Virulence

[Kaylee Zheng]

A finger pressed against a small recording button of a voice recorder, with the built-in microphone being brought close a pair of full lips that parted before uttering anything; plenty of air was drawn in to support a long-winded monologue.

''1st of July 2027. 6574 days after the initial contamination. Initial mortality rates were 100%. In the first week of the outbreak, there were 245 000 casualties. In the year to follow, over seven million people died in NYC area solely. Over the course of 18 years, I managed to collect a little more than 2300 different DNA samples from various individuals, both with and without immunity to the virus. I isolated seven hundred different mutagens of the initial RNA viral strand. None of them are the same.

So yeah, this is the official statistic. I’m good at giving statistics. It’s what us scientist do. Tell you the numbers and then tell you the odds. This ability earned me a scholarship to Columbia University when I finished highschool – there was no way in hell my parents could ever afford tuition. But yeah, I guess the fact that I finished highschool when I was 15 kind of impressed them. They thought I had potential so they offered a helping hand to elevate me from the slums my parents unfortunately resided in. I bet the money for my tuition was raised on one of those fancy parties where rich people sob over the fates of the poor, whilst drowning their sorrows in Don Perignon. And when they are drunk enough, checks were signed. Truthfully, I never thought altruists existed. Just people who grew a guilty conscience as they stomped over other people on their way to the top of the social ladder. And there was nobody who swam better amidst such moral feces than Reg. Reg could get those checks signed even before they were drunk.

Reginald McFadder III was a professor of genetics at Columbia University. He earned his PhD from MIT when he was only 27. Cited over 1200 times, he was one of the world’s leading authorities on viral genetics. And one hell of a lover. Yes, smartass, do the math. I was 16. So what? As his student tutor, I spent more time with him than he spent with his wife. Stuff was bound to happen. All that tension, excitement, chemistry. Later on, even love. I did not do it because of grades or reputation – I was just lonesome. Above all, he was my friend.''

A brief pause ensued.

[Kaylee Zheng]

The sound of trickling fluid broke the otherwise perfect silence. Little blobs of crystal clear liquid seeped into a large bulbous flask attached at the very end of a bulky apparatus installation. However, it was not water.

''Reg. I miss him sometimes. Heh...'' Zheng trailed off, flicking a stray hair from her face -''...so much time has passed that I don't even remember his image clearly anymore. Just those piercing green eyes and his sardonic smile...''
Clearing her throat, the scientist prevented herself from floating off into her own private musings and lose coherence.

''So yes, at first, there were seven of us on the team. Reg, Hyde, Alicia, Mac, Jon, Ivan and Carl. Reg died first, followed by Hyde, Jon and Ivan in the three years to come. Seven years ago, we lost Carl. Finally, Alicia was killed 2 and a half years ago. Since then, it had been me and Mac. And his daughter - Alex. Over the last fifteen years, all of us were in search of a cure. We managed to contact other scientist who were assigned to the initial project via a satellite commlink in Fort Hamilton naval base. At first, we managed to locate and contact six other scientists, but approximatelly five years ago, all connections were severed.'' she said, finalizing her thought. Her fingertip ran over the smooth surface of the mp3 voice recorder as she cerebrated over what she was going to say next.

Lifting his head up, Astor - the German shepherd dog, signalled somebody was approaching the lab door. Lee glanced over her shoulder briefly, flicking the recording device between her fingers, then reinstalling her gaze on the LCD screen swarmed with data and analyses. Those tiny steps were all but unfamiliar.

[Meredith MacKenzie]

Her heart thundered away in her chest, her mind was overcome with giddy excitement. Her senses were overcome with the rush of unadulterated, childish joy; the feeling of the floor impacting the soles of her feet as she scampered on tiny legs through the network of rooms of her underground home. She dodged around the final corner; flung herself unannounced into the room that presented the greatest odds of escape -

Mac's face was plastered with a grin, his longer legs closing the distance between them with ease. His arms shot out, hands snaring beneath the arms of his beloved Alex. He unleased a comic roar, hoisting her off the ground. Amid a tirade of squeals and giggles, he threw her over his shoulder with ease; her limbs flailed half-heartedly as she feigned an attempt at obtaining freedom.

