Vigilante

He was in his daughter's room again. His daughter peacefully slept on the hammock that he constructed for her... the queen, peacefully sleeping in her royal bed.

He walked up to her and gently tucked her into a thin cloth blanket, to which she weakly smiled at the newfound warmth and comfort. Instinctively, her hooves pulled the blanket closer to her body, leaving very little of her body to be exposed.

As he stared at his daughter, however emotionless he would seem, his shoulders slumped slightly down, almost gesturing like he was sighing. Then he gently patted her mane before turning to leave.

On his way to the entrance, he suddenly felt a strange hint of nostalgia before him... of the life he once had. Of the times he once called his own.

As if to be a personal reminder of who he was sent by himself in the past, his memories began to play in his mind.

"Daddy? Can you read me a bedtime story?" A little six-year-old girl with long black hair and emerald green eyes smiled as she looked up at her father from the comfort of her lime green colored bed.

He lightly chuckled before his pale hand reached down and gently patted her on the forehead. "In a little bit, sweetie. Daddy was called into work an hour ago, so I have to get going... but if you're awake when I get back... gladly."

She then giggled as he lightly kissed her on the forehead. Finally, he stood up from his seat and flicked the lamp on her nightstand off, then headed outside the door, leaving it slightly cracked.

As he was about to leave, a young adult lady with light blue eyes and long black hair emerged from the bathroom. She smiled at him and motioned towards the coat rack near the front door.

"It's cold outside, Dear. Don't forget your jacket!" she said with a wink, causing the father to chuckle before walking up to her and gently planting a kiss on her.

"Thanks, Catherine. I would've frozen to death!"

"Ooh! Someone's in a playful mood today, I see..." She then pulled his head in for another kiss, but finished with a whisper.

"Please hurry back, though... I'm kinda in a playful mood, myself."

He snickered before nodding his head, kissing her one last time, and heading outside the door, but not before bundling up in his black winter coat, which he wore over a pure white lab coat.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Jackson?" the man asked the elder before him, who wore a similar lab coat, with a red logo on it that resembled a white syringe in a red outline. Above it was the title "TeroCorp Labs", and below it was the phrase ""Your Chemical Future, Today!"

Mr. Jackson nodded his head and motioned for the man to take a seat. Once done, Jackson rubbed his forehead uneasily before shaking his head left and right. "Our, uh... our lab results came back in after all... the ones for the cure of the recent 'Green Plague' that's been killing off several people. They were misplaced by someone, apparently."

The man gulped before scratching the back of his head and smiling sheepishly. "Oh... about that. I... kinda-sorta forgot that you recently moved to a different office, while the other one was renovated." His smile died down when he noticed the stern look on Jackson's face. "Wait... something's wrong, isn't it?"

Jackson nodded his head and closed his eyes. "The... the shipments of the cure has already reached the shelves of several different markets. People have been buying it and using it left and right... and, well... that may have not been a good idea."

The man tilted his head confusedly and crossed his arms. "Please, do explain."

Jackson took a seat in his own chair and rested his elbows on the table, but his hands remained covering his face. "The... the cure was more than just a dud... it was meant to enforce the immune system with just enough juice to keep the plague from spreading... but instead, it... had some side-effects to it."

"Such as?" Worry began to grow on the man's face, as a slight suspicion that he held from his coworkers upon development began to rise.

And his suspicions were confirmed.

"The plague has gotten worse."

The man entered his home later the next night. He walked inside his daughter's room, only to smile when he saw her fast asleep. Walking up to her, he planted another kiss on her forehead, causing a smile to form on her lips.

"Daddy loves you, Katie... good night."

In a groggy voice, Katie mumbled, "Good night, Daddy... I love you too."

He then sneaked back into his room and crawled into the bed with his wife, Catherine. Catherine's eyes shot open and she turned her head to face him... but raised an eyebrow at his solemn look he was giving her. "Honey? What's wrong?"

