Thrive
"Hurry up!" Touya called up. "Jeez you're always late."
I rushed downstairs, scrambling to finish up as I hopped along. "Sorry! You should have woken me up earlier!" I called back. I met up with Touya at the door, toast in mouth, shoes almost on feet. It was kind of funny, after all these years I was still relying on him to get me up and take care of me. I don't know what I'd do without him.
"I tried, you won't wake up before 8:30," he answered, watching me stumble around with a scowl.
You couldn't look at his expression to know his mood; you couldn't even listen to his words. His eyes, though hard to read without practice, told the most. So despite his playful teasing, I could tell something was bothering him, but I didn't read too much into it. He worked in the very stressful field of bioengineering. The company he worked for was especially tough.
Not only did this company require super genius from its employees, but any form of slacking at all was frowned upon. Touya even worried about taking vacation time only to return jobless. The work was long and hard, but he says it's fulfilling and pays the bills. I suppose if he could handle the trade-off that was his choice. I just worried what the stress might do.
Touya dropped me off at the college, and a keen sense of guilt struck me. The original plan for my education was to stay with Dad, get through school, then get a job to pay off the debt and find an actual career. Dad died when I was nineteen, hardly started on my schooling, and I had two options: drop out right away and get a job, selling the house in the process, or intrude on Touya.
Of course, I was going to get a job and sell the house, but Touya wouldn't hear of it. He claimed it was because he didn't want his childhood home sold for the sake of his "stupid kid sister," but knowing him he just wanted to help me out. Once a big brother, always a big brother.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the classroom, finding my seat and tossing my bag on the ground. The classroom seemed fairly empty, which was weird considering how late it was. Turning my attention to the board I noticed the message on it and an odd sinking feeling dragged my heart to the pit of my stomach.
Teacher absent today, classes dismissed for the remainder of the week.
It wasn't unusal for a teacher to call off classes, but some how this felt… different, and I didn't like it. I checked my watch and groaned. My next class wasn't for another three hours, and Touya was working late tonight, skipping lunch and dinner. I walked back outside and shielded my eyes from the sunlight. Lovely weather; not too hot, not too cold.
Walking around campus looking for food I tried to shake the feeling from earleir, but it stuck with me. Was it me or did it seem like fewer students were walking around? Did the campus seem empty or was it just my imagination getting the best of me? I shook my head. What would Touya think if he heard all of these paranoid thoughts? I just needed lunch, the lack of blood sugar was making me see—or not see—things.
My phone vibrated half way to the sandwich shop, causing me to scream and jump a mile in the air, which in turn caused everyone in the area to turn and look at me strangely. So much for not many people. I glanced down at the screen to see "Incoming Message! Rika Sasaki!" blinking back at me.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Hey Sakura, did you see class was canceled for today?" came the crackle from the other end.
"Yeah, it's too bad really," I said taking a seat on a nearby bench. "I really have nothing to do but learn."
She giggled a bit, saying, "Sakura we really need to find you a boyfriend."
I coughed embarassedly. "Easy for you to say; you already have a boyfriend. You don't remember how hard it was getting him though."
"It wasn't hard," she laughed. "He practically fell into my lap."
"Lucky you," I muttered. "Say, when am I going to meet him anyway?"
"What was that?" she asked, after no sign of losing a signal whatsoever. I wasn't going to bother repeating what I had said. For some reason she didn't want me meeting her boyfriend. I didn't take it pesonally, I figured she must have her reasons, but I knew it was pointless trying to push the subject.
"I was wondering if you were going to go get lunch since class is canceled," I said instead. "I'm heading to that sandwich place right now."
"Oh, sure, I was actually just headed there," she answered happily.
"Great, I'll meet you there," I said, standing up and moving towards the shop once again.
The legendary boyfriend. The elusive prince charming. The whatever-you-want-to-call-it, I don't have it. I've never had it. Some guys had looked at me, sure, and some had said hi, but none of them really felt like the elusive "one." It's not that I'm picky, really, I guess I'm just a little guarded. My friends would call it innocence, but I would call it a downfall of circumstance.
