A/N: This is an AU from near the end of the movie 28 Weeks Later with Jeremy Renner's character Sergeant Doyle. Spoilers for 28 Days Later… and 28 Weeks Later…

Thanks to ladygris for the Beta even though she hasn't seen either movie. BTW – both movies should be watched in full daylight from behind the sofa with pillows all around, your favorite "comforter" (man, dog, cat, child, bottle of wine) and a generous helping of chocolate. I'm just sayin'.

~Sandy

28 Weeks Later

One More Chance

Chapter 1

"You're looking much better today, Sergeant. No fever. Blood pressure's good, and your wounds are healing nicely," Dr. Max Price said to the man lying on his stomach with only a sheet covering his nearly naked body. Bandages covered him from the back of his head to his lower back and the bicep of his right arm. Salve formed a thick layer on the reddened areas. Turning the soldier's head side to side, he checked pupil reaction, nodding in satisfaction. "Soon you'll be up and around. I just hope you don't hate me for saving your life."

On one of the lower levels of an abandoned hospital in a small town west of the now destroyed London, Max tended to his charge as best he could under the circumstances. Virology, microbiology and vaccinology were his specialties. Max had been a part of the medical team when the second outbreak of the rage virus spread through the city and had barely gotten out alive. Now, he had to fall back on memories of his ER rotation to help the injured.

Nightmares of their escape woke him every time he managed to catch a few winks. Being chased by the infected, soldiers shooting at anything that moved and some that didn't. Nearly being caught by the gas and the sweepers carrying flamethrowers. Much of that fear had to do with the man he'd managed to rescue. The air had carried the smell of burning flesh.

Their group numbered eleven. Max and the Sergeant were the only Americans, like most of the NATO sponsored Delta Force team. Lukas Göller spoke only German though he'd been taught a few words of English the last few days. The rest were UK citizens, most having been repatriated after spending the last six months in a refugee camp in Spain. Ruby was from Scotland.

The most severely injured was the soldier. Max recognized him as a member of the American-led NATO team that had been brought in to maintain order during the reoccupation of London, but hadn't known his name until now. Hadn't wanted to know his name. His was just another face in the crowd to Max and the other NATO doctors.

Max, Collin and Ruby found Doyle burned and unconscious, and had taken him along when they hid in the walk-in refrigerator of a Chinese restaurant. He'd been in terrible pain, but morphine all Max had to give him, and at such a high dose he'd be surprised if his patient remembered anything of their exodus from London.

Their plans included making their way across the North Sea to Dublin by ferry. Hopefully, they'd find out just how widespread this infection had become. Radio and television transmissions had stopped long ago. They received their news reports from HAM radio operators whom he deemed unreliable as none of them had first-hand knowledge of what NATO, WHO and the CDC were up to.

Doyle-Max had gotten his name one of the few times he'd been lucid-had been lucky his injuries weren't worse. His back had been protected somewhat by the vest and heavy material of the uniform that had to be cut off of him. First and second degree burns covered his shoulders, the back of his head and lower back with one spot of third degree on the bicep of his right arm and another on his right shoulder as if he'd turned to shield his left side.

Aside from the burns, a concussion, various scrapes and a couple of lacerations, he'd come through his ordeal in decent shape. It was due to the man's physical conditioning, a strong will to live…and a combination of morphine, sedatives and sleep aids Max used to keep him under so he wouldn't pull out the IV or try to leave…again. The dosages necessary to keep the soldier under assured that he would be addicted when Max finally brought him out of it, but there hadn't been another way to move him to their current location. Doyle had screamed in pain whenever he regained consciousness leaving Max to make the decision for him. When it came to being alive and hooked on drugs or dead from severe burns, killed by the rage infected or gas, Max hoped Doyle would choose life.

After spending two days hiding, Max, Collin, Ruby and Doyle joined with a group of making their way out of the city. Strangers who needed each other to survive. They carried Doyle, the only one not ambulatory, to a truck that Collin had worked on so that they could flee before the military decided to drop fire bombs. Traveling by day when the infected were hiding, they made it all the way to here to the largest hospital in the area. The small hope they had all harbored vanished in the rays of the morning sun when they found the place deserted, dead bodies everywhere.

Max and his band of brothers and sisters met up with more uninfected people and together they removed the bodies to a wing of the hospital that had been involved in an explosion. A storm put out the fire before it could spread, but the power had been knocked out to the rest of the building. Oscar and Murphy had scrounged generators from a sports equipment store along with as many weapons as they could carry.