He sighed before firmly, yet gently, gripping onto her hands. "Catherine... there's... there's something I've gotta tell you."

She sat up and flicked the lamp on the nightstand on. "What's wrong? What is it?"

"We... we got the results, today."

She stared blankly at him before a slightly amused smile adorned her face. "That's good, Sweetheart! You're going to be a hero! You found the cure, didn't you?"

He only responded with a silent stare. This made her smile slowly lower, as panic began to build up in her eyes.

"You... did find the cure to the Green Plague... didn't you?"

Finally, he sighed, looked down, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "No... in fact, according to Mr. Jackson... we've screwed all of humanity."

"Screwed? W-what do you mean?!"

He opened his eyes and looked up, revealing the tears that fell within the shadows. "The... the plague has only intensified thanks to the supposed 'cure'. It now kills its hosts within twenty-four hours... and it's gotten highly contagious, as well. Now, if someone so much as breathes it out of their system, the infected cells will fly through the air, contaminating anyone who goes near that area within five minutes. While it has no effect on animals, the virus still lives within them as well... so you could easily catch it from anything, from gnats to dogs, to lizards, to cats, birds... anything. Even the water could be contaminated!"

Her jaw dropped at that statement. "Oh, no... h-how much-"

"Every store across the nation has been given about a hundred boxes of it. Many more have been shipped overseas, as well. It's been sold at a low suggestion price, too. They've sold out in hundreds of thousands of those businesses already, with more selling out by the minute... and each box contained two thousand shots; one per package."

She covered her mouth with both hands. "S-so... h-how long until-"

"They gave me a rough estimate, depending on whether our screw-up gets published... at least three days, but at most... seven. Well, six now, considering the time."

She said no more. With a heavy heart, she cried in his shoulder as the two embraced in a long, warm hug.

"S-so... what do we do, now?" she asked.

He tightened his grip on her before pulling back from the hug. Then, with as much determination as he could muster up, he replied, "We prepare for the apocalypse."

"P... prepare?"

He nodded his head and gently caressed her cheek. "Yes... because I promise you... I'll find a way to stop this mess. I'll find the real cure to this mistake... and then, I'll try to save as many lives as I can."

"B-but... this could be-"

"The last week we have left... I know. I'll find a way to make it up to both you and Katie. For now, though, I'll be staying at work all day, helping the others with the cure."

"But-"

"Catherine... do you trust me?"

She blinked slowly, unsure of what to think of at the moment. Finally, she smiled and nodded her head. "Y-yeah... of course I do, love." She wrapped her arms around him again. "Please, though... promise me you'll return home every night."

He closed his eyes, a small hint of fear in his mind at the thought of returning home with them unprotected.

"... I promise."

Several news reporters were speaking to the cameramen as countless bodies littered the streets in Metro City. As they spoke, countless people stood at the front entrance to the lab, while police forces tried to keep the citizens from breaking in.

From inside the lab, the man hurried inside. His lab coat was tattered from the people who managed to grip him. Luckily, however, his history in the military gave him an upper edge as those who gripped onto him were met with crippling blows.

Checking his vital signs, he was thankful that he wasn't infected by anyone, but regardless, he asked for a new coat to work with, just in case.

Inside the main lab, a tall monitor hovered over the computers, revealing a red strand of DNA, with a few green splotches here and there.

"So as you all may know, we must find a way to get the entire DNA sample green without a single drop of red! Understood?" Jackson asked the staff inside.

"Yes, sir!" everyone replied in unison before heading to their stations.

The man gathered as much information as he could, when his best friend, James, whispered his name.

"Hey, man! Since the world's about to end and all, how about we go to the bar tonight, after work's done?"

The man shook his head. "Sorry, James... but I've already promised Catherine I'd be there with her and Katie."

James seemed disappointed at that, but smiled and nodded his head in understanding. "Yeah, I hear you, man... tell you what. How about we just try to get that cure done first? Then we'll celebrate?"

