The Serum

Day 175 and still no headway with this thing. I can see the stress, anxiety and frustration building in my husband. It’s been 75 days since he’s allowed me out of the bunker for supplies we were low on. He says “with my condition” he doesn’t feel good about me being out there. About 5 months ago, what seemed like a meteor hit the world and it left us in pure devastation. There were many survivors but lots developed some sort of flesh-eating brain deteriorating disease. Which, as crazy as it sounds, created zombies. We waited at least a week before we opened our bunker door. There was nothing that could have prepared us for the scene we opened up to. There were still little fires everywhere, trees down and a few people wondering aimlessly. As ridiculous as it sounds this is the one time, I'm happy that my husband was a paranoid conspiracy theorist that believed in having a bunker ran on an underground backup generator filled with at least 6 months worth of food, medicine, water, weapons and ammunition and other essentials.

I woke up to my husband violently tossing everything off the counter where he was working. Microscopes, specimen samples, and valves went flying everywhere. “DAMNIT!” he yelled placing his head in his hands. I softly asked “Rico, babe, what’s wrong?” He began to explain that the serum he was working on for us to take still wasn’t working. “Dani, I need for this thing to work with both of our blood types. The mix keeps either exploding or liquefying your blood cells! Every damn time I think I have it this thing turns its ugly head and destroys your blood sample!” he frustratedly explained.

We drew more blood from my arm and he went back to the drawing board. His obsession with this serum was becoming scary and concerning to me. I know his concern was solely for me and making sure that I was safe and taken care of but I was losing him with every failed attempt. He was at that work station for days at a time. He was eating very little and drinking lots of alcohol while he drew formula after formula on the walls. He had become mean and the sex was decreasing while the arguments were increasing. I worried every time he left the bunker for more specimen samples because he wasn’t at top functioning percent with the lack of sleep and nourishment and heavy drinking. One night while he was out on the hunt for more samples, thankfully I’m not the “follow directions” type, because otherwise he would have been done. I followed him, I was exhausted and it didn’t seem like he had a goal. He stopped to sit and take a drink, just as I was about to head back to the bunk, in the distance I saw one of them creeping up behind him. I was sure he heard them but it got closer and closer and Rico never reacted. I had to pull my weapon and take the head shot! Rico jumped up immediately with blood spatter all over him he yelled “what the hell are you doing out here?!” We began our run back to the bunker. There was no time to argue because we knew the gun shot was going to alert the others. I was dragging and Rico was not happy. He scooped me up and got me back to the bunker safely. With a loud slam of the bunker door Rico asked “Dani! Have you lost your freaking mind?!” “If I hadn’t made the decision to follow you, your ass would be zombie food you idiot!” I yelled. What is wrong with you? The drinking has to stop or you’re going to get the both of us killed” I said as I went to shower.

I laid down and fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up, the fear that consumed me was immense. Rico was pacing back and forth talking to himself. It was like nothing I had ever seen him do before. He was talking as if he were working with a team of people that were confirming his serum. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too” he mumbled. “They will be safe eternally, right?” he questioned. I sat up and softly said “hey you, everything okay?” With a look of seriousness and concern he came and sat on the mattress beside and asked “you know I love you more than anything, right? And no matter what happens everything I do is for you?” I told him I knew those things and that I loved him too and that I never question his motives when he does because I know his mission in life was to keep me safe. After that conversation he kissed my forehead and told me to lay back to and rest, “everything will be fine when you wake up” is what he said to me.

I laid back down and went back into a deep sleep. I began to stir, kind of tossing back and forth. Just as I was opening my eyes, I heard the gun chambering a bullet. I jumped up to see my love, my best friend, my protector with the gun to his left temple mouthing ‘I love you Stinky’ and before I could reach him the bullet was exiting his right temple and he was falling to the ground. “RICO!!!” I screamed. The room was spinning, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t stop the bleeding. He was gone. When I gathered myself, I started to ramble through all of the clutter he had on the counter to try to pieced together what went wrong. On the floor near his body was a letter and a heart-shaped necklace filled with a red serum. He had figured it out! The letter stated:

Hey Stinky, my love, I’m sorry I have to leave you this way but there was no other way to ensure you and the baby would forever be safe. This serum is a mix of my cells, specimen samples from the “zombies” as you call them and liquefied sand from the black sea... remember our honeymoon trip there? You will forever be safe from bites, shots, scratches and any other attack from them. And because you are taking it the baby will automatically receive that protection. Once you take it go find our people. Be safe my love.

I sat and cried for hours before following his directions. I opened the necklace and drank the serum. It was disgusting and in a matter of seconds I felt an intense burning on my skin on my belly. I lifted my shirt to see a red heart shaped mark forming on my skin. I kissed his forehead, gathered our weapons, food, clothes, medicine, and the skills he taught me and set out in the hummer to find our people.