0-SA (The Last Ship Series)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Emerging Life

Two months had past, and with it, no sign of Raven or the Irinaut she was with. William sat quietly in the labs with his maps pulled up, "I don't get it. One minute there right here the next they're just gone." He rubbed the scruff on his face, "Where they hell all they?"

"Working hard?" Jewel walked inside the lab slowly before pouring herself a cup of coffee, "From the looks of it this is fresh. You've been in here for weeks." The woman held up her cup before taking a drink, "You want some?"

William was reading his map. The male shook his head, "I already have some, but thanks."

Jewel nodded before walking over and picking up his papers, "You seem as invested in this as myself and Professor Reed, but I must ask why?"

William shrugged his shoulders, "We've been looking for one that wasn't infected for so long, and if he can talk, maybe it knows a cure or anything, and if Raven is still cooped up with it, who knows what it's told her." He shrugged his shoulders, "Not only that, but I'm tired of living in the bottom of the sphere. I want an actual life you know?" The male groaned before taking another drink of his coffee, "What do you do anyway? Really? I see you typing and you do a lot of talking but what is it you really do?"

Jewel laughed a bit before adjusting her glasses, "Hah, if it had I cure, I don't think it would be as suited up as you and your team have said." The professor took a seat next to him, "Believe it or not I study their breeding habits. Over the course of their life time, they have taken it among themselves to intwine with the infected humans. Nothing has come of it, but we often wonder if the infection has made them, sterile."

William grimaced a bit, "Why would you study that of all things?"

"If we know how it starts perhaps we could stop it. It's not only the infected's habits I study but the spores as well. They need a host, and oddly enough even with their crazed rabid minds, the focus of repopulating and surviving is strong. It's hard to tell what they could really be hiding in there, you know? And with the strange abilities your friend here has, it makes you wonder what a having one of them could do for the human race." Jewel crossed her legs over one another as she watched over the recording of Osa blowing up the door in the shipyard, "Isn't it extraordinary? What these things hold inside them? Infected can't do that."

William was looking over his papers, but as she said them, his brow raised, "One of them?" The soldier set down his papers, "You're telling me there's other sightings of these things that aren't infected?"

Jewel nodded, "We've only recently shared our finding of this fellow to other Faction's across the world. After that soldiers in Germany disclosed that they have not only Irinaut's moving through their cities, but some with creatures so large they can ride." The woman pulled up another screen before opening her own files. On it, showed three large beasts walking on all fours, dog like in the face but with single large Hollows attach to their heads. Along with two Irinaut's. Both masked like the one William was hunting for, but one was pale blue in skin, blackened veins, and the other a dark blue with a red glow, "This group has been scavenging like our subject has, but larger scales." Jewel hit play on another recording, showing them stealing what appeared to be an engine, "They managed to steal an entire engine off the one of the wreckages there. I'm not certain why but, it seems the non infected are preparing for something."

William looked in awe as she showed him the videos. He shook his head before turning back to his own work, "Why are you showing me this? My team won't even go out after this one until we have a better lead on it. It's a waste of time to them."

Jewel smiled before pointing at the screen, "Because I think that you're as invested in this as we are, and if they can communicate with each other, that one with Raven and Jacques, who's to say that they can't fix this?" The professor took a drink of her coffee, "For all we know, these creatures really do have a cure. How else would they still be untouched by this infection?"

"Equipment. That thing knew how to hide his gills, he even knew what a bomb was." William set down his paperwork, "What do you need me to do?"

Professor Jewel smiled before gently grabbing William's arm, "Talk to your team, and explain that we're willing to offer double the amount the what the Faction previously offered for that Irinaut's capture. At this point if Germany gets one of the healthy ones before we do, it's hard to tell if they'll be willing to share information." Jewel crossed her arms, "I spoke to Jacques and Sage myself, but it seems they're tired of going out there and would rather spend their days guarding the Sphere." The professor clasped her hands together, "I'm offering you and your people a free ticket into paradise, you know the area. Just, think about it."

William didn't say anything else, and Professor Jewel seemed to move off to her own things again to type out or read. William found himself looking at the screen with Osa on it and Raven guarding him right before the shot.

Where are you?