Chapter Text
Occasional shots rang out across the compound; another round of safety training if Pearl had to assume.
She didn't even flinch anymore at the harsh sounds of impact. Getting desensitized to such things can be concerning and benefiting in such apocalyptic times.
It is somewhat of a miracle that Pearl could focus on her work while so much noise was going on around her.
Their bullets wouldn't be real ones in this case, but some random darts of Nerf guns found in a nearby toy store. Not truly hurtful or accurate but at least some form of simulation. The compound couldn't afford to lose resources such as bullets, especially in these times of need.
Here they shot against dummies, cardboards, makeshift targets made for the sole purpose of training. None of those would fight back, charge towards you with jaws wide agape and primal screeches that once had felt unworldly. If you missed your shot you simply tried again until you got it right.
Outside the borders of the compounds, though… out there?… you must have your lucky day if you manage to be allowed a second shot.
Pearl was oh so familiar with that very concept.
The moment where you aim, shoot… and miss. Where a creature that once could be called part of your kind continued to sprint, hunt and try to lunge at you with one single drive, one single desire.
If you were lucky enough you could maybe reach for a knife or random item in time and impale the skull, but if you hit any other part of the body you were likely too slow. The creature would have sunk its teeth into you by then.
An arm, the neck, the face… it didn't matter which part was bitten. One single bite was enough to do the job, was enough for the virus to spread.
Out there is where the real danger awaited you nowadays.
Pearl had seen it happen too many times thus far.
To strangers she saw roaming on the streets.
To neighbours which had bunkered down in their homes as the apocalypse had first broken out.
To survivors which had thought they were safe.
To people of her own compound.
To her best friends…
To her own partner…
To Karn… gods Karn…
Her motions had frozen when his face came to mind, laughing and happy when they were barely awake at the time before the entire world had fallen into disarray. Dark ink dripped from her malfunctioning pen uselessly as she merely stared at words on the paper she was writing. She wasn't focused on it, was distracted as past memories were creeping in once again like they tended to do so every once in a while.
She forgot to turn on her music again, to keep herself focused. It helped her concentrate, kept her thoughts from wandering. Her lab was soundproof, so why did she forget?
The lack of sound was only accompanied by the low hums of the technology around her, but she had learned to tune out those a long time ago. Now her memories had free reigns to creep back in.
The memories of sirens blaring, of emergency protocols flashing onto anything that had a screen… from one second to the other suddenly everything changed. So much chaos, so much screaming and panic and-
Stop.
Stop.
"Stop." she whispered to herself firmly, dismissive, the flurry of images and sounds cutting off right then and there like a movie being put on hold.
Her tone was venomous, condescending.
"Stop…" she whispered again, softer this time as she closed her eyes for a moment and took a good deep breath.
In… and out…
Don't get distracted.
Once she opened her eyes again she scanned the words she had written so far. It was a report for the rest of the compound leadership; a carefully constructed academic paper but written in the tongue of the common citizen.
Nowadays it was important for her work to be understood and not be lost to time due to difference in vocabulary.
Ignoring the small smudge of ink she had made by freezing up, she simply continued to write down what she had learned in these last few days, desperately ignoring the moment of inattentiveness she had just shown.
Not only were they a step closer to a cure, but they were basically already on the final stretch. The vial was made, the serum inside saved and stored away in its designated container with no chance of being broken.
All they needed… was a test subject.
A zombie, 'alive and kicking' in its own way.
With a huff, heavy and hesitant, she wrote the last word and then signed the paper with her name. Not for any sort of recognition, but out of habit and some sense of… accountability. If anything was about to go wrong… then she wanted to be the one responsible for taking the blame. No one else.
She had already lost her partner to her own mistakes… and the guilt that came with it? She didn't wish that upon anybody.
The sound of the chair being pushed back as she stood up was unpleasant and piercing to the ears, like a ruined instrument and far out of tune. Wrong and broken like their nowadays day to day lives.
Pearl was used to it by now.
Used to all of the irregularities, patchwork fixes and the tone of unmentioned desperation in anything everybody did. How barricades where haphazardly constructed with anything heavy enough to make the cut, rations of all kinds bundled together and barely sorted.
Her windows were reinforced by planks of the nearby trees, walls patted to be soundproof by some foam boxes they had found in a random leftover warehouse somewhere. Most of her equipment was barely scraped together from abandoned hospitals, labs and tech company buildings.
Out here, going for some sort of high tech gear had become a luxury, a privilege.
At any point the alarms could sound and a horde of zombies could be making their way towards you as were maybe blissfully lamenting over the type of pen you got.
Speaking of which, she put the cap back on hers and set it aside on the table. With a soft click she turned off the light of the desk lamp and continued to set everything back where it belonged.
She did not want to lose or misplace a single thing here.
Every resource was special.
Carefully, she picked up the report she had just written and carried it across the room and towards the door with a steady hold. With zero hesitation she opened the door and stepped outside, closing it behind her and locking it just to be sure.
The lock snapped shut and it felt impenetrable.
Nobody had the guts to break in or even make an attempt to do so - she knew that - but in such a time like this you liked to avoid leaving things up to chance.
Doing so had lost them lives in the past. She wasn't going to forget that any time soon.
Steady and secure, she held the paper with her report close to her chest as she made her way down the hall of their compound's HQ.
It used to be a mall, located in the cities' industrial district. It was far away from the city centre and only had a single bridge connecting up the main streets for the rest of the city. A good spot to be set up and defend, but also to quickly gather supplies.
This place had originally been infested with the infected once they had first arrived, but with time and patience the entire complex was cleaned out and repurposed to a working fortress for her group of survivors.
Pearl's lab was rather secluded, right next to where the building's cooling system was going through. Those were the temperatures she needed for her research, even if her skin had become cold to the touch ever since.
Even now, as she made her way up the stairs she held the paper with a freezing grip, pushing past guards and other compound residents.
Her destination was the very top of the mall - the former office area for the mall's former administration. A meeting had been called there a few hours ago to discuss further plans. Pearl was going to present her report there. A discovery which hopefully would path the way for actual changes to happen to their lives.
And this time the ones of the good kind.
The higher up she went, the less people there were. She flashed her armband to a couple of guards on the way in case they didn't know her to make sure she was let through.
Though, they all were likely already plentifully aware of her and who she was. Everyone mainly counted on her to succeed after all.
Her armband consisted of six colours, each representative of the factions that had formed this compound's group of armed civilians.
Green for the Mounders - the researchers.