The man smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah... now that I could agree on. And hell, we could form a group or something like that once the apocalypse kicks in."

James chuckled before Jackson called the two of them out, forcing them back to work.

James snickered before muttering, "Pfft... asshole."

The man chuckled and agreed with him via a simple nod.

"Daddy? Why am I not going to school today?" Katie asked the man as he walked past her bedroom door.

He knelt down to her level and weakly smiled. "Well, sweetie... a lot of teachers are sick right now. Since there's no substitute teachers nearby, they decided to give you the rest of the week off."

She sighed and turned around. "Yes, sir... then am I allowed to play outside?"

He quickly shook his head and replied, "No, sweetheart... Daddy needs you to stay inside the house for now... at least until I have that special medicine ready that could make the teachers all better. I don't want you to get sick either, do I?"

She shook her head. "No, sir..."

He rubbed his chin in deep thought. "Tell you what... how about I allow you to play that video game you love so much all day?"

She gasped before muttering, "P... Pony Land?! You mean I can play it all day?!"

He nodded his head with a smile. "You sure can!"

She screamed happily before leaping up and hugging him tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Daddy!"

He chuckled and patted her back. "You're very welcome... and who knows? Maybe after I make that medicine, I could buy us a pony that you could help raise!"

She giggled before replying, "Oh, THANK YOU, Daddy! You're the bestest dad in the world!"

He smirked before his watch began to beep. Looking at it, he read the numbers "5:30 AM".

"Darn it... I'm going to be a little late if I don't hurry up!"

He gave her a quick peck on the forehead. "Love you, Katie."

"Love you too, Daddy! Hurry home!"

"And don't forget about tonight, Honey!" came Catherine's voice from the bedroom. "It is our anniversary, after all!"

He smiled before turning towards the bedroom door. "Don't worry, Dear! I'll be there!" He stood back up and began backing towards the door. "Love you both, goodbye!"

And with that, he stepped outside the door...

...only to find Mr. Jackson, James, and a few more of the staff members.

"What's going on?" the man asked.

Jackson looked at him with a solemn frown before replying, "Half of our staff members are missing... and I doubt if it would take a genius to know what happened."

The man's eyes shot open. "What?! B-but..."

Jackson nodded his head. "I know. It means that we'll all have to work double-shifts today."

The man sighed and looked back at his house uneasily. "S-so... that means that..."

Jackson nodded his head. "Yes... that means you'll have a twenty-four hour shift today. You're going to be returning home at about this time tomorrow... I'm sorry."

The man sighed before turning back around and walking up to his house. "I'll... I'll go let my wife know-"

"No time, man! We need every single second that we've got!" James interrupted, gripping onto the man's arm. "Please! Just come with us! I... I'll give you a ride back tomorrow morning! We'll have someone leave them a letter so that they don't worry!"

"It's just a quick word, though! I can-"

Before the man could answer, James pulled a pistol out from behind his back and aimed it at the man's forehead.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the man demanded.

James shook his head and replied, "Whatever is necessary... now, get in the fucking car, and we won't have to worry!"

"James... we were friends since elementary school! So WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HOLDING THAT GODDAMN GUN UP IN MY FACE, MAN?!" He gripped James's wrist and curled it away from him, causing the trigger to be pulled, with the bullet flying inside the window of the man's bedroom.

Suddenly a blunt object found its way across the back of the man's head, and before long, his consciousness faded completely.

Ever since he woke up, the man was forced to continue working in the lab. His former friends were now noticeably showing signs of illness, as every so often, someone would start coughing. Their fates were then quickly sealed with a bullet to the head by either Jackson or James, followed by a cleanup by the hazmat team inside.

He also noticed that the riots were far smaller than yesterday... and it's only been five days. It only made him feel far more motivated to correct his mistake, hostage or not.

He must find a way to stop the plague... otherwise, humanity is as good as dead.

Finally, after his shift was done and over with, he was given a chance to leave. He left with only a quarter of the team remaining inside.

