ACT 2- Selfish

[NOTICUS WAKES TO A COMMOTION NEXT DOOR. THERE IS TWO VOICES AND NOTICUS CAN TELL ITS NOT A CHILD. HE WALKS TO THE DOOR AND PEAKS THROUGH THE WINDOW. THERE IS THE SUPERVISOR AND HELTZ ON EITHER SIDE OF THE DESK. HELTZ DISPLAYING HIS USUAL COLD LOOK, WHILE LIFE LOCK LOOKS MORE INTIMIDATING.]

VEIN HELTZ- You should leave!

LIFE-LOCK- I know you are working on a cure! Give it to me!

VEIN HELTZ- I don't know what you are talking about.

LIFE-LOCK- Don't make me sound stupid, Vein! What is your theory!!! [A LOUD BANG OF THE DESK MAKE HELTZ VISIBLY JUMP]

VEIN HELTZ- I don't have- [LIFE-LOCK RAISES HIS HAND AT HELTZ]

[HELTZ FLINCHES AWAY ONLY TO HEAR THE MUFFLED CATCH OF A STRONG HIT. HELTZ LOOKS UP TO SEE NOTICUS HOLDING LIFE-LOCKS ARM WITH A STERN FACE.]

NOTICUS WIERAK- Mind not threatening my boss?

LIFE-LOCK- I don't believe we've met… [HE HAS A POLITE GRIN]

NOTICUS WIERAK- I'm VEIN HELTZ new assistant. And I insist! You keep your hand off him!

LIFE-LOCK- So formal. Has he not warmed up to you yet? [LIFE-LOCK TAKES HIS HAND BACK AND SMILED AS HE MADE HIS WAY TO THE DOOR.] Have a nice day you two.

[LEAVE LIFE-LOCK]

[HELTZ IS QUIET BEFORE NOTICUS TURNS AROUND.]

VEIN HELTZ- Thank you.

NOTICUS WIERAK- Why is he so…

VEIN HELTZ- Angry?

NOTICUS WIERAK- You have no idea. You said you have no idea. There is no cure for the purple plague. Why is he so hell bent on getting it out of you.

VEIN HELTZ- Because I do.

[NOTICUS FREEZES AND LOOKS AT HIM]

NOTICUS WIERAK- You what?

VEIN HELTZ- I have an idea on what to do. Sit. You will need some context.

[NOTICUS SITS BESIDE HELTZ PULLING OUT THE NOTES AND BLOOD VIALS.]

VEIN HELTZ- I am immune to the purple plague. 

NOTICUS WIERAK- Wait really? That's why you aren't afraid of catching the Plague! 

VEIN HELTZ- Yes and I felt like something about me could be given to other people to stop this illness. Like a vaccine. 

NOTICUS WIERAK- They tried making it weaker but it all still killed people. There is no vaccine. 

VEIN HELTZ- That they did. However, [HE PULLS SOME BLOOD SMEARED PAPERS ONTO THE DESK.] What if the body needed help. What if the vaccine needed the immunity with it. Think like a toddler on a bike. It needs its parents help to push them and tell them how to pedal. 

NOTICUS WIERAK- What are you saying?

VEIN HELTZ- Extracting the immunity from the already immune blood. Putting it with the weakened sickness makes a cure!

NOTICUS WIERAK- It does? Or you think it does?

VEIN HELTZ- Well you're not dead yet.

NOTICUS HELTZ- When you arrived, to work here. You already had the Plague; it was starting to form in your sleep.

NOTICUS WIERAK- You were watching me sleep?!

VEIN HELTZ- No not really. I check up on my nurses and doctors' pulse before going to bed, same in the morning. Just cause countless times I find out their dead and then they already… released the remainder of their bowls. [HE SIGHS] As I was, I saw that.

 [HELTZ POINTS TO NOTS NECK. NOTS LOOKS AT HIS REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR BEHIND HIM AND THERE IS A FAINT PURLE VAIN ACROSS HIS NECK. NOTS JUMPS AND LOOKS BACK TO HIM.]

