The Virus

Prologue

I stood in my lab, my goggles firmly on my face. I poured a bit of the solution into the beaker, turning on the fame. I looked around, seeing the pristine state of the lab. There was barely even a speck of dust on the ground.

Turning back towards the beaker, I retrieved a small dropper, dipping it into the glowing blue solution. A small drop of it met my skin, and I let out a hiss of pain, my hand feeling as though it was melting.

I was lucky I didn't have any open wounds. "Should have worn gloves." I turned to see my colleague standing behind me. I scoffed, looking at her with disdain, "If you want to try and do this, then be my guest," I muttered, looking away from her. I made my way over to the sink, running my hands under the cold water.

My gaze snapped towards her as I heard a blood-curdling scream. Looking over, I saw my colleague, who went by the name of Riley, standing there, her head covered in the blue liquid. I made my way over to her, my footsteps echoing through the room that had become silent. "Riley?" I asked tentatively. I looked down at her hand, noticing something that made my blood run cold. She had had a paper cut.

I had never tested the solution out on a person before, but I knew this couldn't be good. When we had tried it on blood cells, the serum would do horrible things from what I've seen. I knew we should have been developing a cure, or at least something to slow down whatever was happening to her.

She was curled up on the ground, in the fetal position, her eyes closed, and her breath shallow. I quickly put on some gloves, although they were just the cheap ones you get from the Dollar Tree. "I told them we shouldn't be doing things like this.", I muttered to myself, going to clean up the serum that was spilled on the floor, "If we weren't doing all this illegal stuff, maybe we'd have the funding.". I bent down, using a rag to clean up the blue liquid.

I barely managed to dodge out of the way before Riley lunged at me, her eyes glowing a black as if I was staring into an endless void. "What are you doing?" I asked, moving so that my back was against the wall. She didn't respond, only making this strange growling noise. She moved slowly, almost deliberately, as she began to draw closer to me. "S-stay back," I said, my voice cracking a little as fear took hold. There seemed to be a flash of recognition in her eyes, but it went as fast as it had come.

I grabbed my keycard, quickly swiping it into the keypad. I practically flew out of the door, slamming it shut behind me. I put my back against it, hearing Riley hitting herself against it again and again.

I was about to raise the alarm before I heard a voice. "Why have you locked me in here?", Riley asked. Her voice sounded exactly the same, except for a small thing that I couldn't place. "You were trying to kill me," I said, my hand still hovering above the button that rested on the wall. "Just let me out so we can talk," she said, her voice soft. I was not expecting this. I hoped for her to scream, yell, threaten me, but she was doing none of that. She was simply asking that we talk.

I opened the door, standing face to face with Riley, who's eyes still glowed black. "Stupid man," she growled, with a smile, the action causing me to see her teeth. Her teeth were something that I would have never fathomed. Not in my wildest dream, or in this case, a nightmare.

I sprinted down the hall, though not before pressing the button. A shrill alarm sounded throughout the lab as I raced down the aisle. Riley followed me at a light jog. It was clear that she was faster than me. She could have easily caught me. Instead, she was playing with me, like a cat would with a mouse.

I looked down at the beaker that I hadn't known I was carrying, hurling it towards her. It shattered, spraying the liquid around the room. This stopped the crazed girl for a while; she fell to the floor more surprised than anything else. I could hear the other scientists running out of the lab, some inevitably slipping on the liquid.

I was forced to stop, unable to draw my eyes away from the horror that I was about to witness. Riley seemed to recover from her daze almost instantly at the sight of the other scientists. She pounced on them, biting into their flesh. Their screams filled the building as she ripped parts of their flesh away. Riley licked her lips, moving onto her next victim, leaving the poor man lying on the floor. In the blue liquid

"Oh no," I muttered to myself, unwilling to believe what I knew was going to happen, "It was just a coincidence. Everyone will be fine." My hopes, as expected, were in vain. The man curled up in a fetal position, his breathing becoming shallow, much as it did with Riley. After what seemed like days, though it was only around maybe five minutes, he opened his eyes.

Unlike Riley, however, his eyes glowed a dull black, a starking contrast to Riley's much brighter black eyes. He rose to his feet, stumbling slightly, looking around, as if he had little to no reconciliation of what was happening. He looked around the room, his gaze landing on where Riley was still attacking the other scientists.

He let out a tentative growl, and Riley's gaze landed on the newly turned man. She abandoned her victim, going over to where the man was standing. They exchanged growls, seemingly able to understand each other.

I watched as he ran down the hall, going to wherever it was that he wanted to go. I had seen enough. I ran towards the hatch, quickly typing in the code, before twisting the handle. I emerged from the ground, finding myself in the dense jungle that the lab had been hidden in.

I made my ways towards the town, a civilization still in blissful ignorance of the lab. I slowed my pace to a walk as I entered the city, nodding to the townspeople as I passed.

I had made a grave mistake.

Hello everyone! This is my newest story. I came up with the inspiration one day and just had to post it on Wattpad. Please do vote and comment, it really does mean a lot to me. If you have any suggestions on what I could do to improve, or what you would like to see in this story, then please do feel free to tell me. Have a great day!