Five of the seven hazmat workers were shot, though. The air filters just weren't enough to keep the virus from seeping inside it, so their only potential source of protection from the elements were blown out of the water.

He finally made it home, only to find a note posted on his door. It was from Catherine.

Gone shopping! Will be back at about six PM tonight!

He winced as the way how the ink was on the paper looked, she must've been upset with him.

On the bright side, though, as his memories recalled James's bullet flying inside their window, at least it didn't hit her.

He stepped inside the living room, where Katie was sleeping with the game she was playing still left on, and the controller in her hands.

With a light chuckle, he silently turned the TV off, then carefully wrapped her up in a blanket from the basket near the couch. He then concluded his "greeting" with another kiss on the forehead and a rub on the scalp.

Finally, he walked back upstairs to his bedroom. Along the way, however, he noticed that the dryer was left on inside the laundry room, but he paid it no mind.

For now, he just needed some sleep.

Stepping inside the bedroom, he noticed that the window was boarded up, and his old varmint rifle was left by the door with a box of ammo next to it. He sighed, hoping that he would be able to make up for his absence, and the drama that he just went through.

He was stirred up from his sleep when Katie burst inside the room with a look of panic on her face... though the look was barely noticeable, considering the time was around six at night.

"DADDY! MOMMY'S HOME, BUT SHE'S CRYING!"

"Hmm... hm? What?!" He quickly sprang out of bed and rushed into the living room, with Katie following right behind him.

"Catherine?! What's going on?!" he asked as the door slowly slid open.

Catherine slowly stepped inside in a panic. "I... I t-think I..."

"MOMMY!" Katie called out before rushing up to Catherine and wrapping her arms around her.

Catherine yelped and quickly shoved Katie back. "NO! DON'T-" Suddenly she was at a loss for words as Katie fell on the floor, no longer worried, but rather, sad, hurt, and confused.

Catherine covered her mouth with both hands and started to breathe heavy, with tears quickly falling from her eyes. "Oh God, Katie! I... I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't-"

Katie quickly ran up to her dad and hugged him for protection. He, of course, glared at Catherine.

"Catherine! What in the hell was that for?!"

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could even say a word, her hands firmly pinched her lips shut, and her cheeks inflated, causing the man to gasp.

Then, once Catherine opened her mouth again, dark green bile spilled out, leaving a large puddle near the front entrance.

Time froze as realization dawned upon him. She shoved Katie out of self-defense, yet she made contact with her... and Katie was still hugging onto him, also!

There was no more denying it. Their time in this world was set in stone...

His wife and his daughter were now infected... and now, with Katie coming into contact with him... now HE was infected!

With him being infected, merely going to work was guaranteed suicide, due to how the people were getting there... if there even were people over there anymore.

Snapping back to reality, he noticed Catherine stumble a little, before she completely fell flat on her back.

"CATHERINE!" He quickly rushed up to his wife and lifted her head up. Her eyes focused on him and she weakly smiled before reaching into her shirt pocket and pulling out a small note for him. Curious, he picked it up and began to read.

I'm so sorry, Dear... but I didn't want to tell you this in person. I was shot yesterday morning, and had to rush to the hospital.

Once there, however, I learned that I've been infected with the 'Green Plague'. They told me that the open wound from the bullet only made it easier for the virus to get into my system.

I wish there were another way, but I don't think I can go on anymore. Don't give up, though! I know you can find the cure!

Remember that I love you... always have, and always will.

Please take care of Katie for me.

Love, Catherine

He couldn't hold it back. He knew the symptoms of the infection through the reports... the green vomit was the final stage that lasted, at the most, one hour... but considering the condition she was in, it was clear that she wouldn't even last another minute.

He pulled her in for another hug while Katie rushed up to them and joined with them.

"K-Katie... I... I-I'm... s-sorry..." she managed to say, though in a raspy voice.

