Signs of Humanity Chapter 12 - Sign 3
Sam was staring out over the frozen wasteland of Antarctica, from what was once an abandoned office space, blocks of rotting cubicles, empty open areas with printers and filing cabinets, with an area or two that would have been set up as break rooms at some stage. It was in one of these he now sat, it was the first that had a large window that hadn't been blown out looking over the landscape below.
He hadn't been above the ice line since he was forced into his new monstrous body, it was deathly cold up here, no doubt the heating system would have failed long ago. He wouldn't last much longer here but the thought didn't bother him, he didn't plan to leave. After Jericho and Lilith had left, he noticed his blackouts seemed to be quickening and lasting longer, perhaps he thought he was forcing himself to hold on for Lilith's sake. With her gone, he felt the pressure to hold it together lift from him like a weight had fallen from his soul.
This seemed like a fine end he thought, looking over the land, desolate yet hauntingly beautiful in a way, he would more than likely have a black out here and slowly drift away while he was out, a peaceful end he told himself.
Sam felt it when Olsen died, for as long as he remembered it always felt like someone was hanging around him but always out of sight, like someone standing just outside the room he was in. He always just assumed it was anxiety or paranoia he developed as he was always on the lookout for one of Olsen's followers. But the second she died the sensation disappeared, he was relieved in a sense finally Olsen was gone, although it was little consolation at this point. It also meant he was trapped in this body now, although he lost hope of getting out long ago. The thought of taking someone else's body, forcing them to live in this kind of hell sickened him, so he resigned himself to this fate. No, it was better this way and Olsen got what she deserved, her lust for power and control had been justly punished.
Although he couldn't be sure that Jericho and Lilith had both left, he received an alarm that the Garden had been severely damaged, and an evacuation notice was ordered. Which was then followed up with a successful escape pod launch, but beyond that he had no idea what had happened. He did choose to tell himself that Jericho and Lilith had somehow killed Olsen and escaped together, but that seemed like a fairy tale, but a comforting one.
As he looked out over the silent white landscape below him, his one large protruding eye took in the last of the setting sun. In the darkening sky, Sam noticed a set of flashing lights flying across the sky. Before he could care to think about it, he felt his mind slipping again for the last time he hoped, however, this time before the darkness steeled in his vision was lit up by the brightest light he'd ever seen, followed by a feeling of warmth than... nothing.
Elsewhere looking at the fiery tree now growing out of the frozen grounds that was once The Helix Towers, Hilux smiled to herself raising a radio to her mouth to gleefully give her report. “Commander Hilux reporting, target neutralised, Helix Towers destroyed, all anomalies eradicated, Subject 24 presumed terminated, mission successful.”
A robotic-sounding voice on the other side of the radio replied, “Acknowledged Commander Hilux, return to base for debriefing.”
Jericho slowly began to feel the sensation of warmth and a softness like he was wrapped up in a giant ball of wool. His mind was still hazy, he didn't know where he was or what he was doing before, he just felt warm... and comfortable, that was a change. He stretched out his body, and it responded well, no aches or pains... finally rested.
Wait why would he be expecting aches? What was he doing last night? No wait the fight with Olsen, that’s right... then he lost consciousness... probably wasn't going to wake up again after that, the Doctor told him not to overdo it, but he went and pushed himself. "I can't fall asleep; Lilith will be left alone..." With that thought Jericho's eyes shot open has he snapped upright in bed, screaming "NO!"
In response the sound of a girl screaming rang out with a cacophony of noise accompanying her, Jericho's eyes were still readjusting to the light and what felt like days of disuse. He snapped his head around to the source of the sound, firing up his Release to force his eyes to focus.
"Lilith... Taz?" Instead of the ratty-looking redhead, dressed like some steampunk knock off, there was a small girl, with long black in a well-worn dress.
