Chapter Thirty-four

Who Uses Themselves as a Guinea Pig? Nathan Does, That's Who.

I managed to talk Nathan out of going back to the hospital. We barely made back in one piece the last time; we weren't going out again. The days slipped into weeks as Nathan tried over and over again to perfect the serum that would eventually be a vaccine.

"I got it!" he shouted one lazy afternoon.

I put down a book I had read about three hundred times and looked through the living room to his lab.

"Got what?" I asked.

"The vaccine! I think I got it right!" he exclaimed, holding up a tube of reddish liquid.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"There's only one way to know," he replied.

"And how's that?"

"Test it."

"Who are you going to get to volunteer for that?" I asked skeptically.

He pursed his lips and stared at me for a long moment.

"If you mean you're testing it on yourself you've lost your mind."

"Why not me? Nobody is going to volunteer for this. What if it's not right? They'll die."

"Okay, so it makes sense to test it on yourself? Think about that logic for a second, Nathan."

"I'm positive that it's right," he said, pulling a syringe from a drawer.

"Then why did you say what if? Don't say what if if you're sure! I hate what if's!"

"Relax, Emma," he replied while injecting the liquid into his arm.

"I don't like this, Nathan."

"It's going to be fine."

"What's the plan? How are you going to do this? Just walk out there and wait for one to bite you? What if it eats your throat? Or your heart?"

"You really over think things," he said, shaking his head.

"I think you under think," I shouted, slamming my book down.

"Stop."

"Fine. How are you feeling?" I asked.

"I feel fine. No adverse reactions yet."

"Yet," I echoed while rolling my eyes.

"Emma."

"Nathan."

"Chill. I'm going to give it twenty-four hours then I'll go out and do a controlled bite."

"A controlled bite? What exactly is a controlled bite?" I asked.

"We'll catch one, restrain it, and let it quickly bite down on my arm before shooting it."

"That really is the plan? Just go out and let one bite you?"

"What would you suggest?" he asked.

"Um let me think for a second, not doing it. That's a good plan."

"I'm doing it, Emma."

"And what if you turn? What is going to happen to the city? You are the only doctor! How will we survive without a doctor?"

"Nothing is going to happen."

"Holy fuck, Nathan! You're so dam stubborn!" I threw my hands up in the air and stormed out of the apartment.

"Emma! Come on, Emma!" he called after me.

"Nope, not going back." I pushed the door to the stairwell open as hard as I could making sure the bang of it hitting the wall echoed down to the apartment.

I inhaled the cool autumn air deeply. It felt good against my hot skin. I was mad and irritated.

How can he expect me to be okay with this? He's so damn frustrating and infuriating!

I walked down the block searching for Meaghan. She will not believe this. I found her sitting in a small make-shift park. I slid onto the bench beside her and stared at the one tree that inhabited the space. It really wasn't much of a park. Nothing more than a small patch of grass and the tree. But it would make due to bring kids to sit and play, or to take off your shoes and just rub your toes on the grass. I sighed heavily and put my head on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Nathan is going to test his serum on himself," I replied.

"What?" She turned to look at me.

"Yeah. He injected it into his body, he's waiting twenty-four hours, and then he's going out into the wild and letting one of those things bite him. I'm sorry it's going to be a controlled bite in the name of science," I said in my best Nathan mocking voice.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, looking back at the tree.

"I guess the only thing I can do; be there to put him down if he turns."

"Do you think he will?"

"I don't know, Meaghan."

"He's been working on it for a few months. I guess he could have it finished. He never injected himself before."

"Why did he do it on himself instead of finding someone else to test it on?" she inquired.

"He didn't want to risk someone else's life."

"I see."

She sighed heavily and looked down at her hands. I sat up and stared at her for a bit. A tear slid down her cheek and a small sob escaped her mouth.

"What's wrong, Meaghan?"

"I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble, Emma."

"What do you mean?" I asked as she flung herself into my arms.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she sobbed.

"I can't give you advice unless you tell me what you did."

"I don't know how I'm going to tell my parents."

"Meaghan, please tell me you didn't go beyond the borders again!"

She tried to talk between her sobs but it came out a muddled mess.

"Stop crying. You need to calm down and tell me what's wrong. Were you bit?"

"No!" she wailed.

I sighed with relief and hugged her. "Then it's not that bad."

"Yes it is!"

"Meg, you're alive. Your parents are alive. There may be a vaccine to this infection. I don't know what could be so bad that you are sobbing like this."

"I've done something awful." She continued crying into my lap.

"Did you kill someone?" I asked.

"No."

"Did you maim someone?"

"No."

"I'm running out of ideas about what terrible thing you could have possibly done, Meaghan."

"Have you ever seen the lead singer, Ethan, for Imaginary Dragon Questers?"

"Oh lord, that awful band that plays at Bill's on the weekends?"

"They're not awful, and yes that's them."

"I think I've seen him around. Why?"

"We've been seeing each other," she said slowly, almost as though she were picking out the right words to use.

"Since when?" I asked in surprise.

"It's been kind of a secret."

"You've kept a secret from me?"

"That's beside the point, Emma."

"Okay, so why are you sitting here sobbing while staring at a tree?"

"I, um, I'm pregnant."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you right. Did you say you're pregnant?"

"Yes," Meaghan wailed, letting her head fall into her hands.

I sat there with my hand on her shoulder in shocked silence. I didn't know what to say to her. The one thing everybody in our little city managed not to do she did. Was the world ready for children?