Bio-weapons

Presentation

Laura stands in front of 5 men huddled behind a boardroom table on the opposite side of the 500 square feet room, the room was completely empty , the only furniture was the white board behind Laura which she had filled with equations and molecular structures and the desk the men were behind ,this left about 490 square feet of empty room between them but she felt like they were right next to her breathing down her neck , sinking their claws into her flesh as she tries to stand tall and seem confident but her body was failing her , her palms were accumulating sweat forcing her to constantly wipe them on the sides of her lab coat , her knees were constantly switching from stiff to jelly and her eyes were tearing up blurring her vision not that she was looking at anything, the room lights were divided into 5 sections , the ones over Laura were the brightest and they got dimmer till the last section over the desk ywhich was off meaning they were completely in the dark but she knew they were there just like every week , a 2-hr update on her project, she was burning millions every week and each time she had to come and show the results of that week and after every presentation she would get grilled with half an hour of questions.

A creak echoed through the room, Laura turns her head to the large door behind her with an armed guard to each side, Victor walks in, a black hoodie unzipped flashing a plain white tee, baggy grey jeans and white sneakers, he had an iced coffee in his hand he flipped a switch and all 5 sections came on but the room was designed to hide the men's identities so the lights above them didn’t turn on and the last section had a beam just next to the lights so when Victor flipped the lights , their decorated military uniform showed , the shadow of the beam cast over their faces , he stared at the beam for awhile then the telecom went off “ Victor, share your report “ he waited to finish the remaining half of his large coffee before answering calmly “ I spent 21 million “ he paused,wiggling his straw through the ice trying to force the last sips up “ but everything is fine” he immediately turned around and headed out the door, Laura balls up her fist looking at Victor leaving

Victor and Laura were both leads in the two biggest projects for the military defense department while their projects were similar both approaching the creation of a powerful bio-weapon, they themselves were complete opposites. Laura was in her late twenties, she took her job seriously, making sure her reports covered everything needed and every cent was accounted for while Victor was turning 20 soon and he never seemed to care too much about the details of his project and it had always pissed Laura off that Victor kept getting away with his vague updates while she couldn't risk not explaining 100 bucks spent on buying the Guinea pigs food. The two had the same goal ‘ Creating a powerful bio weapon but approached it from different angles, Laura was manufacturing a virus and Victor was working on turning a man into a weapon.

“Laura you're dismissed “ She took a modest bow before leaving the board room, her fists were still balled up thinking of the difference between her presentation and Victor's, she made graphs, provided samples and even gave dates but he just said 2 lines and left, she turns a corner and her eyes land on Victor in the end of the corridor next to Laura's office , sitting against the wall, legs folded playing a game on his phone “really? you would think all that coffee he chugs down would at least give him the energy to make it to his oversized office, it's not like he wasted any in his presentation “ she mutters under her breath while passing by.

“Are you Japanese? “ he asks as she passes by him, never lifting his eyes from his game, his fingers fluttering on the sides of the screen so, she paused but never answered she stared in confusion, she tried to visit her self-image, her brown afro unlike the silk hair of the Japanese, her dark caramel skin opposed to the yellow undertones “ You bowed” he adds still engulfed in his screen it was only when red flashed over the entire screen that he finally raised his head to meet her eyes while he got to his feet, this was the first time the two spoke or even stood so close to each despite working in the same facility for 2 years now despite being the youngest among them, he was taller not that Laura was much of a competition, she stood for awhile trying to figure out why she bowed.

