Chapter 149: Diogo

Taran sobs her relief in my arms, shaking from the release of terror she'd felt after Emery was bitten. I sheath my knife, relatively certain the danger has passed, and hold her tight against me. Emery has fallen asleep, her face set in exhausted lines. The poor woman had been on the razor's edge of turning into a zombie.
I've never seen anything like this procedure. Well, that's not entirely true. I've seen crude blood transfusions during times of battle. I've never seen anyone come back from the Death Kiss. Only Taran, and she hadn't started the Turn. I'm astounded that the procedure worked. That the blood from a healthy person can be used to cure a disease.
"How is this possible?" I demand of the Doctor as he removes the needle and tubing from Emery's arm.
Bishop takes a piece of gauze and presses it against the drop of blood forming from where the needle had pierced Taran's skin. "Hold it tight, until the blood clots," he says then looks at me. "To be honest, while I understand the fundamentals of how this procedure worked, I can't speak to specifics. We don't know enough about the Death Kiss for me to speculate."
"Try," Diogo growls.
He nods and thinks for a moment. Of course, he would've understood the implications as soon as Emery started getting better. "Well, it seems that Taran and her sister have a natural immunity to the Death Kiss. Since it's both of them instead of one, that would suggest the immunity is genetic. Likely there are other people in the world with the same immunity. Perhaps they don't even know that they're immune if they've never been bitten."
"Or maybe they do," Skye interrupts raising her hand to touch the edge of her scarf where it hides her scar. "There's such a stigma surrounding the Death Kiss that the likelihood of someone who's been bitten telling anyone is slim. I hid it for years, only sharing my experience when my husband saw the mark and knew it for what it was."
"That makes sense," Bishop agrees. "During my youth there was a deadly blood disease ripping through certain parts of the world. The chances of surviving this disease once it was contracted was very low. But a few did survive and when they tried to integrate back into their communities they were shunned and sometimes killed."
"That's barbaric," Taran says, and I smile. Of course my beautiful girl would hate the idea of people attacking each other. "What happened? Was the disease eradicated?"
"The crisis grew to the point that the World Health Organization was forced to step in and fast track a vaccine, which worked on most people. Unfortunately, there were many people that refused to take the vaccine and so the disease was not completely eradicated. And then Necrotitis Primeval took over as the most deadly disease in the world. I'm not even sure if ebola exists anymore."
Ebola. I turn the word over in my mind. Such a harmless sounding word for something designed to kill so many people.
"Why would people refuse to take the vaccine if they knew it would keep them safe?" Taran asks.
Bishop hesitates before answering, as though gathering his thoughts. "Well, that's not easily answered, there are many reasons someone would refuse a vaccine. Sometimes people would refuse for religious reasons, sometimes it was a lack of education, or a lack of understanding in the science behind medicine. In the parts of Africa where Ebola had become especially prevalent, many people feared the vaccinations would give them the exact disease they were trying to avoid. You see, vaccinations usually have a small amount of the disease that needs curing."
"The vaccination contained the disease?" Skye asks sceptically. "That seems like a bad idea. I would probably refuse it too."
The Doctor chuckles. "There wouldn't be enough of the disease in the vaccine to harm the recipient, simply to stimulate their immune system into fighting back."
"Do you think we can turn my blood into a vaccine?" Taran asks.
"We're still in early stages, but this," he waves toward Emery, "gives me hope that it's possible."
Taran smiles broadly and thanks the doctor profusely. "Can you imagine if we've just solved the Death Kiss?" she says excitedly.
I look toward her sister who still has a sceptical look on her face. I agree with Skye. This is a significant step forward in our understanding of the disease that has toppled our civilization, but the odds of actually curing it are slim. We caught Emery early, before the Turn could properly take hold. The more likely scenario is that in a few months or years our Sanctuary, with Doctor Bishop in the lead, will be able to produce a vaccine that will then have to be transported from city to city, then from country to country and then around the world. It'll make our fight easier, make it easier to pick off the Primitives if we're less afraid of turning. But they'll still be able to attack us. Most people who suffer a Primitive attack are killed by the brutality of it, not by the Turn.
I keep all of this to myself as Taran and Bishop talk. I can't dim her happiness as she imagines a future without this terrible disease ravaging our world. The fact is, even if the Death Kiss is eradicated, we're living in a very different place than the one that existed 50 years ago. Humans are brutal beings with an ingrained urge to fight. And those that don't fight, die. If there are no Primitives to kill, then I've no doubt human will turn on human as we fight for territory.
But these are problems for the future. For now, I need to get my wife out of Old Tucson and safe behind the wall. This attack has highlighted the dangers in leaving Sanctuary. Precautions were taken before we came, there should have been minimal danger. Yet danger found a way through the barriers and came straight for us.
"Can she be moved?" I ask, nodding toward the bed.
Bishop shook his head. "Absolutely not. She's far too weak. She could die in transport."
I nod thoughtfully and after a moment, start giving orders. "You can either stay here with her or come back to Sanctuary. If you choose to stay, I'll give you two days and then I want you back in the city working on this vaccine of yours."
"Of course, I'll stay," Bishop says. "If she continues to improve then we should be able to move her in a few days."
"Good. I'll leave two soldiers behind to guard the hospital."
"You don't need to do that," Skye argues. "I have men that can watch over them."
Stubborn woman.
"Bishop and Emery belong to Sanctuary and as such are my responsibility, besides you need your people on the line, not out here in the middle of abandoned territory watching for an attack that probably won't come." I turn away from her dismissively and take Taran's arm. "Let's go." I nod toward my men.
"What!" Taran gasps and tugs at her arm. "No, I'm staying with her."
I don't bother to waste words on telling her something she won't hear. I correct my earlier thought to include Taran, stubborn sisters. I heft a protesting Taran into my arms and carry her from the room, striding down the hall and out the front doors into the bright sunshine.
She clings to my shoulders and squints up at me. "I didn't even get to say good-bye."
"She wouldn't have heard you." I drop her in the passenger seat after one of my men opens the door to the jeep.
She glares at me through the windshield as I walk around the front and climb into the driver's side. I bite back a smile as I remember every other time she's given me that same look in this same car. My feisty little wife, always up for a good argument she won't win.
The second we're moving she snaps, "Maybe Emery wouldn't have heard me, but my sister would have. You need to stop forcing me to leave places before I'm ready. The danger had already passed, we could've stayed there a while longer."
I grin, the first real grin I've had in a while. I feel good. Really good. My wife is safe and sound at my side and we just took a significant step forward in eradicating a disease that has been killing humankind for half a century. I reach over and grip Taran by the back of the neck, dragging her toward me for a quick, hard kiss before turning my attention back to the road.