Chapter 28: Quantico

William had accomplished all that he had set out to do in the day that formed his new residency in the medical school at Quantico. He was shown around, even though he was already familiar with the layout, was given an office, a teaching space, and full access to the laboratories and autopsy rooms. He met some of the new recruits, had lunch with the highest ranking officers around him, and was given his syllabus to get organized. He wouldn't be teaching right away, the students were still getting settled but September would bring the beginning of regular classes and a busy time for the new resident. He would still be busy, however, with bodies piling up for investigation and paperwork that went with the cases, but he was distracted. His mind continued to wander to the young woman he had left curled up on the floor, in the fetal position, who's heart he seemed to break with every word he had spoken in the early morning hour. The image of her laying there sobbing was burned into the back of his mind, and every time he felt himself becoming overcome with the stress and emotion of the situation, he closed his eyes and saw her there and was over come with emotions.

The drive to Quantico was enough for the full weight of his actions to sink in. He had been reckless in his advances the previous night. How his intentions had change from the moment he walked into the building to the moment he had left. He had never intended for things to happen the way they did. Why were they so drawn to each other? Why she was so forceful again and why hadn't he held back? Still, all this happened with a blink of an eye, a breath, and the simple confession of knowing each other better then they know themselves. Nothing was resolved, nothing was said to the contrary, and before they knew it they were caught up in the throws of passion again. William wasn't one to loose his cool easily, but Abigail was some kind of drug to his system. The longer he was away from her, the more horrible he felt, but he knew it was for the better. He would have to stay away for quite some time, or risk anything happening again. They couldn't trust each other in the same room, and his lie had been the straw the broke the camels back. He had seen it in an instant, the horrible, crushing, look that she had given him, and the betrayal of her tears. He couldn't watch her cry, he had to leave and he did, without another word.

"You've been distracted," William said to himself as he moved around one of the autopsy bays as he prepared to start his second autopsy of the day. "You need to focus now, put her out of your mind. She'll never look at you again anyway." He told himself and prepared his next cadaver.

The process was long and tedious, but it did finally end, and as William cleaned his area, refrigerated the corpse and showered, he realized that his entire day had passed in thoughts of Abigail. He took himself home; the darkness had already fallen, and stopped at a little pizzeria, before making the drive back to his apartment. Eventually he would find something closer to his new place of employment, but for now he had to deal with the long drive and the silence of his thoughts, always bringing him back, back to two night of passion that had ruined his chances at loving a woman he had felt so strongly for.

His apartments was dark when he arrived, it hadn't been disturbed in days, and William liked the quiet solitude that it brought to him, but there were markings of the partnership that he had so hastily left behind. Abigail was present in everything around his home. They had spent many night and days together there, researching, eating, talking, planning, it all happened at his place because she hated to be in her condo, or maybe it was because neither one of them wanted to be alone.

The distraction of a career and of an infatuation with a beautiful woman was all that William had to take his mind off of what was yet to come in his life. The older he got the more of his past came back to him and signs and signals started to pop up in his mind. Something, someday would click and he would have to stand up to the colonizing aliens. He knew it, he had been taught what to do and how to save the human race. It wasn't going to be by a great battle or by any extinction, but rather, it was going to be a quiet movement. William could see and hear things that other people couldn't, and he tried to push these things as far as he could out of his mind, but they were always present. William would one day, as the signal came to him, go out into the world and would see those who were like him. There were more people then anyone could imagine and he could see in them the genetic difference that on the outside made them just like everyone else. One by one people would become aware. With a touch, or a nod, or even a whisper they would come to know the truth and this small movement would start the revolution. The fight against the future would not be violent on their end, for the White Aliens were a calm, peaceful, race and they were saving the human race, but the others would rebel, they would fight and they will find out just how many there are in the resistance. The human race will not die; it will flourish because William knew what was to come after.

"Why do I have to be the one to worry about all of this?" William asked the darkness of his apartment. "What good is it to put the task to a single man? I can't reach ever living being in the world, and it's not expected of me, but why should I have to be the one who brings the truth to the world?"

Sleep didn't come to William at all that night. His mind was plagued with questions and his heart was breaking with remorse for what he had done to Abigail. He paced his apartment until the sun's light began to fill the spaces that had been cloaked in darkness all throughout the night and with the realization of the dawn, he showered, dressed and left his apartment, seeking his breakfast, his new job and something that would act as an escape from the sad reality he was living. William was alone, waiting, because there was nothing else for him to do.