Chapter 36: In The Dark

"I want to ask you a question," Lucille said as she pressed the button next to the decon chamber while Imani glanced over her shoulder to see Lucas was now watching them before she stepped into the chamber with the woman after the opaque doors slid open and the light inside turned on.

"Ask away."

"Well, that odd shaped bottle the little girl picked from the farm," Lucille stated as the doors closed and the both of them slowly began to take off their closed toe shoes. "You must have seen it in the Barnes Institute before... Do you know what was stored in it?"

Imani eyes widened slightly and she glanced at the woman as she took off her second shoe before letting out an 'hmm'. Her heart rate slowly increased while her muscles tensed up as she thought of what to say because the woman has definitely realized that this was an attack. She was definitely not going to tell her the truth and she also didn't want her to know the bottle was only used in the Barnes Institute because she didn't want Lucas to launch an investigation that will lead him to what she did.

She knew that he was still going to launch an investigation because he has also definitely realized that the virus was a weapon used to attack his people but she was going to try to keep him away from finding out who created it for a while.

Imani began to slowly inhale and exhale to control her racing heart as she relaxed her muscles while thinking of different things to distract herself so the woman wouldn't be able to tell that she was lying.

"I don't know," she muttered and cleared her throat as she detached her helmet from the suit before slowly taking it off. "I mean, a lot of medical research institutes use the bottle too. It can be used to store any biohazard substance as long as it's labelled."

They were wearing Danmat suits again because they did not want to risk getting infected with the virus. The lab had a decontamination chamber and a wash room which had to be used before one could finally step out into the hallway but even with all these precautions put in place, Imani was worried that she could get infected and transmit the virus to Desmond and Lola. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

When the Sirizan virus was still around, she and her colleagues had lived in a residential building that was not far from the institute. She didn't want to move away from home at first because she didn't want to be away from Desmond and Lola but she knew that going back home every day after working with a virus will put them at a risk of getting infected.

Lucille slowly nodded as she pressed the button next to a chute intake door on the wall which flashed green before the small door slowly slid open. The both of them kept the shoes they just took off into the chute before Lucille pressed another button which was next to Imani and a small section in the wall slid open to reveal a compartment separated into four equal parts. They placed their helmets in two of the parts and after a couple of seconds the wall closed up.

Most of the things in this building were the same as the things in the Barnes Institute so Imani was familiar with them. Things like how they got the Danmat suits they wore in the lab, how they sent the suits for cleaning after taking them off, a tunnel system through which capsules which contain tests, samples, et cetera are sent to labs and a couple of other things.

They were left in a white tank top, shorts and a bouffant cap after taking off the Danmat suits which would have been really uncomfortable to wear if the suits weren't made of a material that responded to body heat to keep the wearer at a comfortable temperature.

"Are you going back home today? Lucille asked as they kept the suits it in chute and its door slid close after Imani pressed the button next to it.

"Yes, I have to –" she stopped talking when she suddenly realized that she didn't think this through.

The e-mail she received from Jacob yesterday threw her for a loop and she rushed to Lucas' company this morning so she could put an end to what she unintentionally started. She didn't realize that she couldn't be moving from home to Wolfborn and then back home daily, lest she becomes the one that spreads the virus among humans.

'Shit,' she thought while the decontamination chamber hissed and cold air jetted from the holes in it.

She could perform a meticulous cleansing ritual but she could still screw that up one day and put everyone at risk. Lola and Desmond left the house almost every day and interacted with a lot of people so a misstep on Imani's part will lead to a disaster.

"You have to what?" Lucille asked when the chamber stopped hissing and the other door in front of them slid open to reveal a short hallway on the other side.

There were five doors in the hallway, two on both sides and one at the end. The two on both sides led to a wash room that they had to use before they could finally step into the hallway that Lucas was in.

"... Nothing," Imani replied as she shook her head and stepped into the hallway. "I need to talk to Lucas."

It felt like an anvil had been placed on her chest and she really didn't like the fact that she couldn't go home. What she didn't like even more was the idea of staying in Wolfborn and but she didn't have a choice because this virus killing the people in this town was her fault and she wasn't just going to bail on them.

"Okay," Lucille stated as she headed toward the first door on her right. "See you in a couple of minutes."

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