"Cherish" is the thirty-seventh mission of Season 4.
Finally you can get into the labs beneath Abel and discover what the Minister's willing to kill for.
Cast[]
Plot[]
Time To Head Down[]
The Ministry is still putting out defamatory information about Abel, even going so far as stitching together speeches from King Jamie. With the situation this serious it's time to head down into Z-92.
Coming From That Direction[]
Down in Abel's labs the key code on Tom's arm is definitely correct, and you gain entrance to Z-92. It smells like something's died in there, but you can hear the wails of a live, creepy sounding baby.
She Won't Wait To Attack[]
Following the sound of the baby you pass through more labs. The scientists left in a hurry, and didn't take all their research. The computers have been wiped though, so you head to the central servers.
Just... Leave It[]
Sam realises that the Minister probably experimented on the baby you rescued with The Builder a while back. You've found the source of the cries now, and it's just as horrible as everyone expected.
Go Out The Other Way[]
Janine uses Tom's password get the data you need from the network. She's upset that she never asked about these experiments, but there's no time to wallow as you hear a zombie close by.
That Shouldn't Be Possible[]
The zombie chasing you is the missing one from the Viking tomb, and the baby zom is hers. You use a handy axe to destroy her brain, but as you all continue searching the place the zombie gets back up!
Back Towards The Baby[]
Still running from the ancient zombie, the data you've sent to Sam and Maxine gives her a clue about this zombie's reason for still living - she wants her baby back.
She Created The Zombie Plague[]
You make it back to the room with the zombie baby, and once the Viking zombie holds it she collapses to the floor, permanently dead. As you leave Maxine drops a bombshell about the data - it was the Minister who unleashed the zombie virus on the world.
Transcript []
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Reporting for duty, Colonel De Luca, Runner Five.
IAN GOLIGHTLY: That was a message marking King Jamie is in full support of the Ministry, and calls upon Abel Township to surrender and receive clemency.
SAM YAO: Literally, I will go and kick those speakers in, if you like. That was so obviously stitched together from other speeches Jamie’s given! What have they done with him? Do you think he’s even still alive? And do the Ministry really think anyone will believe he’d turn on us?
JANINE DE LUCA: I hear from New Canton that one of their subdivisions surrendered to the Ministry overnight. It wasn’t anyone you worked with, Five. A mixture of Dedlocks and some people I managed to trap underground for several weeks in Moonchild’s bunker last year. I suppose I might have suspected they wouldn’t put a great deal of trust in me. Still, a pity.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: We won’t miss them. We need people we can trust.
JANINE DE LUCA: They took a large proportion of the New Canton armory with them. I’m sorry, but we must be realistic. This is a terrible situation. Our only hope is that we find something useful in Z-92.
SAM YAO: Time to head down, then.
JANINE DE LUCA: Runner Five, Doctor Lobatse, with me. Quick as you can.
[door opens]
KEFILWE LOBATSE: This place is most impressive! It’s hard to believe it’s been under Abel all this time and I knew nothing of it.
JANINE DE LUCA: There’s a highly secure facility, Doctor Lobatse. Strictly need-to-know.
MAXINE MYERS: I was here over a year before I found out about it. Same for you, right, Five?
KEFILWE LOBATSE: I understand the need for security, of course, but still. It’s been my experience that the things we bury don’t stay buried forever. Rather like our zombies.
SAM YAO: Okay, guys. You’re at door Z-92. You’ve got the code, right?
JANINE DE LUCA: Yes. Tom had indeed… he had recorded it on his right bicep.
SAM YAO: Yeah. Right, yeah.
JANINE DE LUCA: Please enter it into the keypad now, Runner Five. Sigma, delta, niner, zebra, foxtrot, alpha.
[security system beeps, door opens]
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Ugh, that is a truly unpleasant odor.
MAXINE MYERS: What can you smell?
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Something that died many days ago and was left to rot.
JANINE DE LUCA: We won’t learn what it is by standing here. If the blank areas on my schematic are anything to go by, this area is large. We need to explore it thoroughly. We need – oh!
MAXINE MYERS: Is that - ? That metal cage with the wires and the needles, is that some sort of crib?
SAM YAO: That’s exactly like the one I saw in that government building. The one where Sigrid’s pet zombie took Sara.
[baby cries]
JANINE DE LUCA: Tom talked about a baby. “The books of Mary the Jewess, for the baby”. We thought he meant yours, but - !
KEFILWE LOBATSE: The noise is coming from that direction. Come along. I believe we should hurry.
[baby cries]
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Ah, this is interesting.
SAM YAO: Yeah, another lab. You’ve passed through five of them so far, and you know, they look exactly like the labs outside the locked super secret door.
JANINE DE LUCA: It definitely seems they tried to clear out much of their work. Cover it up, one would imagine.
MAXINE MYERS: But they were in a big hurry. There are unwashed test tubes in the sink, and it looks like the gas chromatograph was switched off halfway through an analysis.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: And someone was not as thorough as they could have been. They’ve left their notes behind.
