MUTATION: THE FATE OF A SOLE SURVIVOR

Chapter 25: The Devil and His Victim

                The stars formed a carpet in the sky, radiating with such beauty that one couldn't help but be dazzled by it. The warm wind blew gently across the green grass as it went it's way. The moon shined so bright that the environment was as clear as day, while the body of a woman laid unconscious on the grass. The smell of smoke woke her up slowly, making her to later cough and cover her mouth and nose with her left hand. She looked round to see where the source of the smoke was and saw that it was a little further down from her north. She stood up weakly and walked towards the source while holding her left shoulder with her right hand. She stopped once she got close enough to recognize a large bonfire burning up a corpse, while a figure sat still on the ground and watched the process in silence.

"Joe?", asked the woman as she took a step forward.

"Welcome back, Rose", I replied without looking at her.

Tears welling up her eyes as she fell on her knees and exclaimed while hitting the ground with her arms, "Why! Why did you save me?!".

I kept quiet and continued observing the burning corpse of my wife.

"You were supposed to save her! She should have lived, not me!", exclaimed Rose Mary as she began crying with her face down.

"Unfortunately, she thought the opposite".

"Huh? What do you mean?", asked Rose as she turned her attention towards me. I sighed, and then explained to Rose what happened.

Just as I was about to administer the antidote on Ana, the latter suddenly caught it from my grasp, broke the capsule and drained its contents into her mouth. She then bends over to Rose mouth and passed on the liquid through mouth-to-mouth. After that, she fell back on her previous spot while Rose coughed first before falling unconscious again. To my amazement, the blood streaming from the bite mark on Rose' neck retracted back to the wound before the wound closed.

Ana gasped heavily as she stared at the ceiling, before laying her eyes on me who was stunned at the turn of events. Weakly, she smiled and said, "It's been a while Joe".

At first, words failed to come out from my lungs. Disbelief held me down as I could not understand what was going on.

"Joe?... Is there something wrong?", she asked while coughing in between.

"I-Is this really happening? Are you really Ana?", I asked as tears were flowing from my eyes.

"I see. You must have been through a lot. It is all my fault dear. I'm sorry".

"No!", I exclaimed while tugging her clothes. "It is not your fault! It's mine and my father's! If only we did not go through with the project! If only we had listened to Max. If only-", I broke down in tears while burying my face on her thighs.

"Do not... cry dear. We all... make mistakes sometimes. We... just need to ensure that we have the... power to fix them, to save the world", she replied while rubbing my head with her left hand.

"I don't care about this world. My life has been hell from the moment I turned you into a monster. I don't want to lose you ever again".

She sighed and replied, "I cannot be saved Joe. My hands", she stopped and looked her right hand, "Have claimed too many lives. I always see their deaths every time I kill them. I've been living in that nightmare for far too long. It is time, for me to rest".

I held on to her clothes more tightly and asked, "Why won't you let me save you?".

"It's just as she said. You can only save one of us".