Transfusion

Chapter 12

When we returned, everyone was gathered in the meeting room. 

The first thing Leon asked was how the operation had gone, but from the worried look he cast our way, I could tell the concern was for us; we had been out longer than expected. 

When Elias explained what happened, Leon's eyebrows began to furrow when he heard about the encounter we had with the shooter. His eyes landed on me with a question in his eyes, and I felt like a deer caught in headlights.

"You have no idea why someone might try to target you?"

I shook my head, hoping the confusion in my eyes would convince him I was clueless.

He didn't push it, instead turning to Elias, "Did you scout the surroundings? You of all people should have been able to spot the sniper before they got close enough to shoot." His words took on an almost reprimanding tone, and I could see it rubbed Elias the wrong way.

 Before he could defend himself, I stepped in. "This really wasn't his fault, he was focused and responsible the whole time, actually he...saved my life." 

 The last thing I wanted was to go against Leon, and usually I would be too meek to, but for some reason, the thought of Elias getting chewed out, when I was the one who owed him, didn't sit right with me. Even Elias was stunned by my response, and his own retort died on his lips.

Leon considered this seriously, and nodded, "Perhaps I was wrong, if Elias really did save you, then I'm grateful."

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The next couple of days, Leon didn't allow me to go on any operations, and I stayed at the apartment doing basic research for everyone else's new assignments. 

I continued going to school, even though Sander had been absent the past couple of days. Elias drove me to and from school but we barely spoke. I kept expecting him to pester me about the shooter, because I had the feeling he'd seen through me the other day, and knew I was withholding information, but he didn't. 

We only had one conversation, and it had been about something as mundane as the schoolwork. I had asked him about the homework for Mrs. Perry's class and he looked at me incredulously, telling me there was no point in trying so hard because it wasn't like it mattered what grade I got, I wasn't actually graduating. 

I knew he was right, but being reminded of it just made me face the fact that, this was never going to be my life. There would be no graduating, no college, and no semblance of a normalcy. 

The apartment was eerily quiet when no one was around, and I rubbed my eyes from straining to look at the text on the computer screen. I was currently conducting research on the two scientists and their serum, and I had to admit I was inexplicably fascinated by it. 

Both of them had been hematologists and they specialized in blood work. The brothers had just been approved to start safe experimentation with their versatile serum, which they claimed could save many human lives in the future. 

I thought the article was a bit vague about the serum's uses but the overall idea was that injected while someone was in a weakened state, the serum contained an enzyme that could disable the immune system and override the white blood cells, and increase the strength of other cells and hormones.

 In this day, and age, it wasn't unheard of, but something struck me as odd, if the serum was such a breakthrough, why wasn't the press more involved? Searching the internet, only a few scarce articles showed up. I stared at the identical faces of the two dark haired men in the photo on the screen, and felt uneasy. They stood there in matching labcoats, their smiles, wide and bright , an aura of ambition glinting in their eyes as they stared back at me.