*unedited*

(I've chosen to leave editing until my story is done, but if you notice anything, please let me know and I'll fix it. I do try to pay careful attention as I write as to prevent any big blunders *lol* )

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Given that the girls never updated him, like they were supposed to, Xavier had no idea what he was walking into. It could be hell on earth for all he knew. And that wouldn't even be exaggerating with all that they've experienced recently, and since Hannah needed the emergency defibrillator, that wasn't a good sign.

He'd call Corey to come and assist, but because of quarantine procedures, he'd be limited to his unit and the clinic. Xavier really shouldn't go after Hannah either, but he had to know what was going on.

As he followed her back to the suite, a voice cried through the vocera. "The kid is on the loose again."

They both stopped and looked at each other. He was torn on what to do-help Flynn or protect the crew. "Damn it! This day just keeps getting better and better."

"It's all right. We've got this. Go help the station," Hannah said, giving him a slight shove towards the elevators. "Go."

He turned back to her and planted a hard kiss on her lips. Another taboo. "Be careful."

"You too."

He hadn't planned on kissing her, but had to. It was one of those things that was out of his control, and his spirit was watching his body do something he hadn't expected. He needed to, and that need grated on his nerves. He didn't want to need anyone. And he was fine with his life exactly how it was, when sex hadn't preoccupied his mind. When the burning desire to see someone's face, their eyes, their smile hadn't consumed him. Now, in just a short amount of time, she had become like an addiction. All it took was one day and breaking it would take forever.

Xavier gave her one last glance and a squeeze on the shoulder and they went separate directions, with him grumbling as he went about the boy. How the heck had they managed to screw up the transport? It was one little chore, get the kid back to the isolation room. He was a kid for pete's sake.

By the time he reached their location, two men and a woman were being treated for bites by Corey and his guard Clint had the kid in a headlock with his shirt pulled over his head. "I had to improvise," Clint said. "The kid is crazy and is stronger than he looks."

"You okay?" Xavier said, eyeing him over. He didn't appear to be bleeding anywhere.

"He tagged my jacket, but that's it."

The boy's arms and legs were flailing, and he sounded like something out of a horror movie as he tried to still bite Clint..

"I think we got ourselves a live zombie," Clint joked.

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised."

Clint looked up at him incredulously. "I was joking."

Coming back from the dead shouldn't even be a real thing, but it happened to that kid, and all his tests state he's dead as a doornail. Xavier didn't know if he really was a zombie or not, but he knew the kid wasn't normal, and from this point forward, they were going to take extra precautions. The boy would not get the drop on the station again.

Knowing they had no other way to get the kid back to the lab, he grabbed the kid's flailing legs, getting kicked in the chin in the process. Xavier landed on his ass. "Man, he's strong." That explained how the transport got botched. Finally, he got a hold of him, and they made their way back to the lab. He was thankful the boy was only the size of a 5-year-old.

When they got to the lab, Clint dragged the kid inside while Xavier held the door open. Making sure the shirt was on good and tight, Clint let him go and hoofed out the door as fast as he could. Xavier pulled his foot away from the sensor and the door closed before the kid could reach it. The boy slammed his fists against the door repeatedly, but then surprisingly quickly settled once they stepped into the main part of the lab from the decontamination chamber. He still couldn't understand how the kid got out of isolation. Someone would have needed to swipe their card and open the door. Well, he wasn't going to let that happen again. Him getting out once was bad enough. How could one kid cause so much damage? The bites that he saw on the crew were beyond just teeth marks.

"Clint, can you stay here? Make sure no one, and I mean no one, enters this door," Xavier ordered. "Wait, scratch that." He contacted Kevin. "Lockdown the door to the isolation unit in lab two-six-eight. No card access for anyone until I say otherwise."

"Including the Directors?" he asked.

"No one at all!"

"Gotcha," Kevin said. "It's done."

"Thanks, you're awesome."

"What if Director Adams wants in?"

"Tell him to contact me." Xavier hit his button and disconnected the call. How many injured were they up to now? There was Judith, Flynn, and the three new people, Sarah, Van, and Paul. Just doing the calculations made him wonder how Flynn was doing and whether he was still a casualty or a fatality now. Hopefully the defibrillator did the trick.

"Since we're good here, I'm gonna go check on Flynn and the girls."

Clint nodded. "Who's coming in tonight to relieve me?"

"Shit, I hadn't thought of that." He wasn't going to let Mark do another shift, not after the huge mess up. "I'm not sure, but I'll figure it out. I promise." He gave Clint a salute and then headed back to the living quarters.

