Chapter 4. Plaga

The inside of the lab was like a maze. Each corridor looked the same, every new door identical to the last one. And the entire place was black, shiny metal, but not shiny enough that she could see her reflection in it. There was no warmth here, and the cold seemed to seep through her clothes and cling to her skin. She shivered.

Eventually the maze reached an end, and her escort led her inside a room with various machines and controls, computers displaying graphs and symbols, and…a one-way mirror that covered half a wall. On the other side of it was a chair, like the kind dentist's used to operate on their patients…but it reminded her of something else, too.

She didn't have time to think on it as three people in white coats turned their eyes on her, one woman and two men. "Welcome !" Greeted the long-haired blonde with a million-watt smile. "You must be Ashley. Can I call you Ashley ?" She strode towards the latter, holding her arm out for a handshake.

"Um, sure…"

"This is my colleague James Shepherd, and this is Derek Simmons, the lead scientist in our team." On cue, the older man reached out to shake her hand, while James continued to stare at her. It might've been creepy, if it wasn't for the fact he looked so bored.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Graham."

"I wish I could say the same, but why am I here ? I was under the impression it was an…urgent matter." And yet here they were, casually exchanging introductions.

"And it is." The scientist replied with a nod. "We have cause to believe the parasite – otherwise known as the Plaga, is still alive and inside you."

The air whooshed out of Ashley's lungs. What did he say ? "That's…that's not possible." She managed to croak out a few seconds later, when she could speak again. "Luis's invention –" She stopped midway in the sentence to glance at the chair she'd glimpsed just moments ago. That's what it reminded her of. It looked like Luis's chair.

"Luis Sera's invention is imperfect, incomplete, and as my subordinates calculated – it possesses a 3% chance of failing to fully eradicate the specimen."

"And I fell under those 3% ?" Of course. It was just her luck that she would.

"I'm afraid so."

"But…I don't understand. Does that mean I only have a piece of it ?"

James, who had been silent up to this point, finally spoke. "Following the rules of anatomy, most organisms on this earth cannot survive with the majority of their body gone. A person can even die from losing their arm, if not treated properly. However, this is the Plaga we're talking about, and it's safe to assume it has found a way to survive." He paused. "As a matter of fact, we have conducted tests on your blood samples, and…" He glanced at his superior, who in turn nodded. "It seems like the Plaga's DNA has merged with yours."

His words echoed in her head. "What does that mean ?" Maybe it wasn't as bad as having the entire thing inside you.

"That's why you were brought here." Said Emily, placing a comforting hand on Ashley's arm. "So we can find out, and rid you of the Plaga once and for all."

That sounded perfect, actually. The faster they could get rid of that thing, the better. "Okay. How are you going to do that ?"

Mr. Simmons gestured to the chair on the other side of the window. "This is the perfected version of Luis Sera's chair. There is no doubt it will fully purge the Plaga…however, yours is a remnant – an echo of the original, and there is no way to predict what effect that will have unless we try."

She bit her lip. She still remembered the pain the first chair had caused her. The pain it had caused Leon. Her eyes widened. "Wait – what about Leon ? Is he…"

Emily shook her head. "Mr. Kennedy was fully cleansed, and his blood samples remained unchanged to this day, as do his DNA samples."

She sighed in relief. At least there was that. She turned to Derek, his pale hair slicked back to reveal a weathered face. "What's the worst that could happen ?"

"Nothing. If the machine doesn't work, then you'll be left as you are. If it does, the Plaga will be gone."

She exhaled. "…okay. Let's do it, then."

Following Emily to the other room, she let the woman strap her in the chair. Her arms and legs were still free, but her chest and waist were kept in place by two separate harnesses…in case she thrashed, probably. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon." The woman assured her with a smile. She nodded, even though it barely tamped down her rising panic.

It's worth it, she told herself. If only to stop herself from becoming something…inhuman. Monstrous. Something that could hurt people, her loved ones.

Just as Emily slipped back to the control room, the machine whirred to life underneath Ashley. She took a deep breath, bracing herself...except that nothing could have prepared her for the white-hot pain that exploded through her body.

…

Leon had begun pacing fifteen minutes ago. He checked his phone again. There was five minutes left before it would make an hour, the time limit he had given Ashley. He paused, looking at the door. Maybe she was just late, caught up in something ? He shook his head. No, no. He'd go look for her no matter what – whether she was just having a cup of tea, or doing God knows what in there. "I need to get through." He said to the man sitting behind the safety window. According to his name tag, his name was Timothy.

"Do you have a pass ?"

