Chapter 22

The door opened and Rodriguez walked out. "We've

reached a decision," he said.

Em and I steadied ourselves as we walked through the

door of the meeting hall. It was amazing, but somehow Em and I had developed a

type of telepathy between the two of us. It was like our minds "danced." Her

thought, my thought, her thought, my thought was how our mental two-step

progressed.

Eli had observed us earlier sharing knowing glances

without saying a word and pieced it together. He deduced that we were somehow

communicating without speaking.

"So, you two can read each other's minds now?" asked

Eli. "This is unbelievable!"

We walked in the hall and it was full of disappointed

and frustrated faces. This family, MY FAMILY, was being torn apart by me. And

there wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop it. I never meant to hurt anyone.

And I certainly never intended to end the world.

"Doc, I'm speaking on behalf of this group to let you

know that we did not come to this decision lightly," said Andre. "All we have

to this point about this "serum" is your word and right now "your word" doesn't

carry much weight with some of us. We decided that you should be banished from

the three settlements. Further, we will leave it up to each person individually

as to whether or not they want this "serum."

"What you propose is illogical and unattainable if he

does not wish it," said Em. "How do you propose to force an immortal to do

anything? Marvin allows an obsequious, tenuous belief that you have a decision

in what transpires and what he decides."

They all looked around the room confusedly. 

"She said, 'As an immortal, Doc doesn't have to abide

by anything you decide, and he definitely doesn't have to give you the serum.'"

said Eli.

"What?! That was one of the largest concerns. Doc was

already a larger than life figure around here. Hell, he rescued most of the

people in this room. But he also FUCKED THE WORLD UP! Add immortality to the

mix and how long would it be before he begins to behave as if he were a god?"

asked Diane. "No one should have that kind of power."

"Di, I am the same person, but with an elevated mental

acumen and denser muscularity and bone structure. My mitochondria fire at an

accelerated rate and my antibodies are self-sustaining. But I am still me," I

said. "I am me but more. Much, much more!"

"We also decided that anyone who wishes to go with you

is free to do so, but once they leave, they will not be allowed back at any of

the settlements" said Gerald. "It has to be a clean break. You will be allowed

a few vehicles and some supplies."

"Wow that is very generous of you to give my dad some

of his own stuff," quipped Joshua. "If it wasn't for him, you would all be

dead!"

"If it wasn't for him, none of this would have

happened," said Tim. "I'm just being honest. I have mad respect for Doc, but he

screwed the pooch on this one."

"I don't think you all understand. There are only 30

doses of the serum. I think only those who leave with me should have access to

it," I stated. "There is still no certainty as to WHAT type of, if any,

mutation will occur. We will need a mind advanced enough to deal with that type

of evolution."

"Sqwk! I repeat something is not right!" said

Brian over the radio. "There is a herd following a bear. Not chasing it to eat

it, but actually following it and it is coming this way!

I looked at Em and Eli, "I was afraid this would

happen!" I thought. Em nodded in agreement as she knew exactly what I was

thinking, but Eli looked stunned and puzzled.

"I'm not following," said Eli. "You two seemed to have

developed some sort of telepathy that allows you to communicate without

speaking. But I need to hear the words come out of someone's mouth!"

"Listen everyone," I said as I addressed the assembly.

"There is an 84.63544% certainty that an evolved homeostasis mutate is at the

core of this situation. Our antagonists are certainly most likely the culprits.

But without additional input, a thesis or theorem is nearly impossible to

calculate." Again, everyone looked at Eli.

"Hey, don't look at me," he said. "That shit went over

my head this time too. Can you simplify it for us Marv?"

That WAS simplified. What Em and I do to communicate

would fry their brains. I took a deep breath and spoke as plainly as possible.

"What Brian is looking at, is most likely not a bear,

but the mutated form of either Cyrus or Cisco," I said. "Without more data, it

is virtually impossible to pinpoint exactly what mutations they may have

contracted. Whatever the case, I doubt our guard detail will be able to handle

it."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" asked Rodriguez. "I'll

follow your lead Doc."

"Well with the council's permission, there are two of

us—" I began.

"Three!" interrupted Em.

"No Em, there are two!" I said firmly.

"Do you really want to argue with me right now?" she

shot into my brain even more firmly.

"I stand corrected. There are three of us immune to

bites, but Tank is the only one of which they are aware," I said. "We can use

this to our advantage."

"But Marv, one look at you and Em and he'll know

instantly that you are like Tank," said Eli.

I walked over to the white board as I began to

explain, "That's because you are looking at the benevolent mutations as a given

quantity when they aren't. Tank is a mutate unto himself, but Cisco and Cyrus

are in the same group. I am a subset of both as I received samples of both

serums. Em and the baby are a subset of me and the serum we pulled from our

child is a subset of that. Each will most likely cause a different level and

quite possible aspect of a given mutation, benevolent or otherwise."

"So, anyone of us may or may not derive any, all or

none of the mutations that you received?" asked Joshua.

"Or you may receive them all, but to a lesser degree,"

I retorted. "Now, as I was saying, we know that both Tank and I are immune to

bites and can extrapolate that Em is as well. Let us address this herd."

"This won't change our decision," snapped Diane.

"I wouldn't suppose that it would," I responded. "But

if Cyrus or Cisco is heading this way and has received the benevolent mutation

of an advanced brainpan capacity, they may know that this site is HERE. I'm

leaning towards it being Cyrus as he has been here before. Even though he was

blindfolded, he might be able to determine the location from three-dimensional

spatial memory."

The three of us exit from the hatch that let us out a short

distance away from the ARC as we did before when Jacob approached. Tank

approached him straight ahead. It was Cyrus and he had mutated, but not as "cleanly"

as Tank, Em or I had. He was covered in moss and his skin was a pale, chalky

white. He looked to be a little heavier than Tank but more hunched. But what

happened next, had I not witnessed it myself, I might not have believed it.

"You can't come any closer! Turn around now, Cyrus!"

yelled Tank.

"You're not the only one that can yell, you bastard,"

yelled Cyrus. "And the name is Grundy. Solomon Grundy, cause I rose on a

Monday!" he yelled.

The DCs seemed to ignore Cyrus or Grundy or whatever

the hell he called himself and began to advance on Tank. Tank began to employ

the self-defense techniques that he had learned since arriving at the

compounds. He kept the DCs grouped, in front of him and used their numbers

against them. They crowded against one another as "Grundy" looked on screaming

at them.

It was evident that he didn't control them as much as

got them to follow him. But without noise, they treated him like any other DC.

Tank, at first was able to hold his own, but the bites

were slowly taking their toll on him. I stepped forward after convincing Em to

be our Ace in the hole if needed. She fell back under cover of the foliage and

waited to assist Tank with his wounds as he healed at a much slower pace than

we did.

"Haven't you heard Cyrus or Grundy, with great power

comes a spanking new ass kicking!?" I yelled to motivate a fading Tank. I mowed

down the DCs near him as he disappeared in the leaves of the forest to make his

way back to Em.

"Look at you, Doc! You went and got better too! But

you can't beat me," he sneered. "Not when I can create DCs!"