1 Isolation

*bang*

'Where are all my teammates? The bomb has been planted on section B, fuck!'

I picked up my gun, an ak47 modeled by the Russian corps, one of the strongest rifles despite its tremendous recoil, I must say; with its 7.62x39mm bullets that can somehow pierce through the toughest metals. I checked my magazine for its remaining bullets.

32.

1 clip and a few more shots will take me out and leave me empty-handed. Quite troublesome.

I checked my watch for the current time.

00:00:58

'Less than a minute, huh?' I couldn't help but click my tongue on the depressing time pressure that had been engraved in my mind. One by one my teammates, probably half of them Chinese or Taiwanese, got mercilessly killed by the onslaught of the terrorists. Our main role as 'cops' was to monitor the movements of our enemies, avoiding them to plant their beloved bomb inside the outskirts of our headquarters. But unfortunately, they had positioned the bomb around Section B. I…was lingering around the intersection of Section D and C. Area B isn't far from here, and supposedly, it will take about 25 seconds for me to discharge the bomb, without encountering any disturbance throughout my way. It was, indeed, far ahead from our expectations; continuously being well protected. I, the sole survivor of my team had to embark on the soonest time as possible.

I sprint myself towards the hallway, passing through different barrels and modern stone walls, with only torches with its swinging yellowish flames as my sole light source. My footprints could be heard, but I paid no mind as I continued running for my mission. I held my Ak47 on, ready to aim. The red dot which I had customised before was worth the expense, truly a crosser that has the standardise form, most helpful through these times.

Foreign footsteps, apart from mine, can be heard from the opposite side. How long have I been running? 5 seconds? It felt like days, my mind thought, still, on guard from whatever passes that entrance. I took a halt, and lowered my body, crouching to the nearest wooden boxes as my feeble barricade. It wasn't sturdy, but it's enough to block the bullets.

I waited. Waited for more. 8 seconds had passed since then, and my patience finally rewarded me as I saw two individuals, armed, and shone by the light coming from the ingress of the hallway. I was hidden. I can see them. They can't see me.

Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill or be killed!

My brain screamed. The thought of killing never passed through my innocent mind. But, alas, here I am. What can I do? I was forced, never an intention. I held my rifle tightly than before. Was I scared? Yes. Was I enjoying this? Not really.

I took three deep breathes, focusing everything in hand. My aim, accuracy, movements, bullets. Everything should be done perfectly. I kept observing them, trying to find the right timing.

One of them turned. The other looked to his side.

Now's my chance! I move out. Adrenaline came rushing through my body, as I stood up, bursts fire whilst pulling the trigger; landing bullets perfectly on the skulls of the two men.

*Grey killed 敌人 headshot!

*Grey killed スキッド headshot!

I consumed 8 bullets. At the least, it was quite acceptable. I reloaded my ammo from what's in store and continued venturing on the ingress of the hallway. I took out my map and found myself standing at the extreme left side of my desired location, section B.

I look around the wide space filled with nothing but an old sack of sandbags and black stony hedges. I positioned myself hidden at the said sandbags from the enemies who could be still out, lurking, hoping to find me. The element of surprise and the gift of silence is much appreciated in these circumstances.

00:00:29

24 bullets

I clicked my tongue as I carry once more my cursed mission. Each section has its designated bomb placements. Ironically, those specific locations are marked ahead by the scouts of the terrorists, drawing a spherical symbol for the bomb's position, painted blood red for its deadly symbolism.

I ran towards the centre, where the bloody circle could be found. Fortunately, the bomb which was our main purpose for everything had been placed at the open field, visible through the naked eye. I hurriedly crouch and gazed on the bomb. It had weird buttons in the middle and two wires at each end. It looked more than an overgrown calculator than an explosive to me. Just above the buttons, I could see numbers ticking to its countdown. Must've been the time needed before its detonation. I hurriedly open my pocket bag, which was given to me by my deceased teammate. I estimated the time needed to discharge the bomb. As I thought, roughly 5 seconds. Within those 5 seconds, my body will be focusing on interfering with the system, dispatching its controls, hence shutting it down. The time shown on the screen on the countdown displays 15 seconds, quite ample from what was left.

I began clutching my equipment, proving such elaborate details upon terminating the deadly time-bomb. My hands start to shake but alas, I paid it no mind. 1…2…3… "Almost there" I took a glimpse on my right and a figure, which I should have not seen, became visible from my eyes. A black humanoid physique holding a similar gun as I began pointing the edge of his barrel towards my way. My field of vision turned obsidian. And the last thing I knew were gunshots fired all over my direction.

