The Cure

SAMMY HAD BEEN BACK AT THE house for a few hours when she had begun to worry about Xavier. She didn’t know why he had panicked but there was a reason why he wanted them to split so that she wouldn’t be involved with him, and her home wouldn’t be suspected as a possible hideout. Just to be cautious she took anything that was associated with Carter that was in the living room or kitchen and moved them to the spare room and closed the door. That way if any law enforcement officials happen to pay a visit, they wouldn’t see anything just by looking through the door. Much to her relief that never happened as no one came knocking on her door to ask any questions or find out why she was arguing or pretending to be arguing with Xavier in the park. About an hour after she came back and cleared the living room, she took a seat on the couch and pulled the copy of her brain scan out of her pocket. She looked at the picture that Xavier said was tumor free and couldn’t help but have a good cry. She was happy to be free and able to resume her life, but before she could enjoy it, she was startled by a sound in the back room. She jumped up and grabbed a baseball bat that she had lying in the corner of the living room for protection. She walked down the hallway and then stopped when she realized who it was. Xavier had gotten back into the house through other means.

“Why didn’t you just knock?” she called out to him.

Xavier took a deep breath before closing the bathroom window. “I didn’t want to take the chance. It could have been too dangerous.”

“No offense, but aren’t you being a tad paranoid?” Sammy asked feeling a little confident since no one had knocked on her door yet.

“I’m afraid not,” Xavier replied, “My stock in the bounty market just went up a few pennies.”

He tossed her a copy of the newspaper that he purchased while he was making his way back to her house. Sammy took a gander at the paper and read the article about the most wanted list and the now seven figure reward for the information that leads to his capture.

“Damn,” Sammy said, “That’s a lot of money.”

“Not feeling the urge to turn me in, are you?” Xavier asked.

Sammy returned the comment with a scowl. “How would that look considering what your serum just did for me?”

Xavier took a deep breath still winded from jogging back. “That reminds me, I could really go for that margarita right about now.”

It took Sammy about twenty minutes, but she managed to blend up a nice batch as she had something truly worthy of celebration. It was her way to at least give small thanks to the man who had just saved her life. She poured the drinks and served them to her former captor who was now a cherished guest.

“Here you go, Doctor,” Sammy said, handing over a drink. “My thanks for taking care of the problem many other doctors claimed to be inoperable.”

“Thank you.” Xavier said, taking the drink and having a small sip. It wasn’t exactly his favorite drink but considering the circumstances anything tasted very good. “We also learned a great deal about the serum based on what happened to you as well. That will in turn help a lot of people.”

“What do you think will change?” Sammy asked.

“Well, I think the dose is still too strong,” Xavier replied, “This might be why the elderly were not able to handle it. Even half the dose I gave you was enough to kick the crap out of your tumor. I might even have to go smaller than that if I want to have any hope of treating them because I don’t want to exclude them. They will need this just as much if not more than anyone else in this nation.”

“What about delivery?” Sammy asked while sipping her drink.

Xavier paused and looked back at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Maybe the reason why its attack is so strong is because of how you’re injecting directly into the blood stream for instant access. If you want it to move slower, maybe making it work harder to get that far will give the body more time to adjust.” She lifted her drink and gestured to it, “Like tossing in a drink or something?”

“Ingestion rather than injection?” Xavier thought about it out loud. “Well, I’m a little concerned about people eating the serum, as it might cause a lot of digestive tract problems so that eliminates food and pills.”

“Well, how else do people get their medicine?” Sammy asked.

Xavier propped his head on his hands and really thought it over, and then his face lit up as he seemed to come up with an answer.

“What about inhaling the formula?” Xavier suggested, “People who have asthma use an inhaler to deliver their medicine to the lungs to ingest their medicine. That way it’s ingested through the lungs rather than the stomach. This would make the dosage much lower, giving the body time to adjust to it. This way I can make the dosage safe enough for everyone to use and reserve the strong injections into the blood stream for just the serious cases.”

“How long do you think it will take to change the serum to be delivered through an inhalant?” Sammy asked, seemingly excited.

“We’re talking two, maybe three weeks.” Xavier answered, “I’m going to need some equipment different from the stuff I have now to get it done.”

“Then write down what you need.” Sammy replied, “I’ll take money from your stash and buy it for you. No one is going to suspect anything if I buy them.”

Xavier sat up and took attention when he finally realized what she was offering.

“I just gave you your life back.” He said, stating the obvious. “Do you really want to use it helping someone who is wanted by the authorities?”

“Well, I owe you a lot more than just a drink,” Sammy countered, “I think helping you save the world from disease and share this gift with more people is the least I can do. Right now, you’re safe here but you can’t go outside because of this new wrinkle. They’re not looking for me, so this is something I can do to help you make progress. I can do your outside chores while you stay here and do your thing. This is the best way to avoid getting caught for now.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Xavier asked.

“Just start making a list before I change my mind.” Sammy replied.

And Xavier did just that, making up a list of things he required to do the necessary work to adjust the serum. When it came to ordering machines that were rare and could be traced, he instead asked for smaller machines and other mechanical parts so that he could construct the machine himself. He used the internet to try to find some of the machines used and while he managed to find a few that he could pay cash for and leave no trail, there were some he was going to have to work out on his own. Ordering some machines was just too risky because companies would trace where they would go and that could alert the enemy or the authorities to where he was. He also gave her a new grocery list to work with since he was going to be indoors even longer and tossed in some extra cash to cover it. When asked what it was for, he smiled.

“Get yourself something nice,” he requested, “I’d like to know some of this money wasn’t all spent on serious medical stuff.”

Sammy didn’t say anything and took the money and the list from him and left. Xavier consulted his watch, which said it was only two in the afternoon but to his body it felt like it was five or six. Xavier badly needed to take a nap and thought now was the best time to do it while it was nice and quiet, especially with the alcohol still buzzing from the margarita in his head. He walked over to the couch in the living room, grabbed a blanket, and settled down for the afternoon. He seemed to sleep a little better that day knowing there was someone out there trying to help him.