Pink for the Heart Foundation - the medics.
Yellow for the Big Dogs - the guards.
Grey for the Roomies - the technicians.
Blue for the Band - the entertainers.
And Orange for… well, for Scar - the leader.
Scar initially didn't like that he got his own colour and the title but most of the people were persistent on keeping him included that way whenever he liked it or not. He had originally wanted to not be acknowledged and not be part of the leadership, but his advice had been pivotal many times in the past.
Without him most of them would have already been dead. He kept on denying that he was a saviour, but his deeds spoke more than enough volumes to justify their point of view.
That's why he was also present at every single meeting they had, always included into every move the compound contemplated to make. He had been in this city since the very beginning. Everyone else had fled towards here, to him. If anyone would know anything about the most obscure corners of these territories and the mall - then it was Scar who held the answers.
Some of those being held with more reluctance than pride.
As Pearl made her way towards the meeting room she already spotted the man ready and waiting for everyone else to arrive. His hands fiddled with petals and leaves on his cloak, trying to attach some more to add to the camouflage it provided. His hood was shrouding his face in a shadow but Pearl could still see the tip of his tongue sticking out in-between his lips in deep concentration. His wheelchair was actually well maintained thanks to some of the technicians they had on board and seemed to be working just fine.
Even without averting his eyes he seemed to hear Pearl coming his way, judging by how he started to smile and call out to her preemptively.
"Oooone second there-! Aaaalmost done-!"
Pearl let out a light chuckle as she approached closer, slowing to a stop right as the man in front of her seemed to have applied the last finishing touches to his work.
He swung his cloak around a little, testing it with a light chuckle. "Haha, there we go! As good as new!"
"What- did you break it?" Pearl retorted with a snicker but Scar only gasped at her in mock offence, one of his hands dramatically pressed against his chest.
"Goodness no, I would never do that! How dare you even imply such a thing!"
He dropped the exaggerated act once they both broke into rare laughs at the absurdity, his tone calming back down to his usual charming self. "No, but really that's not my fault. You can blame Grian for that."
"You can blame me for what?"
Another voice joined the pile, coming from further away. Pearl turned towards it and saw Grian approach them from the hall, hands deep in his pockets and a belt of different kinds of explosives slung around his torso and back.
While still visible through the high collar, his signature red jumper was concealed under a thick bulletproof vest and jacket, his armband more resembling a key chain that hung from his belt. The dirty blonde seemed to have turned into more of an explosive expert than just an apprentice in recent times, considering how openly he showed off the grenades he had been working on for god knows how long.
It seemed like working with Etho must have made the guy a little bit smarter.
"I can blame you - yeah you, mister - on ripping parts of my cloak!" Scar accused with a pointed finger, but if their loose glares were anything to go by it was clear that no true ill intent was behind those words.
"Not my fault you almost rolled through the underbrush." Grian merely responded with sass, which Scar immediately countered.
"Well if somebody would have actually paid attention-"
"Hey, I was attentive-!"
"You were counting parrots sitting on powerlines!"
"Yeah and I was attentively watching them."
"I could have died!"
Scar scoffed and threw his hands up in the air before wildly gesturing towards Grian while shooting Pearl a glance that asked for sympathy.
"Do you see what I have been dealing with here?? He's unbearable." he complained to Pearl but she only chuckled in amusement.
"Yeah and tomorrow you will be best buds again. I get it, I get it." she replied, waving her hand around with nonchalance before crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Where's Etho and Cleo?"
"Already inside." Grian nodded towards the door, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Impatient."
A rather unfitting word for the Roomies faction if you asked Pearl but she wasn't going to challenge him on that. He was one of the leaders there, so he should know better. Or he could also be projecting his impatience and be framing Etho and Cleo instead. Wouldn't be the first time.
"You are getting off topic! Nuh uh, none of that!" Scar butted in, squinting at the dirty blond. "You almost killed me! That should not be possible."
"It is because he is not the brightest bulb in the shed." Pearl murmured along.
"Exactly-! Wait hold on, what-?" Grian nodded multiple times before even noticing the jab, his mouth flying open. "Hold on, since when were you one to pick sides??"
"Since I learned to know what that is, you dingus." she sassed back while looking towards Scar with a smug expression. The man in the wheelchair matched her look, turning back towards Grian with new confidence. "See, Grian? I even have the doctor on my side."
Doctor…
Doctor??
Pearl stiffened at the title, her loose demeanour tightening up immensely in response.
"I am not-" Pearl stuttered, feeling the dire need to clarify her actual worth. "I am not a doctor."
A doctor saves lives. Makes miracles happen.
Pearl had done no such thing so far. She had only ended lives, casualties from her research or fallen to the virus.
A good doctor would never. A good doctor would have saved every soul so far. She studied to be a scientist, learned to do procedures, to analyse things - and even then she had never gotten to finish that degree either. She wasn't even stationed at the medical station of the compound with the exception for surgeries. That was all there was to it.
"What do you mean, Pearl? You clearly are one!" Scar double down, giving his wheelchair a good push before making a solid lap around her, pointing out different kinds of features. "You have the lab coat, the notes, your gloves, all kinds of medical equipment…"
He counted off everything before stopping abruptly in front of her with an a wide smile. "Sounds like a doctor to me! What do you think, G?"
"Well, he isn't lying." Grian supported the statement as Pearl looked towards him, seeing him shrug with a short headshake.
Pearl didn't accept that though. She sighed and looked in-between the two men with disapproval. "I am no doctor. I have no clue where you all are getting this from. I have not saved a single life-"
"Except for a dozen hurt soldiers in the med bay-" Scar butted in.
"Those injuries were light. None of them were going to be fatal. Let alone that none of them luckily carried the virus." she immediately shot back.
"That's still a doctor's work regardless." Grian then pointed out, shrugging again. "I don't see people being able to perform surgeries every day. I don't get what's pressing you so hard about it."
"Because I don't deserve it." she clarified, now her flustered demeanour turning into irritation. "Only once I save someone's life for good will I be considering to call myself by such title."
"You don't have to save lives to be a doctor, Pearl." Scar responded, his attention split between her and the noises of footsteps coming from a distance. "Besides, you're one of the only people in this compound who learned to be a surgeon by doing. That's not nothin'."
"But it's not enough."
"When will it ever be enough then?"
That… Pearl couldn't answer.
She tried - opened her mouth, raised her index finger to retort, but no words came out.
