-Activist’s Digest.-
“It would be best Jorden” whispered Devon “If you just let me inside.”
Jorden looked around the supply closet with desperation, the push button lock of the door had held them out for now, but it was only a matter of time before one of them found something that could break down the door.
"Jorden." came the soft voice again. "I can make it quick, but if the others pile in there all at once…"
"They'll be desperate." Devon sighed, "They'll start to eat while you're still alive."
Jorden clenched her hands over her mouth to hold back a whimper.
“Let. Me. In!” The door shook at the force of the unseen blows against it “Now!”
Jorden baked away until she hit against the rear wall and slid down to the floor weeping as blow after blow hammered against the outside of the door before Devon's frantic efforts slowed to a stop.
“Please honey.” came his voice between exhausted pants.
"I'm just... so hungry…"
---
It had all been so perfect, a cause she could believe in after deciding to abandon her parent's faith, a new life, and new friends to replace the family that she had never fit in with.
And then there was Devon. So tall and thin. With his blond hair and blue eyes.
Devon, who always knew the right thing to say.
---
"I only need to take a little bit. Just to hold me over," he whispered. "Then you'll be one of us, you'll belong."
"Shut up!" Jordan screamed, "Shut up and leave me alone!"
For a moment Jorden could hear his soft laughter.
---
Students Against Animal Testing. It sounded so simple when Devon had talked about it.
The demonstration on campus had drawn a crowd, but even Jorden admitted to herself that it was the chance to check out the guy doing the talking which drew her over, but it was the message that brought her back.
The way livestock was housed and slaughtered just to save a few dollars, and the sadistic cruelty that was done to test animals, so often without even any need.
But it wasn’t enough to just not eat meat or use leather, it had to be the personal choice to live a whole different type of lifestyle.
And to make drastically different life choices.
---
They were all volunteers.
Bethany was the wild one, she had picketed the supermart dressed as a cow only because Devon had talked her out of doing it naked. The tall blond girl had become her best friend since she had joined SAAT during her first week of college, despite the fact she had dated Devon in the past, she had supported Jorden's efforts to gain the man's attention.
Big John was Devon's buddy, a dropout from school who had tried to enlist in the military only to be turned down due to a criminal record and his psych files. The big man had driven them here since he was the only one with a car large enough for all of them.
Eddie didn't even believe in the cause, Jorden had seen the cheeseburger wrappers in the trash can of his dorm room. The computer geek had only joined the group to try to get into Bethany's pants, a prospect that had both amused and disgusted her friend.
But Eddie knew how to get past the key code lock on the front gate of the science park, Eddie had known had to get past the electric card reader on the front door of the Naugh Biotech Test labs, and Eddie had known how to make their computer open the doors to the cages holding the test animals all at once.
All of the infected test animals.
Jordan had been nervous as hell after Eddie got them in the front door, she hadn't felt right about what they were doing. She had always felt that animal testing was wrong, even before college, but she felt like breaking the law wasn't the right way to do things.
Protests brought attention and gave them the chance to change people's minds, but breaking into a place just made them look like criminals.
But Devon believed some people would never bother to check up on anything unless you pushed the facts right in their faces, a few hundred white rats and bunnies escaping from a lab where genetically altered intestinal bacterial cultures were being tested would have a million scared couch potatoes screaming at their congressmen.
"Let's see yet another campus protest that gets thirty seconds on the evening news or an anti-meat industry ad with a washed up Hollywood star do as much."
And so Jordan found herself committing breaking and entering at three o’clock Sunday morning.
---
Deacon had been a surprise.
No one was supposed to be in the labs overnight on the weekends, but for one lab technician living on a student intern’s budget, an all night marathon of uninterrupted online gaming on the lab’s high speed internet had been too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Eddie had led them into the server room bragging about his elite mad skills to Bethany when they found Deacon, the coveralls embroidered with his name covered with Cheetos crumbs and a look of blank surprise on his face that converted into shocked fear as Big John pushed his way into the room with a fist raised to begin pounding down on the pudgy man.
