The Zyne Project (6 page)

Bryan came over and put his hand on her shoulder. “Are you ok?” he asked.

“Yeah, just not feeling so hot and I’ve got this wicked headache.”

Bryan agreed. “I’m feeling pretty shitty too. And my eyes are really hurting.  Do they look ok to you?”

Rosa peered into one of his eyes and saw a red hue in the iris. The rest of the eye was red-rimmed and appeared inflamed or infected.  She hadn’t noticed it before because they were too preoccupied with the chaos erupting around them, but now, his ailment was clear.

“Well?” he asked. 

“Your eyes do look a little red, but not too bad,” she lied. 

Jennifer, who had been searching around in a desk, slammed the drawer and leaned up against the wall. “This is ridiculous. Where they hell did they put our stuff?  I swear, I’m going to sue the hell out of these people when we get out of here.”

Rosa glared at her and realized that the snooty socialite had no idea just how bad things had gotten.  They hadn’t shared much with her other than they found Rick running around like a crazy person and needed to call for help. 

Judging by the way she reacts to things, it’s probably for the best
, thought Rosa.

After ten more minutes of searching, they agreed that their phones had been hidden somewhere else. In the distance, they heard a voice calling for them. 

***

 “Bryan…Jennifer…Rosa…where are you guys?” Dan called.  He stopped once he got to the common area.  The room was an absolute mess.  Everything was thrown around or broken. And it wasn’t a great mystery as to what or who had caused all of this.

Unless someone else had…turned…

Dan swallowed hard.  The whole situation was turning into one huge fucking mess and he didn’t have much time to come up with a solution. First though, he needed to find everyone. He’d left Teresa sleeping upstairs and figured she was safe in her room.  After all, the entire cleaning crew was up there with her and could help out if Rick somehow reappeared. 

He also decided that it would be best to keep the whole situation with Tim quiet for now. If he shared that the surfer was dead, he could have full-blown hysteria on his hands.  Plus, he wasn’t sure what condition the subjects would be in. The metamorphosis that was happening within their cells apparently unfolded at a different rate, depending on the person.  So, he’d have to be careful.

He found the group sitting in the Illusion building’s reception office. They didn’t look good.  Bryan, the basketball player, was displaying moderate symptoms and both Rosa and Jennifer seemed sick.  He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things or not, but Bryan and Rosa’s shaved heads appeared slightly swollen.

“Hey guys, how are things down here?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

Bryan actually
growled
at him in anger and was about to say something, when Jennifer cut in impatiently. “What the hell is going on?  Why is Rick acting all crazy?  When can we get out of here?” Her voice had taken on a shrill edge and she was clearly a few minutes shy of complete hysteria.

Dan tried to calm her, “Ok, here’s what I think. There’s something slightly wrong with the infusion we gave you…”

Bryan exploded, “Slightly wrong?!  Slightly?  Are you out of your fucking mind?  Rick is running around like a crazy maniac and there’s something wrong with him. He’s…he’s…an animal.   What did you do to us?”

Dan couldn’t speak. 

They knew…

They knew what they could become.   They knew what their fate could be. 

He realized that he had no choice, but to tell them about what he’d experienced upstairs.   As he found his voice, he carefully recapped recent events and watched as the subjects grew more horrified by the minute.

“Crap. Guys, I’m sorry about this. As you can imagine, we’re going to fix this issue. I’ve just got to get into the lab and work on slightly altering your concoction by lowering the amount of virus we use…it should only take a…”

“Have you seen the laboratory?” Bryan hissed, “It’s a disaster area. You’ll be lucky to find anything in that mess.”

Dan rushed out of the room and down the hallway into the medical center.  When he pushed the doors open, he took a sharp intake of breath. 

Oh no
, he thought.
This is really messed up.  It’s going to take me hours to fix this. And I’m going to need reinforcements.

As calmly as he could, he returned to the group. They hadn’t moved, just stared at him suspiciously.

“Ok.  We’ve got to find Rick and restrain him. Then, I’ll put together an infusion that will help you at least stabilize until we can get some help.”

“Yes,” said Rosa coldly, “Where is our help?  The nurses are all dead, and we can’t find our cell phones anywhere.  As you know doctor, I’m connected to the CDC and we know that the phones are shut off and the doors are all locked.  The building is sealed and covered with a tarp! Why don’t you just tell us the truth?”