She had always set a high bar for herself, expectations she had to meet to be considered good at something. Didn't help that there were other people's lives on the line. People were going to feel the consequences of her failure harder than in almost any other job they once had.
And sometimes she couldn't deal with that.
She didn't answer Scar, who was still waiting in front of her.
Instead her attention was whisked away by the three people approaching the meeting room. They were discussing something, likely some topics that will be relevant in a moment.
One was Martyn, the last remaining bastion of the Big Dogs faction's leadership.
The man hadn't been seen smiling for months now, if not for years. What once was a wonderful laugh had turned into slight huffing and his smile was rather a ghost of joy than ever truly there nowadays. He still wore his uniform, stolen from a, by now long dead, military officer and his shiny badge reflected the sunlight through the window around the room. He looked beyond tired - like all of them - and had dried blood coat the tip of his shoes.
Alongside him walked Joel, the 'official' leader of the Mounders.
He and Pearl were the last remaining half of the original Mounders quartet, with him taking over more of the talking while she did most of the background work. He still wore the slightly oversized hoodie from the very first time they had met; a piece of clothing he got from an underrated merch store. A key chain hung from his neck and belt, adorned with trinkets that had belonged to his long deceased wife. His hair was a mess, but his green streak freshly redyed.
Both were in deep discussion with the last remaining member of the trio, Scott.
One of the few survivors of what was now referred to in this group as the "Reckoning of the 28th". The last remaining leader of the Band faction.
The man looked… awful to say the least. His cyan hair was a mess, his blue blazer and shirt unkept and heavy bags were under his eyes. Nothing of the previously well kept together and level-headed leader of the Band seemed to have remained after what had transpired that day; at least if you only looked at him from the outside.
As he approached and talked, his tone still held the same authority and confidence, but it evidently had taken a big hit during the aftermath of it all.
Pearl couldn't blame him in the slightest. This was the first meeting with all factions present ever since after that so-called disaster had transpired. All of them were hit in some way, but his faction clearly took it the hardest.
He hadn't shown himself in public for quite a while.
That is why he had barely time to even turn to her, Scar and Grian before she pulled him into a tight hug as a greeting.
His words were cut mid-sentence and he froze upon contact, clearly not expecting the gesture… but he slowly raised his arms to hug back. Her report was still in one of her hands, getting pressed flat against his back, but she didn't care as much about it for the moment.
"I'm sorry." she whispered, kept together but still with a slight waver that should indicate that it did hurt her too. After all they had both lost people they had held dear. He seemed to nod at her reassurement while she noticed Joel look at her from behind the hug.
He eyed the report and then her, reaching his hand out as a silent request to take it for the meantime. She nodded quietly in return before he removed it carefully.
Once the paper was out of her grasp, her empty hand ran through Scott's messy hair, smoothing it out like he had kept it for so long before all of this. He seemed to barely react to the affection aside from an initial twitch of surprise.
"Don't break on me here, okay?" Pearl whispered once more, tightening her hug. "It's going to be okay, I promise."
She wasn't there when he first locked himself away, but it didn't mean she didn't care all the same. She and Cleo had visited Scott frequently, relayed his orders to his faction on his behalf until he was mentally recovered enough.
It wasn't lost on Pearl that his followers had started to doubt him. With their leadership crippled and the last remaining member locking himself away… they did not see a bright future ahead of them.
While Pearl had to be busy with the cure, Cleo was the one who built up Scott again… at least to some capacity.
He still seemed like a shadow of his former self in some parts, though.
He did not respond for a moment after her tightening hug before he squeezed her tighter and nodded shakily. His breathing trembled just as much before he pulled back and away. They kept holding onto each other loosely, but not much more.
They had been close for a long time, had their small disagreements and differences, but now was not the time to bring any of those up or to think of them again.
They were hurting. Both of them.
It would only bring back bad tensions.
And plus, they had a more important matter to focus on.
"God, I must look like a mess." he complained in return before pulling his hands away entirely. He rubbed the heel of his palm over his eyes, trying to erase any sort of tears that could potentially form.
Martyn next to him only huffed in response. "First time?"
The head of the border security did not wait for an answer before leaning over and scanning the paper Joel held tight in his grasp. Pearl's faction member was fully focused on reading the report, mouthing the words with a growing look of awe and quiet realisation. His expression seem to brighten tenfold at the news he read and it wasn't going unnoticed by the people surrounding him.
Scott joined Martyn in looking over the paper while Grian and Scar merely waited for the news. Pearl herself merely watched with a faint smile, small enough to not seem braggy but big enough to ensure that it was genuine and a good development. She was proud of herself in that regard, even though she wished she would have been faster.
A small nudge from Scar's elbow eventually brought her attention back to him. He looked up at her with curiosity but also with flickers of hope like a firework that was about to rise into the sky.
"A breakthrough?" he asked, quiet but the single word still weighing with tons of worth.
Pearl couldn't help but let herself smile a little wider with a slight nod. Scar's smile grew in size as he spun back towards Grian, giddy in his seat. The dirty blond had his eyebrows raised high as he looked at Pearl with a look she could read any day.
"For real this time?" is what it meant and Pearl nodded in earnest this time.
There had always been speculations and theories - tests to figure out what might work. They were desperate for any sort of answers, to gather information on how the virus functioned, how it might evolve and also how to get rid of it. From the very beginning, Pearl never wanted to declare one solution to be set in stone - especially since for most of which you still wouldn't know unless you tested it on a subject.
They hated doing that - tearing away bodies from people and forcing them under an assortment of chemicals that might not even work or, in the worst case, even kill off the host altogether. They tended to avoid it, but of course it was somewhat going to become an inevitability.
Without testing it in action you would never truly know if your theory actually worked out.
"This…. I can't believe it." she heard Joel mutter, her attention going back to him. He slowly looked back up from the paper towards her. "And you're sure-"
"Don't get your hopes up too high." she immediately cut in. Both Scott and Martyn looked up at her as well at the warning with slight frowns. Her gaze flickered between the three of them, her rational mind overwriting the growing hope. "Still untested. I have no idea if it works."
"But it's our best chance in the last few years." Scar added with sly smirk he couldn't keep off his face. "I say it's time that we can start hoping again."
Pearl turned to face him with worry. "I know, but if it won't work then all of those high spirits would have been for nothing.
"And? Then we just start over." Scar shrugged in response, casual as if that was the easiest thing in the world to do. "It's not like we've been in this loop for a long time."
