Just breathe :)

With Cursed Secrets finally being published, I've been taking a bit of a break. I'm trying to concentrate on school and a bit more time with my family, but I can't help when I'm bitten by the writing bug :). Recently, I've had a story churning in my mind. I've written a small part, literally the only piece of this story that is available, and I figured I'd share it with all my people! Follow the break to read!

"Whatever you do, don't open that door", he whispered.

"There's no other way out. We can't stay here forever!"

"We'll stay as long as we need to. If you open that door, you'll let them in or at the very least, they'll know we're here. Do you want all our deaths on your hands?"

My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted to run. Getting far away from this place was all I could think about. Stumbling through the debris of a broken town wasn't my idea of a welcome home.

"What do you expect me to do? Sit here and starve to death?"

"Honestly, I don't care. If you open that door, either I'll kill you or they will. It's that simple."

The barrel pressing into the back of my head definitely got my attention. This guy was insane! My knees buckled and I slumped heavily to the floor. He spit in the corner before sitting beside me on the floor.

"What's your name?"

"Willow Greene. What's going on? I don't understand why I'm being held here."

"Well Willow, we're in a fine mess. My name is Collin Reed. I take it you don't watch the news much?"

"The last thing I remember is being on the shuttle. I've been living in the space station and we've received distress calls, but lost communication. Entering the atmosphere was rough on our transport and I think we crashed. The next thing I know I wake up strapped to a table in a room I've never seen before. I tried asking the doctors what happened, but they treated me like some type of criminal. I don't know where my crew is or even if they are alive. I haven't set foot on Earth in nearly a decade and I come back to this. What happened?"

"We were compromised a few years ago. Somewhere down the line, our transmissions were intercepted by E.T.'s. A toxin was released into our atmosphere, creating a pandemic. It escalated so quickly there was nothing we could do. The result is what lies beyond those doors."

"What type of pandemic?"

"We don't know. We couldn't test it. Since, we've tried testing the ones we could catch, but the disease has mutated. It's almost impossible to find someone who is new to the infection to test. We've all been exposed."

"That doesn't make any sense. It shouldn't matter if the disease progresses, the initial virus holds the same compound. Otherwise, we would have never been able to diagnose any diseases."

"What exactly did you do on the station, Willow?"

"I did a little bit of everything. I was specially trained in combat and piloting, but all of us were taught a bit of Science. It's not my strong point, but I'm not terrible at it either. Why do you ask?"

"We need people who can help and you fit the profile. You're a professional, that's what we need."

"What makes you think I'd help after you just put a gun to the back of my head?"

"Because we might be able to get to the station. I'm sure you'd rather not be stuck here among the diseased when your shiny home is waiting for you," he laughed gruffly.

"How do you think we'd get to the station? We'd need a shuttle that is fairly sturdy and exceptionally fast."

"Stick around and you'll find out. Now, if you want some chow we gotta get you cleaned up. You can't go to dinner looking like that," he spit in the corner again.