“If you release it, you’ll die too,” she said, as if she thought that I’d missed that important detail.
“That’s the point. We started the plans, and we’ll start the epidemic.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you saying this is a suicide mission?”
“Exactly.”
“This cannot be real,” she mumbled and rubbed her forehead. “It’s an insane nightmare and I’ll wake up any minute now.”
“It doesn’t seem that insane to me. It makes sense. Everyone,” I started, and then had to correct myself, “well, almost everyone wants to save the planet and protect it from the worst kinds of pests, but nobody wants to start with themselves. So we will. We’ll get infected by the plague and then infect others, it will essentially be a spontaneous process, we won’t even have to try that hard. Human extinction is inevitable.”
“What if they develop a vaccine?” Connie objected. “Every virus has its antidotes.”
“There won’t be time. People will die well before they get a chance to put together a half-decent vaccine.”
Our eyes met. Time for the big finale…
“But there already is a vaccine against this plague,” I admitted. “Effective, a hundred percent successful.”
She sighed impatiently. “You just said that people won’t have time to protect themselves by developing a vaccine. And yet there already is one? You are contradicting yourself.”
“Not really,” I shook my head. “You still don’t get it because I haven’t told you everything yet… I was talking about The Collective being inspired by human nature, and so it wants to exterminate the biggest pest on the planet. But there is one aspect of human nature we’ll deviate from. They don’t care which type of organism they destroy, be it a plant or an animal. They’re happily watching the complete extinction of one species after another. We won’t stoop to that. We’ll get rid of the majority.”
Her eyes narrowed and she held her breath.
“The Collective has selected several individuals all around the world who will be allowed to live. They’ll be given an antidote–they and nobody else–and they’ll be brought together to start a new community. It’s a new chance for people to learn and get better, learn to live in balance with nature, not in conflict with it.”
Her nostrils flared and her breath grew uneven. I assumed she still wanted to run away, so that she wouldn’t have to have this conversation, but she was also too scared not to find answers.
There were so many things she could have asked about, but she didn’t. She just kept sitting down in silence so I decided to give her some of the answers right away.
“There is only a certain amount of the vaccine available. Our chemists have already made enough to cover the chosen ones. The recipe was destroyed so that no one could abuse it.”
She took a deep breath. “If you’ve found the recipe, who’s to say that other specialists won’t?”
“Time,” I said simply. “It took The Collective years to develop the necessary type of virus, and even longer to create a vaccine. The general public including specialists just won’t have enough time to develop anything effective.”
“Will you get it too?”
“The vaccine? No.”
“So you’ll die? Just like that?”
“Most definitely not just like that. For the greater good!”
She had a face full of thunder. “Someone’s brainwashed you. Just like all the other suicide terrorists.”
“You’re wrong. It was a free choice.” She snorted but I continued. “The Collective gave me a choice, be a part of the project, or walk away. I wanted to stay.”
“You want to die?” she asked incredulously.
I hesitated. How should I say it, so that she finally believes me? “I’m not afraid to die. I’m more afraid of what would happen to the planet if this didn’t take place.”
“And what the hell do you want from me? To join your cult too and get infected with the plague?” she hissed like a snake.
“If that’s what you decide to do, it would help our cause. But it won’t change anything.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because I want you to know what will happen to your family…”
She started shaking. She shook her head, but her expression seemed to say: I’m listening.
“Frank and Ruby will be among the survivors. They’ll get the vaccine.”
Connie blinked and two big tears ran down her face. She must have believed my statement, because this reaction was clearly a sign of relief. “Why them?”
“Each for a different reason.” I stood up from the sofa. Connie looked worried and flinched, but I wasn’t getting closer to her. I took a thick folder out of a drawer by my desk and handed it to her.
“Frank Fiala?” she read the inscription on the folder and looked up in surprise.
“Open it.” I nodded and she did as I said.
She flipped through the papers quickly, her eyes darting this way and that, as she read passages from various records, personal details and psychological studies. She was looking at photos of her father, obviously taken by someone he wasn’t aware of.
“What is this? You… spied on him?”
“Yes.”
She kept turning the pages until she got to the last one, where she noticed the date.
“For five years?” she exclaimed. “Why?”
“So that we’d know whether he deserves to survive.”
Connie looked like she was about to faint.
“We weren’t about to create the new community out of the very people we’re trying to save the planet from. We wanted to be sure that all the survivors are good people. The kind ones, selfless, capable of love and friendship. Smart, hardworking.”
I let her process this information.
“What about Ruby?” she said in a creaky voice.
I scratched the stubble on my chin. “We were supposed to match every adult with a child, either their own offspring or a grandchild. The only condition was that they must be related by blood in a direct line.”
“Why exactly?”
“The Collective assumed that the child would be the best motivation for
