Chapitre 72: SURVIVOR [4]
As the firing continued and the last of the infected collapsed on top of the tangle of once-human bodies, so thewave of blood leaking and spurting from dozens of wounds and ruptures fanned out across the floor. Grimly Logan,Sam and Xian Mei continued to stand their ground as the blood tide lapped against their boots, oozing around themlike something alive.Finally, however, it was over, and the guns fell silent. Sam, enervated, felt his arms droop to his sides, thatsense of numbness, of unreality, of faint self-loathing creeping over him again. He shuddered, shaking it off, andstepped backwards out of the blood, the soles of his boots making a sticky squelching sound as he did so. From whatseemed like the bowels of the earth, Yerema's voice called out, 'What's happening up there?'Sam tried to reply, but for a second his voice wouldn't come. It was Purna who answered, 'We're all OK.''What about the infected?' asked Yerema.Purna hesitated, as if searching for some way of describing what had happened without making it sound as uglyand brutal as it had been. Finally, however, she simply said, 'They're dead. We got them all.''So I'm the last then,' said Yerema, a hint of disbelief creeping into her voice. 'The last of the Kuruni.'For the next few minutes the four of them occupied themselves with the grim task of dragging aside the sprawledand mangled bodies blocking the doorway. No one spoke, and by the time they were done their hands were gloved inred and their clothes were once again stained and stinking with zombie blood.Though Yerema was grateful to be rescued and hugged each of them in turn, she was not jubilant, recognizingthat theirs was a hollow victory.'So what happened?' asked Purna.Yerema shook her head. 'It was one of the guards. A Kuruni child was sick, having seizures, so he opened thecage. Either he hadn't been fully informed about the virus or he simply didn't appreciate how dangerous it was. Anyway, he was attacked and the infected got free. I guess the other guards must have been reluctant to use their guns at first – they probably thought the infected would respond to threats. By the time they realized their mistake, itwould have been too late.''But you were smart enough to lock yourself in one of the cages,' said Xian Mei.To their surprise Yerema shook her head. 'I didn't lock
myself
in,' she said. 'Dr West locked me in earlier.''West?' exclaimed Logan. 'Why?''He wanted to use me as a guinea pig, give me a shot of the vaccine he had developed to see how it affectedthe dormant virus in my system. But I didn't want him to. I thought it was too dangerous. He'd admitted earlier that if he didn't get it right the vaccine could have the opposite effect and kick-start the virus into fighting back. He tried toinject me by force, but I knocked the hypodermic out of his hand and stamped on it. So he dragged me down to thecells and locked me in, telling me that once he'd prepared another hypodermic he'd be back. But a few minutes later the guard arrived to feed the prisoners and made the mistake of opening the cage, and that's when everythingstarted to go wrong. The infected got out and killed everyone and then they came back for me. I didn't know what hadhappened to West until now. Despite everything, I was kind of hoping he'd managed to get away.''So he
did
develop a working vaccine before he died?' said Purna.'That's what he told me. But I don't know how safe or effective it was. I know he hadn't properly tested it.''Even so, it's the best we've got,' said Purna, looking around the laboratory. There was plenty of equipment stillintact on the work surfaces, but nothing that jumped out at her, nothing obvious.'So where is it?' she asked.Yerema shook her head. 'I've no idea.''We've got to find it,' said Purna firmly. 'We can't leave until we do.'
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone