Chp. 46 “The Truth Sucks”

The sound of an alarm going off woke me, causing me to groan in denial as I realized where I was. Everything that had happened yesterday came flooding back into my head and I realized where Avery and I would be heading soon. Avery moved next to me and stirred under my arms, making me realize that she was still completely naked from last night.

The only good part of yesterday.

She seemed to understand what exactly was going to happen immediately after she opened her eyes, and she was still on edge. Although we had a good night last night, she was still extremely nervous about today. I couldn’t blame her, honestly, but I could relate because I too, was extremely nervous.

We lifted ourselves off of the bed and I told her I was going to my room to change clothes and do my daily morning routine. She dismissed me and I did so, changing and doing everything I needed to before realizing we soon needed to make it up to the lab. I just needed time to think alone, and with being with Avery while depressed and worried about the same thing, at the same time, in the same room just wouldn’t work out well.

I was scared, and I was sad, because I knew there was something wrong with Avery, I just didn’t know if it was something I needed to worry about. I still hadn’t grasped the thought that she might as well have the BD3, and I figured it was because I refused to think about it. Now I was thinking about it, and immediately I felt panic over what exactly I was going to do.

I couldn’t lose her.

I heard a low knocking on my door and I figured it was Avery, so I rushed to open it. I swung open the door only to see Roger standing there, looking really tired and worn down. He smiled slightly, “Ready?”

I nodded, “Yea, lemme get Avery,” I opened her door and saw her sitting on her bed. This scared me, a lot, and I sat down next to her, “You ok?”

She nodded slightly, “I feel really nauseas, and I can’t seem to get the sleep out of my eyes.”

I felt my breath catch in my throat, remembering all of the early onset symptoms of the disease. Extreme nausea and blurred vision, but if she was sick she should be running fever. I placed my hand on her forehead, feeling a scorching sensation against my skin.

I stood, not even giving myself time to think, “Come on, we need to go.”

She was pulled behind me as I walked out of her room, meeting up with Roger and realizing he looked like he hadn’t slept last night. I figured that was going to be how I looked soon enough, because the way Avery’s symptoms were adding up, it wasn’t good.

We stepped into the elevator, this time allowing me to jab the button that was labeled Lab. The elevator shifted up, and soon we were looking out onto the 4th floor.

The lab looked the same, more doctors this time, but other than that everyone looked completely normal. Then as all of their eyes shifted to us their looks changed from busy to hysterical. Suddenly a mask was placed over Avery’s mouth and nose, and she was guided away from me and into a narrow hallway. I tried to follow her but I felt a tight grip on my arm, disallowing me to follow the doctors with Avery. I tugged, “I want to go.”

Roger spoke, “No, they’re going to take care of her. You have work to do Andy, you need to go now. The sooner you start the better.”

I felt like my world was collapsing as I watched Avery disappear into a room, and the doctors stayed outside. I hadn’t noticed until now but they were wearing those weird suits that you saw on the movies, like the movie Quarantine. It was the suits that they wore to prevent the spread of the disease.

Avery had the BD3.

I felt weak in the knees, as if my legs had been kicked out from under me. I felt my eyes sting with tears but I knew I couldn’t allow myself to cry, I just couldn’t. I had to stay strong, I had to show these people that I was not weak, and I could do this. It took me everything I had not to break free of Roger’s grip right this instant and find Avery, but I knew I was a big girl. I needed to face this, and he was right, the sooner I started the sooner we could find a cure.

I allowed Roger to guide me to another room where there were two doctors, one of which was Doctor Henson, “Well, good to see you again Andrea.”

I couldn’t respond without wanting to throw up, all I could think about was Avery being hauled away from me. I wasn’t doing it to be rude, but I just couldn’t muster up a proper response. I had promised Avery I would stay with her, and that nothing bad was going to happen, and here I was, without her, completely breaking that promise.

I nodded towards Henson, and then Roger spoke, “I’m going to get Max and Gage, they need to be tested considering Avery has the BD3. We can’t take chances.”

All I could do was nod; I literally couldn’t do anything else. I was stunned, petrified, mortified, and there was nothing I could do about Avery.

“Andrea? Listen to me, alright. We need you to be calm and correspond with us; I know this disease is personal now. The sooner we get to work the sooner we can find a cure and help your friend.”

I looked at him, listening now that I had blocked out all emotion and focused on the task at hand. I needed to do this as quickly as possible, because Henson was right, it was personal, and Avery needed me. She needed me to be strong and work with the doctors, and get as much information as I could to try and help them find a cure. The cure that I needed to save Avery’s life before it was too late.

“Ok, I’m going to explain to you everything, so you understand what is going to happen. Blaine did most of the work for us; all you have to do is go with what we say.”

I finally responded, “Ok.”

