Aiden

“Fine, but until then let’s wait with the vaccine. How far ahead is the virus in Oliver? We could see their reaction to someone where the virus has reached a different stage in case it doesn’t react to any earlier stages. You said it usually takes a week, right? Then give me the vaccine on day seven.” She couldn’t believe she was throwing herself out there like a lab rat, but she certainly wasn’t the first one. Oliver and Ivan had signed up for that job as well and if she could help in any way instead of sitting around and waiting for the virus to make her crave the next best arm, then be it so. “Alright, seems like a good plan. You know what I’ve thought about too? Can you…like direct the virus to attack different organs? I mean I guess it affects the brain, I’m not saying you should do some open brain surgery on anyone, but you catch my drift. Just redirect the virus to a part of the body we don’t need anyway. What is that organ people get removed when it hurts? — I’m not throwing my life away. But if we die at least let us die for a reason.” 

“You guys should be in the same stages right now- it’s naturally slower for werewolves we’ve learned. Kinley, we can’t give it to you last minute because we don’t know exactly when last minute is. And your symptoms are going to start getting bad fast- and they’re going to be bad. We’re talking extreme paranoia- aggression- literal madness” She was stubborn, he’d give her that much. But he knew if he let her do this and Ivan somehow found out about it he’d probably end up getting his head ripped off. Literally “We haven’t had anyone we could try it on yet, but yeah, that is something we’ve thought of. I’m not sure if it’s possible but once we have one of them we can try it too”

“"So that doesn’t really work either, alright. So unless a miracle happens..” She sighed quietly, head rolled into the back of her neck. Even if the vaccine helped a little, it would only give them a little more time before some would have to kill them. And burn their bodies. “There really isn’t much to do for Oliver and me at this point. Other than let you guys take blood samples and watch how the virus evolves. People out there are risking their life every day to get us supplies and shit. Don’t you think we owe them that much, at least try everything possible to find a cure or whatever? Do you know how fast that virus evolves without the vaccine? The symptoms for each stage? We could help with these things - I just don’t want to sit around Aiden. My brother is out there too and he’s human. ” she looked at him with sad eyes, but slowly nodded. “Alright, we’ll do it. But tell these people not to shoot anyone who just comes close to oli and me, we have to see if they’re just..:curious of if they want to attack us as well. Which they probably won’t, that virus wouldn’t be so stupid to attack its own kind. If that’s the case they’d be on each other’s ass the whole time instead of going for us - you uninfected. Honestly, I don’t want to pull any stunt. I’d prefer to be in my own bed right now, watch a brainless movie while stuffing my face with chocolate and not having a worry in my life except for a hot headed vampire, a brother and friends. But instead I’m here thinking about who would visit my grave and bring the most expensive flowers.” “

“No- you guys go out and you bring on in. Throw a bag over the first ones head and come right back in. No seeing if they’ll attack you out there. The only reason you’re even going is because you two are already infected, if you get bit you’ll be fine” he let out a sign, hardly believing he was allowing her to go out into such unsafe territory “ Then we’ll conduct experiments in the safety of the lab where we are in control of the situation and can observe exactly what the infected does around the two of you. Just because your sick doesn’t mean you have to throw your life away, Kinley. We’ll fix this”

“Can’t you create one? I mean..just throwing some shit into one of those..bowl and doing your magic? Or send someone in one of those facilities, there are plenty of capable people in here. What about cancer cells? They attack something, I don’t know I never got into this matter I only know bits and pieces. Genetically manipulated white bloodcells? Anything?” She had a look of defeat on her face as she dropped her eyes to the ground. Why she even came up with all of this, which the two scientist had probably thought about already, was beyond her. Maybe it was the tiny voice of despair, that wanted a glimpse of hope. “One or two lifes for the sake of hundreds? If we die one way or another, let us choose our way at least. Maybe it works, maybe you could find a cure through fresh blood samples of infected people where the virus has reached a stage it hasn’t with Oliver and me. It’s worth it, don’t lie. “ 

