Eliza didn't want to believe it. She wanted to look, just to make sure, but she was too afraid.
"I said let him go."
Her grip, cold and shivering, slowly loosened, and soon, the scientist's face plummeted into the ground.
"That was very good of you, Eliza."
She slowly turned her head to her side. Her assumptions were right. He was the same 7'6" man she saw earlier, albeit now clothed in scientific fashion.
"Adam."
"It's just business, Eliza. It was always for business."
He fishes out a remote control from his coat pocket.
"Do you still remember rule number two?"
Number two: Don't even try to come back here. If ever even a single hair comes into my building, I won't hesitate to activate the nanite. Would you like to die? I'm pretty sure you don't want to die.
"You were just toying with me."
"Eliza... there is so much you already knew... and so much you need to learn..."
He pressed a button in the remote.
"This experiment is finished."
Eliza immediately began to convulse like an epileptic. She sweats torrents of bodily fluids, and soon, tachypnea settled in. All her arteries and veins bulged through her skin as the blood within her circulatory system travelled at a much faster rate than before.
"How do you feel?"
As warm blood coursed quickly through her veins, she started to become more acutely aware of everything around her. Her vision became much sharper, and she felt much stronger than before.
"I feel... great."
Eliza jolted back to life, firmly holding the gun she has. She pressed the gun against the helpless madman's head and pulled the trigger. She stood up and backed away from both of them, with Adam backing away opposite her. Soon, the whole body of the scientist exploded into a sea of blood and organs, filling the corridor with a soup-like combination of blood and body parts.
Both of them quickly turned their guns against each other. A drop of sweat slid against Adam's cheek as he observed Eliza, her body glistening with sweat. Her face was that of determination, a determination so resolute that she is willing to risk her own life because of what she has resolved to do.
"Eliza. I made you a bed. Why would you shoot me? I even gave you some weird-ass grapes."
"Isn't being a pawn in your grand scheme enough of a reason!?"
"Well, I suppose there's that, but it was just an experiment."
"Yeah, sure, that's what you told to the other people who died because of being your experiments."
"Those people are prisoners. We always use prisoners as test subjects who will be killed no matter what the outcome."
"They're still dead."
"But you're not dead. At least, not yet. Give me the remote and your gun, Eliza, and we'll all be okay."
A drop of sweat traveled from Eliza's shoulder. It dropped against her breast and settled on her nipple, which is hardened by the biting cold of the facility. The temperature does not affect the couple's heated argument, however. Neither does it affect Eliza's desire to accomplish her goal.
"Why do you need it?"
"Well..."
There are many buttons on both remotes. However, the markings are different. Adam's remote was marked with "Virus Control", and the madman's was marked with "Test Subject Control".
"I think I already know the reason, Adam."
"Give it to me or I will take it myself."
"Alright then, take it. Come on, take it, just like you have taken the lives of many people."
"Do you think we're much more devious than the ones who funded this?"
Eliza's left brow rose up. The sweat on her nipple finally dropped to the floor, splatting hard against it.
"The USA hatched a secret plan to manufacture biological weapons. They knew Russia was already doing it, so they needed to follow suit. Unfortunately, before we could finish our research, Russia unleashed their freaks of nature into the streets of America. They ravaged the nation, forcing the two to fight. It was an all-out war, spanning the whole country. Now, America needs a miracle. And whether that miracle will happen or not lies on you."
War!? Yes, war. A petty war for resources and supremacy. She was torn between two extremes now: to save a building of test subjects, or to save a whole nation of helpless humans?
"I need that remote, Eliza. Give it."
She was too lost in thought to hear him. The government of USA is the one who authorized this mess. They organized it so that they can defeat Russia. Now, their fates rely on her.
"Adam? Why did they make this up?"
"To win the war."
"And they rely on me now?"
"Yes."
"Well, with this act, I will save the whole world."
She extends her hand to her, as if motioning him to get the remote.
"I knew you'd see it my way, Eliza."
"Your way? No. This is my way."
She pressed a button on the remote. All the doors of the building immediately opened up, freeing everyone trapped in their cell. Every test subject on the first floor manages to get out, setting their eyes upon Adam.
"I figured I'd triple, quadruple, or even quintuple my chances by unleashing the ultimate biological army unto the world."
"You fool!"
Adam then felt hair creeping up against his neck. Before the danger could even register into his brain, he was strangled by the woman's long, black locks of hair. Soon, the biped dog revealed itself in front of him and spewed a noxious gas into his head. He attempted to scream in pain, the gas melting away his face. He couldn't, for he was being choked by the gorgon woman. The dog then remembers he is hungry. As if it was a ball, the dog bit the man's head. He chewed and chewed on it until it was disfigured and cannot be recognized. As his last seconds of consciousness slip away, he gives Eliza the finger.
Then, everything went black.
Eliza is ecstatic that she finally got rid of her tormentors. She was feeling euphoric about it for many minutes, until she realizes that it isn't euphoria she is feeling. Her vision starts to blur dramatically, and her blood vessels begin to bulge out even more. More torrents of sweat start to drop from her body, and soon, she was on the brink of losing consciousness.
As this all happens, she starts to hear something faint. It sounded like a three-syllable chant that a massive audience was screaming out. Slowly, she lapses out of consciousness, and as the seconds go by, she realizes what they are chanting.
"Eliza! Eliza! Eliza! Eliza!"
She smiles. She closes her eyes, ready to say goodbye.
"At last, I have done it."
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Title: Into the Wild
Word Count: 4498