Victor's house

Victor stands over an operation table, a womanVictor stands over a corpse laying on an operation table ,he cuts across the forehead as the clock hits 5PM “ Tod ?“ he addresses the room of 7 doctors but no one responses til he raises his eyes to meet the eyes with the doctor who was standing furthest away from the corpse and operation “ I'm sorry , do you not use your middle name ? I was reading your file and found it easier to pronounce “ Victor proclaims in a monotone while placing the bloody scalp into the female doctor's hand and swapping places “Oh I'm sorry , only my family calls me Tod and I didn't think you knew it but it's fine you may use Tod “ Tod speaks nervously clenching and unclenching his hands , walking closer to the operation table “ According to your file, you're incharge of the surgeons, can you ask your team if they are willing to work into the night , until 1 am to be specific “ Tod looks around the room meeting the eyes of every doctor then nods yes to Victor “ Good , I unfortunately cannot so please proceed without me” Victor turns to meet the eyes of the female doctor now standing over the corpse's head with a scalp “ Jessica, you graduated from university of Fargo, right ? your file says you were top of your top 10 in the entire university…“ she nods yes just as nervous as Tod “..good, please collect every sample we need , document everything for tomorrow and leave the papers on my desk “ Victor leaves the room .

Laura was walking down the hall, her mind reviewing yesterday's conversation with Victor, he kept reading out facts about her and saying he saw them in her file but oddly enough every fact he said was wrong so he couldn't have saw her file but why lie? and if he was lying,he is not very good at it , everything he said was too far fetched “ he said I graduated in the top 10 at the university of Fargo , he seemed disappointed when I told him I don't even know university of Fargo I thought it was some prestigious university like Harvard and probably has an acceptance rate of 0.000 something but I did my research the university of Fargo does not exist “ she mumbles under her breath til she got to the end of the hall and into her office where she confidently begun speaking to herself out loud “ He called me Jessica ,when I corrected him he said he finds my middle name easier to pronounce, I don't have a middle name and Laura is not that hard to pronounce “ she packs all her stuff into a backpack and slides it onto her shoulder “ Then he started using all these big words that I've never heard of , he probably got a kick each time I'd ask him to define a word and he didn't, he just chuckles and starts a new discussion with more mystery words, I looked them up he made up 13 words “ “ I actually only made up 10 “ Victor announces , leaning against the door frame with a large cup of ice coffee .

“ Ma'am we might have a problem “ a skinny man stands in the boardroom right where Laura was , on the opposite side a single figure draped in high rank military uniform with it's face hidden in the shadow of a beam next to the light “ Might? do we or do we not have a problem “ an artificial voice echoes from the room's telecoms , the skinny man taps at his tablet trembling “ sorry Sir, we do have a problem …uhm..so..ahh..the problem we have is..a…Victor has been telling people he read their files..uh..aa.. actually he has told 98% of the staff“ there was a second of silence til the artificial voice came through the telecoms again “What is the problem?” the skinny man clutches his tablet to his chest “ We do not have files , he's been giving everyone the same profile, every male is Tod , every female Jessica ,he's also given them backgrounds , Tod is a father of 2 with one more on the way , he's incharge of the surgeons and is severely allergic to nuts while Jessica is a Single mother to a toddler named princess sparkles and graduated number 6 at the university of Fargo which I have researched and doesn't exist. Unfortunately every extra played along and… ” the telecom buzzes interrupting the skinny man “ What about Laura?” the skinny man now shaking intensely casts his tablet to the big screen showing Live footage of Victor standing at the Laura's door “ This is their second interaction , yesterday they spoke for 10 minutes but they were conveniently placed so we couldn't get audio “ the artificial voice came on again now almost immediately as the man finished speaking “ Are we assuming they know the truth?” “ Victor might “

“ I actually only made up 10 “ Victor announces , leaning against the door frame with a large cup of ice coffee in one hand and a slip of paper in the other hand ” anyway here's my address, I can apologize there “ he walks around her and slides the note into the bag's side pocket she was puzzled, they have been crossing paths for 2 years he never showed any signs of any romantic interest now he wants her at his house at night while she was putting the pieces together Victor took his leave .

