The Zyne Project (12 page)

Dan raced to retrieve one of the few remaining sedatives.  He quickly filled a syringe and returned just in time.  Rosa’s eyes were rolling backwards and she had started to drool, spittle emerging out of the right side of her wounded mouth and traveling down her chin.

As the needle plunged forward, the liquid emptied into her veins and Rosa calmed down.  But she didn’t pass out.  Instead, she lay on the table watching them with eyes that had begun to swim and operate independently of each other.  

Both men waited for a few moments to see if she would go into convulsions or try to attack them.  When neither happened, they both backed away and spoke to each other in hushed voices.

“Dr. Johns, let’s give her the infusion.  We’ve gotta try to stop this. Please.”

“Yes, of course. But it didn’t work on Rick…and if it doesn’t work on her, I’m just not sure what else I can do.”

“I understand,” Greg answered, “but it’s the only thing left to try. I can’t stand watching her turn into one of those things.”

Dan sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Ok.  I’ll try. But be on your guard.  We still don’t know where Jennifer is and if there’s any chance that these things are reanimating for some reason, you’d better be on your guard.”

Greg held up his knife. “I’m prepared,” he said smiling.

Dan chuckled.  A knife wasn’t going to stop any crazy creature and they both knew it.  But he did have a gun and if things got bad, he had at least several rounds that he could shoot off before they were completely screwed.  He thought about their chances and grimaced.

We’re in the hornet’s nest. And we’re about to get stung.

***

Outside, the crickets were singing along with the sounds of the wind. The sun had gone down in a diluted, orange haze. The air was thick with heat and the birds flew low, escaping amongst the darkness of the tree limbs.

In the quarantine zone, the work continued.

Chapter 9

Dan still had nightmares about his mother.

Sometimes when he would drink too much and eat a grease-filled meal right before bed, he would dream about his once-beautiful mother.  The dreams were always the same…

He could see her greeting guests at a social gathering.  The guests would stand around their formal living space, admiring the complex paintings on the wall, the crystal goblets filled with crimson wine, or sometimes, they would swoop down and hold him in their thin, manicured hands…admiring how handsome he was. Such a charming little boy.

His mother would eye the entire event with a cool gaze, her eyes calmly glancing from one end of the room to the other, a hint of a smile painted on her velvet lips.  In his dreams, she always looked her best.  But he could sense unease within the cool visage.  He would look down and see her right ring finger twitching slightly as she casually swayed her hips as if longing to move away.

While in the throes of the dream, Dan would turn his head and revel in the sinister beauty of the moment, reflecting on the cool elegance of the surroundings, and the somewhat distracted, shallow element that surrounded every person like an invisible evil cape.

He would then realize that his mother was gone.  She had disappeared, leaving him alone in a false carnival. 

Walking quickly out of the room, he would race down the darkened hallway, calling for his mother…

Mommy….Mommy…Mommy…

In the distance, he could hear a silky voice calling to him, “Come here my sweetheart. Come see mommy, Danny.  Come see me…”

As he neared the end of the hallway, he would see her floating towards him; her feet hanging far from the floor…her arms outstretched…the silky fabric of her dress pulled out like wings carrying her forward.

With every passing second, his heart would begin to race with the knowledge that something bad was about to happen.

Something really bad.

Then, as she neared, her face would change and resemble a gargoyle and that gentle, velvet voice would screech as she got closer and closer…

“Come to me Danny….Dannnnyyyyy…..”

Dan had dreamt the same nightmare many times throughout his adult life and wasn’t sure why he was remembering it now while rummaging through the laboratory to secure the infusion that might save Rosa’s life. 

Shaking his head and trying to erase the horrible thoughts of his darkest dreams, he quickly grabbed the last buffer vials. After checking the hallway, he returned to Greg.  His unlikely assistant was staring at Rosa with a horrified look on his face and when Dan drew near, he understood why.

Rosa’s face had completely split.