Ever since Dad passed away I haven't gotten along with friends I used to love hanging out with, and just walking around campus feels foreign and slightly uncomfortable. Something about everything reminded me of him. He was the only parent raising us for so many years. Mom not being there I could get used to, because honestly I don't even remember her all that well to begin with, but Dad was such a big part of my life because Mom never could be.
I shook myself from the thoughts in time to see the sign for the shop loom ahead. No time for depressing thoughts now.
Walking inside I noticed Rika sitting in the corner, totally engrossed in whomever she was texting. Even after I sat down she still didn't acknowledge my presence, so I went ahead and ordered a couple of sandwiches for us. She would stop eventually. Hopefully.
"Earth to Rika!" I said, waving my hand in front of her face. "Anyone home?"
"Hu?" she asked, head snapping up. "Oh, Sakura, when'd you get here?"
"Like ten minutes ago," I answered, laughing. "Who in the world has you so focused on your phone?"
"My boyfriend," she admitted guiltily. "He's not feeling well, and I've been worried sick about him all day." She paused uncertainly, reading a new text. "We think it might be something serious."
"Oh no!" I gasped, honestly feeling bad for one of my few true friends—a friend that's been with me since we were little girls in elementary school. "I'm so sorry to hear that; is there anything I can do to help?"
She shook her head sadly. "No. He won't even let me come and see him. Keeps saying it might be contagious, and he doesn't want to take the risk. He's actually calling your brother now."
"My brother?" I asked in confusion. What did Touya have to do with Rika's boyfriend?
"Well, you know he works with that bioengineering company? Exodus?" she asked and I nodded. "Didn't you know Exodus works closely with our school? Our science department in particular, obviously."
"Oh yeah, that's right!" I exclaimed. Since my major was in another field I didn't pay much attention to the science department, but maybe Touya had mentioned it one of those (many) times I wasn't paying attention. "But still, Touya's no doctor. He's a scientist."
"Well, that's the thing," she muttered, looking more than a little uncertain. "He thinks whatever he has came from Exodus. You see, he works there on the weekends sometimes, and last weekend he was working with some higher up material."
"Higher up?" I asked. The sinking feeling I thought had disappeared suddenly returned.
"It's all really confidential," Rika explained sadly. "He can't even tell me what the compound was exactly. All he's allowed to tell me is that he's sick, there might not be a cure, and it's likely a new disease. Nothing else."
Her face fell, and then I understood the importance of her calling me out to lunch. She needed someone to talk to, and even I could understand why. Boyfriend or not, I knew what it was like to wait for a loved one to die, and I had a feeling that was exactly what she was going through right now.
"It'll be okay Rika," I told her with the best smile I could muster. "I'm sure he'll be fine in a day or two. Probably just a cold or something."
"I hope so Sakura; I don't know what I'd do without him," she confessed sadly. "And between you and me, I think there's a lot more going on than he's telling me."
"Do you think he's hiding something from you?" I asked, frowning.
"Not exactly. More like there's something he can't tell me," she explained, eyes filled with a strange mix of doubt and determination.
"You're not going to do anything reckless are you, Rika?" I demanded, not liking the look in her eyes.
She smiled up at me, the cloud hanging over here vanishing for now. "Of course not, Sakura. Do I really seem the reckless type to you?"
I had to laugh at that. Rika was the furthest thing from reckless. Just a few minutes after our conversation died off the sandwiches arrived, and after we filled our tummies we chatted about normal things—the weather, food—before it was time for our next class to start.
By time I walked into my next classroom the eerie feeling that had hovered around me all day had disappeared, and the worrisome thoughts of Rika's boyfriend and his illness were pushed to the back of my mind. I thought nothing of any of it for a few days after that.
Then it happened.
