The 50/50 Vaccine

Chapter7

“Hey, wake up, we’re here,” Lexi called as she gently shook my shoulder. I open my eyes and see that it’s still completely dark out. We’ve been driving non-stop for five straight days taking shifts. I drove while she slept, and she drove while I slept. I never traveled so far in my life, now I’m in Texas several hundred miles away from the only state I’ve ever lived in. Something about this year changed me.

I yawned and stretched in my seat as Lexi got out of the car. I quickly followed her out. We grab a single suitcase out of the trunk and walk to the front door. The large glass double doors appear to be locked, but Lexi doesn’t make any attempt to open them. “What are we waiting for?” I whisper to her trying to figure out what to do.

“My cousin is coming down. We arrived a bit earlier than I originally planned.”

“Oh.”

Within ten minutes a tall slender woman with her hair in a silk bonnet and a robe appeared at the door. She unlocked it and opened it for us. “Lexi, I wasn’t expecting you until morning,” the woman stated pulling her in for a hug.

“Hey Sasha, yeah my co-pilot drives as fast as I do.” Lexi chuckled as she hugged her cousin.

“Come on, we’ll get you two settled in an apartment and I’ll cover everything in the morning. Are you good with sharing an apartment?”

“Of course, this is my bunkie, Mandy,” Lexi announced. “Mandy, my cousin Sasha.”

“Hello,” I wave with a small smile.

Sasha nodded at me and held the door open as Lexi and I walked into the building. Sasha stopped and plugged a code into a keypad on the wall. Once she was finished, she turned and walked away towards a set of elevators. We got off the elevator on the third floor and followed Sasha down the hall to a door in the middle of the corridor and stopped. She pulled a key out of the pocket of her robe, unlocked the door, and handed it to Lexi. “I’ll get Mandy a set in the morning when I come by for the introduction.”

“Thank you, coz.”

“No problem. I’m glad you both are here.” Sasha said before walking away.

I follow Lexi into the apartment and look around. It’s nothing much, though the walls appear to be metal instead of sheetrock, which is odd but a design choice. It’s simply furnished with a sofa, coffee table, television, and stools at the breakfast bar that separates the kitchen from the parlor. Two bedrooms one on each side of the apartment and a single bathroom near the front door. “Do you want the room on the left or the right?”

“Either will work for me,” I answer.

“Okay, I’ll go right, you go left. Do you mind if I take the first shower?”

“You did the most driving. Shower, and get some rest. I can wait my turn.” I shrug pulling my suitcase into the room. The room is furnished similar to the front room. Only a bed, closet, and side table with a lamp on it. At least they provide the basic essentials. I place my suitcase on the bed and unzip it. Thankfully I grabbed the correct package from the car. I find that Doug packed up my clothing in a rather caring manner. At least he doesn’t appear to hate me.

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Waking up in an actual bed for the first time in four weeks is a bit of an adjustment. This bed is like sleeping on a cloud of warmth and comfort. I don’t want to get up, but being in a new unknown place has me a bit on edge. We arrived in the middle of the night and were brought into this apartment with no other information. Now that I’ve had an actually full night's sleep, I feel refreshed. I drag myself out of bed and out to the bathroom.

“How’d you sleep?” Lexi asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen. As I stretched and yawned.

“So good, I didn’t want to get up.” I chuckle as I enter the bathroom. When I return, I pause. “Is that regular coffee?”

“Depends on what you call regular coffee,” Lexi answers between sips. “It’s better than what we had at Greenway, but not anything fancy either.”

“Anything better than Greenway’s coffee is regular coffee to me at this point. Even some gas station coffees on the way here were better than the coffee at Greenway.” I comment. “Is there another cup?”

“A whole pot. It just finished brewing when you walked out here,” Lexi answered.

“Perfect. I’m going to get dressed then come back out here.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I went into the bedroom, found an outfit to wear and returned to the kitchen. Lexi handed me a mug from the cupboard. “Any milk or cream?”

“In the fridge, we have both.”

“Nice, how about sugar?”

“The canister on the counter next to the pot.”

“Where did you get all this from?”

“The apartment comes fully stocked for food and beverage needs. I drink coffee, so Sasha ensured we had coffee and ingredients here when we arrived.”

“What time is Sasha coming back to give us more information?”

“Well, she sent me a message this morning, but I was still asleep. I replied once I was awake. She’s currently in a meeting of some sort but will come here when she’s done.” Lexi answered.

“So, in the meantime, we can just hang out and relax?”

“Pretty much. She has a system here; we get an introduction, and a tour followed by further instructions.”

“This all sounds so serious.”

“Sasha is a very serious person. She’s a business major, her brother is a lawyer, and her sister has a degree in biology.”

“Sounds like an interesting team. Have they all had the vaccine?”

