Dr. Viona shakes her head as she hears the words Hudson speaks. "I am not surprised at all. The military will kill everyone they see to stop the spread of infection. The only people who are going to make it out of this alive are rich corporation owners. Even as we speak the government is looking at two options", her cool blue eyes cut back and forth from the party members as she continues speaking in her husky Russian accent. "They find a survivor, analysis his genetics and produce a vaccine in the form of a counter-virus. They release this into the air over Colorado and stop the infection before it can move past the barriers they have set up around the state".
She pauses and Dr. Reagan breaks in. "But they've found a survivor! A man at our hospital survived, he was taken by the military"!
"Doesn't mean they will produce a vaccine in time fool", she hissed. Reagan flinched but caught himself, making himself meet her cold, deadly eyes as she continued. "They hardly have any idea how to produce such a thing. Their technology is not specialized for such experiments and the world's greatest scientists are all dead because of the infection. Only one place has the capability to create such a thing...the place that created this infection in the first place".
"You said there were two options". Reagan pointed out.
She nodded and then sighed. "The other is the more likely to happen... the more time that passes the more of a greater chance of...of...".
"Of what"? Brock asks impatiently.
"They'll drop the newly developed prototype MOAB". She replies. When she is met with blank stares she sighs again. "They are going to drop a bomb that will destroy Fort Collins, Denver, Aurora, Lakewood. Everything. The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shock wave that will eviscerate every living thing in the radius. Another thing is the temperature at the drop zone, it melts everything to nothing for miles and miles. It will kill everything but leave most buildings intact far enough away from the drop point. The perfect weapon for war".
The silence that followed was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was only broken when she spoke again. "Tonight will the second night since the infection. I can't imagine them waiting longer than three days...not at the rate the virus is mutating, it's producing monstrosities we never thought possible".
"Yeah you're not kidding", Brock muttered, thinking of the beast they outran to get here.
"What place do you speak of"? Dr. Reagan asked.
Viona looked at him for a few seconds before speaking. "I worked for the Parasol Corporation. Along with many of the world's greatest scientists. Our goal was to destroy the process of aging...but instead...we...well she specifically created the infection. Patient Zero instantly infected her, she infected another, they infected others...you've seen how it works", she says eyeing Lily again with those cold eyes and glancing towards the back hold where the civilians lay.
Dr. Viona looked startled at Builder's sudden questioning. She nodded slowly. "If I could get to the quarantine's edge I could convince them to let me lived based solely on who I am and what I am capable of. Given the proper materials I could create a perfect vaccine to counter act the virus". Doctor Reagan's eyes bulge and Viona looks around at the party to show them she is serious.
"How"? Reagan asks, "This is a complex organism you're talking about".
She lowered her eyes for a second before looking up. "I just know".
"But the state line is far away", she continued, "And the high ways are jammed full of empty cars abandoned in a panic when they realized they were not moving quick enough to escape the infection. I could not survive the trip myself, I am not a warrior like yourself Builder". Her eyes glance over to Lily and she scowls. "We had a plan. The other survivors and I. We had blocked off part of the lab, using soldiers to assist us while we worked on a vaccine. But the lab was over run and we fled". She blinks several times quickly.
"Myself, Dr. Hart, Dr. Takimi, and Dr. Johnson were the four working on the vaccine. When the infected over ran our defenses we got split up. I...I'm pretty sure I saw Dr. Hart's head being torn off by a gorilla", when she notes the party's confused look she adds, "We have several for research purposes, no telling what the infection has done to them. I don't know where Dr. Takimi is or Dr. Johnson. If I had anyone assisting me it would be much easier". She raises a brow at Reagan. "No offense but I don't think you meet the qualifications".
Dr. Viona turns back to Lily as the girl looks out the window. "Yes'll they bomb everything if they have to. This is America and every country in the world is watching right now. All international flights have been shut down, country borders are vigilantly guarded by military forces, everyone's waiting for America to take care of this "little" problem so it can go back to being business as usual. Our government has no qualms about killing their own people and that's why the other countries are not worried yet".
Lily shakes her head angrily as she looks out the window, scanning the area for threats. It's very dark outside. She doesn't see much besides the vague silhouettes in the night. She listens carefully but with the night an eerie silence has come. The silence of the dead. And of the deathly quiet, mentally praying they would live through the night. Viona, was she holding something back from them?
Without further ado Builder clicks the button on the digital tape recorder. The soft silence is broken by a hoarse, worn out voice.
"With all my intelligence I for one should know what a futile attempt this is...". His voice obviously breaks for a second. "But I am dying. And things must be said. Maybe one day they'll be found and heard". He clears his throat. "Dr. Viona I love you, I loved you from the second I laid eyes on you".
Dr. Viona spun from the table and hissed lowly, "Fool". But her face was flushed even as she said it.
