"How do you feel? Are you in any pain of any kind?" the old lady asked softly. I glanced over at Alma, unsure of what to say. Who was this woman? Had I seen her before? Something about her felt vaguely familiar. She had a kind, soft face and her smile made me want to smile back at her. "Let me see if I can remember all of your names," she said softly.
"The pale one must be Vera, and I believe you’re Alma. You with the short hair might be Blake," said the lady. "And you're little Sadie!" she exclaimed, smiling at me. Her voice was as nice as her smile. It was soft and soothing and instantly brought a sense of calm to me. Maybe that was just because it sounded ever so slightly like Alma's voice. They both spoke with that warm, almost motherly tone.
"Why is she talking to us like we're kindergarten students?" muttered Blake. That hadn't occurred to me. It just felt nice to have someone speak to you directly, someone who wasn't infected.
"You four may not all remember me, but we have met before," she said.
"Did you work at the labs where we were worked on?" Blake demanded suddenly. At that, the lady's face lit up.
"Why yes! I really didn't think that anyone would remember me!" she laughed. Her laugh was light and soft.
"You have some nerve then. Do you really think that you can show up here like this after what you did to us?" Blake's tone wasn't her normal, angry tone that I was used to. It had become cold and empty. Alma nudged her in the ribs.
"I admit that we made some mistakes, and I am truly sorry for any pain that I might have caused you. But let's not think about such unpleasant matters now. I came here to share some wonderful news with you!" That managed to make even Blake shut up. It had been forever since we had heard about anything going on in the outside world. This small forest of ours was my whole world. Sometimes I even forgot that there was a world outside of this place.
"At long last, I believe that we have found a cure for the plague!" the lady said. That was the last thing I had been expecting to hear. How was that even possible? Didn't we know next to nothing about the Z plague. The way some of the scientists had described it made it sound like it wasn't even a thing of this world. The Z plague, a cure, those words didn't belong together. But those words were also powerful enough to make everyone in the group fall silent and listen to the lady.
"Oh, forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Green. My team and I have been researching the z plague for as long as it has been around. It is quite a strange illness, but you don't need me to tell you that," she laughed. "But at long last I think we finally figured out how to cure it. Now, there are some for whom it is too late. If one is already too far gone, there is no hope for them."
"Why should we believe you?" asked Alma. Her tone was controlled but I could hear the underlying hope in her voice.
"I'm not saying that you have to. If you like, I can show you pictures of some of the cured. But the only way for you to really understand how real this is would be if you came to see it in real life." D. Green reached into her bag and pulled out a small book. "Here are images of all the people who have been saved," she explained. I leaned over Alma's shoulder as she began to flip through the book.
On the first page, there was a photograph of a man. There was a scar that ran from his forehead all the way down to his neck. It also looked as if one of his eyes had been injured. But I had never before seen so much happiness on a person's face. He was smiling brightly, and his expression was peaceful and filled with excitement at the same time.
It was a look of pure joy. I would probably feel the same way if I were cured. I looked at Alma. Her face was calm and almost impossible to read. After a few minutes of looking at the pictures, she cleared her throat and turned back to Dr. Green.
"I still don't understand what you want," said Alma.
"I want to help you. I want to cure you. It's simple as that," said Dr. Green.
"So... you want to take us back to the labs?" Alma asked. Now I could see the fear creeping across her face.
"Exactly, so that I can help you."
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"Do you really expect us to go back there? You have no idea what they did to us there!" Blake leaped to her feet. Instantly, she was tackled to the ground by several of the nearby inspectors.
"Get off of her!" Dr. Green ordered. The inspectors obeyed. Blake sat up and glared at them.
"Keep it together, Blake," Alma hissed at her.
"I would rather die than go back," said Blake firmly. Dr. Green seemed completely unfazed by Blake's reaction.
"Well, you don't have to. I just thought that I should tell you that there was a cure in case you decided to change your mind. What do the rest of you think? I understand that you were treated very poorly, and I am sorry. But I promise you that things have changed," she added. My heart wanted to go back. I wanted to believe her. The horrors of the labs were still fresh in my mind, but I knew that I could handle it if it meant I would be cured. If only I could be freed from this awful, awful thing. But I stayed quiet. Vera and I both turned to Alma.