NOTICUS WEIRAK- I have the Plague?!

VEIN HELTZ- Had…

[HELTZ MARCHED ROUND THE TABLE PULLING A PAPER THAT HAD NOTES. HE READS IT ALLOWED]

VEIN HELTZ- Day one- small cough and sore throat. 

(Flash of Noticus Coughing and rubbing his neck as he walked outside Bella's office)

Day two- Small purpling veins and cuticles of nails. Cough and sore throat increases.

(Flash of Noticus suffering from a coughing fit as he enters the 6th floor.)

 Day three- purple veins spread and bulge. Lips grow purple and eyes start to grow purple veins. I treated you the night you arrived. Your purple veins are fading. You haven't been coughing. 

[NOTICUS RUBS HIS NECK ITS NUMB BUT FEELS SMOOTH.]

NOTICUS WIERAK- You're kidding. You saved my bloody life! I owe you one. But if it's that clear, why has no one else thought of this immunity possibility?

VEIN HELTZ- Because to an untrained person. They can't tell if their immune or just lucky. 

NOTICUS WIERAK- So why won't you tell him? Life lock is the supervisor he could start mass producing of this cure. Save everyone! 

VEIN HELTZ- Life-lock is a selfish man! He'll use it for fame and money. He'll make the cure so expensive people will bow to him like a king for his power, he'll rinse everyone around him for every penny and not wince at a dying child. He's a sick man. Bellava is who we need to tell.

NOTICUS WIERAK- Why haven't you yet?

VEIN HELTZ- Because I don't know if it works. I don't want to fill her with false hope. That stuff hurts.

NOTICUS WIERAK- I… 

VEIN HELTZ- We need more time… to be sure… You can't go near anyone for a while. Not that I know you are carrying the illness. Trust me…

[SILENCE FALLS ON THEM. IT WAS CLEAR THIS WAS PERSONAL]

NOTICUS WIERAK- You're speaking from experience.

VEIN HELTZ- I didn't know. I had an encounter a victim of the plague. Before then the plague was only in the south. Our clinic didn't expect it. I was stationed on the 6th floor. Looking after chest infections, vomiting people the usual things. I had a lot of friends.

(Flashes of Veins explanation over his voice.)

VEIN HELTZ- I didn't know. That night I went home. My family relied on me for money they were farmers. And winter was bitter on us all. My two brothers where to my knees, twins… They used to run around my legs as I came in and my grandmother would have to tell them to give me my legs back. My aunt would be helping her plate the food she was a strong woman, they both were. My aunt had more muscle than I did… Nonetheless gentle with cooking though. And then my mother, she was forced to stay home, her legs didn't work properly. Only had the ability to make it to the porch to kiss me on the cheek 'bye' in the mornings. 

NOTICUS WIERAK- What where their names?

VEIN HELTZ- My twin brothers where Messor and Vita. My grandmother… [CHUCKLES] We all called her Ma Maple, my aunt was called Joann and my mum Charlotte. [LONG SILENCE AS HELTZ TURNS TO HIS DESK] I didn't know. It was so unfair.

NOTICUS WIERAK- They caught it from you…

[NOTICUS LOOKS TO VEIN AND VEIN LOOKS UP HIS EYES FINALLY DISPLAYING AN EMOTION THAT WASN'T IRRITATION, REGRET]

[CUT TO LIFE-LOCK, HE IS WALKING DOWN THE HALL TO THE CHILDREN FOR THEIR CHECK UP. HE OPENS THE DOORS AND THE CHILDREN GREET HIM, THEY ARE NOR EXCITED OR DISTATED OF HIS APPEARANCE.]

LIFE-LOCK- Hello children, how has Vein been treating you?

UMI- Vein is great

LILY-BLU- Vein has been drawing with us!

NAVIUS- He has a new friend!