Bethany had jumped right in behind him and began trying to haul John off the guy, but Devon just stood and watched, a little smile on his face.
That was the moment that Jordan started to think she had made a few bad choices.
Under John's watchful eyes and with Bethany's attempts to explain how the big man had just panicked and there was nothing to worry about, the cringing technician was rolled aside in his chair and kept under watch in the corner of the room while Eddie started his work.
The program had already been written and stored on a flash drive, all Eddie had needed to do was upload and activate it.
The sudden shrill sound of the electric sirens and flashing red lights caught them by surprise but told Deacon all he needed to know.
"Oh crap," said Deacon as he futilely tried to rise up from his chair against the weight of Big John's hand on his shoulder.
“Duct Tape, just let me grab the duct tape.”
Bethany had to use both hands to keep Big John from hitting him again while Eddie tried to get the suddenly blank screen turned back on.
“Why do you need duct tape?” Devon asked cheerfully.
“The rats.” Deacon with an increasing tone of panic. “The bacteria makes the rats go right for the pants legs before they start to dig in, they can squirm all the way up to your…” the pudgy man looked from Bethany to Jorden, “soft bits.”
That had gotten everyone’s attention.
“Just what in god’s name have you people been doing here?” Jorden had asked.
It took a nod from Devon to Big John allowing him to hit the lab tech again to keep Deacon in his chair.
Eddie had already found a roll of the wide gray tape and began wrapping the bottom of his pants to his ankles.
“It was bacteria from the human intestines, stuff that helps people digest things.” Deacon began to explain.
“They wanted to change it to be able to break down tougher foods, and to break things down better to get more calories from them." Deacon had begun to grin madly.
“And it worked, all too well.” Deacon’s whole body seem to collapse as he pressed his face down into his hands “Oh crap, we are so dead…”
“Should I hit him again?”
Devon impatiently waved John into silence “Explain.”
Deacon looked up and around at all of them, pausing for a moment to regard Eddie’s continuing use of the duct tape on his wrists, waistline, and the neck of his shirt.
"Making it work better made it need to work more, every batch they tested on the lab animals gave them something like a hyperactive metabolism. They had to eat constantly or die. Even to the point they would attack other animals as food. Even the bunnies.”
"So what?" said Big John, "We just stay here while they eat each other." John looked around in surprise at the girls' disgusted faces. "What? It will still make the news, that's what we wanted."
Deacon shook his head grimly as he took the chance to roll his chair out of the big man's reach to snatch the duct tape from Eddie. "The bacteria's growth multiplies from all the food it digests, it ends up migrating all through the animals' system and causes a smell that makes them unappealing to other infected."
Deacon bent over and began to wrap his pants legs. “One of the few things in this building that smells like food to them is us.”
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“Screw this.” said Big John, “I’m out of here” Devon raised a hand to stop him even as Deacon spoke up.
"Let him go. The whole lab locked down from the outside as soon as the system crashed, and the rest of us can head over to the pharmacy while they're eating him."
"Screw you, fat boy, I ain't afraid of no rats!" John shouted as he pulled open the door from the server room.
Deacon looked up from wrapping his ankles and smiled through eyes swollen half shut from the big man’s earlier efforts, “They started primate testing this week, feel free to go play with the monkeys all by yourself slugger.”
“Monkeys?” Squeaked Eddie.
Big John closed the door with a thoughtful air, before firmly turning the lock and backing away to the furthest corner of the room, crossing his arms and glaring blankly across the room.
Devon rubbed his eyes for a moment before getting back on track "The Pharmacy. Why again?"
“It’s sealed off from the rest of the facility, they got some sort of insurance reduction for it. There’s no way for the animals to get in, if we can reach it all we have to do is wait for someone to answer the alarm.” Deacon looked around smugly “and then all of you go to jail.”
