Asclepias
“Come on! Quickly!” Evie shouted to Hana from the helicopter. Hana clambered in and sat herself down next to Charlotte. The woman didn’t acknowledge her, and continued to stare out of the window. Evie was talking to the pilot in the front seat.
“My father gave me a map!” Hana shouted over the noise of the blades. “You know where we’re headed?”
“Basically!” The pilot shouted back. “I know how to get to Mexico but Sartre’s place...”
“It’s fine! I’ll tell you when we get over the border!” Hana sat back in her seat and turned her mic off. This was gonna be an interesting journey.
***
A few hours later and they finally arrived in Mexico. Evie watched as Hana stumbled out of the helicopter. She had her hand on her chest, as if she was gonna be sick. Charlotte followed her out, and Evie dragged Ainsley off.
“Now what?” The grumpy diagnostician asked.
“We need to search this place, thoroughly,” Evie looked at the house. Plants and flowers had grown up and across the walls. The little patio area looked as if it would break if someone stepped on it.
“Be careful. If you fall the CIFM and your parents will sue me,” Ainsley said with a small smile.
“My father gave me a layout map for Sartre’s place, remember?” Hana interrupted. “Charl, if you take the laboratory area? Dr. Stiles, Ms Handcroft...would you mind checking out the office? I’ll run some tests on the flowers and remaining samples.”
They nodded, and got to work. Ainsley carefully put pressure on the patio, testing the wood to see if it would hold out. When it did, she stepped on and walked forward. She opened the door and it creaked loudly. The four women spilled into the main room.
“Okay, so the lab is over there-” Hana pointed to where some vines were covering metal lab equipment. “I can leave you two to sort out the office?”
Evie nodded. “We’ll be fine. Go and start testing, Dr. Müller.”
***
Evie looked out of the window at the sky as the sun began to set. She hadn’t realised that they’d all been here for so long. The butterflies were glowing a soft gold, creating a path through the mountains.
“It’s beautiful, huh?” Ainsley wandered over and wrapped her arm around Evie’s waist.
“Ja. Much better than the city skyline.”
“Wouldn’t mind moving somewhere like here, you know?”
“Mm, but we can’t. Work.”
Ainsley let go of Evie, sighing. “Yeah, I know.”
“Guys? I think I got something!” Evie looked at Ainsley.
“Dr. Müller wasn’t kidding, she’s got a good eye.” She turned away from the window and headed over to where Charlotte was. The woman was bent over a desk, some flowers piled at her feet.
“What did you find?” Evie asked. “Flowers?”
“Wh-no! Here, I found this,” Charlotte passed Evie a sheet of paper. “Turns out Sartre was actually close to a cure, and theorised that a ‘Post-Rosalia’ could and would exist, were an outbreak ever to happen.”
“So if we use this-?”
“Yeah, we can get a better treatment!”
At that moment, Hana ran in. “So I know where a Rosalia died. You know the flowers? Asclepias?” The other women nodded. “They were infected. And they built up a natural cure to it. That means that they also would have Post-Rosalia. So, if we can get samples and send them to Caduceus they can probably extract it and get something!”
“That’s actually what I was theorising,” Charlotte said. “Have a look at that thesis.” She took the paper from Evie and passed it to Hana, who skimmed over it.
“This...makes some sense. He was clearly going mad when he wrote it but some of it makes sense.”
“Yeah, there were loads of others but I think he’d lost it by that point. They’re illegible.”
“Right,” Evie spoke up. “We need samples of the flowers. Dr. Müller, Ains, can you do that?“
“Yep,” Ainsley took Hana’s arm and pulled her out. Evie looked at Charlotte.
“Is there anything else you found?” The woman shook her head. “We’re going to save him, Charlotte. It’ll be okay.”
“We can only hope,” Charlotte said.
“You have to try and be optimistic,” Evie leant against one of the pieces of labs equipment. Something resembling a fume hood, she noted.
“Oh yeah, that’s real easy for you to say. What’s the worst that happened to you, hm? Ever had your younger brother in hospital?”
“I...” Evie tailed off, a bad memory coming back to her. “I do not have to share that information with you.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Charlotte scoffed, and turned back to the papers. My younger brother was in hospital... Evie said silently. He was going through an awful time. He found it hard to cope. So yeah, I know what it’s like but maybe in a different way...
“Dr. Blaylock-Vaughn, I understand that you are worried for your brother but that does not mean you can take it out on others. We are trying to do our job, ja?”
Charlotte sighed. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Evie’s eyes softened as she saw the exhaustion in the younger woman’s eyes. “Pick up those papers, and we can go back to the copter. The other two will get back eventually.”
Charlotte nodded and picked up the papers, walking out. Evie watched as the dark head disappeared around the door. Poor woman. Having to search for a cure for an epidemic, but also a cure for her brother. Evie couldn’t imagine what it was like. She sighed, closing her eyes. When she opened them, her gaze was cold. She put up her mask: the ‘everything is okay. I am not having an onslaught of bad memories and I am not going to have a panic attack’ mask. The one that made no one worry. The one she had seen her mother put on countless times, to preserve her reputation. Yes, it wasn’t healthy, but it was the only way she knew. Evie raised her chin slightly and marched out of Sartre’s house. She caught up with Ainsley and Hana, who were heading back to the helicopter.
“You get the samples?” Evie asked as she jogged to them. Hana held up a bag in reply.
“Yep. Ready to go?”
“Yes.” Evie glanced at the house one more time before getting on the helicopter.
“Let’s get this show on the road!” Ainsley said, grinning and starting up the helicopter. Evie smiled back to her. They’d deliver the samples to Caduceus and get a cure for Post-Rosalia. It was finally nearly over.