“Her sister, Monique was the first to get it as she was interested in studying the biology behind the vaccine and how it reacts with her blood to make her immune to all diseases except cancer. Honestly, I think she was hoping to research it and figure out how to extend it to cure cancer as well, but she’ll never admit it out loud.”

“Well, they have established something here. I’m starting to get curious about this introduction and tour process.” I admit as I sit down on the sofa with my cup of coffee.

A knock on the door had Lexi standing up to answer it. Sasha was standing there, her curly brown afro pulled back with some tight braids in the front. She was wearing a forest green quarter-sleeve, slim-fitting dress that stopped at her knees with nude heels. “Hello, ladies. I hope you all had plenty of rest and are ready take a tour. Lexi, how much have you told your bunky here about this place?” Sasha asked as she entered the apartment.

“Only what I know,” Lexi answered.

“The fact that we discovered that the vaccine causes random mutations within the DNA, some that can be potentially dangerous, others that are easily managed and hidden.” Sasha continued.

“Like deformation mutations?” I ask.

Sasha turns her hand and a small flame begins to dance along her fingers. “Mutations as in fictional superpowers come to life. I burned my house down when it first started. Thankfully they ruled it faulty electrical as it was an old house, but it scared me. I’ve talked to several. Of course, some can do magnetic field manipulation, healing, telepathy, and others. If Greenway finds out about the mutations manifesting, they pull participants back in and lock them away to be tested on them like lab rats. Here, we give you a safe place while you wait for your mutations to manifest. Once they manifest, we encourage you to train until you have complete control over them. From there, we move you into a permanent residence. Any questions?”

“Once we move onto the permanent residence stage, do we have to remain living on the premises?” I ask.

“No, but you will still remain under our protection. That being said, from now on you will not be required to report to Greenway for follow-up testing. All they want is to draw blood to find the mutation to begin their testing.” Sasha answered.

“Do you guys require testing here?”

“Not unless you want us to. We know the mutations will appear in the next six months to a year. This apartment is fireproof, electricproof, and pretty much everything elseproof. It was designed to be a safe haven for all survivors of the vaccine.” Sasha explained. “If you ladies are ready, we can do the tour and I can give you more information about our facility.”

“After you,” I reply standing up. I placed my empty mug in the sink and slipped on my shoes. Lexi followed us out the door. We took an elevator down to the basement floor which I find eerie, to say the least.

“Once you get your abilities, you’ll come down here twice a day to experiment and train until you learn to control it. It’s a safety precaution, but I promise you won’t be alone down here. There will be several others training, but also some studying or helping with the experiments.” Sasha explained as she opened a set of large doors. As soon as the doors open we hear the commotion. People shouting, things smashing, honestly, it sounds like a warzone. We step into the room and see we’re standing in an area like a box office suit of a sporting event. We’re elevated, overlooking a large gymnasium-sized room surrounded by plexiglass. Things are flying and bouncing off the walls and windows, other’s are blowing up, or disappearing and reappearing elsewhere around the room. I think someone even blew the electrical system as the lights are flickering. “As you can see, sometimes the abilities have a mind of their own and it takes us a long time to gain control over them. This is triple thick bulletproof glass.”

“Have you had any non-dangerous, like someone hearing voices or having the ability to heal?” I ask out loud.

“Yes, and for those with non-lethal abilities, we go to another floor where the training and experiments are less intense and in a much quieter area,” Sasha answers turning back to the elevators. Sasha pressed the button for the next floor up. The doors opened and we stepped into a second training gym. “This floor is for those who are in more control of their abilities. We need to test the control before we allow everyone to leave the building for obvious safety reasons. The last thing we want is for someone to leave this building and hurt someone on the outside because their ability was not fully under control.”

She turned around and went back to the elevator, went up another floor which she described to be the quiet space for the non-lethal abilities, the floor above that is the testing area—followed by a general store on the next floor where we can shop like a grocery store to keep us within the building, but also living a normal life. The only difference is that the general store doesn’t require money; it is just a running inventory of what we buy recorded at checkout. The next floor is the main floor or lobby, which holds the cafeteria where they have a buffet-style selection of various foods and can socialize. The second floor above ground is a common area with various activities available and a small library.

When we returned to our apartment and Sasha leaves us to attend another meeting. “So, what do you think?” Lexi asked after she closed the door.

“Well, if I had any second thoughts it’s too late to change my mind. I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future. Only things we didn’t find out was how do we get the rest of our belongings from your car.”

“Sasha’s going to send someone up with our things by the end of the night. Nothing to worry about.” Lexi assured me. “I say we go downstairs to the café and grab some lunch and maybe chat with others here.”

“Food and socialization sounds good.” I smile. This place is more spacious with plenty of natural light, and I’m rather excited for this new adventure. My life is not where I thought it would be this time last year, but things are starting to look up for me. Meeting Lexi was only the beginning.