A noise had awakened me in the middle of the night, and at first I wasn't sure what it was. Walking around trying to find the source of the odd noise, I finally recognized it. Coughing. Really violent coughing. I walked into Touya's room and turned on the light.
"Arg, turn that damn thing off," he hissed, rolling over in his bed.
"Oops sorry!" I yelped, fumbling for the switch. I exited the room, found a flashlight, and made my way back.
"Sakura, leave me alone," he growled grumpily.
"No way, you were hacking up a lung just a minute ago," I snapped. I shined the light on him and frowned. His skin was pale and clammy, totally freezing too. To say he looked a little green around the gills would be a major understatement. "Touya, what's wrong with you?" I whispered worriedly. What if he was seriously sick? What would I do without him around? My thoughts suddenly jumped back to the conversation I had with Rika a few days ago.
"Did Rika's boyfriend make you sick?" I demanded, worrying more and more with each passing moment. If this was the same sickness that had struck her boyfriend, then Touya still had the worst yet to come.
"Maybe," he admitted, groaning. "Sakura, please listen, you need to walk out of here, close the door, and no matter what sounds you hear, do not enter this room again."
"No!" I refused, almost before he could finish. "No way! How can I just leave you here when you're obviously really sick? You need me!"
"No Sakura, it's not that," he explained, wheezing. "Listen, if I tell you something, you have to believe me and you have to do exactly what I tell you to."
I nodded my head enthusiastically. "Of course, just tell me what's wrong if you know!"
"Exodus Alpha Chi," Touya whispered, closing his eyes. "It was a top secret project, only the best and the brightest were allowed in, and even they had to go through rigorous testing first. I stepped on board, eager to see the promises made come true. It was supposed to be an all-curing antidote. Any disease you could imagine cleared away with just a few pills. Cancer, Parkinson's, anything.
"It was a miracle project, and although it sounded like fantasy, we had to try. Exodus has conquered every request sent its way, so this would be no different. And as for the people working on it, well they had to keep everything top secret—couldn't even tell their families—but it would be worth it, because we would be the saviors of a new era. I was wary, more so than most. I was critical about every aspect, because the last thing we wanted to do was create a new disease instead of a new cure.
"I was especially critical when they let Yoshiyuki Terada on board."
"Yoshiyuki Terada, as in Professor Terada from my school?" I gasped in surprise. I didn't know he was so involved in Exodus, or even smart enough for something this big. Not that he didn't seem knowledgeable, just not an academic powerhouse like my brother.
Grimfaced my brother nodded slightly. "Yes the very same. He wanted on board, not that I was opposed to having his genius with us, but… well you should know he works with college students."
"Obviously, but what's wrong with that?" I asked, dumbfounded by this.
"He'd be in contact with students, and colleges—schools in general—are the worst kind of breeding ground for germs. No permanently clean places, plenty of bodies with a variety of resistance levels. I should have just said no when he asked about it," he explained, a certain sadness creeping into his eyes. "Against my better judgment I allowed him on the team, and that's when things started to go horribly wrong.
"It was purely accidental, and it could have happened to anyone, but anyone else would've been better able to contain the disease. Terada dropped a vial that contained the latest specimen, and even with lockdown procedures running smoothly, ten of our men were infected by it, including Terada himself. We waited hours for signs of the disease to show up, but they never did; most of the men actually reported feeling better. It gave us false hope.
"The next day a couple of them looked a little under the weather, but we tried not to think too much of it. Different men in our facilities reported feeling fantastic one day and then totally worn out the next. Terada had the fewest side effects, saying he still felt fine, so he continued to work at the college. I only wish I knew then what I know now, so I could spare those kids from what he had inside him."
"So the cure made the men sick, and it was highly contagious," I summarized, feeling the dark cloud that dissipated days ago returning. "Is it fatal Touya? Please, tell me. I need to be prepared."
"It's worse than fatal Sakura, and that's why I need you to leave," he explained, expression pained yet stern. "Yoshiyuki Terada died two days ago."
