The Cure

SAMANTHA WAS FREE TO ROAM AROUND the house, but she quickly learned that Xavier had barred the windows and doors before she returned home. He took care of the front door after he initially knocked her out. Until she came to a decision about his offer, she was going to be a prisoner in her own home. For someone who was holding her hostage, Xavier kept to himself as much as possible to give her some space. He moved all his things into the spare bedroom but didn’t unpack, as he didn’t want to pressure her any more than he already was. Carter spent a lot of time on a comfy lazy boy chair she had in the living room, working on some notes in a scrapbook that seemed almost filled up. It wasn’t until the next day when he was back on the chair going over those notes when she walked up and took a seat on the couch to speak with him. They sat there for a few seconds before she spoke first.

“You promised full disclosure,” She reminded him, “Something about making sure that I was fully informed.”

“That’s correct,” Xavier said, closing the scrap book, “Fire away.”

“I need an exact numbers,” Samantha started, “I want to know how many people took this stuff, and the percentage of those who survived. You also need to be up front about how many people have died too.”

“That’s a valid question,” Xavier replied, putting the scrap book down on the coffee table. “I’d want to know that too.”

“Then give it to me straight,” Sam ordered.

“Alright,” Xavier said, as he sat up. “Over the past two and a half years, I’ve managed to save twenty-seven people.”

“That’s it?” she paused for a moment, “Out of how many?”

“Thirty-two,” Xavier answered.

“So, you’ve murdered five people?” Sam asked.

Xavier seemed a little taken back by the comment. “Murder would imply intent to kill, which I did not have. My motive was to save their lives, not end them.”

“Alright, so that would be manslaughter,” Sam said, correcting herself.

“Involuntary, at best.” Xavier conceded, “But each of them walked into this experiment with the same knowledge you’re getting right now: a risky treatment for the chance to turn what’s considered unrecoverable into the cured. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about them and the sacrifices they made for my research, which in the long run could benefit all mankind. I don’t take this lightly either, as I refuse to work on someone without their knowledge or consent. That’s not ethical.”

“But human experiments without federal approval is ethical?” Samantha retorted. She could tell Xavier was uncomfortable talking about this, but he worked through it because she deserved the truth.

“I want to be as ethical as possible.” Xavier explained, taking a deep breath. “I really do, but current circumstances put me in a position where I had to make some very difficult decisions. There have been a few times when I came to an ethical crossroad, and I nearly broke down trying to figure out what direction I should take.”

“Give me an example,” Sam requested.

“At first,” Carter started, “I came up with an idea to test the serum on people who were so close to death that they were comatose. That way if there were any horrid side effects or pain because of my serum, they wouldn’t feel any additional pain because they were already in a vegetative state. I walked into a hospital one night and easily passed off as one of the medical staff, which allowed me to make it to her room undetected. I had the serum in a needle ready to inject and a clear chance to save a life, but that’s when I became anxious. I had started to perspire, and my hands began to shake uncontrollably and the closer I got the more intense this anxiety became. The idea of testing it on someone who was unaware of what was happening around or to them was too much for me to endure. I just couldn’t do it.”

“What happened to her?” Sam asked.

“She died a few weeks later,” Xavier’s hands were shaking again, and he folded his arms up to coddle them under his armpits, “I’m not proud of what I’m doing, but I wasn’t exactly given a choice. I’m determined to do as much as I can within reasonable boundaries to test medicine that could change the world.”

“Boundaries such as informed consent?” Samantha asked.

“Precisely,” Carter confirmed, “That’s the one boundary that I’ve worked hard to never cross. No one will ever take this serum unless it’s with their fully informed consent. Never.”

Xavier stood leaned over and picked up his notepad and flipped to a particular page, and then handed it over to her.