Pearl could not understand. How the hell could Scar be so calm about this? This could set them back to ground zero if she had messed it up-
What if it failed?
What if it all goes wrong??
What if more people get hurt in the process???
She would be responsible. Pearl would be responsible for that. For more death and decay and people being ripped away from their loved ones. She was the one who offered herself up to look for a cure; she dedicated herself to the search for her own selfish reasons; she potentially was going to doom them all just because she thought she could save people though she couldn't keep alive her own partner.
What if an error had snuck past her?
What jf she did not pay attention??
What if-
what if-
what if-
"Pearl, concentrate, you're spiralling." her world blinked back into a blurry focus.
She was on the floor of the hallway now, sitting. Back against the wall and chest lifting and sinking with fast ragged breathes. The deadpan but solid delivery is what tore her out, as if a weighted blanket had been thrown over her. Her throat felt sore, her mouth dry - hands shaking at the sides, curling and uncurling into the fabric of her lab coat at an uneasy rhythm.
Joel crouched in front of her, taking up her vision. She could see people stand around but talk to one another instead of paying attention to the two Mounders. Probably for the best since Pearl wants to just sink into the ground and disappeared of embarrassment right about now.
Her eyes finally landed on Joel, causing him to grow an all too familiar teasing grin.
"There's the blummin' idiot. You hyperventilated on us." he teased with a shake of his head. "Don't do that again. Can't lose the only stable column I have left."
A snicker left Pearl before she could even stop it, her racing heart calming down slightly at the lighthearted teasing. "Don't kid around. You've got other people."
"But none of them are Lizzie. None of them are Mumbo, Bdubs or you." he only retorted, his grin shrinking into a smile but still conveying the same kindness.
She sighed, knowing she couldn't argue with him. They had both lost their partners in the process of getting to this point, so she could nothing but understand. "That's fair. Just don't call me stable."
"You're more stable than the rest." he said back before lowering his voice. "Especially Bdubs. But that was already obvious from before this mess."
"You know, at this point I am surprised you even wanted him in our faction." she joked, amused as the air got lighter around them. "He loves horses, you hate them. He tried to tame a zombified one while you killed them for their skin."
"Survival brings out certain parts of us, yeah." Joel concluded with a shrug. "Don't tell me you thought you were going to ride to this place on a camel."
"It was stolen from a zoo-"
"But it was a camel. Something not native to here."
She rolled her eyes at the specifics, shaking her head in exasperation. They had been through this matter a billion times by now so she had no clue why he would even bring it up. "Listen, Gem had a saddle-"
"-and you a camel-"
"-that was wandering around freely in the zoo, okay??"
"That you then left behind as soon as you got here-" he teased even though he knew that was not true in the slightest. Pearl intercepted immediately. "-excuse me- no, I did not! Murder Camel is still happily grazing in his enclosure!"
"I know." he began to smirk again, showing his teeth. "Just wanted to rile you up. Makes you calm down the most from your spirals. Surprised you've never noticed that. Maybe I should be the doctor of the two of us-"
"I am not a doctor."
"And I am not Joel S. Beans. Yes, I totally believe that."
He chuckled, standing back up straight before offering his hand out to her. "Now come on. Up you go."
Pearl squinted at the hand with light irritation before taking it regardless and getting to her feet.
"Whatever the hell you say, mate." she mumbled as she dusted herself off, nearly missing how Scar seemed to approach her once more with another person in tow.
The man's familiar black curls looked perfect despite all of the mess that's been going about, his brown skin spotless in contrast to everybody else. As clean was his white lab coat and blue shirt. Not a single smudge of filth in sight.
BigB had his ways. Somehow.
Pearl had stopped questioning her noisy neighbour and first true travel companion for the apocalypse a while ago.
The rest of the group seemed have already gone inside, merely waiting for the remaining people to arrive.
"So I saw that you have gotten there before me." BigB addressed the report immediately, stepping closer without even acknowledging the episode he must have seen Pearl in.
"Yeah… somehow." she mused. "I was certain you would get there before me. If not by your own work then maybe by sticking your nose into mine."
"I can say the same for you." he retorted with a smirk, biting off a small section of one of the cookies he had as his ration. "But unlike you, I actually take the breaks where I see that I will need them."
He then turned towards Scar, nodding and gesturing towards the report that now laid in his lap. "Is this it?"
"Yup! This single piece of paper might be the path to permanent salvation!" Scar declared with more enthusiasm than anyone could bolster, holding the piece of paper like his most dearest treasure.
"Can I take a look at it?" BigB then inquired, his eyes going from Scar to Joel to Pearl in quick succession. All three of them nodded and Scar then carefully handed him the paper. BigB took it just as carefully while finishing his cookie.
As he read in silence his eyebrows arched slightly, a small smile forming on his face. Pearl couldn't help but smile as a little bit of pride blossomed in her chest.
While she and BigB had worked on the same project and exchanged notes, they both made it clear that they would rather work alone to cover more ground in regards to all the methods that were possible. It brought benefits but also deficits. One huge deficit was just that the work got lonely quite quickly.
After her initial escape from her home, BigB was Pearl's first real companion that she had found. Without him, she would be dead and vice versa. They had already been neighbours beforehand, childhood friends in fact. After Karn… he had become her anchor, just as much as she had become his.
Only after they had found Scott and Cleo and then the rest of the group did they grow comfortable again with reaching out to other people besides just them.
They still regularly gossiped, though.
Still noisy beyond measure.
"Fascinating. So we were on the right track but because our last host was an asymptomatic carrier it failed… explains all of the positive tests but no change." he commented as he concluded his reading, carefully handing the paper over to Pearl. She took it, gratefully, as BigB buried his now empty hands in his pockets. "Honestly, I would not have guessed that. How did you figure that out?"
"Trial and error." she grimaced and glanced towards Joel who awkwardly tilted his head before adding. "And lots of rats. Lots and lots of them."
"Told you the pet store would become useful." BigB mused, though even he was uncomfortable with that as well.
"Well, their sacrifice was not in vein." Scar immediately came in to lighten the mood. "Jellie might have less rats to hunt but for that me might go back to a normal life. I would say that's a good trade."
"Is all you think of just trading and scamming?" Joel teased with giggle. Scar merely reciprocated it. "Hey, technically you all still live here by the whims of a trade you have done with us at Trader's Scar. We could revoke it at any time, so don't test us!"
As absurd as it sounded, it technically was true. It was just that the trade was 'you help me and I help you.' so the terms were not as harsh as Scar exaggerated them to be.
