I treated Rosemary's wounds, changed her clothes, laid her on her bed and administered drips for her. I tried my best to clean and tidy up the hideout but most of the place was already severely damaged and permanently stained with blood. I changed my clothes to a gray shirt, brown trousers, and black sandals. I went over the security cameras but couldn't find any footage of how my adversary or the zombies entered, how Peter developed the cure or who attacked him and stole the two capsules. I stumbled upon a footage which showed that someone had opened the door which held both Mum and Rosemary. The two had stumbled outside only to be chased by zombies. Then a door suddenly closed in-between them and separated them, causing Mum to take another path to lead the zombies away while Rosemary continued, found a gun she could and proceeded until she inevitably found me.

Of course, there were also clips of me ruthlessly killing everyone I met, and there was none of when my adversary met me in the white room. I scratched my head and sighed as I stood up and left the control room. I plundered on what to do as I walked down a hallway. I wanted to go and find Ana quickly, but given the state that Rosemary was in, I couldn't abandon her here all alone, especially since I promised mother I would protect her.

But what did she meant by her protecting me? I wondered.

Two days later, as I came to add another drip to Rosemary and hope that she woke up, I noticed that she was shaking and sweating profusely. She shook her head sideways and tightened her eyes. Her hands tightly gripped the bedsheets, and she looked as someone experiencing a bad dream.

"Stop! Stop!!", she exclaimed and shook more violently than before. I immediately held her down to restrain her and tried to calm her down.

"It's okay Rosemary!", I exclaimed while holding her down, "Calm down!".

"Stop it!", she screamed, woke out from her sleep and surprisingly, was able to toss me off the bed. I immediately got back to my feet and saw Rosemary staring at me with pure deep hatred and bloodshot eyes. Then she reverted back to normal, looked round and held her head as she started receiving headaches.

I paused for a while before asking, "Are you alright?".

She looked at me angrily and replied, "Get out".

"Not until you tell me what's going on", I replied as I moved towards her.

"I said get out!", she exclaimed while reaching for her drawer which was close to her bed and brought a revolver. She further added, "Monster".

I paused, then sighed and said, "Okay. What would you like to eat?".

"I'll cook for myself. Just leave me alone".

I did as she ordered and left, and for four more days she refused to neither talk to me nor let me take care of her. She saw to her own needs and surprisingly treated herself better than I would have. She cooked her own meals and ate in her room. On the second day I looked for her because I thought she had left, only for me to find her grieving among the graves of the deceased. I watched for a while before leaving, not wanting to upset her with my presence.

On the fourth day's evening, I was washing the dishes when I heard a noise coming from her room. I left the dishes and cautiously walked towards her room. I called out to her but got no reply. When I saw the door was slightly opened, I pushed it open and a bucket suddenly fell and landed on my head, blocking my sight. It was then that I heard Rosemary's voice.

"Die!!!", she exclaimed and fired all six shots from her revolver, all of which hit me on the vitals. I fell backwards and landed on the ground, with my back against the wall. Blood gushed out from my wounds, and I looked as though I was dead, making Rosemary to sigh in relief and say, "Finally, he's dead".

"I don't die that easily though", I replied and coughed while trying to stand up. The bullets were pushed out from the bullet holes as the wounds closed up, surprising Rosemary. I walked into her room and added, "It'll take more than that to kill me Rose".

"Don't call me that!", she yelled and brought out the Jack Knife. She had previously taken this from me without my knowledge. "Just die!", she exclaimed and rushed forward to stab me.

Of course, getting shot at hurt as hell, and getting stabbed is another case matter. I grabbed the right arm with held the knife and held her firmly. She kept hitting me with her other arm, but I wouldn't budge.

"Let me go!", she yelled while trying to free herself.

"Listen to me Rose. It's not what you think".

"Don't call me that! Only mother calls me that! You killer! Murderer!".

"If you could just calm down and listen you would understand".

"And what's there to understand?", she asked as she looked at me in the eyes while crying, "I watched the footages. Because of you I've lost everyone I loved. You don't know what it's like to lose".

"I know exactly what it's like to lose!", I replied sharply, startling her, "I lost a general closer to me than a father, a friend closer to me than a brother, a dog closer to me than a child, and friends closer to me than a family. I had to kill my own father and watched the mother I hated most die before my very eyes. I've walked the path of darkness, the path of revenge, staining my very own hands with blood, and it has cost me more than I wanted to pay".

