The Cure

XAVIER HAD BEEN WORKING ON the inhaler for a few days but was having problems with its application. He needed some more advanced equipment, but his usual contacts were not returning any of his calls. While that had him concerned him a little, Xavier shrugged it off for now and decided to try them again later. Sammy was in the living room passing the time watching television and cleaning up around the house. She occasionally went out and picked some stuff up but made an effort to not leave the house too often. She wasn’t used to the idea of being healthy enough to go anywhere she wanted and didn’t want her neighbors to discover how well she was doing too soon. Even though she was perfectly healthy again, it was going to take her a while to mentally accept it. Sammy was going to have to take some baby steps and learn to crawl before she could walk and then run back into life again. It wasn’t entirely normal for someone to be dying one day and then suddenly not be dying the next. Mentally it was a profound shock to her system and that was going to take time to adjust to. People often take the time to prepare themselves to die, so when that doesn’t happen, it does and usually takes time to reintegrate with the land of the living. Xavier had been trying to get in contact with a few people since he and Sammy had come up with the idea of using an inhaler to deliver the serum, but contacts were still difficult to get a hold of. Xavier had two cell phones to pick from when trying to contact people. The first was a phone that was listed under a man that doesn’t exist. It was created by a member of organized crime who should have died of lunch cancer over a year ago but didn’t because of the serum. The phone is pretty much invisible to the authorities, and it was safe for him to use as long as he kept calls to a minimum and only gave the number out to those he absolutely trusted. From there, he makes all other cell calls from burner phones that anyone could pick up at any store for twenty bucks. From there he buys phone cards for them and usually destroys them after two or three calls each. He was working on making some machines on his own from parts of other machines he could dispose of when he heard some sort of sound coming from the living room. Out of concern for Sammy, Xavier dropped what he was doing and ran into the living room.

“Are you alright?” he called out.

“I am but look.” Sammy said as she pointed to the television.

Xavier looked down at the television that was reporting from a hospital in Florida. “The incident took place around three this afternoon. The Senator was just finishing his meeting with party members when he suddenly collapsed and was quickly rushed to the hospital. There’s no word on the senator’s condition, but we are being told by sources that he was unresponsive to paramedics all the way to the hospital. So, to repeat the story, Senator Alexander Jackson has been taken to hospital with what is at this time an unknown ailment. We’ll give you more details on this story as we get them.”

Sammy was a little distraught. “Do you have any idea who that is?”

“I think I’ve heard of him,” Xavier admitted, “But I’m not up to speed on politics as much as I should be.”

Sammy looked like she was angry enough to kick the television. “Senator Jackson was the early favorite to win the Presidential nomination! We’re only a few months away from the Iowa caucus, which he was favored to win by about sixty percent, and now he suddenly falls ill?”

“I never took you to be someone so passionate about politics.” Xavier said as he sat on the couch and looked up at her in amazement. “People fall sick all the time, maybe this was just a case of an allergic reaction he wasn’t aware of.”

“You think?” Sammy said, somewhat suspicious.

“People walk around all the time, unaware that the next bee sting could kill them.” Xavier replied, “The same goes for food. You think you don’t have a single allergy and then suddenly you react badly to the first piece of lobster you toss into your tummy.”

“Are you sure it’s that simple?” Sammy asked.

Carter put his feet up on the coffee table and tried to relax while watching the news coverage on the tube. “Until we know more, it doesn’t make sense to panic.”

“What makes you think this isn’t something serious?” Sammy asked.

“Because it’s the media,” Xavier started with a huff. “I know from first-hand experience that they don’t get every story right. They all make a very good living keeping the masses afraid and shaking in their homes. The more scared you are, the more likely you’ll go out and consume products, which is why people pay so much money to have their products placed in their commercial time. So, don’t drink the flavored water until you have just reason to do so. Right now, until a doctor walks up to a podium and makes a statement they know nothing.”

They both sat in the living room for almost an hour, waiting for more details of the incident to come in, but nobody was talking nor holding any press conferences. It was at this point when Xaver’s cell phone started to ring in the other room. This got their attention as the phone didn’t ring very often if at all. Sammy looked over at her guest.

“How many people know the number to that phone?” she asked.

“Only three people have that number.” Xavier said as he stood up to get it. He bolted into the room and picked up the phone and looked at the number. It was the name of one of the three people he entrusted the number to. He took a deep breath and hit the button to put phone to his ear.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Xavier, it’s June.” The voice on the other end responded.

“June,” Xavier repeated. “Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to contact me right now?”

“I’m quite aware of your new status, Xavier.” June replied with a tone of urgency. “I wouldn’t have called if I had other options. I have a close friend whose patient that needs your help as I’m quickly running out of options.”