Another group went out to search for food and fresh water. A third worked to get several large trucks working so they could make the trip to the coast in relative comfort. Max had heard rumors of two children who were immune to the virus, but were also carriers, and wondered what had become of them.

"Ungh…" Groaning came from Doyle, and Max rushed to administer more sedative into his IV. If Max had to keep upping the dosage as Doyle built up a tolerance, their supplies would be exhausted in a couple of weeks.

In addition to the pain meds and sedatives, Max also pumped Doyle full of antibiotics hoping to keep infection from setting in. The meds kicked in and Doyle went back to sleep while Max checked his wounds. It had been ten days since they'd arrived and taken up residence in the hospital off the park. The town was deserted with animals already foraging within the town's limits. Just that morning, a clan of badgers had waddled past. Deer ventured onto the silent streets, grazing here and there as they reclaimed the land.

Collin had conscripted Murphy, Florence, Alfie and Oscar as his assistants. Together, the five of them were getting the vehicles in running condition, Florence and Alfie standing guard while Collin, Oscar and Murphy worked on the truck-lorries here in the UK.

Max and Sunny, a lab tech he'd found hiding inside the hospital, insisted that they take it slow on Doyle's account. His wounds were healing well. A situation Max attributed to the man's excellent physical condition. In another day or so, Max would begin weaning him off the medications. He'd have to at any rate because they could hardly continue to carry the heavily muscled man. Soon he'd have to start pulling his own weight or be left behind. And the farther they got from the London devastation, the greater chance they'd meet up with looters and petty despots who'd set up their own little kingdoms to rule over. A soldier was just what they needed to help keep them safe on their journey.

There'd been stories about the weeks following the original outbreak. No one knew for certain where it had started, but rumors flourished wherever more than a few people gathered. The most popular being that the virus had been created by the government's secret biowarfare program and London had been the testing ground. The second most accepted scenario was that PETA extremists had released infected chimpanzees from a research facility, had come down with the rage virus when bitten and it spread through London like a wildfire out of control.

How it all had started didn't matter. Not to Max, and not to the ones who remained. Everyone had lost someone they'd cared about whether family member, friend or co-worker. More than one in most cases. At least most of them were home. Every day it looked less and less like Max would ever make it back to the States, back to his family. They probably thought he was dead though his parents wouldn't give up hoping until presented with undeniable proof.

He set all that aside to concentrate on cleaning the deepest burn on Doyle's arm and applying creams and gels to the other areas to promote healing. No doubt Doyle would be more than a little embarrassed by the fact that he frequently had his backside exposed for all to see, but he'd get over it quick enough when he realized the extent of his injuries and that there was no other option.

Voices in the hall announced the return of the work crews. Items on their list had been non-perishable food, bottled water, clothing, weapons and anything else that would help them reach civilization-and the research center-alive. From the excited tones, they'd made a good haul today.

Max made notes on the clipboard and returned it to the bedside table before stepping out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind him. A window showed the slanting rays of the setting sun. Rubbing the back of his head, he nodded a greeting.

Collin was lean and strong with a receding hairline and brown eyes. His speech patterns labeled him as a "Scouser", an inhabitant of the same area that had given birth to the Beatles. Despite the events of the past several months, he presented a cheerful attitude except when he thought no one was looking. Max had seen the troubled glint in his eyes and heard him mumbling in his sleep. It was something they all had in common, this inability to escape the horrors of the rage virus even in their dreams.

The others were from various parts of the UK, Manchester, Croydon, Bristol and other areas surrounding London. He overheard Alfie mention spending time in or near Regent's Park as a child, but he wasn't sure if he grew up there or just hung out there with friends.

The smell of food cooking lured Max in the wake of his companions. They didn't know each other well, but found he could call them friends through shared trials. Each of them had clung to the other since meeting outside of London just before the city had been blown off the map. This time there would be no reclamation, no repatriating of the citizens still abroad. No one would ever return to the British Isles. The news reports said that the inhabitants of Scotland were given a choice to stay and risk another outbreak of the infection or take safe passage.

Each person who emigrated would be given immediate and irrevocable citizenship to the country of their choice in any of the participating countries. But Max had no idea how many had chosen to leave. As a group, Max and the others had agreed to head for Ireland where they knew a NATO lab could be found that would prove none of them were infected or carriers. At this very moment, Sunny was in the lab down the hall doing blood workups on everyone.

