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Chapter 1

Micah finally reached the safe area and then placed his dying comrade on a stretcher. The medical officer immediately began tending to him, but Micah had already known that he had no chance. The virus had already taken hold. Micah was afraid that he himself had been infected as well.

His comrade reached over and grabbed his forearm. "Micah," he whispered.

"Yes, I'm here, friend. You're gonna be all right," Micah lied to his comrade.

His comrade smiled. "I know what's going to happen to me. Hey... do you remember that TV show 'Out of This World'?" His comrade coughed.

"What? No, I don't," Micah responded, genuinely confused. Tee vee show? He hadn't the slightest clue of what he was talking about. There hadn't been a stage show for his unit in weeks.

"It was about this daughter of an alien," his comrade continued, "she could stop time by putting her fingers together..." he demonstrated by weakly placing both the tips of his index fingers together. "Would be nice right about now, yeah?" His comrade then began uncontrollably coughing.

Beep beep. Beep beep.

"Lifesigns are dropping," one of the field medics said.

Micah's comrade once again grabbed his forearm.

"Micah... it's real... search for... Oberon..."

His comrade's hand loosened from his arm, then fell lifelessly below the side of the stretcher. A long, unending beep sounded from the machine he was hooked up to.

Micah felt defeated. But also confused. He didn't know who or what Oberon was.

It became his new personal mission.

* * *

A month later, Micah was stationed to a place on the other side of the world from where his comrade had died. The constant change of scenery was why he didn't mind too much about being coerced into enlistment.

By some miracle, Micah had not become one of the Infected.

"Welcome to New Unilat 4," his Commanding Officer announced to the unit. "At ease."

Micah and his unit all placed their hands folded in front of them.

"I need not tell you why our base has yet another number after it," the CO continued as he looked down at a report in his hand. He looked back up. "Now, I am aware of the rumors going around that this war is coming to an end. These! Rumors! Are! False! In fact, you elites have been re-assigned here to address the rise of virulence in this area. The enemy may have been diminished but the Biogen is still very much at large! You are the best of the best. I expect to see it in action! DISMISSED!"

The unit stomped their boots and saluted.

Micah had just started to walk away with the rest of his unit when his CO called him. "Micah. Not so fast."

He walked to his CO. "Micah, reporting in, SIR!" He saluted once more.

"As you were," his CO responded. He then bent over and lifted the large medical container that had been sitting on the ground near to him. He held it towards Micah.

"For Artemis unit. This should last you the week... longer, we hope." Micah retrieved the anti-viral syringes from his CO. "I'll assume you've been briefed about the virus severity here?"

"Yessir," Micah replied.

"Very good. Have your unit ready at oh five hundred hours tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

Micah distributed the syringes to everyone in his unit, then returned to his bunk. He had felt nervous being given his first command, but he was also excited. He daydreamed about being the one himself to neutralize the Biogen for good.

BOOM.

The sky darkened. Micah looked up through his bunk's mesh ceiling.

A green shockwave appeared in the sky, widening around a bright point of light in its centre.

"VIRAL BOMB!" a soldier cried out.

Everyone began running. But Micah knew what to do.

"Didn't think it would be this quickly," he thought as he reached for a syringe, uncapped its top and plunged the needle into his heart.