Isaac says nothing else to me as we break out into a jog. Soft rain falls on our shoulders. It's a good thing Isaac doesn't try to talk to me, because I feel like a bomb. My hands shake; my face burns.

I realize halfway through our run that it's past Hartley's curfew. That's why we haven't run into anyone else. No busybodies sit around on the sidewalks, blanketed in ignorance of what's coming.

In the distance, I hear shouting. Familiar voices yell back and forth. One of them is Farrah. I careen into an alley, pulling Isaac behind me. My side burns as I push on. I grit my teeth to keep moving.

Finally, the Research Facility comes into view. It rises high above us, casting long shadows in the dim moonlight. A small fire burns between two tents. The flame dances feebly in the chilled rain. We step carefully around piles of the inhabitant's belongings, not making a sound.

"Have you ever been in there?" Isaac asks in a whisper.

I nod. "Once. The summer after my thirteenth birthday, when Hartley found out I was immune, he ordered a bunch of blood work and testing to be done. At the time, I thought he might be trying to find a cure." The tower looms ominously before us. "Now, that doesn't make sense. Who knows what he was doing. The results were inconclusive, and I was sent home."

Isaac stares up at the building. "That sounds terrible. I'm sorry."

"It's the past. No need to look back on it now." I step up to the door and dig the keycard out of my pocket. "Let's just do this."

I push the card through the scanner, and the set of automatic doors slide open. A strong wind washes over us as we step in, gun in my hands.

Yet, the lobby is completely empty. There's a desk, but no one sits there. The ticking of a clock fills the room, but no scraping pencils, no soft human chatter, no rustling of shoes. The hum of the elevator across the room drifts towards me.

"Where is everyone?" Isaac asks, not bothering to whisper.

"In bed, maybe?"

He shakes his head. "It's a twenty-four hour workplace. Someone's always here. I know; the lights used to keep me up."

"I don't know, then." My spine tingles. It's suspicious, but I can't think of a valid reason to stop. "We should hurry before they come back."

Together, we check the rest of the floor, but it's nothing but cold offices and empty rooms. So, we head to the staircase, straight for the second floor. The directory hanging on the wall outside the door outlines the layout of the rooms ahead.

1st Floor- Lobby

2nd Floor- Patient Rooms 201-220

3rd Floor- Psych Ward

4th Floor- Medicine Storage and Manufacturing

5th Floor- Research and Development

"Fifth floor," I mumble, taking off up the steps. Where Isaac gets his energy, I'll never know, but I can hardly keep up with him. He sprints ahead of me. By the third staircase, my breath comes faster and faster. I gulp air down like a starving Infected.

By the fourth landing, I stop, clutching my side. Isaac stares down at me.

"You gonna make it?"

I suck in air, managing to spit out, "Yeah..." With one last burst of energy, I lunge up the stairs. Isaac laughs.

"How are you so out of shape? You were on the night guard!"

"We just did a lot of pacing. I didn't run laps around the compound all night."

Rolling his eyes, Isaac pushes open the door to the fifth floor. Cold air hits us like a wall. What looks like fog rolls out and over our feet. It pours down the stairs behind us.

Isaac steps in front of me into the hallway. "What in the world..."

"Careful," I whisper, following.

Rooms line each side of the hallway. Floor to ceiling windows expose the insides to us. Isaac checks out the ones to our left; I survey the right. Mainly, it's a bunch of machinery that I can't name or recognize. Pipes and wires link together across floors and up walls. Electrical interfaces blink numbers, words, and symbols at us. I squint into one window, trying to make out the jumble of shapes. Is that even English? It's nonsensical.

"Um, Jay?"

I turn on my heel to look at Isaac. He's pressing both his hands against a window further down the hall. The glass fogs up around his hands. The door beside him sits open just a crack. This room seems to be the source of the fog. I shiver slightly as I walk up next to him.

This room is filled with clear tubs. Each one is filled to the brim with a bubbling red liquid. It's a bright, magma red. Mandy always stressed that her injections were that color.

"It's the virus," I whisper in shock. Isaac sucks in a breath and pulls away from the window. "We have to shut this down."

There's enough of the liquid to do some serious damage to our water supply. I knock on the glass, but the dull echo only tells me what I already suspected. I can't break through these. I'll have to find another way.

I cross the room to one of the tubs. On the lid sits a small electronic keypad. There's also a set of instructions.

To power down the storage unit, enter the four digit code then hold the power button for five seconds. Warning! Shutting off the unit can compromise the validity of the medicine inside.

Great. That's exactly what I want to do.

"Hey, wait," Isaac says, jogging over to join me. "Are you sure this is the virus?"

"I'm positive. It has to be."

He looks around the room. "But it can't be this easy..."

I hit the tub with my palm. "It isn't that easy. We've got to figure out the code, first."

