Letter to Cohorts

Dear Cohorts,

I, Melissa Vasphin, co-creator of the zombie virus, am presently trying to find a way to minimize the necessity for raw protein that is necessary to curb the hunger pains experienced by zombies. I am hypothesizing that these hunger pains are to help fuel/feed the ever-growing virus. While the prolonged effects of the virus on the human body is yet unkown, My hypothesis is that if a zombie does not feed on copious amounts of protein the virus will turn on the zombie’s own body and start to feed off of the living or dead person. This is due to observations of a few zombies carcasses, that appeared to have been eaten from the inside out. Upon further testing I found that my presumption was correct, and that the virus was indeed capable of degenerating the occupant’s body if it was depraved of protein. In an extreme case, one undead zombie went so far as to begin devouring his own arm to minimize the pain and subdue the hunger.

In order to minimize this effect, we must first isolate the virus and see how it reacts to various stimuli. Upon the completion of this we will be able to determine what exactly zombies need to eat to survive. The next step would be to determine how much of these have to be consumed in order to satiate the virus.

I appreciate your assistance in the next step of testing to help up to better understand the virus we have loosed on the world.

Sincerely,

Melissa Vasphin

The beginnings of justification...

A little about the workings of me.

I was raised in an orphanage outside of LA. Let me just tell you that I ruled that orphanage. People knew who to go to for help, or favors. Our caregivers could not control me. I was very distinctly my own person, no one could impress their ideologies on me. The people running the orphanage were, I believe, happy when I was finally adopted out at the age of fourteen to a scholarly individual and his ailing wife. They had adopted me more so for free child labor, but I soon showed them that I would not be coerced into such unlawful slavery. Basically, I gave them hell.

It didn’t matter what I did, though, they would not allow me to go back to my kingdom and subjects at the orphanage. I tried to report their brutality to the authorities, but no one would listen. One of the observers that came from the orphanage pulled me aside one day, and told me very bluntly that I would never go back to the orphanage, and I had better just make the best of things here. I gave her a black eye and a broken nose, but I was still stuck in that hell hole.

Over time the scholarly man, who I found out to be a scientist of some sort, began to treat me like a daughter instead of a servant. I believe it had something to do with what his bed-ridden wife had said to him. It didn’t matter though, in three years I would be legal age and I would strike out on my own. Strangely though, over the course of a year I actually got to liking Geoff and Allison - the couple that adopted me. When I would go in to Allisons room she always had a way of drawing me to her. I can’t really explain it, but she was such a likeable person that I wouldn’t even notice the hours that passed by as I talked with her by her bedside. She always had such funny stories to tell, in fact she seemed a lot like me in personality, maybe that’s why I was drawn to her company. Geoff turned out to be an absolute goofball, beneath the analytical mindset he always seemed to be in, he was actually an alright guy. He even paid to have a tutor come out to the house and teach me anything I wanted to know. I started with medieval literature, but soon developed a love for various sciences and human psychology. Geoff was always there to answer any questions that I had, and I’m sure the fact that he loved these two subjects the most helped me to fall in love with those fields of study too.

About two years after I had first stepped foot into the Vasphin’s home, tucked away deep in the woods, Allison made a miraculous recovery. She was finally able to get out of bed and walk around. Geoff was so thrilled that he took off time from work so that he could be home and help her adjust. I was somewhat neglected for a time, but eventually they realized that there was another human living in their house. Amazingly I didn’t mind too much, it may have had something to do with the fact that Geoff had recently given me access to his laboratory/greenhouse just behind the main house. He of course made sure that I knew what I was doing before he handed me the keys to various potentially toxic chemicals. I, of course, promised him that nothing would get blown up, but promises are made to be broken.

I loved to experiment on the various creatures that lived in the woods. Unfortunately once Allison found out what inhumane things I was doing, she told Geoff to take the keys from me. He did take the keys for a time, but I was able to convince them to give me back the keys under the premise that I would do not more experiments on living things. So then I had to experiment with boring plants.

I lamented my boredom to Geoff, he laughed but offered to give me a “class” of sorts to help peak my curiosity in a different field of microbiology. He showed me into a new world, the world contained in a man’s blood. With time he showed me all that he knew, and soon I was able to ask him questions that he could not answer. That very fact, that I was surpassing him brought me great joy and an even great sense of pride.

Surprisingly, I soon found myself on the eve of my 20^th birthday without ever thinking of moving out of the Vasphin’s home – my home. But just as I started to consider leaving, Allison’s health started to fail her again. This time was worse than all the others. One day she was up and laughing, the next she could barely speak she was so weak. No one knew what was wrong with her. Dozens of doctors came and went, but none of them knew what was wrong with her. Soon she slipped into a coma, and Geoff disappeared into the laboratory all day and night. He wouldn’t let me in to help him, but instead left me to tend to the comatose Allison and keeping the house clean.

After two weeks of this I was fed up and threatened to leave home. I will never forget the look on Geoff’s face; it was as though the thought had never occurred to him. Then his face turned to stone and he told me I would not be able to survive on my own. I threw my typical blunt retort at him, but he just turned away and went into his room to sleep. I then stormed up to my room and started to pack up my things, when I realized that I didn’t know what was outside of the Vasphin’s property. I didn’t know how far away the nearest town was, nothing, I had been so engrossed in learning and experimenting that I had not ever even thought to pondered my whereabouts.

