In the end…

Somewhere in a remote town in Virginia

“400…… million ……. 400 million people dead. I can’t believe it. It was just 1 week ago they were discussing about this unknown virus in tomatoes. TS-15 Hmmm.” Khalan was shaking his head as he was mumbling to himself. He wore a brown t-shirt that matched his caramel skin complexion. He stood about six feet tall but was crouching among some bushes across the street from the Global Virology Network building. It was the perfect opportunity to enter the building as the very last of the cleaning staff were about to leave. A Caucasian woman in her late 20s with dark brown hair walked out of the building and locked the building doors with a key. Khalan waited for a few minutes until she drove off in her red Toyota Corolla.

Khalan opened his heart-shaped locket and took out the copied master key to the building. He crossed the street and unlocked the door. He knew how to turn off the alarm system as his buddy, Alyx, was an expert in disengaging alarms. Inside the building was pitch black, with only the streetlights shining through the window. Khalan used his phone’s flashlight to guide him through the building to look for the lab trying not to call attention to what he was doing. He opened the glass door of the lab room. There were four lab tables with empty vials and pipettes on each table and a microscope, measuring cup and Bunsen burner. Lab coats hung on a coat rack by the door. The room was kept cool to ensure the efficacy of the drugs that were kept in the lab.

Khalan waiving his phone light around the room, found three vials of a pink liquid that he was addicted to. This time the liquid, which he did not know the name of, was a darker shade of pink than usual. “Ahhh, it’s concentrated. Khalan said to himself as he poured the three vials of the liquid into a large pill container, which he put in his bookbag. “This will last me a month”. He knew that the high he would get from this liquid was strong enough to suppress the guilt and grief he had for not saying goodbye to his wife and two children before they left the house on September 11, 2035. It had been two years since a Caucasian women in her late 50’s killed them on a highway while she was texting her husband.

Just then, his bag brushed the table as he was about to leave the lab, knocking an empty glass vial to the ground. Khalan started panicking. “Ahh man. Crap, look what I did, man”. He said this in his normal southern deep voice. Using his phone flashlight as a torch, he frantically searched the room for a supply closet but there was none. He saw a small door behind a lab table. He opened the door and found a small broom and dustpan. He gave a sigh of relief and went back to sweep up the mess he made. He put it into a trash bag outside the lab. He bent down and opened the small door once again to return the broom and dustpan. As he was about to close the small door, he noticed a shelf in the closet. The shelf had no books on it apart from a USB flash drive that had the company logo on it. It was labeled TS-15. Khalan dropped his phone in shock and utter disbelief. That very same day, he saw Bates Sullivan, the president of the Global Virology Network say that they had no information on the virus and where it came from but here was a USB drive that could have information on it. The virus had only been around for 1 month but had already claimed 400 million people’s lives. The virus came from tomatoes and now everyone was avoiding eating tomatoes like the plague although it was highly contagious and could be contracted without eating tomatoes.

Khalan picked up his phone, left the broom and dustpan, and grabbed the USB. He closed the small door to the closet but was desperate to get a quick high from the pink liquid, so he decided to sit on the floor and look for a good vein on his right arm. He took the pill container from his bag after finding one and decided to inject a needle with a syringe of the pink liquid. He felt instant relief. He could see his wife and children playing and smiling at him. He said “sorry, I failed you honey” to his wife. He felt so happy and peaceful and fell asleep.

The next morning, he woke up at 8:57 am still on the lab floor. Khalan heard two voices from a distance talking and footsteps that seemed to be getting closer to the lab room. He bolted and ran out the back door with the heart-shaped locket and the USB in his hand. He knew he had to rush to Alyx’s house as he was the only person he could trust and was an expert at hacking into almost anything and the drive was most likely encrypted. Once Khalan had reached about a mile away from the building, he called Alyx several times but the call went straight to voicemail. He decided to walk to his house, which was about an hour away.

