Day Zero

Day 90:

Abigail had taken a break from examining Riley’s blood and walked to the animal lab to check on Fabiana. The other woman had told Abigail about the death of Riley’s family. She had run to his room as soon as she heard only to find the curtains drawn and her calls ignored. She had tried for the past two days to get him to talk to her but he hadn’t. It seemed like he only wanted to talk to Strader or Benjamin. She walked into the lab only to find Fabiana staring at a cage full of dead rats. “I came in this morning and found them all like this” she managed to say. Out of the seven snakes that they had brought back, three of them were eaten by the other snakes.

Abigail gasped. This was the second set of mice that had been killed by snake venom. The first set was killed almost instantly by Indian cobra.

“Which one was it?” she demanded.

“The Persian Horned Viper” Fabiana replied.

Abigail sighed. “There’s only a fifty-fifty shot now. Those mice only lasted five days”

Fabiana nodded. “How is the blood sample behaving?”

“There are a few infected cells in his blood stream, no more than four to seven per square micrometer at least using the counting chamber method” Abigail said with a shrug.

“Have you been using the flow cytometer?” Fabiana inquired as she took the bodies of the rats and placed them in a biohazard container.

“Every day, I am repeating the exact same process that I did when we first realized that it had to do with rabies” Abigail said exasperated.

“No wonder you look like shit” Fabiana said with a smile.

“You don’t look much better, plus you smell like rat nesting” Abigail replied.

“Benjamin is still getting the daily blood samples from Riley?” Fabiana asked.

Abigail nodded. “They are running all types of tests. Looking for the slightest variation in salt, potassium, vitamin c…you name it.”

“Riley has made it this long. Maybe he can hold out until we figure something out. There is still the Annulated sea snake and the Himalayan pit viper to go” Fabiana said with hope that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Abigail closed her eyes and took a deep breath “Maybe pigs will fly” she replied before walking out the door and heading towards her room.

∆∆∆

Strader talked to Riley on the phone once more. “You need to open the curtain kid; we need to know if you are having a seizure or anything along those lines.”

The curtain slowly slid open to reveal a worse for wear Riley. Dark circles were beneath his eyes and his brown hair was a mess of tangles. He hadn’t changed clothes and Strader was pretty sure that the dinner that Benjamin had brought him two days ago was slowly beginning to go bad beneath his bed.

“You look like shit” Strader said.

Riley simply rolled his eyes.

Strader sighed. “I’m sorry about your family. But you need to pull yourself together at least take care of yourself and slide that nasty food out the door.”

“Strader I just found out that my family was dead two days ago” Riley commented.

“I know it is going to hurt like hell, all of us have lost people we love. Abigail just found out about her parents, Fabian’s family is long gone after the bombing of Mexico City, Benjamin feels the same as you. And you know my story. You are going to have this feeling clawing at you for rest of your life” Strader said.

“Yeah all five days” Riley muttered.

Strader resisted the urge to yell at the boy. But deep down he knew that the kid was right, unless the rats provided a cure then they could all say goodbye to Riley.

“Don’t talk like that” Strader whispered.

“You know that it is true” Riley stated.

“You’re right I do. And for the past two days you have been pushing everyone who cares about you away. Abigail has been working herself to death trying to find a cure for you, she really cares about you. We all do. Why are you wasting the few days that you have left pushing us all away?” Strader’s voice caught at the end of his rant.

Riley looked at the ground guiltily, and Strader knew that he had struck a nerve.

“No one has given up yet, they testing and retesting your blood samples. That is why Benjamin insists on taking them daily” Strader explained.

Riley looked up at the man and took a deep and shaky breath. “Will you tell Abigail to come down here for dinner?” he asked. Strader could help the chuckle that came out of his mouth “How romantic” he teased.

Riley responded with a rude gesture.

∆∆∆

Abigail walked to the quarantine room carrying hers and Riley’s dinners. Strader had told her that Riley had wanted to have dinner with her and she agreed happily. She had even dressed up a little more than usual wearing a long skirt and a nicer top. With Helen’s assistance she had put on a little bit of makeup. She found Riley standing at his window also dressed a bit nicer than usual in a pair of nice jeans and a button up. She found herself smiling shyly when she saw him. He smiled back and picked up the phone.

“You look really pretty” he said as soon as she put the phone up to her ear.

Abigail blushed. “Thanks you don’t clean up too bad yourself” she replied.

It was Riley’s turn to blush.

“What’s for dinner?” he asked changing the subject and indicating to the two plates that Abigail had carried down.

“Quesadillas. Fabiana made them to show off her proud Mexican heritage and they smell amazing” Abigail answered before sliding the meal through the opening and into his room. The two began to eat in silence. After a few moments, Riley knocked against the glass and Abigail put the phone back to her ear.

“This is really good” he exclaimed.

“I know, right?” Abigail replied.

After a few more moments of eating, Abigail tapped on the glass. “I am sorry about your brother and mom” she said softly.

“I am too. We have all experienced death. I heard about New York, have you heard from your sister?” he asked.

Abigail shook her head sadly. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from her in a couple of days and whenever I call it goes straight to voicemail. I want to say that she is still alive, but I doubt it” Abigail answered.

Riley sighed and pressed his hand against the glass. Abigail smiled and pressed her hand against the glass to match his.

“Abigail I am not sure how much longer I have” he began before Abigail cut him off.

“Don’t talk like that” she demanded.

“I know…but tomorrow is day six. We both know that I will be changing in the next four days. And I just wanted to tell you that all my life I had been wondering if I would ever meet a girl…well a girl like you”

“Riley” Abigail began.

“No. Please let me finish. And I just wish that you and I had been able to know each other sooner. It’s cruel what life is doing to us. But regardless I am just glad that I managed to meet you at all” he said.

Abigail gasped and sat against the glass wall with her mouth agape for a full minute. No one has ever spoken to me like that. Well except for a couple of guys at Boston University but let’s be realistic they definitely weren’t interested in anything other than sex.

“Abigail?” he asked on the other end.

“I wish things could have been different too” she finally managed to reply.

Riley smiled brightly and Abigail could have sworn she felt her heart flutter a bit. Abigail loved talking to Riley and she could have done it all night but the alarm on her watch went off. She groaned.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s the flow cytometer. The results are in. I better go” she said.

Riley sighed and nodded. Abigail looked tired but she gave him a smile all the same.

“I’ll stop by tomorrow” she said waving to him before hanging up the phone and walking away. She managed to wipe away a tear that welled up in her eye before it ruined her mascara. She walked quickly down the hallway, trying to escape the boy that she was starting to like too much given their situation. She wiped her eyes again and almost collided with Benjamin as he was walking in the opposite direction.

“Oh, did the date not go well?” Benjamin asked.

“No it was wonderful” she managed to choke out.

“Because it could be the first and last one” Benjamin said softly.

She nodded unable to form the words.

Benjamin sighed softly and patted her back awkwardly. “I am so sorry, lass” he said to her as he gently wiped a tear from her face.

She forced herself to smile “Maybe we will find something in this test”