I gasped, hands flying to cover my mouth. My stomach started churning. "Oh, no, Touya. Oh, no!"
"Sakura, that's not all," he interrupted, before I could grow hysterical. Dead? How could that be? What kind of disease did my brother help invent, and did that make him partially responsible for Professor Terada's death?
"Do you feel responsible Touya?" I asked solemnly.
He surprised me by making a dismissive noise and shaking his head. "It was his own damn fault, not mine, but I do feel guilty for creating what he became."
"What he became?" I asked uncertainly. "Touya that doesn't make any sense. He died, he didn't become anything."
"Listen Sakura, go to the third floor of the science complex at your school, knock on door 3666, and ask for Yukito Tsukishiro," he explained rapidly, ignoring my question. "Tell him that Touya has fallen, and they need to secure the antidote before it's too late."
"Fallen?" I asked, my voice quivering with emotion. "You're not a chess piece, Touya! You're not going to die either! I can take you there right now, and I can get this antidote, and everything will be okay!"
"No, Sakura," he stopped me, the strong conviction in his voice reflected in his eyes. "If I die and you're near me, I'll take you with me. I will never be able to find peace if I know that I've done such a thing to my dearest sister."
Now I knew he had lost it. "Dearest sister?" I echoed. "Touya you're talking nonsense!"
"Sakura," he said firmly, stopping my ranting. "Yoshiyuki Terada died two days ago. He rose again no more than 24 hours later, and we're not even sure it was that long. All we know about Exodus Alpha Chi is that it does give you ever-lasting life, but at the cost of something much more precious."
"More precious than life?" I asked uncertainly.
"It takes away your soul."
For a long minute I didn't know how to respond to that, and I was only aware of Touya carefully watching my face for any kind of reaction. Finally, I nodded. "I'll go talk to him tomorrow."
"No," Touya quickly dismissed. "Go right now. He can give you a place to stay while I fight this, that way you'll be safe."
"But—!"
"No buts," he cut me off. "Yukito wasn't active the day the so-called cure was released. He's uninfected as far as I know, and after seeing Yoshiyuki's reaction, we've sealed away the cure. Hopefully its only victims will be Terada and myself."
"That's not fair!" I yelled, unwilling to accept so much misfortune in my life.
"No, it's not, but this is the path I've chosen and I'll pay the price for it," he answered solemnly. "I know you'll be lonely for a while, and I'm sorry I'm leaving you, but I've left all of my savings to you. The house is paid for, your schooling can be paid for, and you have enough to buy fast food every night if you'd like." He smirked up at me, that old mischievous look he used to give me when we were kids. I hadn't seen it in so long that just the sight of it made me feel nostalgic enough to cry.
"Touya, I don't care if we live on the streets, but you can't leave me. If you have so much money, buy a cure!" I demanded, tears pooling up in my eyes.
"Sorry," he said, coughing lightly. "Sadly I have all the money and brains in the world at my disposal to solve this problem, but some things just can't be done—some events simply aren't meant to be avoided.
"Find a nice husband, someone who really loves you. Someone who will provide for a big family, because I know you want one. Tell him my ghost will kick his ass if he mistreats you. I love you Sakura," he whispered, eyes slowly closing.
"Touya!" I screamed. "Touya!"
"Calm down!" he barked. "I'm just trying to rest before eternal damnation, give me a break. Go find Yukito, now."
"But—!" I started to protest.
"Now!" he paused and his expression softened. "You promised."
Feeling tears begin to spill over I nodded fiercely. "I love you Touya." I considered giving him a hug, but figured I'd better not risk it. If this infection was so contagious and the disease so bad, I didn't want Touya's ghost feeling restless because I had been stupid enough to catch it from him.
I jumped up and ran out of the room, pounding down the stairs as my brain switched into a linear mode. Car keys. I had to grab the car and—wait, did I need to pack anything? Touya told me to go right away, so should I really risk lingering in the house? I could come back later, right?
