The Digital Dead (Hana)

Adrian had a point, and Rush knew it. Keeping Data's fate from Hana was not a good idea, and would likely prove flat-out impossible if they happen to come across his zombified form. That didn't mean Rush had to tell her right this moment, as he needed to figure out the best way to do so. "I'll... tell her in the morning about Data."

Well, at least this conversation helped Rush feel a little better about what he did to MarineDevimon, which was better than nothing.

The journal that Adrian was reading would turn out to be a hand-written "apocalypse log" written by a Scopemon villager as he described his experiences from day 1 of the outbreak. The Scopemon had managed to hold out on his own for a while as the infection quickly spread, but was ultimately infected and locked himself in his attic before attempting to end his own life to avoid becoming a zombie himself. Judging from a broken window in the attic Kaito found the journal in, with a blood trail leading up to the hole, it would seem that the Scopemon had failed and became one of the undead after all.

After blocking the broken window with a bookcase, Kaito grabbed the Scopemon's rifle and stockpiled ammunition, having been left behind as the zombie made its escape. Kaito then barricaded the attic door just to be sure nothing would get in so easily. Returning downstairs with the weapon and ammo, the ninja had a somber look on his face. "This was all that I could find upstairs. I don't think its owner is going to come back for it."

Meanwhile, Rush was sitting next to Hana as he let his thoughts wander to the situation they were in. Maybe if we had an actual doctor here, things wouldn't be so dire and they wouldn't have lost Data and Shoutmon. Wait a minute...

Rush quickly jumped to his feet with a gasp as he had an idea, quickly turning to Hana and poking her face to wake her up. "Mom, wake up! I think I know something that could help us!"

"Wha...?" Hana groggily asked, her brain not fully awake yet. She grabbed her glasses and put them on before focusing on Rush again. "What are you talking about?"

Regarding the rifle and ammo Kaito grabbed from the attic, Kaito simply shrugged his shoulders. "I should be able to use it if no one else can, but I primarily grabbed it in case you wished to try and use it to defend yourself. Hana... is too small to handle the recoil of a weapon like this, but you might be able to handle it better."

As Rush prepared to share his revelation, he wasn't expecting Adrian to wake Gem up for what he wanted to tell Hana, but that wasn't important. "Okay, so I was thinking about how if we had a doctor with us, they might be able to help us figure out a way to deal with this zombie stuff and help Data and Mr. Shoutmon, and I realized that there IS a doctor we could ask! Biomon's good at medical stuff, so if I Armor Digivolve into him, he might be able to help! His medical abilities could potentially be able to cure the virus!"

Hana stared at her partner/adopted son for a moment as the gears turned in her head, before groaning and repeatedly hitting herself on the head. "Aaauuugh! How did we not think of that sooner!"

After a few minutes of berating herself, Hana took a deep breath before pulling out her digivice. "Well, we have no other ideas, so screw it! Give us your best shot, Biomon! Digi-armor energize!"

As the Digimental of Miracles did its work on Rush, the newly-formed Biomon quickly got to work. Since most Digimon usually had an instinctual understanding of their own abilities, Biom went over all of his techniques in his head, one by one. [Booster Shot]? No. [Regeneration Serum]? Closer, but not good enough.

[Aesculapius]. Yes, that might work, although...

"Hm, I do have one ability that might work to help our infected comrades. My Aesculapius ability is a potent healing ability that can heal just about any wound with a special serum injection. It can even revive the dead if there's a relatively intact body remaining." Biomon explained as he flexed his syringe-like fingers. "Normally, that function won't work for Digimon, who disintegrate into data upon death, but since this virus leaves the infected's body behind even if killed, it might be able to work in this case. There is... one problem, though."

Biomon paused for a moment, his hands clenching as he struggled to keep himself together. "I can only create a single dose of the serum. We can try to save Shoutmon, or we can try to save my brother. I cannot use it on them both, so we have to pick one."

It was only at that point that Hana's brain finally caught what Rush had revealed, her face falling at the revelation that he knew Data had been infected and likely turned by now. She figured that was likely what happened, but it still hurt to have it confirmed to her face. "Oh... oh, god."

Secretly, Rush was grateful that he wouldn't have to make the sadistic choice of who to save from the virus. Well, at least not yet. However, there was a bigger issue to worry about at the moment. Specifically, the zombie horde Rush's armor digivolution had accidentally attracted.

"Head upstairs, quickly!" Kaito exclaimed as he pulled out his Mantis Arms. "There is a window in the attic we might be able to use to escape."

The Tuwarmon quickly led the group upstairs, where he and Rush quickly unblocked the attic door so the others could get inside. As the group headed inside, Kaito noticed Sakura hanging back instead of going through the door. "Sakura, what are you doing? We have to go!"

"Nah, someone's going to have to keep these things busy so you guys can get away." Sakura retorted with a small, sad smile on her face. "Rush is too valuable to risk right now and a ninja like you can't fight as well in confined spaces, so just let me do this for you guys."

Kaito was about to argue, but Sakura interrupted him by shoving him through the door and blocking it off again with the bookcase. With the door blocked, Sakura turned back towards the stairwell as she heard the sounds of the horde breaking down the front door. 