Jennifer gaped. “You’re with the CDC?  What the hell?”

Dan turned away and took a deep breath.  He hadn’t realized that Zyne had physically sealed off the entire building.  Trying to regain his composure, he took a deep breath, “Look. I’m telling you the truth. We need to get the whole situation under control and then we’ll all be able to get out of here.  We need to find Rick first.  He’s a danger to himself and everyone else.”

***

Teresa awoke slowly and wasn’t sure where she was initially.  The room was unfamiliar and it took a few moments for her to remember that she was napping in one of the rooms within the Illusions building.  Her eyes blinked and she was acutely aware that her whole body felt awful and sluggish.  Suddenly, there was a sound emanating from the right side of the room that sounded like grunting.  Whatever was near her was panting and was very, very close.

Turning her head slowly, she came face-to-face with Rick, the billionaire she had once known. But, the creature that stared back at her was no longer human.  And Teresa knew with utmost certainty that she was staring into the face of hell itself.

Rick’s entire face had shifted apart, the gray fissure that separated each side much larger now and oozing right down the middle, like a swollen river.  It began at the base of his forehead and extended downward, splitting his lips in half, so that blood dripped from the crack into his mouth.  Each eye was slanted and hazy.  She could see that he was in intense pain as the transformation of his skull was literally ripping his face in half.  For a moment, their eyes met and Teresa could almost sense that Rick recognized her and was reaching out for help. But almost as quickly as it appeared, it evaporated and all that remained was a tumultuous mess of what had once been a human being.

It snarled and lunged for her, but Teresa was already rolling off the bed, aiming for the door.  Screaming loudly, she raced for the exit, but the creature was close behind, grabbing at her shirt and pulling her back. 

The cleaning crew, four of them waiting in a single locked room, heard the commotion but did not move.  They all sat still, terrified at what was unfolding several doors down. As Teresa’s screams intensified, a member of the group rose to help, but was pushed back down by a larger man.

“Don’t go out there Greg,” he warned.  “You do, and you’ll get us all killed. You sit right there and wait for Dr. Johns to come back.”

Greg sat back down on the bed, the sounds of violence and death traveling though the air.

Then…all was silent.

Chapter 5

Dan was worried about Jennifer. 

She and the others had agreed to help him search for Rick, but as he walked behind her, he could see sores on the back of her neck as well as stretch marks on the skin that covered her skull.

Jennifer couldn’t see this because it would require a very strategically positioned mirror, but Dan could clearly identify the marks, even through the bright red stubble of her new hair.   This could only mean one thing. 

Whatever happened to Rick, was happening to her.  The metamorphosis had begun. 

He wanted to scream in frustration.  This was not happening.  How had the infusion gone so wrong?

Logically, Dan knew time was running out and he would need to work on a solution to counteract the mutation, but with the medical center in disarray, it would be difficult.  He needed to reach out to Zyne and get reinforcements or the entire mess would be impossible to clean up.

Excusing himself from the group for a moment, he went into one of the private bathrooms and shut the door. Pulling the cell phone out of his pocket, he quickly dialed Zyne.

“Yes?”  A voice answered on the first ring.

“It’s Johns.  Things aren’t going well.”

“What you do mean? Have you secured all the subjects?”

“Well,” Dan hesitated, “Not exactly. We’ve still got one missing. Look, the infusion is not working and it’s creating a metamorphosis of some sort.”

“A metamorphosis? What exactly do you mean Dr. Johns?”

“Well,” Dan said painfully, “The infusion is causing cellular abnormalities at an incredible speed in some of the subjects. It’s causing muscular and skeletal deformities, confusion, and…aggression.  I need help here.”

Silence followed and then, “What kind of help?”

Dan explained how the medical center had been ransacked, with most of the vials destroyed and technicians killed.

“Why has the building been sealed off?  Isn’t that a little extreme?”

The Zyne representative sounded aggravated and impatient, but explained the need for utmost security.

“We don’t want helicopters flying around, taking video of the subjects inside. This way, we can keep their appearance and the whole situation concealed until we’re able to take them out and get them to safety. We’ve just got to handle this carefully. Here’s where you need to go to find a buffer mixture…”

Suddenly, the line filled with static and the call dropped.  Dan tried to call back several times, but a busy signal rang in his ear.

He would need to try to call again at a later time. The group was probably already wondering what was taking him so long.

