Week 20: The Carrier's Story - Part Two

I thought I might set Sarah on an alternate path from us so that we could part ways without forcing her to leave. I asked her about the possibility of her unique condition providing a cure for all of this. I suggested she might consider seeking out the CDC in Atlanta and seeing what use she could be.

Apparently she had already been there and done that.

After her husband Jake died she didn't have much else. A trip to the CDC seemed like something she could do to help others avoid the fate of her husband. Sarah thought that maybe they could even cure her.

The CDC was actually a pleasant experience for her until the day she had to leave. It was just like being admitted to a hospital. The only difference was her room was an airtight chamber and the doctors always showed up wearing haz-mat suits. They provided her with food, she had a bathroom with hot water, and all the DVDs and books she could want to keep her occupied. All they asked for in return was the ability to come and draw some blood once a day. The only uncomfortable part was when they did a spinal tap. It was a pretty sweet deal compared to life on the outside; no power, no hot water, scavenging for food.

She even had a good relationship with her doctor, Dr. Murdock. He was her point of contact and he would spend time with her, talk to her like a human. He wasn't afraid of her like the others.

The day she had to leave, Dr. Murdock came to visit her. That day he did not wear his haz-mat suit. She could see that he had been crying. She could also see the red hives crawling up the side of his left cheek.

Dr. Murdock told Sarah that she had to escape. The CDC was going to transfer her to the facility in Peoria, Illinois. She did not want to go there. They did things at that facility that Sarah did not want to take part in. Things that she would not survive. Dr. Murdock wanted to help her escape before they shipped her to Peoria, but she had to leave with him right away.

Sarah told him that she deserved some answers. Dr. Murdock agreed to share what he did know while he escorted her to the exit.

Dr. Murdock told her that the infection was actually some kind of nano-organism, maybe a nanobacterium. At least that was their best guess. Nanobacterium is a relatively new class of living organisms. In fact, there had been much controversy as to whether nanobacterium should even be considered a living organism. They were so small and basic that many scientists just considered them geological formations.

Legion is what they called the stuff that was turning people into zombies. Legion was similar in size and construct to nanobacterium but exhibited very complex characteristics. It could move on its own. It could self-replicate. Most importantly Legion seemed to exhibit behavior similar to social insects like bees or ants; separate organisms working together to accomplish goals. These were things that should not be possible for an organism so small and so basic.

Legion would enter a person's body, replicate and take over. It would kill the body but protect the lower brain. Once the body had been dead long enough to destroy the higher brain functions it would reactivate everything. Legion was basically a parasite that simply took control of its host.

At that point they had reached the exit. Dr. Murdock apologized. He said he would love to tell her more but time had run out and she must leave. Sarah was about to protest when she heard people screaming from behind the doctor. Dr. Murdock pushed Sarah out the door just before she heard the gunshots.

Sarah ran and never looked back.