After she had been disregarded as unimportant by the suited people outside the building, and having cried all she could, she finally got up and wandered down the hall. Everywhere she looked there were bodies and blood; on the walls, strewn along the floors. There was the smell of charred flesh coming from the classrooms where fires had been set. She shuddered at the thought of burning to death. This had obviously been completely thought out and organized – everything planned perfectly.
She tried every exit in the building, but all were sealed as the first had been. Occasionally, she would see the suited shadows moving about outside, but did not try to get their attention again, knowing that it would be futile. After wandering for what seemed like hours, she finally collapsed from defeat and exhaustion, silently hoping for death, and an end to this torment. It was then that unconsciousness slowly, mercifully overtook her mind.
When she awoke, she didn’t know how much time had passed, though it must have been a good while for the smell had noticeably increased. She was thirsty. And hungry. She didn’t know if the drinking fountains were still working, or, if they were, that the water would be safe to drink. But she decided that water safety was not her first priority at the moment, and found a drinking fountain, which still thankfully functioned. With thirst temporarily quenched, her hunger became ever more acute. Yet, as much as she searched she couldn’t find anything edible. Resigning herself to hunger, she began again her quest for a way out.
It must have been days that the woman wandered around the building, trying every door, every window, going back and trying them all again and again. She tried breaking the windows, but they had been reinforced from the without. The smell of rotting flesh had become ever more pervasive and she could hardly breathe due to the stench. She had come across no other living being in these days. She had plenty of time to contemplate things in her relentless march through the building. Am I the only survivor? How far has this chemical spread? How far has Death extended his hand?
Days turned to weeks. The hunger pains in her stomach became worse and worse. The woman thought she should die soon, but death never came. At last, when she was rechecking the windows on the ground floor, she found one that had somehow become broken from outside. The shards of glass lay on the floor below the pane. She hurried over to it and began breaking the glass with her hand. She was too desperate to care how badly she was cutting herself. With the hole started, it was easy to make progress and enlarge it wide enough so that she could climb through.
Once outside, she collapsed on the ground, giggling madly, insanely. I’m free! Free! But why didn’t I die? I should be dead. I’ve been passed over, but why? Looking down at her cut and bleeding hand, she watched as the blood slowly stopped, then the wound itself began to heal. She stared in amazement as the gashes disappeared and her hand became whole and functional once more. She flexed it, testing its recovery. It seemed surreal and impossible. How can this be? she wondered in astonishment.
But her stomach gave her no more time to ponder this phenomenon. An almost incapacitating pain coursed through her body, and she curled up on the ground in a ball until it subsided. Recovering her breath, she slowly got to her feet. It was then that she noticed the odor of decaying flesh out here, too. She looked around. The street was littered with the corpses of victims of this attack. She noticed a white-suited individual lying on the ground. It was then that she realized she felt no animosity towards him. Seeing the destruction about, allowed her now to understand his paranoia, and she did not hold it against him. Sacrifice a few for the hopeful benefit of many. But that benefit had never come. She closed her eyes tightly, wishing it would all just go away.
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