Jericho utterly confused, took in his surroundings, while he tried to reconcile his last memories with what he saw now. The last thing he remembered was Lilith placing him down in the chair on the escape pod, now he was in a simple room... no this was a hospital room and not just any hospital, this was one of the rooms in the Broken Hill hospital, how did he end up here?
"You're finally awake" cried Taz as she jumped off the ground wrapping herself around Jericho and crying into his chest.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake," he said rubbing her back he must have been out for a while to both make it back here, but to also worry Taz, how much time did he lose?
Suddenly the door to the room burst open, in walked a thin girl with bright red hair, gleaming green eyes and skin so pale it looked like she'd never seen a lick of sun and where those... hospital scrubs? Looks like Lilith found herself a new role already. Briskly she moved from the door to Jericho's bedside.
"Jericho, finally I was beginning to think the treatment didn't take, I was running out of ideas."
"I... wait, you treated me?" Jericho looked up at her in confusion.
"Yes, but that can wait, first I need to." She leaned down and wrapped her arms around him. At least not the parts that weren't currently covered by a sobbing girl.
"Thank you, thank you for saving me, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here today." She stood back up wiping tears from her eyes.
"Right, now I need to do an examination, Taz, I know you've missed Jericho, but could I have him for a second?" Taz nodded and pulled herself away from Jericho and shimmied off the bed. "Good girl, why don't you go and see what the boys are up to? I'm sure they will want to know Jericho is awake, oh and be sure to tell Doc and Lisa as well."
"Right" Taz responded and bolted off to who knows where.
"Ok Jericho, why don't you tell me how you're feeling? Any side effects, any lingering drowsiness? Try and stand up for me if you can."
Jericho climbed out of bed his legs felt shaky probably from lying in bed for however long, but his body felt good, in fact, he felt like a new man. It was like he had the best night's sleep of his life, he practically jumped out of bed. Lilith scoffed "alright no need to show off."
"I feel great, feels like I'm standing on a ship at sea, but I haven't felt this good in a long time," Jericho said cheerily.
"Legs probably feel like jelly because you've been in bed for a month. Now come..."
"A month?" Jericho blurted out, he thought he'd have been asleep for a while, but he couldn't have been out of it for that long, could he?
"Yes, and we'll get to that, just come here will you." She pointed to the ground just in front of her.
Jericho walked closer to her "Why? Do you need to check my heartbeat or something..." in a fluid motion Lilith's right hand blasted black smoke up her arm as she plunged a fist into Jericho's stomach. He was lifted off his feet, flew through the air and tumbled over the bed.
"What was that for!" Jericho yelled as he clambered to his feet. This was the second time he'd been in this same hospital only to be assaulted right after recovering. He needed to find a better place next time.
He glared at Lilith, only to be met with the same anger-filled eyes before he could speak Lilith took control of the conversation. "What is wrong with you? Why didn't you tell me you were sick, I could have helped you, I could have..." her thoughts trailed off remembering their time at the Helix Towers, she had practised what she would say to Jericho when he woke up. But now that he was, she found it hard to blame him for not telling her, truthfully, she was mad at Jericho for another reason.
"You left me. You pulled me out of a hole in the ground threw me into a new world and left me. When you wouldn't wake up, I was scared... alone." Her voice was beginning to shake remembering those first few moments when she realised Jericho wasn't waking up.
"I know and... I'm sorry if I had time and if I could have explained it all to you, I would have... I just couldn't." Jericho's head fell he couldn't bring himself to look Lilith in the eye. He made a promise to Sam to take Lilith with him, but he dropped the ball at the last moment.
"No, it's not your fault" Lilith took in a deep breath as she fell into a chair next to Jericho's bed. Jericho had now clambered back into his bed rubbing his stomach, this was going to be bruised tomorrow.
"Besides I found your note and with a bit of luck I made my way here." She gestured to the room.
"Oh, you did thank god, then, wait what did you do with the All Cure?"
