I didn't get a chance to proof read so I'm sorry for any mistakes. This update took longer than expected I've had the flu this past week and feeling like crap. Anyways, hope you enjoy. And for all those that keep talking about Ashley and Spencer every single chapter about one thing or another, I'm sorry you're not pleased with the direction of the story but for you to continually bash them...that's just rude. So like my mom says, I'f you don't have anything nice to say, I don't mind you not saying anything at all or at least say something that I can attempt to approve upon. Thanks. Enjoy.
"She broke up with you, didn't she?" Kyla smiles as I come into the room everyone has gathered in. I look over to Glen and Arthur and see a boy, fourteen maybe fifteen, the point is he's new.
"Who's that?" I whisper to Kyla.
"Oh, that's Eric." She looks at the boy then back at me. She has that look in her eye. I've seen in her once before. "He's the reason this meeting was called. They found him hiding in the pharmacy. Apparently he was there since the outbreak. He was the owner's son. They were together until his dad was bitten a week ago."
"So he's alone then?" I glance at the boy then back at Kyla.
"Yeah." She nods then smiles. "You didn't answer my question. So I'm assuming she did break up with you." She smiles wider. I roll my eyes and walk further into the room. "This conversation isn't over." She yells to me. I shake my head and smile at my crazy sister.
"So are we keeping him?" I walk up behind Spencer and ask. She turns and looks at me, rolling her eyes, before walking off. "Really?" I call to her, but she doesn't turn around. "You said we were broken up, you didn't say you were gonna totally ignore me." I point out to my now ex-girlfriend as I catch back up to her. "This isn't my idea of fun, Spencer." I add. She stops in her tracks and turns around to face me, causing me to almost crash into her.
"Who said this was supposed to be fun, Ashley?" She asks with a hand on her hip and her right brow raised, waiting for my answer.
"I—no..." I shake my head and trail off. I clear my throat and start again. I'm bad ass Ashley, Spencer will not break me down, I repeat, she will not break me down.
"I'm waiting." She says.
"No one said it was supposed to be fun." I shake my head and move closer to her. "I'm just saying," I whisper, my lips mere inches from hers. Her breath hitches when I move in closer. "...how can I possibly win you back if you won't play fair?" I ask, taking my bottom lip in between my teeth. A whimper escapes Spencer's lips as I move around to whisper in her ear. "This isn't a game to me, but if it were, we're in the fourth quarter and Michael Jordan..." I pull back to look in her eyes. "I can't lose." I add seductively before placing a chaste kiss on her lips and walking away. I don't dare turn around to look at her again.
Round one to Ashley.
"Okay listen up everyone." Mr. Carlin turns to the group and says. Everyone stops their chatter to listen. I guess until Tim gets back on his feet, Arthur is in charge. "This is Eric, he's fifteen and we found him in the pharmacy we raided yesterday. He has no family and nowhere else to go so we're going to take him in. We have plenty of food and water and this building is big enough for everyone." Arthur finishes, looking around at the group for approval.
"Well, welcome to the group Eric." Tim shakes his hand, the boy smiles down at Tim.
"Now that we've gotten that out-of-the-way, let's talk about the next order of business." Arthur says then turns to me.
"I didn't do it." I say quickly, raising my hands in defense. Most of the group laughs as Arthur shakes his head.
"The cure, Ashley. We wanna talk about the cure." He finishes with a chuckle.
"You guys are scientist?" Eric asks.
"No, not really." I answer for the group. "Well Dr. Johnson over there is." I point to the old man in the corner taking a nap.
"Oh." Eric nods. "Then how are you gonna create a cure? You'd need to right equipment, a test subject and some type of anti-virus to work with. Something proven to combat the X-virus."
"We have all that." I nod and smile at the boy who just got on my good side with all this knowledge.
"Really?" He asks surprised.
"Yeah." I nod. "You know a lot about this stuff, do you?" I ask and his eyes light up as he nods.
"I was in the science club at my school. I've won the science fair every year since I was two." He adds and smiles.
"Oh brother." Kyla mumbles next to me. I turn to catch her rolling her eyes. I shake my head at her and turn back to him.
"Angel and Eric, how would you two like to help me save the world?" I ask, they both nod enthusiastically.
"We'll start after breakfast, I'm starving." I say and everyone chuckles.
"Yeah, me too." Tim chimes in as his stomach grumbles right one cue.
"Well, being lazy and sleeping for a couple of days will do that to you." Jo jokes with her husband before bending down and kissing him.
"Right." Tim nods and smiles.
"How about we go fix breakfast and you three can start brainstorming on what's next?" Paula suggests, everyone agrees.
"Aiden and I are gonna go check on our friends in the basement again, you know... just to make sure they haven't gone anywhere." Glen says, no one else catches the guilty look on his face...but I do. I know that's not why they're going down there. It's probably one of many things they will do once they get down there.
"That's a good idea son." Arthur praises his son. If only he knew.
"I'm gonna go and finish turning off everything in the building, don't want to kill more power than necessary." Spencer says.
"Not alone you aren't." Paula tells her daughter.
"But mom..." Spencer starts, whining.
"It's fine, I'll go with." Kyla says from beside me. I give her a weird look. She smiles and shrugs before walking out with Spencer.
"Okay then, everyone has something to do. Breakfast should be ready in about an hour." Paula tells us as the rest of the group leaves the room.
"So Kyla told me that you and Spencer broke up. Is that true?" Angel asks.
"When did she have time to... you know what, never mind." I shake my head. "I'm Ashley and this is Angel, by the way." I turn to Eric and say.
"Eric." He smiles and holds out his hand for me to shake. A little weird but I shake it anyway. "Spencer... she's the blonde one right?" He asks with a smile.
"Yeah, that's Spencer." I nod.
"She's hot." He says but when he sees my expression, his eyes go wide. "I meant in a total 'I would never look at your girl like that' type of way." He says quickly, suddenly finding his hands very interesting.
Angel and I chuckle at the boy. "It's fine, Eric. I know she's hot." I nod and smile at him as he looks up.
"You have a way of scaring people, Ashley." Angel says like she's speaking from experience.
"Well, I'm sorry then." I smile at them. "How about we not discuss my love life, or lack thereof anymore, and talk about this cure." I suggest.
"This building has power, how?" Eric asks.
"Back up generators in the basement." I answer.
"How long do we have them for?" He asks.
"Seven or so days maybe." I reply.
"We're supposed to conjure up a cure, test it and retest it in seven days?" Eric asks in disbelief.
Angel and I share a look. "Pretty much." We both turn to him and say.
"Awesome." He nods. "And the test subject?" He questions. "Well..." I start, peeking around Eric to look at Dr. Johnson in the corner to make sure he's still asleep. "We have a walker tied up in the lab."
"A walker?" He questions.
"A zombie." I clarify. I guess not every one calls them that.
"That won't work." He shakes his head.
"What?" I ask.
"When you die, your blood coagulates and those things don't need to breathe which means no O2 in their bodies, which means-"
"The blood can't be tested." I cut him off, shaking my head and standing, realizing I should have thought of this.
"What does this mean?" Angel asks.
"We're gonna have to test a live subject." I state simply.
"You mean..."
"Yeah." I cut her off. "We're gonna have to infect someone with the live virus to draw their blood if we wanna figure out this cure."
We all share a look.
This isn't going to be as easy as I thought.