When the World Turned

If I still had functioning tear ducts, I’d be crying right now.
“Walter!” He said, holding out his arms for a hug.
“You mean you’re not afraid of me?”
“Of course not, my boy. Uncle Jimmy filled me in on all the details.” He said with a smile and a wink.
It’s been so long since I’ve hugged a human, even longer since I’ve hugged my dad. He was warm and smelled of sweat, and hopefully soon, I will too.
“I’m all for these little family reunions, but I think we have a bigger issue to handle right now.” Uncle Jimmy says from behind his desk. “Did you guys find what you were looking for?”
“We did, just Jimmy. But we had to make it ourselves, that’s what took so long.”
“And you’re sure it works?”
“We tested it, Uncle Jimmy.” I say. “We found equations and documents and chemicals, but they said they were missing an ingredient. We found the ingredient and everything else was just following the directions.”
“Where was this final ingredient?” He asks.
I pick up Toothdecay and hold him out to my uncle. “This guy.”
“Your dog found the ingredient?”
“No. His spit is the key factor that makes the antidote work. The bacteria that causes his teeth to look…well…like us.” I say, pointing towards Bull and I.
“Interesting. And you, two fifteen year old boys, one with only half a brain, were able to figure this out.”
“It was more of an accident really.” Bull says humbly.
“Did you bring it back with you?”
“We brought a few vials of it, but according to the directions, each vial only cures six of the infected. We need to think of a way to cure more than one person at a time. That’s why we came back here. We need your help.”
“Yes, I see. Let me see the vials.” I reach into my backpack and hand the vials to Uncle Jimmy. “Just as I thought, the orange one was the right chemical. I was right!”
“What do you mean, Uncle Jimmy? How did you know about the colored chemicals? There’s no way you could possibly know that unless…” I trailed off. Finally, it all made sense. “You were a scientist. Before any of this happened, you were a scientist. I remember mom and dad talking about a new experiment you were working on. You were so thrilled about your new project; my aunt was going to leave you…”
“Walter, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Uncle Jimmy. You made this virus, and part of your plan was to make this thing airborne. You didn’t care who it would hurt, but you did it anyway. The whole time you were hiding out in here while the rest of the world was turning against each other. You’re a coward, Uncle Jimmy. Or should I say Dr. Belington? You let us go looking for the cure, because you knew there wasn’t one. You probably thought we’d kill ourselves in an explosion or worse. How far were you willing to go to test your hypothesis? How many people did you kill trying to find the right ingredients?”
“You don’t understand, Walter. I wouldn’t expect you to. It was my job. They came to me and demanded that I come up with the ultimate war attack. We finally found what we were missing, or so we thought. The next day, our test subject was up and walking, but he wasn’t alive. He wasn’t functioning properly. His vitals were all wrong and his skin was discolored.” He paused. I’m not sure if it was for dramatic effect, or he honestly felt bad for what he had created. “Soon, all of the other scientists began acting the same way. That’s when I started working on the cure. I kept them all in quarantine and I began my research alone. I thought I’d found it, but it was missing the final ingredient. I didn’t know until it was too late. I had to get out of there and fast. I left everything and have been hiding ever since. You have to believe me, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“What did it do?”
“What?”
“The solution, what did it do?” I asked.
“Well, it made them like you.” He said.