Ah, well. They're already here, so no point in holding back! Sakura thought to herself as she quickly digivolved into BanchoLillymon. She quickly cracked her knuckles as she brought out her yo-yos and slowly walked towards the incoming zombies. The Bancho quickly got to work, knocking away the zombies with her yo-yos whith a smug lsmirk on her face. "Sorry, losers. You guys are gonna have to work for your next meal, assuming you can even get close to me!"

As Stone's shadowy form emerged and busted his way out of the attic, Hana, Rush, and Kaito were utterly confused by what just happened. Unlike Sakura, the three of them had never encountered Stone before, and had no idea why Adrian was freaked out by his appearance.

Out of the three, Hana was the only willing to express her confusion on the matter. "What the heck just happened?"

Meanwhile, as Sakura continued holding back the zombies, the undead Shoutmon managed to sneak past her defenses and leap at her. Sakura tried to bring up her yo-yos to knock him away, but hesitated  as she had trouble bringing herself to attack her fallen friend. Just when it looked like Sakura was about to become zombie-chow, Stone's shadowy form managed to save her sending the undead Shoutmon flying down the stairs like the other zombies.

The BanchoLillymon had mixed feelings about being saved by Gem's darker half of all poeple, but she didn't have a chance to voice those feelings. Stone quickly told her to go cure Shoutmon, and that he had a feeling that they'd need to check out the nearby forest to solve the zombie issue before releasing control back to a confused Gem.

Not needing to be told twice,Sakura quickly used her yo-yos to tie up the infected Shoutmon, binding his limbs and jaws shut with the viney strings. Not the most elegant way to restrain him, but it should hold him. Once the zombie was restrained, Sakura quickly picked up the infected Shoutmon with one arm (careful to avoid his jaws and claws) and grabbed Gem with the other and ran upstairs. "No time to argue, we need to go!"

Once upstairs, Sakura quickly passed Gem over to Adrian and set the bound Shoutmon zombie on the floor next to Biomon. "Well, our dark friend apparently feels that we might find the source of the outbreak in the woods. Not sure how he'd know that, but we don't exactly have any other leads at the moment. Now, let's go!"

Since the attic window was too high up for a human to safely reach the ground, Kaito actually scooped Hana up into a princess carry as he leapt down. Behind them, Rush reached out to pick up the bound Shoutmon, only to feeze mere inches away as he looked at his own hands. Realizing the opportunity he had here, Rush knew what he should do.

"Screw it. I don't care if you hate me for this, but you can't stop me." Rush said as he stabbed his syringe-like fingers into Shoutmons sides. In mere moments, a mix of green and purple liquids flowed through the needles into the infected dragon's body, where the serum mix quickly got to work in combatting the virus ravaging his body.

---

-Aesculapius: Once per thread, Biomon can inject a fallen ally with the needles on both hands to deliver a uniques serum blend that completely restores them to full health even if they were on the brink of death. Can even revive a human from death if administered quickly enough, but cannot revive a dead Digimon due to the fact Digimon don't leave corpses. Mega-level allies are only healed to 25% health, and Super Mega allies are only revived with a tiny sliver of health. This ability requires Biomon to have at least one intact syringe needle on each hand in order to work.

It would seem that in the group's rush to escape from the attic, there had been a significant issue that needed to be resolved. Namely, the fact that Adrian and Gem had no way to get down safely.

"Relax, I've got you." Sakura said, quickly floating up to carry Adrian down to solid ground with the others.

Meanwhile, Rush kept a close eye on Shoutmon's condition as his treatment did its work. the green veins were slowly retreating back to the bite on his arm.

"The infection is slowly retreating, so I believe it to be working. However, it will take time for the medicine to do its work." the Biomon rattled off to Gem when the Gammamon came over to check up on his dad. "I would recommend not getting too close for now, though. There's no telling if he'll still be infectious or not."

Rush would keep a watchful eye on Shoutmon, carrying him in his arms as the group headed towards the forest on Stone's instruction. It was an odd lead, but was hardly the weirdest thing Hana and Co. had encountered on their travels.

As the group made their way deeper into the forest, Rush, Kaito, and Sakura were able to feel the unsettling digital signal as well. Kaito made sure to stay close to Hana, while Sakura was silently hoping that Shoutmon would wake up soon, so she could take her yo-yos back.

Luckily, her wish would be granted as Shoutmon managed to wake up shortly after, with his mental faculties restored as opposed to being a mindless zombie. The fact that there were still visible veins around Shoutmon’s bite mark was mildly concerning, seeing as it meant that the virus wasn’t fully eradicated like Rush feared. Rush was slightly annoyed by Gem tackle-hugging Shoutmon out of his hands (against his own warning that the Gammamon’s father could still be infectious), but kept his mouth shut so that the duo could enjoy their reunion.

When the red dragon asked why Rush used his only dose of medicine on him, there was only one way the Biomon could respond. “I wouldn’t waste my only dose on someone I didn’t trust, and out of the two of us who have been infected, you are the only one we’ve come across. Logically, that made you the only choice to use it on, although it seems that even my best effort wasn’t enough to fully eradicate the virus in your system. I have no idea if the serum has restored your mind by truly turning you into a carrier, or if this is merely a temporary recovery.”

Rush didn’t say who the second infected person was, but Shoutmon would be able to easily connect the dots by seeing who wasn’t with the group. Meanwhile, Sakura decided to untie Shoutmon so she could take her yo-yos back. “Sorry about tying you up, dude. I had to restrain you while Rush did his thing, and we thought it was best to make sure the medicine worked before freeing you.”