Cindy and John had been at HS3 for a little over three weeks. They had gotten a vaccine in production. And the results from Cindy's airborne tests were looking great. She had a team working on getting as many airborne vaccines produced as possible. She was planning having them set off in the nearby towns. It was only small scale at the moment, but she felt it was better than nothing. When she got to Location 1 she could get permission for a worldwide distribution. She knew an airborne vaccine would be much more easily distributed. That and she had designed it so that one person could be vaccinated and then spread the vaccine like a cold. It guaranteed more people would be receiving the vaccination. She just wanted to get this whole virus nightmare over with.
“Professor McGibbins to the front desk. Professor McGibbins to the front desk please” an intercommed voice said.
“What's that about?” John asked.
“I don't know, but I'll let you know when I get back,” Cindy answered.
“Want me to escort you there?”
Cindy shook her head no. She left the lab concerned about her being paged by her code name. She headed down the stairs towards the first floor.
Elijah, had been on the road for the last few days. He knew he looked unpresentable, but he didn't care. He was exhausted and just wanted to make sure Cindy was alive and safe before taking care of himself. The man at the desk was making it a bit hard though.
“I'm sorry sir, I can't just tell you who is at this facility. You need proof of being family or being sent to see anyone here,” the man said.
“Just tell me if she's okay,” Elijah said.
“Sire, I need some sort of documentation. You can't just waltz in here demanding to see someone. This is a hospital. People are sick and dying. We have rules here for their safety.”
Elijah sighed, “Is there somewhere I can at least wash up and get something to eat?”
“We have visitors quarters. If you fill out this form here, I'll have someone prepare one for you.”
Elijah reached out for the form. As he did so, the dolphin charm that he had tied to his wrist poked out of his sleeve. The man grabbed his arm. “Where did you get this?” he demanded.
“It was given to me by Cindy's niece, Nellie. I was told to give it to Cindy as soon as I saw her,” Elijah explained.
“Wait here,” the man said.
Elijah went and sat down to wait. The man paged a Professor McGibbins. Elijah wondered who this professor was. He looked around. The place had a sterile hospital feel to it. But it also had a homey feel. There were people chatting across from him. One was wearing a mask. Elijah guessed that the masked person had a virus. Even possibly the E76 virus. Even though Elijah knew he was immuned, it still made him nervous being around someone who could possibly have the virus.
He looked back towards the front desk. There was a girl there with her back to him, chatting to the man. For some reason, even though he could not see the girl's face, Elijah felt some sort of familarity with the her.
The man waved him over. And the girl turned around. “Sir this is Professor McGibbins, she will be escorting you to your quarters,” the man said. Elijah looked at the girl and realized why, despite the blond hair, she was so familiar.
“If you'll just follow me sir, I'll show you to your quarters,” she said and started walking slowly due to a cast on her leg. Elijah had no choice but to follow her, completely confused. She took him to a stair well and they started heading downwards. After a few flights, the girl stopped and turned to him, “We're entering the area where the secure quarters are. They're reserved for known Resistance members. You'll be staying there,” she said.
“But I'm not a Resistance member.”
“I know, but you are associated with one. It's for your protection as well as hers.”
“And she would be you Cindy,” Elijah said.
Cindy stopped and turned to him. “When you aren't on this floor, I am Professor McGibbins. You're lucky that Matt saw my necklace. He wouldn't have let you by otherwise. I've done a lot for the people here, so I hope you can forgive them for being protective. That necklace,” she pointed to his wrist, “is a trademark of mine. I take it you met my niece and nephew then.”
“Yes, she gave this to me,” Elijah responded, unwrapping the necklace from his wrist and placing it in Cindy's hand. He suddenly felt naked without it.
Cindy put the necklace on. It looked at home on her. She led him down a hall and stopped at a door. “These will be your quarters for now. Someone will be bringing your stuff to you and your vehicle will be hidden. Wash up, a meal will be brought to you and then you can get some rest. I'm sure you have questions and I promise answers tomorrow.” She left him and headed down the hall.
Elijah went into the room. It was like a small apartment. Only this one didn't have a kitchen. It resembled a small studio apartment. It had a bed in one corner, a sitting area, and a closed off area that was the bathroom. Elijah went in, showered, shaved. He felt more exhausted after washing. When he left his bathroom, he saw that his meal had been set up in the sitting area. He ate and then lay down on the bed.
He felt that he had only closed his eyes for a few moments when there was a knock on his door. Cindy let herself in. She looked around and saw the uneaten breakfast in the sitting area. “Afternoon,” she said.
