After the Cure, Deirdre Gould [the beach read TXT] 📗

> “Maybe you knew her Before? I gather she was quite well known in scientific circles.”

“Maybe,” answered Nella doubtfully.

“If you do remember, the prosecutor would certainly like to speak with her.”

“I'm sure most of the world would like a chance to speak with her. Maybe she just has one of those faces.” Nella shook her head.

“It looks like there is only one video left. I know it's been a long day, but we should try to get through it.” Mr. Courtlen looked for a moment and Nella's bandaged hand before continuing. “Should we stop for a minute and get you some more painkillers?”

Nella's brain screamed an emphatic yes. Her hand was a pulsing, creeping fire. But she knew how precious each pill was, so she clenched her teeth and then said, “No, I'm okay.” Her smile was hardened plastic. “Besides, I wouldn't be able to drive home if I took anything.”

Mr. Courtlen hesitated and then nodded and started the last video.

Dr. Pazzo was propped against the closet wall. His beard was full and thick, but Nella could see large patches of hair on his head were missing. She wondered if it were part of the disease or simply stress.

“Um. I can't remember which video this is. My watch says it's been about ten days since I locked us away.”

He sounded slow, almost drunk, and he concentrated hard on every phrase. “My speech has been getting worse, though I didn't realize how much until now. My conversations to this point have been limited to a few words spoken through the wall to Dr. Schneider. She seems fine, but refuses to tell me if she is seeing symptoms in herself or not. I don't have much room in here to turn around, so testing the deterioration of my motor skills has been a little inconclusive. I do know they were deteriorating rather rapidly before I locked myself in here.”

Dr. Pazzo paused for a minute and Nella could see him blushing. At last he said, “I'm having considerable difficulty concentrating on the words in my books.” He turned the camera toward a pile of shredded paper. “As you can see, I became very frustrated yesterday. I don't even recall what finally set me off. I do, however, remember actually doing it. It was an exhilarating moment to just be ripping and tearing. I find that disturbing, but I'm not sure what I can do to stop it.”

He turned the camera back to his face. “I think I'll give up reading for a while,” he said with a rueful grin, “at least I'll have some toilet paper when I run out. If I'm still aware enough to want it. God knows Ann wasn't.” The grin turned into slow tears that Dr. Pazzo mopped at clumsily with one arm. He cleared his throat.

“Unfortunately, I feel physically fine. We've made the strain both too resistant to be cured and too weak to cause any real damage until it is already well entrenched in the brain. It's never going to kill the host by itself. Hosts may kill each other due to hostility resulting from the bacteria's effect, but it's probably not going to burn itself out like other epidemics. It's not even going to show up in doctor's offices or hospitals until it is far too late. It's so mild until the end, that no one will seek medical attention for this. I can only pray that we caught it in time, that we are the only three who are infected. And if that's not the case, I hope that someone has a new antibiotic waiting in the wings that will work on this superbug we have created-”

“Robert? Is that you?” The voice was muffled but Nella could understand what was said. Dr. Pazzo rolled his eyes without even looking at the camera.

“Yes, of course, who else would it be?” Nella was surprised by how snappish his response was.

“I have something I need to confess.”

“Are you finally admitting that you are sick?”

“What does it matter if I am or if I'm immune? I'm going to die here either way.”

Dr. Pazzo ran a hand through his thinning hair and closed his eyes. He gently knocked his head against the wall, thick tears leaking through his beard. He took a deep breath. “All right, what sordid thing did you do? I hope it's naughty,” he said with a faint smile.

“No Robert, this time I'm serious.”

The smile dropped from his face and he opened his eyes.

“Robert? Are you still listening?”

“Yeah, I'm here.”

“Remember how we discussed developing a strain with NDM plasmids?”

Dr. Pazzo sat straight up, his eyes flying wide. Nella watched his adam's apple jump and throb like an erratic heartbeat. “Gerta,” he called, his voice raised more now, “We said we weren't going to do that, that normal resistances were good enough. We said we weren't going to play with anything that dangerous.”

“I know we said that.”

Dr. Pazzo stood up, the camera in one hand. He leaned against the wall between him and Dr. Schneider, his ear resting on it. “Gerta, please don't tell me that you went ahead and tried it anyway.”

“It was supposed to be harmless, Robert. You said it would be harmless. It was controlled, only the one plasmid changed.”

“Jesus,” Nella whispered.

Mr. Courtlen paused the video. “What is it? What are they talking about?”