“Creating a virus this powerful is a lot harder than you would think- we’ve tried replicating it already and that’s the furthest we’ve been able to get” It was frustrating to admit. They had been working day and night on this and only found something that slowed the progression. It didn’t stop it. It didn’t reverse it. In merely slowed down what was happening which was a break through but in the bigger scheme of things it was almost nothing. “Kinley I said no and I mean no. The best thing for us right now is getting to watch and examine the progress of the virus with this vaccine in your system” Aiden let out another deep sigh before he let himself make eye contact with her “You and Oliver and someone who can shoot things, a smll team can go out and get one of the infected. Lily and I will clean up quarantine for them and talk to Liam- he’s kind of the boss around here. You can’t get infected twice and we could use the- subject. But that’s it. No hero business” 

“Then put people with guns out there, splattered brain matter can’t hurt Oliver or me anyway. You can’t know that they won’t attack infected unless you let us go out there and see if it works.” She groaned loudly, pulling at her hair in frustration. “Wait, but maybe the virus doesn’t infect people who are sick? Like, it needs a healthy host to spread? If you can see if the pattern of infected people changes or is different, like let’s say someone with cancer doesn’t get the virus because ..I mean it’s like with a flu right? You can’t have two different viruses or bacterias at once because they’ll fight each other. Maybe you don’t need like some anti-venom for snakes, rather than a completely different virus that attacks these cells? Something more aggressive you have an actual cure for. Do you even get what I mean? Am I making sense? God my head is pounding.” Kinley turned around to sit back down on the bed, palms pressed against her forehead. “Stop insulting Queen Liz. You know yourself that my idea was brilliant and if we don’t try at least..stop thinking like my friend and turn on the scientist in you.”

“Even if that were true- another virus kicking this ones arse. We don’t have access to anything worse than this. Those viruses are kept under lock and key and in protected facilities to prevent biological warfare. Things like small pox- the bubonic plague- the real bad stuff. We don’t have access to them at Beacon Falls hospital.” Yet another bump in the road to prevent them from progress. And that was assuming that something was worse than- whatever this was. It didn’t even have a name yet. “I am thinking like a scientist. I’m just not risking your life for  chance that you might be right. I’m sorry Kinley but no way- no”

“Aiden, you know how big of an impact that’d be. We’d know if you could maybe even create a …some kind of thing that acts like the virus? Do you know what I mean? God I don’t speak smart. Okay, you know how something has to trigger that…knowledge that your opponent has the virus. What if you can recreate something similar, to make these things think we’re all infected. It’s a way, not to cure the disease, but to co-exist at least. Without harming anyone.” Kinley jumped up from the cold ground, pacing the small room as she gestured wildly in a certain helplessness of not being able to get what she had in mind across. “The virus will kill Oliver and me if there’s no cure. It doesn’t kill you, no it’s worse. It turns you into a brainless cannibal that kills whatever human is in their way. And if we can prevent this happening to others, then we have to try everything in our power to do so. We have nothing to lose.”

“You dying isn’t worth the risk. No way- you aren’t going out there unless we know for sure that they won’t attack you” his brow furrowed as she talked- slightly impressed with the ideas she was rambling about “It’s not that simple- if we could replicate the virus we’d be able to come up with a cure but it mutates faster than anything I’ve ever seen. That’s why this is so hard.” He let out an exasperated sign, letting his hands rest on his hips in frustration of the whole situation “Not if we keep you away from people. As far as we can tell- all those people out there are still human which means there is a chance that any cure will work on them too. We still haven’t got close enough to know for sure but don’t you care get any ideas. I swear on the Queen I will lock you up”

“Here? But..Lily and Noah? I mean, now you have two samples at least. Oliver and I are human and werewolf, you could test whatever you got on us and see how it works.” She slowly shrugged her shoulders, sitting down on the floor in front of him. It wasn’t really something she was comfortable with, needles and untested vaccines. But there wasn’t much to it anyway. Either they found a cure and they’d get better, or they’d die. Might as well help find a cure while they have the chance. “Yeah..I mean, do crooks attack infected people? If they sense..that we have the virus well, maybe that means Oliver and I could get samples from crooks out there.”

