The Matinbury Estate

Chapter Five: DiEbUs

She is going to kill me, Julia. There is nothing I can do about and there is nothing you can do about it. It is what I deserve for my mistakes. I am not bitter. But I need my mistakes to be fixed to prevent anyone else sharing my fate. The AQVX will never be fully developed. Not by Kassidy. I added something to her version of component X that she has been using. What I added will keep her from ever stabilizing it. Anyone who tries it will die and all tests will fail.

This green vial I have given you is the true component X. With this and the AQV, you could create a superhuman, Julia. But I beg you not to do this. I sensed as soon as I was put on the project that people like us and people like them shouldn't have that power. I denied my own morals and created these monsters. I want you to destroy it. I want you to get rid of component X so Kassidy and anyone else like here will never use it.

But I know the serial killer is now using the AQV to cause wanton death and I know that their innocent blood is on my hands. Under Kassidy's watch, I will never have the opportunity to fix my terrible mistake. I am afraid that I will have to ask you to pay part of the price for what I have done. I have an antidote for the AQV in my hidden office. It will cure the disease caused by the virus. I want you to take it and give it to the police. Then this will be over once and for all.

Please, sweet Julia. I am unredeemable, but the Matinbury name is. I am sorry that this had to fall on you. I cannot convey how sorry I am for that. You would likely have gone to college and wrote for your dream newspaper with a guilt free conscious. But my legacy I have left you was not worthy of you. I remember when you were a little girl that you always cared so much for those around you even after all Kassidy and I have done. I don't think you even remember. Do you? I wish I could be half the woman you are and I know that you can do this. Forgive me.

Isa

The words on these pages... I couldn't describe the feeling inside me. I wasn't sure if I felt betrayed or pity. Empathy or shock couldn't describe. I wrote about the serial killer that she spoke of. I don't remember what his name was but he was one of the most wanted men in the country. He had killed many people with this virus. I felt like throwing up. Isa supplied him. My fists clenched. Isa... How could she have done this? How could wise, kind, life filled Isa do this? She needed money? What kind of desperation could bring her to do this? I couldn't imagine. She meant for me to open this before I went off to college. That was years ago. How many people died because of how long I waited to come back here? Ten. One Hundred. A Thousand. The thought left me sick to my stomach. What did Isa think when I never opened the box? Did she think I had given up on her? She may have. I could have saved her. I am sure that Kassidy did kill her. She may have also killed Warren. I am glad that I killed her. She would now taste the unstable component X that she wanted to expose me to. Now I know that her experiment was a death sentence. I had the true component X in my hands. The ultimate weapon. A virus that gave its host super human strength. Something inside me wanted to inoculate myself. I couldn't that. I could never live with myself. It had to be destroyed. All this bloodshed needed to end. I could still stop the AQV. The antidote may have remained downstairs for all these years. I could still save people. I could give the antidote to the police. If they knew about this virus they would be searching for a cure. I couldn't leave the Matinbury Estate. I had to go back downstairs. Kassidy is dead. I had no threats. Tick. Tock.

I turned to the doorway and felt a rough hand grasp my throat. Warren picked me up and threw me across my bedroom. I hit the floor and a ringing in my ears appeared. My headache reemerged with a new intensity like I had never felt before. Warren was here. I would be dead soon. Warren stalked towards me and stood over my burning body. Every nerve in my skin had come alive buzzing with the anticipation of my emanate death. Tick. Tock. Tick.