“How well do you know this friend?” Xavier asked. He had to be so cautious, especially if he knew what she thought she was going to ask.

“He and I went to medical school together, we almost got married.” June answered. “We are still friends and talk often. He’s got a patient that desperately needs help and I think you might be the only one that can save him.”

“That depends,” Xavier said as he tried to keep his cool. “Who’s the patient and what’s his ailment?”

Carter stood there and listened to her as Sammy watched from the door and could tell from his posture and how he paced around the room that he was being hit with something huge. He noticed she was watching and waved for her to give him some space, so she did and fled back to the living room. He then finally responded.

“Alright, I’ll help.” Xavier declared, “But I’m coming to you first. I can be in Atlanta tomorrow. Be ready to drive me the rest of the way from there, understood? All right, see you soon.”

Carter closed the cell phone and walked back out to the living room.

“What the hell was that?” Sammy demanded, as she couldn’t bear to not be aware of what was going on.

“That was Dr. June Zaun.” Carter replied as he started to pace around the living room. “I met her a few months after I started to run. I felt it would be easier to convince a fellow doctor of my discovery rather than the average Joe. Turns out it was tougher, but she eventually came around. When it was all said and done, her days with HIV are over and whatever doubts she had were also gone. She’s one of my most trusted confidants, and I used her to keep track on how close the feds are getting because she checks to see who is watching the lists of machines ordered.”

“So, why is she calling you now?” Sammy asked.

“June got a call from a friend,” Xavier answered, “The guy is her former fiancé who happens to be the chief of staff at a hospital in Florida. She claims this hospital has a patient that badly needs my help. I need you to take me to Atlanta, and from there June is going to drive the rest of the way to Florida to meet with the patient.”

“Why can’t I make the full trip?” Sammy asked, somewhat hurt by the idea.

“We need to keep this house safe and the work we’re doing secure.” Xavier replied rather quickly, “I need to keep the work on the inhalers going and I don’t want to risk losing this. In order to do that, we need to keep you away from this hospital.”

“Why are you doing this?” Sammy asked.

“Well for many reasons.” Carter replied, “I need special equipment to convert the serum to what we can deliver through an inhaler. I can’t order it without a trace coming back to us. If this hospital ends up owing me a solid, I can use that to order the equipment for us without raising red flags. The fact that we both know the patient kind of helps as well.”

“We know the patient?” Sammy repeated.

“Yes, we do.” Xavier pointed to the television.

Sammy’s jaw just about hit the floor. “They’re calling you to help Senator Jackson?”

“Yes, that’s the request.” Xavier answered. “Turns out our Junior Senator, who was in perfect health according to his last check-up doesn’t suffer from allergies after all according to the doctors in the E.R.”

“What did they tell you?” Sammy asked eager to know the truth.

“He was poisoned.” Xavier answered. “Someone’s trying to kill him.”

“My gaud,” Sammy said aghast, “This is an assassination attempt?”

“It looks that way,” Xavier concurred, “And right now they only suspect poison, as everyone was eating at the same table fell ill as well.”

“So, how can you help?” Sammy inquired.

Xavier sat back down on the couch and turned off the television. “They can’t treat anyone for the poison because they can’t figure out what poison they’re working with and what treatment to give it. By the time someone eventually figures out what the hell it is…”

“He’ll already be dead.” Sammy concluded.

“Exactly.” Xavier confirmed.

“Does the serum even work on stuff like poisons?” she asked him.

Xavier tossed up his hands. “To be honest, I’m not sure. If I were to accept this challenge and even try to use the serum to try to save the Senator, this would be a risk and completely experimental. I can’t guarantee anything.”

“But are you at least going to try?” Sammy asked.

“Yes, I promised June I would.” Xavier said, “Are you ready to ride to Atlanta?”

“I’ll start getting packed.” Sammy said, and then left for her bedroom.

“I’ll get some of the serum ready for transport,” Xavier hopped off the couch and went back into the guest room. He was only going to take what he needed with him and no more. If he was ever caught, he only wanted to have small samples on him at the time that were easy to destroy. But driving with Sammy would make things easier. The authorities were searching for one man right now, not a couple and that would be their cover. A newly married couple driving to Atlanta to visit her parents and no cop would question that. With his current fugitive status in the media and with the FBI looking around for him more actively than before, it was a risk just to walk out the door and try to help someone. All Xavier was thinking was someone was in dire need of help, and according to June his serum might be the only chance the senator’s got. Risk was something he’d have to endure to do something he had taken for granted for so long, his responsibility as a doctor. There was a patient out there that needed him, and Xavier was going to do his best to save him.