VIRUS

Chapter 6- Night Strolls

The funeral was rather short. It didn't seem like much- a few other squads came and we burried them in the center of the army camp. No one really said anything. We just kept quiet. I had nothing to say, so I just listened to the others pay their respect. Magdalena didn't say anything, but she drew a heart over Grace's grave. I suppose that was all she could do.

I kept waiting for Hamada to say something, but she just watched the others as I did. Or maybe she watched their graves, it was hard to tell.

Sam and Logan spoke, too. Their words sounded the most grieved out of any who had spoken. Sam just sounded guilty.

The night was quiet after that. We all just went off into our own worlds, and those worlds never collided even if we were in the same room. I went to sleep feeling empty.

----

I awoke to the sound of footsteps.

I got up and peered outside my door. I saw a silhouette at the end of the hall. I couldn't make out who it was. I squinted, trying to get a better look at them. The first thing I saw was thebunny ear ribbon in their hair. Then I saw the grin. Then I saw those eyes.

"You've been asking about me, haven't you?"

It was it.

    "What are you doing here?" I managed to whisper. It walked towards me, causing me to step back. It stopped a few feet in front of me.

   "I came to pay you a visit. Is that so wrong?"

    I looked over Hamada's body. It was wearing a short black dress with a bow around the waist. Her bunny eared ribbon was tied up on the right of her head, not the left.

    It scared me to think that this thing had personality it was trying to express.

    "What's with the outfit?" I asked quietly. "Doesn't seem like something you'd where, Hamada." It smiled a terrifying smile. It inched closer to me.

"Do you really think that I am Clarissa?" It questioned. I swallowed.

    "What's with the whole Amelia thing?" I asked after a moment. "You're a virus. You don't have a name other than Homicidal One Soul."

"On the contrary," she contradicted. "Most viruses have names. We're not just soulless parasites, you know. We are centient."

    "You may be centient but you're still a soulless parasite," I spat. It didn't respond with hurt. It just smiled.

"Possibly," it replied. "And when it comes to your comment about virus classification," it continued. "I'm afraid you've got me wrong."

    "Magdalena said that you claim to only be able to infect Hamada," I said sternly. "That makes you a One Soul."

    "On the surface, yes," it replied. "Tell me, what do you believe the definition of a 'One Soul virus' to be?" I hesitated.

    "A virus that can only possess one demon at a time, because it is either too weak to infect more or the immune system holds the virus in place," I answered. It smiled.

    "What part of that definition doesn't fit here?" I swallowed.

    "Hamada's not a demon," I replied nervously, half expecting it to say Hamada wasn't human. But it nodded and smiled eith those black and purple eyes.

    "What else?"

    "Nothing else. Everything else makes sense."

    It took two big steps towards me.