"You would not dare." Pearl played into the bit, amused. "You love us too much. Plus who would provide you the ingredients for Jellie's cat food if we are gone?"
That got Scar to squint with a grin, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Don't you dare try and pin that on Jellie, miss. You still need it for Nugget and Olive."
That was true.
Pearl chuckled at the matter, but deep inside she felt a hole in her chest aching as both of her cats were mentioned. She never expected them to follow, let alone be so moderately healthy after all that had transpired.
The Karn-shaped hole in her heart burned, one that would likely never be filled again. Her chuckle was short-lived.
"As fun as these pre-talks always are." BigB then prefaced. "I think we should be going in. Tango and Skizz have arrived and I really want to avoid keeping them waiting."
"How are they doing?" Pearl asked almost immediately before BigB could back up and leave. He paused in his step, looking at her with a troubled look.
"Badly. Very badly. I can't tell you more." is what he told them before fully backing off and walking towards the meeting room, leaving Pearl, Scar and Joel to stand there looking after him.
They saw him enter the meeting room, leaving the door open for them as the rest had already gone inside. Talking could be heard coming from there, voices overlapping in maybe another argument or just discussion - it was hard to tell. Pearl averted her eyes, looking towards Joel while gripping the report in her hands tighter.
She was nervous. She couldn't deny that.
Joel met her eyes with a waiting look. Something that basically told her 'Ready when you are.'
"Well, they seem active today." she could hear Scar comment before he turned towards them. "Are we ready to go in? Present them what we've got?"
He smiled at her, encouraging as always. Unlike most times though, his green eyes carried now a shine of hope so bright that she had never on him before.
Ever since they had first met, where he had held her at gunpoint; when she had to give him the news that he wasn't going to be able to walk anymore; and also not once they had gotten word about Jimmy, Mumbo and Lizzie - did he ever really shine that bright.
He had hope back then, maybe - at the back of his mind if the peace allowed him to wish for that - but here she saw that green shine bright like a beacon.
If that's how everyone would look like by the end - that glowing - then she presumed it would be worth it.
And so, Pearl hesitantly nodded.
And Scar nodded back with a wink and rolled ahead to the meeting room.
Pearl followed him slowly as Joel allowed her to go first, entering the crowded and loud meeting room as very last. They were quick to find their usual seats not far from Scott, ignoring the painfully wide gap that stood out around them. Usually one seat would have separated Pearl and Scott while other two would have kept her and Joel from sitting right next to one another.
While one side of the table was full, the other was barely filled. Martyn and Scar sat on either end of the table as sole leaders of their respective factions.
Once again, even as Pearl had sat down she could barely even hear what was being discussed despite their numbers having dwindled.
The Heart Foundation and the Roomies argued at the other side of the table with the usual chaotic volume. Bickering from Tango and Etho, shouting from Skizz and Grian while subtle scoffing from Cleo and BigB had been the norm ever since the incident.
The two remaining Heart Foundation members both donned their signature pink camouflaged vests, dirtied by blood and mud and other things Pearl did likely not want to know about.
A rather harsh contrast to the Roomies' thick attire which was consistent of mostly grey, tainted by soot, ash or gunpowder. Winter was approaching but they were rather wearing it for their work that required fire- and blastproof clothing if you wanted to be safe.
It wasn't long before some people felt highly overstimulated, raising their hands to cover their ears, setting their head onto the desk and such. That was the sign for Martyn to interrupt, slamming his big ol' reliable hand down onto the table with one loud thud as he got up to his feet in the same motion.
Needless to say, the table got quiet relatively quick after that, startling a good half of the people with that alone while most of them slowly took their seats again.
Martyn remained standing, making sure he kept the word at the table.
"Sorry." he immediately apologized, huffing and glaring around at people. "I can't deal with this for long and we have things to discuss."
"A horde is approaching from the outskirts. Ren has informed me of such." he told his comrades, fidgeting with the glove that clung to his hand. "We still have time to bunker down. They're still quite far from here."
"Is he alright?" BigB immediately leaned forward, eyes wide. "Ren - is he okay?"
"He is fine." Martyn immediately told them. "I drove out myself to make sure of it."
Of course he did. It was no secret that the two men were fond of one another. They came to this compound together, almost inseparable. It was back when their groups were still fractured, fighting over sections of the mall. Only when Scar had arrived had the few groups agreed to work together.
But until they had reached such a ceasefire, many lives had been lost to the wave of the undead and, feeling guilty about his mistake as the former leader of his group, Ren had taken it upon himself and volunteered to be a scout. Always on the move, going from outpost to outpost to keep the survivors updated - he compared it to a form of a self-imposed exile.
Martyn had protested the idea right away but Ren had remained adamant with it.
Still, the group treasured him all the same. He was no less valuable than them.
"If it's getting dangerous for him we have to pick him up." Skizz spoke up right away. "There's no way in hell I will leave him alone out there all by himself."
"He won't be." Martyn immediately reassured once again. "I talked with him and he agreed to return and stay at the compound during the duration of the horde making its way through here. No clue where they are headed or if this is their 'final destination'. You never know."
"Then we should set up defences." Etho brought up. "We have been testing some of the traps we have shown you last time. Most are fully functional by now."
The other members of his faction nodded in support before Tango looked towards them.
"How long would it take to install them?" he inquired. "In case you need more manpower we can always lend you some of our forces. A lot of them already are part of Martyn's border guards."
"For everything… I am gonna be suspecting the whole week." Etho mused, leaning back in his chair. "The guards should also learn how to use those traps if needed. Though, we might need to send a supply runner into the city for more materials."
"What materials?" Scott then asked in turn. Etho turned to him, a smirk dancing below his signature mask. "Alcohol. Gallons of it."
"Molotovs?" Scott interrogated further, not getting a verbal answer but if the smug smile Etho was hiding was anything to go by… then that was a yes.
"Burning them is a better solution than decapitation." Cleo double down in support of Etho. "I know you all like your experiments but I would rather avoid having a potential headless body running around our base. I know you said going for the head kills them, but I am not risking that thing to have mutated past that obstacle."
"I mean, B and Pearl could always use it." Martyn pointed out, looking in-between the two scientists in question before back at Cleo. "But I agree. Burning them would be faster. I will send out a supply runner for us. I will get you the fuel you need."
"Is there any other supplies we should keep an eye out for?" he asked further to make a mental list. It was better to get everything in one single go than leave the compound repeatedly.