Big John’s head snapped up as he began to cross the room with clenched fists, only stopping at Devon’s raised hand.
"That will hardly be a problem, Deacon. I'm sure the lab will be more than happy to drop any charges in return for our silence"
Jorden turned to look at Devon in shock while Bethany rolled her eyes.
Devon gave Jorden a slight smile “Stopping the abuses being done here will be part of the deal honey, but we can’t help the cause from a jail cell.”
“Doesn’t anyone smell that?” interrupted Eddie as he stood and began to walk in a circle sniffing at the air.
Bethany sniffed as well then pressed her arm against her nose “Aw man, that is foul.”
“Where the heck is that coming from?” asked Eddie as he finally reached Big John’s corner, the big man gave Eddie an offended look before noticing that the little man was looking not at him, but at the sounds of scratching coming from the ceiling tile above him.
Big John had just enough time to look up before the first dozen rats came tumbling down through the shattering ceiling tile, clawing and snapping for anything to grab onto before they hit the ground. Their white fur was slick and spiky with some clear coating emitted from their infected skin, their teeth gleamed as they clamped down on the leather of Big John's jacket and the flesh of his face and raised hands.
Even as the rest of them ran screaming for the door, an endless wave of additional rats poured from the ceiling shrieking and snapping at the big man struggling under the dozens already clinging and biting at him as he screamed and struggled to pull free the snapping teeth chewing into his face and neck.
Devon was the last to flee the room, tilting his head to watch his friend's last moments even as he pulled the door shut.
Eddie was halfway down the hall before Deacon could even shout “Other way!”
Jorden shook in Bethany’s arms as she tried to get control of herself, her friend had ended up grabbing her by the shoulder and pushing her from the room to get her moving and once out her hands had been the only thing keeping her from collapsing to the ground.
Devon stood for a moment listening to the shouts and crashes coming from within, for a moment his hand hovered at the handle of the door before falling away at the sudden silence within.
Devon turned to calmly face the four of them “I believe we should head for the pharmacy now Deacon”
“What about your friend?” asked Deacon.
Devon shrugged and gestured for the technician to start guiding them “I believe he found he should have listened about the Duct tape.”
Jorden stood for a moment in shock before being pulled along by her friend's hand...
---
"We'll try going the long way through the lobby, there aren't any testing labs along that route," said Deacon as he walked quickly down the hall with a nervous Eddie staying close on his heels.
Devon kept close to the girls, turning to give them encouraging smiles now and then, making sure they were keeping up.
Jorden was practically being dragged along by Bethany, despite her best efforts she kept thinking back to what had happened and stopping in place, only her friend’s death grip on her hand was keeping her moving.
She nearly bumped into Bethany's back as her friend came to a halt.
Everyone had come to a stop at the doorway into the lobby, Deacon stood in front, frozen at the sight before him.
The black and white lop ear rabbit's fur was coated in the same thick fluid leaking from its skin as the rats had been, what's more, the thinned and patchy coat showed its ribs clearly underneath its pale thin skin. The rabbit's head was turned at an odd angle to peer up at the group, its dark eyes slowly weeping out a black gooey stream of something from the corner of its eye. With a quiver of its whole body, the creature gave up its examination and began beating the ground with one of its back feet...
"Crap!" Yelped Deacon as he turned and pushed back through the doorway, a worried looking Eddie turned to follow him before meeting Bethany's eyes and coming to a halt.
With an effort, the little hacker straightened up and grinned “It’s just a bunny, I’ll take care of it” and turned with three quick steps across the room to field kick the infected rabbit across the lobby and down the opposite hallway.
The broken and kicking animal slid right into the faces of the dozens of other infected rabbits that had come hurrying toward the sound of the thumping.
For a moment Eddie stared at the rabbits and the rabbits stared at Eddie.
Then they began to race across the room.
---
Jorden tried to tell herself that Eddie would have been caught either way.
Devon let first Deacon then Jorden and Bethany get past him as she shouted for Eddie to run.
