Dr. Nix sighed, "Mr. President, it's not been confirmed yet; we don't know for sure what bit Maddy, but we are currently running some tests on her to discover more about her infected bite."
The president shook his head. "Don't play games with me, Dr. Nix. This isn't just a matter concerning the school; it's a matter that affects the whole country, and I need you to be straight with me." He stopped talking and looked around the room.
"Do you really think I don't know anything that's going on? You tell me it's not a zombie bite, yet, a video of how the infected girl almost bit my son is trending on the Internet," The president raised a brow at Dr. Nix.
Dr. Nix frowned, her eyes finding Tate and Ray in silent questioning.
"Mr. President, I'm sorry about that; it was careless of one of our students to post such videos online; we deeply apologize for the problems it's caused you," Dr. Nix apologized.
"And if the video wasn't posted, would I have been informed that my son was almost eaten by a Zombie?" The president questioned; his voice was calm, but his face bore serious anger.
Dr. Nix sighed, "I apologize again, Mr. President. I promise you, I and the whole medical team," She paused and pointed behind her to all the doctors and nurses beside Maddy's bed, "are finding a way to cure her, and hopefully, we hope the infection isn't contagious."
The president nodded, "Where's my son?" He asked.
"He's in the private ward, Mr. President," Ama replied.
"Don't you think it's dangerous leaving him alone in such a dangerous time and atmosphere? Is that how you protect your students?" The president moved to the corner where Tate and Ray were standing.
"And, where were the securities when these young men were trying to stop the infected girl with their wounded bodies?" The president slowly scanned his eyes around the room.
A male doctor came forward and bowed to the president, "We're sorry, Mr. President, the security team was alerted quite late, but right now, they've secured all around the perimeters and have all the students back to their dormitories, it won't happen again," The doctor explained.
"Your apologies are not what the country needs at this moment, Dr. Ren; what they need is a solution, and it better come fast, before they realize what has happened. I'm sure you know what that means. Your school will be responsible for turning the country into a dystopian, that is not what I want for my country. Do you understand?" He asked sternly.
Dr. Ren nodded, "Yes, Mr. President,"
He bowed one more time and walked toward Tate.
"Bring my son to me, Ama," The president ordered.
"He's already on his way, Mr. President," Ama responded.
Dr. Ren met Tate and lowered himself in front of him, "Let me see your wound, Tate," He carefully rolled Tates trousers on the leg he was wounded.
However, when he looked at the leg, a deep frown marked his face.
Tate saw him frowning and immediately looked down at his leg, and that was when he realized that the bone-crippling pain in his leg was gone; he must have been too immersed listening in to the President talk with the doctors to realize when that happened.
"What?" Tate asked in utter shock.
Ray quickly squatted beside Dr. Ren and looked at Tate's leg, and truly, he too, was shocked out of his skin.
"Tate, what happened?" Ray asked.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a gash of wound on your leg?" Dr. Ren questioned, puzzled as he kept staring at Tate's leg.
Dr. Nix Immediately came through when she heard what they were saying, and as she reached and saw Tate's leg, she was dumbfounded.
His leg was as good as new, not even a single scratch.
"How's this possible?" She whispered.
Tate looked at Ray, both of them searching for the answer to this mystery in each other's eyes.
"Ray..." Cathy suddenly spoke, slowly sitting up in bed.
The nurse beside her suddenly held her shoulder to prevent her from sitting up, "Easy, Cathy, you just had a head injury, you have to rest a lot so you can heal faster," The nurse gently reminded.
Cathy shook her head and raised her hand to her head. "It's so tight," She made to remove the badge around her head but the nurse stopped her again.
"No, please, you can't do that," The nurse pleaded.
"Her elbow," Tate said, drawing everyone's attention.
"Tate, are you okay?" Cathy asked in concern as she suddenly heard Tate's voice.
Tate stood and slowly walked toward Cathy; Ray walked behind him, and the nurses and doctors stared at them to see what they wanted to do.
Cathy was staring at her elbow as Tate had mentioned, but she didn't understand why he did.
They reached her side and Tate took hold of her arm. "Do you see it? Just like my leg," He showed her elbow to Ray.
Ray suddenly understood what Tate was talking about, "No way... Cathy, do you remember getting hit by the bus?" Ray asked slowly.
Cathy slowly nodded, "Yes, Gordon hit me when we were crossing the road to get away from that wolf," She replied correctly.
The president suddenly walked toward her bed. "You were chased by a wolf too?" He questioned with a frown.
"Yes, Mr. President," Cathy affirmed.
The president went quiet, his face mirroring his thoughts.
"But my wound..." Cathy stared at her elbow again, "It's gone," She smiled.
"And my head doesn't hurt anymore either," She touched her head and gently tried to remove the bandage.
