Curative
By Kaimaler
So, a few interesting developments. Our friend, the daughter of this conceded scientist, has awoken and has grown aware.
How can she escape while she lacked the brain power to even read?
Find out now! :D
Review Replies!:
Lovestoryfreak:
Why thank you first reviewer! :D
I'm hoping to make it believable, being that the Walking Dead universe hadn't yet discovered a cure, especially not by this time.
So, whatever, I'm just working through it! :3
I'm considering a romance, but if it's with anyone, it'd be Daryl. Mainly because I actually like the Rick/Lori pairing, not because I like Lori, she'd kind of stupid, but because it's what made the first season of TWD so dramatic and immersive. Rick found his way to his wife, it was such a loving reunion. :3
It was a few more days before she was strong enough to even begin considering her escape plan.
The door to the basement was never locked, just shut, but she quickly saw that the door into the house was secured by a very strong looking security system.
She needed the code, it must've been at least five numbers long gauging from the sound of the buttons when she snooped on him the other night.
Unaware of how to proceed, she just nagged at him to let her back into the main house so she could rest properly without waking up stiff or sore. The table was amazingly uncomfortable and caused her great discomfort. If that wasn't enough, the cold of the lab made her joints even sorer.
He sternly denied, claiming that she couldn't leave this lab until he found a real cure.
She knew she wasn't cured right, it took so long to heal, pain was numbed a bit, she could be injured with minimal repercussions and though her body worked normally, she got a good look at herself in the lab mirror.
Her hair was very messy, dry and dead looking, her skin was slightly morbidly blue, and her eyes seemed dead or blind. There was a little bit of color behind the white iris, but nothing more.
She could see okay though, bright lights made her eyes sore and she was sharply aware of all sounds. It was like having some of her senses muted and others heightened.
All her five senses seemed scarred. She could barely feel anything when something touched her, even though she was growing more sensitive over time. Her hearing was excellent. Her sight better then it was before (as she wore glasses) but it still wasn't normal. Her taste was all messed up, she could lick her hand and taste her morbidity, but she didn't know what food tasted like yet.
He wouldn't feed her. Said it was a test of her resolve to not willingly return to her undead condition.
She blinked. Standing at the door to the house and stared long and hard at it, hoping for something to show her the password so she can be free again. To be alive without having someone poking and prodding her.
She hated the needles and the tests and everything else about the lab, about her father. He never showed much kindness to her before, but this was going off the deep end. It almost felt like he was doing this on purpose, torturing her until he got a reaction that satisfied his curiosity. She was sore but not tired anymore, she never felt tired now. At first, waking up, she was exhausted. Now, she felt no fatigue.
Which was alright in her book.
After a few days of testing out passwords, she realized the alarms went off whenever she failed too many. She had two chances every night after he left, if she missed those, she'd have to wait for the next night.
It was like clockwork, she'd shuffle around the room, inspecting the medical tools while trying to keep her clumsiness with her braced leg to a minimum. She would often knock things over or break them until she got the hang of her brace.
Needless to say, he told her if she continued to do so, breaking things that is, that he would have to restrain her at night.
Out of the desire to remain free handed at night, she stopped moving around the lab for a few nights. Now, all she did was wait for him in the morning, endure the tests, and then, once he left, try her luck at the code.
She once set off the alarms, when he had rushed down to her to ask why she was inputting codes, she simply responded by saying she wanted a blanket, that it was cold and she was trying to get one.
He believed her, his supposed genius hindered him from actually realizing what she was doing.
After so many failed attempts, she began to wonder how she'd ever escape. His arrogance would make it easy to trick him, playing into his idea that she wasn't very intelligent. Easy as can be.
The code was a different story, she could never get it. With every red light, she felt her heart sink further and further.
Until one night he had unexpectedly awoken to a noise downstairs, it was the undead banging on the walls and doors. They knew he was in there and continued to try and force their way in. At first, he worried they'd do it. The door shuddered under the attacks, the groans struck a kind of fear in his heart. He knew some day he would have to leave his home, but he didn't expect it'd be so soon.
With one undead came dozens, then hundreds, and soon, they could bang on the walls and doors with so much force, that the entire building shook at the abuse.
It was time to leave.