"Can we have some time to think about it?" said Alma at last.
"Of course. Perhaps I should just leave you alone for a few days and you can think about it."
"We would like that. I think each of us will need a little time to make our decision."
"Wonderful! I'll see you four in a couple of days!" With that, Dr. Green turned around and left. All of the inspectors left with her. Soon, we were sitting all alone in the clearing. Alma was the first to speak and the first to stand.
"Are you alight, Blake?" she asked. Blake was rubbing her shoulder.
"I'm not going back," was all that Blake said. I stood up, helped Vera to her feet and followed Alma into the house in silence. Suddenly, I felt very tired. Vera and Blake didn't follow us. Blake stayed where she was, looking up at the sky with a look of pure bitterness on her face. I couldn't see where Vera had gone. But she had almost certainly gone back down to the river. That seemed to be her happy place. It was a beautiful spot. Maybe I should visit it more often.
"Alma, what are you going to do? Are you going back to the labs?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Look, I'm going to need to think about that for a long time." She smiled at me. "You should also give yourself plenty of time to think it over."
"But I want to do what you want to do. So, just let me know when you do make up your mind."
"Alright."
"What do you think the others will want, Alma?"
She sighed. "Well, Blake has made it pretty clear what she wants. Vera is always a bit of a mystery, but she did seem really freaked out by the whole thing."
"Everything freaks Vera out," I couldn't help but point out.
Alma laughed. "Yeah, that's true. What I'm saying is they don't seem like they really want to go back, and I can't blame them. So, there is a chance that we might end up going our separate ways." That was strange to think about. I had been living with them for several years now. We had lived together in the labs, and we were living together here. It was true that there had been a time when they hadn't been in my life, but that time seemed so far away now.
What would life without them even be like? How could I adjust to that? Blake spent most of her free time being a bully, but she was still a part of this place and a part of my life. I wasn't sure if I could stand to lose even her. What if we were all separated, and I ended up all alone?
No, that would be too much for me to handle. There would be no one to comfort me when everything began falling apart. I could meet new people, but it would be different. The best and the worst moments of my life, I had shared with these three girls. We had saved each other's lives and nearly killed each other more times than I could count. We had seen each other at lows that not even our own parents had witnessed. How could I support myself without that? Alma's hand on my shoulder was a comforting sensation and it brought me out of my panicked misery.
"Remember, you don't have to make up your mind right now," she said. "Let's just sleep on things, alright?"
I nodded. "Alright." That didn't end up happening because no sleep came to me that night. My heart raced as I tried to relax. There was a strange kind of pain in my head. It was a sharp stinging pain that seemed to be slowly spreading to my throat.
Suddenly there were tears in my eyes. Fear and sadness faded into anger. A red tint seemed to fill the air around me. This was a feeling that I knew well. But I had experienced an attack two days ago. Surely this couldn't be happening now. This wasn't the time to wonder about that.
Couldn't she tie faster? What was I doing? Why was I screaming? Then my eyes landed on Blake. That was enough. Something inside me broke and shattered into a million pieces. The world became crimson with blood as I gave into the monster. I sprang at the sleeping Blake and sank my teeth into her shoulder.
Anger, hunger and the taste of blood was all that I was aware of. Fresh human blood. No animal could ever compare. There was nothing better than this. My nails were wet with blood now. I could faintly hear Blake's agonized screams. But all my mind could think about was hunger. Someone was behind me, grabbing me, trying to pull me off of my prey. I would eat that one next. But before I could turn around to attack her, I felt a sharp pain shoot through the back of my skull. I stumbled back, clutching at my face.
I could no longer tell whether or not the blood on my hands belonged to Blake or to me. There seemed to be blood everywhere. It dripped down the walls and seeped through the floorboards. The heavy scent of delicious, warm blood filled my nose. Without hesitating, I flung myself to the ground, desperately trying to drink as much of the blood as I could.
There was another sharp pain in the back of my head. I tried to stand up but sank to the ground instead. Three figures gathered around me as the red slowly faded into black.
Wait... what have you done? whispered a little voice in the back of my mind.