The Zyne Project (9 page)

Her skin was gray and appeared to be stretched. Like Rick, she could actually see her skull separating in half.  The stubble on her head stood straight up and reflected the white fluorescent light from overhead.  Sometime within the past hour, her nose had started bleeding and there were dried crimson flakes rounding out each nostril.  Her eyes were now red-rimmed and she could see little sores dotting her neck. 

She was changing.

The elevator doors opened and Rosa stepped out. The hallway was empty, but she could hear male voices in the distance and saw that a door was open at the far end.  She could vaguely hear someone speaking.  Pulling out the knife that she had lodged against her waistband, she held it out in front of her and walked slowly towards the door. 

As she got closer, she could hear the commotion.

Dan was shouting in the distance. “Stay right there.  Don’t move towards him…it’s going to make things worse.”

Then, she heard a sound unlike anything she’d ever come in contact with before.  It was like a wolf baying at the moon, but sounded human and filled with pain.

Whooo….Whooo…

Rosa’s heart skipped a beat. 
What the hell was that?
she wondered.

Stepping closer to the door, she could now see that a lit bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a dim, yellow glow into the inky darkness.  She moved to the doorway, and recognized the space as a large storage room with large shelving lining the walls, housing numerous unmarked boxes.  But all of that was inconsequential, because it was the center of the large gloomy space that caught and held her attention.

Dan was standing off to the side wearing a white lab coat while another man stood close behind him.  Rosa didn’t recognize the other man but figured he was with the Illusions staff.   Dan had a small syringe pointed at their aggressor who stood only a few yards away.

It was Rick…and he looked like nothing she could have ever imagined.  He no longer resembled a human.

His head had changed shape and was now oblong.  It had split open at the top and a large wet gap traveled from the top of his head to his chin.  It was oozing blood that dripped everywhere, creating a large pool on the ground.  One of Rick’s eyes had popped out due to the pressure on his skull and was hanging out of the socket.  The other eye had burst in the socket and was now a red and white sightless mass.  Blood poured out of his nose and his mouth was a grotesque quad-shaped mess of lips, blood, and crimson-stained teeth.

Large sores dotted Rick’s skin and oozed grayish matter, giving his exposed arms a wet appearance.  He stood in the center of the room, swaying from left to right, as if unsure where to go.  He let out another loud moan and Rosa gasped, the sound catching Dan’s attention. 

He looked over at her and said calmly, “Rosa, don’t come any closer.  We’re going to try to sedate him.”  And as he said the words, he moved slightly closer. Rick still hadn’t moved, but was now swaying more dramatically as if about to break into a strange dance.

Suddenly, the Rick-creature leapt forward, screeching.  Dan tried to get out of the way but was pushed to the side and flew into the wall, hitting it…hard.

Rosa backed up.  The oozing mess that had once been Rick slowed and was a handful of steps in front of her.  Standing this close to him, she could see just how torn his skin appeared.  It was stretching apart and had taken on a grayish hue similar to her own.  Sloshing sounds emerged from his torn clothing as liquid seeped out of unseen parts of his body, darkening a dirtied collared shirt and dripping in many different directions. 

Disgusted and trying not to vomit, Rosa took another step back.  She was terrified and unsure where to go.  There was nowhere to run…and within seconds she would be torn to pieces.  Closing her eyes, she said a small prayer and succumbed to what lie ahead.

As if sensing her defeat, the Rick-creature dove forward, emitting a large moan.  Rosa flinched and prepared herself for a mauling. But it never came.

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the creature on the ground.  Three syringes stuck out of his back.  Dan was on the ground, breathing heavily and sitting on top of Rick, continuing to hold him down as the sick man twitched violently.  Then, finally…the twitching stopped and an impossible snore came out of torn nostrils, spewing little droplets of blood during each exhale.

Shaking, Rosa whispered, “Thank you...” and fell to the ground in exhausted tears.  Greg came over and knelt down, gently holding her as she cried. 

***

Getting Rick out of the storage room and into the elevator was not easy. After discussing different scenarios, the three agreed that the best way to get him out was to drag him by his feet.  So, Dan, assisted by Greg, dragged Rick down the hallway.  Rosa couldn’t bear to touch him and watched as the creature’s head vibrated and shifted from side-to-side, leaving a moist path along the carpeted flooring.

Rick was unconscious but still able to moan in pain as if even the darkness of sleep couldn’t provide relief from the deadly transformation destroying his body.

Rosa watched and felt anxiety increase her heart rate.  She wasn’t interested in turning into a maniacal, sick creature and was relieved that at least the doctor was safe and they were heading back down to the laboratory where hopefully she could be cured.

Once the elevator doors opened, they pulled the body inside. Dan sighed with relief as they began to descend once more.

“Ok, we’re going to get him into the lab, and see if the anti-therapy works.  I really wish our friends in the cleaning crew could help out…”

Despite pleading with them, the remaining members of the Illusions facilities team refused to budge.  They were all scared, some of them trying to get drunk off the small liquor bottles stocked in the mini-bar.  With the exception of Greg, they were content to sit and wait for help to arrive.

If it arrived at all…

***

As they continued to drag Rick’s body to the medical center, Rosa shared that Bryan had died and described her altercation with Jennifer. She talked about her ability to breach the yellow tarp-like material that was now covering the building and then recounted her exchange with the people keeping them hostage. 