Date night

Laura enters the apartment , rather modest place for someone working on multi-million projects for 5 years nonetheless, there was a full cat bowl under an automated filler , her living room was just a big cushion couch facing a blank wall where a TV would be, she had one at some point but her cat smashed into it and she never got around getting a new one , she didn't watch much on it anyway. Her usual routine after getting home was throwing her bag onto the couch while passing into the kitchen, sliding her headphones on and playing music then starting dinner but today was much more slow and much more quiet she keeps her bag on into the kitchen, puts a pre-cooked meal in the microwave and stares off into the distance , she just could not understand any of the two interactions she has had with the little boy running the opposing project to hers , till this week they have never even greeted each other while crossing paths in the halls ,he did not even look at her infact the only time his eyes were ever on her for almost a full second was when they first met 2 years ago .

The world is on the verge of world war 3, some of the world's biggest countries were already engaged, having already fired their warning shots and now sitting at negations but with pride on the line their leaders were willing to sacrifice the soldier's life , so the smaller countries have till the next wrong word is said to prepare for the cross fire , nuclear weapons were out of the questions so the next best thing was BIO-WEAPONS , the question was could there really be a bio-weapon that can rival a nuclear bomb? after months of research the government began 2 projects that should ultimately reach the same goal ,Project C will produce a pathogen that will kill a man and Project B produce a man that can be called a bio-weapon . each project needs a leader, the best candidate for C was Laura, a promising biology graduate who specialized in virology , the best person for project B was a 16 year old , Victor who came to light after publishing multiple papers showcasing extensive medical , political and technical knowledge many believed he was just a front and some one else was behind the work but he defended his papers on socials and live events whenever given an opportunity, story hungry reports often checked for wires/earpiece and asked questions hoping to skew from his practiced script. Laura and Victor were in a room together for 40 minutes and the only words shared was when she came in and said hey , he nodded and that conversation died right there, he wasn't nervous, wasn't engulfed in anything else,didn't even have his phone on him, it wasn't even awkward for him, he was simply in the room with her , She could not decide whether to pull out her phone or drown in the awkward silence and if she didn't where would she look , should she stare awkwardly at a 16 year old or hyperfixate on the table?

The microwave beeps pulling Laura out of her beautiful memory of meeting Victor “ he expects me to just come to his house and throw myself at a boy 6 years younger than me “ she walks out of the kitchen with just her phone finally putting the bag on the couch “ he's probably a virgin, I mean I am too but someone has to steer the boat …” she opens the side pocket and pulls the note “ like what does he think of me? I'm just some skunk just waiting to give it out to whoever asks… “ in the following moments she was in her car still monologuing “...he's a kid, he probably hasn't gotten that far and professionally he could need help with his project..we are working on the same thing “ she drove for an hour and a half and was soon at Victor's gate , still talking “ and I do deserve an apology, he was trying to make me look stupid “ she looks up onto Victor's estate , realizing the last 10 minute drive was his house and she could probably continue another 30 past the gate , past the gate was a long stretch of driveway with that distance one would assume the house would appear smaller but no she saw it, bigger then double her apartment complex while she stood in awe the gate swung open and while still dazed she drove in till the main door , walks up still talking “ Is he compensating for “ Victor opens the door “ OMG YOU HAVE A BIG PYTHON ” she went silent.

“Sir , Laura has done 90% of the project, with all the notes she has given , our team can conclude and have the product ready by next week ” the skinny man once again presents to the faceless commander, the telecom beeps before delivering its line “ what of Victor? ” the skinny man taps and slides on his tablet bringing life to the smart board behind him and projecting multiple images of corpse but at the very center, a man standing, stitches across his forehead, closed eyes, rotten and missing teeth but shortly after a quick snippet of the man walking then another of it in a shooting range taking multiple bullets of increasing caliber and getting up “ He also made a version that dodged the first lighter bullets and another that never moved ” beep “Review his notes and see if your team can recreate all three versions ” the skinny man moves from the videos to a single picture “uhm..about that Ma'am, he has 'nah, I'd remember ' plastered on any and all progress report document ”

Shelter

“ OMG YOU HAVE A BIG PYTHON ” she went silent for a bit till the thud of her own car locking frightens her , she jumps into Victor's arms scaring Pumpkin,the nine feet snake that was wrapped comfortably around Victor's torso and neck then resting her head on his shoulder, seeing Pumpkin perk up She leaps away with no knowledge of the house layout she unfortunately ran into a wall and then hit the floor.

