As tears continue to run down my cheek, I think back to that day when I sat cradling Rachel. I barely knew Toad at the time, but now – looking back – I'd do anything to be able to sit there with him again, and with Rachel. Everything felt so bad at that moment, but now it seems like paradise compared to how the world has continued to fall apart ever since. When I had Toad, I at least felt that I was heading in the right direction. Sometimes I find myself hoping that somehow he survived, but deep down I know what I saw. Zombies got him, and I can't afford to have any more hope.

  “I don't know if I can keep going without you,” I whisper.

  “Hey.”

  Startled, I look up and see that a soldier is standing at the end of the corridor, watching me. I immediately haul myself up and start wiping tears from my face, and all I want to do is go and find somewhere to hide.

  “Remember me?” he asks.

  Turning to him, I'm about to say that I've never seen him before, when suddenly I realize that he was the guy who initially came to fetch me from the lighthouse. I can't help flinching a little.

  “Alex,” he says, taking a step toward me. “Sims. It's okay, I get it, there's so much going on and -”

  “No, I do remember you,” I tell him, as I wipe away a few more tears. “Sorry, I shouldn't be here, I'll get out of your way.”

  “You're not in my way,” he replies calmly. “I was just heading back to my bunk to get some rest. Honestly, I should have just gone back and found another way, I didn't mean to disturb you.” He pauses. “I mean, I can still go a different way. This part of the complex isn't used so much these days, so you can probably get the corridor all to yourself. If that's what you want, I mean.”

  “I'm fine, really,” I say.

  He hesitates, as if he's determined to bother me some more, but then he turns and starts walking away.

  “Did you know about her?” I ask. “About Rachel, I mean.”

  He turns to me, and I can see the answer written all across his face. He has no idea of the horror that my father and the others have inflicted on that poor kid.

  “Is this what people become?” I continue, feeling as if I can at last speak to someone who'll actually listen. “When people act like they're good, and they're decent, is it all a lie? Is it just a front that falls apart as soon as any real pressure gets applied?”

  “No,” he replies. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because I used to think that my father was a good person,” I explain, “and now I've seen the truth. I've seen what he's capable of doing, I've seen how he can justify torturing a baby if he think that the ends are worthwhile.”

  “A baby?” He steps toward me again. “I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about.”

  “Her name's Rachel,” I continue, unable to hold back, “and she's less than a year old, and she's got this sickness and they're keeping her alive and they're using her for all sorts of sick experiments, and they don't even seem to care. She's a baby, and apparently that doesn't phase them at all. It's as if they're completely lost track of what's right and wrong.”

  “Maybe they -”

  “I don't even know if it's worth surviving,” I add, interrupting him before he can get another word out, “if we have to turn into monsters along the way. I know that sounds crazy, and it probably sounds totally dramatic, but I mean it. I feel like the past year has just torn away any pretense that we're civilized, and it's shown the horror that must have always been lurking beneath the surface.” I sniff back more tears. “A year ago, I thought my father was a pretty cool guy. Now I know what he's willing to do, and I don't know if I can ever look at him again.”

  “I'm sure he has his reasons.”

  “Exactly!” I snap. “And if he has his reasons, that means there's nothing he won't do, right? There's no line he won't cross. So maybe that's just how things are headed. Maybe all the good people don't make it, they die because they're good, people like Toad and Natalie and probably Thomas as well, they can't make it because the world is weighted against good people. And the only people who survive are the bad people. The corrupt people. The ones who are willing to sacrifice who they are, just so that they can live.”

  I wait for an answer, but for a moment he seems lost for words.

  “Well,” he says finally, “I mean... You're here.”

  “So?”

  “So you don't seem like a bad person,” he continues. “I don't really know you, but you don't seem like you'd torture a baby, or any of that stuff. And I wouldn't, either. I don't think so, anyway. So it seems to me that at least some good people have made it this far. If that's the case, then I guess we shouldn't give up hope, should we? Because one thing that I've learned over the past year is that you truly never know what's right around the corner. We almost defeated the zombies once before. Don't you think there's a chance that we can do it properly this time?”

  “Can you access the lab?”

  “I'm not -”

  “Can you access the lab?” I ask again.

  “I could probably get in there,” he replies, “if I needed to. Why?”

  “I need you to get me in.”

  “Why?”

  “Why do you think?” I continue, as I get to my feet. Or rather, to my foot. “I can't let them continue to torture Rachel like this. I'm going to do the only thing that I can. I'm going to put her out of her misery.”

  “You'd never get close enough.”

  “I've got to try.”

  “And how would you do it?”

  “I'll figure something out, but I can't just sit around with the knowledge that she's suffering. If there's even the tiniest part of her soul still in that body, I owe it to her to end this madness. It might be the last chance I ever have to do the right thing, and I promise you that I will find a way into that lab whether you help me or not. I'm asking you to help me do the right thing.”

  “Please don't put it like that,” he says with a sigh.

  “What's the worst they can do to us?” I ask. “We're all going to be dead in a year, anyway.”

  “You don't know that.”