Did he look like he had a pass ? "My charge is in there. I need to get to her."

"Sorry bud. You don't have a pass, I can't do anything." Fine. The hard way it was. He took his gun out from the upholster and pointed it at the Leonard's head. "Dude ! The glass is bullet-proof." He exclaimed in a strangled voice, backing away anyway.

The thing with bullet-proof glass is that it only stopped bullets to an extent. Leon pulled the trigger, and a loud BANG went off. The redhead squealed in surprise, covering his ears. The glass had a small crater where the bullet had touched it. He shot another three times in quick succession, into the crater and around it, putting pressure on the weakened parts. "Okay, okay !" The attendant yelped, hands in the air. "I'll open the door, just…stop shooting."

His superiors weren't going to be happy about Leon breaking rules, and definitely not about entering a level he wasn't authorized in, but they could sock it. Something was going on with Ashley – something bad, and every one of his instincts were saying he had to be by her side. "Thanks." He said and went in before the door even fully opened. He froze as soon as he was past it. What was that distant sound ? Like a scream…a girl's scream.

Ashley's scream.

Anger spread through him like wildfire, and he ran. He sprinted towards the unmistakable sound of his charge, ignoring the many doors and the surprised scientist stumbling out of the way just in time before he slammed into them. Getting to Ashley was the only thing that mattered – the only thing he could think of as the screams grew louder, and then he'd deal with the problem when he was there, whatever it was.

He kicked the door open, and there was a collective gasp. There at least a dozen men and women in this room, but that's not what had caught Leon's attention. There, on the other side of a one-way mirror, was Ashley. Her back was arched off the chair she'd been strapped in, fingers curled and mouth open in an endless, tormented scream. Surrounding her was a bubble that glowed electric blue, but he didn't stop to admire it. Instead, he aimed his gun at the oldest man in the room, the one who was least surprised by his presence. "Make it stop !" He had to yell through the noise.

But the scientist only glanced at one another, and the man merely looked at him. Watched him.

Leon didn't bother pressing any of the buttons himself – he didn't know jack about any of the machines here. Instead he went straight for the door leading to his charge, kicked it down, and his gut twisted at intensity of her scream, her pain. He rushed forward, dropping his gun, and reached through the bubble; it didn't hurt him. He ripped the harness apart and lifted Ashley off the chair – the chair that looked awfully like Luis's device.

Her screams stopped, and her body sagged, the tension leaving all at once. Her fingers uncurled, her arms turning limp. The sudden quiet was unsettling. "Ashley ? Can you hear me ?" Leon said, though he didn't really expect her to wake up.

He inhaled as her eyes fluttered open to tired slits, barely able to keep them open as she looked up at him. The squeak of a sob whispered out of her throat, and Leon's chest tightened at the helpless sound. "Shhh, it's okay. I've got you. I'm gonna get us out of here."

She sighed and her eyes fluttered close, falling asleep instantly against his chest, exhausted. They had done this to her, for some reason. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth this kind of torture. He had a mind to destroy that damn chair, but he knew couldn't go that far. Besides, right now, his priority was getting Ashley to a safe location.

"Wait." A male voice spoke out to him as he walked out of the room. He looked at the man who had addressed him, and read the tag on his coat. James Shepherd, it said. "You can't just take her."

"Watch me."

"You don't understand. It was discovered that Ms. Graham is still affected by the Plaga – we don't know what will happen if you take her out there. She could be dangerous."

Leon let the man's words sink into him with cool indifference, even though he was everything but calm on the inside. Already he wanted to ask a dozen questions – why, how, what, when, but now was not the time. "Is that why you were torturing her ?" He wondered derisively.

A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped forward, heels clicking across the tiled floor. "It might have seemed that way, but I assure you it was for Ashley's own good !" He didn't like how she'd familiarized herself with his charge.

"It's all right, Ms. Stanford." Another voice chimed in. He glanced at the man whom he had suspected to be their superior. "Mr. Kennedy will soon realize he needs our help if he hopes to have any chance at protecting the president's daughter, and the people around her."

What's that supposed to mean ? He wanted to bark in his face, but Ashley's weight in his arms reminded him once more of his priorities. Still, he said, "And who're you ?"

The man bowed mockingly, running a hand backwards through his pale hair as he straightened. "Derek Simmons, lead scientist in Ms. Graham's case."

