Ominous Stranger

Prologue

Cold.

That's all I feel anymore and it's all I'll ever feel. Everything else was just gone. I didn't see the point in feeling anything other than cold, because in the end that's exactly what they wanted from me – to be cold and empty, just like every other person who has died here.  Unfortunately, I don't get the luxury of having my heart stop beating.

It didn't matter how many bruises they left on me or how many needles they stuck at me or the fact that I spent countless nights crying from the virus running through my body. None of it matter as long as I was still breathing and not choking on my own blood. As long as I survived each injection, I would be kept alive.

I want to die.

I want this all to be over. I pray for the infection to finally attach itself somewhere inside my body and release me from this nightmare. But each time I feel the needle slide into my veins, I already know the outcome.

Kill me.    

I didn't see the point in any of this. Everyone was dying. Each individual they inflicted with pain endured so much to only die within days. They told us if we survived through the night, we would be considered the lucky ones and the ones who failed with the injections were weak. They had it backwards; the ones who died were the ones who were free – they were the lucky ones.  The ones who were left behind would slowly weaken until there was nothing left of them. 

In the beginning, doctors just said it was a common cold and would clear up in a matter of days. Days turned into weeks and the amount of people suffering increased, as did the mortality rate and with there being no cure, things only got worse. Riots erupted from the cities, people demanding for different sources of medicines. The hospitals were being overwhelmed with the sick and were rapidly losing space.

That's when the bodies started showing up. There were so many rows of lifeless bodies that lined the outside of the hospitals. Men, women and children of all ages were laid to rest in the parking lots and courtyards with sheets draped over their corpses. It was a wasteland. Of course, there were individuals who aired on our televisions screen and tried to sugar coat the whole ordeal, but everyone knew what was happening. Some said that it was God's way of punishing us. Others said that it was bound to happen eventually. Then there were people like me, the ones who didn't know what to believe.

With over half the population already wiped out, the rest of us were thrown into disarray. There was no way to make this any less tragic. No amount of broadcasts could tell us that everything was going to be okay. There was no way of hiding the bittersweet reality that we were all fighting for survival. No amount of prayers could help us and what little hope we had was lost. That is, of course, until the government stepped in.

Divine X. That's what they called it. Authorities believed that this project is what our country needed in order to be pure again. Government officials made it their mission to seek out scientists and doctors with promising reputations and recruit them for furthering their hopes in destroying it. In order for it to work, the scientists needed something, someone, to test on. People from all over the nation were donated and shipped to The Institution in which the testing was taking place. The plan was to inject each and every donated individual with the virus and document exactly what happens to the inflicted. They told us that this was harmless and that we would be treated as their guests. Lies.

I remember when they took me. When my own mother willingly gave me away to the monsters without second guessing herself. I can still feel their latex covered hands all over my skin and how it burned when they dragged me away. It all happened so fast that I wasn't able to fully process what was happening. There was no warning, no time to mentally or physically prepare for what was to come. Through all the dirt and excess grime that poured its way into the house, all I could focus on were the figures that kept filing in one after another. Eight men fully clothed with biohazard suits stood opposite of me, but I knew there had to be more outside just in case of even the smallest amount of chaos. It was difficult to see their faces, but their eyes glowed like cats in the night. The man in the middle held a clipboard close to his chest while looking over the documents. I remember having this feeling in the pit of my stomach that he was looking over my medical records. I was up to date with all my vaccinations, but they didn't know that. I wish they didn't know. It only took a matter of seconds, a blink of an eye, for my entire life to flip completely upside down.