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

already decided that I’m guilty. Let me remind you that I was the one that cured the disease. What did Dr. Pazzo do? Nothing. He and Ann sat drooling in their monkey cages for months while I worked. Dr. Carton was demented, little more than a garbage disposal system. It was me. I cured all those people, without me, what’s left of civilization wouldn’t be here. We’d all be dead or bestial. It’s because of me that society continues.”

Nella laughed bitterly, her professional mask flaking off in the heat of her anger. “Without you? Without you the world would be just as it was a decade ago. Without you, billions of people that are now dead would be living out their lives with their families. No one would be haunted by what they had to do to survive or what they’d done when they weren’t themselves. You may have stopped the disease but you can’t ever clean up the harm that you’ve done.”

Dr. Schneider stood up, her dark eyes were empty holes in the pallor of her face. “Does this conversation have a point? You aren’t my judge, I’m not here to justify myself to you.”

“I was inclined to feel sorry for you before I met you. I was convinced that you were simply a victim of circumstance. I see now that I was wrong. You created the circumstance for yourself. I still might be sympathetic, except you, alone of all the people I’ve met Immune or Infected, you show no remorse at all. The point of this conversation was to find out if Dr. Carton was telling the truth about where he’d been. You’ve confirmed it rather callously, so I’ll waste no more time on it. What we’re looking for isn’t here and I don’t think you know any more about it than you’ve already said. The sooner we get back to the City and turn you over to the authorities, the better.”

Nella began to get up and saw Frank watching them from the doorway. “I couldn’t agree more,” he said grimly. “Unfortunately, the sun is going down. I don’t want to risk walking at night in the open. And Nella needs more sleep. We’ll have to stay one more night.”

Dr. Schneider sneered at Frank. “You walked here? The court must not want me that badly after all. We can take my car and get this over with. I don’t want to be around you people any longer than necessary.”

Nella looked surprised and Dr. Schneider whirled around toward her. “You underestimate me. You may be able to dismiss the Cure, but I assure you, most of the world will not. I’ve already retained the best attorney. When I find the stolen samples, and I will, I’ll be heralded as a savior.”

Frank’s voice was quiet but menacing. “No one is ever going to believe you’re a savior. I’ll make sure of that.”

“You’re both officers of the court. You can’t testify against me. It’s a breach of confidence for Dr. Rider and a conflict of interest for you.”

“Dr. Carton can testify,” said Nella quietly. She stood up, ignoring Dr. Schneider’s contempt for that suggestion. She and Frank headed back to the executive office, leaving Dr. Schneider to fume by herself.

“Sorry,” Nella said into the silent elevator.

Frank smiled at her for the first time in what felt like days. “What for?”

“I didn’t want to create more tension, but I needed to find out if she or Dr. Carton were lying about where the samples are.”

“They aren’t here. I don’t think Dr. Schneider has any clue where they are.”

The elevator doors opened and they walked slowly into the artificial dark of the boarded up office. Frank flipped the light switch as the door closed behind them. The smile had faded from his face and he looked as if he had swallowed something bitter. “This was such a waste of a trip.” He turned toward her and gently untied the sling on her wounded arm. She sighed with relief as her arm relaxed.

“At least Dr. Schneider is going to be brought to trial,” Nella said as he checked her bandages. He scowled.

“Her karma would have gotten her in the end. It still will. She isn’t worth you getting injured like this.”

“What do we do now?”

Frank shook his head. “I don’t know. What I don’t get is why whoever has it has waited so long. What are they waiting for? Maybe the samples were destroyed after all.”

“Frank, you don’t know who has them do you?”

He sat down on the carpeted floor, hugging his long legs and staring off into space. “I don’t. I realize you think I’m hiding something from you, and- well, I guess I am. But I don’t think it is very important and I don’t think it has to do with the samples. I’ve just got a hunch that something is off. I’m not even sure what it is exactly.”

“Then I guess we’re back to figuring out what to do next.”

“We need to tell Judge Hawkins that we haven’t found anything. I’m afraid that whoever has it has been waiting for this trial, or the verdict. If that’s the case we need to prepare everyone somehow.” He glanced up at her, “And you need to get some medical attention. That’s going to cause questions as it is.”

“But if we warn people, then whoever has it may forget their plan and release the bacteria immediately.”