If Jorden hadn't looked back in concern for both of them, she wouldn't have seen Devon punch his elbow back into Eddie's face, sending the little man reeling back off his feet and tumbling down to the ground.
Trying to keep on her feet under the constant pull of Bethany’s hand kept her from seeing the rest, but she could hear it.
Bethany never looked back.
The rabbits didn’t chase them any further.
They would have gotten Eddie anyways, and this way it was only Eddie.
She tried to tell herself that it made it alright.
---
Deacon slammed the door shut to the first room they reached just behind Devon as he raced through, for a moment it didn't look like the technician was going to wait for Devon.
Did he see it as well?
Bethany looked at her oddly "See what?"
Did I say that out loud?
Bethany took her face in her hands “Yes, you did sweetie. Try to keep it together. Okay?”
---
Deacon leaned back against the door and pointed into a room filled with partitioned workspaces, “The Pharmacy is in the hallway outside the door on the far side.”
“I smell that smell again” Whispered Jorden.
For a moment the other three stood looking at her before Bethany suddenly perked up with an evil grin and stomped across the room, snatching up a pod coffee machine on the way before smashing it into the glass panel over the fire extinguisher.
As she pulled the red cylinder out, Devon began to raise a hand as if to give some order to her before she turned and gave him a sternly raised eyebrow as she pulled the pin free, Devon gave her a crooked smile in return.
“Deacon, make sure my friend keeps up. Devon, take the rear” Bethany gave Devon a sharp look. “This time make sure no one gets left behind.”
They were halfway across the room before the first one leaped from the floor to the edge of a partition, its lanky body stained and gleaming with the infection, its teeth barred as it hissed at them.
It was one of the monkeys they had been warned about, its whole body twitching with spasms from the bacteria still taking hold of it, infecting its nerves and muscles.
It made the animal clumsy, but it also kept Jorden and the others alive.
The first monkey they saw got a face full of white dust from the extinguisher, sending it tumbling and screaming off the cubical wall.
The next few leaped away in a panic as Bethany gave one side of the room a wide blast.
The spray from the extinguisher quickly filled the room with a low murky fog, the last wave came in low as the group finally reached the door, one leaped to cling on to Devon’s back just before Deacon could slam shut the door to the room.
Bethany’s two handed swing of the red cylinder sent the creature sailing down the hall, nearly taking Devon’s head along with it.
“Quick, inside” urged Deacon as they finally reached a place of safety.
---
All four of them had sat quietly in exhaustion, from time to time one of the infected creatures came and scratched at the thick glass door of the pharmacy before their ceaseless hunger forced them to abandon their efforts and seek sustenance elsewhere.
Still, the next sudden heavy thump against the door came as a surprise to all of them.
“Bastards!” Screamed Big John.
The big man's face and hands were covered in small bites and deep scratches. All of his clothing and especially his boots were smeared with blood and bits of tattered white fur.
The bacteria had already begun to color the moisture leaking from his eyes.
"You left me to die Dev!" screamed John as he began to slam his fist into the door, each pounding leaving another smear of his oozing skin against the glass. "Kill all of you!"
For once Jorden saw Devon at a loss for words.
Big John pressed hard against the door, his face flattened against the glass leaving a greasy smear as he sniffed hard at the edge of the door frame before pulling his face away and looking in through the glass at each one of them in turn.
“I’ll save you for last Dev, first the fat man, then your discard, then the fresh meat.” John licked his lips and lingered as he repeated the words. “Fresh. Meat.”
The big man tapped his fingers against the glass. “Thick. I’ll need something to crack it open.” John looked back at Devon with a teeth baring smile “Be right back, Don’t go anywhere.”
There was a moment of brief silence before Devon was on his feet yelling and lifting Deacon by his collar. "What the Hell? Why is he like that? He was fine a half hour ago."
Deacon struggled for a moment in Deacon's grip before pushing the larger man off of him across the room, sending plastic bins and bottles tumbling from the countertop. "Maybe because you left him to die you pretentious twit!”
