I should just say now some point in this story there's gonna be sexual content. Not sure if that's a spoiler, just thought I'd say.
"Good night Daddy" Katey said as Chuck tucked her in.
"G'night Katey" Chuck replied as he stroked her hair. Chuck kissed her forehead and left the room, leaving the door open a crack.
"Dad, y'know you can close the door right, I'm not scared" Katey said.
Chuck laughed and said "Okay sweetie, you've really grown up these past couple of months."
Katey smiled and said "I'm a big girl now daddy."
"Yeah, you sure are. Love you Katey" he replied.
"Love you too dad" Katey said as she lay down in her bed and closed her eyes.
Chuck unwillingly closed the door and walked down the stairs. Stacey was sitting on the couch looking up at Chuck. "How long has she been sleeping with her door closed?" he asked the redhead.
"What? This is the first time."
"Huh, really. I wonder why, she usually likes it open"
Chuck pondered for a minute before Stacey said "She probably feels safe knowing your back" Chuck smiled at that and looked coy while Stacey smiled and blushed. There was silence-not an awkward silence but rather a comfortable, warming silence. Stacey had a strange feeling in her gut, a feeling like she could tell Chuck everything, confess her feelings, and tell him she loved him. She wanted to kiss him... and maybe just now, in this beautiful silence, he would return her feelings. However the comfortable silence was soon destroyed by a voice on the TV.
"And now our top story. Phenotrans, once known to be heroes of medicine, have now in fact been revealed as mass murderers as they're miracle drug zombrex was not the only way to combat the threat of turning for those who have been bitten, in fact, they have been withholding a cure this entire time. We now go to Quentin Beck for his report on this groundbreaking news story."
Chuck's face quickly turned from happy to grim as he scorned at the TV, looking as if he was going to violently plant his foot into the screen.
Stacey saw the situation and wanted to change the subject. "Do you want me to change the channel, I just through the news on I forgot about the story-"
"It's alright Stacey, I wanna see this" Chuck said very seriously. He sat down on the couch opposite the TV and watched the screen intently. Stacey nervously sat down next to him.
"For the past 5 years Phenotrans have been saving our country's best time and time again with zombrex. Well, it turns out that zombrex has in fact been redundant this entire time as there Phenotrans had already developed a cure years ago." The TV showed images of zombies overrunning towns and cities, along with clips of scientists working on zombrex. "Frank West, survivor the very first outbreak in the United States, was able to bring down the company with both blueprints of Fortune City and the cure itself. We have an exclusive interview with Frank right here in the studio, Frank West thanks for joining us." The TV then went back to the studio showing a male newsreader and Frank sitting at the news desk.
"You're welcome Quentin" he said in a cocky tone.
"Now Frank, just how were you able to bring down the company?" asked the news reader.
"Well you see Quentin" Frank adjusted himself and sat up straight "Just before the firebombing of Fortune's End I got a tip from a source that there was a Phenotrans facility just west of Fortune City. I went there and found that there were zombies in pens-"
Frank was interrupted by the news reader "Not unusual considering the city was the host of Terror is Reality."
"Yes but this was a Phenotrans facility and they used the zombies to extract Queens."
The news reader once again interjected "But Phenotrans said that they stopped using Queens years ago."
Frank answered him "All lies Quentin, not only were they still using Queens, but they were kidnapping homeless people, criminals and even people of the street who were then reported as missing persons. I have the proof right here" Frank then handed Quentin some photographs which he showed to the camera showing a list of people, before and after zombification.
"My God this is horrible" Quentin responded.
"It doesn't end there Quentin," the screen behind them then showed blueprints of Fortune City, "here you can see blueprints of Fortune City. They had released Queens into the city to sting people so they could turn them into zombies, as well as planting explosives around the arena hosting TIR, so no one would notice the Queens. I mean, it's impossible to tell the difference between normal wasps and Queens anyway."
"So people were being stung and not even realising that they were going to turn?"
