[Chapter Eleven]

They saw how the specimen twisted its limb and how each movement would inadvertently peel some of the rotten skin from the tissue underneath it. Despite how much it wanted to break free from their clutches, it did not move to bite any of them when the person holding its head had accidentally let go. When the effort to push the tube down back into the throat of the specimen failed, Dr. Parks went into the control room the mechanic was operating in. He wheeled out an aneasthetic machine from the rows of machinery that were stored in big cabinets. He took a prepared dosage of Anxiolytics to sedate the specimen, taking into consideration to lessen the amount because the body that he wanted to sedate was that of a small child. He then proceeded to place the part of the equipment over the air passage of the face. The specimen gradually relaxed when the cool mist of air entered through its airway.

There was no feeling left in her limbs, but she was still blinking as the mask that they placed on her face misted over. She felt a sudden dizziness, and her vision blurred little by little. The masked individuals seemed more than what they initially were, their voices fading in the background as black spots slowly filled the images. She struggled against the drug but it only took her a few more blinks before the surrounding doctors and researchers breath a sigh of relief.

"It's sedated..." they all turned towards each other and nod in understanding. They proceeded by pushing a tube inside its throat, they knew how hard it was to capture a live specimen. Since the muscles would relax, it would also result in suffocation since the airway might collapse. When all the necessary work was done, they noticed the new wounds on the specimen and the red blood oozing from it.

"Peculiar... based on the decay it should have been a few months since this one got infected." The youngest one of the group took her liberty in writing the observations that they made. "Yet the blood is still alive, it breathes too."

"A few months, no female child was recorded dead or infected for two years..." They were bewildered and confused, they must have missed a record or something. "We'll have to search the death records and confirm whether there were any... We also need to confirm the identity of this one too."

"Dr. Aberly, what was the child wearing?" Dr. Philips continued his observation. Observations that they gathered will need to be supported by facts, if there were none then that means they made a mistake in their thought process.

"It was wearing a faded dress, no shoes worn. the specimen was received in a sack and dried mud covered almost everything." He thought back to when he first encountered it. "The soles and palm is coated with wounds, new bruises formed after it died--- it could have been when the military was transporting it. Glass shards were embedded deeply."

"Quick the heart monitor, connect it to the specimen", Dr. Philips pointed behind him. Not long after it was connected, there was a steady soft beeping noise came. A collective gasp followed as realization dawned upon the rest of the group. "It's infected based solely on general observation... Yet, it seems not internally".

"I suggest we open it up for a closer observation." When Dr. Philips nodded in agreement, most of the people left towards the control room with him included. The ones left were Dr. Lucy and Dr. Parks, with Dr. Lucy performing the incisions and the other monitoring the vitals on the screen. She made an incision from the chest towards the abdomen. When she got past the layers of fats and tissues, she was caught in surprise went there were still fluids in the cavity. It did not seem that the specimen died at all.

"Specimen...", Dr. Lucy's voice shook. "Ahem..." she cleared her throat to disguise her initial blunder. "The specimen has rotten skin and tissue, signs of death." She touched the wet and fluid-filled cavity, probing it. "The thoracic and abdominopelvic cavity is in the best condition, no indication of death."

She ran her sharp scalpel on the cavity of the abdomen. A tube suctioned the liquids that flowed out of the incision, including blood from the blood vessels. "The mucosa has thinned down, there's too much hydrochloric acid produced. I'll close up the layers and the abdominal cavity. Nothing else worth taking note."

Outside the room, where the supposed autopsy turned biopsy is being conducted, there was a discussion among them. They were still in contemplation, the internal organs are still alive even after the flesh was decomposing. Dr. Philips, sat his head supported by his arm. He was silent while the others chattered amongst themselves, they bantered about hypothesis and theories that were passing through his ear and out the other. The mechanic was also silent, this was not his field of specialty so he could only wonder.

They conducted the study at eight in the morning, when they went out it was already dark. The moon was already high up in the sky with stars lighting up the night sky. The people that were assigned to studying the zombie child had been settled in a separate building from everyone, they did not come across anyone. Their shadows were long behind them as they walked all together for rest. They had already compiled the necessary reports, they were not yet sure of what to do next. The specimen was returned to its tube, it's just this time, they had all agreed to seize trying to preserve the body and take note of the changes. They placed it in the same metal bed just this time, they added covers underneath.

"The data input that we made will be sent to the director, he'll review that once he's returned." Dr. Aberly said softly, tired from standing most of the time that they were inside the room. They had been sanitized and dried before they left the underground research facility.

"We will discuss the matter of the specimen tomorrow, for now, we can do our individual research. Dr. Aberly, did the late research facility that researched the infection have any remaining study or any literature left?"

"There was nothing left after the incident... They had all been infected too." He knew someone who had a research about this, but that person is the daughter of the director of another research facility. He had worked with her too, but that woman might not reveal anything about it. He was afraid that the topic of the research would just then bring out the grief that woman felt. That study had taken a lot from her, besides that, she was deemed mentally unstable and is being kept by her father.

"The digital library might have some records but no one had tried to access any information about it for a long time." Dr. Lucy said. She had remembered seeing a file but had never accessed the file.

"Gather as much information as you all can, we'll try to come up with an explanation for it."

"I'm afraid there's a chance that we would be doing this study blindly without anything we could use for basis." Dr. Philips said, he felt like there was something else that was occurring within the specimen. It was not aggressive like those other zombies that they encountered when they moved from zone R and zone T. The escort had nearly used all their ammo trying to kill the ones that came up to their ride.

"We will wait upon the director's order, any further decisions will have to be put on hold." Everyone either sounded or verbalized their agreement with Dr. Philips's decision. It wasn't long before they reached the outside of the dormitory. "Good night everyone, good work."

Dr. Parks sat on his bed, he could not sleep with so many questions plaguing his mind. He had been staring at the clock as its hands moving to produce a ticking sound. His other three companions have slept after they arrived, he wasn't sure whether the others were asleep also.