Chapter Forty-One

Jasmine's POV

I slowly opened my eyes blinking rapidly.

Everywhere is so blurry and I feel so weak.

But slowly the images came to focus and I could see Alex sitting right beside me.

"What the hell are you doing here Alex, leave from here before you get the plague too!" I said as I tried to shift away from him but he held my hand.

"Are you crazy, let go of me!" I said as I tried to jerk his hand off mine but his grip was pretty strong.

"Stop wasting your energy on driving me away, I've already contacted the plague too, that's why I am quarantined here" he said and my jaw dropped.

"What! This is a dream right? I mean you can't contact the plague too, it's not possible."

"Why is it not possible, it's not like I'm immune or anything" he said. "I've already conducted a test too, it was positive." 

"You have the symptoms too" I said as I noticed the swelling on his neck.

"Told ya" he said with a smile.

"I can't believe this, how on Earth did you contact the plague and...and why the hell are you smiling?" I asked as I noticed a smile on his face.

"I just.... You know when you were locked here alone with the boy I was devastated cause you were in pain and there's nothing I could do to comfort you" he said.

"So you are happy to be here? Are you kidding me? This is a very serious situation Alex, we are both going to die!" 

"I guess I am a bit happy" he said ignoring everything else I said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because now, I can do this" he said as he pulled me closer and hugged me.

"And this too" he said and kissed me on the forehead.

"Ummm... I....."

"Alex!" Someone yelled outside the glass door and we turned to see who it was.

Emma

"What the hell are you doing there?" Emma asked and Alex stood up and walked towards the glass door.

Alex's POV

"Emma" I called slowly.

"What the fuck is going on? I wake up and I'm hearing this absurd lies about you contacting the plague."

"It's not a lie Emma, it's true, I have the bubonic plague" I said.

"This can't be true" she said.

"It is true, I am probably going to die." 

"Bullshit!" She said. "I am going to find a cure for you cause I definitely can't let you die, you are too valuable to die like this." 

"Emma....."

"Just know that as long as I live, I won't let you die" she said and walked out.

"She cares about you" I heard Jasmine say and I turned to look at her.

"It was pretty clear that she really cares about you" she said and I walked towards her bed and sat by her side.

"Really? I think there's a reason she wants to keep me alive" I said.

"What reason?" She asked.

"I don't know yet." 

"Maybe she loves you" she said and I burst into laughter.

"Are you kidding me!" 

"Why? Is it funny?" She asked.

"Of course it is, I mean how could you think of something so impossible" I said.

"Why is it impossible?" 

"Well... I.... I am just 30 and Emma is like 36"

"Age doesn't matter, perhaps the age difference isn't much" Jasmine said.

"Well..... She's not my kind of girl" I said and she laughed.

"And who is your kind of girl?" She asked.

"Ummm...... that'll be umm.... someone.... someone like you." I said finally getting the words out of my mouth.

"What?" Jasmine said probably surprised.

"What I mean is, I want someone as good, innocent and cute as you are cause I like everything about you minus the stubbornness and the ability to wreck a guy though." I said and we both laughed.

"Woah" someone said outside the door.

"Meg" Jasmine called.

"Here I was worried as hell about you two cause I thought you guys might be going through an emotional breakdown right now but I couldn't be more wrong, I met you guys laughing instead, it's amazing." She said with a smile.

"Sorry for making you worry Meg" Jasmine said.

"It's alright, we'll get through this together, no one is going to die" Megan said. "I've got to go now, Emma wants all of us in the meeting room" she said and left.

Emma's POV

"I was told this plague happened before right?" I asked.

"Yeah, it happened around Europe where it claimed over 25 million lives but that was like 2000 years ago" Andrew said.

"So it was only able to claim that much lives cause there was no advanced medical knowledge then?" I asked.

"Partly yes and no" Megan said. "The plague has kept reoccurring over history and as medical knowledge began to grew, they were actually able to curb it." 

"How?" I asked.

"By quarantining all the infected and letting them die" Ryan said and I looked at him.

"I have no time for your jokes" I said.

"It's not a joke, he's right, they had no cure so they were quarantined away from the healthy ones till the plague killed them." Owen said and Andrew nodded.

"Are you kidding me? So there's no cure for this thing?" 

"After that mass death, the plague still existed but it was rare, hardly heard of so no one ever thought of studying it and creating a cure" Megan said.

"So we have a chance, the only reason the bubonic plague doesn't have a cure is because no one ever thought of creating one so we can create a cure now" I said and Ryan laughed.

"It's not that easy, pretty lady, just give up. Adopt the method that was used to get rid of the plague before, quarantined the infected and let them die in peace" he said.

"Shut the fuck up! If you aren't going to contribute anything positive to this meeting then get your ass up from that seat and get out!" I yelled.

"Wow, you are a fierce one, almost got me scared" he said amidst laughter.

I stood up and walked to where Ryan was sitting.

I slowly bent down to his face.

"Are you going to kiss me?" He asked with a smile and I smiled too.

"My guts tell me you have something to do with how Alex contacted the plague and the only reason you're still breathing right now is because I am too busy to kill you. But trust me, when I've cleared my schedule, I am coming for your throat." I said as I slowly trailed my finger along his neck and he quickly stood up and moved back.

"Easy, for a minute I thought you meant all you said" he said and walked out of the room.

"So where were we?" I asked as I turned to the rest of them.

"The possibility of creating a cure is very low especially now that we have limited equipment and time" Susan said.

"Still we've got to try, how long till..... How long do they have?" I asked.

"It depends on how strong their immune system is but averagely, I'd say 4 to 5 days. But probably two days from now, they'll be bedridden as their system deteriorate and it will be more difficult to save them" Nathan explained.

"We have two days then, we'll be working non-stop, study everything about this plague, it's structure and all, hopefully we'll be able to come up with a cure" I said.