Tristan laid Dr. Curtiss down while the others were still stunned by what had happened.
Apparently, whatever was in the food was more poisonous than they thought, for even when they looked closely, they could see Dr. Curtiss's body shaking slightly.
"What do we do now?" asked Arlan when he saw that none of them had anything to say.
Laurel stood with her arms crossed and a complicated look on her face.
"…We have to go out and get food"
No one disagreed with Laurel, but none of the military really wanted to go out. Not after everything they had seen so far.
Tristan, as the military man in charge, was the one who had the final say. So, after several minutes of silence in which he considered his options, he sighed and suggested:
"First thing tomorrow morning we will leave for the Alpha bunker"
They were currently in the Beta bunker, and there were a total of 4 bunkers on the entire island. Counting the Beta Bunker, there was also the Alpha bunker, the Charlie bunker and finally the most important research bunker on the island and the one closest to the volcano, the Deus bunker.
According to its location, the Alpha bunker was the closest, followed by the Deus bunker, since the Charlie was on the other side of the island, beyond the big volcano.
It was the most feasible plan, if it weren't for one simple, but huge problem.
"But if our food is infected, theirs will be too, right?" asked Arlan, noticing the flaw in the plan.
As much as they were from the same military group and knew each other. When food was scarce, survival was more important than relationships.
Tristan had already thought about this possibility and still decided to go through with the plan.
"I know, but as far as we know, we're the only ones left on the island"
Tristan paused for a moment to think about his next words.
"If we find that the bunker is empty, we will celebrate and eat. If not... we'll think about it when the time comes"
At that moment they heard a strange noise, and all turned to see Dr. Curtiss sitting on the couch where they had left him.
The man was massaging his neck with considerable relief, as if nothing had happened. But something had changed in the man, he looked different...he looked rejuvenated.
There was no doubt that he was the same Dr. Curtiss as before. His hair was still white, but the wrinkles in his face seemed to have softened, and there was a slight sparkle of youth in his eyes.
"Dr. Curtiss! how are you feeling?!" asked Tristan with obvious concern.
The doctor frowned and pushed Tristan away.
"You don't have to yell at me, I can hear you fine"
Dr. Curtiss got up from the couch and began to stretch his arms as if warming up before a workout.
"In answer to your question, I can say that I haven't felt this good in years...no, I've never felt like this before"
The old man stopped stretching and walked over to the table before taking the can of food he had tasted earlier and leaving without another word, leaving everyone stunned.
Arlan was the first to recover from the surprise.
"What was in the can, steroids?"
Tristan shook his head and quickly turned to his men.
"Increase surveillance on the warehouse, I'll keep an eye on the doctor" he ordered before leaving the room without even saying goodbye.
The other soldiers also left the room to carry out their orders, leaving Arlan and Laurel together.
"..."
Neither knew what to say for a few moments before Laurel looked at Arlan.
"Rest for today, focus on getting better and I'll call you later if I need anything"
Laurel didn't wait for Arlan's answer and left the room as well, leaving him all alone.
What just happened?
From the old man falling unconscious only to wake up minutes later completely healthy and even better than before.
Arlan decided not to pay much attention to him, it was obvious that the man had gone to study the food and himself. So, he would soon have news on the subject.
Instead, Arlan heeded Laurel's words and went to his bed to rest.
His arm was still broken, which prevented him from doing any physical work, and his chest sometimes hurt when he made sudden movements. Still, Arlan was slowly but surely recovering from his injuries.
When he reached his bed, Arlan lay down and looked up at the ceiling. He really didn't like being in the common area, the atmosphere was still rather gloomy and knowing that his food reserves were running low, it was only a matter of time before decisions had to be made.
Decisions that would be difficult.
But Arlan wouldn't be the one to make those decisions. Tristan and Laurel were the ones in charge of the bunker, they were the top leaders of the place.
Arlan, on the other hand, was just a 17-year-old kid who was treated well only because of his position as a Fisher. If it weren't for that, they probably wouldn't have shared any information with Arlan.
Arlan settled into his bed and closed his eyes.
He had only just woken up, but with nothing to do, he decided to sleep and rest better.
The next morning, before the usual breakfast time when everyone got up and with the first sign of the sun. A group of 10 soldiers left the bunker in search of food and headed for the Alpha bunker.
However, when the time came for everyone to wake up, many people remained in their beds, sleeping peacefully.
At first, they thought they were just sleeping, but when they saw that time was passing and they were not waking up, they went to check on them. Only to find that another 20 people had died sometime during the night.