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[Towards the end of the first day of the flood, Tiffany decides that it's time to check in on the infirmary's most recently-released patient - not in the least because first floods are always a trip for newbies, and this one's timing is the worst.]
Your stitches aren't pulling themselves out, right?
Your stitches aren't pulling themselves out, right?
[ She sounds like she just woke up. What time is it, again? She laughs, something curt off her teeth.]
Only when I pick at 'em.
[She's joking. Kind of.]
Only when I pick at 'em.
[She's joking. Kind of.]
Will do. Might just need to pick up more bandaging stuff.
You know, when Bodhi was telling me about the random bullshit that could happen, I didn't think it was that serious.
You know, when Bodhi was telling me about the random bullshit that could happen, I didn't think it was that serious.
I just don't understand what the point is. Why do all this?
If the Admiral's got a plan with it, he ain't telling.
... I don't know. Sometimes floods seem real pointed, like making us share our emotions or see each other's memories. I guess he could do those to try to help us learn and grow. But this?
I think it's all random, but that's just my theory right now.
... I don't know. Sometimes floods seem real pointed, like making us share our emotions or see each other's memories. I guess he could do those to try to help us learn and grow. But this?
I think it's all random, but that's just my theory right now.
[The sound of creaky bedsprings as she gets comfortable.]
I’ll take this any day then. Can’t stand head games. This really every few weeks?
I’ll take this any day then. Can’t stand head games. This really every few weeks?
Yeah. And then every few months we stop at a place and can get off if we want - sometimes they're places that are worth visiting, but other times they're, like, terrible. It's either that or we get thrown into whole different lives and spend a week thinking we've always lived them.
Maybe I’m just careless but none of that freaks me out if it’s only temporary.
Yeah. We'll see where it goes, I guess. [ a laugh, not even a dry one: ] I live in a place where the walls could be breached any day so it might even be nice to have a rough schedule.
Yeah. Surviving cities are quarantine zones. In theory, infection doesn't get in. You're American, yeah?
Alright, well, I'm in Boston. The military is responsible for maintaining the walls in quarantined cities, as well as... well, pretty much everything. They're the only government left, so they run the place. It's the same in most cities, as far as I know. But Pittsburgh, now Pittsburgh is different –– the military got driven out five years ago, and the people took the city back for themselves. Haven't heard anything for a while, but maybe they're still going, maybe not. They might have been entirely overrun by infection.
Cordyceps. C-o-r-d-y-c-e-p-s. It’s around in your time, too, it just only effects ants and plants and that. But someday it will mutate and maybe spread to people. And when it does, it hijacks the host’s body and sets about trying to spread, so the infected are violent.
And don’t worry. If it wasn’t relevant to my daily life, I wouldn’t know how to spell it either.
And don’t worry. If it wasn’t relevant to my daily life, I wouldn’t know how to spell it either.
Because it was nothing we did. It was just nature, like hurricanes or asteroids or the flu. Could be now, could be ten years from now, or fifty. These things mutate all the time. I don't know. What about SARS, or Swine Flu, or that African one? Those all happened when I was a kid, and they weren't even as bad as cordyceps.
There have been a lot of attempts. I...
[ She pauses. Is there any sense keeping it a secret? ]
I might have found it. Or part of it, anyway.
[ She pauses. Is there any sense keeping it a secret? ]
I might have found it. Or part of it, anyway.
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