The Collective

Chapter Thirty-One

Ethan_James

Apocalypse1

Report 4

1300 hours

     Preliminary testing with Apocalypse1 and the H1N1 virus are promising. While previous tests with Apocalypse1 and strains of the flu virus proved unsuccessful, the structure of the H1N1 is similar enough to Apocalypse1 that we are not expecting H1N1 to attack. More conclusive answers will be available tomorrow when the incubation period is up.

End Report.

Serendipity

Vid log 3.6

Password required

     "It has now been... 6 days since I slept for more than a couple hours. Apparently, it's all my fault we're behind schedule. When I went rogue to... to check on Alex, I ruined all her plans to use me as a scapegoat. If I didn't know any better, I would swear they were jealous. Good thing, I know better, isn't it?

     "So, I have, what do I have? I have the virus Oversight wants me to release, computer virus, not Apocalypse1. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I think Dr. Wright caught on to me altering all the test results and destroying the samples. He hasn't left me alone. Keeping track of what's coming and going is becoming increasingly difficult. There's two of us working now, which should've helped. It should've helped, but now everything is by the book. I don't know what we're gonna do.

     "Yeah. I guess that's it for now. Max, if you ever see this, thanks for trying. Bye."

     End of transmission.

     I sank back. I rubbed my palms against my face, blowing out a tight breath. I hated doing this, but Regan promised she would get it out to them. She said it was irresponsible to not leave them with something.

     My watch trilled. I cringed. I stumbled into my blue suit. I pulled the samples out, getting them on a slide. As predicted, Apocalypse1 and the H1N1 virus were happily swimming around, alive. They were ready to take down the whole world.

     "Did it work?"

     I jumped, knocking the slide lose. I scowled. "No." I grabbed the rest of the samples.

     Dr. Wright raised an eyebrow. "Really? It was so promising. May I?"

     I set up another slide. Maybe I could smudge it? Or... I froze. The slide shattered. The sprinklers switched on. The red lights flashed, alarm blaring, robot voice droning on about a breach.

     Dr. Wright stood in front of me, face red, or maybe it was the lights?

     I stared right through him.

     Alex smiled. "Hey, Ethan. It's been awhile."

     "Alex?" She wasn't wearing a blue suit. She needed a blue suit, or she would get sick. She was gonna get sick.

     Dr. Wright stopped mid-rant. "Alex? Your girlfriend Alex?"

     "She's right there. She's..." She wasn't there. There was no one there. "Never mind. I think I'm just... it was nothing."

     Dr. Wright hesitantly reached towards me, voice low. "Alex died. It was a tragedy, but it's time to move on. We're doing important work here, work we need to continue if we want to keep breathing."

     "Yeah, no. I know. I'm fine. It's fine. I'll just get these samples marked."

     Dr. Wright leapt towards them.

     I jerked them out of the way. They shattered.

     He grabbed the only sample I didn't break. "I've got this. You can go work on something that's not glass. In fact, why don't you go take a nap?"