Chapter Five: Hope Rekindled

The street previously filled with infected was now empty and an eerie silence was upon it. The captain, presumed to be dead, began to stir.

Horton awoke from his deathly sleep. A fog of confusion clouded his frazzled thoughts as he looked around. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

"Need a hand?" Horton looked quickly to see Rob standing there with his hand outstretched.

"Rob? What are you doing here?" Asked Horton, being aided to his feet by the old man.

"Oh, just out for a midnight stroll." Replied Rob. "Come on, let's get out of here." Horton nodded and kneeled down to take up his rifle before proceeding to follow Rob.

Their short journey brought them to what looked to be an abandoned liquor store. They entered the run down place, which surprisingly still had some of its shelves stocked. They entered the back room and sat down.

The room was small, slightly larger than a closet with a desk to the wall on the right extended to the left. Rob took a seat behind this desk and Horton sat to Rob's right.

"Rob...how am I still alive?" Asked Horton, leaning forward and removing his helmet.

"You sound disappointed, captain. I think the better question is, how did you resist the change?" Replied Rob, gazing intently at Horton. He shot an alarmed look at Rob.

"You knew?" Asked Horton.

"Yeah I knew. I've been to the third floor of Mercy hospital a few times." Answered Rob as he reclined in his chair, still gazing at the captain. "That's some secret you've been carryin' around."

"No kidding."

"As you know, I never received the vaccine, so I poured over all the research. Some pretty interestin' stuff, minus all the mutating virus and whatnot."

"Yeah." Said Horton, seemingly relieved to know that he no longer carried the burden alone. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Well, I'm no biologist but I'll try to explain it as best I can. What the good doctor injected you with was, in fact, a vaccine to keep you from turnin'. Mixed in with that was a dormant virus, or the virus, I should say."
"So, it never really mutated then."

"That's right. I'm not sure how he did it but when you learned of his secret research, the virus became active and began attacking your cells, hence the intense pain you were feelin'. The thing is, the virus can't survive unless it takes over the host."

"And I was resisting. Sounds more like a parasite than a virus to me."

"Well, some viruses have been known to change into a symbiotic organism if there is a need. It needed to change in order to survive."

"So, what does that mean? What does it do?"

"Seeing as how you're still alive after gettin' torn up by those infected, I'd say it heals you somehow."
"Heals me? What do you mean?"

"I've never heard of a symbiotic organism healing the host so fast, much less at all but this is no ordinary virus, is it?"

Horton nodded in agreement and gestured for Rob to continue.

"I don't know how it happens or what the 'damage limit' shall we say, is for you not to recover. You were left pretty bad back there though. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you can't die."

Horton looked a bit surprised at the notion of immortality.

"So you really think that I can't die?"

"Well I wouldn't go around testin' it, but yeah. Who can say how long this thing will be on your side, it may turn on you at some point."

"I better start putting it to good use then, shouldn't I?"

"What are you planning to do?"
Horton smiled slightly, "my part." He replied.

Horton got up and, after donning his helmet, proceeded to collect his things.

"We should stay in touch." Said Rob, grabbing a radio on the table, "I'll set it to your frequency." He also handed Horton a spare radio battery. "I found a few of these along with a charger for them."

Horton stopped and looked at Rob for a second.

"It's a long story." Said rob, answering Rob's inquiring gaze. Rob also tossed him some provisions in a small pouch.

"You may be unable to die but you still gotta eat."

"Right. Thanks." Replied Horton.

"I'll let you know if I find any checkpoints or places with provisions. I'm not gonna be movin' around a whole lot but you can come back here if you find yourself in need of supplies."
"Will do. Well I have what I need now. Thanks for everything, Rob."

Rob nodded and, after the two shook hands, Horton departed.