Most people shrugged upon the question, apparently having no other urgent requests. Scar decided to take the word then. "So we just do a general sweep with focus on anything to fuel fire, especially alcohol and gas. Sounds good?"
He received a whole round of nods and hums of agreement across the table. The scarred man leaned back in his seat then, satisfied that they had come to such an easy agreement.
The five factions weren't always this way. There used to be a lot more infighting. About troops, sections of the mall, rations - any little thing you could fight over in such dire circumstance. In short - they were a mess.
Pearl remembered that time very well.
She had barely known most of the cast for about a few weeks if not less at that time. While she always had been the quiet observer in the Mounders group, leaving Joel and Bdubs to mainly scream their lungs out, she connected with the other factions quite well. She opened doors that the other three kept closing shut. For example Joel did not like the Band's growing involvement but Pearl had smoothened out the situation between them and enabled a way for them to connect.
She was rather the balance in the Mounders faction, if Scar's usual description of them was anything to go by.
Just like back then she was currently just watching on as most of the meeting commenced. While the topics were nothing too heavy, it was still clear as day that tension was thick in the air.
Most people's answers were short but strict, having an edge or undertone to them that underlined that none of them were actually okay. Questionable glares and looks were thrown towards each other, like a pot that was heating up steadily and threatening to boil over at every comment.
They still somehow had gotten to agreements or resolved issues, but it was clear that the entire meeting was clouded with the happenings of a certain prior incident.
"We should work on keeping things balanced." Martyn had highlighted in Scott's favour at some point. "The Band has lost several amounts of punch. It's only fair that we would keep things afloat."
"As have the Mounders. I think combining the two could keep them in check." Grian had brought up, a suggestion which had earned him equal amounts of offended glares from Scott and Joel respectively.
"In check… as if- I won't dissolve my own faction to keep them afloat." Scott had made clear, sounding more agitated than Joel for once who only bit back an insult Pearl was sure that he wanted to spout. She had stopped him from doing so, like she always did. It was one of the main reasons why she sat between him and Scott.
"I would not say that is advantageous." she kindly disagreed with Grian. "The Mounders and Band have different sectors and interests to account for. I could see other factions mixing better than us two."
Pearl kept her explanation calm to keep the two men around her from fighting further, her fingers impatiently tapping in a rhythm against the report on the table. Her blue eyes kept flicking towards it ever since the meeting began. It had been constantly on her mind how she could even address the news she had to share.
She was not the type to interrupt or put herself first, neither did she want Joel to cause a scene.
The moment had to come naturally for her, not forced.
And so she kept looking towards the man who easily could make any sort of interruption natural for help: Scar.
He sat at one end of the table by himself, listening attentively and offering his opinion here and there. Just like back then he seemed to be the peacemaker at the factions table, likely a little determined by only him being part of his own faction. Aside from his beloved cat Jellie, of course.
With no one else to consider, you could rather freely talk about your ideas. Sure, Scar could very well still have bad ones, but most seemed alright for his chaotic self. He was considerate but also did not hesitate to share his viewpoint and disagreement as a sole member of his own party.
Pearl silently glanced over to him on occasion, quietly trying to get his attention. Most of these attempts were fruitless but eventually he seemed to have noticed her.
The others were busy talking as he did so, talking about a topic where his and Pearl's input seemed less needed. They locked eyes for a moment and she subtly motioned down to the report with her head, tapping her fingers against it like she had already done for a while.
Scar followed the motion and his gaze narrowed and understood with a small nod. Pearl then visibly shrugged, emphasizing further that she did not know how to bring up the matter.
She doubted the other knowledgeable members had forgotten the news by now, so an interruption would not be as bad as she probably imagined, but their life situation did not really improve her communication skills in discussions.
That was always more Karn's strong suit if anything…
What would he do in this moment? Just think…
She watched as Martyn settled down in his seat once more and leaned back, ending the discussion he and Tango had about further communications with the outside world.
While most members of their compound had lost most if not all former friends and relatives, they were undoubtedly not the only ones still alive.
The radio they still had leftover sprung to life every now and then with either distress calls of other survivors or some other communication attempts from potentially other settlements.
Most notable, but not as often reoccurring as your average pleading person for help, seemed to be a rebuilt town at the other end of the country, even better established than their compound. It was led by two men who introduced themselves over radio with the names of Legundo and Abolish and they called the town itself Oakhurst. They were trying to rally up people to reform a civilisation together with promised cooperation and survival for everybody as their prime goals.
Almost all of Pearl's comrades were sceptical and therefore determined to not follow the call to that stranger town even if the offer seemed enticing.
It did not help that most of the other distress calls of people ended in almost certain death for the callers themselves. Not only would they be yelling, but also attracting the undead to their location. The outcome of someone being killed or eaten alive at the other end of the line had turned out to happen so frequently that some people had made a morbid gambling game out of it alongside a tally scoreboard.
"While I doubt Oakhurst means well towards us, I would still not try to write them off as hostile just yet." Tango had suggested. "From what we can tell, the most they did was having to execute some of their members due to cannibalism."
"If members turned to cannibalism in the first place then it means they are not well equipped in the first place. " Joel butted in but Tango merely glanced back with a shrug.
"Well, that was a while ago, though. Now they seem much better established. Sending someone for negotiations of sorts could help." Tango still tried to reason.
"I still don't trust them." Martyn squinted with a darkened gaze. "Their own representative, Apo… Ren does trust her but I don't see what he sees."
"It's not like we have much time to spare." Tango mused, readjusting his red, albeit splintered, tinted glasses on the bridge of his nose. "We could always just wait it out, but our rations cannot last us forever until we got that farm going."
"I am still working on it." Scott mentioned, raising his hand weakly as he sat in his seat. "But Gem and Impulse had mainly handled the deal with the locals so I will try to pick up where they have left off."
"I will try my best." he sighed, a little frustrated. "But I might need some backup to convince them that our intentions are not a lie. I am not as convincing as the other two."
"I will come with you next time you visit." Grian insisted and Tango nodded and tagged along. "Agreed. Maybe they just need more physical proof of who they are dealing with with here. We might be a little bit intimidating."
"A little bit?" Scar snickered from the head of the table. "Yeah, no shit. We are a giant compound and they a small village by the river side. Of course they will be fearing for their lives. Promising protection does not mean immediate trust."
"And we did not assume as such." Tango snapped back before his eyes averted themselves and looked towards the table. "Or at least I did so. Still, their fields are important to us. We cannot lose them."
