The air suddenly quivered with a tension Five could only place as a mixture of amazement and fear. She dared not ask Dr. Myers what this meant, as she had immediately gripped her chair, her knuckles turning white.

"I'm just gonna try and tell you exactly how it was. Okay?" She began to imitate Dr. Myers' American accent. "Just facts, ma'am." After a moment of silence, she continued in her normal tone. "We were working on something. And… well, I don't even know how to begin to explain it. If you're Maxi listening to this, you'll know what it was already. And if not... well. You're looking for the research notes on VS-72." Paula continued, and managed to remember the location of the facility where the notes had been. "Well, I don't know how you'd even get in there—there are about fifteen people in the world who can understand those notes anyway—but if professor van Ark is still alive, you could try taking it to him. If you find it all, Maxi, you've got a better chance at most at finding whatever went wrong."

Five was having some trouble understanding exactly what Paula meant, but she refused to ask Dr. Myers, whose face turned as white as her knuckles.

"We were working on VS-72," Paula continued, "which we thought—I know it sounds crazy, but you know I'm not—we thought we might help the people. Really change the world. Make things better. It was supposed to—it was about cell regeneration. Like making people heal more quickly. That was the end. We had been working more than ten years. The first round of rats were amazing. We saw some total limb regeneration in adult rats. It was—well—we thought we'd win the Nobel prize."

At that, Paula gasped and went silent for a moment before getting the nerve to speak again. "…Get in soon. They're people. The walking dead." Five swallowed hard and did not even have to imagine the fear—the terror—of being pursued by the zombies. "We used to have soldiers here guarding us but they've been picked off one by one." She sighed. "God, I miss you so much right now."

Oh… oh, no. Five bit her lip. Paula's tone began to waver.

"I want to be able to talk to you because I think together we could work out what to do and—" The words tumbled out—pained, afraid, wrought with insecurity. "I miss snuggling up next to you. Holding you. I miss your arms around me, Maxi. I miss the way you smell… I'm starting to think I'll never see you again." Paula let out a terrified sob, and Dr. Myers smacked a button on the CD player, shutting it off abruptly.

"I'm sorry," she choked, her hands shaking. "I—I need to take a break."

Five nodded, unable to speak. She stood up quietly and left the room, leaning against the wall and taking deep breaths. She had not even known Dr. Myers's girlfriend and she could barely stand to listen to them. Five felt as though she were intruding on an intimate conversation.

Part of her thought of walking away and allowing Dr. Myers to listen to the rest of the recording on her own. However, before she could make a decision, Dr. Myers walked out and beckoned Five back inside. Her face was drawn, but her jaw was set. Five could see no trace of tears.

"Ready?" she asked quietly.

Five nodded, and the torture continued. Paula let out an agonized sob.

"We never meant any of this, Maxi. You know we didn't. It was our first human trial of our wonder drug. Just two weeks ago. It seemed like we were gonna save the world. We injected 50 people with their first shot, no problems. Sent them all home, and then one man—Patient 29—his wife called. Started to run a fever. She brought him in, we took a look. Seemed like nothing serious. We—we sent him home. God. We sent him home."

Five sat, frozen to the spot as the truth of the disaster flowed through the speakers. Paula's voice was low.

"She brought him again the next morning. Overnight, he'd—the fever spiked. She took him to the hospital. He collapsed; they thought he'd died. And then he woke up, and… bit someone. We were so sure it had nothing to do with us. I mean, biting—had to be rabies, maybe, or—or mental health issues. We were so sure. Until it was too late, we were so sure it had nothing to do with us. But Maxi, this happened to only one patient out of fifty! There must have been something about him. There must have been something different. But you need to find him. Patient 29. I never knew his name; it wasn't allowed. Patient 29. Go look for Professor van Ark's files. Find out what was different about him. It's the only way we can start to find out what's happened."

A harsh crunch sounded from the recording, making both women in the comms room jump. They were there. Breaking in. Paula gasped. "Oh—it's okay. It's okay. They haven't broken through yet. But we think they will. Oh, Maxi. I wish I was with you right now. I wish I could go on talking to you forever. But we're all taking a turn recording a CD for someone in the hope that they'll find it, so I have to stop in a minute. I'll put the CD in a sample case with your name on it. We—we haven't got very far, but we're trying to make a vaccine. There should be a way—if only it were VS-72 there could be a way to stop it. If you find it, maybe you'll succeed where we failed."

Dr. Myers—the stoic, dedicated, responsible doctor—at that moment allowed her face to crumple. Her body shook with a sob, and Five immediately tensed, a hard lump forming in her throat as well.

"We're going to fail," Paula continued, her seemingly strong voice tainted with anguish. "There isn't enough time. Maxi… this is all I really have to say. I love you. I love you. I love you." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I love you."