CHAPTER 13

Aidan stopped, watching Rachel's face and questioning himself, wondering if she was right. - Are you sure?

- Absolutely. Trust me, it's fifteen floors.

- Well, then we have to find this mysterious floor. - He seemed to gain a little more hope and started to move faster.

- Yes, let's go. - Rachel pulled her backpack onto her lap and reached inside.

Aidan realized she wanted to go with him and immediately grabbed her shoulders. - No, stay here… As much as I want you to come with me, I better go alone.

- No way… Relax, I can go. -Rachel pulls a syringe and a vial from her backpack. - I grabbed this before we left.

- Wait… What's that for?

- It's not like the other one. It's just going to help me not feel pain and have more energy while we get there. - Aidan was worried, this was obvious.

Rachel pulled the liquid through the syringe and noticed that Aidan had gone quiet. She placed her hand in his in an appreciative mode and said:

- I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine.

She reached out with the syringe and turned it against her own arm. Aidan wanted to stop her, his desire was great. She injected herself and although it was only visual, it was as if Aidan felt the liquid flowing through his own veins.

Rachel put her head back as she started to feel her heart racing. With all the courage, she pushed her body up without even warning Aidan. And he was surprised. In just seconds and no help, she was on her feet.

Before he could pick up the vial, she bent down and put it away. Rachel looked strange and several of the signs were familiar. He had spent enough time with his mother talking about medicine and symptoms to know what she had taken, and it wasn't good. But he didn't have time to waste.

- Well, let's go! - She spoke loudly and he knew this wasn't her fault. Rachel had probably lost control of certain functions, but she was right. He got up quickly and the two started up the stairs.

"Running" is perhaps the best definition for what was happening. Rachel was using her newfound energy to climb as fast as her frail body could manage.

- Wait! - Aidan was trying to keep up with her. The girl had a bruised shoulder, a wounded leg, and deep scratches on her back. Still, she was firm, strong, and completely in favor of doing anything to help him. She was exceptional and that could not be questioned.

She almost smiled at the sound of his voice, but stopped herself because they had reached the fourteenth floor and the stairs continued. All the way up the stairs, she'd been watching to make sure they hadn't accidentally passed Harold dead somewhere. But no.

Rachel turned to look at Aidan and wait for him to catch up. When he arrived, she grabbed his hand and they both walked up the stairs not knowing what they would find at the end of it. Every step, every step was somewhere closer.

As they reached mysterious door number fifteen, Aidan realized it was a different shade than the others. Which is already something strange in itself. After all, this is an emergency stairway. It has no reason to be distinguished.

Rachel held up her spare weapon since hers was still with Aidan and let go of his hand so she could push open the door. She was ready for anything. And it's possible that if she'd been better, she would have realized she'd grabbed his hand and perhaps would have been embarrassed.

When she opened the door wide enough, There was another. Rachel was in a small room, without a window and with strong lights illuminating the cubicle. This new door was black, large, looked like it was carved in some pattern, and had a sign taped on it that read: DO NOT TRESPASS. But of course they would.

- This is something strange anywhere, but that's ok… Let's not jump to conclusions, right? - Aidan said, passing by Rachel's side and trying to push the door open. It didn't move.

- Let me help you… - Rachel joined him and they made a lot of effort. They managed to move it a little until something strong came against the door.

- No! Get out of here you stupid monsters! How did you get in here?! - It was a male voice shouting.

- Harold? Harold?! - Rachel tried to make him hear through the screams. - We are not monsters! You can open the door! We won't hurt you!

The opposing force stopped and they tried to open one more time.

- Go away! Now! Leave me alone!

Aidan and Rachel looked at each other, they were exhausted and tired of all this bullshit. Carefully, Rachel pushed Aidan away and used all her strength and adrenaline to push the door along with whatever was blocking it. It opened with some difficulty and everything behind it fell in heaps to the ground. This revealed the image that could only be defined as the empty shell of a man.

- No! We are not leaving because we faced a lot and lost a bunch to get here. So you will help us! - She said, pointing a gun at the man.