“What choice do we have?”

Nella sat down in front of him. “Give me a few more days. I know I’ve almost got it figured out. I can feel it, just beyond the edge of my thoughts. We can turn Dr. Schneider in to the prison and delay our conversation with Judge Hawkins until Sunday. That will give me tomorrow and the next day to work on it.”

“If that’s what you think would be best, that’s what we’ll do.”

They heard the elevator bell and exchanged a glance but stopped talking. Frank helped her into the sleeping bag and they went to bed without saying anything further to each other or Dr. Schneider.

 

The Warden

The sun was shining as if it were midsummer when they left Dr. Carton’s lab. It made Nella feel more cheerful in spite of what she knew was to come. When the car emerged from the dark underground parking lot and onto the gravel, the exhaustion dropped away from her and she felt a snag in her breath, as if she were skimming over the world rather than in it. Frank was driving and Dr. Schneider had taken the passenger seat, so Nella couldn’t catch his eye. She wished she could. In that minute, just for that minute, she felt as if everything was going to be all right. She didn’t know where the Recharge bacteria samples were, or if they would be released, but for that minute, it didn’t matter so much. The world would keep on going, the sun would be as bright and the spring would be as green with or without the last tiny anthills of remaining humans. Things would go on without her, too, and that was something that gave her great comfort.

Frank felt little need for secrecy on the return trip, and the only trouble they ran into was losing the road in the high grass a few times. He drove carefully and they were able to return to the military maintained road by late afternoon. Nella was fascinated in looking behind the car. She expected it to leave a heavy trail of tracks, but the grass was so thick from years of growth, that it mostly sprang up behind them, as if they had never passed there.

They stopped at the farmhouse around midmorning, wanting to see if the people they had cured remained. Frank got out of the car without saying anything, though Dr. Schneider kept asking why they had stopped. Nella waited in the car, afraid of what he would find. She heard him calling, “Hello!” several times in the still warm air. He walked quickly back to the car and leaned down to her open window with a grin. “All gone,” he said, “the supplies too. No casualties.”

Nella leaned back, relieved. They made it back to the junkyard in a matter of a few hours. They abandoned the extra car to the cheerful junkyard manager over the strenuous objections of Dr. Schneider. Nella had little sympathy for her, and Frank predicted that she would need it no longer. The afternoon cast long cool shadows across the road as they drove to the prison in silence. The car, like Frank, smelled like clean linen and Nella relaxed as she felt sleep pulling at her, a thrumming tide that echoed the tires. Returned to familiar surroundings and the welcome sight of people walking in the warm evening, she slipped into a healing doze.

The slam of the door rocked the car and she woke, startled to find she had been sleeping so deeply. Frank was leading Dr. Schneider into the low gray lump of the prison. Nella straightened up, her arm stiff and painful in the sling. She tried to smooth the tangles out of her filthy hair with one hand and got out. She was mildly embarrassed to appear so disheveled, simply because she had striven to be professional since the beginning of the process. But if Frank could do it, so could she. She caught up to them just outside the heavy glass door. Frank held it open for her. His face was grim, but she knew it wasn’t because of her. Dr. Schneider was almost scowling. Frank spoke briefly to a guard and then sat in an angular plastic chair as if at ease. Nella slipped into a chair next to him.

“We need to wait for the Warden Dr. Schneider,” Frank said with a cold smile, “this may take a while, you may want to take a seat.” Dr. Schneider just glared at him and continued standing. It was a good half hour before the Warden arrived from his office, with several guards in tow. Nella wondered if it were for show or part of procedure. Some things just clung on like that, even after all that had happened.

She thought the Warden looked more like an elderly priest than a hardened prison guard. “Mr. Courtlen, Dr. Rider, to what do I owe the pleasure?” he smiled jovially and shook each of their hands in turn, the florescent light bouncing of his glasses like a secret chuckle.

“We’re here to turn Gerta Schneider over to your custody. She is wanted in connection with the December Plague case. She has been cooperative and accompanied us willingly. If there is any reason to note that, please do so.”

The Warden looked startled. “Mr. Courtlen, this is highly unusual. There are procedures that must be followed, even these days-”

Dr. Schneider spoke up in a calm, smooth voice. “I trust you to make the arrangements then, Warden. If it makes the