  “I'm pretty sure,” I reply, surprising myself a little with my cynicism. I barely even feel like myself anymore. “In case you hadn't noticed, things are getting worse, not better. The world's going to hell and nobody's got any answers. Please, I'm begging you to help me get this done.”

  He pauses, as if he's actually considering my request.

  “And do you really think you can do it?” he asks finally. “Even if by some miracle you make it in there, do you really think that when the moment comes, you can kill that little girl?”

  “I don't think it,” I reply, feeling more certain than I've ever felt about anything in my life before. “I know it.”

  Elizabeth

  The door swings open, and I immediately see Rachel in her chamber. The sight makes me feel sick to my stomach, but I quickly remind myself that I can't afford to turn back now. Whatever else happens, I refuse to leave this lab before I've ended Rachel's misery.

  If my father can convince himself to do bad things, then so can I.

  “So what's the plan?” Alex asks, keeping his voice low.

  “There's an emergency system attached to Rachel's containment unit,” I reply, watching as the various lab workers go about their business. “I overheard some of them talking about it earlier. They had to have some way of stopping Rachel if it seemed that she was about to escape, so they built a furnace into the unit's walls. If someone opens the panel and hits the button, she'll be burned.”

  “And that's all you have to do?”

  “That's -”

  “Are you two okay there?” a woman asks, and I turn to see that one of the technicians has brought a tray to one of the benches. She doesn't seem unduly worried so far.

  “Just showing Ms. Marter around,” Alex tells her. “John wanted her to get another look at the facility.”

  “Training you up to follow in his footsteps, huh?” the woman says to me with a grin.

  “Absolutely,” I reply.

  “Don't be shy to ask any questions,” she continues, already turning to head back across the room. “We're pretty open about things in here.”

  “That's the crazy thing,” Alex tells me. “Getting into Atherius is almost impossible, but once you're in, you're trusted completely. That includes you. Despite what they might want you to think, they don't really have the resources to have this place completely locked down on the inside, so they try to make a positive out of the situation. Everyone's working toward the same goal, so I guess most of the security is a kind of theater. It's just a habit.”

  “You can leave now,” I reply. “I don't want to get you into any more trouble.”

  I wait, but he doesn't immediately reply. Instead, he watches as two more technicians walk past.

  “No, you still need me,” he says finally. “At least with me here, no-one can start questioning your reason for being in the room.”

  “I really don't want to get you into trouble.”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “But if -”

  “I said, I can take care of myself.” He pauses. “I think I know my way around this facility, and its people, a lot better than you do.”

  “I'll tell everyone that I tricked you,” I add. “That way, you won't get any blame.”

  “Maybe,” he mutters, “but right now, I think we should get on with things. Your father might walk in at any moment, and then it's game over. Once he realizes that you're planning to destroy the kid, he'll be much more careful. Elizabeth, this might be your only chance.”

  Realizing that he's right, I do something that I've been avoiding ever since we returned to the room just now: I look over toward the far side, and then I feel a shudder in my chest as soon as I spot Rachel in her glass tank. She's slumped in one of the corners, but even from here I can see that her head is twitching. At least nobody's running any tests on her right now, although I know those won't be far behind. A moment later, another technician walks past the containment unit, and Rachel makes a feeble attempt to reach out and bite the woman. Hitting the glass, she simply slithers down and starts twitching on the bottom of the tank.

  The control panel, housing the emergency switch, is at the base of the unit.

  “They're starving her,” I whisper.

  “Are you sure you can do this?” Alex asks. “There's no shame in turning around. Maybe there's some other way to -”

  Before he can finish, I start making my way across the room. My heart is racing, and I can't help thinking back to the days when she was fit and healthy. With each step, I want to turn and go back out of the room, to abandon my plan, but somehow I force myself to keep walking until I'm right at the glass. I look down at Rachel, and she soon notices me. I watch as she starts crawling toward me, and I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. If I'd looked after her better, this would never have happened.

  “Hey,” I say, “remember me?”

  She reaches out with a rotten hand, but she quickly slumps back down. She's decomposing so badly, it's a miracle that her body is holding together at all.

  “Elizabeth, yeah?” I continue, with tears in my eyes. “I looked after you when... I mean, Toad and I looked after you. We were a little family, for a while. I'm so sorry that we weren't able to keep you safe, and I know it's no use telling you that we did our best. I guess we just failed you, and now Toad's gone and...”

  She crawls closer and reaches her hand up again, placing its discolored palm against the glass. I wait for her to snarl and attack, but instead she simply stares at me, almost as if...

  “Do you remember me?” I ask. “I don't even know if you can hear me in there. Rachel, it's me, it's Elizabeth. I guess I'm the closest thing you ever had to a...”

  Mother.

  No, I shouldn't think like that. I have a job to do here, but for a moment I feel as if I can't possibly hit the emergency button. If I do that, flames will burst up from the base of the tank and incinerate Rachel, and I'm terrified that deep down there's still some part of her real mind that's aware of what's happening. After all, when I briefly became a zombie, I was trapped in there at first. Sure, a lot more time has passed for Rachel, but what if in some way she recognizes me? What if, in some impossible way, there's still some hope for her?