At the Global Virology Network, there was chaos. Dr. Bates Sullivan walked into the building and was greeted by over 100 staff at the entrance. He was about 5’8 with a bit of a potbelly. He was in his mid-50s. He walked into the lab looking very distraught. He had not been in the lab for almost a month let alone the building. He was the richest man on the planet and had no need to be in the office. He went behind the lab tab over to the small closet and bent over. He looked at the shelf and it was empty. He rose up and yelled, “Where is the flash drive”. Two of his young lab techs ran to their computers to see if the file had been opened but found that the drive was not yet opened. Bates Sullivan said “Find whoever has my drive and leave no trace behind that this person ever existed. The last thing I need is the press and the public knowing that we created the virus that is killing everyone, including our people. “

Khalan had reached Alyx's house. The door was open. He peered in and shouted “Alyx”. Alyx ran down the stairs “my man, my man, the man, Khalan.” Alyx welcomed Khalan in. “I am sorry I didn’t pick up the phone, you know the connection in my house is bad. What’s up?”. “I found a USB flash drive at the Global Virology Network lab you know the place where I get my connect from. I think it’s encrypted and I need your help seeing what’s in it. It has a TS-15 on it.” “Are you serious? It probably doesn’t have anything important on it just experiments the company did but I will do it for you.” Alyx went to his desk with the USB drive and began typing away. “I am in. There’s only one file on here called TS-15 and I’ve opened it.”

Khalan began reading the document aloud “Black eradication…… what the hell is this?” Khalan was angry. He had lost several family members because of the virus. It read “We have created a virus that can be found in any type of tomatoes. Symptoms have been said to be heavy breathing, hallucinations, chills, fever, and most probable death. This virus is highly contagious and airborne. This virus will help us gain control over the population. We have created a unique genetic sequencing that will allow this virus to only kill Black people. With no more Black people around, we will have control over all the world’s resources and minerals. Finally, the dark continent known as Africa will be ours.” Khalan was confused and shocked. If the content in this document was true, then it meant he had to take immediate action. However, the only problem was that the virus was not only killing Black people. It was killing everyone. In fact, white people were dying at twice the rate of Black people. 150 million black people died worldwide, and 300 million white people died worldwide. Khalan was shaking his head not believing what he was reading and what was happening. “I tested positive for the virus last week. I should be dead.” Khalan knew that once infected with the virus, the person had 1 week to live.” Khalan didn’t understand how he was still alive.

Alyx had pale skin, which looked even paler after Khalan finished reading. “This is crazy. We got to report this” Khalan said. “Nah, something tells me that there are a lot more people in on this”. Alyx replied. Khalan started to sob. “This world is some shit. People are evil” Khalan skimmed through the document to see if there was a cure but there wasn’t. “Crap, ain't no cure for this shit,” said Khalan. “Bruh, you had the virus. How come you ain’t dead yet? I had the virus. Alyx, who used to be a chemistry teacher was also confused. He stood in front of his window and realized that the pink liquid Khalan was addicted to as well as the mixture of hay dust, the street drug was what cured Khalan. Alyx turned to Khalan with a smile. “You’ve been curing yourself with the pink liquid and hay dust.”. “Nah man, that shit only gets me to feel good.” “No, seriously. The pink liquid is called Subfine. It was supposed to be used to cure people but for some reason, it doesn’t work alone. It works with hay dust. We have to find a way to inform the world” “ How are we going to do that?” Khalan said now eager to help other people. “We need to hack the world global server, which streams the news in live time.” Alyx brought his computer and typed away. Only five minutes had passed and Khalan was on tv around the world in live time. Khalan was facing the computer shared everything he found in the book and the cure to the disease that had almost decimated the world.

They were located. A red dot appeared on Khalan’s temple and he was shot instantly on live tv. Bullets were fired at Alyx who was shot three times in the back.

The whole world watched the news that day, which was September 6, just 5 days before the memorial of Khalan’s wife and children. It was later revealed in the news that the wife of Dr. Bates Sullivan was the woman who drove her car that killed his wife and two children. Dr Bates and his team were charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

September 6 is now considered a world federal holiday to honor the two men who sacrificed themselves for the world.