It was Harold, she was pretty sure. It appeared to be. Putting the pieces together was what made sense. He was done, maybe more than the two of them. His eyes had big black bags surrounding them, his beard was unkempt, and was a far cry from any renowned scientist. His lab coat had large bloodstains and other fluids Rachel preferred not to think about. And the moment Harold saw Aidan, his expression of surprise became something stronger.

- You shouldn't be here. – That was the last straw for Rachel.

- We shouldn't be here?! We've been here for hours! We're here looking for the fucking cure! For the love of all you hold dear, tell me you still have it… - That last part sounded like a threat in the ears of anyone who didn't know her and part of it was. But Aidan didn't hear so, he went through the protective barrier and saw the broken part of Rachel. The desperate part, that wanted to get the hell out of there. The part that couldn't take it anymore. The part that was bad news away from giving up.

He noticed the gun dancing in Rachel's hands. The drug she had injected had done a lot more than effect by this point, so he took her hand and took the gun. But still kept pointing it at the scientist.

- You still have the cure, right?! – She asked again when she didn't get an answer.

- Not exactly... I took it. - It was a good thing he had the gun and not Rachel, she would have killed him there then.

- You asshole!

Aidan didn't believe it. His mind started flashing back to all the scenes he had seen on camera. Scene by scene, reviewing every second, until... - Wait. It doesn't make sense... I saw you with a device controlling the monsters. You wouldn't need healing because they wouldn't come near you.

Harold was surprised that he knew about control. Rachel was already partly hurt that he didn't say something like that, after all it's an important fact. But that's okay, he didn't have much time.

- You're right, Aidan... I had a way to control them. - Harold practically spat out those sentences. – But I lost it and was attacked.

Rachel picked up on the small incongruity and went on alert.

- Wait... How do you know my name?

- Uh... Let's say your mother was a very... close friend of mine. - His head already thought the worst and, at that moment, he probably should have trusted his instincts.

- But... You're a scientist! Can make more of the cure, right? – Rachel asked, trying to get over the uncomfortable moment that set in the room and distracted Aidan. Two birds with one stone.

Harold pulled out his chair and sat down. He was tired and was still fighting what was left of the poison in his blood. He wasn't infected, but that doesn't mean he wasn't weakened. – I can, of course I can. But I don't have the equipment or supplies necessary to reproduce it and there's no way I can get to the lab.

- I know it's silly to ask, but you want to tell me that in a building of this size, you only have one vial of the cure? It seems unreasonable to me. – Aidan needed to question the guy, but it was hard because every time he looked at him… he saw the worst. He just didn't know how much he was right about that.

- No, it's not stupid. We have more healing vials. More two.

Rachel was about to punch the guy. Her face took on an expression of indignation mixed with criticism. So, with the best of self-controls she can master, she asked:

- And where would these supposed vials be? Can I know?

- Well, we keep them spread out to ensure safety. – Rachel and Aidan rolled their eyes at the same time. – One of them is in the city hall, this must have already been used. And if not, give up. The only way to open the vault is with the mayor himself. And the last one is in this building too, but no, I don't know where it is. Only the company president knows it's location.

The two were silent, thinking about the degrees of stupidity that a little selfishness and self-preservation can do. "And what can these two idiots do with the cure?! Isn't it better to give it to someone who will help fight the situation than giving it to two idiots who don't know anything?" She knew she had a lot of problems in this company, but not to that degree.

- Right... Well, and what do you need to recreate the cure? - Aidan knew what Rachel was thinking and needed to divert attention from the conversation before she jumped on the scientist's neck.

Harold made a face of disappointment mixed with lost hope. An expression the two of them had seen several times over the past two days. – If you really want to know, I need: some chemical compounds that are already in the laboratory and, with luck, were not destroyed; of blood from someone infected; and from the blood of an immune person.

- Done! - achel squealed more cheerfully, a small action that made Aidan miss Ronnie. - Me and Aidan are going to take you to the lab. There you will already find an immune man ready to be used as a guinea pig. – "Although you deserve it too, but…" She was thinking, remembering the story Tomás had told.

- Well, if I get everything, I can recreate it.