Katie nodded her head and replied, "D-don't worry, Mommy... I forgive you."

She looked up at him and weakly smiled. "Please... d-don't... don't blame... yourself..."

Her eyelids grew heavy. She breathed out a single breath; her eyes dull, her expression, blank.

He closed his eyes and shook his head before reopening them. The tears fell from his eyes as he called her name in a loud, pained cry.

His wife, Catherine, was gone.

The rest of the day, he didn't even get any more sleep. He and Katie both stood atop the hill with a newly crafted wooden grave on top. The word "Catherine" was chiseled onto it.

Katie hugged her father and asked, "D-daddy? W-why isn't Mommy in bed?! W-why is she sleeping in the dirt?! She'll get dirty that way!"

He said nothing. He only stood there, staring at the grave of the one he failed to save... a promise he never wished to break. Had he been there with her, maybe he could've saved her.

But he had to work the extra hours... and now, with only his daughter left in this world, and perhaps a couple strangers here and there, he had to ask... was all of the hard work even worth it, anymore? If he were to develop a cure, he would also have been remembered as the one who doomed humanity.

"Don't blame yourself." Catherine's voice echoed through his mind.

How could he not blame himself?! If he didn't try tampering with the plague, perhaps people would've still been alive to tell the tale! Maybe if he didn't try working on the cure, the plague wouldn't have made it to his front door!

Maybe if he didn't release the cure, Catherine would still be alive!

"Daddy? I don't feel very good..." Katie said before rubbing her eyes.

He looked down at her and lifted her back up. "Don't worry, Katie... I'll get you some medicine..."

He looked at the grave and frowned, before his saddened expression showed his determination once more. "Don't worry, Catherine... I'll save her. It's... it's the least I could do..."

And with that, he carried Katie over to his car and placed her in the passenger seat. Then he quickly ran into his house and grabbed his keys, the box of ammo, and his rifle. He knew that if either James or Jackson were there, which was an extremely high chance, then he would be on their list without a doubt.

The minute he drove into the city, he gasped. The streets were void of all life. Countless corpses littered the streets; some he recognized as the reporters from a few days ago. A few of them lied on the ground with TV Recorders beside their bodies.

Cars were crashed and burning, while buildings were damaged from vehicle collisions. There were animals roaming around the streets, from dogs to giraffes from the local zoo.

What's more, the second that he drove in, he noticed that the animals stopped moving, and looked at him in unison... almost as if they were expecting him.

He dismissed it, though, and continued driving onward. Katie, however, smiled at the scene and pointed at the giraffes. "Daddy... look! Giraffes!"

He looked her way and lightly smiled, then nodded his head. "That's right, sweetie... giraffes."

Finally, when he made it to the lab, he opened the door... but once the outside air reached his lungs, he felt intense pain build up in his stomach. Knowing fully well what it meant, he tried to hold the bile in his system for as long as he could... but in the end, he couldn't.

Upon vomiting the green liquid out of his system, his eyes shot open. His time was cut very short, now. He had to get the cure, and he had only one hour left to do so!

Quickly, he rushed to the other side of the car, but found that Katie also vomited the same liquid out of her system. He quickly picked her up and carried her up the stairs of the lab... but his muscles were getting sore. He grew evermore tired, as the virus began to build up in his body.

His eyelids were getting heavier and heavier through the passing of each second... but his sheer determination and willpower kept him from stopping. He had to reach the lab! If not, then his efforts would be wasted, and all hope for humanity would come to a sudden closure.

Once inside the main entrance, Katie started to squirm out of his arms.

"Katie! What... what are you doing?!" he asked her, trying to keep his grip.

She smiled at him and replied, "Y-you... you're going too slow, Daddy... I don't want to slow you down..."

He shook his head. "Katie... I can get us both in there! I can save us both if-"

She shook her head and interrupted him. "Daddy... I'll be fine. Just hurry up..."

