“When you work for us, doctor, you take on part of our mission to help make the world a healthier place.” His pompus and over-selling tone was already quite annoying, but I knew this was a great career opportunity that I just couldn’t afford to miss. He continued; “We have many international roles available that can give you the chance to…”
“No, no, that’s fine. I have only just graduated, sir, so working here at HQ is best for me.”
He breifly curved his bottom lip downwards, “Hmph, fair enough. Okay doctor, how do you feel about a one day trial run?”
“Trial run?…Yeah, sure, sounds great. When would you like me to start?”
He leaned nonchalantly back in his chair, throwing his hands behind his head. “How’s now strike you?” His face screamed serious and the slow raising of his eyebrows confirmed just how serious he was.
“Erm, well, I, er…” I stumbled over my words as I attempted to shrug off his unnerving eyes. I sensed the atmosphere had suddenly changed and he wanted me to answer faster. “…Yes.” I confidently stated.
“Ah Great! Fantastic!” His voice and movements matched that of a happy salesman hitting way over target. He quickly stood from his chair, beaming smile, and made his way round the desk to shake my hand. “Welcome aboad, Dr. Loft! Well, temporarily, but, ha-ha…Here, let me show you to your office.”
After an extremely short introduction to my new lab-partner, Stan, we then had a quick overview of my job and purposes, and in less than five-minutes, I was apparently “ready.”
My first job was to review and record the latest symptoms of several candidates in a certain program. I clicked the button on my recorder and began documenting my findings.
“This is Dr. Loft reviewing case Number 204. It is to be noted that all admitted patients be kept behind the three inch security glass at all times… Patient #72 is on day one of the injection. They’re experiencing high-fever, high-heart rate, abdominal pain and vomiting.”
I stepped forward to the next glass cell.
“Okay, moving on to patient #73, who is on the second day of the injection. It’s looking like by day two, a red and itchy rash appears. There’s evidence of the rash on the face and is quickly spreading throughout the body. The patient has become highly irrational and delusional.
Patient #74 is on day three…Okay, by day three, the rash develops into abscesses that seem to be filling with fluid, most likely some sort of infectious pus… Hmmm… seems like some of the abscesses are falling off and taking most, if not all, of the remaining layers of skin along with it. The patient is no longer acting human.”
I was completely lost in my work that I hadn’t even noticed the red lights flashing in the background from the silent alarm.
“Okay, patient #75 has been receiving the injection for five days. Yesterday’s notes state changes in the DNA and molecular structure, including–…Oh my god!” I finally stopped myself and looked into the glass cell.
“Errrm, Stan?? Where’s patient #75?!…Stan?….Staan?!?!”
I ran to nearest office and slammed the door shut. I somehow managed to drag a cabinet case and blocked the door completely. As I ran around the desk and computer to the observation window, that’s when Stan made his appearance.
His body slammed against the glass as his blood oozed from the gaping wound that was flapping from the side of his neck. As his body slid to the ground, I saw something dark dash behind him.
The red lights continue their show as I sit here typing on this office computer, dancing away, warning me its still out there.