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((Sorry. watching criminal minds right now, so the post is pretty dark. )) xp

Kayla knew exactly how Sam felt. She was wracked with guilt over it as well. And yet, she knew of what might help Sam cope with the trauma.

"I want to show you something." She dragged the microscope she had taken from the lab over to their spot and sorted through her prepared slides. "Look at this." She had found the right one and moved it into place adjusting the light. As Sam leaned down to look, Kayla explained.

"What you're seeing is a tissue sample taken from Reapers feet, minutes after they were infected. Mere minutes, and already, all the cells are dead. If I hadn't found the stasis, Reaper would be, for all intents and purposes, not savable within the next 48 hours. But after that, even if I found a cure, he wouldn't really have a life worth living. Sam," she paused, searching for the right words. "These people are dead three days after they get infected. Their skin falls off hun. Even if we could cure them, we couldn't undo what the virus did to them. Knowing this had been hard to learn for Kayla and yet it was a huge weight lifted from her shoulders at the same time, and she only hoped that Sam would feel the same way.

"They are already dead, and even curing them won't give them their lives back."

Kayla sighed.It was more complicated than Sam was understanding.

"Their cells are what's dead. Not them. The problem is, the victims still live. They are still conscious, but the pain has driven them mad. While curing them will stop the spread of the infection throughout their bodies, it won't get ride of it's effects. So while they won't be violent killers anymore, we can not return their sanity or their heal their destroyed bodies."

The true nature of the virus had reared its ugly head. If curable, it was by no means treatable. Once a victim got it, their life was essentially over, even if they continued to live.

"And Humanity can reestablish itself. It only takes thirty-eight people to have a diverse enough gene pool to kick-start the human race agsain. We can survive this, and reestablish civilization...but it will take time." Kayla hoped she was comforting Sam, but knew it probably wasn't helping much.

"Well think about it this way. There are at least six people that I know of; as of yesterday, that are alive in this city alone. Now, keep in mind how huge the planet is and how the Acids head toward civilization, people in sparsely populated areas must be more common. Also, even if it's just us three in this city, there are hundreds of cities in the world. So our odds are good." Kayla explained rationally. Humanity stood an enormous chance still.

"The problem is finding other survivors. I mean, not all of them are wandering the side of the highway as we drive by." She said with a small grin.

Kayla blushed all of a sudden, remembering how awkward their meeting had been. Sure he was a nice guy, but she had been shirtless the whole time.

'Play it cool Kayla, she doesn't need to know.'

"I escaped from some Acids after loosing the last person I was with...He drew their fire so I could get away." she replied sadly, remembering how hard leaving him had been. "I was running down the street and all of a sudden some random guy started yelling at me from a doorway. Nothing too embarrassing at all. And there's nothing wrong with walking down highways. It was safe wasn't it?"

Kayla jumped up and went back to making the chili, choosing to ignore the comment entirely and thanking god that Reaper had fallen asleep again.

"Hope you like spicy food. Cause Reaper and I both do, so I made it spicy before asking you." She let her hair, short though it was, fall in front of her face while she prepared to serve the food.

Kayla's face lit up like a christmas tree when Sam jumped up and started to dance. How had she guessed so quickly? No matter, the girls attention quickly shifted to Reaper.

"He'll survive. He has three broken ribs, a broken arm, a concussion and lots of bruising. But he would live through all that. He's a soldier, so he's had stuff like this happen to him before. What I'm worried about is his infection rate. I don't know how long the stasis will fend it off, but hopefully it will be until I can find some way to cure him. I know I'm close!" She vehemently believed that she could cure Reaper, and that the only reason she hadn't found a way to so far was because they were trapped in this building instead of executing their plan.

Kayla handed Sam a bowl of the chili as she leaned back to eat her own food.

Kayla wasn't about to let the first person who had ever complimented her cooking know that it had been a complete accident and that Kayla had had no idea what she was doing. So Kayla muttered and embarrassed 'thank you' as she continued to eat.

"Oh, and thanks for what you did back there. Saving us, and getting our things back. We really couldn't have done it without all your help." Kayla chose not to mentioned Sam's singing and skull bashing at the moment. If it made the girl happy, then all the power to her.