Elijah looked at her, Cindy blushed a bit. He looked down and realized that he had slept in his briefs and only his briefs. “Sorry,” he said, grabbing a blanket to cover himself. Cindy turned her back to him. Elijah grabbed his clothes and started dressing. He noticed that they had been cleaned and his sack had been brought in. He found this a bit disturbing. “Dressed,” he said.
Cindy turned back around. “I thought you'd be awake by now,” Cindy said.
“Well, I spent a few days getting here. So I was just trying to catch up.”
Cindy nodded her understanding.
“So you ended up keeping your hair long after all?”
Cindy half smiled. It was a disagreement they had always had. He liked her hair long and she always cut it off. “Yeah, it kind of grew on me. Made the curls relax a bit.”
“But why blond?”
“Oh. That's not permanent. I dyed it when we were going to rescue you. A blond nurse isn't looked at in the face. If you know what I mean.”
Elijah understood. “So you're not keeping it that way?” Cindy shook her head. “Good. Blonds always scared me.”
“I know.”
“What happened to your leg?” Elijah asked pointing to the leg in the cast.
“Broke it while escaping IG Headquarters. I misjudged the distance I was trying to jump. It'll heal and it's the only injury between John and me.”
“Oh so John is here too?”
“Yes. He's upstairs in the lab right now. I'll take you there tomorrow if you'd like. Why are you here. I told you to stay safe and alive. Traveling all the way over here is hardly staying safe. And what if the IG had found you again?...”
“I was not going to sit idly by, while you were out somewhere. I didn't know if you were safe or not. Or even alive. No one was giving me any real answers. I only recently found out why you had me rescued.”
“Elijah, calm down,” Cindy said. She reached up and put both her hands on his shoulders. She made him sit down. “What did they tell you?”
Elijah related the whole story from the time he woke up in the compound to when he entered the doors of HS3. He left out the information that Dan had given him, and the fact that he knew more about her personal life (or lack thereof) than she would want anyone to know. Cindy sat there quietly, gnawing on her lower lip. Like she always did when she was listening or thinking intently. Elijah finished his story.
Cindy looked at him with tears glistening in her eyes. “Elijah, I am truly sorry for all this. I had kept you a secret from the Resistance because I had feared that they would put you into protective custody. I didn't want you to be forced into this. Though it happened anyways. I didn't think the IG would ever try to use you as bait. Else I would have had someone warn you so you'd be aware...”
“I understand, I do. I just don't know why you went after me, when you didn't go for your own family.”
Cindy's eyes filled with tears again. “We went for them before they were brought into custody. I had made arrangements for them to go into hiding as well. But they had other ideas. HS3 is actually the location of the hospital they had started for those who came down with the virus. They didn't want to leave all these people hanging. Even when I warned them that they could be used as bait, they refused to leave. My sister gave me her children, told me to keep them safe. And they all agreed that if they should be brought into custody, no one is to come and rescue them. They didn't want anyone to put themselves at risk. It was the hardest time knowing that they were being held at IG Headquarters and not doing anything. I got the reports on how they had died. My sister and her husband were executed. So were my uncles and their wives. My mother and grandparents were exposed to the virus and died slowly from its effects. I read it all in the report. They never gave any information as to where I was. I wasn't even able to bury them. The IG disposed of them the way they dispose of all the bodies of so-called traitors. When word came that they brought you in, I didn't want you to suffer the same fate. I didn't want another innocent person to die. Enough people have died in this war.” The tears begin to roll down her cheeks. “All this because people are fighting for power. You know how I feel about power.”
Elijah knew how she felt about power. When he had met her, she didn't care about how much he made, or what he owned. She seemed only interested in him. When he would offer to take her out, she always requested dinner at home. He never understood why. She never asked him for anything. It had made buying gifts for her a challenge.
He wanted to reach out and pull her close. He wanted to tell her that it was okay, just like he did when she had her nightmares. But he couldn't, Elijah just sat there, watching her stunned. In all the time they had spent together all those years ago, he had never seen her cry. He had never seen her show any true emotion. Not even anger. He had seen her face light up with a smile every once in awhile but he never knew what caused it. The only reason he had ever known how she felt was when she had given him a note that listed out every little thing about him that she liked. It was a long list.
“So that's why you had me rescued? Why didn't you send another team to do it? Why do it yourself?”
“Because I wanted to be sure you'd be safe. And I was going against the General's orders. The only team that would willingly follow my lead despite what the General decides was my own. We worked together before we had to go into hiding. They were people I knew I could trust to pull off any job correctly. And we did it. We got you out of there.”
“But one of your guys got killed, you and John were captured.”
“We each knew the risks going in.”
“And the chip you implanted in me. They could only access part of the data.”