Thankfully I was not so foolhardy as to try and go out on my own, so I decided to stay, but only on one condition – Geoff let me assist him in whatever he was doing in the laboratory. He was very reluctant to let me know what he was working on, but he eventually consented that he would include me on his research. I never in my wildest dreams would have guessed what he was working on. It wasn’t a cure for what was ailing Allison, but rather a cure for being human.

The beginnings of justification...

A little about the workings of me.

I was raised in an orphanage outside of LA. Let me just tell you that I ruled that orphanage. People knew who to go to for help, or favors. Our caregivers could not control me. I was very distinctly my own person, no one could impress their ideologies on me. The people running the orphanage were, I believe, happy when I was finally adopted out at the age of fourteen to a scholarly individual and his ailing wife. They had adopted me more so for free child labor, but I soon showed them that I would not be coerced into such unlawful slavery. Basically, I gave them hell.

It didn’t matter what I did, though, they would not allow me to go back to my kingdom and subjects at the orphanage. I tried to report their brutality to the authorities, but no one would listen. One of the observers that came from the orphanage pulled me aside one day, and told me very bluntly that I would never go back to the orphanage, and I had better just make the best of things here. I gave her a black eye and a broken nose, but I was still stuck in that hell hole.

Over time the scholarly man, who I found out to be a scientist of some sort, began to treat me like a daughter instead of a servant. I believe it had something to do with what his bed-ridden wife had said to him. It didn’t matter though, in three years I would be legal age and I would strike out on my own. Strangely though, over the course of a year I actually got to liking Geoff and Allison - the couple that adopted me. When I would go in to Allisons room she always had a way of drawing me to her. I can’t really explain it, but she was such a likeable person that I wouldn’t even notice the hours that passed by as I talked with her by her bedside. She always had such funny stories to tell, in fact she seemed a lot like me in personality, maybe that’s why I was drawn to her company. Geoff turned out to be an absolute goofball, beneath the analytical mindset he always seemed to be in, he was actually an alright guy. He even paid to have a tutor come out to the house and teach me anything I wanted to know. I started with medieval literature, but soon developed a love for various sciences and human psychology. Geoff was always there to answer any questions that I had, and I’m sure the fact that he loved these two subjects the most helped me to fall in love with those fields of study too.

About two years after I had first stepped foot into the Vasphin’s home, tucked away deep in the woods, Allison made a miraculous recovery. She was finally able to get out of bed and walk around. Geoff was so thrilled that he took off time from work so that he could be home and help her adjust. I was somewhat neglected for a time, but eventually they realized that there was another human living in their house. Amazingly I didn’t mind too much, it may have had something to do with the fact that Geoff had recently given me access to his laboratory/greenhouse just behind the main house. He of course made sure that I knew what I was doing before he handed me the keys to various potentially toxic chemicals. I, of course, promised him that nothing would get blown up, but promises are made to be broken.

I loved to experiment on the various creatures that lived in the woods. Unfortunately once Allison found out what inhumane things I was doing, she told Geoff to take the keys from me. He did take the keys for a time, but I was able to convince them to give me back the keys under the premise that I would do not more experiments on living things. So then I had to experiment with boring plants.

I lamented my boredom to Geoff, he laughed but offered to give me a “class” of sorts to help peak my curiosity in a different field of microbiology. He showed me into a new world, the world contained in a man’s blood. With time he showed me all that he knew, and soon I was able to ask him questions that he could not answer. That very fact, that I was surpassing him brought me great joy and an even great sense of pride.

Surprisingly, I soon found myself on the eve of my 20^th birthday without ever thinking of moving out of the Vasphin’s home – my home. But just as I started to consider leaving, Allison’s health started to fail her again. This time was worse than all the others. One day she was up and laughing, the next she could barely speak she was so weak. No one knew what was wrong with her. Dozens of doctors came and went, but none of them knew what was wrong with her. Soon she slipped into a coma, and Geoff disappeared into the laboratory all day and night. He wouldn’t let me in to help him, but instead left me to tend to the comatose Allison and keeping the house clean.

After two weeks of this I was fed up and threatened to leave home. I will never forget the look on Geoff’s face; it was as though the thought had never occurred to him. Then his face turned to stone and he told me I would not be able to survive on my own. I threw my typical blunt retort at him, but he just turned away and went into his room to sleep. I then stormed up to my room and started to pack up my things, when I realized that I didn’t know what was outside of the Vasphin’s property. I didn’t know how far away the nearest town was, nothing, I had been so engrossed in learning and experimenting that I had not ever even thought to pondered my whereabouts.

Thankfully I was not so foolhardy as to try and go out on my own, so I decided to stay, but only on one condition – Geoff let me assist him in whatever he was doing in the laboratory. He was very reluctant to let me know what he was working on, but he eventually consented that he would include me on his research. I never in my wildest dreams would have guessed what he was working on. It wasn’t a cure for what was ailing Allison, but rather a cure for being human.

Letter to the world

Dear World,

Not only have I helped to create a fast spreading virus, but I am also now actively helping to promote the widespread dissimulation of said disease. But do not look at me as an evil person; I am merely helping to promote the advancement of our ever-evolving species. This virus is helping to speed up our advancement to the next step - the step towards immortality. I am doing you a favor. No need to thank me.

Sincerely,

Melissa Vasphin