Revenge by Lindsay 2001
Her face was turned away at the time of the explosion, when the whole room
burst into flames and screams and debris. She never knew what saved her. Whether
it was the heavy worktables, or the rubble from the wall above. She did know
that when the people arrived, exclaiming that 'this one is alive, not dead, over
here! Quick!' she wished she were. Death would have been more merciful. The
people weren't the medics. She wasn't taken to a hospital, but a private
facility. They were there first; whoever they were, before the medics. She
didn't know who they were, but they healed her. She did know that the media
never found out that there was a survivor. Just that there was a missing body.
She was dead; her former identity was dead. They had given her a new name, new
past, new everything. No one would even recognize her. She had been beautiful.
Now she was hideous. They did their best, but even modern medicine couldn't heal
the chemical burns that covered most of the right side of her body. The right
side of her face was covered with red, vicious scar tissue, she would never have
an eyebrow again. Her lips were almost gone. Her arm and shoulder were much of
the same, and when she saw what was left of her right hand she was glad for the
first time in her life that she was left handed. People had always stared at her
when she walked down the street, but then they had stared for different reasons.
Now they stared at her as if she were a freak, something to hide their children
from. No one but she and her saviors knew there was a survivor. She was the only
one who knew what really happened.
She did know what she saw. Her face hadn't been turned away when he was mixing
the chemicals. She and most of her coworkers had seen him mix the dangerous
chemicals, and wondered the need for the clock. But he knew what he was doing;
he was a professional. He was long gone when the explosion happened. No one had
even questioned him, and his possible involvement. The traces of the homemade
bomb had never even been discovered. The tracks of the chemicals had been
covered by the nuclear residue covering everything; it was such a perfect set
up. The authorities had labeled it an unfortunate accident, a lab accident. She
had seen him. Later. Afterwards. She had gone to the press conference. He spoke
of the terrible losses of engineers and scientists. The loss of their work. He
didn't mention what they had been working on when they died. No one had recorded
the work they had done last, it was all in their heads, and hers. She still
knew. They were - had been - so close. He had destroyed everything, and she owed
it to her dead - murdered - partners to pay him back. He said he would do
everything in his power to recover the information lost, funny then, why did she
remember him recently doing everything in his power to destroy that very same
information? Revenge was her only thought. Her Obsession.