The Beginning of the End  

The radiator beneath my bed let out another hiss, followed by a clunk like it was coughing up phlegm. Seraphina stared up at the off-white ceiling tiles from her bed, arms wrapped around her middle as the morning chill clung to the inside of Tibbits Hall like a second skin. Outside her door, someone shouted in French, another door slammed, and the floor trembled faintly under a stampede of slippers heading to the communal showers.

Jodie blew in with the wind, her hoodie half-zipped and cheeks flushed from the cold. She kicked the door shut with her heel and dropped a drawstring bag onto her bed, eyes bright.

"You are not going to believe what I just got," Jodie gushed, her eyes bright and shining as she took off her hoodie.

Seraphina didn't move, thankful for a full face of makeup and a long-sleeve shirt. It wasn't comfortable to sleep in contacts, but with a roommate like hers, it was better to be cautious than to be caught unprepared . "Caffeine?" Sera joked, rolling over under the covers.

Jodie laughed and flopped down onto her mattress, which creaked in protest. "Better. Illegal vaccines."

That got a reaction.

Seraphina sat up on one elbow. "Excuse me?"

Jodie yanked open the bag and pulled out a slim, hard plastic case. White, with red lettering over top of a logo that really didn't belong here. Country M's biotech division. Her grin was too wide for how serious she was about to make things.

"You're joking," Sera said slowly, staring at the label. "They're not even offering that here. Country N hasn't approved—"

"Exactly!" Jodie said, bouncing a little. "That's because Country N's too busy being holier-than-thou about 'supply chain ethics' while people are coughing up their lungs in the library. Meanwhile, countries are literally fighting over this stuff. You know how many people would kill to get a dose?"

"I don't know," Sera said quietly, "but I'm guessing at least one border guard."

Jodie snorted. "Oh, relax. It came in with a medical shipment from Country M. My cousin's boyfriend slipped it through with the wound dressings and trauma kits. Totally fine."

"Right. Because the real concern these days isn't drugs or weapons crossing borders—it's vaccines."

"Exactly!" Jodie jabbed a finger at her like she'd won something. "This is end-of-the-world level irony. Who needs cocaine when a flu shot is the hottest thing on the market?"

Sera didn't laugh. She just watched as Jodie rolled up her sleeve, exposing the soft inside of her forearm. The needle was preloaded, clean, and ice-cold where it had been pressed against the outside air. Jodie didn't hesitate.

"You don't even know what's in that," Seraphina said, her voice flat.

"I know that it's from Hydra's biotech division," Jodie said proudly. "You think Country M would put their name on crap? This is the real deal."

"That's not a good thing," Sera muttered. "Country M's been patenting genetic shit that they don't even explain."

"Exactly! Because they're ahead of the curve."

Sera didn't answer. Just stared as the plunger went down and her roommate let out a sharp breath.

Jodie flexed her arm. "Still alive."

"For now."

The syringe went into the waste bin under the desk, already buried beneath tissues, instant coffee wrappers, and half a pack of lozenges. Jodie stretched and stood.

"Honestly," she said, heading for her towel and flip-flops, "Country N doesn't care. They're acting like it'll all just pass. But this flu? It's not normal. You don't quarantine entire school wings over something 'seasonal.' You don't ban flights without warning. Something's going on. And I'm not waiting around to get stuck in an ICU while the government debates dosage ratios."

She was halfway out the door before Seraphina answered.

"They want you to think this is your choice."

Jodie paused. "What?"

Sera shook her head, voice lower now. "Hydra doesn't hand out cures in the beginning. They hand out experiments for poor people to test out before they charge an arm and a leg to the rich fucks to stay safe."

Jodie gave a snort and disappeared into the hallway with a flip of her towel over one shoulder.

The door swung shut behind her with a metallic thud, leaving Seraphina alone in their tiny room—two twin beds crammed between a heater and a too-small window, built-in desks jammed beneath overhead shelves stuffed with impulse buys, textbooks, and melted hair masks.

Sera stayed still for a long moment.

Then she padded across the scuffed tile floor to the bin and pulled the syringe out, holding it to the light. The lettering was in an elegant, scriptive font, the logo sleek and angular: HYDRA BIOWEAPONS AND EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCES — COUNTRY M.

She knew that Hydra Pharmaceuticals was one of the largest drug specialists in the entire world. Their influence started in Country M, but they had tentacles in every country on Earth. The name was practically gone from her head.

But that logo? She knew that one so well it was imprinted on her soul.

It was a typical Hydra… a black and silver dragon with seven heads all pointing in different directions. It was majestic, and everyone seemed to associate it with safety and security. After all, if your drugs had that logo imprinted on them, you were getting the best of the best.

But what no one seemed to notice was that in one of its four claws was a tiny red apple.

It took her years to see it, but when that logo was right on the wall on the other side of her cage… there wasn't much else to look at. That apple meant only one man.

And his name didn't belong to anyone or anything meant to help.

She dropped the needle back in and washed her hands twice before sitting on the edge of her bed again.

How did she not see it before? She thought that if she never went to Country M, if she never saw her sister again, everything would be fine. But clearly… that wasn't the case. Clearly, the tentacles of the seven-headed dragon stretched just a little too far into her current world.

Outside, the hallway buzzed with life—showers turning on, girls laughing, someone yelling about a missing pair of socks.

But inside her dorm?

It felt like the world had already shifted.

And someone forgot to warn her that the end of the world started here in a shared dorm, in a place where no one would look twice, with one idiotic girl and one syringe with a dragon and an apple.