It was then that the adult looked around him; took stock of his surroundings. So focussed had he been on his pursuit of his young daughter that he hadn't paid attention to which part of the complex she was leading him towards. His gut wrenched a little as his eyes settled on her: Kaylee Zheng, the person who for eighteen years had been his mentor and tutor; the person who for thirty painful months had been the focus of his blame over the death of his Alicia.

Yeah, right. His subconscious hissed with venomous words, twisting the knife in the pit of his stomach a little deeper. We may be little more than autonomous lab equipment as far as she's concerned, but its your useless genome that forced her out there in the first place. It had been mere chance that had robbed his fiancée from him. Maybe if it had been the virus it wouldn't have hurt so much; but she was immune. No: while out there, doing her part to help with the research that Zheng insisted was so vitally important to their survival as a species, Alicia had fallen foul of the gangs that roamed the city.

I should have been out there, he repeated to himself, for the thousanth time. Doesn't matter that I was at risk. It was my job to protect you; it should have been me.

Gently, he lowered Alex to the ground again; she seemed to sense the sudden sombering of his mood, and remained quietly by his side, arms wrapping around his waist in her childish approximation of reassurance. He placed a hand gently atop her head. The world had fallen apart; it had taken fifteen extra years, but his family had fallen apart too. Standing beside him now - and opposite him too, he supposed, given their solitary existance alongside Zheng and her research - was all that he had left to cling on to.

He finally cast a sheepish look in Zheng's direction. No doubt the scientist was harbouring frustration about their invasion into her sanctum, but as yet she hadn't voiced any of it aloud. He pushed Alex gently in the direction of Astor, giving the 'grown ups' a little space to talk.

He paced slowly towards Kaylee, though kept a respectful distance. "Its nearly her bed-time," he offered by way of explanation, both for the chase, their invasion, and as a prelude to his next statement. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

[Kaylee Zheng]

Kaylee ignored Mac's question at first. Instead, she turned her attention to the girl and nonchalantly tossed the recorder over to the other side of the table after pressing the off button. She would continue her recording in her own privacy, when the dynamic duo would fall asleep and the scientist would be left alone with her thoughts. It was adorable - the way Alex hugged Astor as if he was a real person and not a pet - but the truth was she missed the company of other four-year olds. Nothing could substitute that kind of play. Zheng sighed and crouched to dome over the girl and the dog.

''You know, sweetie...'' Lee voiced in the doughiest tone she could muster - ''Astor needs to get his sleep. Look at him, he's all tired. His tongue is sticking out...''
The dog was not the tired one. But there was no other way of lure Alex into bed apart from making her believe she was the one responsible for the well-being of the resident German shepherd. The analogy worked marvellously. Alex's little hands stretched upwards, as if begging to be picked up. Zheng complied, placing her hands around the girl's torso and using all of her disposable muscle power, she lifted her up.

''Ah...you're getting heavy. What has you dad been feeding you?'' the dark-haired scientist asked, shooting an inquisitive look back at Meredith. A small smile tugged the corners of her lips as the kid lay her sleepy head on Zheng's shoulder. In slow, secure steps the trio, followed by the dog, proceeded to a compact cell next door which had been arranged as a children's room. Alicia always liked light pink.

[Meredith MacKenzie]

Mac watched with a mix of emotions. The blind affection that Alex expressed towards anyone and anything was endearing, and a joy to witness. Seeing Zheng actually demonstrating some kind of non-objective relationship with a living being was a relief. However, seeing how quickly Alex accepted a new woman in his life was painful. Alex had been so young when Alicia died; Mac wondered if she would even remember her mother at all, or if that place in her childhood memory would be occupied by the scientist instead.

As Kaylee led the way out of the lab, Mac unleashed a short whistle in the direction of Astor. The Alsatian's ears pricked up and, after an encouraging gesture, the dog trotted casually to his heel. He followed to the doorway of Alex's room and halted, propping himself up against the frame with a sigh. Lain down on the scavenged bed, Alex's eyes sank slowly closed, leaden-coated. She snuggled down into the sheets and duvet, as Kaylee carefully tucked her in. Despite everything - all that had happened in the last eighteen years, and all that he had lost - Mac couldn't help the contented sigh that escaped him. Life might be hard, turned upsidedown by their ordeal, but it was good.

He dropped his voice low as the lights in the room clicked off, easing Alex into a hopefully sleep-filled darkness. "So," he said softly; "What are we working on tonight?"