He grabbed his bags and collected his supplies, the defense he built around the house could withstand a great deal of damage before giving way, but there were just so many.
She heard the sounds of urgent steps, stomping around quickly. Unaware of the creatures that threatened her and her father.
Attempting another code only displayed red again and then, like her prayers had been answered, the keypad lit up it's own numbers. Almost too fast for her to notice.
One, thirteen, sixty-three.
Shit, it was her mother's birthday. That was the code? She never figured her father for a particularly sentimental man. Quite the opposite in fact.
The door swung open and she was face to face with her father again, he jumped in surprise, but then overlooked her. He practically jumped down the stairs to reach the lab, she ignored him for now and held the door to the house open.
Glancing back, she heard the sounds of glass knocking together, some breaking, and a metal tray sounded like lightning as it hit the lab floor.
Should she go back to see what's wrong? Was he okay? Did he get bit?
Her heart lurched in her chest, there was her freedom, right there in front of her and she was considering heading back into her prison to see if the man who locked her up, who tested on her, was okay.
The fuck is wrong with me?She groaned, he was her father, that's what was wrong with her. She hated the thought of giving up her escape to help him, to help him.The man who did this to her, who hurt her every day for the last... however long it had been.
Locked her away.
In a fucking basement.
With a loud sigh, she turned away from the door and headed back down into the laboratory. There, she watched him as he frantically dealt with his cures, specifically, the one he said was a vastly improved cure then the one he gave her. He said it made the patient nearly alive again, or it should anyways. It would bring back any infected, long term undead or short term.
She wanted to use it, so she could feel her own body warmth again, to have her eyes return to their original color, for her hair to look smooth and silky. She despised her morbid skin tone, the blue tint was accented by various parts of her body, like her collarbone, her shoulders. So many parts of her looked dead, inside and out, but she still felt and she wanted to be normal again.
A dream probably.
"Th-here... somethin' I can... do ta h-help?" She stammered heavily, she rarely had a reason to use her voice lately and using it still made her throat feel swollen. She couldn't speak right, she knew that, but he understood her just fine. Even though he often ended up insulting her for her poor speech and English.
Which, like so many other things, she forgot how to do right.
"Dear," He stared, his hurried tone made her all the more curious. "If you are going to say something, I suggest you say it right. Otherwise, do not speak at all."
Just like that. She sighed, his snapping shouldn't affect her anymore, after her life with him, the misery he insulted her with by calling her a retarded child. That she belonged in the special schools.
"However, there is one thing you can do for me." He continued, turning to face her.
She didn't really want to help him anymore and while she did know the code now, which he probably didn't know she knew, she still couldn't bring herself to turn her back to him. Abandon him like her mother abandoned her.
No way she was turning into her mother.
"Carry this. We will be leaving shortly." He handed her a very solid looking case, one that weighed a ton and with her weak muscles, made her use everything she had just to hold it up.
She hadn't a clue how she would walk with it.
A few moments passed and he was finally done, he sealed the cure he made in a combination locked suitcase. He gestured her to follow him and she did, not happily of course, but she still stayed at his back.
Once they were at the door, he inputted the code, opened the door, and she was met with her old home. The one she spent so many years in with her father, mostly hiding from him, but she chose to focus on the few joys she had here. Toys, TV, video games, homework; it all seemed so far away now, in light of recent events.
Like being her fathers' guinea pig.
Bastard.
She growled and kept up with him until she heard the sounds of the undead trying to break their way in. Had he lured them here on accident? How did they know they were here?
A big gulp and she raced to catch up with her father, who headed to a back room of the house. She was confused, why were they in his study? It was a dead end, only the boarded up windows could be an exit, well, they could be if the undead weren't trying to shatter them.
He stepped up to the bookcase and yanked a shelf of books out, throwing them carelessly to the floor before reaching into the shelf and pressing a button hidden in the bookcase.
A hidden door on their left popped open, making her jump clean out of her skin.
"Hurry, we do not have much time!" He grabbed her elbow and dragged her along. She would've thought he was actually concerned about her, for a moment she did think that, but then she glanced to the large suitcase she carried. He needed her to carry it because he couldn't, he wasn't thinking about her, he was thinking about the case.
