Day 10 - Greenfield(2)

"Greenfield Infrastructure, huh?...." mused Cain as he leaned into the conversation.

This was good. They were finally taking the initiative. Perhaps, as they went on, they would discover what the government knew about the apocalypse.

Suddenly, he slipped and fell down flat.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" called William.

Cain thought he was referring to him but when he stood up back he saw that William was actually talking to his daughter. She too had slipped just like him.

Cain flexed his fingers. He felt something strange but he was too scared to voice it out.

Could it be that he was turning into an abomination?

'No, it isn't likely. I have not shown any prior signs, but…..'

There was a reason why he was scared. When contracting his hands, he realized that he had little to no control over them. It was as if part of his body was paralyzed, making it difficult to perform simple movements.

James observed Cain and Rael's strange actions, "What is it? Could it be---"

He instantly grabbed his wife's hand and moved back. He then pointed his gun at Cain with terror in his eyes.

This alerted the other members of the group. They were alarmed by this shocking display of action that came out of the blue.

Theo immediately asked, "James, what are you doing?"

James responded with a stutter, "Did-Didn--Didn't you see them? They fell down and started behaving strangely. Am I the only one that understands what that means? They ar--"

"Wait, Wait! Before you jump to a conclusion, think about it carefully. Have they showed any signs prior to this? No! I take it upon myself to observe every one of you and I can vouch for my statement," soothed Theo.

Meanwhile, Cain's eyes widened as he recognized he was at the point black range of a gun. One shot and he would die. One move to determine his life. One move to end it all.

Cain stayed in this extreme shock state. He couldn't hear what the others were talking about. They became no more than inaudible murmurs to him.

Theo gently walked towards James with his arms widespread. He was showing James that he meant no harm.

Suddenly, James pointed his gun at Rael, "You don't understand. We can't take risks. Isn't that what we all agreed to?"

His eyes fixated on Rael as he tried to toughen his mind for what he was about to do. However, he didn't get the appropriate feedback from Rael. All he got from the strange girl was a calm stare. At that moment, her silver eyes became purer than ever.

'She is mocking me,' he thought.

As his emotions turmoiled, his eyes bled profusely. This thought echoed inside his head as he became insanely furious. He chanted inwardly, 'Pull the trigger.'

He didn't understand but the others were witnessing a rare spectacle. They watched as James' bodily size freakishly increased. His skin reddened and his eyes whitened to the extreme.

It was only after fangs grew out from his mouth did the others understand what was happening.

He was turning!

Before he could do much damage, Cain acted swiftly. He raised his pistol and shot the head of James. He didn't stop there. He went on to fire continuous bullets until his cartridge ran dry.

After, he moved closer to James and stabbed his heart. He watched as James coughed out blood. The man looked at him with terror.

However, he wasn't dead yet. His tongues stretched out his mouth.

The elongated tongue was about to pounce on Cain's neck when a knife cut it apart. It was Rael who had finally acted.

With the last desperate action from James, he took his last breath and finally died.

Whilst, the others gaped at the murder. It was only after Theo moved did their hearts calm.

Theo ignored the corpse of James and asked Cain, who kept looking at the dead body, "What is it?"

Cain softly pronounced, "Negativity…..."

"Huh?"

Cain stared at Macie and queried, "Is it possible that rather than a random turning, the transformation is….triggered?"

"Yeah. That was always the direction I was working at but the triggers are still incomprehensible so I temporarily chose the alternative route. We would watch the signs rather than the trigger.....What are you trying to say?" said an informative Macie.

At that moment, multiple scenes flashed through Cain's head.

The first of them was the woman that saved him from committing suicide. He had known her before their meeting on the rooftop. There was a rumor going on in the apartment complex that she had slept with her boss. It was heavy for quite a while. Moreover, when she saved him, she had told him that she normally came to the rooftop when she felt bad.

The second scene was the couple he spotted once. They had tried to escape the terrific street of the complex. However, just when they were on the crucifix of success, the male entered a panic mode. Not soon after, he turned.

The third and last scene was the most recent one. The one of James turning. It was abrupt. So sudden that it caught everyone off-guard but he had seen it...right before he turned, his eyes had bled.

Cain gave his analysis, "There is a condition that is to be met before turning. That much is unknown. However, there is also a trigger to be pushed after the condition is met. Harboring negative emotions…..immense sadness, sheer terror, profound fear. What do you think?"

The others went deep in thoughts, trying to validate his statement with their experience with abominations.

Macie was the first to speak out. She put her hand on her head with a wry smile, "Heh, why did we not think of it? True, your words ring true. It is most likely the case. The transformation begins from the mind, not the body. Ahh, if the situation wasn't dire, this would make an interesting case. I will ponder on this later."

Cain nodded his head in the affirmative. That was all he needed. He wasn't a medical expert so he couldn't validate his words.

After revealing his thoughts, he spared another look at James' corpse. He couldn't still process what he had just done.

Yet again, he killed someone mid their transformation. However, this time, it was different. He wasn't forced to. He wanted to.

Ever since a gun was pointed at his head, all he thought was, 'I don't want to be the one pointed at. I want to be the one pointing at!'