TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 255: Crane’s Final Experiment (Patreon)

Luke undid the buttons of his coat.

He slowly made his way toward Ada. She caught sight of him from the corner of her eye and frowned slightly, but didn't stop him.

Still, her shoulders trembled ever so faintly. She had taken quite a bold chance with her outfit today.

This bastard... he really couldn't control himself. She was in the middle of a call!

What followed was naturally another intimate encounter.

The atmosphere in the office quickly heated up.

While the two were otherwise occupied, neither of them expected the office door to suddenly swing open without warning.

"Luke! I have..."

It clearly wasn't Claire this time.

Claire had already learned her lesson.

It was Rebecca.

The scientist who normally spent all her time in the laboratory, living on instant noodles and beer, walked straight in without even knocking, carrying a stack of experimental reports.

The moment she saw what was happening inside, Rebecca stopped dead in her tracks.

"Wow!"

She let out an exclamation of unclear meaning.

Ada reacted instantly, snatching Luke's shirt and covering herself with it. She moved quickly, but Rebecca had still seen everything. Claire had at least covered her face last time. Rebecca didn't even blink.

Ada looked up and glared at her irritably.

"Rebecca, have you seen enough?"

Rebecca's cheeks reddened slightly.

Seeing Ada like this had genuinely caught her off guard. As for Luke... well, that explained a few things.

Rebecca and Ada had known each other since the apocalypse began. In Rebecca's mind, Ada had always been cold, aloof, and impossible to approach, like an iceberg covered in frost year-round.

She never would have imagined that, in private, that iceberg could be so... uninhibited.

Rebecca pushed up her glasses. "Tsk, tsk. I could look at this all day!"

Luke nearly lost his footing.

Was Rebecca really this shameless in private?

Then again, she was a biologist.

"Too bad I can't take a picture. What a shame!"

Ada: "..."

Luke hurriedly got dressed and asked irritably, "Rebecca, what are you doing here?"

Next time, he was putting a sign on the door.

At the very least, he'd hang a sock from the doorknob.

The moment business came up, Rebecca immediately dropped her teasing expression and turned serious.

Though she still couldn't resist sneaking another glance or two at Luke's abs.

Normally, you couldn't tell through his clothes, but his muscles were remarkably firm and evenly proportioned, almost perfectly balanced. She couldn't help wondering what they'd look like under a scalpel.

"We've developed the first version of the Harran virus antidote, and we're ready to begin live testing," Rebecca said.

"But Crane has been infected with the Harran virus for too long. No one can say what might happen when we inject him."

"If things get out of control, his condition could become even worse. It'd be better if you were there."

Rebecca's expression was serious.

Truthfully, even she wasn't entirely sure why she wanted Luke there. It mostly came down to his strange luck.

Every time Luke came by to ask about the progress of the antidote, her research somehow made a breakthrough. Once or twice could be coincidence, but after it happened repeatedly, even a scientist could become superstitious.

Crane's first... trial had to be overseen by Luke.

Luke fastened the last button of his shirt, his expression becoming much more serious.

So that was it.

This really was a top-priority matter.

In that case, he'd let Rebecca's intrusion slide.

Damn it.

Once Luke and Ada had both finished dressing, they followed Rebecca back to the laboratory.

The Harran virus antidote was the first major obstacle the Commonwealth research team had taken on.

If it truly proved effective, the team could finally free up resources to tackle even more troublesome viruses.

The first would be the Wildfire virus spreading across the entire continent. It was by far the most widespread. After that would come the Left 4 Dead virus.

The atmosphere inside the laboratory was tense.

Crane lay on a specially reinforced alloy examination table, strapped down tightly. His wrists, ankles, and chest were secured by layer upon layer of reinforced restraints.

Even with all that, Rebecca and Luis still looked uneasy.

Several of their most elite special forces soldiers stood fully armed around the room.

Claire looked equally nervous.

[Anticipation - Success] [Worry - Sherry]

Claire's feelings were even more complicated.

If Rebecca's team succeeded, then the day she finally came clean wouldn't be far away.

As for Crane himself, the agent seemed remarkably calm.

If it worked, he'd live. If it didn't, he'd die.

Everyone feared death, but this wasn't the first time Crane had put everything on the line.

His luck had been pretty good so far. Every previous gamble had ended with him somehow leading his team out alive. During the worst of them, he'd even run into Luke and escaped disaster because of it.

"Scared?" Luke asked.

"Not really."

Crane forced a crooked smile. "I'm dead either way if this keeps up, so I might as well gamble on it. If I don't make it, take care of Jade for me."

Jade stood in the corner with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Her expression was anything but relaxed.

Crane was a good man.

Someone like him shouldn't die because of a virus.

"Let's begin."

Luke nodded, as though he had just pressed the launch button on a rocket.

Rebecca took a deep breath and personally picked up the syringe containing the antidote.

Luis stood beside her, staring intently at the monitoring equipment.

The needle pierced Crane's vein.

The deep blue liquid was slowly injected.

Luke silently watched the status bar above Crane's head.

[Harran Infection (Moderate Erosion)]

The status effect began fading at a visibly rapid pace.

"It's working!" Luis exclaimed softly, staring at the instruments. "The viral load is dropping. Fast!"

A trace of joy appeared on Rebecca's tense face.

Everything was going smoothly.

It had worked!

The status effect was just about to disappear completely.

Then everything changed.

At the final instant before [Harran Infection] vanished...

"BZZZZ!"

Crane's status bar suddenly flickered.

At the same time, Crane let out a roar.

"Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!"

The restraints holding him down broke one after another.

"AAARGH!"

Crane violently sprang up from the examination table.

Veins bulged across his entire body. Beneath his skin, dark purple lines writhed like living creatures, spreading wildly until they crawled up his neck and across his face.

Crane's eyes abruptly turned blood-red. All reason and awareness seemed to vanish from them, leaving nothing but pure destructive rage.

[Crane]

[Status: Harran Virus Stress-Induced Berserk State]

"Not good!"

Rebecca's face went deathly pale as she backed away. "The virus has hijacked Crane's central nervous system!"

This was the worst possible outcome.

Driven into a corner, the dying Harran virus was making one final desperate counterattack, forcing every ounce of potential from its host's body and dragging Crane completely into a berserk state.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The berserk Crane roared and tore through the last of his restraints, his strength completely exceeding what they had been designed to contain.

He surged to his feet and slammed a fist into the alloy equipment table beside him.

The solid metal surface caved in under the blow, leaving a deep crater as the metal itself twisted and warped.