"Yeah, but the door was open and there's no guards. You don't find it suspicious?"

"A little! But if we don't hurry up and destroy this, Farrah and Hartley are going to find us. Then, we will have failed Ollie. And Stephen. And Justin and Jackson and Clare." I take a shaky breath. "I have to do this, Isaac. There's no time to waste."

He puts a hand over mine. "I know. But you have to be careful. Your dad warned you not to be so impulsive. We have to—"

"My dad is a liar," I snap, cutting him off. "We can't trust him." I shake his hand off and look at the keypad again. "Now, where do I start?"

Isaac scratches his head and thinks. "Try your birthday."

"Why?"

"Well, if your dad really did make the virus, then he probably set the locks. Maybe he used your birthday—a day he couldn't possibly forget— as the code."

My fingers hover over the buttons. "If he made the virus? Why are you such a doubter all of a sudden?"

Isaac shrugs. "Just trying to be careful. Not everything is black and white."

Shaking my head, I type in the first four digits of my birthday— 1202. The light on the keypad blinks red three times and emits a loud beep.

"Nope."

"Try Mandy's."

"There's no way, Isaac."

"Just try it," he says with an exasperated sigh.

I strain to remember my mother's birthday. After a minute, I hesitantly type in 0714.

The light turns yellow, then green, and a loud click echoes. Isaac and I both jump back, but nothing happens right away. The machinery on the machine whirs. The bubbles quicken for a second. Then, everything stops. As we watch, the virus inside starts to thicken and turn a darker red, blood colored now.

Whatever we did had an effect.

"Alright, you start typing the code from that end of the room, and I'll work from this one. It's 0714."

Isaac nods and jogs to the back of the room. He moves quickly from machine to machine, typing in the code with expert fingers. I move along as well. Soon, the room is quiet and dim. The lights from the machines flutter.

"It can't have been that easy," Isaac says as he joins me in the front again.

Dad's warning rings in the back of my mind, and for a minute, a worried ache settles in my stomach. What was he going on about? It wasn't incredibly hard; I already knew the code. The guards weren't on duty. In reality, the entire thing was—

"Oh my god," I hiss, grabbing Isaac's arm. "It's a—"

"A set-up," a cold voice says from behind me. It's filled with amusement.

We both spin around to see Hartley standing in the door frame. He crosses his arms over his chest and smiles at us. There's a wickedness there that I've never seen before in our president. Behind him, on the other side of the door, are several well-armored guards.

"You walked right into it," Hartley says with a laugh. He reaches outside and rips something off the wall. With a nasty grin, he flashes us the plaque. "I don't even think you read this," he continues. "But this says 'Virus Enhancement Research,' and it definitely isn't real. Why would we put this right on the door?"

The piece of plastic falls into the floor, revealing a second. The words make me cover my mouth in shock.

Cure Research

Hartley nearly bends over double laughing at us. "Your father was right; you're too impulsive. While you were trying to be a hero, you destroyed the only cure we had."

My mind reels. Cure? We had a cure? But the phases... Why would we have a cure if they were trying to further the virus? Is he lying to me again?

"Look at your idiotic faces." Hartley straightens up, crossing his arms. "Confused?"

"I just— I didn't think we had a cure," I stammer.

"Thank your father for that. I was also under the impression we didn't." Hartley waves the guards in. "Apparently, he's been working on it in secret for quite some time. Jacob Price is a brilliant man, but he has no sense. To think I wouldn't find out."

The guards surround Isaac and I. They're wearing full-body armor, blocking their faces completely. I step closer to Isaac, holding my breath.

"I might not have, if you hadn't run away. You forced me to issue a complete investigation of your father and his records. Once I unearthed the cure, together he and I devised this little trap. Just for you."

Anger fills my chest, and I lunge at Hartley. No sooner have I shoved him towards the door than the guards swarm. Chaos erupts around the room. Hands grapple at my arms and legs, jerking me away from the president. They slam me into the ground; the air leaves my lungs in a rush.

As I struggle to lift my head and breath, Isaac bellows behind me. Two guards knock him against a canister. He goes limp in their arms as a way of fighting back, but they lift him up by the arms and start carrying him from the room.

"Isaac! Hey! Don't you dare hurt him!" My screams fall on uncaring ears. I buck up off the ground, only to meet the cool metal of a gun pressed between my shoulder blades. That stills me.

The guards cuff my hands behind my back and lift me to my feet. Hartley steps aside as they lead me out.

"You never learn, Jaelyn," he says, clicking his tongue at me. "Did you think this last burst of impulsivity would be the exception? Just this once it wouldn't come back to bite you?" He shakes his hand and motions to the guards. They drag me past him. "To the cells, men, and bring me Dr. Price. We have much to discuss."