[paper rustles]
JANINE DE LUCA: It’s research analysis, and – oh. Oh, yes. I’ve seen enough authorizations signed by her. I believe these marginal notes are in Sigrid’s handwriting.
SAM YAO: But what is it? What were they doing down here?
JANINE DE LUCA: At a cursory glance, performing experiments using fetal cord blood.
SAM YAO: Well, that’s pretty horrible, right?
MAXINE MYERS: Actually, it’s not that uncommon. The blood in the cord is rich in stem cells.
[baby cries]
SAM YAO: Yeah. So we all know what that means, right? A baby crying down there, and the place hasn’t been opened for years. We know what that is, don’t we?
JANINE DE LUCA: Yes. Runner Five, get these papers in your rucksack. We can read them later, but to get the full picture, we need to access the data on these computers.
[paper rustles, backpack zips, keyboard clicks]
KEFILWE LOBATSE: It appears the local drives have been wiped clean.
JANINE DE LUCA: But perhaps the central servers retained the information. Based on the wiring schematics, I’d say they must be in this direction. Come along. We must hurry. Sigrid is mustering her forces against us, and if she realizes we’re down here in this place she’s been so desperate to get to -
SAM YAO: She won’t wait before she attacks. Get moving, guys. Run!
[baby cries]
SAM YAO: I’ve been thinking. I mean, well, the cord blood, and the crib that was like the one in that old government building. It only means one thing, right? I mean, we’re all thinking it. Sigrid wanted to experiment on our baby.
MAXINE MYERS: Yeah. Yeah, I think she did.
SAM YAO: I mean, she does want to experiment on our baby. She still wants to. She wants to take our baby and put it in that machine!
JANINE DE LUCA: We are not going to allow her to do that, Mister Yao.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Janine is correct. Your child will never be touched, never be hurt, while a single person remains alive in Abel. We would all die before we allowed Sara to come to harm.
SAM YAO: That’s what I’m afraid of. We gave her a baby already! Do you remember, Five? That baby you and Owen found in that Netrophil guy’s farm. We gave it to Steve! What’s she done to it?
MAXINE MYERS: Hey, the crying. I think it’s closer.
JANINE DE LUCA: I believe you’re right, Doctor Myers. It seems to be coming from this direction.
SAM YAO: Are we still not saying what it is, even though we all know what it is? Even though we all know it’s - it's dead.
JANINE DE LUCA: A zombie baby. Barely out of its mother’s womb, by the look of it. Tom was right. The baby’s dead.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Do you see, Doctor Myers, on its arms there are marks where the needles and the tubes were attached.
MAXINE MYERS: I can’t. I can’t look at it, I just can’t!
SAM YAO: Watch out, guys. It’s moving.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: I believe it can sense us in some way. Its eyesight should not be sufficiently developed, but perhaps it can smell us.
JANINE DE LUCA: Don’t touch it, Doctor Lobatse. It may appear helpless, but it’s still a zombie.
SAM YAO: You can’t do anything, guys. Just leave it. Just get out of there.
JANINE DE LUCA: This is it. The server room. I believe… yes, it appears there is a link to the general network. If I can log in using the password Tom gave us, I should be able to transfer the data across to us.
SAM YAO: You know, when I found out about the underground base here, it was kind of weird. But like, this is Janine’s home, and Janine is the kind of person who has secret bases under her larder. But this -
JANINE DE LUCA: I knew nothing about the work going on here, Mister Yao.
MAXINE MYERS: Really? Nothing at all? Did they hide it so well from you, or did you just not want to know?
KEFILWE LOBATSE: That is an unfair accusation, Doctor Myers.
JANINE DE LUCA: No, it is fair. It’s entirely fair. And you’re right. I was aware that classified work went on here to which I was not privy. When the Ministry assigned me here after… after Algeria, they told me it was a crucial posting, but I knew it was just a sinecure. General Bakari told me not to take it, that a mind like mine should be out in the field, but I couldn’t… I didn’t have it in me.
All I had to do here was mind the farm and keep a low profile. I did more than that. I turned it into a thriving business. Acre by acre, this was the most profitable farm in the country. I was terribly proud of that. And for all these years, under my home, this abomination was happening. It was happening right under my nose and I knew nothing about it! I guarded it!
MAXINE MYERS: I am sorry, Janine. Kefilwe’s right. It is not fair to blame you. Sigrid was – is the government, and it was your duty to obey her orders.
JANINE DE LUCA: Duty. Yes, they used that. Sigrid used that. Well, not anymore. The data’s uploaded, so we can get out at -
[zombie moans]
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Oh dear. That sounded very close.
SAM YAO: It’s the door you came in through. Go out the other way. Quick, run!
KEFILWE LOBATSE: That zombie is very fast.
SAM YAO: Did you get a look at it?
MAXINE MYERS: I saw its stomach.
SAM YAO: Her stomach.
MAXINE MYERS: Yeah. It looks like they performed a cesarean to remove the fetus. The wound never healed.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: The baby was hers. Poor woman.