He looked her in the eyes, and found that, despite being only six years old, she was right. If he continued carrying her, he would be lucky to make it halfway there.

And so, he knelt to the floor and gently placed her there. As expected, though, her legs were too weak due to her age, so she wound up sitting with her back against the wall.

"Alright, sweetie... but stay awake, okay? If you sleep now... you might not ever wake up again..."

She nodded her head. "Don't worry, Daddy..." she hacked and coughed a little bit of green bile onto her shirt. "I... I'll stay awake. I... I'm not even sleepy, yet!"

He nodded his head and smiled. "That's my girl." He then stood back up and began rushing towards the main room, with his rifle on hand.

But once he made it inside, he gasped at the scene before him. Bullet holes were in several of the monitors, including the main one. The screens were all black, save for a single one, which had the body of James lying next to it, with the back end of his head blown clean off.

Below the main monitor was Mr. Jackson, who had a similar bullet hole in his forehead.

They must've gotten in a fight... and whoever won must've taken his own life.

The man shook his head at the two before hurrying to the monitor. On it was the main DNA Scanner Program, with a note added onto the address bar.

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head again before rushing to the chemical station. There, by some miracle, the fluids were still intact, and the vials were still warm.

Not taking a moment to lose, he began mixing and matching, before dripping a single drop of the concoctions of the formulas into an infected blood sample within a microscope's cover slip. Then he slid the slip into the computer's reader and hit enter, causing the reader to scan the sample.

CURED: 80% | INFECTED: 20%

"Shit!" he swore to himself before pulling the slip out and discarding it over his shoulder and hurrying to the lab table again.

He continued several times, feeling a growing dizziness take over his mind.

CURED: 90% | INFECTED: 10%

He ended up running out of blood samples. Without hesitation, he quickly wrapped his arm in a leather strap and drew blood from his own arm, then began using it, instead. He drew two more, leaving him with a total of three samples to use.

CURED: 85% | INFECTED: 15%

Next slip went in. His eyes were beaming as the bar continued to read positive results... but at the last second, a red dot appeared on the strand of DNA.

CURED: 99% | INFECTED: 1%

Finally, he fell to his knees as soon as he slipped the final slide into the system. His hands developed a spastic shake, and his eyes were starting to blur. This was it... the final chance. If all else failed, then he would not have enough time, nor energy, to make the cure.

The scanner continued to read as he struggled to stay up, using his hands to hold his head level with the monitor. His body was begging him for a chair, but his mind knew that it was the discomfort that had him still awake, anyways.

And then, there was hope. The scanner finished, and the monitor made a vaguely familiar beeping sound. Looking up at it, he gasped at the sight before him.

CURED: 100% | INFECTED: 0%

He looked over at the lab station, where the cure was still resting in a beaker, and began crawling his way up to it.

The green liquid began to drip from his mouth and his nostrils, but he pressed onward, determined to get to the cure before it was too late.

He reached his hand up then grabbed the beaker, along with a needle. Drawing the cure from the beaker, he shakily raised the needle up to his chest, took a deep breath, and pierced it through flesh, through muscle, and directly into his heart.

He screamed in agony as the foreign object found its way up to his heart. In an instant, however, his vision cleared up, his energy returned, and his muscles found strength again.

Quickly, he yanked the needle out of his chest and drew more of the cure in a separate one. Then he sprung into action again, dashing through the hallway, and towards the other person who needed this cure the most... Katie.

He was in for a shock when he saw her sitting there with her eyes closed. Not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly rushed up to her, knelt onto the floor, and pierced the needle into her heart, then drew it back out of her chest.

"Katie... c'mon, sweetie, wake up! Katie!!!"

He carefully pulled her off of the wall and began pressing onto her chest and blowing air into her system. He continued on for one minute, giving her CPR, hoping to see her bright green eyes shining once again.

"Hmm... she has your eyes, you know?" Catherine's voice echoed through his mind.

"Yeah, but most of her DNA is yours, though. She's B Positive... I'm AB Positive."

