Can't Have Shit in Kentucky (Project Zomboid) ch.15 (Patreon)

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Do no harm.

The very point of a doctor's being was the Hippocratic Oath, the sacred and sacrosanct promise to the Gods to help the sick, to prevent disease, and forever make sure that Death will never claim the lives of men with science as their sword and their medicine as their shield. To preserve life rather than end it. Doctor Blair knew and held that oath sacred, so much so that she would never go out of her way to harm anyone if she could help it.

But for whoever made the pathogen, they bad clearly forgotten it. 

Bent low on her desk, Blair kept her voice level as any researcher would in reporting their findings. But the disgust and fear, it couldn't be hidden. "The Knox Virus is a deadly viral infection that seizes control of the body. It attacks the cells, rewriting the hosts DNA in a speed that puts other viruses to shame. At this point of time, it was first transmitted in the air. Manifesting as a sour and rotten smell." 

Out of all the people the Buyer found, Blair was perhaps one of the few people that took him seriously at first. Disease sprang from all corners of the world. It did not care for borders, creeds, and flag. Sometimes, they manifested differently and required study. And the way that he spoke to her before, the utter surety and conviction that was on his face. It was scary how sincere he was.

"The symptoms before its final stage are as follows," Blair continued. "Immediately, the body has a fever. The immune system tries to fight the infection, to no avail. In a period of three days, the host will experience nausea, vomiting, a degradation of motor functions, forgetfulness. Throughout all this, the body suffers through total invasion from the infection. Organs fail and finally...death." 

Eye-witness testimony, blood samples, Blair had all her sources of information. The Buyer's forces weren't blind as the County died around them. They saw, they knew. Blair needed to wait until data could be filtered in. And now, she had everything she needed. Her voice quivered slightly as she shifted. 

"But that is not the end for the host. Within minutes, the virus hijacks the brain and activates basic core functions. The body is re-animated and what remains is essentially a medical miracle and nightmare. The host becomes a violent monster, incapable of reason. It's only function is to transmit the disease, via bites mostly. Scratches are yet unknown at this moment but it can safely be assumed that the host is totally viral." 

She saw the broadcasts, the recordings that the soldiers returned. The sheer and utter savagery displayed. The screams of the dying. Blair talked and talked, unaware that her own hands were starting to shake. She took a breath, pausing the recording. She needed to distract herself. This was getting a little bit too much. 

Thankfully, a knock at her door was her salvation. She turned towards it. "Come in," she beckoned. 

The knob turned and in marched a familiar face. It was the Buyer, gasmask hanging from his belt. "Blair. A moment?" 

"Of course, sir." Blair cleared her throat, pushing away her recorder. The Buyer glanced at her table and his eyes took in the papers there. 

"Busy?" he asked. Blair shook her head. 

"Yeah, I was just recording my notes for posterity. You never know," Blair said, shivering. 

"I was here to ask about that, actually." The Buyer admitted. "What can you tell me about our immune friends?" 

Ah. Blair leaned in, pulling out a paper from her files. She turned to the Buyer and read from it. "Well, they are truly immune. I tried applying a sample of the virus into samples of their blood. It managed to fight it." she ended, her voice in awe. 

"How?" the Buyer asked, his face surprised. 

"Anything that triggers an immune response is called an antigen. It comes from the immune system having contact with the invading pathogen, recognizing it, and fighting it. That is how the Kentuckians are still breathing healthy right now." Blair revealed. "There are two kinds of immunity too. Passive and active. The former comes from exposure. Passive is when someone is provided it, like a baby given antibodies by a mother."

"What do you think? About all this?" the Buyer asked. Blair placed her papers on her table. She thought about it briefly before answering. 

"As I said, their bodies recognized the virus and managed to fight it off. This implies that they were all exposed to it before and their immune systems somehow recognized it and destroyed it. The question is, how?" Blair theorized. 

"How indeed," the Buyer nodded. He crossed his arms, sighing. "Now...can something be done for the rest of us? Like, how can not immune folk be made immune?" 

"That's impossible, sadly." Blair sniffed. She gestured with her hands. "Unless we can some-how rewrite our own genetic code, it is impossible. I am afraid that our generation will be at risk from this." 

The Buyer kept his face passive but the horror in his eyes was visible enough to Blair. He took a breath. "Jesus Christ," he swore. "Then...a vaccine for this can't be found?" 

"Vaccines can always be found, sir. But that will take time. And my opinion on it? I am only one doctor. What we found here, we must take to the government, to everyone. You got resources, sir. But more can be done with other people and organizations," Blair advised firmly. As lucky as she was to be the first to check on this new viral outbreak, she wasn't a genius. 

"I'll have to make inquiries then," the Buyer said to himself. He shook his head. "Thank you for time, doctor." He then turned to leave, the air around him heavy. As the Buyer went to leave, Blair stopped him.

"I...I have question, if I may," Blair began, hesitantly. The Buyer stopped in his heels, listening. 

"What prompted you to do all this?" Blair asked. The Buyer said nothing. He was thinking, she could see. He decided to answer but the answer he gave only spawned more questions in her.

"What does a man do, when faced with the knowledge of the end of the world?" the Buyer replied, looking over his shoulder.

It sounded rhetorical.

"It depends on the man," Blair offered.

The Buyer fully turned, a single gloved hand resting on his belt. He continued to speak. "That question was asked of me when I had first opened a newspaper and spotted a neat little tid-bit in the news. A rising star in Kentucky: a fast-food restaurant chain called Spiffo's with its cute little red panda as a mascot. Seeing that article activated me like a sleeper agent." 

"You started this entire venture all because of Spiffo's?" Blair asked, her voice incredulous. He shook his head. 

"No," he said flatly. "Spiffo's was a warning. And a challenge for me to look deeper. Was I really going to waste my time and money on a hunch? But...I had to check all the same. People tended not to believe something will happen unless it does so. In 41', MacArthur in the Philippines saw the Japanese land at Lingayen Gulf and dismissed it as a diversion. The Jews in '73 saw the Arabs amassing to attack yet, they dismissed it. It's not stupidity but human nature." 

He glanced briefly at the windows. At first glance, it looked like a simple window but upon closer inspection, numerous layers of glass could be seen before it. "So I sent those men deep into Rosewood's forests, with cameras. I hoped they would find nothing. That my paranoia was wrong and that Spiffo's was simply a coincidence. I hoped that I was really just paranoid." 

He paused talking and turned fully back to Blair. His eyes showed a brief glance into his psyche. 

There was total and utter fear. 

"I was right to be paranoid," he ended with a bare whisper. There was a slight choking at his words, sadness at the truthfulness of his words. 

"And...what do we do?" Blair found herself asking. 

He took in a breath. A second later, his face was calm and he spoke with total and utter sincerity. "We destroy this facility, and burn it down to the ground." 

Now that was a sentiment she can get behind. 

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A/N: I am so sorry for the absence. I have the immune system of a carrot. I was sick again with a chest infection. But now, I am better and with this, more updoots. I hope you all enjoy.