"I am sure you won't." Scar replied, this time with a much softer done. "Where there's a goal, there is also a way."
Tango merely nodded at the reassurement but clearly seemed to not be fully into believing it yet. He fidgeted with the ridges of the table while the rest of the room fell into an awkward silence. Nobody seemed to have more to add to the topic but also were not inclined to change to a different one, especially since it had mentioned two names which were currently absent from their meeting.
Pearl especially couldn't help but let her eyes fly to her side and the two empty seats next to Joel. Her foot tapped against the floor as she thought, the image of both Bdubs and Mumbo sitting in those chairs and being there with them creeping back into her mind.
Her hands clenched together as she could see Mumbo's nervous but still invested face, his hand constantly fidgeting with some random device he had made that she could not even begin to understand what it did. He was her main tie to the Roomies and their tech-focused faction, the connection now severely strained as he had passed and left an empty seat behind.
And the empty seat next to his stung just as much but a little differently.
Bdubs' image in her mind showed someone loud and energetic, taking the matter seriously but not at all stopped from cracking a joke to lighten the mood. She saw his wide smile, the paintings he made whenever she went to ask him for his opinions on the gardens outside. The way he had shown her all the botany he had done before leaving the seat empty as well.
It stung. All of it just hurt to look at.
Her throat felt clogged.
Her eyes wedged themselves away from the sight of them and their empty seats, instead finding comfort in the only remaining Mounder she had left, which was Joel - the stubborn widow with a taste of likely too much mania that he seemed to try and deal with ever since his wife's passing.
Lizzie had been his anchor to sanity. Every since Pearl had known the couple she knew them to truly be inseparable. It was crazy to think that one misstep had changed the trajectory of both of their lives in a heartbeat.
And some of it had not even been their fault. Some of it had been out of the group's grasp and possibility to deal with and manage. This entire apocalypse was the prime example of just that.
But now they would actually be able to something.
Pearl's eyes gazed down at the paper again, scanning it as the room still remained silent for the time being. The moment of silence was pressuring but it also threatened to continue on, for the perfect moment of opportunity to pass. An optimal window to mention her breakthrough was shortening and she simply couldn't allow it to go waste.
And so Pearl, abruptly and silently, pushed her chair back and stood up. No words, no fanfare, no plan.
She did it without any real preparation in mind and she came with the realisation of that once she was already up and looked around the table.
All eyes had shot towards her, all attention was drawn to her with this one move. The expressions she saw were sombre, curious but also hopeful.
And she looked towards the people who already knew what she was going to announce. To Joel, to Martyn, to Scott, to Scar, to Grian and last but not least to BigB.
He was the only one who had a clear smile on his face, interested and knowing just how she wanted to explain what she had found.
Neither of their specialities were ever really presentations…
"I.." she stammered for a moment, looking down and quickly picking up the paper where their rescue was written down word by word. "I wanted to mention something."
Her eyes went over everyone again in case someone would voice an interruption, but none of them seemed to even dare to do so. If anything most leaned forward, were even more curious about what she wanted to say. It was not often that she spoke up like this, so all attention was not only on her but glued to her words.
Now or never.
"As you remember," she started slowly. "I have been working on researching the virus on the side."
"I know, I have not updated you in a while. Honestly, I was entirely submerged in the obstacle I had faced. If this wouldn't be what brought us here I would also say that it would be fascinating to research it further even afterwards."
Her words got a bit off topic as she talked, to her own surprise taking the widest swing she could possibly could.
"But…" She tightened the grip on her paper to the point it threatened to crinkle. "…there's something I want to share with all of you before we continue. I want full disclosure but also an unanimous agreement to my next step. I don't want to continue unless I have everyone's permission."
She visibly gulped as no one seemed to object, taking a deep breath and recounting the details she had and decided to start her explanation.
"Since the last failed attempt at a cure, I have been trying to find out the reason as to why it had failed. I think you all remember the last experiment I had you all come in for?" she asked and got most people to nod or hum in confirmation, so she continued.
"It turns out the problem was that the infected patient was asymptomatic. The carrier had been unresponsive until we injected the serum. Remember how they only started thrashing once BigB gave it to them? That was the virus becoming active as a self-defensive measure."
"Since then, I've done some further digging and tested the serum on both samples of an symptomatic person and an asymptomatic one." she said and Martyn lit up at the mention.
"Oh, so that's why you wanted me to catch that one zombie and then…" he pointed out. "…you used it as like your own supply of samples."
The body had long starved by now, been thrown out into the infected world to decompose. Pearl didn't like the reality of what she had done until now, but for science some sacrifices had to be made. Some diseases were only discovered to be curable through human experiments in the past… would her procedure be as immoral of a thing nowadays?
"Basically, yeah." she confirmed Martyn's guess. "Same with the asymptomatic carrier we had in our midst, though for that one I… I gave them the mercy of not being awake whenever I took the samples. I at least wanted to give them that much respect and choice on the matter."
She grimaced, the words in her mouth tasting foul and disgusting as she talked about another human's situation as if it were all just a science project for her.
It was more than that to her. Hopefully nobody thought she valued another human's life that little.
"But it brought me to the conclusions and update I have now." she turned to address the entire room again. "Through those further tests I could conclude that most of our work had been going into the right direction. It was only the asymptomatic carrier which caused the test to not go as we had foreseen."
"So, I've managed to make changes to the serum and improve it. Based on similar procedures in our former meat curing processes, I have managed to prolonge the boost of the antibacterials in a body that we give them upon injection. Due to that it manages to further the production of those cells and catch up to…"
As she talked she could see the others look at her with frowns of confusion, struggling to understand. Her sentence quickly trailed off and she cleared her throat to be more understandable.
Once again, this should be made understandable for the people involved, not be some kind of academic seminar they did not even have anymore.
So she went with the most clear and shortened version she could think of:
"In other words: I may have possibly… found a cure."
The words left her lips like a boat out into a wild open sea, wobbly and unsure but still stable on the water.
Her news was met with stunned silence at first but it might as well had been like a bombshell that was dropped on all of them. Pearl could visually see the initial confusion morph into shock before several faces lit up in something the word 'relief' could not even properly do justice in describing.
Moments later several people shot up from their seats and the room erupted into loud but also more measured cheers; the kind that made Pearl freeze up and her eyes dart around in sheer panic.
They are celebrating too much.
They don't know its not guaranteed.
I don't know if it will work!
I need to warn them!!