He pressed his mouth to hers, blowing more air into her system.

"Yeah, but who knows? Maybe that little bit of B in yours could make all the difference, should anything happen to her!"

He pressed on her chest once more, unable to stop the tears from falling from his eyes.

"Yeah... but hey, don't think that way! You know as well as I do that nothing's gonna EVER happen to her when I'm around!"

Suddenly, her eyes shot open, as she was woken up with a hacking cough. This made him jump up in surprise, then smile as he saw her awake, and alive again.

"Katie! KATIE!" he shouted happily before pulling her in for a hug.

"Oh, thank God you're okay... I... I thought I lost you, sweetie..."

She giggled before shaking her head. "I... I wasn't sleeping, daddy! I was just... resting my eyes, that's all!"

He chuckled before nodding his head. "Of course you were, sweetie... of course you were..."

They just sat there for about a minute, enjoying the company of the other. Then she let out a long yawn and asked, "Daddy... c-can we go home, now?"

He nodded his head and picked her back up. "Of... of course we can, sweetie... we can go home, now... we're safe."

And with that, he carried her out of the lab, and into the car.

"What do you mean, 'it won't work for everyone', James?!" came the voice of Jackson inside his office, as the man stood outside the door, listening in on the conversation.

"With the DNA of every person being so different, we've found that, while it may work on some, the others have different results! Some are better, and some are worse!" James's voice replied.

"Well, we need something that could fix everyone up!"

"Sir... that would take a miracle! And we aren't necessarily equipped with the right tools for that kind of job!"

"Well... then get to finding those tools! We need to find a way to fix this plague before it gets worse! Trillions of lives are counting on us, James!"

"I... I'll get to work. My partner and I might be onto something."

"Great! So who gets the credit, then?"

"To be fair... it was a suggestion that he made, so I'd say he deserves the credit for it. I just agreed with him, and we got to work."

The man and his daughter were sitting on a bench that rested on the front porch. They agreed that they would stay awake to see the seventh and "final" sunrise, before the estimated human population dropped down to "zero".

He held her in his right arm while she rested her head on his chest, with her arm still around his back.

There was no doubt about it... he was afraid, despite his seemingly comforted smile he gave her. He knew that, deep inside, it was only through his DNA that she was still alive... but even then, his wife's DNA was dominant, meaning that, while the cure worked on her for now, it was more of a vaccine... and it was going to wear off at some point.

"Daddy... the sun! It's... it's rising!" Katie murmured as her hand reached his peripheral view, pointing at the bright yellow orb in the twilit sky.

He smiled and nodded his head, continuing to stare at the ray of light... the symbol of hope.

"Yeah... it is, sweetie... we did it! We made it through... we made it past the seventh day..."

She smiled and nodded her head, before relaxing on his chest even more comfortably. "It's... it's beautiful..."

He lightly chuckled and nodded his head, before intensifying his grip around his daughter's shoulders. "Yeah... it is, sweetie... it is..."

They continued sitting there silently, until it happened.

Her arm's grip on his back loosened up, and her pointing finger fell onto her lap. Her eyes slowly closed, and the comfortable smile that the sun illuminated remained.

She was... peaceful.

He didn't even stop staring at the sunrise... he already knew what he would see beside him, and couldn't dare muster up enough strength to do so.

His eyes closed, and his chest quivered, as the tears fell from his eyes. He then pulled her head below his chest and rested his cheek on her scalp. He cried in agony, in bittersweet sorrow, as the last of his family in this cruel world was no more.

Katie... had passed on.

"Oh, God... Katie... I... I-I'm sorry... I-I'm... I'm so... so..."

"...sorry."

The memories echoed through the back of Vigil's mind, as he turned around to look at Chrysalis's sleeping form one last time for the night. Then, ever-so-slowly, he pulled the curtain of the cave shut, leaving it slightly cracked, so that the light of the bonfire in the main room remained inside her bedroom.