“I know. It was the important stuff though.”
“What is the unaccessible stuff then?”
“More information that doesn't have the needed data to back it up.”
“And what are you doing here? Everyone thinks you are heading towards Location 1.”
A lady brought in lunch for the both of them and then quietly left. Cindy then answered Elijah's question. “I needed to know if the vaccine had been distributed. When I agreed to work for the Resistance it was with the understanding that I would only be there for as long as it took to make and distribute a vaccine. And to find a way to cure the virus. I have fulfilled part of that deal. I designed a vaccine to be distributed. I came here and found out that no one has received it yet. So I am making sure that happens. I have also designed an airborne vaccine that will make distribution even easier. People are dying. They need the vaccine now, not weeks from now.”
Elijah saw the passion in Cindy's eyes. He could hear it in her voice. The only other time she showed this kind of passion was when she was going on and on to him one night about some ideas she had for reversing genetic conditions. She had gotten even more excited when he had suggested her idea could be applied to the AIDS virus. She was thrilled for weeks over that discussion. “You have an airborne vaccine?” he asked.
“Yes. It just needs wide scale distribution. I wanted to start with the nearby cities before heading to Location 1. Then I can work on getting permission for wide scale. By then the vaccine will have spread itself. I designed it so that the vaccine could spread much like a cold does. It reduces the time it takes for a large population to get vaccinated.”
“Wow. You've really been working hard all these years.”
“Yes. Well, I had to. I couldn't sit by and let innocent people die. There are few hospitals that will take people with the virus. The risk of spread is too great. The Resistance just happens to run 10 in the world. I couldn't stand the idea of children becoming outcasts because of this.”
Elijah realized that he never put much thought into it. There were quarantine areas set up when people might have been exposed. If it was found that someone had the virus he was sent to a housing location far away from populated areas. He didn't consider that they might not be provided with proper medical facilities. Much less any other luxgeries that he was accustomed to.
Cindy continued, explaining how these people were left to fend for themselves. No deliveries were made to those secluded areas. The perimeters were heavily guarded. Only trucks of newly infected people were brought in.
Supper was brought in. Afterwards, Cindy left Elijah to his own thoughts. He felt the day had gone way to quickly. And he still hadn't asked Cindy all that he had wanted. She promised to be by again the following. Elijah, mentally went over everything that had been explained to him. His thoughts put him to sleep.
He was roused awake by Matt. “Wake up sir,” he said grabbing Elijah's clothes and tossing them on his bed. “Someone tipped off the IG that Cindy is here. Your vehicle is gassed up. I already loaded your sack. Your weapons are loaded and ready. Cindy and John are already up. You need to get them out of here.”
“What about you guys? And the vaccine?”
Matt tried to smile. “We'll be fine. Most of the people here have been infected by the virus. The lab where Cindy was having the vaccine produced has already been cleaned up and is disguised as a ward for those who are about to die. Most IG officials are so afraid of coming in contact with the virus that they won't search too hard. But they seem to know that we have secret quarters for you guys. I have staff trying to stall them for as long as possible. But you need to leave now.”
Elijah finished dressing. Grabbed his weapons and headed out the door. Cindy and John emerged from their separate quarters as well. A young boy was guiding them. “The garage is this way!” he called, pulling Cindy's arm. All three followed him. They emerged in the garage, Elijah's vehicle was waiting at the door already running. Elijah, jumped into the driver's seat. Cindy and John hopped in. As they were speeding out of the garage there was the sound of gunshot. Through the rear view mirror Elijah could see a look of shock on the boy's face as he fell to the ground. He glanced at Cindy, who was sitting beside him, and saw the look of horror on her face. “Look ahead,” he said, trying to direct her attention elsewhere. Elijah pulled the automatic, stretched behind him and handed it to John, “Use this if they try to fire at us.” John turned around to keep an eye on their pursuers. Elijah handed the handgun to Cindy. She merely nodded.
Elijah focused on getting rid of their pursuers. He drove into the nearby forest and focused on avoiding the trees. Shots behind them told him that they were still being followed. Elijah could hear John returning fire. At some point Cindy turned around and she started shooting as well. Suddenly, there was an explosion. Elijah felt himself flying through the air. He hit the ground and the air was momentarily knocked out of him. He looked over and saw that Cindy had already gotten to John. Elijah got up, grabbed one of the sacks and rushed over to John and Cindy.
John wasn't moving. Elijah looked and saw that John had been hit before the explosion. He wouldn't be getting up again. Cindy was still trying to revive John. Elijah gave Cindy a quick look over and saw that she was okay, except for a few scratches. “Cindy, he's gone,” Elijah tried explaining.
