A Sacrifice

Nexis Industries was a major international player in pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. However, beneath this legitimate front, the company was government-affiliated and heavily involved in classified research, including genetic engineering, biotechnology, and bioengineering experiments, with a specialized scientific team conducting secretive studies.

Marlon had been the director and head of Nexis Industries' underground facility in Metropolis City for over ten years. In all his years of experience, he had never encountered a situation as difficult and complicated as this.

After the meeting with the president and officials at the White House, Marlon hurried back to their underground facility and went straight to the classified research vault, where the best of his staff had been assigned to monitor the meteorite shower phenomenon and its victims.

Without saying a word, he immediately accessed the live feed of the test patients they had gathered after last night's meteorite shower. They had recently transferred some of those patients, along with two unclaimed dead bodies of street beggars, to their facility before the chaos in each hospital began.

Those two beggars had been reborn, like others from the morgue, and Marlon had been keeping them, now classified as Meteorborn, alive inside highly secured rooms in the facility. He needed them for further tests and analysis.

For hours, they had been monitoring the Meteor Survivors, using them as test subjects to assess the potential threat they posed to public and national security. Some remained unconscious after being struck by the meteorites, while others had regained consciousness, their conditions closely observed for any signs of abnormality.

"Those who died on the spot from the meteorite turned into monsters. The government is worried about those who survived after seeing this footage. Now, they see all Meteor Survivors as a threat," Marlon muttered with a frustrated sigh.

"Footage?" one of his staff asked.

He replayed the footage that Field Marshal Roxas had presented during the meeting earlier. The report and the video had come in unexpectedly, just as the president had asked what would happen to the survivors. How could they be certain that those affected wouldn't turn into monsters upon death?

The footage showed a prisoner who had been struck by the meteorite. While recovering in the hospital, he attempted to escape but was hit by a vehicle during his getaway. 

The paramedics declared him dead on the spot. And yet, moments later, the prisoner suddenly came back to life, only he was no longer human. His body had mutated into something monstrous, much like the Meteorborn. Without hesitation, he began attacking civilians, turning them into MB Infectees.

The incident had gone viral, with countless people capturing the horrifying transformation on their phones and spreading it online.

Because of this, many officials urged the president to prioritize public safety by ordering the military and police to eliminate all Meteor Survivors before the infection and chaos could escalate further. Prevention was better than cure.

However, Marlon opposed the decision. He believed there was more to this phenomenon, and his team needed more time to study the case. Yet, he lacked substantial evidence to support his argument against terminating the Meteor Survivors.

"Are we really going to dispose of them?" Karen, his assistant, asked, staring at the monitors displaying some of the Meteor Survivors being attended to by the staff after waking up.

"Those awake are now all anxious. They want to see their families. Our medical team already explained to them that we need to observe their conditions first before we can discharge them, but most of them say that they wouldn't cooperate unless they first talk with their families," one of his staff informed.

"The military will check on them later and see if we obeyed in eliminating them. It's no use for them to see their families and give them false hopes. It's better that they think they died from the meteorites," he muttered.

Those Meteor Survivors were strictly selected, and most of them came from poor families who practically signed a contract for them to become test patients.

He clicked the screen and checked on the medical condition of each survivor.

"Their vitals are stable and-"

"Doc, you should see this!" he was cut off by another of his staff monitoring the Meteor Survivor patients. He immediately checked, and his eyes widened.

"There's more of them! What's that? She's making fire?!" Karen burst, her eyes wide, as they watched a patient creating fire with her hand. But then she stopped as she stared at the camera.

"Doc, this one… he suddenly disappeared, but he had clothes on!" one of his staff exclaimed.

"Doc, it seems like those who awakened after being unconscious developed supernatural abilities!" Karen pointed out. "And it's probably because of the meteorites." 

With that, Marlon quickly scanned the medical report of the prisoner who turned into a Meteorborn after dying.

His eyes widened with realization. "This prisoner was conscious throughout the entire incident… and like the other Meteor Survivors, he healed fast," he murmured, comparing the prisoner's medical results with those of the others.

Every Meteor Survivor in their facility had miraculously healed, including one who had previously suffered from terminal cancer. Similar reports from other hospitals indicated that some individuals, after being struck by meteorites, were completely cured of preexisting illnesses. 

However, there was one clear distinction: some survivors had remained unconscious for hours before waking, while others had never lost consciousness at all.

He turned to his staff and instructed, "Check the Meteor Survivors who were conscious from the moment they were hit. Isolate them immediately."

His eyes flickered with excitement as he stared at the test results on the screen. "This could be the key…"

He exhaled slowly, his pulse quickening. "Those who never lost consciousness will turn into Meteorborn upon death. But those who were unconscious and later awakened… they may have adapted, developed supernatural abilities." His voice dropped to a whisper. "They might not transform when they die."

The implications were staggering. If his theory was right, then not all Meteor Survivors were a danger, only some.

"There's only one way to be sure." His tone darkened. "We need to eliminate one Meteor Survivor from each group, one who never lost consciousness, and one who awakened from a coma."

He turned to his team, his gaze cold and unwavering. "Choose one from each category. We need to make a sacrifice… for the greater good."

Two deaths… one conscious survivor, one Awakened, were a small price to pay to confirm their theory. If it meant avoiding unnecessary mass executions, then it was the most logical course of action.

Also, these Awakened Meteor Survivors, especially those who developed supernatural abilities, could be the very people who might help society prevent further destruction.

"Doc, what about her?" Karen asked, pointing to the monitor displaying the vital signs of a woman who had remained conscious since being struck by a meteorite. "She's the oldest among them. Unlike the others, her children are already adults." She glanced at the doctor before adding, "Her husband already signed the contract."

Karen then pulled up another file. "As for the other one… the awakened survivor is a prisoner. A convicted criminal, he raped and murdered five women."

"Take those two down," Marlon instructed, his voice firm. "I need to present the results to the officials before a mass massacre of Meteor Survivors happens."