Connor walks up to Aiden with a smug expression. “Aiden, old friend. Surprised to see me?”
Aiden says nothing, only looking at Connor with disgust.
“You two really are predictable.” Connor lets out a little laugh. “You had to know I’d have people watching the tunnel. The second you went in, I had you trapped.”
“Why are you doing this, Connor?” Aiden’s face looks deeply sad.
“I need those vials. We finally get to finish our business on the bridge when you stole my vials and left me for dead.”
“You fell off the bridge. I thought you died.”
Connor shakes his head, jaw clenched. “You looked right at me, then ran off and left. Denying it is an insult to my intelligence. I had to kill to save your life. Then you left me to die.”
“But I saw you fall into the mist near the valley floor, over a hundred feet down. No one could survive that.”
Connor raises an eyebrow, a shadow of doubt flashing for a moment. “I didn’t fall. My leg got tangled in construction netting below the bridge deck. You really didn’t see me?”
“No.” Realization dawns on Aiden’s face. “Thatwas how you survived. But then who did I see—oh shit—it was the guy you knocked over the bridge.”
Connor pauses for a long moment. His usual cocky assurance looks shaken the slightest bit. A small chink in his armor.
“Connor,” Aiden says in a steady voice. “Let us go. It’s not too late. Nothing you’ve done is irredeemable. We used to be friends.”
A shallow laugh comes from Connor. “If you knew everything I’ve done, you wouldn’t say that.”
“What do you mean?”
Connor almost looks regretful. But then he brushes it off, and the regular Connor reappears. “It doesn’t matter. The result is the same. You took vials from me. Now I’m taking vials from you.”
“You don’t have to do this, Connor,” Aiden pleads.
Connor’s face darkens. “You more than anyone know that I have to do this. The Collective has to be stopped. I gave you your chance to help me, but you turned it down.”
“The Collective is our one chance tocurethe Infection.”
Connor laughs. “Cure it? They just want to alter the damn thing to make it more powerful. With it, they can control the Infected. Build a whole army. You’re a pawn, Aiden.”
“Is that what you’re planning on doing? Building an army?” Aiden shakes his head in disgust.
“I’m going to stop the Collective from playing god. When that’s done,I’llfind the cure.”
“But you’d need a lab and the expertise.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Connor snaps. “I’ve recruited enough scientists to do what I want. Unlike you, they understood their responsibility when they discovered the Collective created the Infection.”
“But the Collective didn’t create it!” Aiden shouts. “The military did.”
My head spins at what Aiden just said.
Wait, what?
“What do you mean, theycreatedthe Infection?” I ask Aiden. “It’s man-made?”
Aiden hangs his head. “It is.”
“And youknewthis?”
“I found out just before I left.”