“No, he's just knocked out. The force from the blast just knocked the wind out of him...” Cindy responded.
Elijah was trying to be patient with Cindy, but he knew that their pursuers would be coming back around soon and checking the wreckage. He needed to get Cindy out of there. Elijah grabbed the hand gun from Cindy and put it in his sack. He grabbed Cindy's sack and the automatic. “Cindy, we need to leave now.”
“But, John...”
“There's nothing we can do for him.”
“But we have to at least bury him,” Cindy responded with tears glistening.
Elijah hated denying her request, but he felt that their lives were more important than the burial of a friend at the moment. He grabbed Cindy by the waist and practically dragged her away from John's body. After they got into the cover of the trees, Cindy began to stop fighting and walk a bit on her own despite the cast.
After over an hour of walking, Elijah and Cindy stopped for a break. He pulled out the tracker that Dan had given him. Elijah could see Conner's blue dot on the tracker, but he didn't know how far it was. He hoped that Conner would be moving towards them, thus cutting down on the time it would take to catch up.
“We should have buried him,” Cindy's words pierced Elijah's thoughts. “He was too good a friend to just leave like that.”
“When we get to help, we can come back and bury John properly,” Elijah tried consoling her. Again, he felt the urge to hold her close. And again, he didn't respond. He just got up and started checking the area out. “We should probably go for a couple more hours and then stop for the night,” Elijah suggested. Cindy just nodded.
Elijah was used to her preoccupied silences. Cindy was the type to only depend on herself. There were few times she had actually asked for his help or support. Elijah had blamed Cindy for pushing him away, for making him walk. Now he was starting to wonder if he had a part in it.
After their break, they continued walking. The next two hours were uneventful. Elijah found an area that provided some cover. The night was slightly chilly, but he didn't dare light a fire in fear of attracting patrols. Cindy didn't complain, so he assumed that she understood his reasoning.
The next morning, they had a quick meal of some bread and cheese that Matt had provided in their sacks. Elijah made a mental note that if they ever got out of this alive, he would have to thank Matt for saving their lives. He looked at the tracker. Conner's dot didn't seem to be getting any closer. It wasn't moving at all. Elijah felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. What if Conner's team had been ambushed? And the dot was just marking where Conner lay? Elijah tried to shake these thoughts out of his head.
He looked at Cindy. Though she was looking at him oddly, she did seem calmer. A little too calm for someone who had just witnessed a friend's death a day earlier. Elijah had to remind himself that Cindy was known for hiding her emotions. By the time she showed them, they were pretty intense. Intense, he thought. Every kiss, every hug, even when she had given him a list of what she liked about him. He had never thought about it, but they were her way of expressing something so intense that she couldn't put it into words. Elijah mentally kicked himself for realizing this eleven years later.
After their meal, Elijah and Cindy repacked their sacks and made sure there was no sign of them having stayed there. They then headed out.
“Did Dan give that to you?” Cindy nodded towards the tracker Elijah was carrying.
“Yeah, he said it was the only one that can track your chip. Figured it would be the easiest way for me to come find you without the Resistance interfering. Though we don't seem to be getting any closer to Conner.”
Cindy looked at the tracker, “That's because Conner is probably near Location 1. It's a ways away. We need to get to a safe house and get a vehicle.”
“Where's the nearest one?”
“About two days walk. If we keep heading that way,” Cindy pointed the direction, “we should get there by late evening tomorrow.”
The rest of the journey to the safe house was uneventful. Elijah and Cindy passed a lot of time in silence. Just in case patrols were out. When they did speak it was mostly to make sure they were still headed in the right direction. Elijah kept the automatic with him, hoping that he wouldn't have to use it. Cindy kept the handgun on her. Elijah never asked her if she had actually shot anyone while being in the Resistance. He really didn't want to know the answer to that. When they had been together, she was into forensic type shows, and true crime. Stuff that would make his stomach churn. But at the same time, Cindy hated anything that would cause people pain. Elijah had a hard time picturing Cindy making a death shot.
When they got to the safe house, Elijah and Cindy were able to be more relaxed. Cindy prepared the first hot meal that they had had in a few days. Elijah restocked their sacks with needed items. When he went to check on the vehicle though, he found that there was none. He commented on this to Cindy.
“Well, someone may have come here on foot and took the vehicle. Resistance members must not have come yet to make sure supplies are restocked.”
“How often do they come out?”
“Every couple of months, unless a member comes back and says he stopped at a safe house. Then someone is sent out to restock then.”