Lilith shot Jericho a sly smile "I used it."
Jericho's hand shot to his chest gripping at his shirt. "No not like that. Let me explain." Lilith chuckled.
"When I noticed you weren't waking up, I did panic and went digging through your bag like you told me. When I found the box and the instructions, I was tempted to use it on you.”
“But your note made me stop. 'Take this to the Doc in Broken Hill', I didn't know if that meant you didn't think this would work for you or if it was meant for someone else. I decided to not give it to you just yet and wait until I got to Broken Hill. The instructions on the box also didn't make me think it would work for you. It was by all rights an 'All Cure' but you weren't sick in that way. You were battered and bruised, and the injection could have healed that. But that wasn't what was keeping you asleep it was something else."
"How could you tell?" Jericho asked.
"Even though I spent however long in that dream world, I spent all of it as a field medic, and that knowledge is still rattling around in here." Lilith tapped the side of her temple.
"When someone passes out or is unconscious, they still have some sign they are in there, you can activate reflexes or set off involuntary movements with the right stimulation. But in your case, you were quite literally dead to the world. I would have thought you were comatose, but you could still breathe on your own, it was like something was keeping you locked inside."
“That and I didn't want to give you the All Cure, based off not even the side effects, just the way it was described to work, made me think it would be more likely to kill you rather than help you."
Jericho was a little shocked that the thing he sort after for so long, all that work, and pain had been for nothing. Suddenly his heart began to race, if she hadn't used the All Cure on him, then was he still in danger? "Wait does that mean..." Fear was painted across his face, Lilith noticed and immediately calmed him.
"No, no, you are alright, I found another treatment for you, let me finish my story. After we landed in Melbourne, I was a bit shocked, to say the least I've never been in such a big city before. Seeing it overflowing with Brutes and Psychics was quite overwhelming."
Lilith laughed to herself, "It did make me feel a lot less special, so many people with powers are in this world, compared to them I'm just a child. But I'll tell you more about that later, from there I did try to get you some help I took you to several Doctors. But only a few would give me the time of day and none of them knew what to do with you or what the All Cure even was. Most thought I was trying to scam them and kicked me to the curve."
"When I was beginning to think things were hopeless, these three strangers approached me and offered to help me, said something about their boss being a friend of yours, Ely I think they said his name was."
Jericho's eyes widened "Yeah I know Ely, we aren't friends exactly, I've only met him once, but he knows a lot about me... I don't know what his deal is, he's helped me in the past but never asked anything in return."
Lilith stopped and thought for a moment before she continued "Hmm, maybe he wants something from you now. The three said that Ely ordered them to do anything I ask as long as it would help me heal you. In return you had to listen to an offer they have, I think Ely is calling in your favours now."
"I guess... Wait you went with these guys?" Jericho said in shock.
Lilith looked away from Jericho as if ashamed "I did, I didn't have anywhere else to go, no money and I was dragging you around everywhere, it wasn't like you would last much longer without any food or water. These guys also seemed to know you; said they owed you. Besides I... Well, these guys were just humans. Not Brutes or Psychics just normal people, I didn't think they were much of a threat, if I needed, I thought I could... You know."
"Wow, one day in the real world and you're already thinking about killing those weaker than you" Jericho said in a flat tone.
"What! No that's not, I mean I Didn't want to... just that I could... not that I would" Lilith stammered as her face beginning to redden.
Jericho laughed "Relax, I was only joking. So how did these guys help you? Are they still here? Can I talk to them?"
"Yeah, they are still here, they've been waiting for you to wake up. As for how they helped I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I had them bring us here."
"I see, so wait you said you used the All Cure, but you didn't use it on me?"
"Right yes, once I got here and met Doc..." As if on cue the door to the room flung open, and a man in a dirty white lab coat burst into the room.
