The Unthinkable

Sarah Parkes has had a life goal since birth. Change her family history. The Parkes were not famous at the start of their timeline, not even when they created earth's most useful material. Plastic. They were and always have been proud folks for it and each child went on to become specialists in the subject, devoting their lives to become scientists. However, they did become more well known as the years went by.

Sea levels rose high and the infection that the plastic spread grew at more alarming rates. It didn't take long for most species to die but the human held on by a thread and forever despising the Parkes. Sarah's father was ashamed.

He built the three separate areas for the people to live and worked out a system. He then devoted his time to finding a cure to his own family's creation. He died in the process. It was a day that Sarah never speaks of to anyone and is one of the reasons she forbids her son to step foot on land. Her mother raised Sarah well but when Sarah was only 16 her mother died of the infection.

Sarah spent hours in the lab working out how her mother could have possibly died when she was nowhere near the waters but her answers never came. Years went by and she met Eryc who was an experienced Chemist. They had a little bit together and then just like everyone else in her life, Eryc died from a laboratory explosion.

Her child was her life after that. She kept him enclosed and protected day and night. She gave him regular check-ups and took a close eye on his health. Losing him would destroy her. She wouldn't be able to go on.

She didn't tell the child of how her family created the material nor did she let him learn any history as she was afraid he would judge her. She ignored his curious questions of the world below and soon she ignored the child completely as the guilt pained her. She ordered different doctors for the check-ups and spent her time trying to finish the work her father started.

That's when Sarah Parkes lost her humanity. She sat in that office all day and night, sometimes without sleep, forgetting human emotions slowly over time. She grew cold and empty though she didn't feel the change as it became so normal to her.

Then the discovery came. It turns out her own son had the infection. She hardly even cared. She took tests from him still and examined the differences from the rest. Two years later and her son still lived. The nurses still found the infection flowing through his veins but the boy showed no symptoms and no struggling. He was only 17 and coping better than most patients who caught the deadly disease. That's when Sarah became curious.

She took DNA tests from Charly and soon she realised this could mean everything. She needn't have to find a cure when it was given right to her. All she had to do was find more and find a way to multiply it. Then her family would be accepted and no longer shamed. They would be forgiven and thanked.

She created the arenas and the workplace for the experiments. Wrote out different tests to try and plans for the future, all she needed was subjects like Charly. She found loads. Way more than she thought. From ages, 7+ were used in major testing whilst the rest were kept for later.

When her son came down to the lab he saw the younger children and one look had him furiously ranting. She was disappointed at his reaction but needed her son there no matter what he thought. She dragged him inside and forced him many times to complete her plan. Only when he saw the girl being tortured did he give in. Then it started.

She set a deal with one group to make sure she got the correct emotions from each subject. She recorded the physical and mental differences. But she was missing something. A key piece to the puzzle wasn't there and she was furiously trying to find it.

She was so desperate that she sped up the plans. She started placing subjects in the arena, told her trustworthy subjects what to do and soon everything was a go.

So as she stands here today watching her own son being carried by his friends as they head into the trap that she created she is blind to the damage she's created. Her son, a now forever suffering human, is growing insane by the minute and she couldn't care. Children are being turned into brainless killers and she saw it as normal. She didn't even care for the events happening outside of the lab such as the disease itself that has now killed hundreds of more victims resulting in sky landers to drop in population by nearly 60%. Nor did she see that there would be no dry land in the next 2 weeks.

She may not have seen the mistakes she was making but someone else was. Since day 1 the same security guard followed her personally. He had seen the torture and the pain each child went through. He was smarter than he looked. He knew that by the time the cure was found there would be no humans to use the cure on. So he made a plan of his own. All he had to do was wait till the time came.

All of the security agreed with him. They all find their tasks barbarically cruel and useless. The last scientist was never like this and this wasn't what he wanted. They respected that man. But they could never respect Sarah.

He remembers when Sarah was preparing the unexpected subject in the lab and she told him to wait outside. In these moments he would think about his past life. He had a wife and child. His wife, now dead from the disease, and his child were his world. But he abandoned his little girl. He never told her that her mum died, he just left. He never told her that he paid an old pensioner to take care of her whilst he worked hard to keep her safe. He never even told her where he was going and he most definitely never told her goodbye.

The guard had grown a thick skin and his face was stone cold with a scowl. He hasn't smiled since he went out on his junkers boat with his wife and daughter as they sang merry tunes. He did this for that day and hoped that he could go back and do it again. He did it for the baby girl that doesn't even know his face or why he left her at such a young age.

The guard didn't expect a small frame to crash into him. The small figure looked up at him dazed. She stared right into his eyes quite startled and he almost broke his mask of a scowl. He knew those eyes. The bright green orbs that he fell in love from his first day of school. He was almost certain they were the same green eyes but they couldn't possibly be. Then it hit him. He almost said the name out loud but he held it back. She continued to stare but only broke it when Sarah came rushing around the corner. She called her name and his heart skipped a beat and rage-filled clouded his vision. Sarah glared at him nodding to leave and it took everything in him to turn away without a word.

He was furious that Sarah dragged his little girl into this. Whilst she was being prepared to be transported he looked through her files, which was obviously not allowed, and it confirmed that it was definitely her. He let go of tears of rage when he saw the experiments they had planned for her and in the moment of weakness he was caught. He was still given his position but as slight punishment, he would have to watch her in the torture room each and every time.

She looked so much like his old lover that looking at his little girl in pain was like watching his lover suffer from the infection again. That's when the plan started to form. That's when he built a strong army of security guards and scientists that were willing to stop the testing. Soon it would be able to commence and his little girl would be safe. He would do anything to protect her and show her how much he loves her and regrets the day he left.

Sarah was alert on her enemies. She knew how to destroy threats and how to find them. But she only looked ahead at the future when sometimes just taking a glance behind at the past is all you need. The man in the black security suit followed her back like a shadow and that's all he ever has been. The ignored shadow that would soon engulf her in darkness, letting out his rage and lust for revenge.

And ignored shadow that would change not only her plans but the world's.