She twisted the sight on the rifle one more time. It needed to be in exactly the right place to give her the best shot. It would do no good to be off--she had checked and rechecked the gun's line of sight and balance to make sure that when it fired, it fired accurately; at whatever her sight was gazing at. There was no pull or arch in the shot--it was straight.

The wind ruffled her dark brown hair. Usually she wore it up, but today, in honor of the occasion, she wore it long and straight. She could feel the light breeze caress her neck, almost like a hand, giving her comfort and strength. She closed her eyes for a moment to savor the sensation, then reopened her eyes, refocusing through the sight.

The hard plaster roof was not comfortable. She had laid out a blanket to cushion her elbows and knees, but it didn't help much. Her stomach didn't like supporting the weight of her back, which in turn didn't like how her body was curled up, putting more weight and strain on her spine.

It didn't matter, though. It would be over soon.

The front doors to the office building opened. She exhaled, not because her steeled nerves needed calming, but to make sure she didn't shake or sway. She pressed herself against the rooftop to avoid being seen, and stared at the person through the sight. Her eyelashes fluttered against the glass as she started to pull back the trigger.

The woman went down without a sound, her bags falling to the ground as she fell to her back, the tiny bullet hole through the middle of her forehead oozing blood.

She re-cocked the sniper rifle, pressing herself down again as she stared at the two doors, waiting for them to open. Soon they would, and they would continue to come out, all of them, one after the other, and she would take each of them down, one by one, until they were all silent corpses on the ground.

She would have her justice, her way.

The glass double-doors burst open. Two people came out, people she knew, and she took aim and fired again. The man on the left went down immediately; the woman looked shocked and confused, and then she, too, went down. Silent.

There was only one scream, when the body count littering the ground had grown to an impressive twenty people. And she was shot down so quickly that her cries didn't get a chance to alert anyone else. Definitely one of the benefits to being in the back of the cluster of office buildings.

The body count rose to 30.

Finally, the last person she was looking for emerged from the building. The woman swooped down to the others, to check their pulses, looking horrified and scared. She reached a shaking hand into her purse.

She fell with her hand still inside her purse.

She sat up, then, and pulled her handgun from her boot. She turned over onto her back, her note prominently displayed beside her, under a rock she had found. And then, closing her eyes, she brought the barrel to her temple and pulled the trigger.



To whomever reads this:

You may think what I have done is a travesty--a slight against humanity. But I tell you that what I have done was done out of love for humanity. These people could not be allowed to live on.

You will think I'm crazy, I'm sure, and while I regret your thoughts, I cannot change them. I can only tell you that you are wrong. I am not crazy. I am perfectly sane, and I did this of sane mind and body. This was my choice, to protect the rest of the world from these people.

You can mourn them if you like, but they would not have mourned you. For three years I toiled away in this company, giving them my all, trying to make them proud of me and succeed! achieve! do my best!, as is the company motto. I wanted to do well for them; I wanted them to do well in turn.

All of that changed a little over six months ago.

It was then that I found out that my simple job, my fun, exciting job, was working to create a virus deadly enough to kill off anyone who breathed it. The horror movies were no comparison to the destruction that this virus could do. I have watched lab rats be eaten away; their flesh dissolving off of their tiny frames even as they fought to survive. There is nothing like this sight. It changes a person. At first you are numb, then filled with hate, and then you find that you want to make others suffer the same fate.

That, dear reader, is what this company wanted to do.

They invented suits to protect themselves; the chosen ones. There were suits for them, for their families. We, they said, would create a new civilization, and there would be peace in the world. Anyone who did not succumb to the will of the company would cease to exist with a little whiff from their magic vial.

If you don't believe me, you can find the documents located in the president's safe. I assure you, this is all very, very real.

I thought we were trying to cure cancer until I saw it in action. Up until that very moment, I thought we were going to try to save humanity. I had no idea that we were actually trying to kill it off.

But people can't be trusted. So I have effectively destroyed anyone with the knowledge of how to make this horrible, terrible drug, even myself. The formula will go to the grave with each of us, and there it will stay. I burnt the formula's records, so don't bother trying to look for it. I destroyed each vial, save for the small one in the lab by the rats for you to see for yourself that I am not lying.

If you're not cruel enough to destroy an animal, you can counter the effect of the drug with water. Simple, safe, tap-water. I would tell you why the chemicals in it will counter the effects, but the danger in telling you what it counters means that you'll know what needs to be countered, and then all of this would have been for nothing.

Please tell my family that I'm sorry. Please tell the families of these workers that I'm sorry. No family should have to suffer for a family member's bad choices, but I fear that this time they will.

I am not crazy. I am trying to save humanity from itself.

Persephone