Page 100 of Savagely Yours
“I wish I knew her name,” Dr. Okoro continued. “I’ve been calling her ‘her’ and ‘the subject.’ I haven’t been able to bring myself to name her. Just in case she dies, you know?”
Despite his admission that there was no longer a human soul inside her, it was obvious that to him, humanity still existed somewhere.
Dr. Okoro left the bed and walked over to another stainless steel table. “We might have located Dr. Tayler Diaz. She was one of the principal researchers on the disease outbreak, and this is more her wheelhouse than mine, which brings me to why you’re here. I want to beg you for a favor. There’s an eighty percent chance Dr. Diaz is in South Carolina, and I don’t trust anyone else with this, Dez.”
“What about Ronan?” I asked.
“He’s staying here. We still have work to do.”
“Do you know how far South Carolina is without a reliable means of transportation?”
“Yes. Yes, I know.”
Larke took a step forward. “What’s the favor?”
I lightly gripped her shoulder. “Larke, we’re headed?—”
“What’s the favor, Dr. Okoro?” she repeated.
“My research notes,” he said. “I need you to take them to Dr. Diaz, along with biological samples. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Don’t samples have to be on ice?” Larke asked.
“I’ve prepped the samples with stabilizers. Yes, it would have been better to move during the winter, but I’m afraid we don’t have that long. Cerner is missing. If he’s smart, he got out. And Neal is proposing changes that will make it next to impossible to leave. Cerner wasn’t the best, but he was far less problematic than Neal.”
“About how long do we have to transport these samples?” I questioned. “Optimally?”
“About a week, maybe.”
I groaned. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. We won’t make it to South Carolina in seven days without transportation.”
“I might be able to arrange that for you. The long and short of it is, if it’s discovered what I’m about to do, it will probably wind up costing me my life.”
Larke walked over and stood on the other side of the table. “And this is the only option?”
“Yes. It’s important that Dr. Diaz gets this information. More important than my life. These walls are strong, but if the infection gets loose inside, we’re all dead. Imagine if we could prevent that from happening? Plus,” tears filled his eyes, “I’m tapped dry. My family is dead. This was my purpose, and I’ve done all I can. I don’t care what happens to me after this, but Ihave to try to make a difference. You, Dez, you’re different. You can get this done. I trust that.”
“We have to do it,” Larke said, returning to my side.
“Babe, we’re already planning to take people from Sanitation with us,” I reminded her. “And now, we have even more precious cargo.”
“But we’ve got this.” She took my hand. “You’ve got this. Dez, you’re a beast. No one can do the things you do. I believe in you, and I’ve got your back.”
I couldn’t say no to her, especially when she wielded those eyes like weapons.
And she knew that.
I nodded. “Thank you for believing in me.”
“Always, baby.”
“All right, then,” I began, feeling as though I’d grown by at least two feet. “What’s the plan, Dr. O?”
“There’s an emergency transport van,” Dr. Okoro explained. “It’s a hybrid, but the gas is locked up tight. I won’t be able to fill it up all the way, but I can charge it to get you far enough for a refill somewhere. First, I’ll have to create a false request for the transport. To charge the van, I’ll have to drain a building. The most logical one is Woodhaven. It’ll cause a blackout, but by then, you’ll be gone.”
“How many people can the van hold?” I asked.
“About nine, if you get creative with space.”
