The Aftermath: Parts I and II Read Free

 Her first notes were made and she began to eat her dinner, all the while looking at them.
    The computer was set up to automatically alert her to any news, though it hadn't done so in a few months.  She kept in on though, maybe because it was part of her job, or maybe because the noises it made helped over power the hums from the lights.  It always took her twenty minuets to eat and then clean up, and then a second glass of wine was poured.  Just in time for her second set of notes to be made.
    The format was simple: time, observations, and notable changes.  Each paper looked the same as the last.
    After observing for an hour it was time for their injections.
    She grabbed six syringes and prepped them.  Filling them with the liquid she had been told would change things and make her mission worth while.  Then with a heavy sigh she opened the door and entered the room.  Each one was chained up and really no risk to her, but she still hated it.  It wasn't fear that made her feel that way.  It was the sense of disgust and hopelessness that it caused.  They all reacted to her, but not like a person reacts to another, rather the way a rabid dog reacts to what it perceives a threat.  Within seconds they went from almost silent to nearly screaming with growls and snarls
    Each one got their injection and then she hurried from the room securing the door behind her.  More notes, more wine, more sitting.
    "You know I can only last so long before I have to talk to someone," she would eventually say in her desperation to make the time go by.  "I mean of course you know this, I tell you every single night,"  she would pause, "I don't know why I tell you every single night, or why I ask why I tell you.  I simply do."
    Not that talking actually caused any reaction or change from her subjects, but something in her believed it might.  That and she simply couldn't stand sitting in silence for so long.
    "You know I really thought this was some sort of dream when I signed up for it.  Humanity is going to fall apart, but in a few short months you or one of the other scientists will be able to fix it.  I mean honestly it's the dream.  Scientists always want to be a part of the next big thing.  They want to find something new, help cure something, fix the environment.  Anything really but it just has to be new.  When the world falls apart the last thing you'll probably get to focus on is that.  I mean you'll have to focus on basic survival, no time to spend looking through microscopes or documenting like I'm doing.  I mean your skills will still be useful, but not ever for discovering new things.  For some it's a fate worse than death.  So naturally I would jump at the chance to still be involved with discovery.  Even if I didn't make the break through, my time would be spent doing what I do best.
    I never really considered the full extent of what they were asking me to do though.  I also never considered how little research I would actually be doing.  See, I am not developing what I am poking you with every few night.  I am not changing it, working on it, trying to fix it.  All I am doing is injecting you then observing.  I am using less of my skills then I probably would be if I were out there.  See, they thought they got the serum right, they thought we just needed to tweak with the amount or give it time.  So I signed up for the safety assuming that after a few months at most someone would know how much to inject and how long it would take.  I also thought that they would give me the equipment needed to make my own serums if this one didn't work.  Instead I am stuck in the same routine that I long ago discovered was completely pointless."
    She paused and allowed what she had just said sink in a little.  Her heart felt heavy and her mind felt tired.  It was the first time the words had ever passed her lips and the weight of it was almost more than she could bare.
    "Not to say you are pointless, or that helping