"Taz just told me, is he really awake!?" Doc yelled as he barrelled into the room. Lilith and Jericho sat there staring blankly at him like he was being ridiculous, not that he cared. In the clumsiest way a human could move he bounded over to Jericho, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him wildly.
"Jericho, thank you, thank you for, bringing me this woman, she's been a lifesaver!" Tears streaming down his face the man was happier than Jericho had ever seen him. Before he left Doc was a broken tired man, like he had been ground down by the world. But now he was overflowing with joy, although he didn't seem to care that Jericho was awake, it seemed he just wanted to thank him because of something Lilith had done.
"Yeah, no Doc, I'm doing great thanks," Jericho said annoyed.
"Great to hear it lad." Doc responded oblivious to Jericho's tone.
"Lilith what did you do to this poor man? He seems far too happy." Jericho joked.
"Nothing, since I've been here, I've just been helping treat his patients." Lilith smiled back.
"Oh, I see, that describes the clothes then" Jericho looked over the green scrubs Lilith was wearing now that clashed with her hair.
"Oh, that’s another thing!" black smoke began to shroud her body again "Why didn't you say anything? I was running around in that skintight get-up; I looked like a homeless dominatrix."
Lilith standing all of a sudden caused Jericho to shimmy back in his bed morphing an arm into a black shield. "Ah no Lilith wait, I didn't put you in those clothes, and what was I going to say? By the time you were even able to comprehend your getup, we were a little busy with Olsen." Jericho stammered; he didn't want to get hit again.
The smoke around Lilith faded as she laughed "No, I know, I'm just messing with you."
Jericho breathed a sigh of relief "Right, go on maybe you and Doc can tell me how you Healed me without the All Cure."
"Oh that, Jericho it's amazing, Lilith is a natural at understanding medicine and the human body. I think that must be her Affinity." Doc explained excitedly.
"No kidding" Jericho looked back to Lilith.
"Yeah, I didn't know what that was until Doc explained it to me, I have always found it easy to pick up information when it came to medicine. I always thought I just had a knack for it, but since I've been here, I have learnt so much so quickly it seemed impossible. It has been crazy, being in the real world has opened my eyes, learning that Psychics also have a knowledge Affinity as well as Powers, it seems too good to be true, I kind of feel unstoppable." Lilith said with a smile on her face.
Doc looked back to Jericho "Because of her work we found out that the parasite that Seon had put into your blood was actually a cluster of nanobots. We were able to treat you by hooking you up to a dialysis machine and exposing the blood to EM radiation to deactivate the bots. We couldn't get them all, so we had to wait for the last of them to deactivate, that's why you've been out of it for a month."
"I see" Jericho didn't get it, but he was now free from the last of the shackles that bound him to Seon. "So, what happened to the All Cure then?"
"Oh, that... Lilith would you like to explain, that, in my opinion, was your greatest achievement."
Jericho glared at Doc, "She saved me."
Doc laughed as he went to leave the room "Yeah, but you're only one person, anyway, I have patients to check up on, Jericho, it's good to have your back, I’ll tell Lisa you're up."
Lilith turned back to Jericho with a grin on her face, she was proud of whatever she did with the All Cure. "Right, the All Cure, so when I got here, I was tempted to give it to you, Doc didn't know what it was, so I assumed that it was for you to take. But I wanted to analyse it before I gave it to you, I wanted to be sure that I knew what it was and what it would do."
Lilith shifted a little in her chair, it looked like she feared how Jericho would act when he found out what she did. "I know you went through a lot to get it, but the thing is... well the thing is that the All Cure, is made from blood..."
Jericho's face fell, how could the All Cure just be a vile of Blood? "How, what?" Lilith continued, best to rip the band off. "It's not just blood, otherwise it would just rote in the vile. No, it was blood floating in a chemical preservative, and the blood had a special property it would move and alter itself, watching the blood vassals under a microscope, it was like they were, stretching and..."
Jericho whispered "Shifting?"