- Then, let 's go! We can make the path through the vent we took to get out of the lab... - Rachel said happier. She turned to Aidan and saw that he was scanning a room. It was a fancy place, almost like an apartment. It would have everything needed to survive. His gaze locked on a part of the room.

- Wait! If you're talking about the lab on the tenth floor, it won't do... We have to go to the seventh. There you have all the equipment. The tenth is just where we do... - He didn't complete a sentence.

- Tests on innocent children? - Rachel asked this without missing the beat, making Harold uncomfortable. - Relax, let's get back to that later.

She asked curiously. - Does the infected need to be "alive"?

Harold looked at her, understanding where the concern was coming from. - Preferably. Or, at least, recently deceased.

- Right. We'll do it then. Aidan takes you to the lab to start the process and I go on the tenth floor to get the man who can be used as an immune part of the equation. Afterwards, I take him to the seventh floor and there we capture some infected for the study. - Aidan was about to object when Harold cut him.

- Good plan. But I don't need to capture the being. I already have his blood that I removed when he was alive. But I left it in the lab on the tenth floor. It is near the emergency stairs...

- Yes, we know. We found your little experiment when we went there. I will need to go through there anyway. I'll take it.

- And you'll need to get a Styrofoam box to transport it. There must be one near the fridge.

- Are you sure? - Aidan put his hand on Rachel's arm and she felt the touch burn on her skin.. The worried way he was looking at her made her heart race in a frightening way. She had never felt anything like this before. And it got even worse when she remembered Ronnie. It was like she was doing the wrong thing behind the girl. This thought made her arm move far enough away that it wasn't touching anymore and gave him an odd expression.

- Yes, relax. Just make sure he gets to the lab. - Aidan agreed as he went back to analyzing the room.

- All right. But first... Where is the bathroom? - He asked Harold who indicated to the side. As Aidan headed in the direction the man pointed, he brushed past Rachel and said low enough that only she could hear: - Distract him.

- Tell me, what does that vial of infected blood look like? You know... so I don't bring anything wrong.

The question seemed to wake him up. Harold turned to her and Rachel surreptitiously managed to guide the scientist's body so that his back was to Aidan. - It's a vial of black blood. It doesn't look like anything else you've seen. It's hard to miss…

She could see behind the man, Aidan fiddling with something and then stepping into the supposed bathroom. – Trust me, it's not so easy. We were there and we didn't see anything.

- It's inside the fridge. When the infected invaded, I only had time to put it there. - She saw Aidan coming back as he stowed her bag over his shoulder and took a deeper breath. She wasn't good at talking to pass the time, even if the subject mattered.

- Rachel, I think you better go to the bathroom before we go. - She really needed it, so she nodded and went in the direction she knew it would be.

Rachel did what she needed to do and, as she washed her hands, she noticed that Aidan had written on the mirror with some kind of lipstick. It was probably from one of the women who shared that place with Harold. He wrote: The cure is still here, don't say anything.

"The cure is still here... The cure is still here... The cure is still here..." That part of the message kept replaying in her mind. "How? Is Harold lying?! Arg! I'm going to kill that asshole! … Don't say anything… What does Aidan mean by that?" She erased the mirror message as best she could and left to return to the two.

The mood was tense. It looked like one of them had said something bad to the other. She saw Aidan's face, it was closed, angry...

- Let's go? – She said and the three went out the door. - Wait! – The two stopped quickly. – Do you have a phone I can use? So that we can communicate...

Harold took the device from his pocket and handed it to her. – The password is 35362. Beware of it.

- Right… - She said like he was stupid and handed Aidan her cell phone. – Save your number.

The boy did just that and gave it back.

- Okay... Now we can go… - Rachel continued down the stairs and she could hear the two of them behind her. The message in the mirror still sang in the back of her mind and she needed to manage as much self-control as she could not to question the scientist.

They quickly reached the tenth floor and she turned when Aidan pulled her by the hand.

- Be careful, alright? If anything happens, call me. I'll find you. I promise.

With that, Rachel tucked the gun into her palm, hoped the bruises weren't a problem, and, heart in hand, she walked through the door.