A/N:
Note: Rundyuvesval and Remdesivir are antiviral drugs. They are fictional and do not exist.

The documents written in this chapter are important, so if you're a lazy piece of shit, too bad. Read it. Turn the screen to dark and enjoy.
Because of Glitchpad, the italicized words are in bold for some reason, so ignore that. Any words that are in '' is meant to be italicized.

Day 2

"You won't believe this."

"What? What?" I say impatiently.

He silently rolls two pages and throws it to me. It falls short and I quickly crawl over to pick it up before resuming my position.

Double-Blind Study of Rundyuvesval in Patients with COVID-19, or Corona Virus

I impatiently scan past the first few paragraphs of introduction until my eyes land on 'SADE Labs.' I skim over the words quickly.

This mutated version of COVID-19 (COVID-19-M36) is treatable on animals, giving SADE Labs the ability to start testing on humans.

However, due to physiological differences, the same treatment for animals does not have the same effects on humans.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was carried out to compare a four-week period of treatment with rundyuvesval daily and placebo in the treatment of patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019, also known as COVID-19 (the treatment was administered after the injection of a mild and benign strain of the virus). A total of 28 patients (college attendees) entered the trial, of whom 20 patients (6 active, 14 placebo) have agreed to survive through Phase III and are still in clinical testing. Only three casualties occurred before Phase III due to infection. Whilst several of the efficacy indices showed little change in either group during the trial, scientists are hoping to extend the time limit to allow for more evasive testing...

"Oh no," I breathe. I skim further down.

Traditionally, viruses have been treated through antiviral medicine following a medical diagnosis. Concerning COVID-19, drug-resistant microbes have formed to prevent any sort of medicine to destroy the virus. Over the past three years, there has been emphasis on using lifestyle changes and preventative measures to eradicate this instead...

So there was still no progress. If the virus was made to resist any kind of medicine, then when will a cure ever be found? Why on Earth would scientists inject us with the mutated version, even a small, benign strain that wouldn't harm us, when they know it can't be treated?

Jared was wrong to be hopeful. The thirty people with the virus will surely die, and the infected volunteers might as well. The injection was too little to be lethal, but if it's a constantly changing virus, who's to say the small amount won't soon be able to weaponize itself in the patients' bodies? And perhaps it did when a patient killed another, something that the scientists didn't expect to happen. It's probably why they ran, they didn't know how to react, didn't see the signs in time.

Based on the brutal murder that occurred yesterday, it looks like one of the volunteers showed the same symptoms as those with the full virus coursing through their veins.

I scan the page until I find 'symptoms' and quickly read.

There is a trend in symptoms within the active group. In 2019, the symptoms for the corona virus were: fever, headache, dry cough, sore throats, drowsiness, aches and pains, and nasal congestions. The virus could easily spread to another host within six feet. It took 5-14 days for symptoms to appear.

In 2023, symptoms changed to: fever, dry cough, hallucinations or schizophrenia, manic behavior, difficulty swallowing, and excessive sneezing. The virus can only enter another host through saliva or blood. It takes up to a week to appear.

It has become clear that Remdesivir, Rundyuvesval, and other similar drugs are no longer effective, even in patients showing mild symptoms. Due to its mercurial elements, it may require extensive research to reach a conclusion.

The last thing on the page was written with a blue pen.

Symptoms update: It has been confirmed that four patients with the virus did not show any symptoms, and were gone undetected by any testing.

Phase III trials is now documented as a failure. COVID-19-M36 remains to be in a small amount of patients, and scientists are discussing untraditional methods to eradicate this advantage for good.

As of April 25, 2023, there is no cure. Remdesivir and rundyuvesval had been the last hope of SADE Labs and it is time to

Whoever wrote it didn't finish.

My stomach churns. Everything we had assumed about the virus was more wrong than we could've ever imagined. There was no cure and they knew it. I show him the paper. "We need to tell the others."

"Where's Charlie?" He asks, his eyes peering through the darkness beyond the scope of the flashlight.

"Shit." I shine the light down the rounded corridor. I had forgotten about her presence, or lack thereof. I shout her name.

The sound of nails scratching against a surface makes me freeze.

"What was that?" Brandon hisses.

My body is taut as I try to locate the noise. "I don't know. Maybe it's coming from the door?" I stare at the door with no handles, the keypad beside it glowing in the darkness.

"There's no way someone's in there," Brandon says, walking further away.

I bite my lip before stepping forward and inching my way towards the door.

The scratching sound hasn't returned.

"What do you think it is?" I whisper, walking closer while holding my breath. I can smell the and rotting and putrid smell even from a great distance. I switch to breathe through my mouth. "Do you think-"

Bang bang!

I jump, my heart in my throat. My arms instantly fills with goosebumps.

Bang bang bang bang!

An overwhelming wave of fear almost makes my knees buckle.