Putting the phone in his pocket, Dan wondered where these directives were coming from.  Zyne?  Government officials?  Investors?  He didn’t want to panic but was slowly realizing that he was trapped as well and wouldn’t be let out until he pulled it together. 

And that wasn’t going to be easy.

Flushing the toilet, he exited the bathroom, only to find Bryan and Rosa standing over Jennifer. She was lying on the ground, eyes shut, a small amount of drool escaping the left side of her mouth.

Dan rushed over to her and listened closely.  She was still breathing, which was a good sign.  “What happened?”

Rosa responded, “We’re not sure. One minute she was standing here with us waiting for you, and the next minute she dropped to the floor.”

With Bryan’s help, Dan carried her to the couch, laying her down gently. 

“Oh my goodness…look!” Rosa gasped.

Jennifer’s face was turning red and as her skin cracked, tiny bloody fissures appeared where the skin was beginning to break open.  Dan peered closely and could almost see the dermis breaking apart.  Underneath, there was slight but noticeable movement as her muscles shifted and her skull changed.  It was impossibility, but still happening…right in front of their eyes.

Bryan suddenly grabbed Dan’s shoulders and pushed him up against the wall. Bringing his face within inches, he spat into the doctor’s face. “Look, we’ve been patient enough. Get us the fuck out of here.”

Dan was frightened by the athlete’s anger, but understood where it was coming from. They were all frightened…and with good reason.

“Look,” he said quietly, “I can’t get you out of here until we find Rick and I’m able to inject you with an infusion that will normalize your cells.  I’m trapped in here too, just like you guys.”

Bryan stepped back in disbelief. “So, you’re stuck too?  There’s no way out?  They can’t keep us prisoners in here…”

“Unfortunately, they can,” Dan said, “It was in the contract you all signed.  Basically, your lawyers agreed to leave you in Zyne’s custody until we could assure that you were healthy and able to rejoin society with your new full head of hair.” He chuckled sarcastically, “This was not part of the plan, believe me. But we’re sealed off and they’ve shut down all phone service and communication with the outside world.”

“Wait…”Rosa exclaimed, “Where are the cell phones we brought? Can we at least try to call out?”

Dan sighed.  “Your phones were taken off property as a precaution.  The Zyne Corporation required that we essentially cut you off from the outside world in order to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the study.”

“Some integrity…” huffed Bryan, but he was already backing off, appearing defeated and frightened.

The group decided that it was best to search the second floor of the building together.  They hadn’t seen Rick anywhere in the vicinity and given the noise they were making, assumed that he would have made his presence known if he was down there with them.

With all of the medical staff now either dead, injured, or missing, they would have to leave Jennifer alone for the time being. As a precaution, Dan injected her with a mild sedative to keep her calm, though he wasn’t sure if it would do much good.  After seeing the surfer turn into a lunatic within a matter of minutes, he figured anything was possible.

In preparation for the search, both Bryan and Dan armed themselves with long kitchen knives. The doctor excused himself for a moment and rushed into his office, grabbing a small pistol he kept hidden for emergencies.   When Bryan saw the firearm, he grunted in agreement. 

The three piled into the elevator and remained silent as the carriage whooshed and groaned, lifting them to the second floor.  Dan felt compelled to provide encouragement though he knew it probably wouldn’t do any good.

“Guys, I promise you, I’ll do whatever I can to ensure no one else dies today.  And, if we survive this…”

“If we survive this, we are suing the hell out of the Zyne Corporation as well as you doctor,” Bryan said coldly, looking in the other direction. 

That ended the conversation and when the doors opened to the second floor, they all felt the electricity and strangeness in the air.  Part of the problem was that the few windows lining the walls were now covered with yellow tarp, so an eerie yellow glow spilled into the hallway, creating a surreal atmosphere.

As they all stepped out, they stood still for a moment in front of the elevator doors.  Silence surrounded them… a tense silence…and a coppery, strange smell managed to find its way to their nostrils.  Dan recognized it immediately.

It was the smell of blood.

Suddenly, they heard a distant snarl coming from down the hall.  Rosa instinctively backed up, terrified of what they might find.  In all of her years working for the government, she had never experienced anything like this. In the past, she had dealt with sickness, contagion, and even madness.  But nothing ever like this.  In training, she’d heard about similar situations and the end result was containment…no matter what it took.  The government was not sympathetic and unwilling to save a few sick souls if it meant protecting the masses. 