The gash that had started along her forehead had now lengthened and split her face in two.  Grayish matter oozed out and was pooling around the base of her head.  Her eyes were closed, but she was muttering an unintelligible language and alternatively moaning quietly.

Dan knew he might be about to lose her and needed to move quickly.

Gently pushing Greg backwards, he pulled out the syringe and filled it with the last of the infusion buffer.  Silently, he approached Rosa and quickly plunged the needle into her arm, emptying the last of the vials…

Thankfully, she didn’t budge, just continued to ooze and moan.

Taking a deep breath of relief, Dan staggered back and leaned up against the wall. It was at that moment when he realized how exhausted he was.  The nightmare they were living in had positively drained him and the stuffiness of the air inside the building was making it hard to concentrate.  All he wanted to do was curl up on the couch downstairs and take a short nap to clear his mind and regenerate internal batteries that were dangerously low.

But he knew that wasn’t an option.  Greg was barely hanging on, Rosa was unconscious and turning, and he wasn’t completely sure that his other subjects were dead. 

They needed to get out.

But he couldn’t. He had to try to save Rosa.  Like Greg, he felt a kinship to the woman who had hung on so long…certainly longer than the others…and who was fighting against the change to maintain her humanity while her cells worked against her. 

He hoped that the infusion would work or at least slow the transformation so that they could get out and provide additional care.

Turning to Greg, he decided it was time to take action.

“I’m going back outside.  This is crazy.  We can’t wait here until 10pm for someone to consider letting us out.  We need help now.”

Greg looked at him with a blank expression.  He appeared defeated and exhausted, unable to make a decision. Dan reached down and gripped his shoulder.  “It’s going to be ok Greg.  Just hang in there.  We’ll get out of here.”

Leaving Greg in the room, he raced down the hallway, and threw open the glass doors to the pool area.  Anger flooded his mind. 
They can’t keep us in here forever,
he thought.
This is absolutely ridiculous.  I’ve got to get us out of here.

The deck was dark, but automatic lights illuminated the pool.  Gentle ripples shimmered along the surface, the table still sitting in the center of the pool partially immersed as a reminder of Rosa’s battle with Jennifer.  Dan shuddered despite the heat and stepped back up on the chair that was positioned below the hole in the tarp.   Inky blackness seeped through the opening and he felt as if he was speaking into a dark abyss to the devil’s accomplices.

“Hello?” he shouted, “This is Dr. Johns.  I need to speak with someone.  Please respond.”

This time, he didn’t hear any chattering or gravel crunching.  The night was silent with the exception of noises that sounded like something rubbing against the ground and people speaking in low voices.

Dan tried again.

“Hello?  Is anyone there?”

“HEEELLLLOOO?” he screamed.

Nothing.

No one responded.

Frustrated beyond belief, Dan pulled out the knife he’d been carrying the past several hours as a back-up weapon, and started stabbing away at the hole Rosa had initially created.  He tore at the hole with all of his anger and desperation, not caring anymore if someone shot at him.  The whole situation had become unbearable and his guilt, coupled with aggravation, was leading him down a crazed, uncaring path.

He’d begun to slash open a considerable hole, when suddenly, the black of night was replaced by a darker black he couldn’t quite place.  The infinite darkness was still at first and then suddenly pushed out a powerful wave of air that was so strong, it knocked Dan to the ground. Then, the whoosh of air died down and stopped entirely.

Dan found himself lying on the ground and rose unsteadily.  The realization of what had just happened hit him hard, like a ton of steel bricks.  Something was now attached to the hole he’d created and had the ability to blow…hard.

It’s a trap
, he realized.
This whole fucking thing is a trap.

Sinking back down, Dan realized that there was no getting out.  He’d been tricked into trying to save the dying subjects, but his captors on the other side of their prison knew he’d fail.  And he knew what that meant. 

He’d been in a pawn in their game.  A game to create the ultimate gene therapy that could kill…turning people into lunatics.