I held both her arms firmly and continued, "I cannot undo the wrongs I've done Rose. The only thing I can beg is for you to forgive me and help me put a stop to this madness once and for all".

"No! I hate you!", she exclaimed while crying.

I hugged her tightly and replied, "Hate me all you want, but don't walk the dark path I took. Mother made me promise her that I should protect you, just as you would protect me".

On hearing those words, she cried the more, dropped the knife and held me tightly. She cried for a while, with me hold her still. After she stopped crying, we looked at each other's eyes and she surprisingly kissed me. Without thinking twice I kissed back; we went at it for a while before pulling ourselves onto her bed.

***

I was busying frying the eggs and beacons in a fry pan in the kitchen, which was close to the dining hall that had eight tables and several chairs. Rosemary came in and sat on the closest to the kitchen and yawned like a lazy teen, having a small bag swung over her left shoulder. I came in with our breakfast and began serving us bread with beacons, eggs, and green tea.

"Good morning", I greeted her.

"Morning", she replied and yawned again.

"Hope you had a good sleep?".

"Yes I did".

An awkward silence filled the air as I was almost done serving our food while avoiding her eyes. She sighed and asked, "Did you enjoyed it?".

I paused and then replied, "That's something only married couples should enjoy Rose".

"Says the married man who went on beast mode", she teased.

"I regret listening to my lust".

"And you went five rounds--".

"Can you drop it please", I spoke quickly while forcing a smile. She looked at me and then laughed, making me ask her, "What's now funny?".

"Your face lol", she replied while hiding her face with her right hand.

I sighed and ordered, "Eat up your food now or it'll get cold".

"Alright, alright. I'll eat", said Rosemary as she sat up straight to eat. We ate for a while before she stopped eating and asked, "How did you do it?".

"Do what?", I asked after sipping my tea.

"Escaped the path of darkness".

I paused and stared at my tea before replying, "I fell into that darkness after I lost my closest friend. His name was Blue, a police officer who believed in the Word. I never felt the same after that. Sometimes I laughed as though I was one of those Vector zombies. One time, I was so frustrated that I wore a raincoat and a bag with two swords strapped to it. I squatted and waited until I was surrounded by zombies. Then I started, killing to fill my pleasure, swinging the swords like an amateur but was still able to slice them through. I stood upon a mountain of their corpses and laughed like a madman.

"The me you saw back then killing was the darkness I had nurtured. How I escaped this darkness you ask? Probably by God's grace I guess, or my own realization of understanding that I had unleased a demon and had to conquer it once and for all".

She sighed deeply and said, "I don't know why but before I woke up five days ago, I had this dream of being tortured, and all I could think about was wanting to kill you. It's the first time having that kind of dream and it was so scary".

"Sorry to ask, but were you ever treated like that once?", I asked gently.

"Except in the orphanage, not once since after mum bought me in to raise me. The orphanage was a nightmare for me, so I don't want to talk about it, but I don't see why memories of that having would make me hate you the more".

"Then it must be a bad dream", I replied and held her right hand, "Nothing going to happen, okay?".

She nodded her head, then later coughed, and had to bring out a needle from her bag containing a strange liquid, which she tried to inject in herself, but I stopped her and asked, "What's that for?".

"My illness", she replied and motioned to me to let go, which I did, "One time I discovered that I was aging rapidly and was diagnosed by the doctors that I had an illness similar to Warner's disease but stronger. They didn't know what to do, so I researched deeply into it and with the help from my father's friends developed a drug that would temporally suppress the disease. At best I might live up to seventy years so that's good enough".

I sighed and replied, "Sorry Rose".

"It's alright", she replied and took her medicine, "I'll die someday so it doesn't bother me at all".

It did to me though, knowing that she'd die older than her age. We finished our food and washed the dishes together. Later that day, Rosemary was trying to figure out how to recreate the cure. She sighed and called out to me, but I didn't answer. She looked for me but didn't find me. Then she found a note, read its contents, and gasped. It read:

Dear Rose,

I'm sorry to do this on such short notice, but I've figured out where
my wife is. She's with the remaining two samples you father made, and
since this mission is very dangerous, I decided to embark on this on my own.
Please understand and remain where you are until I've come back successfully.

Yours faithfully,
Joe Benson.