SAM YAO: And the way she’s dressed. Leather armor.
MAXINE MYERS: She’s another Viking zombie.
JANINE DE LUCA: The tomb you discovered under the government building. There were three burial niches, but only two zombies. She must have been the third. When they saw that she was heavily pregnant, they must have brought her here for experimentation.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: The question is, what were they hoping to achieve?
MAXINE MYERS: We can worry about that when you get out of there. The data’s come through. We’ve got Jerrold and Pushpinder going through it. Yeah, they may not be as smart as Veronica, but if anyone can make sense of it, they can.
SAM YAO: Fascinating though it is, it’s still a zombie, and you need to, well, yeah. Deal with it. There, on the wall. Do you see that fire ax, Five? Grab it.
[zombie splatters]
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Very well done, Five! That skull has been quite thoroughly crushed.
JANINE DE LUCA: We can send people down for the remains later. They may be worth studying. We should go through all these labs with a fine-tooth comb. Sigrid was desperate to keep us out of here. She paid Moonchild to shoot down your helicopter, Five, purely so she could send someone to retrieve the data in here, which means every scrap of information we’ve found is valuable. Invaluable.
MAXINE MYERS: Yeah! For the first time, we know something Sigrid and Veronica don’t. We’ve finally pulled ahead of them.
SAM YAO: Uh, guys. That zombie is, well, it’s standing up again! How the hell is it standing up?
MAXINE MYERS: That's - that shouldn’t be possible. Its brain is basically mush!
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Perhaps a fragment is intact, enough to animate it.
[zombie growls]
SAM YAO: Run!
SAM YAO: It hasn’t even slowed down! I mean like, you crushed its head, and it barely even paused to go, “Ouch!”
JANINE DE LUCA: We are well aware of that, Mister Yao. Any progress on those files?
MAXINE MYERS: Pushpinder’s starting to send the notes through, and…
KEFILWE LOBATSE: What is it, Doctor Myers?
MAXINE MYERS: We were right. Sigrid was going to experiment on Sara. There’s speculation here about what could be achieved using the tissues of an immune newborn.
SAM YAO: She was… she was going to vivisect our baby.
MAXINE MYERS: Yeah. She was. I am going to kill her. It’s strange. I’ve never felt that way before. Not even about Van Ark, when he had Paula. But the next time I see Sigrid, I am going to kill her.
JANINE DE LUCA: We won’t be seeing her at all, Doctor Myers, unless we can get away from this seemingly unkillable zombie.
MAXINE MYERS: It’s okay. I know what she wants.
SAM YAO: Sigrid?
MAXINE MYERS: The zombie. All this time she’s been down here while they did – oh God! - all those things to the baby! Yeah. I know what she wants.
KEFILWE LOBATSE: Do you truly think a zombie is capable of such emotions?
MAXINE MYERS: Some things are stronger than death. Quickly! Back towards the baby.
KEFILWE LOBATES: [shouts] I do not want to sound alarmed, but it has my coat. Five, could you perhaps - ?
[cloth rustles]
SAM YAO: Can you hear that? The baby.
JANINE DE LUCA: I see it. It’s crawling out of that supply closet.
MAXINE MYERS: Get out of the way, Janine! Don’t get between them.
SAM YAO: Are you sure, Maxine? Because if you’re not -
MAXINE MYERS: I’m sure. And if it doesn’t work, you’ll have to cut it to pieces.
KEFILWE LOBASTE: I think she has seen what they did to her child. But they are in front of the exit. We cannot get out without going through them!
SAM YAO: Maybe while it’s distracted, you can… oh. Oh, it’s uh. Well, she’s picking it up. The baby, she’s picked it up.
MAXINE MYERS: The baby stopped crying. She… the zombie, she picked up the baby, and then she just collapsed. Let it go.
SAM YAO: Oh, the baby’s still alive. I mean, well, you know. Undead.
JANINE DE LUCA: The baby can’t hurt us. Come along. The way out is clear now. And I need to study those files.
MAXINE MYERS: Yeah. Janine, you really do. Pushpinder and Jerrold have been digging deeper into the data, and they think they know just what Sigrid was doing in there.
JANINE DE LUCA: Well? Doctor Myers? What was she doing?
MAXINE MYERS: It’s all here in her e-mails. She figured out how the zombie virus worked, and then she replicated it. She created the zombie plague and set it loose on the world.
Codex[]
Supplies[]
The following supplies can be found in this mission.
(List may be incomplete.)
9mm Ammo
Anti-depressants
Axe
Bandages
Batteries
Bottled Water
Box of Lightbulbs
Cooking knife
Disposable camera
Football
Fuel Can
Hairbrush
Hearing Aid
Laptop
Makeup
Mobile Phone
Network Cable
Pain Meds
Power Cable
Radio
Saucepan
Shorts
Solar Charger
Sports Bra
Tent
Tool Box
Toothbrush
Trainers
Trousers
Umbrella
Underwear
| Missions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Previous: Back In Black | Next: The Game Has Changed | ||