They were all sick…all except the doctor.  And she had a feeling that he couldn’t be trusted.  After all, he was the reason they were in this predicament. 

***

Dan and Bryan decided to investigate and left Rosa by the elevators so that she could make a quick getaway if needed. 

Together they crept along slowly, passing closed doors and rooms where they’d slept earlier in the week.  Up ahead, Dan could see that the door to the room Teresa had been sleeping in…was open.

His heart rate increased. 
Damn it,
he thought.
Can’t any of these people stay still?  It’s impossible to get my arms around this when people keep disappearing.

Only, he wasn’t sure if Teresa had disappeared. 

As they peered inside, they both gasped instantaneously. Blood was everywhere.  On the walls, on the bed, on the carpet…it was smeared on the TV monitor and along the walls. But, no sign of Teresa.

“Maybe we should check the bathroom,” Bryan whispered.

As they got closer to the bathroom, the smell of blood grew stronger. Dan pulled out the pistol and pointed it straight ahead, prepared to shoot if anyone or anything jumped out at him.

“Hello?” he called out.  

Silence.

The two men looked at each other and counted in silence…one, two, three…

They both leapt into the doorway and almost immediately staggered back.  Bryan turned away and vomited on the carpet…gagging and choking. But Dan stood in shock, drinking in the horror that now greeted them.

Teresa had been
eaten
.

Her body lay on the floor, flesh torn off the bones in numerous places.  Stringy muscle hung in ropes around her arms and legs. What had once been her torso was a gaping red mass.  Half-eaten organs lay in disarray on the tile floor.  Dan could even identify her heart, a lumpy mess near the toilet bowl.

But the worst part was that Teresa had been decapitated.  Her bald, stubbly head was lying in the bathtub, eyes still open.  The milky orbs gazed out into nothingness.

Dan couldn’t look at the scene any longer. He backed up and stumbled against the blood-splattered bed. Bryan was still gagging and had stepped outside, unable to stand it. Dan followed him out and leaned up against the wall.

Neither man could speak for a minute.  Rosa called out to them, “Hey guys…what did you see?” When they didn’t answer, she started to approach them, but Bryan waved her away.

“Don’t come over here.  It’s not good. Oh my God, it’s really not good.”  Bryan slid down and sat on the ground, putting his head between his knees. 

“Rosa, just wait for us.  You don’t want to see this.  Teresa…Teresa is dead…” Dan choked and looked away.   Things were spiraling out of control. He needed to diffuse the infusion immediately and treat his subjects before he lost everyone.  Not caring anymore, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the laboratory at Zyne.

This time, the phone rang and to his relief, April answered.

“April, it’s Dr. Johns.”

“Dr. Johns,” she whispered “What the hell is going on?  We’ve got government officials crawling all over the laboratory and they’ve quarantined Illusions.  It’s all over the news.”

Dan tried to calm her, “April…please calm down.  I need your help.  Something is wrong with the infusion.  It’s giving the subjects new hair color, but it’s also altering their DNA.”

“I know,” she responded quickly. “We’ve been trying to reach you, but haven’t been able to get though.  All of the mice are…well, they’re dead Dan.”

He sighed and looked over at Bryan and Rosa who were now both glaring at him as he spoke on the cell.

“I don’t have much time.  Please, tell me…where are the treatments to stabilize the cells?  We need to stop the gene therapy now.  And, I’ve got to get these people treated before this gets any worse.”

There was noise on the other end as if a door had been thrown open.  April whispered, “They’ve found me talking to you…we’re supposed to let them know if you contact me.  The solution is in Lab A in the Illusions building…just look for the vial marked…hey!  Give me back my phone!”

Click.

Dan stared at the dead phone in his hand. 

Poor April
, he thought. He had worked with her for many years, having trained and then partnered with her on different projects.  She was kind and attractive, with an extremely sharp mind.  They’d had a few beers and spent time together away from the laboratory, becoming good friends.  Dan knew that April was a genuinely good person and tried to mentor her as best as possible on how to be successful not only in the laboratory, but also in life.  She often sat and listened to him, with her big brown eyes soaking up his words of wisdom.  It made him feel important and sometimes he wondered if perhaps he had a bit of a crush on her.  Knowing that she was in trouble made his stomach lurch and the world suddenly swayed in front of his eyes, in a sea of wobbling uncertainty.