UMI- Oh yeah Notty!

SALLIEL- Sir, are you coming to draw again.

LIFE-LOCK- So, the usual. Sure, I'll come draw for a bit.

[HE SITS AT THE TABLE AND BEGINS DRAWING WITH THE CHILDREN AND HE LOOKS TO LILY-BLU]

LIFE-LOCK- Hey Lily-Blu, does Vein talk about making you feel better?

LILY-BLU- Of course he's a good doctor!

LIFE-LOCK- That he is…

[LIFE LOCK HAD TRIED THIS METHOD TIME AND TIME AGAIN WITH ALL THE CHILDREN AND NONE OF THEM KNEW THE WAY VEIN HAD A CURE. BUT THEN HE PULLS SOME NOTES FROM HIS POCKET HE HAD STOLEN.]

LIFE-LOCK- Which one of you can read?

[THEY ALL LOOK TO NAVIUS AND HE STANDS UP TO TAKE THE PAPERS]

NAVIUS- It is hard to read but it says, after a year of research I am ready to put my theory to the test, I had a new doctor come in and he had the Plague on him already, so if this kills him, I'm giving him a merciful end. [NAVIUS VISIBLY SHAKES AT THE IDEA OF VEIN KILLING SOMEONE. IT WAS DIFFERENT. VEIN WAS SO NICE TO THEM. BUT HE IS HURTING NOTTY.]

LIFE-LOCK- Carry on? Does it say what the cure is.

[NAVIUS SKIM READS IT BEFORE FINDING ONE LINE.]

NAVIUS- Blood of-

LIFE-LOCK- Blood of the not infected! Of course! [HE SNATCHES THE PAPERS BACK AND LEAVES. A NEW PLAN IN MIND.]

(Back to Vein and Noticus)

[NOTICUS IS SAT IN THE OFFICE CHAIR WHILE VEIN LWFT TO GO SEE THE CHILDREN TO BED. HE HAS FLASHES OF THE THOUGHT THAT VEIN WOULD GO BEHIND HIS BACK SO CASUALLY, BUT THEN AGAIN IF HE HADN'T NOTICUS WOULD BE BACK ON THE FOUTH FLOOR AS A PATIENT, OR WORSE.]

[HE STANDS TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND SIGHS SEEING THE PURPLE VEIN HARDLY VISIBLE. IT WAS OKAY. HE WAS CURED. VEIN HELTZ HAD FOUND THE CURE.]

NOTICUS WIERAK-You crazy, man! [HE HUFFS BEFORE WAITING FOR HIM.]

[THE FOLLOWING DAY THERE IS A MESSAGE SENT TO ALL PURPLE PLAGUE STAFF TO MEET ON BASEMENT LEVEL, IN THE TIME ZONES GIVEN. THERE IS 5 TIME ZONES.]

[BELLAVA LOOKS AT THIS REQUEST AS IT WAS UNUSUAL BUT SHE SHRUGS IT OFF WHEN LIFE-LOCK SAYS IT IS A PURPLE PLAGUE TEST TO LIMIT THE POSSIBILITIES OF SOME ONE SPREADING IT AND THAT THESE WOULD BE MONTHLY.]

BELLAVA WIERAK- Group 1?

[BELLAVA MAKES HER WAY TO THE OFFICE AREA TO FIND MONTY WHEN SHE DOES, SHE SMILES.]

BELLAVA WIERAK- Hey Monty. Did you get that message? 

MONTY KARDO- Yes, I am group 2.

BELLAVA WIERAK- Dang, I don't think this will last long if he keeps testing the doctors the more his patients die.

MONTY KARDO- I don't know. It will keep the sick away from me, I like my life.

BELLAVA WIERAK- I'd have hoped you do. Still can't understand why Life-Lock didn't talk to the supervisors first…

[BELLAVA TWISTS AROUND AS SHE LEAVES BEING CALLED TO HELP SOMEONE.]