“When exactly did you contract your Healing power from Blaine?”

I thought back, it was at least a month before school ended, I shrugged, “I would say a little over a month now.”

The two doctors seemed to light up with joy, “Good, that’s plenty of time.”

I questioned, “For what?”

Henson looked at me, “When you gained access to Healing, there was a hormone that strengthened in your blood. Blaine’s were fully developed; his power emerged when he was merely a teenager, so he had plenty of strong hormones in his blood for us to test.”

I waited for him to continue

“The first thing we need to do is find your hormone, and match it to his.”

I nodded, understanding where this was going, “You need to take blood?”

He smiled forcefully, “A lot of it.”

I figured, they needed to make sure they were hitting on the right thing. I sighed, “Since I’m a

Healer, my blood level will restore faster, correct?”

Henson nodded, “Yes, but you’ll feel weak for about five minutes.”

The other doctor took my arm, finding the main vein and preparing to stick me with whatever

they needed to extract the blood. The familiar pinch of piercing skin made me flinch, and I

looked down at the needle sitting in my arm. I felt the pain, but it was like my body couldn’t

respond to it, I was numb. The image of Avery being hauled away from me was still playing over

and over again in my head. My heart felt like it was going to explode because it was beating so

fast, but I figured it would only pump out my blood faster anyway.

I was scared, but without thinking I lifted my chain that was around my neck, the one my mom

gave to me the day before I left for Buffalo. It brought back the familiar feeling of calmness to

me, and I knew that the doctors would find a cure.

They had to.

After about 15 minutes I looked at the bag that was full with blood. It looked like a lot, and I

realized that was an entire pint of blood. Henson was working on paper work but when the

blood bag was full he stood and gathered the bag, putting it into a metal tray. I questioned, “How many pints of blood are you taking?”

He sighed, “Three, counting the one we just took.”

“Why does that sound dangerous?”

“Because it is, or would be to any normal human, but you’re not normal Andy. You’ll heal from this procedure quickly, don’t worry.”

I nodded, trying to lean back and relax but I couldn’t, I couldn’t stop thinking about Avery.

Then I felt something rubber in my hand, and I opened my eyes to see a rubber squeeze ball. Henson smiled, “Just pump, and try to relax. It’ll be over before you know it.”

I closed my eyes, knowing that I shouldn’t fall asleep because that would only prolong this procedure. I tried to think of anything other than Avery’s horrified face that kept playing in my mind, and how horrible I felt that I couldn’t be there for her. I felt a rage of anger building in my heart against this sickness, and how lethal it actually was. Killing people’s mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters… girlfriends…

I wanted to stop it, I wanted to do something. I felt like I was useless, like I was just a contributor to a tiny amount of this whole thing, but I wanted to know where this fucking disease came from.

It was weird, this random disease that suddenly pops up out of nowhere? No one knew what it was or how to treat it, and maybe it was a freak accident. Although, I couldn’t help but wonder, was it possible for someone to create a pandemic? And if so, why would they?

I recalled the time Henson had vaccinated my friends, realizing even then he had sounded a bit vague covering this disease. Like he knew something we didn’t know. I couldn’t help but get mad at this assumption, and I knew that’s all it was, an assumption, but my brain wouldn’t let go of this idea.

What weren’t they telling me? And didn’t I have a right to know considering I was being used to find a cure? Did Blaine know? Did Roger?

Was it just me, or were there more missing puzzle pieces now that I’ve actually gotten to the Bureau?

~ ~ ~ ~

“Walker, are you sure?”

I felt anger, frustration, and absolute confusion as I finished explaining everything that had went down last night to Sullivan. I mean, Andrea Mason was a Healer, I had seen it with my own eyes and I still couldn’t believe it. How on earth had she even come into contact with another Healer? The only other one we had registered with the Federal Protection and Security was Brock Ghosh, other than him we hadn’t discovered any others.

“Yes Sullivan, I’m completely positive, I saw it with my own eyes.”

He was silent for a while, and I began to think that the phone connection had been lost, but then he finally responded. “I’m going to need to notify the Defense Head, he’s going to want to hear this.”

I felt my breath hitch in my throat, and as I continued speeding down the highway on the phone with Sullivan I couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear at the mention of the Defense Department.

I had only heard rumors about this department, but the rumors were anything but good. Just because I work for the government doesn’t mean I agree completely with some of the things they propose, and this particular rumor was one that I prayed to God it was not true. Although, hearing Sullivan say this only solidified this rumor, because why else would they need a Healer?

Apparently the Defense Department was trying to capture a Healer, someone like Andrea, to help create this type of Super Soldier. The thing that terrified me the most was the thought of a soldier, someone carrying a gun that is given one task, who will eliminate anything that gets in its way.

And they wanted to make these people immortal.