Ruby had taken Lukas on as a personal project. She was determined to teach him English before he returned to Germany, provided he was able to at some point. The two of them had taken over food preparation, always making the meals nutritious though not very tasty. Every couple of days the pair made a special dessert, even if all they had was cans of peaches.

Those milling around the hall went to get cleaned up for dinner as Collin and Oscar stopped to talk with Max. "How did it go?"

Collin grinned smugly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "We got 'em purrin' like a basket o' kittens, Pricey."

Internally rolling his eyes at the silly nickname the mechanic had given him, Max nodded. "Good. We should start packing tomorrow."

Oscar rubbed his hands together. Since the original outbreak of the virus, he'd been forced into manual labor, much of it using his skills as an engineer though he did his share of moving heavy things and learning to hide…again. Before that time, his hands had been soft and callous free, with a body bordering on skinny. Out of necessity, he'd had to become more than he'd ever been before. Bulging muscles had stretched his fair skin giving him a lean, muscular build. "There's a military base up the road some. We should stop there and see what we can scrounge."

"Let's see what it looks like before we go inside. Sunny and I'll hunt down hazmat suits just in case." The men headed for the break room they called the café.

The others followed one at a time, stopping to fill their plates at the buffet style servers on the counter. Mostly it was hearty soups with crackers or bread, if they were lucky enough to find some that hadn't gone moldy. When possible, Ruby would make biscuits or rolls. Talk was minimal tonight. It had been a few days since they'd run into looters or the infected and everyone figured they were about due.

Taking the table in the corner, Max stuck his elbow on the edge of the table and rested his head on the knuckles while he slowly spooned the stew-like offering into his mouth and chewed.

Lucy swept into the room, ignoring his desire to be alone by plopping into the chair next to him and scooting close. "What up, Pricey? How's the patient?"

Shrugging, Max pushed his bowl away, his appetite gone. "Better every day. I'll begin taking him off the sedative soon. Get him eating and walking around."

"I'm not much use with fixin' 'n repairin' stuff though I can hold a torch and pass over tools." She wiggled the fingers of both hands. "Don't wanna hurt the music makers. I know it's gonna be a bit of a wait to get back to performin' for anyone, but can't take chances."

"You squeamish?"

"'Bout like most, I 'spect."

She eyed his leftovers. He took the hint and nudged the bowl in her direction. "I could use someone to handle minor injuries so I can spend more time in the lab. Before this last outbreak we found a woman who was immune to the virus. One of the military doctors discovered that her children, a boy and a girl, were immune as well though all three were carriers."

"So there's a cure?" The excitement in Lucy's voice made him smile.

"There could be. I've no idea what happened to the children. The last I saw of them they were running for their lives. I suppose they could've gotten away and are at this moment being used to create a vaccine."

"But you don't think so."

Pushing a hand through his short brown hair laced with gray, Max exhaled loudly. "We can't take the chance. Sunny's been running tests on everyone we come across who will let us and nothing yet. Then again, we don't have a live culture of the virus to work with. We have two generators hooked up to her lab, and are maintaining the strictest precautions possible under the circumstances. Until we can find the real thing, computer models will have to do."

Dropping the plastic spoon into the disposable bowl, Lucy slid her warm fingers into his palm, giving it a squeeze. "You 'n Sunny really know your onions. And I bet there's loads of docs out there working up the cure right now."

He gave her a quick squeeze and reclaimed his hand to take a drink of room temperature lemonade. "At least someone is looking on the bright side."

"Too right." Her smile was warm and genuine, without being flirty.

"Aside from Sergeant Doyle, we've been lucky no one's needed more than a few stitches." The long nights of worrying about being attacked took its toll on Max. If he put his head down on the table right now, he'd likely sleep until morning. "Think I'll head off to bed. Who's on first watch tonight?"

"Couple o' the newbies and Collin. Good at givin' orders, he is."

Their quiet meal was abruptly interrupted by Sunny's excited voice echoing in the hallway just before she shoved the door open and stumbled inside, a sheet of paper clenched in her right hand.

"Something wrong?"

"Look!" Sunny could barely contain herself as she handed him the paper, a computer printout.

Quickly scanning the document, Max too became excited. "Show me!"

The two medical professionals rushed from the room, pelting down the tile floor to the lab. She turned on the only working monitor hooked up to the microscope.