Lead scientist ? So the D.S.O really was involved in this. Everything leading up to now had confirmed it, but only now did it finally seem to sink in. He just couldn't believe the President wouldn't have notified him – the person who devoted his time to making his daughter safe, and it was even more unbelievable that the D.S.O would treat Ashley this way, regardless that it was 'for her own good'. Something was seriously wrong here, and he was going to find out what. But first…

"Right, well. Don't wait up." He snarked and strode out of the room. That's a name he'd remember to mention once he called his superiors, figure out who this guy really was.

Timothy was smart not to say anything as Leon carried his unconscious charge out. He thought about bringing her straight to the medical department seeing as it was in the same building, but…he didn't trust the D.S.O, right now. They'd allowed a man under their command to hurt Ashley like that, so what's to say they wouldn't do worse ? No, until he figured out where the president stood in this situation, he would bring her somewhere safe where he could watch over her.

…

By the time Leon had reached his apartment, Ashley was burning up. Her breath came in pants, and sweat was beading on her forehead even though she was shaking like a leaf. He unlocked the door and placed her on the couch, before rushing to the bedroom – where he ripped the covers from his bed, and wrapped them around his charge. Leon's medical expertise was close to non-existent, but from the little he knew thanks to training, she was probably in shock, her body suffering through the after-effects of the terrible pain that machine had caused her.

He started doubting his decision not to take her to a doctor when her muscles jerked in spams. "Shit," he cursed, and went to look for anything useful in the cabinet in the bathroom, where he kept his pills.

He didn't even remember what he'd bought, but his eyes focused on two bottles. One was a fever reducer, and the other a muscle relaxant. He forced himself to take a minute, to read the instructions and side-effects, the amount to take and the hours in-between each pill. His head snapped up when he heard a whimper, and he half-ran back to the living room where Ashley was in visible discomfort, squirming and breathing hard.

He had to wake her if she was to swallow these pills, but would she ? Only one way to find out. Leon knelt beside the couch, and gently grabbed her shoulder. "Ashley ?" He shook her lightly. "Ashley. I need you to wake up." At first it didn't seem like she had even heard him, but then her eyebrows – which were already drawn up into a crease, furrowed deeper, and her eyes glazed with fever opened halfway. He held up three pills. Two muscle relaxants and one fever reducer. "Can you swallow these for me ?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but then seemed to think better of it. Instead she shook her head, the faint motion making her wince. She was hurting. Leon pursed his lips, wondering what he could do, when he had an idea; he would crunch the pills until there were nothing but powder, and mix it in water. "I'll be right back." He said to Ashley before walking over to the kitchen island, where he proceeded to prepare his mixture.

A couple minutes later, he came back with a glass of blurry water. "I'm gonna have to sit you up, okay ?" She nodded – which he almost mistook for another spasm, but gently, carefully, he slipped his arm beneath her and lifted.

She gasped, her face twisting in pain. Not wasting a second, Leon sat behind her so she could lean against him and brought the glass to her lips. She moaned, turning away from it. "I know you're hurting, but I need you to drink this. Just take a few sips, if you can't drink the whole thing. It'll make you feel better."

A moment passed before she turned her face towards the glass, which Leon took as the okay. He slowly dipped the liquid over her lower lip and into her mouth. They sat like that for a few minutes, as Ashley couldn't take more than a few tiny sips at the time, but the spasms were almost gone by the time she had trained the glass. "Good job." He said softly, before moving away to lay her back down.

She sighed as her head touched the pillow, her eyes shuttering close almost at once. She was asleep, and looked more peaceful for it. Leon went to fetch a washcloth and a bowl of lukewarm water, before sitting down on the short coffee table. He wiped the sweat from her brow, her temples, the wetness at the nape of her neck. "You're going to be okay…" He murmured, though it sounded like he was reassuring himself more than anyone else. He hated seeing her like this.

He shouldn't even be seeing her like this. Ashley was meant to be in the sun, both figuratively and literally. She deserved a normal life of normal experiences, not to writhe in pain in a cold lab or on his freaking couch. But now, supposedly, that parasite – the Plaga, was back ? " Fuck..." Leon muttered, brushing the bangs out of his face with his fingers. He then took his flip phone out from his pocket and dialed the president's private number.

…

Red-rimmed eyeballs were watching her, glowing and floating in the infinite dark void. Ashley stood across from them even though there was no ground to place her feet on – no sense of gravity or direction, just an emptiness that stretched on without end. "What are you ?" She asked, and all at once she could see her body, her hands and legs, as if there was nothing before and she had just appeared out of thin air.

"I am you." A discombobulated voice replied, echoing all around them. The shadows twisted, ripping into a smile that grew too wide.

To be Continued…