“You’re leaving?”
I sighed, not bothering to turn around. “Joan, I’m sorry. I know this is sudden, but I have to go—”
“Daddy, why are you leaving? Don’t leave.” Joan’s lip quivered, her arms tightening around the stuffed animal she always held. “They can’t take you away.”
This time, I turned my body towards my daughter, dropping my bags. Kneeling in front of her, I smoothed down her bed hair, a melancholic smile gracing my features. “It’s okay, baby. They won’t take me away for too long. I promise.”
She threw her arms around my neck, and I came close to crying, but I had promised I wouldn’t. “I will be back soon, okay? Go back to sleep, sweetie.” I stood up, picking up my luggage once again.
“Sir? We need to leave.”
The men wearing all black gestured at me, then to the door. I nodded and looked back at Joan as she stared at me walking away from her.
I lied. They were taking me away forever, and although I had objected strongly, they needed me. They needed me to cure the disease, because I was the only immune. I had watched all my loved ones die one by one until I was the only one left.
Joan’s mother had died from the virus, and I wasn’t going to let it kill any more people. This isn’t about my daughter anymore. This is about the world.
“Bye, Daddy,” my daughter whispered, waving. As I stepped into the hovering car the men had brought with them, I could just barely hear an “I love you.”
Then, the door was closed. She was gone, and I would never see her again.