“We don’t have a choice.”
The zombie pathogen— Red’s Prion , the news called it—was perfect. Airborne in close quarters, fluid-borne in open air. Incubation: six to forty-eight hours. Symptoms: mild fever, pupil dilation, then the turn . No reanimation. No rotting corpses shambling about. Just… conversion.
Then she seized and died of a cytokine storm.
The first outbreak took three hours to consume the lab. By the time the CDC cordoned off Atlanta, Eliza was already on a Greyhound bus heading west, a cooler full of vials rattling between her feet. Her glasses were cracked. Her lab coat had someone else’s blood on the sleeve. Dr Red-s Zombie Apocalypse -v1.0- By GuroGameGuy
“Please,” she whispered.
“The apocalypse isn’t an ending. It’s an update. And updates can be rolled back.” — Dr. Eliza Red, final transmission (incomplete)
“You’re the source,” he said when Eliza walked in. “We don’t have a choice
“We don’t want it.”
“I know.”
Eliza sat in the dark and realized the truth. Version 1.0 wasn’t a disease anymore. It was a new species. And it had already won. Symptoms: mild fever, pupil dilation, then the turn
“This is Dr. Eliza Red,” she said into the static. “I have a cure. Repeat, I have a functional cure for Red’s Prion. I am broadcasting from coordinates—”
Cass had a satellite phone and a desperate idea.
“We don’t have time for another iteration,” Voss replied.