That thought only served to drag her further down, she could never say that she felt great when he was around, but over the years, his influence since her early age made her begin wondering if he was right about her.
Nah, he's just mean. That's all... She couldn't convince herself, she was just about one of the undead right now, her heart, she felt it beat rarely, but it took so long that she'd always just think it was a figment of her imagination.
They rushed through the tight passage, his grip was bruising her arm and she knew from what he had told her before, that her injuries or any real damage caused to her body would take a very long time to heal. A broken femur bone only took, on average, five months to heal, but he had told her she'd be wearing that brace for at least seven or eight.
Another thing she couldn't stand about being... what she is.
The hell am I? She grimaced, she hadn't a clue. She wasn't really living but she wasn't really dead.
So what did that make her?
Reaching a heavy door, her father pushed it open and her eyes burned, the light! That light was the sun! She didn't even think about it, when he told her they were leaving, she didn't even think about seeing sunlight again.
It was fucking glorious.
The heat made her warm up, almost healing her cold and damaged body. Her eyes stung with tears, she was crying, not in pain or sadness, but pure unrelenting joy. She never felt so happy in her life. The sun was there, shining down on them. She stood and felt her body drinking in the light.
She couldn't express herself, her tears and smiling face was her only reaction to being outside. The wind, the sun, the clouds, everything felt and looked so alive that it made her feel alive too.
Then, a cold hand grabbed her roughly and yanked her along. Her father was confused at her display, but he didn't have time to question her actions and instead dragged her with him to the car.
Opening the passenger door, he threw her in, put on the child lock, and got in the drivers seat.
The car started up fine and there were only a few undead around.
At first glance, she saw her home city, it was lovely to see it again. The towers, the aquarium, the circus, the museums, the art; she wondered if she could see those places again, she never been inside any of them, but she loved the buildings and dreamt of exploring the amazing things, art, and creatures they all held within their walls. Like beautiful secrets.
Then, her eyes adjusted better to the light. Her distance vision wasn't great, but she could still make out some details.
And what she saw made her gasp, tears sprung to her eyes, this time in pain. They were driving passed the Georgia aquarium, which had shattered glass, water flooding the floors that she could see, dead fish, and undead roaming hungrily.
They drove passed many places, most of them places she wished she had the chance to see, to experience, but this world was not safe. The undead were everywhere.
What had happened?
"Dad, where is everyone? Why are there so many infected?" Her eyes strained to see the buildings she was familiar with, all of them destroyed and every now and then the car had to dodge these massive holes in the streets, buildings that had collapsed in on themselves, craters made clearly by bombs.
"The outbreak took the city, the army fled, the military retreated, the whole world is like this." Shockingly, he had answered her. Which was very rare. She looked at him, the hurt evident in her eyes. She couldn't believe it, everything was gone? Everything?!
Impossible, it just couldn't be. There had to be people somewhere, cities full of normal people living normal lives with normal jobs. There just had to be, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere...!
She cried, long and hard. Her sobs filled the car, she couldn't believe what he said. Life gone? The world over? Was there no hope? No law or government? She never thought she'd miss it, but there she saw a tank sitting in the middle of the street gaining rust. It was lifeless, dead bodies littered it and the ground around it.
Hearing the sickening crunch of bodies beneath the wheels, she became blank faced. She had no idea what to think, large wet tears streaked her face and she felt the pain of this knowledge bearing down on her, but she showed no emotion on her face. She was so shocked, so scared, so sad that she couldn't even formulate a response to all this death and destruction.
It was a little bit of driving before they arrived at a gas station. He wasn't getting gas, he was resting. Pulling out a map, he began to plan out their future.
Their future. Her future. His future. A future with both of them, together, surviving.
No. She panicked, she couldn't spend her life with such a cold hearted, callus man. Even if he was her father. She'd rather die. Again.
"We should leave the city, it's dangerous here. Too many of those foul creatures." He hummed to himself, "Perhaps we can make our way out to farm land, possibly to Savannah. The islands out there could provide good protection against them."
She looked to the door, grasping the handle and pulling. It didn't open. She tried it again. "W-why won't... my door." She forced the words out of her mouth, it was difficult, but she was confused.
"Child locks, dear."
Glaring daggers at him, she shook her head. "W-... why?"
