Chương 65: CAGED ANIMALS [3]
Beyond the second door was a wider corridor, the left wall occupied by four cages, the bars of which stretched from floor to ceiling. Inside the cages was the handful of Kuruni people who had survived the massacre in their village. Although some were worse than others, they all looked in a pretty bad way. Curled up on mattresses on the floor, or slumped listlessly against the far wall, they were sweaty and feverish and hollow-eyed, some tossing and turning and muttering deliriously in their sleep, one or two even tensing and shuddering as if their bodies were being wracked by a series of small seizures.
'What's wrong with them?' asked Sam, though he was pretty sure he knew.
'They're displaying symptoms of the virus,' said Logan. 'It happened not long after they got here. Considering how contagious it is, and what eventually happens to the infected, it was thought it'd be safer to lock them up.'
Sam hated the thought of locking innocent people up like animals, but he nodded. 'Can't nothin' be done for them?'
'What can be done is being done. West's given them drugs to try to slow the infection down. If he develops a vaccine before it takes too much of a hold –' he gave a small, ironic whoop – 'party time.'
'What about West?' asked Sam. 'What's to stop him getting infected?'
Logan shrugged. 'Nothin', I guess. But maybe that's the best incentive he can have for developing a vaccine.'
Sam put his hands on the bars of the cage and leaned forward. He felt a wriggle of despair go through him.
'Shit, I thought these guys were survivors. I thought they were immune.'
'West says the virus is mutating all the time, constantly changing to find a way in under people's defences.'
'You make it sound like it's alive. Like it thinks,' said Sam.
'Maybe it does.'
'Bullshit!' Sam's response was unequivocal, but there was anxiety, even a hint of fear, in his eyes. 'If this thing's mutating all the time, what's to stop it eventually finding a way in under our defences?' he said.
Logan didn't answer immediately. Eventually he admitted, 'Beats me. But you gotta remember there's one big difference between us and them.' He nodded at the Kuruni.
'Which is?' asked Sam.
'They been chowing down on zombie brains for the last fuck knows how long. Closest I've got to that was the burger I ate in the airport motel the night before we flew out here.'
Sam and Logan retraced their steps back to the laboratory. When they got there, Purna turned to them and said, 'Dr West and I have been talking, and he says it's going to be at least twelve hours, but probably more like twenty-four, before he'll know whether it's possible to develop a vaccine. Therefore, to save time, I think we should head back to Mowen's village, pick up Jin and Xian Mei, and come back here in the morning. Then, if Dr West does have a vaccine for us by then, we can head straight over to the prison island to meet White.'
'OK with me,' shrugged Logan.
'Me too,' said Sam with a sigh. 'So you spoken to White about this?'
Purna nodded, smiling a little as she said, 'I am nothing if not efficient. It was a terrible line, but I got the impression that White's wife was in a really bad way. By the time we get there, it might already be too late.'
'Nothing we can do about that,' said Logan. 'We're all going as fast as we can. Can't hurry genius, eh, doc?'
West smiled faintly.
'So when you wanna go?' asked Sam.
'Well, Mowen says he's ready any time, so I suggest we grab a bite to eat and then head off. No time like the present, eh?' said Purna.
'Nope,' sighed Sam heavily. 'No time like the present.'
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực