“To whom it may concern,

I do not know you but I wish for you to know me, and for you to know the truth. I want everyone to know the truth. So please, do not stop reading until you have read every word. Before I begin I must tell you, I never meant for this to happen. I am so sorry.

First I would like to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Lansel Barge. I am 47 and I've no wife or children or any immediate family for that matter. I have a single companion and that is my male Bengal kitty, Hansel. Lansel and Hansel, I thought it had a ring to it. He is a very handsome boy. He wears a golden collar with a golden bell, and if you see him, do not approach him. He is Patient Zero, and he is a very fast runner.

I work for a genetic research branch of the government called GenXI. It has been kept a secret, even from Mr. President himself. We focus on gene splicing, cloning, and new creation. New creation is how I got myself into this mess in the first place. We were working on creating an immunization that would accelerate brain activity, causing an increase in intellect, speed, strength, and endurance. We almost had it, and we thought we did have it. We did not. We tested this vaccine called NCV (New Creation 5) on multiple rats and it worked. I was elated. I decided to bring it home and give it to my Hansel. I know what you're thinking, we should have run more tests. The thing is, we were running tests. It had been almost 10 days since the rats were injected and they were showing signs of perfection. I brought it to my boy on the 9th day. I administered the vaccine at 8am on the 10th day, and at 12:42pm I received a call from one of my colleagues telling me that our rats were dead. I immediately packed up my Hansel and headed to the lab. I was not going to let this take my handsome boy away from me. 

After 8 days of testing on Hansel's blood, we finally thought we had the cure. I was desperate, and this time yes, we should have run more tests. Unfortunately we were out of time. The way I saw it was, if he is going to die anyways, I have nothing to lose. If the cure didn't help him, at least I tried. The very night that the cure to NCV was created, I gave Hansel the shot. We didn't even bother naming it. Our plan was to destroy the entire project, as it was a total failure.

I stayed awake with him until the end. The "cure" somehow sped up the process and he died the morning after I gave it to him. I cried. Hard. I killed my boy...for fucking science. I can still see the way his eyes glazed over as his brain discontinued function, as his heart stopped pumping and neurons ceased firing. He was beautiful, even in death, and I would never be the whole again. My colleagues wanted to keep his body at the lab, but I refused. I could handle it myself.

I took him to the very best taxidermist I knew of. Harold. He was a sweet, tiny old man with but a spattering of hair on his head but a beard so full that I was once convinced that he might have a family of mice living in there. I told him that Hansel passed away from food poisoning and I left him with the body of my best friend. I would return the next night. Harold was a fast worker. The next morning Harold called me and was a bit upset, because he thought I trusted him. He didn't understand why I would steal my boys body back. I could barely understand him, and I was extremely confused. I explained to him that I'd been at home and if anyone took Hansel's body, it wasn't me. After a moment of silence on the other end, I heard the old man curse. And then he cursed again. "He ain't dead, Lance!".

I will leave it at that. What followed was a gruesome exchange between an old man and a cat that was hell bent on destroying him. He didn't have a chance. I wish I knew why it happened and I wish I had time to figure it out now. Hansel was a being of perfection with a hunger for human flesh and an anger that raged throughout him.

And that's how it happened. I fucked up and I turned my Bengal into a freaking zombie. By the time I got to Harold's store, the doors were wide open and there was chaos. I watched as a fragile old man tore into the stomach of a biker who had been riding by on the sidewalk. I knew what was happening. I've seen the movies and I've read the comics. This was it. Harold looked up and locked eyes with me. They were full of rage and his thick beard was dripping with the blood of the man we was in the process of consuming.

Hansel was out there somewhere. I could have found him by following the sound of screaming and terror, but I am a coward. I have always been one and I will die as one should, by my own hand before I can be turned into one of those things.

So, whoever you are, don't feel bad when you see me hanging from the closet rafters. I hope you find this soon, before all of the genius scientists are dead. All of the information they would need is in the locked drawer of my desk. The key is inside of the smallest nesting doll on the wall to the left of the desk. Retrieve it and deliver it to someone who can fix my mistakes. Do what I am too afraid to do. I am sure that my Hansel is coming home to me, so I will end this letter and then I will end my life.

Again, I am so sorry. This was never supposed to happen. I just wanted to save my handsome boy. "

Jillian placed the letter back onto the nightstand of the bedroom she was standing in. Somehow this house hadn't been trashed and she was tasked with searching it before her group moved out of this neighborhood. She was just a 15 year old girl who had lived the last 4 years running from the dead. Every day she asked God why he let this happen, and now she had the answer. It had nothing to do with God and everything to do with humans who were trying to play God. She found the papers that the Doctor mentioned and shoved them into her backpack along with a couple of cans of pinto beans. As she walked back through the house, she decided to check the mans closet. She was curious to see if he had actually gone through with hanging himself, or if he was too much of a pansy to even do that. It was dark, so she had to retrieve her flashlight. Hanging from the top of the closet was a rope that was clearly very old and barely twisted. Below it was a pile of bones that she could only assume was the man that caused this. She cursed him twice, and turned to leave.

Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.

 She heard a tiny little bell ringing. Looking around, she couldn't seem to find what was causing it. She heard the rafters at the top of closet creek, and when she shined her light up there, she saw him. The most handsome kitty she'd ever laid eyes on. He was staring at her, and though he was sitting, she could see his muscles were preparing for the pounce. Jillian knew she should run, but she also knew that this cat would only cause more harm. The fighter inside of her was winning, and as she reached for her gun, Hansel attacked.

Shots were fired. Minutes later a group of armed people came bursting into the room, ready to kill the dead and to save their girl.

They saw blood. Laying on the ground was a breathtakingly beautiful cat. It was long and muscular and had shining, silky fur. His face was...gone. The girl was sitting across from him, staring at the hole in his head. As her adrenaline settled, the tears started flowing. The mother-figure of the group collected Jillian in her arms and held her as she told the group what she had found. They all read the letter and decided unanimously that their next move was to find someone who could do something with this knowledge.

They left the house and made camp for the night inside of a small cottage that was a few miles away from the neighborhood that they were in. The darkness was consuming and though the sounds of the others steady breathing and light snoring usually lulled her to sleep, tonight was different.

Jillian couldn't sleep. She scratched the cut on her elbow that the cat left on her with one of his claws. She easily concealed it, as elbow skin barely bleeds and she only had to roll her sleeves down to hide her wound. She prayed to God and asked for his forgiveness as she placed her gun against her head and pulled the trigger.