Right, so car keys.
I snatched the metal ring my brother always kept on the front table and dashed out the door, knowing that if I slowed for even a moment I would consider going back to my brother. I had promised him to do this—and maybe if I hurried then this Yukito could get the cure to Touya before it was too late.
Just like it was too late for Professor Terada.
I shook my head, dismissing the thoughts and cranked the engine to life. Any other time this would be a big deal—being able to drive Touya's shiny, new car—but all I could really appreciate at the moment was the speed it picked up easily.
Within minutes I arrived at the science complex on campus and parked the car haphazardly in two spaces, not caring whether or not I got a ticket at the moment. I jogged up the stairs, entered the surprisingly unlocked building, and made my way up several flights of stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevator.
Arriving on the third floor I quickly found the room Touya had mentioned—3666—and knocked incessantly until someone cracked the door open. A head with a mop of oddly white hair poked outside and looked down at me in curiosity, no alarm on his face at all.
"Hello Miss, I'm sorry but office hours are from—," he started to explain in a calm voice that matched his demeanor.
"I don't have time for all of that! My brother sent me here! He told me to look for someone named Yukito Tsukishiro—he told me that he could help!" I explained rapidly, not taking a breath. We were wasting time here. Every second that passed my brother's heart thumped one more time, pounding away to its last.
"Wait, please calm down, Miss," the man pleaded, stepping outside and closing the door behind him. "Who is your brother?"
"Touya Kinomoto, he works for Exodus, and he told me that Yukito Tsukishiro could help me—that he would know what to do," I repeated in frustration.
"Has something happened to Touya?" the man asked, his face suddenly clouding over with worry. Wait but did that mean—?
"Are you Yukito Tsukishiro?" I demanded. "We can't sit here wasting time—you need to get the antidote so we can save my brother!"
"Yes I am—and please, call me Yukito—but I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for your brother at this point," he answered sadly. He slumped against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, his hands covering his face.
"My brother told me there was a cure though! He said something about an antidote and—!"
"Yes, I'm aware of the antidote he spoke of," Yukito revealed, speaking softly as defeat colored his tone. "We tried the antidote on Professor Terada, but it was to no avail—he should have known as much, so why did he—oh." He paused in his mutterings and looked up at me sadly.
"What? There must be something you can do for him!" I begged, dropping to my knees and grabbing his hands. "He's my brother. He's all I have left!"
"Yes I-I am aware of that," he conceded sadly. "Look, let me take you back to my house and you can rest there for tonight. I'll go check on Touya in the morning."
"It might be too late by time—!"
"I'm aware of that!" he snapped, sending me reeling back. He had such a calm demeanor that the sudden loudness of his voice caught me off-guard. "I don't want to lose any more people than we already have to this—this… whatever this thing is that we've created, but right now my hands are tied. If we go tonight we risk exposure to the contagion at its peak strength.
"And I know for a fact that Touya wouldn't want either of us exposed to this," he finished quietly, hands dropping to his side, head lolling back.
"But what am I…" I trailed off sadly, shoulders slumping in defeat as fresh tears pricked my eyes. "He's all I have left in this world. Without him I… I don't know what to do." I sniffled loudly as the tears that trickled down my cheeks threatened to become a downpour.
"It's okay, Miss Kinomoto," Yukito reassured, leaning forward and wiping some of my tears away. "I'll take care of you until we figure something out. Touya would—he would have wanted me to do that much at least."
"I-it's Sakura, please call me Sakura," I mumbled, sniffling and rubbing my eyes. My body suddenly felt drained and exhaustion threatened to lay me out right then and there.
"Sakura," he echoed. "That's a very pretty name. Now come along Miss Sakura, let's get you some place you can rest up. Just leave everything to me." I nodded silently and jumped in surprise when he easily lifted me off the ground. He had a fairly scrawny frame that belied his strength.