As Dan’s brain raced, he realized that the whole operation had been a hoax.  Zyne didn’t care about changing the world of hair care.  They wanted to create something that would be far more profitable. 
The guards who are holding us captive are obviously part of the government
, he thought. 
And they arrived very quickly.  They knew we were going to end up like this. What’s going to happen to us?  And to people like April, who have been so loyal and committed to the project?

Nausea overtook him then and he turned and vomited into a series of manicured bushes lining the walkways. 

***

Greg was terrified.

Rosa had woken up and was now staring stonily at the ceiling.  She was silent and had stopped thrashing.  Her stillness frightened him, because she no longer acknowledged that he was in the room.  He wasn’t sure whether or not her brain had been completely overtaken by the cellular transformation.

Standing up, he walked over to the table, remaining a few safe steps away and stared into her face.  Her dermis was quickly dissolving and splitting in numerous locations, grayish ooze glistening across nearly every exposed area of skin that hadn’t broken apart. 

Her eyes frightened him the most.

They were both ruby red and leaking at the corners.  Greg wasn’t sure if Rosa could still see or if she was just in an angry crimson haze.  He hoped the sedatives would keep her under control, at least for a few more minutes until Dan returned.

Deep down, Greg had lost all hope. They’d been stuck inside for hours and despite the claim that they might be rescued at 10pm, which was a few short hours away, he had a sinking sensation that it was a stall tactic. Why hadn’t they been rescued already? 

The air was getting hotter by the second and at times, he felt a wave of dizziness flush over him and the world would fall out of focus.  He had a feeling that they weren’t getting enough oxygen, despite the circulation of the air conditioning throughout the building. 

As he stood over Rosa, she slowly turned her head to face him. Her eyes swam back and forth, but it seemed like she might be able to see something, because she was now trying to form a sentence and had started to thrash again.

Suddenly, he heard it.

It sounded like a low moan mixed with an insane laugh.  A woman’s laugh.

Turning around, his heart stopped.

Jennifer was standing in the doorway. Or at least, what remained of her.

She was wet, water dripping down her head, clothes stuck to her body.  But the only reason he could recognize her was because he knew what she had been wearing before the nightmare began.  That was the only indication, because she looked very different now.

Jennifer’s head was unusually swollen and barely balancing on her neck, swaying from left to right like a metronome.  Her eyes bulged out and glared at him.  Greg noticed that her skin was completely gray and she resembled a walking corpse… a corpse that was horribly disfigured.

She took a few steps towards him and made the same strange sound again.

Whaa….whaa…

Greg pulled the knife out of his pocket and backed up.  He doubted that  it would be enough to kill the creature that was slowly approaching, but didn’t plan to give up without a fight.  As he backed up, he heard something snap and bumped into something wet and squishy.

Rosa had somehow broken free from the rope and was standing right behind him
.

Screaming, he tried to get away, but she took him by the arms and threw him against the wall, behind her.  Connecting with the wall hurt his head, but he quickly realized that she had been trying to
protect
him. 

Rosa was now standing close to Jennifer and snarled at her, ooze dripping down on to the floor and spreading out in a large pool by her feet.   The Jennifer-creature lunged forward and the two fell to the floor snarling and gnashing at each other. 

Rosa managed to grab a hold of Jennifer’s swollen head and bashed it into the ground.  The two continued struggling, but Rosa took the swollen skull and bashed it into a piece of metal that was holding one of the cabinets in place and was sticking out of the ground.  It served as a mini-spear and Greg could hear the wet, mushy sound as the metal went right through the skin and bone…into Jennifer’s brain.  She jerked back and forth for a moment and then stilled.

Rosa rose to the ground, swaying back and forth.  She stared at Greg, who remained horrified and backed-up against the wall.  She seemed uncertain as to what to do and slowly stumbled out of the room and down the hall.

Dan was entering the medical center when he saw Rosa approach. He pulled the gun and was about to fire when Greg shouted at him, “No, stop!”