“We don’t know how they react to each other really, we haven’t be able to get close enough to them” The idea that maybe they didn’t attack fellow infected made sense though- viruses wanted to be spread and the only way to do that would be to infect others who weren’t infected and the more people infected- his thoughts were going a mile a minute as he thought more and more about it “We can’t risk sending you out there unless we know for sure. I’m not sending you out to your death, Kinley. The virus doesn’t kill you, the infected do”

She was really trying to keep her shit together, especially now knowing that her body fluids could possibly infect him too and crying on his shoulder was not the best idea ever. Her hands tightly grasped onto his pullover, keeping him close for a moment. They both probably needed that hug in that moment. “I won’t tell anyone, I’m just..I can’t work on the medical floor anymore. If I infect somehow..” Kinley pulled back to wipe her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Food is probably a horrible idea as well. I could..go on supply runs. Not really anything that can happen that hasn’t already.” She said with a small smile, trying to lighten up the heavy situation a little. “I know, I trust you. You can save us all, Lily and you.”

“Work up here” he stated simply. Maybe not the best idea as the girl wasn’t known for being graceful but in all honesty it was their safest bet. “We could use the help- we have Noah but it’s a lot for just the few of us. And we’d be able to keep an eye on you without too many questions being asked” It made sense in his mind- even if it meant risking a beaker or two, he trusted her to stay away from the important looking things. Especially now that those things meant saving her life “Someone infected taking samples is probably safer anyways”

“No, no it’s okay. You’re right. I mean if anyone can cure this..you guys do.” She said with a small, nervous laugh. Mostly to cover up the fact she was about to have a nervous breakdown just thinking about the things that could happen. The last thing she wanted was to be a ticking time bomb, ready to jump people and tear their flesh off. She didn’t want to stress him even more than he already was with the virus and people pressuring them to find a damn cure. With more people catching the virus inside, that just made everything worse. Seem so much more urgent. Kinley sniffed loudly as she dropped off the bed to throw her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”

Aiden let them both sink to the floor- not really sure of what else he could do or say to make things better. His arms wrapped around her in an attempt to comfort her and her mentally told himself that they could stay like that as long as she needed. This was real. And it was effecting someone he cared about and he wasn’t actually sure if he could fix it “You can’t tell anyone, okay? If people find out-” he was worried about what the survivors would start doing to the infected. Oli could take care of himself but Kinley was just a human like him “You’re still you. Don’t forget that”

After initially getting over her fear of needles, by that she definitely meant almost throwing up and contemplating knocking herself out, she was nervously waiting for Aiden to come back with the results. Playing with her fingers, she wasn’t really sure what to make of his expression when he came back. The papers he held out in front of her face didn’t really tell her anything, it was pretty much just a bunch of long words with numbers behind them. “Wait - hold up - so either I’m a werewolf, which I am fairly sure I am not. Or that I got the same freaking shit that turns people into cannibalistic zombies that look like they’ve been run over by a truck, buried and resurrected?” She asked, eyes widened in shock. “You have something to slow it down, you guys said there’s no real vaccine yet. Slowing it down is not exactly going to fix this, right?”

Aiden let out a sigh, taking the time to lean back against the counter “No- it doesn’t. But it’ll give us time to try” he stated. He didn’t really have anything else to tell her- but the worry in his voice said it all. They were in uncharted territory now “I won’t let anything happen to you alright? If anyone can figure this is out Lily and I. You’re going to be okay” He wasn’t even saying the words to comfort her- it was more to comfort himself. Friends hadn’t always come easy for him and now he felt like he had them in abundance. That was something Aiden wouldn’t let slip away from him “I’ll take care of it”

*time skip wooo blood draw party in the lab. invite only that means no ivan. bye*

“Don’t call my… abilities, superpowers, this isn’t the world of heroes and villains like in those comics. You have a sudden fascination with me, Aiden, I knew I shouldn’t have given you blood when you came asking for it. Good, you two need sleep in order to focus on your work.”

