Designated (Book 1): Designated Infected by Ricky Cooper

The
heart-shaped, blue eyed face staring out of it looked a million miles
away from the haggard and black ringed visage that faced Fadei now.
His hands went weak as he stared at the woman before him, the weapon,
once so fiercely grasped in the unyielding grip of a warrior cast
from the molten fires of the battlefield, now hung dancing from the
cables of its sling. Hot, barbed tears of loathing and despair clawed
at the backs of his eyes as he stared into a face he had not seen in
a very long time.
    'Anna?'
    His voice was chaste almost childlike as her name left
his cold bitten lips; her deep blue hues locked on to his as he gazed
down at her.
    'It's Anastasia. Doctor Anastasia Stanislova.'
    Fadei stared at her, bitter tears threatening to burst
forth, as images fell in torrents, cascading through his mind as he
fought desperately not to think of the last time he'd seen the woman
in front of him.
    'I...I am sorry.'
    Rage billowed in her eyes as she
stared up at him. Her face darkened as she quickly dragged the right
wheel, spinning the chair as she began to roll away rapidly. 'It is
far too late for that Fadei. Far, far too late; what do you want?'
    Fadei stuttered as he tried to articulate his reasons
for being there.
    'The pathogen.'
    She grabbed the tyres with both hands, the front wheels
rising off the decking as she stopped the forward momentum of her
chair. 'Which one?' The words came out of her in a harsh whisper as
she turned her head and gazed over her shoulder at Fadei standing
cradling his weapon.
    'You know which one Anna... sorry, Anastasia.'
    She sagged in the chair as she slowly turned to face
Fadei. 'I tried to warn them; I really tried to warn them.'
    She pushed her hands across the wheels, rolling back
towards her work station. She picked up the microscope as she rolled
by planting the heavy lump of cold steel and plastic next to the
computer. Plugging it into the side of it, an image of a swirling
blood sample bloomed on her monitor a second later. Picking up the
mouse she clicked and dragged a box across the screen zooming in on
that sector of the image.
    'You see here, this sample is my own blood the
Erythrocytes or red blood cells are uniform in size and shape. The
Platelets or Thrombocytes and Leukocytes or white blood cells are all
normal; as well as the level of Thrombocytes which in my case is
three hundred thousand.'
    Clicking on the edge of the screen she pulled up another
image. 'This is a sample of Infected blood drawn from a patient.'
The last word left her mouth in a stilted half whisper, the look in
her eyes and turn of her lips showing clearly what she thought of the
“Patient.” 'As you can see from this, the Thrombocytes,
Erythrocytes and Leukocytes are all of a disproportionate size and
mass to regular examples of cellular structure. The same applies to
the haemoglobin in the Erythrocytes and levels of Thrombocytes are
six times the highest normal level.'
    Fadei's brows furrowed, as he stared at the moving swarm
of cells on the screen. Leaning in, he pointed to the doughnut shaped
Erythrocytes. 'What are these black pieces on the edges? They look
like octopus tentacles.'
    Anastasia leaned in and shrugged. 'Honestly, I have no
idea. I have been studying these for over a year now and I have
absolutely no idea what they are. It could be parasitic larvae, it
could be a base level mutation of the cell walls, I honestly have no
clue. In over three hundred samples I have been through, they are the
only thing that has been remotely similar, although even they have
varied in shape, size and quantity.' She threw her hands up in the
air as she leaned back heavily into her chair and ran her fingers
through her hair, scratching at her scalp.
    'Show me.' Anastasia gave Fadei a sceptical glance but
brought up another digitally recorded sample. Fadei leaned in,
resting his hands on the desk as his rifle dangled off its sling and
thumped gently against Anastasia’s chair. 'Will you move that
please; it's