Four years passed, as the family grew closer together, with Natasha at university and Amber still at school, finishing off her A-levels. Dante was getting used to providing for the family and had started to like life the way it was. But nothing gold can stay. Something was always going to disrupt his life, and it did. A deadly plague broke out, infecting the whole world. 99% of the world was infected. Dante, Amber and Natasha were in the 1%. A top team of scientists were working to find a cure. Natasha, Amber and Dante tried to find another way, going to their aunt Morgan, who was another top scientist. She was working on a prototype that would enhance the abilities of conduits and potentially give them powers, but somehow managed to find a cure to the plague. However, there was a catch. The prototype would end up imploding the conduit gene, killing all conduits. The two girls were excited about this, but Dante knew what would happen if they’d used it.
“How do you know if it’ll work” Dante asked, concerned.
“Well, this prototype almost wipes clean the human body, much like a wiper on the windscreen of a car. It kills the infected cells and replaces them with new ones. The beauty of this thing is that it can cure the whole world of the plague in just a matter of seconds.” Dr Morgan replied. But as she was about to continue, Amber broke out in a violent coughing spree. Dr Morgan seemed worried and took out a small handheld device that would detect the plague in the human body. She scanned Amber, and the result shocked Dante to the very core.
“When were you planning on telling me you had the plague?” Dante demanded
“We were going to tell you soon, but thought you’d be worried” Natasha replied, holding Amber to comfort her.
“Wait a minute… did you just say ‘we’?” Dante was confused and wanted an answer
“Well… I’m infected too. I’m sorry, we were going to tell you but we needed the right time.”
Natasha answered, looking down at her feet. Dr Morgan scanned Dante to see if he had the plague as well, and he was shown as positive. This was probably as he’d stayed with Amber and Natasha while they were infected. This was bad news to the girls, but Dante and Dr Morgan knew that conduits were immune to the plague and would survive it, whereas humans could not.
Now, Dante had a dilemma. He had to choose whether he would activate the prototype, healing the humans of the plague, but killing himself, and the millions of conduits, many of whom might not even know they were one, this included his older sister Natasha. Or, he could destroy the prototype, which would give out radiation that would heal conduits of the plague and give them powers, but meant the deaths of billions of innocent people, including his little sister Amber. He had a week to think, but was overwhelmed by all the news he had received.
He’d just sit in his room, in the dark, thinking. The lights would be turned off and nobody would enter the room. The only lit of light came through the crack in the door. The only sound was the clock tick-tick-ticking on the wall. He sat with his feet up on the table and thought about the possibilities he could choose from. He hadn’t eaten in days and hadn’t washed in longer than that. “No time for food, no time to clean. I have to make this decision now” He kept telling himself, but even he wouldn’t believe himself when he said it was an easy decision. He spent a week thinking about what to do but had come no closer to his conclusion. Would he save his little sister, the one that he saw grow up from a child, or save his older sister, the one that took care of him and calmed him down every time he got angry? It seemed like an impossible decision to make.
“Dante, are you in here?” Came the voice from behind the door.
“Who is it?” Dante replied, with a tired voice.
“It’s me, Henderson. Your sisters called me up as they thought a psychiatrist could help you in these dark times.”
“Go away, I need some time alone” Dante replied. Henderson ignored his request and walked inside anyway. “I told you to leave” He states, angrily, but before Henderson could reply, a pillow was thrown at him. Henderson left without uttering a single word and the room was back to before: Dark, with a bit of light through the crack of the door, and silent apart from the tick-tick-ticking of the clock on the wall.
The next day was the day he had to make the choice. He walked with Amber and Natasha to the lab and met Dr Morgan there. She gave Dante the prototype, which he held firmly, by the handles. He took one look at the world around him and imagined the consequences of both of the choices he could make. He thought about his mum and dad and what they would have wanted him to do. He thought about everyone in his life and how he would directly affect their lives. He thought about how he was as a child and thought about all the things he would have regretted not doing. He thought of all the lives he would end, but also about all the lives he would keep alive. He thought about how the world would see him after the decision. He thought.
Most people his age would be worrying about things like which new phone to get, or if they’ve got the latest console. But Dante? No. He was… different…