“How can I not? You’re amazing- simply astonishing, really. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. And I’ll have you know that blood work was key to a major break through so you not giving it to us- well we’d still be in square one. We know this- adults need roughly seven to nine hours of sleep daily in order to function fully”

“And we can’t really go out there to bury every single body. Do we even know if help is coming? The radio’s still work, right? We should at least try and contact someone. Oh, oh I see. Alright, I won’t ask you for painkillers again, Professor Xavier. WEll, I did have a few outbursts but honestly, they were all reasonable in my opinion. Momentary lapses of judgement…the only thing I could come up with is thinking I could take my brother and leave. That’s it. And maybe that very short lived thought about punching someone in the face for making a scene instead of taking their meds. Bloodwork? You mean, you’ll put a needle in my arm and draw blood? Oh great, speaking of stress. Fine, if you think that’s necessary then go ahead. But I’m not responsible for any black eyes, I’m terrified of needles.”

“I don’t think help is coming- it’s pretty dire everywhere from what I’ve gathered. Like I said, not a whole lot of news going up. You haven’t told anyone else about these headaches or outbursts have you? Yes I mean a needle and you are going to like things a whole lot less if I’m right about this. Five days is a long time to be feeling consistent symptoms for- we can guess and say you’ve only got about a week until everything settles in so the faster we get on this, the faster we can vaccinate you”

“If it involved drilling my head to the point I’ll start to drool all over myself, no thank you. Not like I plan to write a vampirepedia. —- Genetically speaking… of course you’d say that. Nice to see your face out of that lab for a bit, I was about to bring you a pillow and a blanket.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious as to how all of your superpowers work? They really are outstanding- the fact that you’re even able to stand here and speak to me is a feat in itself. Your heart doesn’t beat yet you still produce bloodcells it’s amazing really. We’re on a bit of a break right now, waiting for more tests to finish spinning. We sleep though, don’t worry. More than most people here I think”

“Yeah okay, I get your point. Burning them is probably the only solution for that, you can’t bury them and have them spoil the soil. Morally shitty situation if you’d ask me. But then again, we’re killing these people anyway. I’m sorry I didn’t know comparing you to a doctor would offend you, buddy. Uh…well, I’ve been having them for a few days now. Usually starting when I wake up, gets worse when I do physical work. They started…I can’t really give you an exact date, it kinda got worse throughout the days. So maybe five days ago?  Maybe four, I didn’t really get a lot of sleep these days either so I guess that’s why it’s just getting shittier. — Look I’m just looking for some painkillers, I don’t really want someone to push a hand up my ass and stuff.”

“The amount of graves we’d need for this would be more than I think we can even offer. Unfortunately not a lot of news has been going out lately so we can’t really see what others have been doing. It doesn’t offend me- doctors are great- We’re just better. Anything else? Any random outbursts of anger or aggression? Momentary lapses of judgement? Maybe we should go back up to the lab. I promise I won’t go anywhere near your arse. But maybe a little bloodwork. Just to be safe”

“You mean the air could get contaminated or something? Or the ground? Kinda like what happened in hiroshima and chernobyl? I mean, somewhat. You don’t? Aren’t you guys even smarter than doctors? Uh, I don’t know I’d give it a seven or eight. I’ve just been stressed these days, migranes happen when people are stressed. Unless they’re geniuses.”

“Imagine falling and scraping your knees on pavement with decaying fluids all over it. Sounds like a bad time if you ask me- and now just for the blood infections that would cause. We’re smarter than them, yes, but we’re doing research not handing out pain meds. Migraines are normal, sure but- how often are you having them? When did they start?”

“Yeah, no — no one is messing around with my head. I had enough of that before. And there’s probably a pile of other things you can work on rather than vampire brain. – Hah, hilarious. I was told before I remind people of a grumpy cat, I was made to google it. What a world do we live in that a cat can get this famous?”

“Yes- I figured you wouldn’t enjoy that so much. But if you’re ever curious on how that whole thing works I volunteer to help you out with that. Oh- well that makes the joke a lot less funny. I don’t really understand the appeal of a cat like this- genetically speaking she’s a nightmare”

“Thinking about the dead bodies might be important. When they start decaying they’ll start releasing fluids if you catch my drift. We don’t get to keep medication up with us- but Kinley, what kind of headaches are we talking here? Just like- on a scale of one to ten how bad to they hurt?”