Episode 2: Gwen and Glenn
Scene 9
"FIRE!"
The roar of the gunshots was a physical shock, a blinding, deafening symphony of finality. Matthew's body, a chaotic mess of pain and adrenaline, crumpled to the floor. He lay in a spreading pool of his own blood, his eyes wide and unblinking, fixed on the ceiling. He wasn't dead. Not yet. His lungs, a fragile, useless thing, fought for air, a ragged, heavy gasp for each breath. His chest, a sieve of shattered bones and torn flesh, rose and fell in a sickening, desperate rhythm. The pain was a hot, all-consuming fire that raged through every part of him, but it wasn't the pain that held his attention.
"Is... Is this it? Is this how I die? A confused man in a mental hospital... What... a sad way to go..." He thought to himself as he hears footsteps coming up to him.
The soldiers were now silent, standing over him, their rifles lowered, waiting for the life to drain from him as the footsteps cut through the silence.
The footsteps, slow and deliberate, crunched through the spilled food and shattered porcelain. A shadow fell over him, blocking the side view of the ceiling. Matthew, his eyes wide with a fading terror, saw a face he knew. Dr. Sawyer.
The man stood over him, his sharply pressed suit a stark contrast to the carnage. There was no triumph in his eyes, no cold, analytical gleam. Just a profound, sorrowful sadness. He didn't say a word. He just watched.
And as Matthew's final breath hitched, a ragged, rattling sound in the now-silent room, Dr. Sawyer's gaze remained fixed on the fading light in his eyes. The light in those deep hunter green eyes, the ones that had once held a furious defiance, a childish wonder, and a raw terror, finally flickered and died. Matthew Winters was gone. The world, for him, was finally and completely silent.
"I'm so sorry, Matthew," Dr. Sawyer whispered, his voice a broken, fragile sound. "Simone would have loved you."
The sorrowful sadness that was once on his face is now a mask of cold, professional detachment. The brief moment of humanity was over. He turned his head and gestured to his soldiers. "Find the rest."
The soldiers nodded, their movements precise and efficient as they began to sweep the cafeteria. Their rifles, now equipped with silent suppressors, were raised, their gazes fixed on the overturned tables and bodies.