Day Zero
Chapter 26

Day 96:

Riley sat tensely on his bed. Fabiana had told him the good news yesterday, now all he could do was wait to see what the results were. He hadn’t seen Abigail, Strader, Benjamin or any of the others since Fabiana had stopped by yesterday afternoon for his blood sample.

“They have all just immersed themselves in their projects. I am going to help Abigail right after this” Fabiana had said to him before she walked away cradling his blood sample close as if they were something precious.

He flipped on the television tuning in once again to CNN. This was the only station that he had been watching for the past ten days.

“The death toll has risen to four million with over one million reported missing. It can also be confirmed that Boston, New York, D.C and Chicago have all been overrun. With Marshall Law declared by the few remaining military members- restricted zones have been created in an attempt to keep the infected in an isolated location. Food drops have also been enforced and people are encouraged to tune into their local news station to find out where their nearest food drop will be” Kate Bolduan said. Thank goodness we are staying in a hospital that is created to feed hundreds of people per day.

“In other news, we might have a beacon of hope in these our darkest days. A report was just released from the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle, Washington that a possible vaccination to this disease is currently underway. The team at the IDRI is one of three remaining research teams composed of some of the most brilliant minds in medical research. The teams around the world have been working together trying to determine the cause of this plague that is sweeping across the world. Of the initial seven teams there are only three remaining- the North American team, the European team, and the Antarctic team. Let’s hope that these teams can work together to create this vaccine soon to prevent the spread of this insidious disease” reported Anderson Cooper.

Yumi had reported that they may have found a cure. Were they too late for him? I haven’t shown any symptoms the entire time. Am I immune to it? Or is this thing going to roll in like a thunderstorm, release all of its fury, and then roll out all in the span of thirty minutes he thought.

He saw Strader and Benjamin walking towards him and he walked across the room towards the telephone. But the men didn’t stop. The hell? Instead they walked to the door and unsealed the entrance. Riley ran across the room and wrapped an arm around both of the men who had made such an impact in his life. Benjamin who had taken him under his wing and taught Riley everything he needed to know, and Strader who had helped him become a bit more of a man and a bit less of a nerd.

“You’re immune, kid” Strader explained.

“What?” Riley asked.

“You have a ridiculously high amount of blood cells and your CD4+ T-cells have evolved to react over 60% faster than those in a regular human. All of us took a blood sample and compared our CD4 + T- cells to yours as well as your white blood cell count. With an average man having up to 11,000 white blood cells, you have around 22,000 twice as many.” Benjamin explained as Riley released the two men.

Riley looked at them shocked. “That means that my family is also immune to it! They might still be alive. That also means that using neurogenesis we can regrow more and more white blood cells for both those who are healthy and maybe those who are infected and prevent the spread of the disease?” Riley asked.

“This will be a vaccine…odds are that this will only work on the healthy, not the sick” Benjamin explained.

“Not to mention more tests need to be done” Strader said.

“Where is everyone?” Riley asked.

“The others are working on a bit of neurogenesis now to get the vaccines made, just in case. Although Abigail is currently passed out in the break room, I don’t think the lass has slept in three days.”

“So we figured you might want to go surprise her” Strader said with a wink.

Riley laughed but he quickly exited the quarantine room and walked quickly down the hall towards the break room.

He found Abigail curled up in one of the arm chairs and mug of what he could only assume was coffee rested on the coffee table. Her glasses were lopsided on her face and the sound of CNN on the television served as white noise that probably lulled her to sleep. He smiled and walked over to the chair where he kneeled before it and brushed a strand of unruly curly hair from her face, allowing his fingers to brush against her face, hoping that this contact would wake her. Her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey” he said softly.

Her eyes widened and she sat up quickly fixing her glasses.

“I’m here” he said as they embraced one another tightly.

When they broke away he kissed her. She kissed him back, the kiss was soft and shared right when he was about to pull her closer to him someone cleared their throat behind them. He pulled away with a light groan to see Fabiana standing in the door way with a smile on her face. She walked over to them and hugged Riley tightly. “I’m glad that you are alright” she said as she pulled away.

“What now?” Riley asked.

Abigail smiled and linked her fingers through his, “We get to test this thing” she replied.

“What do you mean?” Riley asked.

“Well the rest of us are going to give this vaccine a shot and then expose ourselves to the zombie virus” Abigail replied.

“That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard” Riley replied.

“Well what else did you have in mind?” Abigail demanded.

“To get test subjects to volunteer?” he asked.

“Obviously, but it takes a few days for the cultures to mimic yours and create these super CD4+ T-cells that you have as well as get enough bone marrow volunteers so that we can increase the white blood cell count”

“So where are you going to get the bone marrow?” Riley demanded.

“There are a few bags here at the Institute, and it looks like the military is also willing to test our drug as well as donate their own supply of bone marrow from the hospitals” Fabiana explained.

“When will what remains of the military arrive?” Riley asked.

“Today” Abigail replied.

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