Laura wakes up in a mythical bed, the mattress trying its best to devour her ,the Egyptian cotton anxious to suffocate her and even the pillow she lays on was pulling her head in as if the geese were out for revenge but she was so comfortable, so relieved and so at peace every movement she made was followed by the smooth silk brushing her freshly shaven skin….Silk? She wasn't wearing silk , freshly shaven? She has not shaven in weeks realizing this she jots out of the beautiful mattress monster dashing out of the room , running into Victor on the opposite side of the hall as soon as she steps out , his weapon still around his upper body aimed at her “did you change my clothes…did you…I have STIs, all of them ” he was able to turn it down before responding but his face twisted a little, his nose wrinkled, the corner of his lip curled to show his disgust “ My maid helped you….”he points behind him to a large woman behind him, past the hall into the kitchen chopping up vegetables “...with everything ” she sighs in relief “ but why did she shave me” Victor's face twisted again , his disgust unable to subside just as easily as before “ just my legs …“ she adds now walking close to Victor stopping a few feet to him now remembering and facing the 15 feet monster he so casually equipped “ on the topic of legs, can anyone without them..like getting away from me…please ” Pumpkin raises up her head as if offended at the statement , Victor gently pets her , turning around and disappearing from Laura's sight as soon as he took the corner but 6 feet worth of Pumpkin lingered as if a trail from a snail.

The maid was large but not fat large , Viking large towering over Victor who towered Laura, she did have a lot of meat on her bone not like an elephant ,more of a bear , a really powerful bear , a polar bear to be specific…with cubs somewhere nearby. Laura walks into the kitchen,looking up at the viking who meets her eyes by looking down there was a lingering silence broken by a deep frightening russian accent “ House rule : no bath no bed ” a few more moments of silence passed by with Laura still looking in awe and the maid chopping up various vegetables and tossing them into bowl whilst not looking “ Lu bath Victor girlfriend, Victor girlfriend say need Shave ,Lu shave “ with that Laura was starting to piece together her memories, the current pieces she had was a clip of her running into Victor's arm then the wall, another of raising high up, another one of getting into the bathroom and the last one was her looking at the bathtub and mumbling “ bathe me ” then fast forward again she ends with “Shave before ”.

Laura walks out of the kitchen slightly impressed but still relieved that the maid had seen her naked , she walks into the Living room surprisingly the house was open, Victor was sitting criss-cross apple sauce on the coach facing the 116 inch TV with a bowl of ice cream in the dent in his legs , Pumpkin unequipped and so immersed in the anime playing that he didn't turn to acknowledge Laura entering the room “ ice cream , Yum ” Laura remarks standing over Victor's shoulder slightly to his left , still behind the couch as soon as she mentioned the ice cream, Victor turns to her , in their 2 years of working together Victor has never shown any facial expression but today he looked her with the most extreme face of fear , in the next second Lu was standing directly behind Victor, the whole house fell into a darkness, the flashing lights of the anime went dim and the screaming protagonists went still and the only light was Lu's red eyes falling down onto Victor, the only sound was the crackling of the fire inside those eyes and without a word said, he raised his bowl of ice cream above his head to be snatched by Lu, probably melted as soon as she took it but Laura reminded frozen unaware of where she fell in this battle, she looks back at Victor,blink twice? but after the first blink Lu was back in the kitchen now frying up something .

