The world was perfect, he had everything he could ever want. A fiance of 5 years and him were finally going to get married. They were planning on having lots of children after a year of marriage, but then the sickness Dark Red started. He worked at the hospital at the time, or forced to work more like after his 3rd year in the medical studies. He worked hard everyday to try and figure out what was wrong, while his wife stayed home.

He came home early for once in a year and found that she had been cheating on him with another man. He barely had enough energy to even get mad, so he left and ever since then he never went back.

He continued his work and focused only on that, knowing full well that what he was feeling was bottled up and continued to bubble.

Then the sickness took a turn for the worse, the patients that were in the basement morgue were banging to get out. The patients that had recently died were up again. At first people were relieved but then it got dark fast.

The named Virus Dark Red had grown to be lethal once the host has died, he found out later that it controlled the host’s body. After that the people started fleeing the hospital only to find that the streets were also covered in Dark Red Hosts. With nothing to do but fear for their lives he remained in his office working on what the Virus was.

He spent days in there working, until he realized that he was getting tired. Getting up he started to gather his things and leave the hospital. It was mostly empty where he was, even the staff was no where in sight. Confused he wondered what had happened. He took the stairs down and looked through the doors, then as he got near the first floor he noticed that there were people on the ground. He opened the door and looked around, it looked as if something had attacked the hospital and left no one alive. He left quickly for his car and tried to drive to his room.

The streets were filled with cars and deceased people, a few of them were moving around as if wondering what was going on. Until they noticed his car and started running towards him. He put it in reverse and drove away taking a different route home.

When he got there, it was over run by people with no where to go except wander. He decided that driving out of town was the best idea and did just that. He drove until he couldn’t anymore and tried to find a place to rest for a few days. He found a small town Dripzark, he looked around and found a place to rest for a bit. He found some food to eat and slept. Once he was rested he left the town and continued on his way to the next one. 

He came up on a group of people not long after the third town he visited, he wanted to leave towards the north but these people had another plan. What interested him was that they want to find a cure for the Dark Red. He told them of his findings and soon they started traveling together looking for a safe place to call their own. They came up on an old military base and from there the Fox Army was formed. It took a while but they managed to dig an underground base, some of these people worked as construction workers and understood what went into the work. So they worked hard and as long as they could before resting for a few days before doing it all over again.

He worked with the others to keep in shape and learned about combat from one of the men here that everyone took to calling Rover. He used to be an officer so learning combat from him was their task. There was a cadet there as well that ran the drills he learned while deployed. They set up what was needed and from there it just grew.

Soon it’s been a few years and they were in the best shape, but gathering supplies was getting difficult. They lost most of the people that they had to the Bone Rotters that walked about, until one of the scouts reported in a few towns over that there was a guy running decoy for a small group that settled there.

They gathered their people and left for them immediately, by then his office was ready. He explored his new home and started to quickly get into his research with the sample he had on him. He was exploring one day and found that there were Bone Rotters in individual glass cases. He checked the equipment and was surprised that they were taking vital signs of the Bone Rotters.

He found it intriguing to have these test subjects and tried from there to figure out a cure. A few weeks had gone by he was at his desk when the radio crackled that they have a new recruit.

“Only one? Well that makes my job easier, wonder how they convinced them to join.” He continued his work with out further disruption, the radio often announcing location of certain people and where the Bone Rotters were at.

He had just finished with his subjects and found little to no change with them as he gave them the antidotes. He was recording his work when a small boy walked in followed by Rover. He was just putting a needles information down when they had walked in.

‘First thought, kid is scared of needles. Second thought, he looks fit enough to run this place. Third thought, he doesn’t speak much. Is he a nervous creature? How will he react to the Bone Rotters? Is he loyal?’ He decided not to think too much on it and went for a smile instructing him to sit.

Once all the tests for the day were over Rover took him out and gave him a room to rest. Rover came back not long after with a plate of food for him, setting the plate on the desk he asked, “What do you think of him?”

“He doesn’t speak much, I do wonder what happened. But other than that he looks healthy, he seems Rover Cautious too.” Rover made an annoyed sound, “If we have another Rover around the Camp would fall for sure. We’ll keep an eye on him, tomorrow I want to catch him up on his shots and take his physical health. I’ll save the needles for the end, shouldn’t take more than half a day or until supper time when I finish the physical.”

“So we keep him? What will you use him for?”

“I’m hoping to use him for testing out new vaccines against the Dark Red. But after that display of needles it will have to wait. For now let him continue his original job of playing Decoy. I’ll send my reports to Curtz after tomorrows examination.”

“Understood, it would be best to leave him on his own for a bit so we can monitor him so we set him up on the floor above you. If he wanders in here on his own then assume we can trust him not to kill you.”

“He has weapons?”

“He’s always carrying something, the candy might be a decoy. So he’s perfect for the job if he can fool the army this well.”

“Sounds to me that he fooled you too,” Dr. Michele said and wrapped up his equipment. “If he’s perfect for Decoy what makes you think he’ll remain loyal to us?”

“Loyalty means nothing in a place like this, not with Curtz in play. We’ll leave him to his own thoughts, he’s probably already have something up his sleeve if this is any indication.”

“’We All Float Down Here’ what could he mean by that? Has he figured out this place that quickly?” If he had known that this boy was so observant he wouldn’t have left his papers laying around.

“Most likely or this is his way of rebelling. He’s not one for rules unless he absolutely trusts the person he’s taking orders from. Either way, having him run Decoy is perfect.” Rover crossed his arms as he leaned on the examination table. This boy likes to think, if the child was like Rover then this place would surely go under in no time flat. He’ll have to convince the boy that this is for the good of humanity.

“You have something planned don’t you? You hate Curtz that much to try and over throw him?” Rover nodded. “Very well, what is your plan?”

“Keep the Kid safe, keep him alive at all costs. I’m sure you’ll receive that same order from Curtz when he comes down to see you.”

“Very well, he’ll be an excellent test subject anyways. It’s rare to have a mute running around.”

“Hm,” Rover left and Dr. Michele resumed his work and right as the man predicted, Curtz had come about half an hour later.

“Dr. Michele, how is he? Well I hope,” Curtz smiled. He wasn’t sure but Curtz always seemed to be a little off with his forced smile.

“Well enough to fear needles, weary of what he’s given, and the temperament of a cat near water.” He spoke honestly, he had learned to be honest in his thoughts after working with this man for a few years now.

“Good, so he hasn’t changed one bit. Good night Dove we’ll talk more later when you give the rest of your report. Also, keep him safe and alive.”Curtz had picked up a piece of the childs’ candy from the tray by the door and lightly played with it as he left.

“Odd,” Dr. Michele smiled. “How very intriguing. I’m sure this will be the most exciting. Ha ha.”