A woman is on a board of scientists that are working for cures to the top 10 viruses that plague human life. She's working around the clock, emotionally invested in this as the person she is in love with has a virus of his own.
Exhausted, drained, and realizing quickly that the board is running thin on ideas, the more the delve into viruses, the more they realize they cannot wipe them out entirely. Alone in her bracket of the building, she allows herself to cry at her desk to relieve the stress of the situation. A strong, warm hand falls to her shoulder. She turns quickly, and her eyes widen.. a mixture of fear and confusion. The man has no eyes.
He says he will teach her how to cure viruses. She, naturally, doesn't believe him.. But he sits down with her, and instructs her on what to do. She ends up capturing the viruses within the cell they inhabit, and the cell literally strengthens into a cage.. the virus is not only contained, but the cell is easy to spot.. he gives her a vial of substance and says a mere atom of this substance is enough to stop the reforming of viruses.. leaving pieces and parts scattered in the body, dead and ineffective. That this vial holds exactly enough atoms to cure everyone of viruses.. permanently.
Before she has a chance to start asking him who he was, or where he came from, her head feels dazed, and eyes heavy. She falls to a sleep.. only to be woken up by her co-workers hours later. Thinking it a dream, she opens her eyes... and the vial is still there. Her work is still there. Her co-workers glance over it, and are astonished. They start rejoicing! She runs home to tell her long-time boyfriend..
Governments around the world start passing mandated laws that humans, all humans, be tested for viruses.. so we can irradicate them once and for all. Humans with viruses are 'tagged' with chips on the skin, so that they can monitor whether they have been given the cure or not and their progress to the cure.
No one is allergic to it.. No one's body rejects it. Each time, the cells harden, and the viruses just stop, frozen in time and suspended in their watery cages. People stop having cold sores.. people stop getting AIDS. 2 years into the process, 98% of the world's viral infected humans have been treated. The woman wins several awards.. all while maintaining her secret.
... Her boyfriend one day looks ashen. She asks what is wrong, and checks his vital signs. She takes him to the hospital.. only to realize that many others are there too, for the same symptoms. The wait is so ridiculous that she takes him home to rest while she tries to look for another place more available. No where is available. Everyone in the hospitals have skin tags.
Horrified, and confused, and feeling sick, she has to stop while walking through the park to, yet again, purge her insides out. She realizes when she's done that someone's pulled her hair out of her face for her. Spinning around, it's the same man from years ago. The man with no eyes. He smiles coyly, "Long time no see." She could have told the joke was intentional, if she were not so confused and angry.
"What's happening to them?!" She cried out. "They're dying, can't you tell?" He asked smooth as smoke. "There's no way!" she retorts back quickly, "This is a cure, it only affects the cells the viruses are in! This doesn't make sense!"
"It does if you include that the cure has a trace DNA source that also shuts the body down slowly over time..." he commented. "You didn't do your homework. I have you a cure on a silver platter, and you took me for my word instead of looking into it yourself? Shame on you, Doc... You should have recognized me." He said, his voice growing ever deeper, darker, smoother.
"I did look through it. I studied it time and time again.. The sequences made sense by themselves, but not together. It was too advanced..." she said quietly, stunned by his words. "Of course you did. Your technology is too weak for it now. You'd be able to see it in 40 years." ...'40 years?...40!?' She could barely stand it. She wanted to scream, to yell, to rip at him. She stood there, shaking uncontrolably.
"Or, you could have played into my plan perfectly. I promised you a cure.. and I gave you one. Both ways lead to a cure of viruses. You could have recognized it was too advanced, been sure, and locked it away for 40 years, to never hump hubby in your lifetime.. Or. You could have trusted me, played into my plan, gotten your boy for a while like you did, and completed what I started."
"....W-what.. you started? .. You're killing everyone! It's genocide!!!" She screamed, tears smearing her face. "My dear.. Crying does not become you. You wanted to completely wipe viruses off the face of the earth. Viruses, in 40 years, will have reached a pivotal point in human evolution. The sacrifices of today's generation lead to virus-immune humans thanks to your vial and some patience. The body-decomposing gene code plays into a code that evolves in your DNA later on.. Viruses are what speed up this entire process, making humans evolve so much faster than they ever had to before.. You think because you don't love viruses that they aren't important? And yet, genocide is the very definition of the game you were playing."
His words battered on her brain so hard, she was dizzy and drunk in anger and remorse and confusion.. sinking to her knees, she started screaming, "I didn't want this! I didn't want any of this!!"
The man lit his cigarette, and laughed a jolly sound. He leaned down, and pat her on the shoulder. "No.. I'm sorry, I'm sure you didn't. But, I'm not in the business of caring for others. That's your job." The man started into the distance.. the lightning striking causing his shadow to reveal a moment. Dark, ink-black creatures swarmed in it, reaching out desperately to be allowed out, fighting against one another in the offset chance he would allow them through. He hummed a sweet, sad little melody as he walked into the tree line out of sight.