He managed to carry me downstairs and out to the parking lot where I had to insist he let me down. I landed on my feet feeling a bit groggy and suddenly the ground tilted up towards me. Luckily he caught me before I was informally acquainted with the pavement, but of course he had to insist on driving me back.
We took my brother's car to Yukito's modest house and at some point between the campus and there, the shock and revelations, I finally gave into the darkness gnawing at the back of my mind.
I awoke a few hours later—it was still dark outside, but a slight glow on the horizon told me that the sun would be rising soon enough. It took me only a brief moment to make sense of my surroundings and recall the events of last night. Sadly, such things were not so easily or quickly forgotten.
As soon as I blinked the sleep from my eyes, one all-consuming thought spun through my head without cease: Touya. Both my brother and his friend—Yukito was his name—had insisted that I not return to my brother's side, no matter what.
I knew the importance of obeying your elders and those with more wisdom than you, but I also had to weigh in ever-present possibility of those same elders being wrong. Age and experience didn't equate to being right all the time—wasn't that true for lots of situations?
"I'm sorry Touya," I whispered into the darkness of the room. Since I hadn't brought anything with me, I didn't bother looking for anything to take back. Anything I needed we probably had in the house—except…
The car keys!
Where had Yukito put them? Did he leave them in the car? Maybe somewhere in this room—but no, he probably wouldn't put them any where I could reach them. I wasn't sure whether to be offended that he didn't trust me, or impressed that he had predicted my actions.
Fine, if I couldn't ride, I would walk. I tip-toed downstairs in case Yukito was still somewhere in the house and silently exited through the front door. Looking up and down the street for some sign of familiarity I realized that I didn't even know where I was to begin with. All I needed was some street sign or something to help me get my bearings…
That's when my eyes happened to land on two tall, unmistakable towers. The campus! That meant I was only about a thirty minute walk from my house.
I made tracks for my destination, walking quickly for a moment, before I realized that walking wouldn't be quick enough and broke into a run. I had to get back to the house and talk to Touya again. Ask him if there was actually an antidote and Exodus was just keeping it locked up for some reason. And maybe more importantly than that… I wanted to know the signs of the disease, and I wanted to know what happened to a person infected by this disease.
What had Touya meant by losing your "soul?"
My mind eventually had to drift to wondering what I would do without Touya—if he didn't pull through this somehow. He said that everything was taken care of, and that I would have nothing to worry about. But he didn't realize that there was one thing he couldn't take care of, and it might be the most important thing of all.
Maybe he had forgotten—or maybe he'd been too busy with his work and me to notice—but the worst part of losing the rock in your life was being dangled in the open air. Alone, no one to protect you, no one to comfort you, no one to sit down and say:
"It's okay to cry."
I bit down on my lower lip to stop it from trembling and dismissed the thoughts—the thought of reliving that empty feeling—and focused on my goal: the house that I had just arrived at.
It seemed like nothing had changed—the building hadn't decayed or anything weird like that. Maybe I really was letting my imagination get the best of me—maybe this disease wasn't as troublesome as it had first sounded.
I stepped through the front door—I had forgotten to lock it on the way out last night—and carefully observed my surroundings, still expecting something to jump out at me. When nothing did, and everything was as I had left it the previous night, my heart started to slow from bursting-from-my-chest to a normal tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump.
I snagged the flashlight from the front table—I must have left it there when I grabbed the keys last night. Truthfully, the whole night after I realized Touya was severely sick had turned into a panic-induced blur. Taking a deep breath I flipped the flashlight on and peered around the house again. No sun rays had yet to touch the building, but the early morning twilight gave the place an eerie glow.
The stairs creaked as I climbed them silently, ears tuned to pick up the slightest sound. Faintly I thought of a cheesy horror movie, especially as my ears started to hurt from the utter lack of sound. The lack of sound in a house that should have been filled with the coughing of an ill family member, or at the very least some labored breathing.