“It's been a long time since medical school but I believe they were talking about creating a strain of bacteria that is completely immune to all antibiotics. Something for which there is no cure, there can be no cure, not even a miracle one like the one that saved us this time. And a different strain means even the Immunes wouldn't be safe this time.”

Nella could feel the sweat gathering at her hairline, but she shuddered and hugged herself.

Mr. Courtlen stared at her in shock. His face was so pale that his scar was like a shadow at midnight. “They couldn't have. He would have told me. He would have warned someone.”

“We have to know.” She grabbed the remote and started the video again.

 

“Good God. Why? Why would you do this? You didn't even finish the testing with this strain.”

“I thought we could test them at the same time, get both pushed through at once. I wanted to patent the stronger strain and have the weaker one as backup. It was supposed to be harmless, why would anyone need to cure it? If it could withstand everything, then everyone, even people with chronic illness could benefit from it.”

Dr. Pazzo was shaking. He stroked the wall with his free hand. “Please Gerta, please tell me you only thought about it. Please tell me we aren't infected with an NDM strain.”

“No, we are infected with your strain.”

“Thank God.”

“But I did create it. It's stored in a private laboratory. I didn't tell anyone about it. It's locked away, but I didn't expect this to happen. I don't know if it's safe, that's why I fought you on the quarantine.”

Dr. Pazzo started laughing.

“This isn't funny Robert.”

“What does it fucking matter? The disease we released needs a miracle cure. By the time anyone realizes it, all the labs, all the governments, they'll all have collapsed. There's no cure coming. The disease that lurks in your lab has no cure at all. What does it matter? The world is going to tear itself apart human by human.”

“Stop talking like that Robert. You're crazy.”

Dr. Pazzo stopped laughing. “I'm crazy? I'm crazy? You delusional bitch. This whole thing is your fault. You’re greedy and impatient. You couldn't wait to follow protocol so you purposely exposed Ann. Then you let her walk out into the world. You murdering bitch. You've killed us all for the sake of a few dollars.”

Dr. Pazzo pounded on the wall with every sentence. Nella could see his face twisting into a bitter rage.

“I have to leave Robert. I have to undo this and see if I can stop the NDM bacteria from being discovered and released.”

“Don't you dare!” roared Dr. Pazzo, thumping the wall. “You will infect everyone you meet, you'll kill the world even faster.”

“I have to Robert. I can't stay here any more.” There was a splintering squeal of breaking wood.

“No! You can't leave! You can't do this!” Dr. Pazzo was banging and kicking the wall, forgetting the camera in his hand. There was another crash from beyond the wall and Dr. Pazzo roared, no longer forming words. The camera bashed again and again into the wall and the guttural roar was unending. At last the camera's image shattered into bright white pixels and the video stopped.

 

 

Frank Courtlen

Nella could hear her blood pounding in her head like a giant helicopter rotor. She didn't dare to look around at Mr. Courtlen until it had faded into the background. She started to get up, but she shook so much that she thought she might shatter. She sat back down.

“What do we do?” she asked in a quiet, lost voice. All her training, all of her desire to remain professional and collected was stripped away. She could remember hearing almost the same news spilling out of the television in her university's lounge. The same vivid panic reached out of the memory and squeezed her chest with unbearable weight. She turned to look for Mr. Courtlen.

He was as lost as she, still staring at the blank screen. His face was yellow and waxy with sweat. He was motionless but his bones still seemed to want to leap forward without his skin and he was all angle and sharp corner. His terror made him hideous. Nella had time to realize that she didn't care, she was glad he was sitting with her. At last he passed a shaky hand over his face and then looked at her.

“Look, I know you aren't bound to hold anything said here in confidence, but I think we can both agree that until we find out more, the less said to strangers the better. Don't you think?”

Nella was silent for a moment. “But someone's got to find this lab and destroy the bacteria-” Nella's voice was shaky and rushed. Mr. Courtlen put up one hand.

“I know, I know. Dr. Rider I'm not asking you to keep this secret indefinitely,” He leaned toward her and spoke low into her ear though the guards had all left with Dr. Pazzo, “but we don't know who would try to use this to their advantage. Like the government. Or who would go off the deep end and try to save the world in an ill fated blaze of glory. I know the soldiers here, they are all brave, they all want to be heroes. Hell, I'm thinking about doing it myself. But until we know where Dr. Schneider's lab is, or even Dr. Schneider herself, we can only make things worse by spreading