"That's right Quentin."
Stacey sat there in silence and held her hand up to her mouth in shock. "That's terrible" she said with a croaky voice.
"It gets worse, listen" Chuck said, not taking his glare away from the TV screen for a second. Even though he knew exactly what they were going to say, he still wanted to see it.
"This is chilling news, and according to your evidence here this isn't the first outbreak they were responsible for correct?" The news reader asked.
"No, it's not, they were responsible for every outbreak in the past 5 years, excluding Santa Cabeza and Willamette which the US government was responsible for and I myself was caught up in."
The news reader looked worried as he quickly tried to change the subject "Um, yes, but more about this source of yours, were they an employee of the company, a whistle blower perhaps?"
Frank looked down as if in shame and Stacey noticed Chuck doing the same. Frank hesitated before saying "Well a reporter is never meant to reveal their source but... I think I can make an exception. My source was Isabella Keyes." The reporter went dead silent as both he and Stacey looked shocked.
"Isabella Keyes..." Stacey said "You got to meet Isabella Keyes?" Stacey looked a little excited, like she wanted Chuck to tell the story. However when she looked over to him he looked like he was both ashamed and angry, like he was going to break something.
"Isabella Keyes? The terrorist who started all this?" Quentin asked.
"She didn't start it her brother did all right!" Frank shouted "She helped people! She started zombrex okay, she saved me and a lot of people... before Phenotrans got a hold of her and... made her a slave to the company."
"What do you mean a 'slave to the company'" the arrogant news reader asked.
Frank sighed and said "They made her work for them and said they were gonna have her arrested, even though it was her damn brother who started the Willamette outbreak. And the only reason I'm telling you all this is because just before me and her were able to escape to the press and the authorities she was killed okay." Frank once again looked down in shame. Stacey gasped and covered her mouth in shock. She saw Chuck was looking straight at the ground, almost in tears.
"She was killed, how? Was there a zombie there or-"
Frank cut off the reporter and shouted "No she was shot in the head by the CEO. You can check the security cameras from the building if you want proof."
The news reader looked like he was unsure what to do before finally saying "Chilling, chilling news. We go now to..." Both Stacey and Chuck drifted off and stopped listening to the TV at that point.
"Turn it off. Please" Chuck demanded and Stacey quickly complied.
"Chuck I'm so sorry. I can't believe they killed her" she said in disbelief.
"They were trying to kill us, and they had some zombies in the pens and when we nearly got out they shot her in the head. We couldn't carry her body so we just left her there while zombies ate her body."
Tears rolled down Stacey's face as she sniffed and said "I'm sorry Chuck. You couldn't have saved her-"
"YES I FUCKING COULD'VE!" He yelled as he lost his temper "WE COULD HAVE BEEN MORE CAREFUL BUT INSTEAD WE WERE SLOPPY AND SHE GOT KILLED!"
Silence.
After a moment Chuck saw what he was doing. He was standing over Stacey like he was going to hit her. She was trembling in fear as if a zombie was upon her. Chuck lowered himself and sat back down.
"I'm sorry Stacey. That was wrong; I didn't mean to scare you. I just... I've let too many people die"
Stacey remained silent but tried to keep her composure. What she really wanted to do was start crying as Chuck had terrified her. Instead, she said to him "You didn't finish telling me about your wife."
Chuck looked agitated as he said "Look I know I said I would but right now I-"
She interrupted him and said "No Chuck, you need to tell me how that ended. Not because I'm nosy or that I just want to know how it ended, you need to tell me it just to get it off your chest. It doesn't even have to be me but you still need to get it off your chest alright." Chuck looked worried, he no longer looked angry, just upset. Stacey grabbed his hands and said "I'm here for you alright."
Chuck calmed down and said "Alright, you're right. I'll finish telling you."
Don'cha just love cliff hangers. Next chapter we'll finally get back to the flashback about his wife I swear. Nearly done now, just 1 or 2 chapters, and sorry for the wait.