The Serum

T W E N T Y - E I G H T.

Our party comes to a stop in front of a door with a tinted window. The president opens it confidently, without bothering to knock.

On the hospital bed is a girl. She looks to be about 9 but from her emancipated form she could be much younger. Dread washes over me as I watch her. All the symptoms are there. The twitching limbs, foaming blood, bloodshot eyes. I feel like I'm going back in time, watching Dad and Sam do the same. 

The president gestures to the girl. "This is Molly, everyone. She has covid-19 but luckily for her, she's been chosen as the test subject for the serum."

My heart stops beating. Bill hadn't told me what the effect the serum would have on a person who hasn't turned yet. Desperation courses through me. What can I do? The scientist in the room withdraws the vial, and takes a syringe. She fills the needle and moves to inject the girl when I step forward, my limbs moving of their own accord. I feel Oliver's fingers on my arm, a whisper of a warning. I ignore it, because I have no choice. 

"Stop." My mind hastily scrambles for an explanation. I have one but I don't know if it will work. I won't truly know until the serum is in her. 

The president guffaws, shifting to look at me. His eyes are cold and steely. 

I find my spine and straighten. "The serum will have a bad effect on her."

The adults in the room laugh, as if I'm nothing but a witless child. Most of them have gray hair, so I guess I am a child to them. I keep my chin up, refusing to waver. I truly don't know what it will do to Molly and I don't want to find out. 

"Elizabeth, kiddo-"

"My name," I say through clenched teeth. "is Lizzy."

The president's smile falters slightly. I turn my gaze to the doctors.

"The man who created the serum told me that it's not meant for the infected people. It's meant for the Creepers."

The room is silent. Everyone looks at me with doubt on their face.

A doctor chuckles. "Little girl, I don't think you know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I do. Try it. You'll that I'm right." I dare him. The man stares, infuriated, that a teenager is challenging him.

"Sierra, do it." He orders tightly. I know that Molly will most likely get worse and I draw in a pained breath. 

Sierra, the doctor, pinches Molly's waxy skin and empties the vial in her. The room watches with bated breath. The parents are in the viewing section of the chamber, their anxious breaths clouding the glass. 

Suddenly, Molly begins to twitch violently. She chokes on darkened blood, now a black color. It collects at the corner of her mouth as her entire body seizes. She makes some kind of choked, strangled sound in the back of the throat. It's a scream. 

The four of us are huddled against the wall, shaking. Guilt overwhelms me; I did this to Molly. 

No, you didn't, Lizzy. They would've given it to her anyway. 

Molly's mother begins to sob and the doctors mill around in a frenzy. Then, Molly goes still. 

"Is she..." I whisper. Oliver shakes his head and I rest my forehead on his shoulder.

"I can see her chest moving." 

"Thank God." Maybe... maybe she'll be alright. She actually looks stabilized. The doctor gives me a smirk and my blood heats. 

That is, until the spikes come. They break through her skin and blood soaks through the sheets. Molly emits these odd growling noses as the spikes continue to explode from her skin.

Her mother screams. 

A moment later, Molly springs up, looking like death. Her black blood is smeared all over her, tinged with red. Her eyes tick back and forth violently as she paces the bed, claws and fangs growing long as she does. She gnashes her teeth at the nearest doctor, releasing a strangled howl before pouncing towards him.

She never makes it. 

The shot rings in my ears as I watch Molly fall to the floor, a lifeless corpse. Aria got her right in the heart, and she had been dead before she hit the floor. 

The gun shines deviously in the light as Aria begins to cry. The room is silent, save for Molly's parents muffled roars. Lucas stares wide-eyed at Aria, horror flashing across his features. Even Oliver leans away from her, shocked and disgusted. Everyone stares at the girl, her small body utterly still.

"Aria, what have you done?" My voice breaks.

She looks around the room, lip trembling.

"I saved a life." 

Then, she throws the gun down and bolts out of the room.