The ray from the flashlight hit the doorknob on Touya's door, scattering particles of light back at me. It was like an out-of-body experience: I saw my sweaty hand reach for the shiny gold and twist it with some difficulty. The door swung open easily, noiselessly, and inside…
Not a sound.
I lowered the light to the floor in case Touya was just sleeping peacefully—I wouldn't want to blind him with the light to wake him up. He'd be totally grumpy if I did that after he'd been up all night. A wave of fresh guilt from leaving him hit me, causing me to pause just for a moment.
Long enough to hear the first sound I'd heard in the past fifteen minutes that hadn't come from me.
"Sa…"
"T-Touya?" I called softly, my voice squeaking from lack of use since the previous night. "Touya are you in here? If you are, please say something—I'm really worried about you."
"Sa…"
"I know you're probably mad," I continued, slowly approaching the bed. "But I just couldn't leave you here all by yourself! And Yukito wasn't planning on doing anything to help you either." Bracing myself for the worse I finally looked directly at his bed.
It was empty.
I walked around to look on the other side of the bed, then under it. Then, in confusion and slightly less worry, I walked over to check the closet as well. Empty. The whole room was… empty. But I knew I'd heard a sound just a moment ago—and even if I didn't, where had Touya gone?
Frowning I spared one last glance around the room and slowly walked out the door. Just as I reached the door I heard it again.
"Sa…"
Only it sounded more like… a hiss… as if someone was in pain.
"Sssaaaa…!"
I looked around the hallway, to my right, to my left… but there wasn't anyone around, or any possible source for the noise. Maybe Touya had gone to my room or one of the extra rooms for something. Although I couldn't imagine what was so wrong with his room that he had to move in the middle of the night while he was sick.
"Touya you shouldn't move around so much if you're sick," I muttered to myself more than anything. At least if he was moving he must be feeling a little better. Maybe all he had was a bad stomach flu or something. Maybe it had nothing to do with this silly Exodus thing.
I reached out a hand to twist the knob to my own door when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. Sighing in relief, I turned to greet Touya with a smile.
"Touya, you had me worried si—!" As soon as I laid eyes on the person—the thing—behind me my mouth fell open and a scream I didn't recognize as my own echoed through the dead silence of the house. By a stoke of luck I stumbled backwards and crash through the open door of my room.
Racing to the wall I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, pretending that what I'd just seen wasn't real. I turned back to face—it—again and swallowed down the urge to throw up right then and there. This had to be a joke. Some sick, twisted joke cooked up by Touya and his buddies.
Because I had not just seen my brother's face, bleeding from empty eye sockets, open wounds scattered across his body—.
Drip, drip…
Tha-thump-tha-thump-tha-thump…
"No," I squeaked, shaking with fear as the monstrosity approached me again. An unidentifiable organ flopped out from a gash in his abdomen, landing with a wet splat. The stench of decay made me retch—how had I not noticed it earlier?
The monster limped towards me, black-and-bloody-holes for eyes focused solely on me—not minding its own state.
"Please, please don't…" I begged, scampering to get my footing, brain slowly turning to think of something—anything—any way to defend myself. Even though it was still a monster it still looked too human—it would be impossible for me to harm it.
"Ssssshaaa!" it hissed in response, arms stretching towards me. This was it. This was how it all ended for me—losing all of my family, being murdered by a monster, never knowing the full story behind Exodus, never even knowing what life after school was like. Sure I had heard it wasn't pleasant, but it must be better than this—
—This being killed by my own brother!
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the pain, when suddenly a sound like a firecracker went off way too close for comfort. I jumped in alarm, my heart pounding even faster—if that were possible. I raised a hand out of instinct and noticed the blood smattering covering it—and my entire body. The urge to throw up hit me again with renewed fierceness.
I looked back at the monster in time to see it fall, dead, to the ground. The back of its head looked like it had exploded, brains oozing out the side of the ragged hole.