"Let me help you," Ray offered and moved behind her to carefully unwrap the bandage.
And to everyone's surprise, there was no longer a cut or a bleeding.
"This is impossible," Dr. Nix muttered and walked toward Cathy, examining her body to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
She then turned toward Maddy's bed and frowned deeper, "She too, she's back to normal, those beastly features have all receded. She looks absolutely human now," She explained.
"And, do you still maintain, that this isn't something to panic about, Dr. Nix?" The president asked.
Dr. Nix was worried, what did all this mean?
"We shall look into it, Mr. President," She replied, sensing that something more dangerous and complicated might arise from this situation.
"Something's not right, Dr. Nix," Ama spoke up, staring at the three friends.
Dr. Nix nodded, "Yes, Ama, we all know that," She replied without looking away from Maddy.
Ama shook her head and walked toward Tate, "No, Dr. Nix, you're misunderstanding me, I'm not talking about the general situation," She kept staring at the three friends.
Tate noticed her intense stare and frowned, he looked around and saw that everyone was now looking at them. What was Ama talking about?
Dr. Nix sighed and turned away from Maddy, "Then just go ahead and tell us all what you have to say, we're already tensed up as it is, Ama," She looked frustrated already.
The situation was like nothing she'd seen. She didn't even know how to go about it, but she knew she had to do something; the president was already involved, and stepping back was not an option, she couldn't abandon the school in such a dire situation.
"I'm talking about their scratch marks, Dr. Nix, their gory wounds healed, but a scratch doesn't..." Ama answered, pouting at Ray.
"What scratch marks are you talking about?" He questioned with a frown.
"And, it's all the same, exactly at the same place, the same shape," She paused and moved closer to Tate and touched him behind his ear, just at the side of his neck.
"Ashh!" Tate winced and stepped away from her.
"You see?" Ama raised her finger to show everyone the blood stains on her finger.
"They all have an identical scratch mark behind their ear. It's mysterious how huge wounds could heal faster, and a little scratch remained, and from the looks of it, it's very painful too," Ama narrated.
Cathy and Ray raised their hands to the back of their ears, and as Ama stated, they winced from pain and retrieved their hands; like Ama's fingers, there were bloodstains in their fingers too.
The three friends exchanged a worried and confused look.
"When did we get scratched behind the ear?" Tate asked.
Ray shook his head, "I'm sure the wolf didn't get close enough to us to scratch us," Ray reasoned.
Cathy nodded, "I don't have an idea either," She said.
Dr. Nix decided to tackle one problem at a time instead of standing and thinking.
She moved toward Tate and tapped his shoulder, "Please sit, let me take a look at the scratch wound,"
Tate complied by lowering himself beside Cathy on her bed.
He turned his head to the side to allow her to see the scratch wound better.
"You said the wolf that chased you didn't get close enough to scratch you guys, but looking at this scratch, it most certainly looks like a wolf's scratch," Dr. Nix examined with sharp observant eyes.
She stared at it for some time before she turned her head to look at Dr. Ren.
"Ren, please, take them with you; get me a clean result of DNA analysis, bacterial culture, and viral testing, make sure there are no errors," She ordered.
Dr. Ren nodded, "Yes, Chief. Tate, bring your friends with me, please."
Tate and his friends were ready to leave the room when Dr. Nix called Dr. Ren back.
"Yes, Dr. Nix," Dr. Ren replied.
"Please run those tests on this too, I collected Maddy's blood sample the moment she was brought back in," She explained.
"Alright, Chief," Dr. Ren replied.
"Wait!" Ama called to Dr. Ren again.
"Yes, Ama, want me to help you with anything?" He questioned calmly.
"It's not just the four friends who need testing," Ama replied, her face looking extremely worried.
"What do you mean?" Tate and Dr. Ren asked at the same time.
"I think Dr. Nix got the same scratch too," Ama informed.
Some nurses could be heard gasping loudly at the side, but their shock didn't mirror the one on Dr. Nix's face, hers was immeasurable.
Dr. Nix Immediately reached her hand behind her ear and winced; she could already feel the sticky warm liquid in her fingers before she saw the bloodstains.
"No, no way...how's this possible?" She asked with a shaky voice, fearing the unknown.
Tate suddenly remembered something: the four of them were the people who Maddy had gripped around their necks when she was beastifying; he was sure they got these scratches from those claws.
"I think we've been scratched by Maddy..." Tate informed the tense room.
Dr. Nix shook her head, "Oh no, this isn't happening," She whispered.
"That means, one more person bears this scratch," Ray said quietly, looking at Tate, and the both of them slowly turned to look at the president.
"Cole bears the scratch too," Tate announced in a foreboding tone.l