Bethany snorted and covered her mouth before offering another explanation "And maybe the bacteria can be spread by bodily fluids, like rat saliva. Looks like he got enough of it."
Deacon glared at Devon before nodding “It can infect any number of ways, blood, spit, sexual transmission, or even direct ejection.”
Devon looked down at the floor. “Are there samples of the bacteria in here?”
Deacon gave him a confused look before realizing what Devon was thinking "No, no way. Every time they tried to kill off the bacteria in a host it killed the animal too."
Devon looked up with a smile. "But they probably let the infection run its course and fully infect the test animals, we only need to smell like something other than food for a few hours until help arrives, then they can cure us.”
Jorden was surprised when her friend Bethany agreed “It won’t take Big John all that much time to break down the door, and even if we can hold him off, everything else will come running.”
Deacon was still shaking his head when Bethany stepped up to him and laid her hands on his chest, "Please, I don't want to die. Even if you can't take the risk of infecting yourself, let the rest of us have an option."
Jorden rolled her eye as Deacon looked up at her friend as if hypnotized and swallowed nervously “Ye-yeah okay.”
Jorden watched over his shoulder as the technician quickly filled three syringes from a bottle from a fridge and laid them out on a tray before looking up at them "I can inject you, but then you have to head out and keep moving until your sweat gets the smell because there is no way I'm staying in here in three people who are going to be looking at me like an all you can eat buffet.”
“Two”
Bethany and Devon looked over at Jorden.
“I’m not going to do this, I’m not going to let myself become like John.”
Devon stepped closer as he tried to reason with her "Honey let's talk about..."
“No!” Jorden shouted “We can’t do this. Bethany please?” she asked as she held her hand out to her friend.
Bethany hesitated “Sweetie I…”
Devon grunted as he pushed down the plunger and then pulled the syringe from his arm, letting it fall to the ground as a thin trail of blood ran down his arm. Even as they turned to look at him he snatched up the other two syringes and held them pointed outward between him and the rest. “The rest of you can stay, or go, but I’m staying here and anyone who even thinks about throwing me out is going to get ten cc’s of the Naugh Biotech lab’s best.”
Bethany bit her lower lip for a moment before giving Jorden a sad shake of her head and stepping around to present her arm to Devon.
Deacon stood and glared at Devon for a moment before he stepped over to the door. “Jerk.”
"Come or stay, decide now," said Deacon over his should before he cracked the door open to look into the hall. Without a look back at her he slipped outside the room.
As Jorden followed Bethany spoke out one last time "If you see me again Jorden, you can't trust me" She tilted her head at Devon. "You can't trust anyone."
---
“Where are we going?” asked Jorden.
Deacon shook his head at her while holding one upright finger in front of his lips "The only other room fortified enough to keep everyone out. The office supply closet" He grinned for a moment and held up a small brass colored key, "I made a copy"
The widening of her eyes was his only warning before the metal bar slammed into his shoulder, the force of the blow throwing him into the wall with a shout of pain and sending the key flying from his hand.
"Got you now!" shouted Big John as he raise the metal pole into the air for another swing. Bits of plaster from the bathroom wall were still stuck to the screws on the curved end of the metal bar from the handicapped stall.
Deacon pushed himself from the wall to send his wounded shoulder into Big John's chest, knocking the man back for a moment. "Get the door open, I'll be right behind you," Deacon told her before turning to kick Big John in the shin, causing a brief expression of annoyance to cross the big man's face.
Jorden snatched the key from the floor and raced down the hall. She looked around wildly, just around the corner was the door neatly labeled “Office Supplies”, it took her three tries to get the key in the lock before she could open the door and stumble through.
Jorden could hear nothing from around the corner, her nerves made her whole body shake as she waited and hoped for Deacon to come running around the corner, but it was the metal bar dripping fresh blood held by the hand covered in weeping open wounds of Big John that came into sight first.
