The Immune

26. Room 406

The room that spreads out before me is different from the last. Here, I'm not surrounded by red containers. Instead, computers line the walls around me. They aren't even walls really. It's floor to ceiling displays, black at the moment.

There is one solid, glass door leading to another room to my left. I can see more containers, but these are blue instead of red. I test the handle, but it's locked. Like the door I came in, it has a place to either swipe a keycard or type in a code. Hopeful, I try the keycard. The light blinks red at me.

I knew I couldn't be so lucky.

So, I search around the room for another clue. As I approach the screens, a red, hand outline appears. Words start to scroll across the screen— "Place hand here." I instantly reach out, but Isaac's pleading repeats in my head. Don't do anything stupid. I feel like touching something without thinking about it would be pretty stupid. It's just a hand scanner. What could it possibly do to hurt me?

Cautiously, I flatten my palm against the cold, glassy surface. The hand flashes red, then green, and the words are quickly replaced by a home screen. Along the right are file icons labeled with numbers instead of names. Maybe it would be best to just start at the top...

An icon in the top right corner catches my eye. It's blue where the others are plain beige and has a name: Welcome Message. I reach for it and, hands shaking, press the folder.

Preparing video for...

Jaelyn Nicole Price...

3... 2...1...

The screen blacks out, and I scramble back into a chair. My heel catches on the wheel, sending me flailing backwards. White noise surrounds me as the screen bursts back to life again. A video snaps open— It's my father.

A younger version of him.

The man staring back at me looks barely older than I am right now. His hair hasn't yet turned gray; it's a brilliant jet-black. There are no wrinkles on his face, and I don't hear his characteristic wheezing when he breathes. He wears a long, white lab coat, though, just like he does now. The room behind him is the same one that sits on the other side of the glass door.

"Good morning, Jaelyn," he says in a clear voice. He's calm, happy almost. I've never heard my father sound anything less than stressed. "If you're watching this, you've discovered the existence of the second strand. Not only that, but you've broken into Room 406. No one else could have accessed these files. One of my colleagues made sure of that. I'm sure Hartley didn't leave the room unattended. To get past his guards— well, that's something else. I knew you could. That's why I'm here.

"I can only wonder what you've done with me, considering getting this far means you know I'm responsible for the virus."

I nod, despite knowing he can't see me. My breathing slows. Is he about to explain himself to me? Finally? This room must be safe from Hartley's omniscient ears.

"I won't try to deny it. I was head of a three person development team. We were all the top scientists in our fields— a geneticist, a chemist, and an engineer. Ashford collected the best of the best, the brightest men and women on Earth. He also made sure we all had families though, so he could use them as leverage. You had just been born, Jay. You and your mother meant everything to me. You have to understand that."

He takes a long, deep breath and runs a hand over his hair. It falls back over his face. When he continues, he shakes his head.

"Ashford approached me in early January and proposed the idea of a virus designed to turn humans into 'zombies.' He wanted to wipe out a huge majority of the United States population. The details were left up to us.