The room was dark except for the dim glow from the flickering lights overhead. The farmhouse that had once seemed like a temporary refuge now felt like a cold prison. Outside, the horde had stopped just short of the farmhouse's threshold, but their groaning and the occasional thud against the door reminded August that safety was never guaranteed.
Inside, the atmosphere was thick with tension as August stood in front of the makeshift terminal. His fingers hovered above the keyboard, hesitant. The system had granted him access to a new feature just moments ago: a log of previous entries, a history of data, and, possibly, critical information about Sabrina and the virus. Information that could explain everything.
Sabrina.
She stood across the room, silent, her once-confident demeanor now replaced by something far more guarded. She had been the reason for August’s search, the reason he had risked his life so many times. The woman he had once loved, now a mystery. A stranger with too many secrets.
She had arrived in the farmhouse moments ago, and while August wanted nothing more than to embrace her, the words from the system echoed in his mind: Marcos has ties to Sabrina. That connection was far too crucial to ignore. He needed to understand what Sabrina had done and how it tied into the outbreak.
The others, Cara and Jude, remained at a distance, casting wary glances at Sabrina. Their trust in her was thin, just like August’s, but none of them spoke it aloud. Not yet. Not when survival was still their primary goal.
“I need to know,” August muttered to himself. He sat at the terminal, pushing aside the creeping doubts that had taken root in his mind. He began to scroll through the data logs, looking for something, anything, that might give him the truth. His heart hammered in his chest as he sifted through the cryptic entries. Each log was more obscure than the last. But then, as if the system had heard his thoughts, a new log appeared in bold letters:
System Log Entry #174: The Virus Origin - Data Analysis by Dr. Sabrina Reyes
August’s fingers froze. He stared at the text in disbelief. Sabrina Reyes? The same Sabrina he had known and loved? The woman who had vanished into the chaos of the outbreak, only to resurface as a stranger tied to everything he had been fighting against?
He opened the entry with trembling hands, his pulse quickening.
Log Entry Summary:
Dr. Sabrina Reyes has completed a preliminary analysis of the virus responsible for the outbreak. The pathogen was bio-engineered in a high-security lab, intended as a form of biological warfare. However, the virus mutated during testing, becoming far more contagious and deadly than originally anticipated. The virus spreads through bodily fluids and is highly adaptive, able to override normal biological processes. The initial outbreak was triggered by a containment breach in the lab, and despite initial quarantines, it has spread globally.
Key Data:
* The virus was designed to be a weapon against certain populations but evolved beyond its original design.
* The lab’s primary objective was to study genetic enhancement through viral mutation. Sabrina played a significant role in the project, providing critical data on mutation triggers.
* A “secondary agenda” was put into place to explore viral adaptability. No further details are available due to data corruption.
* Current status: Unknown. Potential locations of virus-origin labs include “Cavite” and “Project Viper” facilities.
The entry ended abruptly, the last sentence trailing off into a string of corrupted characters.
August’s stomach churned as he reread the summary. Sabrina… created this virus? His thoughts whirled, and a sense of betrayal took root deep within him. It didn’t make sense. She had always been brilliant, but he could never have imagined that she would be involved in something like this. The virus. The outbreak. The destruction of everything—was it all her fault?
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“August?” Cara’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he looked up to find her standing behind him, eyes wide with worry. “What did you find?”
Before he could answer, Jude entered the room, his usual grim expression only deepened by the silence. He glanced between the terminal and August. “What is it? What’s going on?”
August’s mind raced. The words from the system, the files from Sabrina's work, the horrible implications of it all. He turned back to the terminal and closed the log, as if hiding the truth could somehow erase it. But deep down, he knew he had no choice. The truth was right in front of him. The only question was how to face it.
“I found something,” he said, his voice cold. “Sabrina was a part of this. She helped create the virus. The outbreak—it started in a lab she worked in.”
The words hung in the air like an oppressive weight, and the room fell silent. Jude’s face twisted in anger. He stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as he glared at August. “You knew about this?”
August stood, his eyes meeting Jude’s, his own heart pounding. “I didn’t know. Not until now.”
“Not until now?” Jude spat. “And you didn’t think it was important to tell us before? You’ve been keeping this from us all this time?”
August’s chest tightened. “I didn’t know how to say it. Sabrina’s still Sabrina. She’s the same person I loved.”
“The same person who created a biological weapon that destroyed the world?” Jude’s voice was sharp, cutting through August’s defenses. “What the hell are you talking about? How can you still defend her?”
Cara stepped in between them, holding up her hands. “This isn’t the time, guys. We’re not getting anywhere like this.”
But Jude wasn’t having it. “No, Cara, this is the time. August—what’s the plan here? You’re acting like she’s still some kind of hero. But she’s the one who started all this.”
“I don’t know that!” August shouted, his emotions fraying at the edges. He took a step back, hands running through his hair. “But I’m not going to abandon her. I have to understand. I have to know what happened, why she did it. And you should be asking the same questions.”
Jude shook his head, stepping back in disbelief. “I don’t care why she did it. All I care about is surviving. And you need to decide where your loyalty lies, August. With her, or with the rest of us.”
August flinched as if the words physically struck him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He didn’t know what to say. Jude was right. He couldn’t be loyal to both. But Sabrina… she wasn’t just some stranger to him. She was the woman he had fallen for. The woman he thought he could trust with his life.
But now? Now, it felt like everything had changed.
Sabrina’s voice broke the tension, soft but strong. “I never wanted this,” she said, stepping forward, her eyes meeting August’s. “I never wanted the outbreak. I never wanted to hurt anyone.” Her voice trembled, and her shoulders slumped as she looked at the others. “But I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t know how.”
August felt a pang of sympathy for her, but Jude wasn’t so quick to forgive. He took a step forward, his voice a low growl. “You want to tell us you didn’t know? That this wasn’t your fault? How can we trust you now?”
Sabrina recoiled slightly but held her ground. “You want answers? I can give you answers, but not now. Not with them out there.” She motioned toward the window where the shadows of the zombies were beginning to draw nearer.
Jude scowled, but Cara placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll deal with this later. We have to focus. For now, we survive.”
August nodded, but his mind was in turmoil. The mission had never been about survival for him alone. It had always been about finding Sabrina. But now he wasn’t sure if he could trust her. And yet, part of him still wanted to believe her. That part of him, the one that had loved her so fiercely, refused to let go. But the truth of what she had done—what they were all living in the wake of—made it hard to breathe.
The system flickered on his HUD, its voice eerily calm.
Warning: Zombies detected within range. New mission: Defend position.
With that, everything else ceased to matter.
The moment of reckoning had arrived.
Jude stepped forward, his face hard. “August, I don’t care what you think of her anymore. You’ve been hiding this from us—this truth—and I’m done.”