She had done it, finally, after weeks of tests. Smiling at the party going on around her, she had to amend her thoughts. They had done it, all of them. The infection has ceased spreading and had gone into remission. There had been cases of early stage treatments actually curing the patient. The only unfortunate part was that those with a full blown infection couldn't be saved and that thought still pained her deeply. The thousands of people who were infected would be hunted down and killed, bodies burned, buried in a mass grave, and forgotten; nameless and unremembered. She watched her team pop champagne corks and laugh, envying them and the relief that poured from each and every near hysterical laugh. All of them were afraid, still. They were afraid that the vaccine wouldn't hold. Sooner or later the infection would come back, but right now, they had to hold onto whatever hope they could find. No country in the world was untouched by the infection. Everyone in the room had lost some loved one to the worst outbreak in human history. Each one of them worked for the whole time with unshed tears that were finally flowing.
Europe had been decimated, but the vaccine was holding, reports had told them. Asia was still burning from military air strikes. Africa was dark, no news coming out and no one brave enough to go in to find out why. Too many people still held to the Outbreak movie mentality and thought that the virus originated from there. She had found out early that the virus came from the west coast of the United States, but no exact point could be found. Central and South America were relatively unharmed as borders were closed early with a shoot-to-kill order issued. Canada sadly, had become a land of the dead. So many souls had been placed on her shoulders each day the virus raged across the world unchecked. Each day more died, but now that would stop. In fact, it had already begun to stop. Generals mingled with the scientists and their families at the party, but with all these thoughts moving through her head, she could only mumble her thanks for their comments and shake hands that were thrust at her. The world had lost too much and so had she. Husband, father to her only daughter. Daughter. She was the one who gave the soldiers the kill order for her only daughter and the man that she loved. She rationalized that they were dead already, or at the very least, wouldn't want to live in that state. She watched them fall and land in pools of their own blood, almost like he was cradling her. Her heart broke as she felt the desire to climb into that embrace and fall into sweet death with those she loved, but her duty is what she clung to.
She worked tirelessly for weeks, enduring failure after failure while watching the infection spread like wildfire. She watched the military do what they do best, kill. She watched videos found by soldiers made by a group of survivors in a school in horror, feeling the fear that each person showed. She heard the reports of those that were resistant to the infection, but hadn't seen any of them. Every failure cost thousands of lives. Every day, hundreds of thousands. It's over, she thought. No more need to die. She could almost convince herself that this was true, but every time she thought that, she saw the faces of her husband and daughter, eyes staring blankly to the sky as they died in each others arms. She walked away from the party and back to her office, glancing at the paperwork with her thoughts tossing around in her mind. She never heard the radio saying that the vaccine was failing. She never heard the president call for nuclear strikes. She never heard the base alarm go off, nor the doors breaking in from the outside. She only saw the faces of the happiest time of her life, with her family out camping. As hands closed around her neck, her eyes closed and a smile came to her lips. Mommy's coming, my loves.
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