"Hello. Honey."
The big man didn’t even try to stop her from closing the door, he just stood there laughing at her as she frantically pushed the door shut and turned the lock.
"No worries Fresh Meat." came John's voice through the door. "I already said you come third, I won't be back for you for hours."
She could hear his laughter for quick some time.
But it was Bethany who came for her.
---
“Sweetie, let me in.”
No, no, no.
"It's alright. It didn't affect us like it did John."
No, no, no.
"I think it had something to do with how the bacteria is supposed to be in humans, so it doesn't affect us like it does the animals. Not unless you get it from a bite like John did."
No, no, no.
"Sweetie… you're speaking out loud again."
“…”
“It’s okay sweetie. I’ll try to find something to open the door, and then we can make you all better. Make you so you don’t have anything to be afraid of anymore.”
“I’ll be right back.”
---
“Honey”
Jorden whimpered at the sound of Devon’s voice.
"She's lying, we're just like john. She tracked you down by smell, the smell of your flesh."
Jorden stared at the door.
“I can feel the hunger already, but I can still think, I am still me.”
Jorden covered her ears.
“If she gets the door open. She is going to eat you.”
Jorden closed her eyes.
“And by the time she gets back. I may not want to stop her.”
Jorden tried not to hear.
“Let me help you while I can Jorden”
Jorden looked up at the door and whispered bitterly "How can you help me, Devon? Like you helped John, or like you helped Eddie."
There was silence for a moment before Devon spoke again "Oh Christ Honey, yes. Just like them, all I can do is help you die. A cleaner death than the others, a better death than getting eaten by your own friends"
Jorden stared at the door in horror.
“I filled a syringe with a lethal dose of tranquilizer, all you have to do is open the door and take it and you’ll drift off to sleep in seconds. Then your heart will stop long before we can get inside.”
“No!”
“Please Honey, it’s the only way I can help you.”
“No! Bethany’s coming for me, we’re going to get out. The only reason you want me to die is because I saw what you did to Eddie.”
Devon chuckled. “That is one theory honey, or maybe I just want you to open the door so I don’t have to share my meal.”
The light at the bottom of the door went dark as a small plastic syringe rolled into the room from the narrow crack below the door.
“Maybe the syringe holds just enough tranquilizer to put you to sleep so you don’t struggle after we get in, or maybe it holds the bacteria which can make you safe.”
“There is no way of knowing unless you use it.”
“It would be best Jorden” whispered Devon “If you just let me inside.”
---
Jorden sat on the floor, the syringe held before her in the palm of her hand.
Bethany had found a fire ax in the stairwell.
It would only take a little longer for her to cut a hole through the door big enough to reach in and turn the lock.
She only had moments to inject herself.
Or she could wait.
Soon Bethany’s arm was through the door, feeling around for the lock.
Jorden pulled the cap away from the tip of the syringe and looked down at the tip of the needle.
Jorden stabbed in the needle and pushed the plunger down into Bethany's arm that she held pinned down between her shoulder and the door.
She plunged half the syringe down before Bethany pulled her arm loose with a scream.
Devon laughed.
Then he screamed as the Tazer hit him.
---
The men in the yellow bio-hazard suits were taking no chances.
As soon as they got the door open to the supply closet they shot her with the same type of Tazer gun that they had used on Devon.
She woke up in her apartment two days later, with the marks from an I.V. needle still fresh in her arm.
The newspapers reported Devon, Bethany, Big John and Eddie having died in the same fire that destroyed Naugh Biotech labs. A fire caused by the animal rights group SAAT.
The Accelerlife dietary supplement began being stocked in stores two years later. The capsule was guarantied to give you more energy from a healthy diet and help break down and absorbs unhealthy foods that could cause weight gain.
Jorden had a little breakdown in the store when she read the warning label for possible side effects. "May cause increased appetite."
Her family says she is resting comfortably and is feeling much better now.