Level up Zombie

Earlier that day, Cody had arrived at the hospital, and with him was Kelly. The two of them had travelled together after separating from Zain, who had saved them from their situation. In truth, Cody was hoping that Zain would come back and try to find them, but in the end, due to Kelly’s careful nature, she had convinced him otherwise.

She even said she was somewhat afraid of Zain, and although at times Cody did feel that way, he never felt any of the threatening vibes directed toward him. And as they continued their travel, Cody suddenly began to show symptoms of fever.

At first, he thought it was a simple cold and would go away with time, but as time passed, the fever started to get worse and worse. He could hardly move and felt deenergized, and his body was sore, making it harder and harder for him to move.

With no choice, Kelly had picked him up over her shoulder, and they came across the hospital. Since she also noticed there were people here, she had hope. In the end, upon meeting the Doctor, he told them that he could help Cody but that there would be a price that they must pay.

From what Cody could gather, his fever was the result of the multiple wounds and bruises he had received on his body due to the severe beating he had taken from the Cobra gang. Due to his strong will and the adrenaline rush, he was able to ignore it for a while, but it slowly overpowered him, and his state got worse.

He didn’t know what the Doctor had done, but whatever it was, it had worked. However, upon coming out of the hospital, he couldn’t find Kelly. She wasn’t in the reception room, and when he ran around the place asking the others about her, the second that Cody had gotten too noisy, the guards had pulled out their guns and told him to shut up and sit down.

At that point, Cody had tried to call a meeting with the Doctor again, but the Doctor refused to see him. It had left Cody in a difficult situation because, from what he could gather, Kelly was still here somewhere in the hospital.

Cody quietly attempted to ask the others for help, but it was futile, no one was willing to talk to him. Slowly Cody started to observe the place and realised that they were spying on each other, watching out for mistakes that any of the others would make.

That would be reported to the reception and then, from there, to the Doctor. Although the strange thing was, even if they did step out of line, nothing happened to them, but from listening and observing the conversations around him, he heard that their debt was increasing.

Also, from listening in on other people’s conversations, he had gathered that those with the biggest amount of debt would be forced to go outside. At the same time, the weapons that were given to them to fend for themselves would be practically useless if they had too much debt.

It was at that point that Cody found out that he was now sucked into this strange system, and with the way people and the things outside were, even if they went out, they would always come back, but if they had left earlier with the intentions of leaving this place, it was just another reason for the Doctor to increase the debt.

Instilling this fear in them had led to not even one person had thought of running, much less attempting to run out, because at any point and time, those that you thought were your closest friends would backstab you to rise up the ladder.

“And that is everything that I know of this place. Right now, I have no clue where Kelly is. She’s the one that saved my life, and I couldn’t even help her once. I’m not sure what this debt is that the Doctor always talks about, but some of the faces of others look horrified, and the reactions are worse when the Doctor calls them up.

“Everyone is living in trepidation, complying out of fear in this place, and because of the weapons, I can’t even fight back.”

After listening to Cody’s story, Brandon somewhat understood why the former wanted someone like Zain to help. Having seen what those three could do, he believed that maybe an attack from outside could work.

“I want to help.” Brandon replied, “And if this debt that the Doctor is talking about really is a big thing, then it will be worse for us if he actually finds a cure. For now, though, our group needs the help of this Doctor, so I can’t act straight away, not until I get the full picture.

“Also, if we stay in this toilet for any longer, they’re going to get suspicious, but before we get out, I want you to listen to a plan I have… but we will need help from outside as well if anything goes wrong.”

——

On the top floor, the Doctor had run a number of things on Pink’s mother, including an X-ray scan, ultrasound, and heart rate monitor, among other things, but after just a few tests, it became apparent what the condition was.

‘That’s certainly interesting, I guess a case like this, with the way things are, it could easily spread throughout the city.’ The Doctor thought. ‘The good thing is there are plenty of things that can be used to treat her and all of those at the museum.

‘But first, I will have to take care of my people and isolate them first so they don’t continue to spread this. Although the medicine is plentiful, we don’t want a dire situation on our hands.’

The Doctor then went into the pharmacy section of the hospital, an area that was locked off and only able to be accessed by himself; after grabbing a few of the boxes from the shelf, he walked back toward where Pink’s mother was.

He was ready to hand it to her until a thought came into his mind, and a large smile appeared on his face.

‘Now, let’s start adding up their debt, shall we? They stayed safely in the hospital for a few hours. On top of that, they have used my equipment, and I am doing an emergency treatment procedure out of hours.

‘A consultation fee, and the price of medicine, as well as all the information I will be giving them to save their people. Well, that just means that this is going to be an extremely, extremely large debt that needs to be paid. So it makes me wonder, what exactly should I ask for from them? What could they possibly give me to cure this large debt?’

He handed over a glass of water along with the medicine to Pink’s mother, who drank it in one gulp without any hesitation. After all, the person in front of her was a doctor. After going through everything together and all the tests, she would trust him. Just like she would have done in the world before.

“This medicine needs to be taken daily. There are two pills.” The Doctor explained. “Now, here is the important part. The medicine needs to be taken for six months every day; otherwise, there is a high chance that it won’t go away completely.

“Now, here is six months’ worth of medicine. For now, just rest up here while I go inform the others of your successful diagnoses.”

After saying those words, the Doctor proceeded to leave the room.

“Thank you, doctor, do you mind telling me what it is that I have?” Pink’s mother asked.

Shaking his finger, the Doctor opened the door.

“Now, we can’t be letting people find that out now, can we? Otherwise, it will ruin my plans.”

With that said, the Doctor shut the door, leaving Pink’s mother slightly confused but still grateful to the man.

“Tell those two newcomers to come up to the office in around… let’s say 30 minutes.” The Doctor ordered one of the guards. “I have something else that I need to take care of first.”

Heading back to his office, the Doctor turned down the corridor and entered one of the operating rooms. As he entered, he could see a certain person lying on the floor.

“Ah, that’s no good. Did the tranquilliser wear off? I guess you must be getting used to it.” The Doctor let out a sigh as he lifted the female off the floor and back onto the operating table. “Well, I will just have to give you a higher dosage, right?”

Holding onto her arm and the Doctor jolted the woman.

The woman was none other than Kelly, and on the table, she started to feel weak again. Her eyes were still open, but it was as if her mind was going to sleep as she was unaware even of where she was.

“I asked you when you got here if you knew anything about strangers getting extraordinary powers, and since you were unable to satisfy my answer, your debt has to be paid in another way. And since I also saved your life, that means your life is now mine.

“So, let’s start the experiment. It’s time to make a superhuman!”

******

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