The Truth Behind Lies

Natalie quickly spilled everything she knew.

She hadn't been the only researcher here, but she had previously been the youngest. She was the only researcher that survived the zombie outbreak and continued to live on as a human.

There'd been ten of them in this facility, but she was the only one to survive and continue her research.

She showed them the rooms that they'd used to contain them that was locked with a password. Only if they passed the initial first test would they be able to continue researching.

Natalie insisted that what happened to them was only part of a greater scheme. They were only the lowly ranked researchers without any say in this matter.

Lukas could hear the unspoken words that she didn't think they'd done anything wrong. Even if they turned out like this, it wasn't that bad, was it?

Lukas sneered in his mind. This was only wishful thinking. Trapped in this little box, Natalie didn't know about the true horrors so many faced in the apocalypse's outbreak.

There were ten containment rooms, but only one of them had its door swung wide open.

Each of the rooms were bracketed with glass windows that were bulletproof, giving Alec's party insight into the rooms.

Natalie shuddered, turning her gaze away, focusing her eyes on Lukas' clothes from her spot on his shoulder.

There were nine zombies in total in this facility, and they could almost pass off as human. If it wasn't for the fact that their eyes were completely milky white, and that their chests didn't move to breathe, they could almost have fooled anyone so long as those characteristics were covered up.

As it stood, Lukas suddenly realized why Natalie had managed to fool herself into believing that this wasn't so bad. Surely, if the researchers that had been transformed were so docile, the rest of the world outside was like this as well.

"We aren't the head of this research. At best, we were just helping to test it a little. Most of the written research came from the TO University lab. The research is spread across almost every well-known research facility."

None of Alec's party looked at her with a friendly gaze.

Natalie continued tensely, hunching into herself. "It wasn't like we had any say in this matter! Do you think I wanted to turn into a zombie? It wasn't supposed to be like this! We were supposed to liberate humanity and push forward evolution!"

Lukas' freezing eyes pierced into her. "Is that what you call this? Liberation from humanity? Do you know how many people died in that initial outbreak? Don't lie to yourself. What you did wasn't any different from murder. What you were trying to do was play god and mess with humanity's fate. Well, congratulations. You've proven successful."

The gazes that were used to look at her wasn't friendly at all, and Natalie felt as if the cold young man's every word pierced deeply into the softest, most vulnerable spots of her psyche.

Natalie shuddered, hunching down as shivers wrecked her body. "No, no, no…" she muttered to herself, desperately trying to convince herself. "No, that wasn't…"

Liam looked at his brother with surprise, not having expected him to be so sharp with his words.

Lukas' normally stoic expression was a shade of cold now, and his eyes were unsympathetic as he looked at the researcher that had played a part in so many people's demise.

Alec finally shut down the computer. "Forget about her. I've got the information I need. Are you guys going to continue finding more information with us or leaving?"

They looked at each other, unsure about what to do.

Coming in here, they never expected to really find evidence that the start of mankind's decline was caused by scientists and researchers that wanted to play god.

"I'm going," Lukas said firmly.

The things he hadn't placed any importance on in his last life… they'd gotten Liam and Karen killed.

If he was just able to find out why it had all occurred and find out what the cause of mutation was, eventually they would one day be able to wipe out the zombies that still lingered on the earth.

It was still the early days yet, where it was possible to move around relatively freely as long as he had enough strength.

Lukas mentally thanked Alec for opening his eyes.

He had originally been planning on just keeping Liam and Karen safe from the horrors of the apocalypse, but Alec had given him a new direction and goal to work towards.

He now understood. It was better to take care of these matters before they got out of hand. If they managed to take care of the virus, then this would guarantee their safety instead of Lukas having to guard them day and night.

He'd originally been sceptical, but now he was anything but. Rather, it was more accurate to say that a part of himself had been desperately hoping that Alec's hypothesis that the apocalypse was manmade was false.

The moment he realized that there was a scientist still living in his lab, he already knew that Alec was right.

[Lukas Roberts Intimacy Increase +700]

[Lukas Roberts Intimacy MAX]

[Lukas Roberts added to Main Character Page]

Alec's lips twitched. From the start to the end, he still had no idea how Lukas' intimacy points were randomly increasing, but he didn't complain.

Karen crossed her arms. "Uh, excuse me? Lukas Roberts, did you just exclude us from this conversation or what? You are not going out there alone!"

Lukas frowned at Karen, and he looked like he was about to argue about their safety.

Liam shot his twin a disappointed look, causing him to shut his mouth before he said anything. "Brother, you may want to keep us safe, but we want the same thing for you, so don't shut us out. Let us help you."

Lukas nodded shortly.

"Good," Karen said, satisfied.

Lukas was always looking out for both her and Liam even when they were kids. One day, he would finally realize that they wanted to look out for him as well. For each other.

Sure, Lukas had changed a lot, but she knew that he was still her grumpy friend that remained steadfast throughout whatever hardships they faced.

Liam turned to Alec. "We're all going with you."

Dominique's expression turned rather surly, but they ignored him, even when Lukas glared briefly at him before turning his eyes back to Alec.

By now, they'd realized that Dominique's worship of Alec had reached rather startling levels, but if Alec didn't say anything about it, then they wouldn't either since it wasn't any of their business.

Alec patted Dominique. "Don't pout, Mini."

Dominique's expression fell slightly. He knew that Alec had made up his mind to bring them together.

"What do we do with her?" Karen said, pointing at the still researcher that was deep in denial. Her lip curled. She couldn't stand the fact that someone had gotten it into their head that they had any place messing around with something so radical.

Lukas had put it aptly earlier. They had been trying to play god instead of letting things progress in a normal manner.

Alec had half a mind to just leave her be, but part of him also wanted to drag her with them so that she could witness the horrors that she had unleashed on the world however unwittingly.

Natalie shuddered when they all turned their eyes on her. The researcher's face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were red-rimmed.

She took a deep breath and pulled herself together, licking dry lips.

"Y-you can kill me after it's all over, but not until I develop a cure. Just how many researchers do you think are still alive? You need me."