"Brandon," my voice trembles in panic. "We need to hurry and leave this place. Now!" My feet finally moves and I turn to run.

Brandon doesn't wait for me.

He sprints down the corridor and I hurry to catch up with his long strides, using his shaking flashlight to guide my way down the stairs. The banging sounds fade away when we exit the stair door.

We run down the stairs and to the common area, bursting through the doors and startling everyone as their scramble up from their seats in panic.

"Charlie's gone." Brandon says breathlessly.

"I'm here," she answers, standing in the same spot that she was in before we left.

"What the fuck?" I clutch my knees, all the times I've skipped out on running in gym class finally catching up to me. "What were you doing?"

"I decided to bring the flashlight over." She gestures to a box sitting on the big circle table in the center of the room.

I sigh in frustration. "How come you didn't let us know?"

"You two seemed preoccupied."

"Woah," came several responses as they took a step back and eyed us warily.

My face turns hot, and I'm thankful for my dark skin that conceals it. I realize I'm standing a little too close to him, possibly proving her point.

I struggle to catch my breath for a second, silently cursing her for making me run like that. My weight does not support that kind of activity.

"Nothing like that, you guys," I say quickly. "We found some answers we were looking for." I can practically see their witty remarks and sarcastic judgement dying in their minds as they all shuffle a little closer.

"Basically," Brandon explains. "The symptoms we thought were associated with the virus is no longer accurate."

"Let me see," Jared says.

I walk over to him with the paper in hand. He eyes me nervously as I get closer. "Oh, social distancing doesn't matter anymore," I explain. He reads the papers and passes it around, and everyone take turns reading and digesting this new information. I take the opportunity to sit next to Tiana on the couch.

"You're right." She tells me while examining the last page. "Staying away from each other does nothing now."

"As long as we don't spit or bleed, we're probably fine," Elijah says solemnly.

"Great," Nick says and jump on the couch, swinging his legs over the arm. "Makes my life a little easier."

"Not quite," Jared cuts in. "We need to ration out the foods and water. I say we take two bottles of water each per day. We don't know how long we'll be here."

"There's a water fountain," Charlie says. "The showers are still running, so I don't think water shortage is what we need to worry about."

I groan and sink back against the cushions. "I'd rather have shortages on water than food."

After a few exchanges of conversation, people muster up the courage to come closer to each other. We reflect on what the papers mean, none of us reaching a reasonable conclusion. There were supposed to be twenty of us, but six of us are missing, excluding the dead guy. Someone has to still be alive to have murdered him, which means that the other six that aren't here were infected and eventually killed. It still leaves a question though: is the killer among us, or the one upstairs? And if the culprit is among us, does it mean that one out of the other infected six was upstairs still trying to escape?

"I don't know about all of that, but I think I know how the killer escaped," Tiana says besides me.

"Go on," Jared encourages.

"During my first week here, I heard them speaking about a dead patient. I demanded they let me out. Since I already had the injections and I signed the contract, they told me it was too late and tried to deny what I heard. They said things wouldn't end well for me if I kept insisting. It was clearly a threat. I remember Dr. Garner leaving my room and I was thinking, 'I should slip out while the door's still open.' I never had the courage to do so, because of the threat they made. Maybe the killer thought about it and actually went through with it."

"Or her," Nick notes.

"Fucking cowards," Elijah snarled.

"Oh shit, wait," Brandon says, sitting up straighter in his seat. "We heard someone banging from inside a door on the fourth floor." He tells them about the access door and the smell of something rotten that could potentially be from a dead body.

Elijah lets out a breath. "What the fuck."

Jared stares in bewilderment. "You're saying there's someone behind that door?"

"I say we let them die in there," Charlie offers. "What if that person's infected?"

"He's probably the one that killed the poor guy," Henry agrees.

I blow out a harsh breath. "There's too much we don't know and I don't like it. There could be a person, dead or alive, trapped with an infected and we're just going to leave them there. I mean, what the hell is that?" I can't say anyone's to blame. If I was the one making the decision, I would probably choose not to open the door no matter who's in there. Either way, it was less weight on my conscious if I disagree with it. At least if someone's actually dead then, I won't be part of the reason why.

Charlie shrugs. "We're just protecting ourselves."

"I'm scared," Tiana declares, drawing in a shaky breath as her soft, brown hands clench into tight fists.

"We all are," I assure her.

"I'm not," Elijah scoffs.

Tiana rolls her eyes. "We could die in the next few days and you're worried about your toxic masculinity?"

Before he can defend himself, Jared claps. "I say we have a little fun, as much as we can at a time like this. There's video games, pool, cards. I don't know about you guys, but I seriously need to de-stress right now. I don't wanna talk about this anymore for today."

He can be in denial all he wants, it still doesn't take away from the fact that there's a killer two floors above us.

Everyone eventually disperses.