Staring directly at Dan, she shot out, “So, you must know how we can get out of here.  Don’t even try to deny it.  There’s gotta be a way.”

Dan looked away. “The exits are pretty obvious, Rosa.  The problem is they’ve got us wrapped up in here like sticks of bubblegum.  We’re not able to get out and we’ve got to hurry up and get things under control, because I’m sure that our available oxygen is starting to run out.”

The group was silent for a moment.  Rosa hadn’t thought about that.  She’d been so concerned about her own metamorphosis that the fact that the building was encased in yellow material finally reached her senses, making her dizzy.  The air
was
getting warm, she noticed.  Feeling about to pass out, she stopped moving and reached out for the closest wall.  Finding one to her right, she put both hands flat against the surface and rested her aching head against it.

The men stopped moving Rick, and both turned back to look at her.

“Rosa, are you ok?” Dan called out.  “We can stop and rest for a bit if it would help.”

“No,” she muttered quietly, “I’m ok. Let’s just get moving.”

The group moved through the downstairs area as quickly as they could.  Again, Dan could not believe how quiet it was.  All of the staff was dead…a result of Rick’s handiwork.  And the only other people alive were upstairs, cowering in a small room.

Sighing, he kept moving despite the muscles in his arms screaming with tension.  Greg didn’t complain, but did grunt once or twice when having to turn a corner or reposition the man’s greasy leg under his arm.

Finally, the group made it to the medical clinic. They managed to throw the doors open and carry Rick inside, moving down the hallway.  The flickering lights and disarray made their progress seem surreal.   At one point, Dan looked back to see Rosa staggering down the hallway, gray and sick.  He worried that she would completely transform before they were able to restrain her, but for now, she was manageable. 

He was still having trouble accepting that the infusion was a disaster.  Try as he might, he couldn’t figure out where they had gone so terribly wrong.  Had they rushed the trial?  Was there something he had overlooked in the research?  Many questions tumbled through his mind as the doctor tried to rationally understand how he could have made such a mess of things.

Would they be allowed to leave?  And what would face him on the “outside”?  Would he be arrested for manslaughter and negligence?  Would Zyne Corporation go out of business?

The questions went on and on, but Dan couldn’t stop to worry or analyze the potential ruin of his future.  Right now, he had to try to cure the two remaining subjects or they would all die. 

It was that simple.

***

Getting Rick’s body on the makeshift operating table was difficult. His body was engorged with fluids, making his normally stocky frame nearly impossible to lift.  He had also become quite slippery; the ooze from his sores leaking out everywhere in a disgusting mess.  They all found themselves gagging as they tried to maneuver around the liquid and ignore the acrid stench emitted from the decaying flesh.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of struggling, they were able to hoist Rick’s body into position. It landed with a loud
splat
on the shiny metallic surface.   The group immediately restrained him by tying his body down with a series of ropes they’d taken from the storage closet, wrapping it around his legs, arms, and knees. 

When Rick was entirely secured, Dan went and quickly filled additional syringes with sedatives.  He  returned to the room and emptied several syringes into the unconscious man’s arm. 

“Don’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” he said, grinning without any humor.

He then went and unlocked the cabinet containing the anti-therapy, carefully pulling out the vials.  Extracting the bright blue liquid into a clean syringe, he found a vein and injected the infusion into Rick’s arm. 

“I’m going to try this on Rick first,” Dan explained, “Then, we’ll know if it is safe to administer to Rosa.”

They all stood quietly for a moment, watching the creature sleep in a dark, unconscious haze. Even in this controlled state, the Rick-creature looked awful.  His skull continued to pulse as blood leaked from his ears and nose.  His useless eye was coagulating in its socket as the chasm separating the two sides of his face continued to glisten and run; a river of disintegrating flesh and sickness.

Suddenly, Rosa fell back as a sharp bolt of pain shot through her skull, traveling down to her toes.  She dropped to the ground and watched as a stream of blood flooded her vision, leaking down into her nose and mouth. Gasping, she looked up at Dan and whispered, “Help me…”

Dan rushed over, and pulled off his lab coat, gently wiping down her face. The blood was coming from a gash in her forehead that had appeared out of nowhere, but was now slowly growing in a vertical fashion.  He held the fabric close against the wound and pressed down to stop the blood from seeping out, while Rosa clutched his arm and shook against him.

“Why is this happening?  What’s in the therapy you gave us?” she asked, pleading with him to provide her with some sort of explanation.

“I’m not sure,” he replied, “It could be that your cellular structure has been impacted by either the virus we used to transport the genes or it could be the genes themselves.  I’m not sure and without the proper instrumentation and time, it’ll be impossible for me to figure out.”

Rosa was silent.  She knew that if the infusion didn’t work on Rick…all was lost.

***

Once the bleeding stopped, Dan was able to leave Rosa’s side and check in on his other patient who was still lying on the table, snoring loudly.  Blood had pooled under him and ooze continued to seep through and drip past the table on to the floor.

In the doctor’s experience, he knew that he had to give the infusion at least several hours before he could do any sort of tests, but he didn’t have that type of luxury.  So, he found another unused syringe in one of the drawers, and carefully extracted some of Rick’s blood.  He pulled out the syringe and set it down on the table, preparing to view slides under a powerful SEM microscope to see exactly what was going on with the cells.  He pulled up a chair and set it down next to the equipment.  When he was positioned properly, he carefully handled the blood, while moving as quickly as possible.