THE PROJECT

Greg Marshall had been working all night on the new project. It was 3 in the morning and he was tired, his eyelids kept dropping every few minutes. His theory papers for the experiment lay scattered on the white desk behind him while the apparatus for his project gazed at him, the compounds in the test tubes in the rack contained the many failed samples he had done earlier in the week. He was tired yet he had to keep going on or he would disappoint the CEO of WIT laboratories, he was their only hope at developing a new species of virus that would be beneficial at wiping out the thousands of bacteria that had ravaged the Netherlands. He gazed at the remaining sample of the some ancient viruses that had been detected in Permafrost in Siberia, it was his last hope. The scientist who had discovered it wasn't quite sure whether it's origins dated back to fifty million years ago so it would be a trial and error. He mixed the sample with a few drops of the compound he had specifically created to add to the viruses to see whether it would activate the domant viruses. He keenly watched the mixture, moments went by and nothing changed, there was no reaction of the viruses attaching themselves to the molecules of the compound. He sighed, he badly wanted to reach to his forehead and rub it but the latex gloves guarding his hands reminded him of the dangers of chemicals that may have come in contact with the gloves. Greg cursed out loud, clicking his tongue. He was frustrated at the luck of progress in all this weeks. The CEO wanted results, he was also being pressured from the top government officials. He took some steps towards the window, it was his favorite place in the large pristine clean lab, the yellow, black and orange lights that glowed from the city gave life to the lonely atmosphere of the lab. He would gaze at it whenever he was frustrated from his experiments going wrong or when he needed a little cheer in the lonely lab. It made him miss Lisa. She was the only person who actually listened to his horrible jokes and loved them, she would laugh when he cracked one of those jokes and he could tell from the twinkle in her eyes and how her eyes crinkled at the corners that she truly found him funny. The orange lights really reminded him of her bubbly care free personality that had attracted him to her on the first day they met at the science convention. The thought that she would be at a science convention had baffled him until she explained the other day that she had accompanied her friend. He smiled, she was the light he had always wanted in his life but of late things between them hadn't been good, she wanted him to spend more time with her than his work. 

He decided to go back and check on the status of the experiment, if it didn't still seem to portray any observable changes then he would lock for the night and head home to see her, he knew she couldn't stay angry with him forever.

As he approached the table containing his experiment, he could hear small sounds that sounded like whispers. He approached the stand and looked inside the conical flask, the specimen had grown in size and the liquid had turned green from the original blue. He couldn't hide the joy that crept up his tired eyes, he unclipped the flask from the stand and sealed it, after a few minutes, he noticed that the specimen was stagnant, it showed no increase in size. He took the flask and carefully placed it in the containing chamber together with the theory papers and went to give Mr. Lancaster the good news of the success of their experiment 

Lancaster had been asleep when his phone begun vibrating, waking him up from his dreams of a better world. He took the phone from his nightstand, careful not to wake his wife, she didn't like it when he woke her up at night out from his late night meetings and she wouldn't appreciate it now. It turned out it was Greg calling, frowning, he answered the call, "I don't see a good reason why you would call me this late," he said, not hiding his displeasure. He wasn't a superstitious man but his wife's tales of vengeful ghosts walking around at 3am crept on him, his eyes swept around the room trying to catch a glimpse of a ghost as he waited for Greg's reply, "I just had a breakthrough with the experiment," Greg's words sound from the other side of the phone, he could sense he was tired but he could also sense his excitement "I found the perfect virus that would kill anything completely in seconds, no matter how tiny,"

Lancaster's eyes bulged out, those were the words he'd been dying to hear from Greg, "well done Greg, I knew I could count on you," he said his mind calculating his next step "you never disappoint,"

"I'll be going to see my girlfriend, I won't be there tomorrow, the specimen is in the containing chamber inside the lab,"

"You should go tomorrow afternoon, I have to thank you personally and I'll be having a very important meeting tomorrow, I'll need you to be present in case of anything," Lancaster said, almost in a whisper as he felt his wife stir.

Bummed, Greg agreed for the sake of his relationship with the company, it would be long before he came back to the particular lab again.

The following morning was a busy day for Lancaster, he was chairing the meeting between many important people in the world. He sat on his chair at the head of the long table, opposite the president. He had presented the success of the experiment and now they were discussing the bankers available and how many people it would hold. They had made an elaborate plan to house those that were considered important assets in the new world order. The royal family and head of state families had their own bankers while the common people had been chosen based on their immune system superiority. The new world order was to eliminate the weak humans in the world and pave way for superior minds. The sickly would be left to their fate in the aftermath of the virus attack. The samples of the activated virus that Greg had helped create had already been sent into the WIT production plant for mass production which would be let loose later in the day. There was a banker on the underground of the WIT headquarters that would house the superior members of WIT that Greg had made into, that's why Lancaster had wanted him to stay.

"We need to hear from the brilliant mind behind this breakthrough," the president said, his hands folded infront of him in a challenging manner. He was an intimidating man by nature, he had an aura of importance around him and considered himself the savior of humanity.

Lancaster nodded and called for Greg.

Greg had been waiting outside the meeting room for his turn so that he could be done with it and go spend some time with his beloved. The meeting seemed to have taken longer than he would have anticipated and he was getting agitated just sitting there, opposite Lancaster's secretary who seemed to have no time for chit chat with him.

"Mr. Marshall, your presence is requested in the meeting room," her shrill voice snapped him from his thoughts, he smiled and nodded politely. 

The meeting room was huge, bigger than he would have thought, it was the kind of room that gave you goosebumps when you walked in, the stares of the officials in the room was supposed to make him uncomfortable but it didn't, he was used to talking to large crowds of students and fellow scientists.

"You have really outdone yourself," the president was the first to speak.

