Rain - A Zombie Apocalypse Story -

*Extended Ending* Part Two

Gah! Sorry for the long wait. Honestly I have no excuses besides I'm a terrible human being with absolutely no organizational skills whatsoever. So let's just roll with that and get on with the story!

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Extended Ending

Part Two

The Laboratory

Alan's P.O.V

For several moments Carl just stared at me, unblinking as he studied my face for any trace of a lie. Then, slowly, the side of his face that was still capable of movement began pulling downwards, his lips sagging into a scowl. His remaining eye dropped to the jungle floor, scanning the ground as if expecting to find an answer there. He must have failed to find one, because after a moment his eye was trained on me again.

"I don't understand," he said slowly.

I shook my head, struggling to think of a way to explain everything to him without making myself sound like a monster. "I... a year ago I was offered a job by this private organization to help develop cures and vaccines for a range of illnesses. Only, I found out that they were taking the research we were doing and using it to create new, mutated versions of the virus's instead of curing them."

Carl's eye began to squint accusingly, so I held up my hand quickly to defend myself. "But I swear I left as soon as I found out what they were doing!"

The answer didn't seem to appease him much, because he continued to glare at me. After awhile, eye still squinted, he asked, "You used to work here?" He pointed at the steel doors with the golden cross on them.

"Yeah, I... I already said that." I was expecting him to pounce on me, tackle me to the ground and claw one of my eyes out to replace the one he lost. But instead of doing anything like that, instead of blaming me for everything that's happened and accusing me of being able to stop it, he just gave this small nod of his head, as if he didn't quite understand what he'd just been told.

"Oh," he said after a moment, "OK."

I stared back at him, perplexed by his reaction. How could he not despise me when I despised myself? Although I never knew the true intentions of The Golden Cross, I knew their motivations for creating new viruses could only be sinister. When I left, I could have told people, done something. I could have prevented all of this from happening!

"That's it?" I asked, surprised by the anger that shook my voice. "OK? That's all you have to say?"

I wanted him to attack me, to hold me accountable, to make me pay for what I did, or really, what I didn't do. But Carl just stared at me and nodded again. It was only after studying his face, the side that wasn't burnt to a crisp, that I realized something was off. I didn't notice before because my attention was pulled to the burns – it was hard not to stare at them – but now that I saw the absent look in his eye it became apparent that he wasn't squinting at me out of hatred, but out of confusion.

He was struggling to understand anything I had said.

"Carl? How are you feeling?" I asked, taking a tentative step towards him, my arm reaching out in what I hoped he would interpret as a friendly gesture.

"A little... dizzy," he said, staring at my outstretched hand with an uncomprehending gaze of what was happening. At a closer distance I could see that his pupil was dilated, so much so that it was practically like an eclipse had taken his eye.