miguel. There was a truck already parked next to the well. He had Suit turn on the night vision because it was midnight and pitch dark. He saw her standing beside the well, her hand hanging over the edge. Oh, my God, she dropped something into the well.

Ralph streaked towards the well and down the mouth. The wind of his passing knocked the evil scientist down. Ralph grabbed the vial. He had to get it before it hit the water. His hand surrounded it, and Ralph closed his fingers. Holding his hand above his head, he hit the water with such force that it splashed up and out of the mouth of the well. Ralph held tight to the vial protecting it from encountering the water. He stopped and slowly rose out of the well.

Beth Gomez was getting up, drenched from the well water that had burst out of the opening. Ralph landed beside her, his right hand tightly enclosed around the ampule. He opened his hand and saw a broken glass vial embedded in his hand and blood pooling in his palm. He was exposed to the virus.

Beth started to laugh loudly. She exclaimed, "The plan being stopped is almost worth it knowing that the First is going to die due to his heroics." She laughed again, even louder.

Ralph backhanded her with his left hand, knocking Beth 50 feet across the field. He yelled, "That was done in anger, and I recognized every tiny bit of it, and I liked it." Stating the reason for his anger and his inability to show it correctly. In this situation, it was the right way.

He stumbled back and fell against the well wall, sliding down into a seated position and leaning against the well, the bottom of the suit getting wet and muddy. He sat there holding his bleeding hand, trying to keep the blood from falling out of his palm. His hands shook, and he took several deep breaths to calm himself, but it was almost impossible. He could feel every muscle in his body starting to tighten. The cramps would come soon, and more significant pain would come later.

Maria walked up to him, and he yelled at her to stop, "Don't come any closer; I am contaminated with the virus that you dreamed would make everyone in the village sick. I kept it out of the well, but the vial broke in my hand."

Maria cried, "But you will die again!"

Ralph said, "Yes, but the world will be safe from the virus." He closed his eyes because the cramping and aches were starting, and he felt hot.

He asked, "Suit, can you stop the virus at all."

The suit said, 'No, but I can slow and diminish the pain slightly, possibly helping you to last longer than a non-suited person with the virus.'

Maria asked, "Who are you talking to?"

Ralph told her, "I am talking to Suit. The red suit I wear, and all the red angels wear are alive and can talk to us. It helps us with the superpowers."

Other villagers began walking toward Ralph. He yelled at them in Spanish with the help of Suit, "Stay away. My blood will make you sick. Other red-suited Heroes are on their way to take care of things."

As he said this, Jose landed next to him. Ralph shouted at Jose, "Get back! Don't touch me; I am contaminated with the virus." Jose stepped back and saw some villagers still moving toward Ralph. He put his hands out and explained what was going on in Spanish. They stopped moving towards Ralph.

Maria's mother came forward with a towel for Ralph's hand. Jose tossed it to Ralph, and he wrapped his hand in it. Ralph sat there, his body shivering, and closed his eyes, trying to control his breath and relax. He heard someone else land and opened his eyes. It was Eric.

"You just can't stay out of trouble, can you?" Eric exclaimed.

"I seem to attract it wherever I go," Ralph agreed.

Eric asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Ralph explained, "I flew down the well and grabbed the vial with the virus, but it broke in my hand. I kept it out of the water, but now it is in my blood. Oh, and Beth Gomez is over there," pointing behind himself. "She is the creator of the virus and a large green guy. Beth started laughing when she saw that I had broken the vial. She said it was worth the failure to see the First die of the virus. I got angry and hit her, and I felt great about doing it and recognized it. Doctor Clayborn would be proud of me. At least I didn't kill her."

Eric chuckled and said, "I'm sure he will be."

Ralph asked, "Did you stop the convoy?"

Eric said, "Yes, a crew is taking care of them right now."

More red suits started landing everywhere. The villagers huddled together in shock at seeing the flying, red-suited people.

Maria looked at her mother and said, "See, I told you the red angels would come and save us." Her mother nodded and hugged her daughter.

The emergency crew donned hazmat suits and came over to Ralph. They removed the towel and the glass from his hand, placing the items in hazardous materials bags. They wrapped Ralph's hand in gauze and taped it closed.

The crew doctor asked him to explain his feelings in as much detail as possible.

Ralph attempted to oblige, but it was getting harder to concentrate. In short gasps, he said, "My hand feels like it is on fire. My whole body aches and is starting to cramp in places. I know I have a fever. I feel like I have just run a marathon. It is getting hard to con…concentrate. I know I am doing well right now compared to what it will be like later. Suit said he is helping with the pain, so it may actually be worse." Ralph winced and jerked from the pain from a significant abdominal cramp.

The doctor told Eric, "His temperature is 103 °F and rising fast. We must return him to the medical center and place him in an isolation chamber. Have you found anything about a cure yet?"

Eric answered with his head down and frowned, "No, nothing yet. I have crews scouring that building for anything."

The doctor and hazmat crew placed Ralph in a containment bag with an air source; they lifted him and flew north toward California. Ralph was only semi-conscious during most of this. He awoke once during the flight, thought he must have died, and was in a body bag. The Hero compound had inflated a special quarantine tent outside the medical center. Ralph was brought into a fully contained room with filtered air.

By the time they got Ralph to the Hero compound, he was in constant pain, despite what Suit did to minimize it. He tossed and turned and moaned continuously. His fever had risen to 105 °F.

Ralph began hallucinating and was talking to Bill Maxwell, or that is what the doctors thought was happening.

Pam came to the tent and could only sit outside the plastic window and watch Ralph writhing in pain and fever dreams. She cried seeing him like this.

Later, Eric approached Pam, told her what Ralph had found out, and stopped. He had discovered the clinical trials scheduled at San Miguel, where the village was exposed to the virus via the village's water source. If this trial had been successful, the entire town would have died. The virus would have been replicated and sent worldwide and placed into the water systems of all major cities. It would have had a 95% kill rate, thus depopulating the world. Ralph's insistence on saving Maria Alvarez and her village has saved the world again.

Pam sat there and listened to Eric tell her everything, thinking, 'My Greatest American Hero always saves the world. He always does the right thing.' Rubbing her now slightly protruding tummy carrying Ralph's son, she quietly said to the baby, "See how wonderful your father is."