They agreed to spend a couple of days resting and then would head towards the next safe house in hopes of finding a vehicle there. Elijah didn't like the idea of Cindy walking on a broken leg. Even if it was in a cast. He wanted to get a vehicle as soon as possible.
The next couple of days were spent eating hot meals and catching up on the last eleven years. Elijah noticed that neither he nor Cindy mentioned their dating lives from the past eleven years. They did cover their careers, families, different living locations, the remainder of Cindy's grad school, and the Resistance.
As Elijah had suspected, Cindy didn't put her complete trust into the Resistance. While she was under their protection, Cindy and her team basically did their research without much interference from the Resistance. She had found ways around their forms of tracking, and was known for disobeying direct orders from the General.
“Once my work is done, I'm basically free game to both the IG and the Resistance,” she stated.
“So you don't plan on staying with the Resistance?”
“No, I told them when my help was requested that I would only stay on until both a vaccine and a cure was developed and distributed. I even made the General sign a contract stating to that fact.”
“And he was okay with that?”
“Surprisingly, yes. From what I hear, the General is pretty tough and isn't swayed easily. I'm not really sure why he agreed. Except for maybe the desperation for a cure.”
“Do you think that the Resistance will honour the contract?”
“I hope so. But if they don't, I have already considered the consequences if I stay and if I choose to escape. You know me, I can't handle being caged for long. I only agreed to this because I felt that the people's need was greater than my fear of loss of freedom.”
“And what is to become of me?”
“I hope that they will let you choose. A person should not be forced to choose a side in which he may not believe in.”
“Well, the IG conveniently made it so that I will not be able to be a neutral part of all this, and the Resistance coming to my rescue won't make it look any better.”
“I'm sorry about that. I had kept you a secret all this time in hopes that neither side would take you. I didn't know the IG would dig that far into my past to find bait. I am relieved that they didn't bring you in because of your immunity. It's still unknown who released the virus, so I didn't want to risk the chance of you falling into the wrong hands.”
“How did you find out about my having this gene?”
“We held several clinics to collect samples. I had requested someone to get a sample from you. I wanted to be sure you were virus free. I couldn't let you be sent to one of those “communities.” You can imagine my shock when I found out that you were completely immuned.”
Elijah felt a twinge of guilt. He had left her thinking that she did not care for him and for the past few years she had been protecting his identity from those that she perceived as a threat. She had risked her life to get him out of IG custody. He found himself wondering if she would have done that for anyone who had the gene.
After their respite, Elijah and Cindy started to head out to the next safe house in hopes that a vehicle would be there. Elijah wanted them to get to safety as soon as possible. And right now the Resistance provided that safety. And he didn't know how long that safety would last.
Elijah wondered how close Cindy was to a cure. For her, finding a cure meant freedom. He found himself wondering what it meant for him.
The first day of their journey was passed in silence. Elijah felt himself on constant alert for any sign of danger. He kept his hand on the automatic. He kept wondering if he'd really be able to shoot if the time came.
He had heard of Cindy's involvement with E1. He wondered if Cindy ever had to shoot anyone. He also began to wonder if the Elite squads had even started out as part of the Resistance. Since Cindy had stated that she didn't get involved with the Resistance until they had come to her about designing a vaccine and cure for the virus, he didn't think E1 was part of the Resistance till later. Which meant that her team had worked alone. Which would explain why her team worked so closely with Cindy in the labs. Elijah, made a mental note to ask Cindy about it all at the next safe house.
They had entered a clearing. Something about it made Elijah's hair stand on end. He quickly scanned the area and saw nothing unusual. He sensed Cindy tense up as well. They cautiously began to walk around the clearing in the protection of the trees. They had barely gotten halfway around when shots started ringing out. Both Elijah and Cindy dropped to the ground, hoping that the shooting wasn't directed towards them. Elijah kept the automatic close to him. He wasn't going to fail Dan this time. He would get Cindy back to safety. Elijah felt a lurch in his stomach when he heard shouts and patrols started to head towards them. He looked at Cindy and mouthed for her to run. They jumped up are started running into the trees. Elijah could hear the shouts and shots behind him. Up ahead he saw Cindy fall. Fearing the worst, he ran over to her. Elijah didn't have time to check her, a couple of the patrols had caught up. Without thinking, Elijah pulled up the automatic and started shooting. The two patrols fell.
“Did I hit them,” Elijah asked.
Cindy knew a death shot when she saw one. “I think they're merely wounded,” she answered hoping Elijah wouldn't check the area where the men fell.
“You've been hit,” Elijah pointed to the blood on Cindy's shoulder.
“It's okay. We'll get it taken care of at the safe house.”