Several of the still seated members noticed her panic and tried to calm the joy of the others by pulling them back down into their seats. Pearl did the rest.
"Please! Please do not celebrate yet-" she rushed out, trying to slow everybody down. "-please just- don't get your hopes up too high just yet."
With deep breathes she continued, but the entire table was now sitting with uttermost attention, even more than before. Their entire focus was devoted towards Pearl alone with nothing else even having a chance to deter it.
She tried to keep her voice levelled, even with all the focus and pressure on her.
"I cannot guarantee this will work. I have not fully tested the serum yet." she explained. "I have it. I wrote down the formula." She lifted the paper in question before carefully placing it back down onto the table, tapping onto it with her index finger. "I have made a prototype. This could be the solution we need, but I cannot be for certain."
"But it could work, is what you are saying?" Cleo pointed out with an interested raised eyebrow.
"Yes." she took a deep breath. "If everything aligns as it should and I have made no mistake then… then in theory and practice… this should be able to cure the virus."
"Now, I don't know the repercussions of this." she admitted. "Once again, I've never managed to test it on a 'living zombie'. I am not sure if the cured patient would survive or have any sort of after effects that could endanger their life…"
"…but if they don't… then we might be able to get some of the people back that we have lost. Fully."
Then the room was silent. Some eyes were still on her while others scanned the room for reactions or if anyone would say anything. The silence was torture for Pearl, her fingers pressing against the cold surface of the table as a means to keep herself grounded.
You did well.
You presented clearly and warned them that it was not a guarantee.
You can't do much more. You can rest for now, somewhat.
Her words of her own inner voice brought her to sit down on her chair again, her hand finding Joel's arm next to her. Grip tight and sinking back into the cushions of the chair, she waited and waited and waited for people to say anything. Be it rejection, endorsement- fuck, even a joke would suffice. All she wanted was some sort of answer.
And like always, mercifully like the man he is, Scar took the word by clearing his throat.
"So…" he spoke up, his tone calm and casual as if it wouldn't be the news of the century. "…are we all in agreement?"
"In agreement about what?" Etho asked, frowning as he turned to Scar alongside the rest of the room.
"Testing the serum." Scar clarified, his hands gripped together. "If it's true what Pearl has just told us, then this could be revolutionary. Not only for us but the entirety of mankind."
"But its not guaranteed it will work." Etho retorted before looking towards Pearl. "You've said so, right?"
"It will as long as I don't have a test subject." she repeated carefully. "Without a physical test I cannot know how a patient would react to it. If I would have one, then I could give you more definitive answers."
"And you need a living one, right?" Skizz asked. "Alive, breathing, but fully infected."
"Exactly what I said, yes." she nodded in repeated confirmation.
"Well…" Scar took the word again, his words more careful and slow but still levelled as if testing the waters with the very next thing he was going to suggest. "…we do have three-"
"No!" Skizz immediately rejected what Scar was hinting towards and got up from his seat. "No, we can't do that!"
Scar could not rise to his feet, yet started to glare towards the taller man all the same, not letting himself be deterred from the intimidation tactic whenever it was intentional or not.
"Skizz, listen to me-"
"No, that's enough listening! This is going too far. We have no clue if they would survive."
"And we will continue to have no clue unless we test it now!"
The two of them had started to yell in their argument now, with Scar leaning onto the table as much as he could as he concentrated his arguments to sound as serious but convincing as possible.
"We are this close to a breakthrough and instead of taking one of our best options you want to risk more of our people to get out and catch a new one instead??"
"That one would at least not be one of our dearest friends at least!" Skizz shouted back. "They cannot consent, agree or disagree with this! This not okay. We don't know if they would even want this!"
"We do know." Tango stood up then as well in defence of Scar, glaring up towards Skizz with intensity. "You and I both know that Impulse would throw himself in there first and foremost."
"Don't tell me about how much better you know my best buddy." Skizz pointed with a threat, voice low and threatening to likely punch the shorter man any second now. Tango didn't shrink, didn't back down.
"I know." he said, tense but confident. "I know you know him better than us all. But I know him well too and I know he would take the bullet any time for any of us."
Tango looked around then, his gaze locking onto several people including Etho and Pearl herself.
"And I am sure Bdubs and Gem would do the same." he finished before leaning towards Pearl.
"Hereby the Heart Foundation allows you to proceed with the experiment. You have our full permission." he glared at Skizz with the last part but it was clear that the taller man didn't object. He looked conflicted at best. If he wouldn't have been convinced even the slightest bit then he would have said more by now.
But he hadn't and that was the kicker.
Pearl looked towards BigB then, and the man only smirked at her with a knowing look.
Her heart skipped a beat, stunned at the response. She didn't know what to think or even say before the next person abruptly stood up as well.
It was Scott this time, looking towards Pearl before making his announcement.
"The Band stands by the Heart Foundation's decision." he announced, his eyes scanning the rest of the table. "It's what both Impulse and Gem would have wanted. I fully authorize the Mounders to continue."
"As do I." Martyn said before rising to his feet. "The Big Dogs may have lost Jimmy completely but our men are still in hope to survive this nightmare. This might be our best shot so far."
"Then we might as well join in." Cleo offered with a snicker before standing up. "The Roomies might have not had personal losses thus far but that makes the rest not any less meaningful. If this endeavour comes to fruition… then we soon might not even be required to discuss these sort of things in the future anymore."
A round of light chuckles went through the seats, with Joel looking to Pearl with a wide smirk, eyebrow raised high. "I better hope you know that you don't need my permission anymore."
They then all turned to Scar, the men who still sat at the head of the table with his fingers tightly intertwined. And all he did was raise one hand and smirk like the cheeky charmer he is.
"Trader Scar's wouldn't mind to be given a second chance to reopen." he merely said, a smug smirk tugging at the edges of his face.
It broke the entire room into chuckles and light laughter, of relief and humour… but for once also a hint of something new. Of hope.
Pearl could only smile helplessly, her mouth opening and closing without any words actually forming from it.
She hadn't expected this wave of overwhelming support. At least not so clearly as it was just shown to her.
Her eyes flicked in-between the several people who stood and sat around before they went back down to her paper, her hands shaking with bristling excitement but also of the overwhelming feeling of success.
They had given her permission to proceed. Permission to use the serum on who they saw as some of their closest friends. That alone was a feat that she could not believe, a scenario she had only entertained in her wishful fantasy and dreams thus far.
Now she just had to pray that she could actually deliver and grow the outcome she wished for from a fantasy into a reality.