"Wh-what…?" I stuttered, my voice lost in the sudden twist of events. I looked past the mess and monster to see a familiar white-haired man standing in the doorway, a pistol, with smoke rolling off the barrel, in his hand.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that, Miss Sakura," Yukito said with a regretful voice, shame evident in his eyes. He holstered the weapon and walked over to examine the body.
"Wha—what's going on?" I managed to stutter out. He shook his head.
"This is Exodus Alpha Chi," he explained, pulling on a pair of thick, industrial gloves. "This is the disease your brother didn't want you to see."
"Wait—so when you said you'd come over and check on him in the morning—you already knew last night that you'd be here to kill him!" I screamed at him in outrage. Tears had finally found their way out of my eyes and flowed freely down my cheeks.
"Yes, I knew, and I also knew there was a chance you would try to come back," he agreed. "I should've been more careful to not expose you to this, but perhaps this is for the best."
"Stop it!" I screamed. "Just stop it! Stop talking in riddles and trying to hide things from me and protect me—I want to know what happened! I—I…
"…I want to know why my brother had to die!"
He finally stopped looking at the corpse to turn and stare up at me, his sad eyes surely reflecting my own at the moment. We stared at each other wordlessly for a moment as he studied my face, before finally breathing out a slow sigh. He peeled off the gloves and tossed them on top of the corpse.
"I wish I knew," he answered. "And I wish we had time to talk about it, but it's obvious now that every second we waste… is very precious."
"What do you mean?" I asked uncertainly, my voice squeaking unnaturally from the strain.
"Unfortunately, I don't know as much as your brother did, but I do know something that he didn't—they purposely exposed a handful of us to the virus at its various stages," he explained. "They wanted to work on it in small steps, so if a strain didn't work or had negative effects, they could more quickly, easily, and inexpensively start over—start over with the last safe batch.
"We were up to round 29," he continued, walking towards the door and gesturing for me to follow. I spared one last tearful look at what remained of my brother before following him. "Terada was assigned to release the contagion to a fresh group—one that included your brother.
"Terada was against the idea, so they—they tricked him into becoming one of the experiments himself. His accident with the specimen was no accident. And worse than that, this strain—by some ugly twist of fate—was the one that had the biggest backlash we've witnessed to date," he paused as we reached the car outside, climbing in and pulling out before continuing his story.
"Worse than all that, they exposed a teacher to this disease."
"A teacher," I echoed, the gears in my brain slowly starting to turn. "A breeding ground for disease." What Touya had told me last night was starting to make more sense.
"We believe there's anywhere from twenty to a hundred-and-twenty students currently infected," Yukito replied grimly. "We're scrambling to find them all and contain this, but by this point…"
"It's already been days though," I finished eyes unfocused as I scrambled to realize what this could mean, not wanting to believe the answer.
"It's been twelve days since the infection was allowed outside of our facility," he said, making the truth solid and unavoidable. "The campus is a dead man's land—no one can set foot there. Entire families are already likely infected. It's highly contagious—and it's spreading rapidly."
He fell silent and we both sat there, allowing the possibility of this all—what it meant for the city or country or world—to sink in. And there I was in the middle of it—possibly the only person who knew anything about what was happening to the people of this city outside of Exodus.
"We're going to a place Touya and I had prepared just in case something like this happened," Yukito said finally. "I promised your brother to protect you should anything happen to him, so please rely on me for the time being and relax while you can…"
I thought I heard him mutter, "because you won't be able to for long," but I had already started tuning him out after he revealed our destination.
A safe house designed specifically for this disease. A disease that had likely infected every friend I had on the campus. A disease that had killed the last of my family. A disease that might consume the entire country, maybe the world if something wasn't done to stop it.
I stared out blankly at the landscape rolling by and felt the pure panic of the situation fully engulf my mind. I could have easily been infected; I was likely just a breath away from infection every moment I spent at school. My own brother could have killed me in his deteriorated state; only Yukito showing up had saved me.
This was the first time I survived.