Elijah and Cindy started heading towards the safe house once again. Elijah at first did not notice Cindy's limping. After a few hours, he realized that she was walking with difficulty. He knew she had been hit in the shoulder. That wound was bound up and her arm was in a sling to ease the pain. But her leg was still in a cast, and Elijah hadn't thought to ask Cindy if she had been hit anywhere else. When they stopped for the night, Elijah sat next to Cindy. “Let me look at your leg,” he said. Cindy sighed and replied, “Don't bother, the bullet went right through the cast.”
Elijah looked down and realized that the blood had been slowly collecting in her cast and was now beginning to come out. He had no idea how much blood Cindy had lost, or how she had managed to keep walking for so long. “God, Cindy why didn't you tell me?”
“Because we needed to get out of there.”
“I'm going to have to remove the cast and see how bad it is.”
Cindy looked at him. “I know,” she said.
Elijah could still see her brown eyes in the fading sunlight. He saw the pain and knew that he had to do something, anything to help her. Elijah carefully removed the cast from Cindy's leg. It was hard work since he didn't have the proper tools. He had to force his stomach to calm down once he had removed the cast. Cindy's leg was a mess. Elijah then bound up her leg, hoping to at least stop the bleeding for the time being.
He knew she was at risk for infection, which meant all the more reason to get to the safe house as quickly as possible. But there was no way, Elijah was going to make Cindy walk on that leg. He considered the possibility of carrying her. She was never that heavy. But it would still slow down their traveling considerably.
Cindy slept while Elijah stayed awake, keeping watch and considering their options. By the following morning, he had lashed together a way to transport Cindy. It would definitely slow down their travel time, but Elijah felt that it would minimize anymore possible damage. It took a lot of convincing for him to get Cindy to agree to be dragged around on the thing. But in the end she relented.
From what Cindy had told him, the next safe house was about a week's walk away from the previous one that they had been at. Elijah knew that with Cindy being wounded, the time to get there was greatly increased. The first few days of dragging Cindy along went without incident. But over time, Elijah noticed that Cindy was getting feverish. Her shoulder wound and the wound on her leg began to feel warm to the touch. Elijah began to worry that they weren't going to make it to the safe house. He did his best not to show his worry to Cindy. He knew that keeping her calm was the only thing he had any control of at the moment. Elijah, did notice on the tracker that Conner's dot was on the move again. This time towards them. Elijah still had no idea how long it would take to catch up with them though.
As the days past, Cindy's fever grew worse and she seemed to be having hallucinations. Elijah would make several stops and applied wet cloths to Cindy's forehead in hopes that it would provide her with some relief. He had no idea which direction the safe house was. Elijah followed the tracker towards Conner hoping that at some point they would find a safe house.
During one of Elijah's stops for the night, he heard Cindy moaning. He rushed to her side. “Cindy, I'm right here. Are you okay? Cindy?”
Cindy reached up and grabbed Elijah's hand, just like she used to do to him when something scared her. He could see the fear and pain in her eyes. “Elijah, make sure that the vaccine gets out to everyone. Both sides need it. And tell Lucy that everything she needs is on the disk.”
“Cindy, you'll be telling Lucy that yourself. We'll make it to help in plenty of time for you to make sure the vaccine is distributed to the people.”
“But if I don't make it Elijah...”
“You have to, you're the only one who has complete access to the chip.”
“No, Elijah. You always had access.”
“But, you never gave me the pass code.”
“Because I chose a code that only you would know, or think of.”
“Cindy, what is the pass code?”
Cindy closed her eyes to push back the pain. Elijah saw a small tear escape. “Ender,” she responded, “Ender.” Cindy drifted into a sleep.
Elijah sat back, still holding her hand. He half smiled over the information that he had just received. He knew exactly what Cindy meant. She had chosen something that only he had known. When he had left, Cindy had told him that she loved him. It was the only time she had ever said those words to him. And he had felt like she didn't mean it. That it was just a desperate attempt to keep him. But now he thought different. Cindy had loved him. Maybe she hadn't shown it in a way he had expected. But she had. And now she lay there dying. Elijah had no idea how he was going to get her to safety. He only knew he had to. He had spent the last eleven years without her, he wasn't planning on going another eleven.
The week passed much like that night. Cindy would slide in and out of consciousness. Her fever seemed to be worsening. Elijah carried both weapons on him, in case Cindy hit a point where she saw him as an enemy. He was tired from so little sleep. Every noise awoke him and he would quickly reach for the automatic. He didn't relish the idea of patrols managing to sneak up them.