The day is spent distracting ourselves. It doesn't work, at least for me. My body is still tense, still reeling from the papers and the banging noises. Questions float around in my head, followed by more paranoia and fear.

The past three years have been the longest years of my life. Perhaps it was because most of us didn't live through the Spanish Flu or other pandemics that had happened in history. What seemed like something so far away that it couldn't possibly touch us has now become a reality in every single home, a habitual predicament that the world was forced to get accustomed to. If I were told three years ago that corona virus would take this long to even dwindle to a minimum, I would've never believed it. Yet it persisted and lasted through the years, destroying businesses, careers, and educations. It wasn't until eight months ago that the lockdown lifted and only thirty people were still infected. Two weeks after that, the virus said a giant 'fuck you' and changed its element to become almost immune to the cure.

Whatever had happened here clearly indicated that there were hardly any progress made, which meant the thirty people plus the infected volunteers were royally fucked.

I take a huge breath and force it out of my mind, trying hard to enjoy watching Tiana school Henry at pool. Nothing beats waiting for impending doom like friendly and competitive games.

When I glance over at Jared, he's still reading the papers intently.

My younger brother, Mason, would've made the most out of this. He would've made everyone laugh and feel somewhat at ease at such a time like this. I, on the other hand, was the one giving them information and theories to make the panic worse. Even seven years younger than me at the age of fourteen, he would've been very valuable to this team. Of course I'm glad it's me instead of him trapped in this place, but the thought of him right now makes me realize how much I miss him.

I frown as I watch Jared's eyes widen. He looks around before he catches my gaze and quickly turn his attention back on the papers.

I walk over and sit beside him. "I saw that," I accuse. "What are you reading?"

Jared glances at me, looks as if he's about to speak, then looks back to the mess of papers. I wait silently until he says, "You weren't going to tell us about your theory until Elijah called you out. Why?"

I frown in thought. "Well... The idea seemed far-fetched and if it turned out to be true, they'll look at me as if I'm a target. Better to keep my mouth shut and stay off the radar." 'So much for that.'

Jared leans closer to me, his eyes still on the papers. "Can I share something?" He asks in a low voice.

I shift closer. "Yeah."

He glances around before pointing a finger at a text:

A total of 28 patients entered the trial, of whom 20 patients (6 active, 14 placebo) have agreed to survive through Phase III and are still in clinical testing. Only three casualties occurred before Phase III due to infection. Whilst several of the efficacy indices showed little change in either group during the trial, scientists are hoping to extend the time limit to allow for more evasive testing.

"It says 28 people entered this trial, but twenty people 'agreed' to survive through Phase III. What the hell does that mean?"

I stare blankly at him. "Yeah, that doesn't make sense."

"Why would they word it this way? Why did they put 'agree'? What if they wanted out, which isn't allowed, but they insisted? Tiana said they threatened her when she asked to leave. So I'm thinking, what if they killed them?"

I recoil in horror. "Stop." Who would've thought we were actually volunteering to have scientists murder us as they please? The thought seems too cruel, too inhuman.

"That's not all. It says Twenty people passed Phase III, but there's fourteen of us. Fourteen. One of us died, which makes it thirteen. What about the other six who made it past Phase III? Were they killed by the scientists?"

"That's impossible," I argue. "These are scientists, not murderers." It's not a convincing argument, and we both know it.

"What's the difference?"

I force out an exhale. Everyone is laughing, playing, or deep in conversation. Oblivious to the fact that we were probably chess pieces in a seemingly, never-ending game that had begun in 2019. They knew what they had signed us up for, they knew there were little hope. Yet they were willing to sacrifice us just to test out a fucking theory.

"I'm not even done," he continues. "It says there's six active and fourteen placebos. Active, as in those who were given the mild strand of the corona virus."

"Yeah, I know."

"But we're not reading it carefully. Double-blind study means neither the scientists nor the patients know who has the virus and who doesn't. To make it fair."

I stare at him wild-eyed. "Really? You think..."

Jared's eyes are terrified as he nods. "Everyone thinks that the other six people who aren't here are the ones with the virus. They made it to Phase III and then they were killed for some reason. But what if it's not because of the virus? What if they didn't comply with the orders and it pissed them off, I don't know. My point is, if they're not sure who has the virus and who doesn't, how can we be sure that we do?"

Fear of the inevitable truth makes my mouth dry. "So you're thinking that the six people missing may not all have the virus," I reiterate slowly.

Jared nods. "What are the chances that all six that were killed happened to be infected? Very little. They could've made an educated guess, but at least one person could've been overlooked for sure. It's just probability. That means there's at least one other person besides the killer who have the virus. Two possible murderers."

"Fuck."

A/N: I know you need to read a little more carefully to understand everything, it's a lot. Feel free to ask me any questions for clarification. Don't forget to vote and leave a comment or you'll be next!