The Cure

SAMMY AND CARTER SPENT THE BETTER half of the next two weeks working on the new delivery system. The inhaler was a brilliant idea, and Carter had been kicking himself often for not thinking of it earlier was going to make the serum safer for older and younger patients. By ingesting the serum through their lungs as opposed to doing their usual route which was needling it into the superhighway which was the bloodstream. It was looking good so far to the point where Xavier was confident enough to start testing the new delivery system very soon. His serum was a long way from picking a patient, but he had some ideas. Cater considered testing it on someone young, like a child that had asthma. The young doctor wanted to see if it would clear the child’s lungs and help them breathe a little easier. If that worked, Xavier was hoping some senior patients in the hospice suffering from lung issues like emphysema could handle a smaller dose from the puffer and it might give them a few more years.

It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon and Carter was working on the new puffer when Sam came crashing through the door to interrupt him. She looked rather worried on her face and Carter understood that something terrible had happened.

“You need to get out here, right now!” Sammy cried out before running back into the living room.

Carter had no idea what was happening, so he scrambled into the living room behind her to see what was going on for himself. The moment he read the headline that was at the bottom of her television screen, Carter covered his mouth in horror. It read ‘Outbreak: hospital quarantined with cases of smallpox’.

“How could this happen?” Xavier called out as he couldn’t believe what he was reading. “We haven’t had any cases like this for a long time!”

“From what I’ve been hearing,” Samantha replied, “The hospital closed twelve hours ago and stopped letting people in or out as a precaution. Now it’s being cut off from the rest of the country, and they are even cutting off access to the town to make it does not spread to other towns, cities, or states. That’s not even the worst part.”

“There’s a worst part?” Xavier said, almost afraid to ask.

“I’m afraid so,” Sammy confirmed, “Some stations are reporting this is being treated as an attack, someone started this on purpose!”

“This is a nightmare,” Xavier replied as he sat down and continued to watch the news as the story broke. Their country was under a biological attack and this poor hospital was ground zero.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Xavier exclaimed, shocked.

“What could happen if this gets out beyond that town?” Sam asked.

“You don’t want to know, trust me.” Carter answered, “There’s a reason why that building is being shut out from the world, if that gets out it could kill thousands, possibly millions depending on strong the strand...”

Xavier stopped talking and paused for a moment.

“What is it?” Sam asked.

Carter got up and started to pace around.

“They’re doing this.” he finally said, looking quite frustrated.

“How do you know that?” Sam asked, shocked by his conclusions.

“Back when I was working for that stupid pharmaceutical company,” Carter started to explain, “We were not the only project in that building. I remember talking to researchers in there months before I ran who were working on something like this, doing testing on live samples of this exact virus.”

“But didn’t that place burn down?” Sam asked.

“It did,” Carter replied. “And then a short time after that fire, there’s a biomedical attack using the exact same virus. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Why would they use it on their own country?” Sam asked and then before Xavier could say anything she answered her own question. “They’re trying to flush you out. They know you came out of hiding to save the Senator and now they’re trying to use this attack to force you back out so they...”

“Can take me out.” Xavier finished for her.

“It’s a trap,” Sam concurred.

“It sure seems that way,” Xavier said, sitting back down on the couch. “They know I won’t just stand by and let so many people die. They know I will do whatever I can to prevent that virus from spreading too.”

“You can’t go in there.” Sam repeated.

“We have no choice,” Xavier disagreed.

“This isn’t right,” Sammy said, “They’ll be waiting for you!”

“We can’t afford to let this outbreak get worse.” Xavier explained, “Not when we’re sitting on a cure that could prevent a national pandemic. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of possible lives at stake here.”

“That a few states away,” Sammy said, thinking about it. “It would take us at least a day to get there by car, maybe two.”

“You are not coming with me,” Xavier told her.

“Nice try,” Sammy said, pointing to the part of her head where her tumor used to be. “Since I’ve already got that stuff in my system, chances are I’m already immune from that stuff… aren’t I?”

“I’m not too sure if it works that way,” Xavier honest confessed, “But there is a chance that it won’t let anything in your system so you might be right. There’s no telling how long the serum will remain in your system. It could protect you from major infections and viruses for at least the next few years, possibly longer.”

“So, what are we waiting for?” Sam said as she hooped off the couch. “Let’s get as much of the serum packed as possible and hit the road.”

“I’ll need a few hours to get ready.” Carter said as he darted back into the lab that he constructed out of her spare bedroom. He packed as much of the serum as he could spare, but also left a little bit behind as a backup. He also started to pack all the puffers they had been working on for the last few weeks. Sammy noticed that he was packing up the puffers and was a tad surprised.

“Is that what I think it is?” Sam asked.

“It is,” Xavier confirmed, “I haven’t had a chance to test the puffers yet, but I have a good supply of the actual serum in case these don’t work. This is the best we can do… I just hope it’s enough. Are you sure you want to come along?”

Sam gave him a scowl.

“Are you kidding me?” She asked him, “We have a town to save!”

“Forget the town,” Xavier corrected her, “We have a country to save!”

They packed light, saving as much room for the serum and puffers to keep them safe and cool. Carter put the larger gas tank in the trunk but kept the individual puffers and his bag. Once in the car and on the road, he turned to face Sam.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Xavier started, “I can’t guarantee your safety, but if we do get caught… you can tell them you were my hostage and you had no choice. Hopefully that will be enough to ensure your safety.”

"Screw that,” Sam said with a smile, “I have no intention of selling you out. Not after everything you’ve done for me.”

“I appreciate that,” Carter replied, “But the last thing I want you to do with your newly found life is spend it all behind bars.”

“They have to catch us first,” Sam said with a wink.

Carter could help but laugh as he realized how futile his efforts were. Just like June he had a new partner in crime, literally. He might need all the help he could use considering people who were looking for him, but not for her. It was something he was going to have to use to slip this by both the crooks and the authorities.

“Do we have a plan, Carter?” she asked.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it.” Xavier confessed. “When I think of something, we’ll go over it a few times before we get to ground zero.”

“I hope it’s a good one because I think once we get there it’s going to take a lot of sweet talking to get our asses in there.” Sam reminded him, “Not to mention there could be someone there waiting for us too.”

“I know it’s a trap.” Carter repeated, aware that someone might have caused all this pain just to flush him out into the open. Yet he had no choice; he had to try to save as many people as possible and help keep the outbreak contained... even if it meant this was going to be the end of him and his research.