The slide on the left showed the all too familiar shapes of the rage virus growing at a greatly accelerated rate, attacking the platelets and naturally occurring bacteria, stuffing them full of their own genetic material and sending out new signals. After that, the new and "improved" platelets begin replicating so fast, the infected would bleed from all orifices, particularly the eyes, nose and mouth further spreading the virus. Rage would overwhelm the reasoning centers of the brain causing the infected to seek out the uninfected and destroy them.

In the sample on the right, those cells were dying, attacked by round cells that looked like spiked soccer balls. Leukocytes were killing the rage virus and duplicating themselves so fast that it hadn't a snowballs chance in hell of coming back. If that immunity could be harnessed, a retrovirus could be created that would not only protect the uninfected, but possibly even cure the infected.

~~O~~

From the doorway, Lucy and the others watched the drama unfolding before them. Max gave a whoop of joy echoed by Sunny as he hugged her tight. Confused, Lucy took a step into the room to let them know they weren't alone. "What's it all mean, doc?"

Max whirled on her and just for a second she thought he would yell at her for interrupting them. But he didn't. Instead, he gripped her upper arms, grinning like a right old fool. "This is it, Lucy! Not just a cure, but a way to prevent the rage virus. It won't happen overnight, and there's still a lot of work to do, but now we've made a start."

Everyone was talking at once, their voices mixed together so that Lucy could barely tell one from the other. She'd seen family, friends and strangers turn murderously violent, killing others and those that hadn't died right away had themselves been turned into a gibbering mass of mindless rage. The thought that there could be a cure made her lightheaded though she managed to get out, "Whose blood is it?"

"Sunny?" Max looked at the young Indian woman.

"Sergeant Doyle's. There were no teeth marks so he wasn't bitten. He must've come into contact with one of the infected at some point, or just their blood or saliva. A single drop would've done the trick. The woman we found, the carrier, the only symptom she displayed was a bloodshot left eye, but he doesn't even have that."

"There was lots o' them infected ones killed. Coulda gotten it anyplace."

Collin was right, Max mused. He just wasn't sure if they were lucky to have escaped or not. Fate had spared them for a reason, and when they reached the closest secure CDC research facility in Ireland, Max hoped and prayed that someone would listen before killing them outright.

All talking ceased when they heard a groggy, gravel filled voice they didn't recognize speaking from behind them. "What the **** is goin' on here? Where the hell are my pants?"

The group parted as Max and Sunny came forward. In the hall, one hand gripping the handrail, a sheet held around his waist with one hand, stood the world's salvation: Sergeant Doyle. He swayed, blinking at them in the dim light of the lanterns lining the hallway. Collin and Oscar rushed to catch Doyle before he fell and ruined all of Max's good work, Max following in their wake as they led the soldier back to bed.

Max used the manual crank to raise the head of the bed as the other men let Doyle down gently. Doyle hissed in pain when his back touched the mattress. "Sonofab****!"

"Take it easy, Sergeant Doyle, or you'll reopen your wounds."

"Erg! My back ****ing hurts!" His eyes shot at the group of people huddling in the doorway watching him with undisguised curiosity.

Max shooed them away, asking Collin and Oscar to wait outside as he shut the door. "Didn't expect you to be up and around so soon with all the meds in your system."

"Yeah, well, I burn 'em off too quick for them to do me any good."

"Didn't have a choice. You kept pulling out your IV and swearing a blue streak. Ruby threatened to hit you over the head with a rolling pin if you didn't stop." Max motioned for his patient to roll onto his side. Doyle reached across to grab the edge of the mattress for leverage wincing each time he touched around the burned areas. "Unfortunately, there's a side effect to massive doses of pain and sedation meds that had to be pumped into your system."

"And that is…"

His examination concluded, Max patted Doyle's shoulder, and when the soldier looked at him again, his smile was gone. "I'm sorry, Sergeant. You may have to deal with the pain of withdrawal."

A small flicker of something entered Doyle's eyes and was gone leaving Max to believe it was his imagination. Doyle shifted around to get more comfortable before saying, "That's just ****ing great!"

"The pharmacy was looted, but they still have everything I need to whip up something to help alleviate the symptoms. I'll go in the morning because it's near an exit and we've already barricaded ourselves in for the night."

Already shaking his head, Doyle stated shortly, "No more drugs."

Seeing that the other man was adamant, Max didn't push the issue. "Understood. Hungry?"

"I could eat."

"I'll have Ruby bring something in." Max got to his feet, took the clipboard and made a few notes. "Any questions before I go?"

"Yeah." Crossing his arms, Doyle sent a glare in Max's direction. "Who the **** are you and where the **** are we?"

TBC