Post-Pandemic: A New World

Chapter Twenty Eight: The Virus's Origin

Bridge struggled not to vomit as He and Phinehas held Adler's corpse up and placed His right hand onto the hand scanner. Adler had been shot so many times by the turrets that there was hardly a single part of His body without bullet holes in it. As the scanner verified Adler's identity and the went from red to green, Bridge and Phinehas dropped Adler's body to the ground and Bridge said "Remind Me never to use a dead body to unlock a door in a secret Government facility again". Phinehas opened up His water bottle and frantically washed the blood off his hands. Phinehas had been disgusted that He had to pick up an actual dead body and was eager to wash any potential germs off Himself. Sebastian struggled not to vomit at the sight of Adler's body as He said "I should probably mention that while the sludge upstairs was disgusting, this is just gruesome". Sebastian's father, Joe, agreed and said "Yeah, You're mother would've had a heart attack. God rest Her soul". T

That was when the door to the other room slid open and the Phoenixes could see what was inside. It was a long hallway with five windows across both walls that allowed whoever looked through to see what was inside. The hallway was dimly lit and They could barely see through it. The Phoenixes made Their way inside and some tried to look through the windows to see what was in the rooms. They couldn't see anything, but suddenly the lights inside the rooms came on, almost blinding Them and showing Them what was inside. When Their sight finally cleared after a few moments, Sebastian screamed in horror at the sight of what was inside..... ten rotting corpses

The rooms were padded, like the ones in the fictional super prison "Arkham Asylum" and had a single door leading out to whatever was behind them. The window on each one made up the entire wall and it was now easy to see the rotting Human corpse within each one. They were wearing prison uniforms and seemed to have died long ago. That was when Bridge saw numbers and words above each one. On the first one The Phoenixes came across were the words "Test Subject: 00". The same words were above each and every cell, but had different numbers. There were dozens at least and it was a gruesome sight. That was when Bridge saw a small date painted onto the window of Test Subject: 008 in white that said "Died June 14th 2022". The Phoenixes were horrified to learn that He had been dead that long. Next to each and every cell was a small touch screen that showed photos of the victim. Phinehas swiped the screen and it showed Test Subject: 008 when He was alive. He was an Asian man who with fair skin and combed hair. He had to be in His forties, yet seemed to be in good health. But Phinehas then swiped the photo and another one appeared and Test Subject: 008 didn't look well at all. There were red rashes all across His face and it was clear that He had some sort of virus. Phinehas swiped the screen again and the next photo showed 008 with the all too familiar pimples that would spew out blood if popped and that blood would be contaminated with the one thing that killed so many innocent people thanks to the Unity Order's evil plans to let it run rampant: the St Peters Virus.

That was when Bridge realised something that was horrible to even imagine and said timidly "This.....this is the birthplace of S.P.V". The Phoenixes all looked at Bridge with shocked faces as He explained "Don't You see? The only way for the Unity Order to be so prepared for the Virus, was for Them to know that the Virus was coming and They knew the Virus was coming because They created it!" The Phoenixes all had looks of shock and denial on Their faces. Sebastian said with disbelief in His voice "So the Virus wasn't natural? It was artificial?" Bridge answered through panted breaths of shock "Yes! The Order created the Virus to wipe out most of Humanity! It's why the Fall happened so easily, because They engineered it!" The Phoenixes couldn't believe what Bridge was saying, it was all so horrifying! Solomon looked at the cells in horror and asked "You don't think The Unity Order....?" Bridge saw the way Solomon looked at the cells and understood exactly what He was implying. With shock in His voice, Bridge said "They kidnapped these people and tested the Virus on Them!" Phinehas gasped and said "How could They do that!?" Bridge had an expression of horror on His face as He said "Because They are so obsessed with wiping out most of Humanity that They will do whatever it takes. Even kidnap and illegally experiment on people". Joe was equally disgusted and said "How did We not figure this out when Adler told Us about Project Clean Slate?" Bridge thought for a moment and said "Because We didn't ask Him if the Unity Order made the Virus themselves. It should've been obvious".  

That was when the Phoenixes heard something that made Them jump in shock and all look over at the door at the end of the hallway. That something was the sound of a gun being used. The shot was so loud it could've been heard from within the Hanger where the U.F.O was being stored. Looking over at the door, Bridge saw the digital lock was green and the symbol was an unlocked padlock. Meaning that the door was unlocked. Bridge then quietly said "Guns". The Phoenixes then all got Their pistols ready to use, prepared for whatever, or whoever, it was that made that shot. As They started walking towards the door, They could feel the eerie aura of death within whatever room it lead to and Bridge clenched up His fist and raised it in the air, signalling Them to wait while He checked. Bridge slowly and silently moved towards the door and pushed it open. Inside was a laboratory with a corpse on a table that was covered in a thick white sheet. Bridge froze upon seeing it, looked back at the Phoenixes and said "We all go in on three. One...two...THREE!" The Phoenixes then rushed inside with Their pistols ready for use and as They headed in They saw something that horrified Them at within the laboratory. Sitting on the chair with blood pouring out from a hole in His head and a pistol on the floor was the fresh corpse of a dead man.