On one such night, Elijah had awoken. He looked around for what could have caused the noise that had woke him up. He was about to go back to sleep when he had heard the noise again. It wasn't the sound of the normal forest nightlife that Elijah had grown so accustomed to. He heard faint whispering. He grabbed the automatic and quickly checked on Cindy. She was still unconscious. Elijah made sure she was concealed and then crouched down beside a large log. He pulled out the hand gun and screwed on a silencer. His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness. He looked towards the sounds of movement. Elijah could make out the figures of three men. They were definitely wearing IG patrol uniforms. He didn't know how many more were out there.
Elijah stayed silent, barely breathing. Hoping not to attract the attention of the patrols. He tried to will them to go on their way. To not come and investigate the brush area. To Elijah's dismay, one of the patrols headed in his direction. The patrol stopped and beckoned the other two to his location. They held a hushed conversation and then started heading back in the direction they had come from. Elijah sat back and then sighed relief.
His relief was premature. Cindy starting moaning in her sleep. Elijah looked over the log. The three patrols stopped and started heading towards them. Elijah knew that he could probably take the three down if needed. He just hoped that no other patrols were nearby.
The three patrols closed in. When one got close enough, Elijah fired. The man fell. The other two patrols pulled out their guns and aimed towards where they thought the shot came from. Elijah fired again bringing other one down. The last one began firing in Elijah's direction. He had to duck behind the log again. As soon as there was a break, he got up and fired once more bringing the last guy down.
When he went to check their bodies, Elijah noticed one was wearing a communicator. A voice was asking for the men to report. Elijah lifted Cindy up and began to run. After some time, he hear other patrols behind them. Elijah's lungs felt like they would burst. Suddenly, up a head shots fired. He ducked into some brush to avoid the shots. The patrols ran past them. Elijah could still hear the shots. He then saw the patrols coming back, shooting at something. They were shouting orders. It seemed like total chaos. It was over as soon as it started. The group that was shooting at the patrols came into view. Elijah kept himself and Cindy hidden in the brush. He couldn't make out who these people were. Then he heard a familiar voice. “Mike, move those bodies to the brush over there. Make sure they're well covered. Want it to take some time before patrols find them. Hopefully, by then we'll have Cindy back.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Elijah felt complete relief wash over him. “Conner, we're over here. Cindy's been wounded,” he shouted.
Conner ran over to Elijah's location. “My god, Elijah. Were you what the patrols were after? How long have you two been out here?” To another man in the unit, he shouted, “Call Location 1, tell them we need an aircraft immediately. Give them our position.”
While they waited for the aircraft to arrive, Elijah was given food and drink. He was exhausted, but he refused sleep. He wanted to be sure that Cindy would be fine before attending to any of his other needs.
The flight to Location 1 seemed quick in comparison to how long Elijah had been traveling on foot. When they landed, Cindy was rushed to a hospital unit. Dan and Lucy were waiting for Elijah. They refused to let Elijah go to the unit with Cindy until he got some rest. Elijah lay down in his quarters and was asleep before another thought hit his mind.
A loud knock awoke him. Lucy entered.
“How long have I been asleep?” Elijah asked.
“A couple of days.”
“A couple of days! What about Cindy? Is she awake? Is she okay?”
Lucy smiled. “Cindy is still sleeping. Doctors don't know when she'll awake. They were able to save both her leg and arm. Her fever is slowly going down. But she is still healing.”
“Then I should go. I should be there when she wakes up.”
Lucy nodded at Elijah. “Yes, I think you should. But right now, you should shower. Wash up and eat. You're no good to her if you become ill yourself. Dan is sitting with her now. You can relieve him when you are presentable.”
Elijah was impatient to get to Cindy, but he understood Lucy's reasoning. When Lucy left him, he went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. He looked worse than when Cindy's team had rescued him. “Some hero, I am,” he said to himself, “I go to rescue the girl. She ends up getting shot, and I end up getting lost in the woods.” Elijah showered, he noticed clean clothes waiting for him. After he dressed, he ate. He was about to head to the hospital unit when he realized that he did not know the location of it.
After a bit there was a knock at his door. Lucy had returned. “I see you're ready to go see Cindy now. I'll escort you there.”
When Elijah got to Cindy, he felt relieved to see her resting in a bed. Dan was sitting there, keeping watch. He saw Elijah. “You got her back. Now all we can do is wait.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't be. I asked you to find my sister and you did.”
“But she got wounded.”
“And you kept her alive long enough to get her to safety. You didn't abandon her, or leave her for dead. And I'm sure you put yourself at risk on your way here.”
Elijah didn't respond. He merely sat by Cindy's side and clasped her hand in his.
Lucy nodded to Dan. Dan got up and left the room followed by Lucy.