Lilith took a deep breath, "Yes, I even checked your blood with the All Cure, besides some off colouring from the other chemicals in the Cure, your blood and what is in the Vile are the same. If you had taken the cure, it wouldn't have done anything for you. But the bright side is thanks to my test with the All Cure and your blood I was able to find traces of the nanobots in your system. Once I found out that it was a mechanical component, I came up with a treatment plan for you."
Jericho was still reeling from the fact that he had almost thrown his life away over nothing, if he didn't meet Lilith, he'd be dead right now. But then something occurred to him "If you didn't, use the All Cure on me then who?"
"The children," Lilith said with a smile. Now Jericho understood what Doc meant 'You're just one person.'
"No way, no wonder Doc is on cloud nine. But wait, was there enough All Cure to go around? There was only one dose." Lilith's eyes shot away from Jericho when he asked the question, she now seemed sheepish.
"Well, yes and no, the dose size that Seon recommended was far higher than any one person would need, and I was only using it as an immune system booster. So, I could stretch the dose out, it worked out better that way, the kids didn't experience the pain or the black outside effects." She was beating around the bush and seemed to be avoiding the main subject.
"Just say it!" Jericho snapped at her.
"Well, you are right, there wasn't enough to go around... so I might have made more." Now Lilith looked away from Jericho completely.
"Oh, you made more? Whose blood did you use for that?" Jericho spat the words out.
Lilith breathed heavily "Yours, you were still out of it, and we had already extracted the blood and treated it. I only needed a little to treat the kids. I know I should have asked for permission first, but I couldn't wait for you to wake up there wasn't time. I... I thought you would have said yes regardless."
Lilith felt a hand rest on her shoulder she turned around to see Jericho beaming at her. "I'm joking Lilith, of course, I'd have given the kids as much of my blood as I could if it meant saving them. Thank you so much, can you take me to them?"
Lilith felt the warmth from Jericho wash over her and she teared up a little, but she smiled wiping the corners of her eyes and said "Of course."
Together Jericho and Lilith returned to Lisa's makeshift Orphanage she had cobbled together under a crumbling overpass. The sounds of children yelling and screaming as they played in the yard filled the air. As they walked through the door the noise only intensified, with the sparks of an old woman's voice chirping over them "No stop, get down from there... Take that out of your mouth." There was a cheeriness to the atmosphere that Jericho hadn't felt before.
Lilith yelled out over the ruckus "Lisa I'm back and guess who came with me!" Jericho didn't have time to respond a group of children had already found him and were pulling him every which way, some wanting to play and others wanting to show him something.
"Lilith! Is that you? How is Jericho doing..." Lisa came around the corner still wearing her well-worn brown dress patched together with all manner of different pieces of material. She hadn't heard what Lilith had said only that she had come home, the shock on her face when she saw Jericho standing in the doorway with children hanging from him made Lilith grin.
"Jericho..."
"Hey Lisa, I'm back..." Lisa had bolted across the room and wrapped Jericho in a hug, quicker than you would think for someone of her age. He almost toppled over with the children still crowding his legs.
"You stupid boy, why did you have to scare me like that." She said with a trembling voice. "Come in and sit down, tell me everything."
After hours of talking to Lisa about everything that had happened to him; from when he left for Melbourne, to the Helix Towers, to the fight with Olsen. Lisa was enraptured, she also told him everything that happened to her and the children and how lucky they all were to have Lilith come to town.
"Oh, Lilith I almost forgot I finished those close for you. I hope you like them; this style was very popular when I was your age, I thought you might like them." Lisa pulled a bag out from a cupboard. "I was also able to clean up the boots you came here with. They were still in good nick, just needed some love and care."
"Oh, thank you Lisa, but you didn't need to do that, you should save your money for the kids." Lisa scoffed "Don't worry about that honey, I already had the material here, and I had to do something for you after all you did for the kids."
"Lilith I'm sure a style from a hundred years ago will look great on you." Jericho laughed.