"The initial attack was so fast. Whatever the fuck your partner Dr. Duncan...whatever you two created, it's the secret of eternal life alright". He suddenly cackles, the mad laugh of a man who has nothing left. "But that immortality comes at a cost. Madness, deformation, flesh eating tendencies, mutations..." He seems to just be musing to himself for a second and as if he realizes so he speaks again.
"Oh yes, I've been bitten. I'm slowly dying. It must be horrible to come back...if there is any part of you left that is. Watching behind the eyes of the hungry...Not me though, I'll never become one of those monsters. I've taken some interesting poison, it will shut my brain down in several minutes and I will not come back...I pray. Oh yes, I did not mention. I was not bitten when they broke through the first wall. We escaped and lost each other in the panic but The Joker found me and some others, he rallied the guards together and we pushed forward into the lab again. We thought we were going to finish the work of a cure. Then..."
He stops to violently cough off mic but you can still hear it clearly. He comes back and he sounds weaker, he is beginning to slur some of his words as well. "Then the Black Rook...he just lost it or something. Talking about how this is the next evolution for mankind or some madness...he dropped the blast doors and the infected monsters poured in. They killed the Joker, they killed most of the guards. A few remained on the outer most hive rooms to try and hold but I don't know if they are still there. I was bitten. So I fled, scared...as if I could run away from the infection that was already in my blood and coursing through my veins".
Another laugh, this one weak but bitter, mirthless. "I have no idea how an AI goes mad. It's too bad the Black Rook turned when he did. We were so close Viona...even without you Dr. Takimi and I almost had it. A sure fire cure. An airborne counter-virus designed to eliminate the negative symptoms...in Lab 5 it still awaits... A prototype".
He coughs ever so weakly. "But the Black Rook controls the doors now... The mutated infected roam the halls... There is no hope left... I hope you are alive... and running... because we both know what the government will do... if they can't find ... a cure quickly. I hope you are alive Viona…I hope…"
The mic goes silent. He must have turned it off before he actually died.
Lily goes to the window one last time before turning in for the night. She sees nothing though. It is very dark. She listens but hears nothing.
As the party begins to lie down for the night Chuck stays asleep in the civilian's hold. Dr. Reagan visits him there and nods. "You are a brave man to sleep here", he whispers to Chuck. He looks around at the civilians and suddenly his eyes gloss over. "I...I'll stay here with you. Make sure they are safe". He takes up a spot near the corner and lays against the wall, closing his eyes and holding his rifle at his chest as he falls asleep.
Dr. Viona stops by too. Only to shake her head at Chuck from the doorway as she moves deeper into the station to find a place to sleep.
After about an hour or so Chuck realizes the silence is deafening. Chuck thought he knew what that meant. He didn't until this night. With the darkness came a deathly quiet. With good reasons assuredly. If there were any other survivors out there they knew by now that staying silent equaled staying alive. Chuck sighed softly, even that sound audible in the silence.
Suddenly a refugee near Chuck began hacking violently. Chuck looked to the man and frowned. There was nothing more to be done. Dr. Reagan had saw to their injuries and then he himself had rechecked them again, looking to clean the wounds of any infection. He prayed that the work was not in vain. He noticed that Bernard, the elderly Cajun black man with his son Thomas was in bad shape earlier but after the last treatment seemed to be doing better. He was no longer heated from fever but slept deeply, he must have been tough as nails for an old man. Was it possible he would not turn? Was their a small population that could beat the virus? Mutate and become the next level of human, Homo Superior?
Chuck shuddered at the thought. This computer thing, the Black Rook, that's what the tape said it believed.
Chuck stood up suddenly, weapon in hand as he heard something above. He listened intently but heard nothing else. He sat back down, still with an ear cocked to the roof. He could have swore he had heard something moving on the roof. He prayed it was only his imagination. They had suffered enough terror this day he thought.
After so many hours Chuck realizes it's time to awake Lily. He is glad for it too, he feels as if he may pass out at any moment.
Chuck shambles in a half-awake stupor over to where Lily is resting. He realizes he probably looks like a movie zombie as he moves across the common room. He shakes Lily's shoulder gently, hoping he wasn't interrupting a pleasant dream. As she rouses, Chuck whispers, "My turn for some shuteye. Nothing to report except for an eerie silence. I thought I heard something on the roof, but it was probably just my imagination."
Chuck then heads over to his spot in the center of the floor of the common room, with the archaic mace tucked under a jacket used as a makeshift pillow.
"Ok." Lily rises from her place on the floor and shakes the sleep off as her eyes adjust to the darkness. "Sleep well," she says. Whatever dreams she had now float away and her survival instincts kick in again. Listening intently in the eerie silence for any sounds nearby (or on the roof?), she moves to the window and squints to see anything but the blackness of night and perhaps the shine of the moon. Listen:1d20+10=20. Spot:1d20+8=23
