Nothing Left to Say

"Hey so just out of curiosity, if you were to meet the person who started this mess, what would you do?"

I jumped, having not heard her come in. I placed my hand over my chest and thought about her answer. "I... don't know. I'd probably like to kill them with my own two hands, but I'm not sure... that's up for me to decide. I mean, I lost the only two people who cared about me ever in my life, but... I also..." I clenched my hands tightly on the broom handle. "I don't like violence... I don't like people getting hurt. I'm kinda a wimp like that."

“Sorry, I’ve gotten pretty quiet since the outbreak, sometimes people are more dangerous han the zombies. Do you think you could ever forgive them?”

"I don't know," I answered, the words so familiar to me. "How could I possibly answer that without ever meeting them?"

I shrugged a little, “I guess that’s the questions. How could anyone forgive a total stranger who flipped their lives upside down broke apart families and took away the people they loved most.”

I shrugged. "It's not like the world didn't treat me like crap already. I'm troubled and don't contribute anything."

“I’m troubled and contribute too much apparently. I’m gonna go work.”

((I’m sorry, but it’s been a really long day and I have an early morning tomorrow, so I’m going to go to sleep.”))

((Yeah, same. It's chill. Good night!))

I nodded slightly and went back to sweeping. There was nothing else to clean but there was nothing else to do.

I sighed and decided to take a break even though I didn't really want to, I could come back with fresh eyes later.

I watched a bit as she walked away, and I started thinking a bit.

I stopped in front of a family picture.

((How’s hot dog on a stick?))

((Oh, crap. I didn't tell you, lol. I don't work there.))

I watched her before looking in her office. It was a mess... but it felt forbidden to go in there when she wasn't in there.

((Oh?))

I stared at the picture until I was about to scream out of frustration and anger, then looked away.

((Yeah, I got hired at Michael's as well and I took up there instead because I was getting paid a little more.))

I felt my hands shaking like crazy before I went in and started looking around.

((Gotcha, that's awesome!))

((Thanks!))

((You’re welcome))

I grabbed a book and sat down to read, my office was full of newspaper clippings from before the outbreak about people who killed themselves or others purely because they were dumb. As well as notes on the expirament, how to make it target certain IQ groups, etc.

((So I made friends with this guy and guess what his name is))

((I swear to God, if it's Elijah...))

I looked at the clippings on the walls, reading some of the articles. They all had something to do with the virus outbreak...

((Tristan))

I started flipping through the biochemistry book, I was the main author on a lot of the virus papers about how it would work and why it was wanted.

((That was actually my second guess, believe it or not. Is he cute?))

I tried looking at her chemical notes, but it was all a foreign language to me, so I stopped trying. I looked back at the articles. Some of these were from when people first started noticing the strange behavior... From what I saw, it originated across the country. Something about the state name stood out to me, especially when it named the research lab that seemed to have hosted the virus.

((*shrug* he’s a military kid from Cali. But not really my type. I like having him as a friend though))

I kept flipping through the book, I was pretty good at not only reading extremely quickly, but also retaining what I had read. There was a picture on my desk of my team and I all of our lab coats had the logo and name of  our research lab. There was also an article in the picture frame stating that I was the lead scientist of a team of highly gifted scientists working on something that would change the world forever. It claims that we were trying to find a way to cure all diseases in the world, but that’s not entirely true.

((Okay, cool.))

I looked at one of the things in Natalie's frames. It was an award from her work. I read the company's name, the research facility. I looked at the origin of the virus, then back at the name. They were the same. There was a picture of her research team. There was another article naming the scientists working on the fallacy "miracle cure" that turned into a virus. The pictures and names lined up exactly the same. My hands were shaking like crazy and my breathing deepened as the dots started to connect in my head.

I paused and read part of the book a little closer.

I grabbed the team photo with shaking hands and looked at it. I couldn't think right, or at all and before I knew it, the photo was out of my hands and shattered on the ground at my feet, the flying glass cutting my skin, but I didn't even notice. I was in shock.