“Is he scared of his maid…” Laura thinks to herself taking a seat next to Victor, who had fallen back into his anime , “ I mean I get why but couldn't he just fire her or ask his pare…WHERE ARE HIS PARENTS? I've been here for 3hrs now…why haven't I…I'VE BEEN HERE FOR 3HRS?….. ” She looked around catching the time on a clock on the wall and it had been 3hrs since she got there meaning she'd been asleep for 2 and a half “...omg that's too long for a visitor, why did i come here..WHY DID I COME HERE…He invited me over to apologize but he's not even looking at me…” Victor suddenly turns to face Laura,she flutters but notices he's looking past her, she rotates her head and notices Lu looking at them at the dining table with the plates set up and everything, in the following moments the three were sat and eating that's also when Lu's statement came to mind “ I am not your girlfriend…” Victor nods clearly not invested in her statement as he gets up to fix another plate in the kitchen “....You never asked ” she awkwardly added going back to her food which she hadn't taken more then 2 bites, “I couldn't get to three bites before making things awkward ” Laura thinks to herself “ Lu no think rejection awkward ” hearing Lu respond to her inner monologue Laura freezes “You shouldn't respond to every thing she says L, she sometimes speaks to herself.. ” Victor announces returning to the table “by the way, Laura you have met my father, you dissected him your first week working on project C ” the room went quiet, Laura began to realize how far she was from the exit and how many knives Victor had on the table, way too many.

“is this why you brought me here? revenge for killing your father ” Victor looks up a blank face of disappointment “ you didn't kill my father, he died of natural causes, right here with me…you simply dissected him, after I donated his body to your project” suddenly the exit was actually at reach and all the knives had corresponding purposes and she had just as many close to her “ phew so what did you bring me here for “ Lu passes around bowls of ice cream, weird cause no one saw her ever get up. “oh I wanted to tell you.. We are actually working for a terrorist organization that hopes to capitalise on our weapons by selling prototypes to smaller countries and the full product to large countries and since you've given them all you can, they will kill you within the coming week “ he said casually sliding the unfinished second plate out of frame and focusing on the ice cream.

“ Ma'Sir, Our team has given the green light to dispose of everyone on Project C ” the skinny man announces to the man or woman on the opposite side of the room, beep “Then do so ” the skinny man taps on his tablet and far into the ocean, on a small remote island 34 missiles shoot off into different directions. A couple was celebrating their anniversary, they should've went out but they needed something more intimate like a single bottle of red wine and a blanket on the floor of their sky villa , the lights dim, candles lit, rose petals on the floor, his hand on her thigh, emotions bubbling just seconds away from an explosion… No like an actual explosion, one of the missiles fired struck taking down the entire property even some of the surrounding buildings were destroyed in a single second, the apartment they filled with beautiful memories, the apartment they built up with laughter and love was a pile of rubble among the other apartments filled with just as much love even from their neighbor Tod who lived alone and never brought anyone home.

Back at Victor's life, the dining table was flipped, plates laid broken on the floor and Laura was balled up into…well…a ball crying Victor sits next to her while Lu paces in and out of a room with random boxes as if she was avoiding the difficult situation, Victor pets Laura on the back “ how long did you know about it” she raises her head to meet his eyes, Victor was never good at understanding people's emotions so her eyes told him everything, they were strained red and teary but beyond that he almost could physically see the pain filling her eyes “ I found out 6 months ago ” she felt a weird sense of comfort that for a majority that 2 years, they were both idiots “what about our coworkers? How many of them know the truth” She saw a pinch of emotion in one of his eye, the left one too small to say which but an emotion “We have no coworkers ”

“ In my team alone I had 25, I.. Actors..” the realization hit like a boulder, her team was perfect, too perfect, everyone was already there when she got there, everyone was always willing to work overtime unpaid and no one ever took a break too long, no one took a smoke break at all, no one challenged her and every one loved her, “so, what now will my virus be used to kill innocent children? ” Victor stared into her eyes but nothing was said till his TV flashed and an image of Laura's apartment complex appears and shortly after what remained