The next few days were filled with waiting. While the doctors had been able to save Cindy's arm and leg. They still didn't know how long they were saved for. The damage was severe. When Cindy would wake was unknown. The only good news was that her fever was going down. After a few days there, Elijah remembered what Cindy had told him. When Lucy came to visit, he handed her the chip, “I know the pass code for complete access,” he said.
“You hang on to it. I'll bring the computer. You should never give the code out.”
Lucy left. A while later she returned with her small computer. She inserted the chip inside and handed the computer to Elijah. He typed in the code. As before, the pictures melted and data appeared. But this data looked different. He handed the computer to Lucy. She looked at the data.
“My god,” she said and smiled. “Cindy did it. She really did it.”
“She did what?”
“She developed an airborne vaccine. And it works. And she had trials going for a cure. I'll have to wait for the trial data to come in. But she did it.” Lucy was excited.
Elijah looked at Cindy and knew what the excitement was about. The cure would not only mean freedom from the virus, but freedom for Cindy's team. They had endured half a decade of glamorous imprisonment.
Lucy left to get preparations ready for the vaccines to be distributed and to evaluate all of Cindy's data. Elijah was alone with Cindy once again.
He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep. But he woke up with his head on Cindy's bed. Elijah sensed that someone else was in the room. He looked up and saw Matt.
“Sir. You can imagine my relief when I had heard that you and Cindy had made it to safety. We had sent search teams after you guys and when we found the vehicle and John's body, we feared the worst.”
Elijah nodded.
“I had this made for you.” Matt handed Elijah a small wooden dolphin on a cord. “Now you will always be welcomed at HS3.” He saw the questioning look in Elijah's face. “Doctor Wood means a lot to us. What she and her family have done is more than can ever be repaid. When she awakes, tell her that we gave John a proper burial. And that the boy is with his parents.”
“So the boy survived?”
“No. He was an orphan. We house many of them until Location 1 can send a transport to retrieve them. The boy's parents were victims of the virus. Cindy gave them the greatest gift possible. She vaccinated the boy so that the parents could spend their remaining time with him without the barriers. They were able to be a family once more. By that simple gift, Cindy had earned the boy's unwavering loyalty. Now the boy rests next to his parents.”
“I will be sure to tell her.”
Matt nodded. He began to leave. When he reached the door he turned to Elijah, “HS3 serves neither the Resistance or the IG. We only serve the people. If you are ever in danger, come to us we will provide you with safety.” He then left.
“I'm telling you. The data, it's all complete. The trials for the cure were a success. I've already arranged for the production and distribution of it. The virus will no longer be a threat.” Lucy was in Cindy's room explaining it to Dan and Elijah. She was excited. “I know it's not an end to the war. But it means less people will be dying. It will take some time to get everyone, and we'll have to send people into the viral communities. And we don't even know what we'll find there. But it's over. For us it's finally over.”
Elijah grabbed Cindy's hand. Her eyes started fluttering open.
“So that's the end of your report Conner?” the General asked.
“Yes, sir. The vaccine has been distributed, the cure is being sent out. Cindy and Elijah left as soon as she was well enough to travel. They took Michael with them.”
“Where did they go?”
“I don't know. They left me the name of a contact if they were needed, but not their own location.”
“I guess she thought of everything. What of Nellie?”
“Nellie has begun her combat training. Cindy could not keep her away forever.”
“Good. The girl will make a good captain. She has leadership written all over her. What of the rest of Cindy's team?”
“Dan and Lucy have taken Gina and left. They said that they will only return if Cindy is ever needed. Alice went on a mission to distribute the vaccine. Her aircraft went down. Everyone was recovered except for her. Not even her body was found, sir.”
“Thank you Conner. I have evaluated your sister's request to transfer to Location 1. I will grant it. And you and your family have been granted the holidays there as requested.”
“Thank you sir. May I ask a question of you sir?”
“Go on Conner.”
“You could have Cindy tracked down. She's a valuable scientist to have around. And Dan is your son. Are you going to have him traced?”
The General smiled. “I could yes. But to do that would be a violation of her contract. And even if I hadn't sign it, I would still have had to let her go. Cindy is the type who earns people's unwavering loyalty. And by sending out the vaccine and the cure she has increased that following by over a thousand fold. To double cross someone like that, would be asking for trouble. Cindy has the power to start her own army against both us and the IG and she would win. Did Elijah tell you why he chose to go with Cindy?”
“He just said that he found something worth dying for.”
“Good for them. Someone should have some happiness during times like these. You are dismissed Conner.”
After Conner left the room, the General smiled. “Good for her. Good for her.” he said.
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