When he arrived, he knocked on the door, then stepped back against the opposite wall. After carrying the boy, he wanted to keep his distance. They needed to social-distance to make sure that no one spread anything.

A ragged Cheryl answered the door; her hair was a knotted mess and her eyes bloodshot. "Hi Xavier," she said, giving him a weak smile.

"Is everything okay?"

The girl burst into tears and then threw herself at him, and he couldn't get out of the way fast enough, so he hugged her back. She blubbered on about Flynn's heart-stopping and the CPR, something about the AED, and then she got around to the information he wanted to know. "He's alive."

By the way she had acted, he thought for a second that Flynn hadn't made it, but he let out a huge breath of relief. "I'm glad you guys managed to help him. I wanted to be here, but I had to respond to another call."

"Hannah told me," was all Cheryl said before going back inside. Xavier hesitated about going in but realized it was pointless trying to social-distance when they had all been exposed, anyway. If it was airborne or easily caught, they'd all have it now.

Hannah was sitting beside Flynn, holding his hand. When their eyes met, he knew the situation was dire. There was no hope left in her eyes for her friend. And that drained even more energy out of him. He felt like he'd collapse if he didn't sit down for a second. And he did, right there on the floor.

"Unless we can figure out what's going on, what's making him sick, he's going to die," Hannah said grimly.

Cheryl let out a cry, slapping her hands over her mouth, devastation ringing throughout her features. That nearly did him in. He hated women crying, especially if he couldn't do anything to help them.

"Did you find anything out about the symbol?" Hannah asked him.

"There appear to be a few ancient hieroglyphics that bear the symbol, but the translation is still unknown, or no one has cared to figure it out."

"How old is it?"

"Ten thousand years, give or take a thousand. It looks to be related to an ancient unknown culture that had technology far superior to our own."

"Like cryogenics," Hannah murmured. "But we still don't know if this culture is alien or just an undiscovered piece of our history."

"I'd say it's a bit of both. One of the other symbols next to it looked like a meteor," Xavier explained.

Hannah smacked her knee in frustration. "I need blood samples of everyone who has been bitten, and I need every antibiotic that this station has. We need to find out what works and what doesn't because this one isn't working for Flynn."

"What if it's a virus and not a bacterial thing?"

"Then our only hope is the human immune system or a vaccine, but vaccines can take a long time to develop, especially if we don't have outside help, and Flynn doesn't have that kind of time. I don't think any of them do."

Hannah wanted to go outside and scream all her frustrations into the wind and the cold. This wasn't fair. They were supposed to simply come up here and study the boy. How the heck had it turned into a nightmare that they couldn't wake up from?

"As much as we tried to put this off," she said. "We need to get the CDC here pronto. Whatever pull that Director Adams has, we need it and we need it. Now! We could have the start of a pandemic."

"I'll make sure all the bitten parties stay isolated in the clinic."

Hannah took Xavier aside, away from where Cheryl could hear them. "How many?"

"Five."

"That's good, I mean that's bad generally speaking, but good that I'll be able to have different blood samples to work from. So can you grab the blood samples from Corey for me, and the antibiotics and bring them down to my lab?"

"What if it's just Flynn that is having this adverse reaction?"

"That would be great, but somehow I don't think so. Can you help or not?"

"Yes, I'll help. I'll go talk to Corey and see what we can do."

Hannah stared back at her ill friend. She couldn't let him die. She just couldn't. They were out here because of her, so it was up to her to fix everything, make it go back to what it was like before. Cheryl cuddled up next to Flynn, and Hannah was about to object when she realized there wasn't a point anymore. They'd all been exposed, especially Cheryl, who had done mouth to mouth before Hannah got back with the defibrillator. Hopefully it wouldn't adversely affect Cheryl and somehow come back to haunt them in the future.

Flynn took in a laboured breath, much like someone snoring, then the air whistled out between his teeth. She knew that sound wasn't good. If she didn't come up with something soon, they were going to be going to a funeral and not a welcome back party.

Hannah reached into her medical supply bag and pulled out a needle to draw Flynn's blood. He was so far out of it he probably wouldn't even notice. And she was right. He didn't flinch at all. "Cheryl, I'm going to go to the lab. I'd feel more comfortable if you kept your distance from him while I'm gone."

Reluctantly, Cheryl pulled away and took a seat on the other side of the room. They both knew what could possibly happen after watching the boy, and it did no good putting their own lives in more jeopardy by lying right next to him if he did somehow get aggressive.

"Please save him," Cheryl begged her.

"I'm going to do my best," she said, then rushed out of the room to go to the lab.