I thought I knew. I…

* Lancelot killed Grey!

* The bomb has been detonated. Terrorists win!

We….lost?

An artificial voice reverberates the dark silent room. I was playing this so-called "Red Flag", a popular first-person shooter game recommended by my friend. Looking at the screen, the word 'Defeat' rang down my nerves.

Why?

It's a dreadful taste, making myself choke on the results of my match. I did play well, but there was, at some point, who played a little better. It was none other than my best friend who took the winning shot against me, discharging the god damn bomb. 2 teams, consists of 5 members each, battling and utilising various firearms secluded in a custom map, dominating the opposing team throughout a limited time given from the match. My best friend, who was a veteran at hiding, concealing hiss presence, exceeded my expectations thus making me taste the priceless defeat.

'These idiots. If only they could listen and followed my lead, then we could've…' I thought to myself. But, overthinking from what I should've done won't get me anywhere. Perhaps, I need to be better the next time we could play again. Yes, perhaps; nodding to my sound argument.

"hahaha, that's a great game, man. Catch you up next time. My dad is calling me for dinner"

"See you later, Lance"

*Lance has left the game*

*Grey left the game*

After closing Red Flag, I turned up my customised music and began browsing for any tips and tricks, information that I could find to further enlighten me on the mechanics of the game. Just beside my keyboard, at the reach of my hand, I grabbed my phone, opened, and played a different app while consistently multi-tasking between playing and browsing.

A weird site popped out of my screen, making it seem like important news from what I had been playing.

"Attention, all citizens worldwide. These had caught the attention of many and I advise all individuals to proceed to evacuate, if not, prepare food and shelter for the upcoming sinister event. Thousands of people had been killed by the unknown raging mob in Singapore, China, and the United States. Despite these circumstances, we assure you that all scheduled flights would be delayed shortly. These left scientists questioned as they had been…"

I swiped out the site, removing it from my list of importance. Slightly worried, I fixed my room, shut down every other gadget that I had been using for the past 11 hours, and slept like a log hoping for tomorrow.

But… why had I feign ignorant from it?

I and my mum had been temporarily living in the city of manila, a small island that resides on the shore called the Philippines. My dad is American. A scientist; he looks like it, stopping by from home wearing some weird lab coats and even eye wears that perfectly fits his descriptions inside a chemical laboratory. My mother, who had been staying by my side, is a businesswoman, owning a large company and portions of sales from the stock market. We weren't rich, but just having an adequate amount of finance to pass by. One of her colleagues offered a contract, having to deal with a business trip that lasted up to 4 years long. We first stayed in New York City, United States; and now, traveled and living my college days here in the Philippines. Fortunately, the relocation had happened after my high school graduation day. It's just a matter of fact to look for a decent school that could offer a 4-year course in the rest of my college course here in Manila. My dad, on the other hand, left quite hastily, leaving a video recording behind which was sent via smartphone.,

"Son, your dad has some… added work to do. These doofuses co-workers of mine wanted to patent and sabotage my work. Don't worry about this. Your dad is a smart man. I'll handle this smooth, just how I handled your mother…

'Sir, the results are here'

catch you up later, champ."

The video ended with a playful smile on his face. It seemed to be fake, as though remembering those expressions, which were similar to mine. I knew dad for a long time. Well, not really. But people say that I and dad were like two peas in a pond. Goofy. Playful. Serious. And intelligent, so as it seems.

The quality of the video wasn't even that great but it was quite fun seeing my dad through these random footages. Sometimes, I miss that old man of mine. I'm more worried than ever missing him. The last time he stayed, he almost burned the whole house from his terrible cooking skills. And it was no joke. The food was…inedible. My dad had to order two large pizzas for that night thanks to his 'cooking'.

'

*******New York City; Laboratory building *****

: 9: 00 A.M. :

'We need to stop this bullshit right now! My goal is to enhance the immunity of the human cell, we are not creating bio-weapons. Mr.Newton.'

I hurriedly shut down the machine, which was currently progressing while holding the test tube samples carefully on my hand.

This DNA sample is my greatest research; but the thing is, it was quite unfinished when I last tested it on an experimental rat. This minuscule DNA engineered strand will be the next miracle drug that could've been available in the pharmacy, but the side effects outweigh the desired cure. It was meant to eliminate chronic and deadly diseases including all sorts of Cancers, HIV, and more. I was at fingerbreadth's close and yet…it had failed miserably due to the outlying side effects. One of which was corrupting the nervous system, destroying thousands of cells in the body, aging it, moreover acidly killing red blood cells and neurons consecutively within minutes upon injecting inside the body.