“This is a markup of the serum’s chemical breakdown.” Carter informed her, “Basically what I think it does is work as a supercharged immune system, but at the same time it also repairs the patient’s natural immune system. So, when this thing is finished taking out the trash and cleaning up the house, it leaves a maid behind in good shape and ready to keep the house clean for years to come, sort to speak.”

“And you think this will attack my tumor?” Samantha asked.

“I hope it will identify your tumor as the foreign substance that it is and attack it without touching or damaging any other part of your brain.” Carter explained, “Like I said before; to make sure you don’t suffer brain damage from the serum being too aggressive I’m going to give you low dosages over a short period of time rather than one big shot at once. If this works, the serum could obliterate every single cancer cell in your body. This is my goal: to heal you rather than harm you. Should you pass away from this drug, it will not be because I wanted to do you harm.”

“Alright,” Samantha said, as she herself couldn’t believe the words that were about to emerge from her mouth. “If I agree how soon can we get started?”

“That will take at least a week.” Carter answered, “I need to prepare my lab and formulate a treatment plan to make sure I have sufficient serum to make it work. If I don’t, I’ll just make some more. Chances are I’m gonna have to anyway, as a precaution if your treatment lasts more than a week. I have the finances to get what I need and to support this place and keep it running. All I need you to do is help me run a cover that will lower suspicion and keep people away from the house.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” Samantha said with a sigh, “I stopped being treated for what I had months ago. I also have no family and next to no friends, so no one was going to look me up until I was on my death bed.”

“Well then,” Xavier said, extending his to her. “Let’s do our best to delay that by a few decades, shall we?”

She took his hand and shook it. “What have I got to lose?”

“Not much,” Carter answered, “And you have more to gain. Do you mind if I use the guest room as my lab?”

She shook her head to let him know it was all right and Xavier said as he snatched up what was left of his bags and moved them into the guest room and finally started to unpack. He already had a lot of medical equipment with him, and he started to set them up on the desk in the room as well as on top of the dressers. A few moments he popped back out of the room.

“Samantha,” he started, “I’m going to need the desk from your room as well and I’m going to take the couch out of the guest room to make more space, if that’s okay with you?”

“That’s okay,” she replied, “But you can call me Sammy. That’s what my friends call me. If you’re telling me the truth and this serum is going to remove my tumor, then you are going to be one of them.”

Xavier nodded to convey his understanding. “I look forward to earning your trust and friendship.”

Sammy watched as Xavier went back into the guest room and started to move the furniture around. He moved the single bed into the far-right corner, which gave the room more space to walk around, and then dragged the love seat like couch into the living room. He dragged it over to an open corner of the living room that had a bare wall and left it there. It had no view of the television, but at least there it was out of Xavier’s way. After dragging the large desk out of the master bedroom into the guest room, Xavier had two decent sized desks to conduct his work on. He started unpacking the medical equipment and machines as well as large medal box that had locks on it. He didn’t open that box but instead dragged it under one of the desks and left it there for the time being. Once he had a lot of stuff settled in, he walked back into the living room to take a short break.

“Let’s break for lunch,” He suggested, “Then I’ll explain everything about the treatment and what to expect afterwards.”

“Alright.” Sammy replied, “Are you cooking again?”

Xavier laughed. “Sure, let me wrestle something up.”

Sammy watched as he again retreated into the kitchen and started to scrounge around for something. She also wasn’t used to having anybody around, let alone a man living inside the house with her in such a long time but was willing to work through it. Deep down inside, she wanted to believe what he was offering and was willing to do anything for another chance, even if it meant risking the time she had left. Sammy didn’t have much of a life at the moment, but if Xavier was true to his word and managed to fix what was wrong with her head, she could look forward to trying to start a new life and maybe even reconnect with those she never talked to anymore. She was placing a lot of trust in Carter, but he was right about her: she didn’t have much to lose. For that reason alone, it was a minimal gamble for her to make. She watched as he started to cook up some ground beef and boil some noodles as it looked like he was going to make a pasta and meat sauce. He sure was handy to have around.