(Present day)
The woman stared blankly at the interviewer, her grey eyes dull and lifeless. Her brown hair was in neat curls around her face, resting gently on her shoulders and down her back. She was wearing a sky blue dress suite, going well with her creamy complexion and rosy cheeks. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, her black heels clicking lightly against each other and her hands folded neatly in her lap. On the outside she looked calm and composed. But on the inside she was getting nervous. Never had she ever been in front of so many people or even a TV camera for that matter. Nevertheless, she sat there as composed as can be, trying to look calm.
"Welcome back to the show, folks. I'm your host, Colleen Davidson, and I'm here with government official, Laura Polk, who has nicely agreed to talk about our nation's biggest secret: the Sigma Project. Not only is it a huge secret, many of our viewers have never even heard of it!" The host announced, a huge grin on her plastic face as the crowd erupted into cheers. Laura forced herself to take a deep breath, knowing if she were to freak out her boss would be furious. It's just a stupid interview. Laura kept telling herself silently, hoping she would somehow be able to believe it. Yet the little voice deep inside her was begging for some sort of panic to set in.
"So, we're happy to have you here, Laura! Now can you answer one of the most asked questions: what is the Sigma Project?" Colleen went on, raising her eyebrows. Laura forced a smile to stay on her face, the pathetic attempt making her cheeks burn.
"The Sigma Project is one of the largest experiments the government has ever created. It was originally created to further save mankind, but it soon evolved to help understanding of the human body." Laura found herself going over the script she had been given by her supervisors. Not only has she forced herself to memorize it, but she also had written it down everywhere she could. Learning the script was her number one priority. If she didn't know it her job most likely wouldn't be hers any longer.
"Yes we know all this. But give us some details. I want to know the background and I'm sure so does the rest of the crowd." Colleen argued, earning cheers from the rest of the crowd. Laura sank her nails into her skin lightly, taking a deep breath through her nose before brightening her smile once more. She was sure Colleen could see her eye twitching in annoyance.
"Well...as you know, the Sigma Virus broke out in 2485. As you also know, this is a very touchy subject for me, many of the people on Earth died. So, the government decided that they wanted to save their country as best they could." Laura began, leaning back in the chair and forcing her muscles to become relaxed. She was hiding some information on the project, or course, but the audience seemed to be eating it up. Colleen raised her eyebrows and a victorious look flashed in her eyes.
"The Sigma Project was created in November of 2579, almost seven years ago. It was created secretly from the public and the only thing released was the name, due to confidential purposes we were forced to keep our information classified. The government wasn't interested in listening to what the public thought; they just wanted to find a cure." Laura said, continuing after taking a breath to calm her still haywire nerves, "It began small. We started in a small lab out in an area that will not be released to the public due to safety issues." Colleen looked slightly annoyed with that answer but Laura wasn't going to give her anything else. She already felt like she was giving away too much even though she was only going off the script.
"What else?" Colleen pressed, folding her hands on her lap just as Laura did. Laura tensed slightly but kept her composure.
"Well, with the location figured out, all we needed was test subjects. And while I won't tell anyone who or what we used, I will say they offered alarming results." Laura answered, ignoring the angered whispers from the crowd and continuing, "The chemical compounds that create fear were evident in both the Sigma Virus and the human body. Not only was there a high concentration of this chemical in the Sigma Virus, there was also a very high amount of fear in the test subject when they went through our experiments." The crowd seemed to go into an uproar, yelling negative things at Laura. She continued to smile.
"Are you saying that you used human test subjects?!" Colleen asked in disbelief, her eyes widening. Laura tilted her head to the side before shaking it, she had said nothing of the sort. She may have implied it, but no such words had been said. If they were, Laura's job would be at stake.
"I never said we used humans. Animals are just as capable of having fear just like us." Laura defended the works behind her. She forced herself to put on a serious face, trying not to let her voice shake. She didn't want the people to know what she was feeling on the inside, it would get her fired. Yet the tension in the room rose, almost crushing Laura under its weight.
"I think we're done here." Laura said before she could be accused once more, getting to her feet and walking confidently off the stage. She ignored the cameras that were pointed at her, keeping her head held high as she pushed through the angry crowd and out the door. A black car sat waiting for her by the curb.
"Hurry up. I want-" Laura began to call through the open window before a shot rang out, the bullet entering the left side of her head and exiting the right side. Laura couldn't even draw in a breath before she hit the ground, blood pooling out of her temple. Her eyes glazed over as she stared up at the cloudy sky for what would be the last time.
The open window slowly closed before the door opened, a man stepping out. A black bandana was covering his nose and mouth and he had the hood of his sweatshirt up, a shadow covering his eyes. He stood over the dead woman, looking into her dead eyes. Her mouth was still open from when she hadn't been able to complete her sentence and her hands were balled into fists at her sides. Blood was pooling out by her head and her hair was beginning to turn crimson, matting near the wound. The man looked back up, staring at the still closed door where the woman had exited. He had to get out of there before anyone saw him.
"One down, thirteen to go." he whispered, shoving his hands in his pockets and disappearing into the night as if he had never been there.
First chapter of my new story. I'm trying to get away from the werewolf/vampire themed writing for a little bit. I still adore those kind of books but I don't have any inspiration to write them right now. Don't worry, the third book of the Pure Blood series will still be coming out but not for a little while. I want to get away from that stuff for a little bit and see how I do with other subjects. So I hope you like this story. Next chapter will be out soon. *Please excuse any errors*
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Project Sigma
कल्पित विज्ञानNever did the people of 2485 believe that they could potentially be the downfall of mankind. Yet twenty years later, the world population has decreased to a fourth of it's original size and nobody knows how to stop it from continuing to shrink. But...
