“I bet you got a lot of zombies,” Max said, proudly.

I had sheltered him far too much, and he never developed an appropriate fear of zombies. He didn’t enjoy being around them, but he mistakenly believed that I could take on anything, so he always got a kick out of watching me fight with them.

“Yep, I did,” I laughed, wiping at my cheeks to keep the tears from falling. “And I even found a lion.”

“A lion?” His eyes widened.

“Yeah, she’s here, and you’d love her,” I said. “Maybe you can come out and meet her.”

“Oh, I can’t do that.” His face fell, and he looked down. “I can’t leave.

“Of course you can leave.”

“The doctors told me not to. They said I needed to stay here,” Max said.

“What is going on here?” I asked, forcing a smile. I tried to keep my tone light and curious, so he wouldn’t get upset. “What are these tubes?”

“I’m helping save the world,” Max smiled. I took a deep breath to keep from sobbing, and he misunderstood. “But I’ll be okay, Remy! They’re doing all this stuff, but I’ll be just fine! You don’t have to worry about me!”

“I know I don’t have to worry.” I squeezed his small hand. “You’ve always been so tough and brave.”

“They’re taking care of me, Remy. Honest,” Max tried to reassure me.

“Yes, I can see that.” I swallowed hard.

The door behind me opened. Adrenaline surged through me, and I instantly stopped crying. A tall man with dark slicked back hair and blue scrubs stood in the doorway. He narrowed his eyes at me, and I stood up, preparing to fight to get Max out of here.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Dr. Daniels, this is my sister, Remy!” Max announced as cheerily as he could manage in his weakened condition. “Remy, this is the doctor who’s taking care of me.”

I glanced back at Max, disturbed and confused to find that he liked this man. I really wanted to punch the doctor, but I probably shouldn’t do that in front of Max. He’d seen enough death and violence.

“How did you get in here?” Daniels asked, and he relaxed a bit after Max made our introductions. He even let the door shut behind him.

“It doesn’t matter,” I shrugged. “What the hell are you doing here? What are you doing to my little brother?”

“You’re aware of his condition?” Daniels tilted his head uncertainly at me.

“I know he’s not sick,” I said carefully. “He’s the opposite of sick, but he looks very ill. What are you doing to make him look like that?”

“I’m helping the world!” Max protested.

“You don’t need to help the world! You need to be a little kid,” I told him gently. “You need to leave with me.”

“Max, wait!” Daniels held up his hand, but Max hadn’t made a move to go anywhere. “All the people in the world are very, very sick. You’ve seen what it does to people, haven’t you? Like your parents? You can stop that. You can save them. Your blood is the cure.”

“This isn’t his responsibility!” I stepped in front of Max, blocking him from Daniels. “And you don’t know that! There isn’t a cure yet! You may never find the cure, and Max might not hold the answer!”

“But he could! He does!” Daniels insisted.

“I don’t care!” I snapped. “You’re making him sick! He wasn’t this bad before. When they did tests on him in the old quarantine, he never looked like this!”

“They weren’t going fast enough,” Daniels said. “By the time they found a cure, everyone would be dead. He could save the entire human race!”

“How can he save the world if he’s dead?” I looked back at Max. His eyes were wide and glassy, and I’m not sure how much of the conversation he followed.

“If we don’t find the cure soon, there won’t be a world left to save,” Daniels said. “The zombies are getting smarter. They’re working together and tracking humans. It won’t be long before they find a way to kill everyone.”

“So your solution is to kill the only kid with a cure?” I asked skeptically.

“We’re not trying to, but we need to get everything now,” Daniels explained as reasonably as he could. “We’re getting all this genetic material before that happens.”

“So… you know it’s going to happen? You’re planning on it?” I actually started shaking with rage and clenched my fists. They were killing him, and they knew it, and they didn’t care.

“Do you think that everyone in the whole world should die so one kid doesn’t suffer?” Daniels looked at me skeptically. “That’s your argument?”

“Pretty much.” I walked over to Max to start undoing his IV. “He can’t live like this. I won’t let him.”

“You can’t take him.” Daniels pushed a button by the door, presumably calling for help.

I knew he was right. No matter how badly I wanted to, I couldn’t just take my brother out of an armed building. Not on my own.

“Max,” I crouched down in front of him, putting my hands on his knees. “I promise I will get you out of here.”

“But if I can save people, I should,” Max said.