"For this very reason, you trying to leave. I cannot risk you being lost to the undead or to other people just yet, I still need you for my experiments. I am very close to discovering a cure that will return an undead back into the human they were before." He grinned at her, not in a comforting way, but his arrogance flowed out of his mouth. "After I have finished my researched and developed a cure, you may go."
That made her angry, she couldn't believe him! She couldn't believe herself! She came back, for him?! What demon possessed her to do such a thing! He led her back into another trap, she felt such anger and hate towards him that she couldn't help herself.
She leaped at him, her history as one of the undead returned full force. She wasn't able to contain her hate or rage any longer, she was never a violent person before, but something in her just snapped.
And it was very unpleasant for him.
"Get off of me!" He cried, shielding himself from her sharp nails. She wasn't trying to bite him or claw him, she just wanted to hurt him like he hurt her. Make him feel the pain she felt when he would beat her or the hunger she felt now, the excruciating hunger that undoubtedly made her so violent.
He threw his fist her way, it connected to the right side of her jaw, making her yelp in pain. She didn't relent though, she punched and scratched and did everything she could to hurt him.
Eventually, she grew calmer and calmer. Her hate subsiding into a tolerable rage and the marks on his neck, face, and hands made her feel so guilty. She never hurt anyone before, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Yet there it was, she'd attacked her own father, even though he was a pathetic excuse for one, it still made her feel like dirt.
"By God girl, what is wrong with you?!" He yelled, the back of his hand cracking against her face.
She couldn't stay, she couldn't. No matter what, that's what she had said, no matter what happened she had to escape him and his tests.
Leaning back, she kicked the window out. It took a minute, but it finally gave way.
"What are you doing?!" He grabbed her again, stopping her from escaping. "I said when I was done with you, then you could leave." He growled, yanking her shoulder back harshly. He was stronger then her and her brace made this next part quite tricky.
His hand was on her shoulder far enough for her to bite him, she knew she couldn't infect other people, the undead illness had been removed fully from her body. That just meant the bite hurt, but it wouldn't kill him.
She wondered that, if she could infect people by biting them, would she still have done so to him?
He gasped in pain, withdrawing his hand long enough for her to leap out the window. She removed the bag from her shoulders and got up to run. The brace, that damn thing, made it so difficult to move fast. She did her hardest, but he was quickly advancing on her.
Her eyes wide in fear, she turned a corner and faced dozens of the undead.
She paused, frozen in her spot. He saw and turned tail, he wasn't going to be dinner for her. He had the cure, he'd just use it on another one of the undead and recreate her results.
Surprisingly, they paid little to no attention to her. She was but a foot away from the closest one, who sniffed her and walked lamely passed her, following the sounds of her father sprinting back to their car and taking off so fast the wheel screamed in protest before he turned a corner and left her sight. She was stunned, breathless, speechless.
They all slowly shuffled away from her, to the sound of the car. It was strange seeing them like this, they didn't care she was here, they just left her standing there like she didn't exist.
Thoughts rushed through her head, were they tricking her? No, they weren't that intelligent. One of them came close enough to bite her and it just walked away, why would it do that?
What was going on?
She grinned, her time as part of the undead was paying off. This had to be part of it, they couldn't tell she wasn't one of them, they completely bypassed her without a care in the world.
With a hearty laugh, she realized she had done it, with the help of her undead comrades. She had escaped and she was able to walk the city freely because the undead don't eat other undead!
For a second, she frowned. She had been undead, but she was just barely alive now. Because of their acceptance or ignorance about her, the undead treated her no differently then another undead. It was a little unnerving... okay, it was extremely disturbing, to think of herself as being one of them. She hated that idea worse then she hated her father.
She is undead.
Did she eat like them? Did she eat humans too? She didn't really feel much of a desire to eat her father when she looked at him, well, she had done a few times in her early stages, but now she couldn't even consider it.
Speaking of food...
Her stomach growled something fierce, it made her double over in pain. The undead didn't even look back at her as she left their numbers in search for food.
She had to eat so bad, her body ached so bad due to her hunger.
"G-goddammit." She groaned, limping her way to the nearest stores.
She also figured that, if there were other people like her father said, or implied, then maybe she could find them. Join them. She just hoped they weren't cross with her past as an undead.