Chapter 9 : THE CONTRACT

Michael ran.

Sharon stared at his retreating back in shock.

Her ex-husband disappeared around the side of the resort.

Alex was already on his way.

"Stay here."

Sharon ignored him.

She ran after them.

"Sharon!"

She didn't slow down.

Michael had been keeping secrets from her. Secrets that involved Alex.

Secrets that could be connected to the apocalypse.

She wasn't about to let him walk away with the truth.

She rounded the corner just in time to see Michael yanked back against the wall by Alex.

"Let me go!"

Alex shoved him against the wall.

"Now, start talking."

Michael struggled against his grip.

"I don't know anything!"

Alex took hold of his shirt.

"You signed the contract."

"I didn't know what it was!"

Alex gave him a hard look.

"Then explain it."

Michael's eyes darted toward Sharon.

She stopped a few feet away.

"What contract?"

Michael looked genuinely terrified.

Sharon's voice hardened.

"Explain."

Michael swallowed.

"It was six months ago."

"How much?"

"Five million."

Sharon blinked.

Five million?

"Why?"

Michael looked away.

"My business was going under."

Sharon almost laughed.

"So you borrowed 5 million from Alex?"

"Not exactly."

Alex shoved him off.

Michael stumbled forward.

"The money came from one of Alex's companies."

Sharon looked at Alex.

"And what did you have to do in return?"

Michael stayed silent.

"Michael."

"I signed a research agreement."

Sharon's stomach twisted.

"Research?"

Michael nodded.

"I had to grant access to several facilities."

"What kind of facilities?"

"Medical facilities."

Alex's expression darkened.

"Tell her the rest."

Michael turned pale.

"I didn't know what they were researching."

"You're lying."

"I'm not!"

Alex took a step closer.

"You were paid twice after the first shipment."

Michael went rigid.

Sharon narrowed her eyes.

"Shipment?"

Michael looked at her.

Then away again.

Sharon suddenly understood.

"What did you have to transport?"

"Medical equipment."

"That's not what I asked."

Michael refused to say anything else.

Sharon's voice was icier.

"What did you transport?"

"Samples."

The word hung in the air.

Sharon felt sick.

"What kind of samples?"

Michael shook his head.

"I don't know."

Alex chuckled.

"You knew enough to take the money."

Michael's face flushed red.

"I needed it!"

"And people died."

Silence.

Sharon looked at Alex.

"What were they researching?"

Alex refused to answer.

"Alex."

He looked at her again.

"A virus."

Her blood ran cold.

"Experimental virus."

Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Where?"

"Several laboratories."

"Yours?"

"Some."

Sharon took a step away from him.

The anonymous messages.

The early outbreak.

The infected appearing before the time that they were supposed to.

It all made so much sense now.

But there was still one question left.

"Did you create it?"

Alex's expression hardened.

"No."

"Then who did?"

"I don't know."

Sharon didn't believe him.

Alex took a step closer.

"I've spent the last two weeks looking for that answer."

"Two weeks?"

He nodded.

"The first reports were before you even saw me."

Sharon studied his face closely.

For the first time she saw the exhaustion behind his carefully constructed mask.

It wasn't that Alex was lying to protect himself.

It was that he was searching for something he didn't know existed.

That, however, didn't make him innocent.

"What happened to the laboratory?"

Alex looked toward the dark forest.

"It was destroyed."

"By who?"

"That's what I don't know."

Sharon's phone suddenly went off.

She stared down at the screen.

Another anonymous message appeared.

NOW YOU KNOW WHY ALEX IS DANGEROUS.

Her fingers curled into a fist around the phone.

Then another message appeared.

BUT HE ISN'T THE ONE WHO STARTED IT.

Sharon's eyes widened.

The sender of these messages knew everything.

Too much, in fact.

She quickly typed a reply.

Then who started it?

The next message appeared seconds later.

Ask Michael what he delivered on October 28.

Sharon slowly turned her gaze on Michael.

"What did you deliver on October 28?"

Michael's face went completely white.

Alex turned toward him.

"You never told me that."

Michael took a step back.

"I don't remember."

Sharon took a step closer.

"You do."

"I don't."

"You remember."

Michael shook his head.

"Sharon, please."

"Tell me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Michael's lips trembled.

"Because I wasn't alone."

Alex's expression changed.

"Who was with you?"

Michael looked at him.

Then at Sharon.

"Lisa."

Sharon's breath caught in her throat.

Lisa.

Of course.

Lisa was always part of this.

The woman that Michael had chosen over her in his past life.

Maybe the affair between the two of them had started long before she even knew.

"What did Lisa do?" Sharon said.

Michael looked absolutely terrified.

"She gave them something."

"What?"

"I don't know."

Sharon grabbed his arm.

"What did she give them?"

Michael opened his mouth to say something, but a loud gunshot rung out in the night.

Michael's body stiffened.

Sharon screamed as Alex pulled her behind him.

Another gunshot rung out, embedding itself in the wall beside them.

"Down!"

Alex pulled Sharon to the ground.

Michael's body went limp.

His shirt was already stained red.

"Michael!"

Sharon rushed to his side, but Alex pulled her back.

"Don't!"

"He was shot!"

"Exactly."

Another shot rang out, this one just above their heads.

Alex looked toward the trees.

"Sniper."

Sharon's heart pounded in her chest.

"Can you see them?"

"No."

Alex pulled her behind a concrete barrier.

He scanned the trees.

Then his phone vibrated in his hand.

He looked at the screen.

His expression changed.

"What?"

Sharon looked at him.

"What is it?"

He showed her the phone.

ONE SECRET WAS ENOUGH

Then another message appeared.

NOW LET'S SEE IF SHARON SURVIVES THE NEXT ONE.

Sharon's blood ran cold.

A third message appeared on the screen.

THE NEXT PERSON TO DIE WILL BE ALEX KNIGHT.

Alex slowly turned his gaze toward the trees.

Sharon looked at him.

For the first time, she saw true fear in his eyes.

They weren't just being watched.

They were being hunted.