Lisa shot Jericho a glare, what are you laughing about, you're older than me and you wear the same ratty jacket everywhere. Which I also fixed for you." She tossed Jericho's jacket at him.
"Oh, no way" Jericho looked over the jacket, it had been ripped, shredded and burnt from their fight with Olsen but now looked brand new. He analysed it but couldn't see where the patches started or ended, Lisa might as well have remade it from scratch. "Lisa, this looks amazing thank you so much."
Lisa huffed, "Of course, Lilith go try yours on, so I can make sure it fits you properly."
Lilith hesitated, this was a kind gesture from Lisa, but the woman didn't exactly have the best fashion sense, and her clothes looked like a hodgepodge of mismatched material. Although she did do a great job on Jericho's jacket, so maybe she did have a talent.
"Go on Lilith, I joke but Lisa is an excellent tailor." Jericho smiled, she agreed and left the room.
"So, Jericho what do you plan to do now?" Lisa asked as soon as Lilith left the room.
Jericho looked at her the smile falling from his face as his eyes dropped to the floor, "I don't know, since I left, I haven't been thinking ahead. I was so focused on my goal of survival that I haven't given any thought to what I was going to do after I was cured." He thought for a second and looked back up at Lisa. "Maybe, I'll stay here and keep helping you with the kids."
Lisa sat back in her chair and took a deep breath "No, you can't stay here. You have so much power, you could achieve so much more than staying here and playing Den Mother with me."
Jericho looked conflicted, he really didn't know what he wanted to do next, staying here seemed like a given, at least for a little while. "Seem's a bit harsh don't you think?"
"I'm not trying to kick you out, but can you tell me that you want to stay here? Do you think that would fulfill you?" Lisa said like a mother giving their child a hard truth.
"You are still young; you need to go out there and find something that makes you proud to give your life to it."
Jericho laughed "I'm older than you, aren’t I?"
"You've spent more time on this earth than me yes, but you've barely seen the world. I can see it in you, you don't even really know who you are, and until you do you won't know what drives you." Lisa's words were a little harsh but there was a soothing truth to them.
With a warm smile, Lisa continued "Besides, this is an orphanage, you're not meant to stay here forever, it's just meant to get you ready to live the rest of your life."
Jericho chuckled to himself "You're not going to miss me?"
"You're not the first boy I've said goodbye to, but you are the most frustrating." They both chuckled.
An excited scream broke the content silence between the two "Lisa! These are amazing I love them." Lilith came bounding back into the room in the clothes Lisa had made for her. She still had her knee-high boots from her time in the Helix Towers, however, they didn't look like rat-eaten scraps, they looked practically brand new.
The rest of her outfit seemed like a cross between something a tennis player would wear and a wasteland nomad. Lilith was adorned with a white pleaded skirt, covering black bike shorts coupled with a white shirt and a light grey scarf... or maybe a cape, covering the left half of her chest. The inside of the cape seemed to be bright red like it was meant to match her hair, Jericho had to admit while it was different from the norm, it did look good on her.
Lisa clapped her hands together "Oh I'm so glad you do, I added the shorts, if you're going to be fighting then they should save your modesty, and the cape will help protect your light skin from the sun"
This was starting to sound like Lilith was planning to go on a journey with Jericho. "I'm sorry. Are you going somewhere?"
Both Lilith and Lisa stopped chatting and looked dumbly at him "Well yeah, we're going back to Melbourne, aren’t we?" Lilith asked finally after a long pause.
Frowning Jericho responded "Who? You and me?"
"Well yeah, us and Ely's guys, right? Oh, we still have to talk with them, let them know you're up and around." Lilith said as a matter of fact.
Jericho stood up and stammered out, knowing at the same time that he was saying the wrong thing "No... I thought... you were staying here?"
Lilith frowned and snapped back "No... why would I stay?"
Lisa laughed at them both.