  “Give me a sign,” I whisper, even though I know there's no way a baby could ever do that. I guess I'm hoping for a miracle. “Show me that you know me.”

  I pause, before placing my hand against the glass, just millimeters from her bloated, discolored hand. I want so badly to hold her again, even though I know that's impossible right now, but what if it becomes possible at some point?

  I can't do this.

  I can't kill her.

  I glance around and see that everyone's ignoring me. Everyone, that is, except Alex. He's standing a little way back, waiting for me to do what I came here to do.

  Turning back to Rachel, I look down at her rotten face and I realize that there's no way I can kill her. Instead, I need to focus on forcing these doctors to change their approach. I need to make them realize that they can save Rachel, that maybe she can show them how to defeat the infection once and for all. Sure, that all sounds like a load of hokey sci-fi nonsense right now, but I still think there has to be hope.

  “Rachel,” I say cautiously, leaning closer to the glass, “I promise, I'm going to -”

  In a flash, she snarls and lunges at me. Startled, I pull back just as her face slams into the glass. Some kind of brownish pus bursts from her cheek, and she desperately scrambles to get to me before sinking back down to the bottom of the tank. Horrified, I watch as she tries again and again, and my heart sinks as I realize that I allowed myself to be fooled. Now, as Rachel screams and thrashes about, I realize that there's no part of the real Rachel in there, and my resolve stiffens. I was looking for excuses, but now I have to grow up and face the truth. I hesitate for a moment, and then I reach down toward the panel.

  Suddenly an arm reaches past me, opening the panel and hitting the emergency button with some kind of key-card.

  Immediately, flames bursts up from the bottom of the tank. Rachel's screams intensify, and I can just about see her body writhing in agony as her flesh is burned away. Shocked, I step back, and the inferno continues for a few more seconds before ending as quickly as it began. As the flames die down, I see Rachel's blackened, smoldering corpse next to the glass, and then a heavy metal block comes crashing down from the roof of the tank. When the block moves back up, I see that it crushed Rachel's corpse completely. All that's left now is a pile of ash, containing one or two tiny pieces of bone.

  Turning, I see that it was my father who pressed the button.

  Elizabeth

  “Where's my father?” I ask, rushing over to Maxwell Carver as he talks to Maddy Crozier. “I want to see him!”

  “Wait one moment,” Carver replies, clearly irritated by my arrival. “Maddy, I need you to -”

  “Where is he?” I yell, grabbing his arm and forcing him to turn to me.

  “Maddy, get onto those files,” Carver says, and then he waits as she walks away.

  “I want to see my father,” I say firmly. It's been maybe ten minutes at most since we were all rushed out of the laboratory. Dad was led away by some idiots with guns, and now I'm worried that he might be in real trouble. I don't even know why he destroyed Rachel.

  “Elizabeth,” Carver says, clearly trying to be diplomatic, “I'm afraid your father is in quite a lot of trouble. He destroyed one of our key assets, and we need to understand why he made that choice. I'm not exaggerating when I say that until now your father has been a trusted and valued member of the team here at Atherius. If he's been working undercover all along, trying to undermine us, we need to know why and for how long.”

  “He's not working undercover!” I snap. “He just...”

  My voice trails off as I realize that maybe I shouldn't tell Carver everything.

  “Can I see him?” I continue finally. “Please? Even if it's just for a few minutes, I need to know that he's okay!”

  “Elizabeth...” He pauses, and then he sighs. “The interrogation hasn't quite begun,” he admits finally. “I'll let you visit him, but only for a short time. But then, I'm afraid we'll have to start finding out exactly what's going through his mind.”

  ***

  “Dad!” I shout, rushing into the holding room and dropping to my knees in front of him. “Are you okay?”

  As soon as I see his face, I know the answer to that question. He's horribly bruised and battered, and it's clear that he took a real beating while he was being restrained. In all the chaos, I didn't see everything that happened, but I know he didn't resist when Carver's men began to take him away, so I don't understand why they'd have needed to do something like this to him. A moment later, I see that his wrists are cuffed together and that he's attached to a pipe that runs up the wall.

  “You shouldn't be here,” he murmurs, struggling to speak thanks to a fat lip.

  “Why did you do that?” I hiss, trying to keep my voice low. “I was going to end Rachel's suffering!”

  “I know,” he replies, “which is why I stepped in.”

  “I don't understand.”

  “If you'd killed her,” he continues, “you'd never have forgiven yourself. You're a good, honest, decent girl, Elizabeth. I'm so proud of you, and your mother would have been proud too. But if you'd made that decision, and if you'd actually destroyed Rachel, you'd never have been the same again.”

  “Dad, of course I -”

  “Take it from someone who knows,” he adds, interrupting me. “I've made so many choices like that over the past year, Elizabeth, and each time I told myself that I was doing the right thing. Maybe that was true, but it doesn't alter the fact that doing something like that... It changes you. Forever. In your heart.”