Patient Zero

Chapter 6

Agent Langley Smiled down at Samuel. He was sleeping in his new room that she got him, while he was unconscious. He'd been out for days. At the moment he was hooked up to an I.V. Over the course of the last four days, that thing that attacked the base had started attacking other military head quarters all over the world. But the strange thing was, it seemed to be able to be in more than one place at a time. No one had even the slightest clue as to what on earth it was. Or if it was even from earth.

Agent Langley stood from her chair and paced in front of the window, she could see burning buildings in the distance, smoke clouds puffing high in the sky. She had about one hundred things to worry about and the thing that kept replaying in her thoughts was the issue of Samuel. Was he going to be able to help? To save them like those who knew enough about him expected? Samuel stirred a bit.

Agent Langley rushed to his bedside, she grabbed her chair and pulled it close to the bed, then closed one of his small hands in her two. She sat there staring expectantly at him. Hoping for a sign. A blink, a noise, more movement. But, nothing happened. Agent Langley stared so intently at a boy that she barley knew, but for some reason felt strangely connected too.

She wasn't a mother, well not really. She had had a child when she was young, but she was so young that having a child while being a single mother was to much to handle, she couldn't pay the bills, could hardly afford to feed the two of them. She was struggling to maintain a job. Her child's father had abandoned her, claiming that it was to hard to take care of a baby. He ran off with another woman and she never saw him again. She was determined to keep her child, and wasn't going to let anyone take her away from her. But, her job didn't pay well, she eventually became evicted, shortly after that, child protective services showed up. The deal she had made with the lady in charge was that she picked the family that her baby was to go too, and that she would be able to visit whenever she wanted, but most importantly was that as soon as she got back on her feet she could have her baby back. The parents she had chosen agreed to the terms, but they soon became attached to the baby. They took her to court over it and the judge ruled in their favor. She was no longer allowed to see the baby without their permission. And of course, they never gave her permission. She told herself she would take the matter to court once more as soon as she could afford a good lawyer, but, by the time she was able to afford one, the family had moved. Taking her baby with them. They tried to track them down, but what had happened next was to unbearable for her to comprehend. Some would hardly consider her to be a mother, considering her short experience, but in her mind, being a mother, whether it's for the long run or for a short period of time, being a mother is being a mother, regardless. Once she heard the news of what had happened, she did everything from there on out irrationally. She joined the army. Worked her way up, until she made it to the point where she is now.

Agent Langley was shaken from her flashback with the sound of the door closing and foot steps. She looked up and saw Karen. The little girl who volunteered here, doing small things for the doctors, like retrieving things for them or checking in on patients. "How is he?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, he hasn't woken up since his fall." Agent Langley said standing up.

Karen nodded. She walked over to examine his head. "Well, I'll check the bandages I wrapped around his head, and be on my way."

"His head was bleeding so much I thought he'd need stitches." Agent Langley chuckled a bit. She noticed when Karen reached for his head, that her hand had a wrap on it. "What happened to your hand?"

Karen flinched a bit. She went to hide it but it was to late. "Uh," She stammered, "I cut it."

"On what?"

Karen sighed as she finished checking Samuel's bandage. "I cut it on a rock."

Agent Langley noticed that the bandage went three quarters of the way up her forearm. "Does it need medical attention? Has a doctor looked at it?"

"I don't know, and no." She admitted.

Agent Langley pulled up a chair in front of her and gestured for Karen to sit. Karen didn't protest, she walked over, sighing a bit as she sat down. "It's really fine, it hardy bothers me."

Agent Langley began undoing the bandage as she said, "I'll believe that when I- OH MY-" She looked up at Karen to see an anguished look on her face. "Hardly bothers you!? Honey, you need to tell me what happened!" Agent Langley looked down at the deep cut that went about 6 inches up Karen's arm, starting at her wrist. It smelled awful and was oozing puss and a weird, greenish substance. Agent Langley went over to the sink and got a wet cloth ready and grabbed a bottle of alcohol to try and clean the wound best she could.

As she was wringing out the dripping wet cloth Karen began, "I cut it when I ran to go and help Samuel as he fell. I was in such a hurry that I tripped over an uneven piece of concrete and landed on a sharp rock. I barely even noticed at first, I was to distracted and my adrenaline was pumping so much. Once I reached Samuel, with all the blood from his head, I hadn't realized mine was adding to the puddle."

Agent Langley came back over and sat down and began dabbing at Karen's wound. "Ah!" Karen squirmed as she made pained sounds. "I think I like taking care of people more than being taken care of."

Agent Langley smirked, "That makes two of us. But, I still don't see why you didn't go to a doctor."

Karen sighed again, "Well, you see, the doctors warned us all to..." She glanced back at Samuel, making sure he was still asleep, then said in a hushed voice, "They warned us to be careful around Samuel. They told us not to touch him if we had a cut... And, I'm pretty sure I got some of his blood in my cut. I don't want to get in trouble." She pointed to the green substance, "I've never seen a cut with that, and I have no idea what it is or what it's from."

Agent Langley nodded. "You should've come to me sooner. It looks pretty bad. I'm taking you to a doctor, because that is one cut that I'm positive needs stitches."

"No!" Karen pleaded, "I'll be in trouble! They might do tests on me like they did to Samuel. I know I wanna be a doctor when I grow up, but I don't do well with needles in me!"

"Karen, sweet heart, you won't be in trouble. But that- that's a bad cut. You need medical attention."

"Please, no." Karen begged again.

Agent Langley began re-wrapping Karen's deep wound once she finished she patted Karen's knee, "I won't say how it happened, we can make up a story, but you need to have that looked at."

At that moment, Samuel stirred a bit, causing Karen and Agent Langley to run to his side. Karen checked his bandages again, then started intently at him. Agent Langley took a notice to it. "Have you always been this good at taking care of people?"

Karen smiled a bit, still examining Samuel, "When I was little, well," She looked down at herself. She wasn't very tall, fairly petite, "littler. My mom used to call me Kare Bear."

Agent Langley smiled, "Do you plan on becoming a doctor?"

"I hope so, but... it takes a lot of time and effort to become one." She shrugged, "And, they'd have to hire me-"

"They'd be a fool not to." Agent Langley smiled at Karen.

Karen grinned.

"Okay," Agent Langley said, "Samuel's fine for now, come on, we need to give the doctor medical attention."

Karen smiled at the joke, but then had a horrified look on her face as Agent Langley dragged her out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~

~S.S.