Greg smiled politely, "it wouldn't really have been possible without your support,"

The president was happy and satisfied with Greg, it was exactly the type of mind the new world would need, "I have a slot for you at the banker here, you don't have to suffer with the rest of the weaklings when the virus strikes,"

Greg furrowed his eyebrows, he didn't understand what the president was implying, "what do you mean?" He asked.

"There's a new world order, the virus you helped create will do away with every weakling human in the world and the superior ones will be safe in the bunkers we have built underground around the world," Lancaster explained excited.

Greg felt like he was about to faint, everything ceased to make sense as he tried to grasp the idea that he had helped create the weapon that would kill humanity, "you want to kill people! Innocent people just for your sick plan! Do you even hear yourselves! You'll kill children!" He found his voice going higher, shouting at the idiocracy of the plan to do away with humanity.

Lancaster stood up, dumbfounded at the audacity of Greg to yell in the presence of the president, "you should be thankful we're giving you a chance to live through the cleansing, your girlfriend didn't make it,"

Greg felt his whole world collapse, "I'll destroy the virus,"

He heard the chuckles of those present, "the virus has already been secured, as we speak, it's in mass production, the world ends today," the president says, "such biological weapon wipes out entire world's in a week or less," he said, his proud ways showing.

Greg rubbed his temple with his hand, he needed to get Lisa no matter the consequences, "am going to get my girlfriend," he said then walked away, his palms clummy. Exiting the room seemed to make him aware of the fresh breath outside, the air outside was inviting yet he could still feel the construction on his chest.

He had been driving for an hour now and yet it felt like time wasn't moving, trickles of sweat formed on his forehead out of worry and exhaustion, he had called Lisa's phone multiple times but she wasn't picking up. His black SUV took a corner and into the bumpy road on the east side of the province. It was a deserted area that house very few people, it had always been peaceful, no disturbances from the traffic and noise they had been used to in the city. The air there was fresh and calming, something he had missed but not as much as he had missed his girlfriend. 

He parked the car on his garage and went to knock on the brown mahogany door that Lisa had insisted on getting even though he had been in favor of getting an iron for safety. 

The door opened to reveal an anxious Lisa, she fling herself on him, embracing him in such a way that made him forget all the problems that had been going on. The loop of worry in his mind stopped and disintegrated into thin air as soon as he felt her in his arms, "I've missed you too Lisa," he said, his voice thick with emotion. He felt like he had failed her by leaving her all alone in the big house, it was now that he understood the loneliness she must have felt with his absence.

She pulled away, and that was when he noticed the puffiness of her beautiful green eyes, she had been crying. He reached over to her cheek, his palms embracing her affectionately, "what's wrong Lisa?" 

She sniffed, "Lance called, he told me everything," she said, "you shouldn't have come here Greg,"

He rubbed his forehead, "Lance is out of his mind, I came here to get you"

"There's nothing we can do now Greg, the virus has already spread all over the country, it's only a matter of time before it hits here. The news channels are going mad over the story," she held his hand, rubbing it in slow affectionate motions, "you didn't have to come,"

Greg felt like tiny needles were prickling his heart, seeing the sorrowful state of his beloved had his heart bleeding, he couldn't help but blame himself for the apocalypse that was about to end the world.

"I did it, I was the one who made the virus," he confessed on the front porch of their house. He waited for her to speak but she didn't, she was shocked.

"Why did you do that Greg? That's what you've been doing at the lab?" Her voice was raised, she couldn't believe he could have done such a wicked thing, "you know what, am leaving," she said, grabbing the key from him.

He turned around to stop her but the last thing he heard before she was bitten by Miss Clerk who was their neighbor was Lisa's screams as she tried to fight off the creature that definitely wasn't Miss Clerk. It had swollen green eyes,it's arms were pale, almost green and it let out dangerous low groups like a predator. Greg grabbed the rake on his porch and dawg it across Miss Clerk's head crushing the skull, she lost balance and fell off.

"Lisa come in," he screamed at a scared Lisa whose eyes never left the dismembered body of the lady who was once her neighbor.

He made a move to grab her but noticed her wound had turned green, the color had spreading across her hands rapidly, Lisa noticed greg staring at her arm, she screamed at the green color of her arm, "what's happening Greg?" She asked. He was scared to admit it to himself, Lisa was turning.

"I can't turn into whatever Miss Clerk is, you need to shoot me," she said, her eyes tearing up, "you need to get out of here Greg, we don't know how many of our neighbors have been turned by the virus,"

He hesitated, there was no way he would shoot her, that would be too painful, "I can't shoot you Lisa, I don't have it in me," he said, his eyes about to tear up at the sight of the rapidly spreading virus on Lisa's arm.

"I'm not going to be like them, if am going to die, then I'll die human, not a monster," she stood up and rushed into the house, she locked the door form the inside as Greg called out to her, banging on the door to let him in. She opened the gas and retrieved the gun from Greg's storage cabinet. The smell of the gas was overpowering even outside the house. Greg caught the smell of the gas and understood what Lisa was about to do, he barked away, picking the car keys Lisa had left on the ground and barked away to his car, he drove out of the garage and into the distance, watching as the house suddenly went up in flames. The tears that had been threatening to spill flowed down his cheeks freely, his heart felt like it was being squeezed. He stopped the car midway, letting his emotions take over. He cried, he screamed for his love, his girl, the one person who had known him better than anyone. He felt like a failure, why hadn't he seen it coming, how could he have been so stupid? 

He drove to the edge of the cliff, he wanted to end his life, drive the car over the cliff and let it consume him in the flames like Lisa but there was one thing he had to d first, he was going to make the elites and the government officials pay for what they had caused. He would make sure to spread the virus in the bankers that they had built for themselves. He reversed the car, his eyes red for blood and vengeance.