For that, I hid my literature far beneath everyone's knowledge. Although my research wasn't publicly known, I had colleagues who partook in my experiment. Mrs. Claire Sakamaki and Dr. James Newton, who was and always been dear friends to me. We're the beast, the trio since our college life. But apparently, Newton had it rough and needed to pay for around 1 million dollars debt on his daughter's medical fee. The daughter's disease…Emma Newton's, was Cancer. Lung Cancer. I think when we were around celebrating Mr. Newton's 32nd birthday, his wife and daughter were caught up inside a great fire on their neighbours' home. The fiery flames rummaged the whole vicinity and not a single valuable was left unscathed. Fortunately, Newton's family escaped and brought everything that they needed, but Emma who was out cold from the incident had a burning sensation accompanied by severe coughs. The Newton ran towards the nearest hospital. Unfortunately, what greeted them was terrible news. Emma was diagnosed with lung cancer due to the quantity of smoke she had inhaled during their escape, but of course, the superficial exposure from different cigars additionally lead it to top its fathomable doom.

"James… this is for your daughter's sake. We can't afford her to have deadlier symptoms." As I stared, whispering my thoughts to my friend. Claire, who was watching us towards the mirror outside the room called our attention with the use of a cellar microphone, asking us to leave immediately. With a defeated look from his eyes, Dr. James looked down, regretting my own apparent decisions. And for that, his daughter's cure would be delayed sooner than ever.

I hang up my coat just beside the door and fell on the small futon that my son had given me as my gift last year. It wasn't the comfiest, but it did help me sleep more in these busy nights.

"I…I wish he'd be alright," I asked a rhetorical question to the ceiling, hoping for an answer. Of course, that question was for Claire, who had been staring at me from the front door.

"I sure hope so…any case, you had your ways, have you?"

"About what?" I picked myself up on my lousy stature and grabbed one of the few biscuits left on the latter part of my bed.

"You found a new symptom which would overlie the cure, didn't you?"

"Yeah…I can't hide anything from you, huh?" as I chuckled on her comment. But it was the truth.

Recently, right after my verification, I had noticed various findings that proved to be fatal when left unmanaged. After several hours of incubation, the test subjects; both the mouse and the human blood sample, began rapidly deteriorating…no. It was compounding itself with the remaining healthy cells it has. On a multi-purpose microscope, the result was shown on our gigantic computer screen and brought shivers through my spine. The mammal, who had been labeled as deceased, began acting strangely. Supposedly, the rat has injected a lethal chronic disease (lung cancer) and died in the following week. Various antidotes and other scraped drugs were used; even mushrooms, fungi, and scrapes of herbs were used for the sake of testing. I believe a fungal species known as the Ophiocordyceps unilaterally sensu lato, was used to the biological experiments. And thus…

I and Claire continued chit-chatting for a couple of minutes, focusing on different lab results and other researchers portraying to our work. 'It can't be helped', I thought as I slightly shrugged my shoulders, where Claire wouldn't notice.

As our undying topic came to an end, a loud crash coming from the lab, nearest to my room came ringing in my ears.

"What was that?" Claire asked, gazing towards the sound, behind the door.

"We need to find the origin as soon as possible", as I stood at my comfy futon, regretting it slightly that this absurd thing has occurred right at my beloved break.

As soon as we got out, our fellow scientists scream throughout the hallway; much like from apparitions to apparitions from a horror movie. We ran towards the origin of the sound and found out a humanoid figure moving in slow motion… as if a tiger hunting down its prey. I and Claire couldn't guess the black figure covered from the smog that the explosion created, but we all knew that that person is one of our staff members, a scientist, in this lab. Amidst everything happening, I peeked at my phone and sent all the files I had available to my son.

"sa…ve…me…" the unidentified figure growls. Claire and I moved closer to take a quick close-up look… and too much of our surprise, the guy lept towards Claire, as if it was a monstrous beast, and pushed her on the ground, positioning himself on top.

"clai…re" he growls again. Panicking, I kicked the guy on his sides, taking off his balance. He then stumbles on a safe 5 metres distance away, rolling over from the impact, and having a better view from the identification of that guy is…

"James" I gasped, hoping for the best as he clasps his mouth into a horrid grin; with the rotting veins that came off from the holes of his body.

A roar echoed through the night, and the deadly atmosphere began spreading like wildfire throughout the world