Dr. Theora Doe
“Dr. Doe, you coming too?” Asks Dr. Hawkford by the doors to the lab.
“Hmm? Where?” I ask.
“Apparently, Lain is throwing a rager at the cafeteria for her birthday. BYOB and lots of food. Even got a DJ. Supposedly, Command is having the MP’s look the other way for tonight as long as nobody gets too wild. I heard it from one of the soldiers.” He tells me.
“Huh, I didn’t take her as the type for that sort of party. Figured she was more of a cake and ice cream kind of girl. You think you know a person…” I shrug and turn back to my work. Calling back to him I say, “No, not my kind of party. I’m going to keep working. I want to run some tests on those new blood samples. Try not to get into trouble while you’re there.”
“I won’t.” He calls back, shutting the door to the lab as he leaves.
Quickly finishing up on some paperwork, I get up and head for the fridge to take out a fresh vial of blood donated by Lain.
Turning on my recorder, I narrate myself as I work.
“Beginning tests with blood sample from HMTI-1, post-secondary mutation. Subject suggested further testing in regard to the use of her blood for instigating mutations in other targets. Previous tests had proven inconclusive. The recent introduction of Human Mutation Type Fiend, Private Nathaniel Smith -To be referred to as HMTF-1 for record keeping- has reintroduced the possibility of forced mutation caused though the ingestion of HMTI-1’s blood.”
Putting a drop of my own blood onto a glass side, I set it up under a microscope.
“I’ll be starting with seeing how HMTI-1’s blood interacts when introduced into a sample of normal human blood. I will be using my own as the control sample. Adding a milliliter of the sample blood now… The darker color of her cells certainly makes it easy to watch them…
… There are no immediate signs of action from HMTI-1’s blood, their activity so far seems to be normal for…”
I stop talking as one of her cells makes a lunge for one of my own. The black-red cell quickly absorbs the normal cell and then promptly explodes. The other cells from her sample are quick to follow suit.
“An interesting development. The blood cells from HMTI-1 are attacking the control sample’s cells and then appear to be self-destructing. Why it is that they would do this instead of simply…? Wait, something is happening to control sample cells around the areas where the others detonated. They appear to be rapidly undergoing mitosis. They are multiplying at an absurd rate… What could have changed that would cause this to happen?”
I continue to watch as the cells multiply without stop. Eventually, all of the blood from Lain that had been introduced to the sample had destroyed themselves in their attack, but the damage is already done. The sample on the slide is already growing to point that the cells are overflowing. I pull back from the microscope as the blood on the slid starts to flow off of its side and foam. Bubbles rapidly forming and popping as the foam expands and flows down the side of the microscope in a steaming mess.
Quickly, I stand up from my chair and back away from the table as it all continues to spread out of control.
“The infected control sample is expanding out of control. It has already covered a portion of the table and is falling to the floor. I am keeping my distance to avoid infection. I am thankful that I chose to wear a mask and gloves before proceeding… I have to wonder just how much more it will continue to… Oh… oh my. That is disgusting. The blood has stopped expanding and has turned into a black sludge like substance. It smells like… decay and feces. Ah, it’s horrible… Its expansion seems to have ceased. I will need to check to confirm, but I believe that the sample cells have all died. I am taking a sample of the material for further testing.”
Taking some test tubes I carefully scoop up a couple samples of the material and cork them.
“Samples secured. I am going to clean this all up, then I will resume testing.” I say, clicking off the recorder.
Heading down the hall to the janitor's closet, I dig out some bags of saw dust and get to work on cleaning up the black sludge. Once the saw dust has it all absorbed, I scoop it up into hazardous waste bags, dispose of them, and then bleach every surface that the material touched.
Turning my recorder back on, I say, “Cleaning is finished. Further tests with open blood to blood exposure will have to be conducted in a sealed testing chamber to avoid further messes or the risk of infection. The question now is what sort of effect HMTI-1’s blood will have on a living organism.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Heading into the next room, I gather up ten rats and place them in separate glass cages for testing.
“Beginning test on living subjects, I will use ten common rats. Administering HMTI-1’s blood now…”
Going from cage to cage, I will force feed each rat with a sample of her blood from a syringe.
“Sample will be administered orally. When HMTI-1 turned HMTF-1, the process was conducted orally. I will be doing the same, though I personally doubt that it matters whether it is injected or ingested… Administering to Rat-one…”
Observing Rat-one, I watch it as it cleans itself. It doesn’t seem to be all that bothered by having just swallowed a mouthful of blood. Looking to my watch, I observe it as the seconds tick by. It doesn’t take long for something to happen. It eventually starts to panic and then, just simply falls over dead.
“Rat-one has died eleven seconds after ingestion. Apparent cause of death is cardiac arrest.”
Watching it for a few more moments, it does not move, and I move on to Rat-two.
“Observing Rat-two now… Ten seconds have passed, yet it appears that nothing is happening. I will set aside Rat-two for further… Scratch that, Rat-two appears to be swelling up a bit and is having trouble breathing. It almost seems as if it is going too…” I jump out of chair as the rat pops and the glass walls of its cage gets covered in blood and bits of fur. “…Rat-two has exploded… Moving on to Rat-three.”
I continue to work my way down.
“Rat-three has died. Cardiac arrest.”
“Rat-four has died. Cardiac arrest.”
“Rat-five has died. It has for some reason melted and turned into more of the black sludge from the first test. Collecting more samples.”
“Rat-six has died. It has for some reason rapidly turned into a crystalline structure of hardened blood after suffering a seizure… It is rather beautiful looking… Setting it aside to study later.”
“Rat-seven has exploded… Potentially the result of the out-of-control expansion of multiplying cells. I am hypothesizing that if I were to ingest HMTI-1’s blood, that I may experience a similar fate, or perhaps that of rat-five. Fascinating…”
“Rat-eight has died. Cardiac arrest.”
“Observing Rat-nine… Subject has started to twitch and is showing signs of seizure. It may crystalize like Rat-six… Seventy seconds in, Rat-nine is still alive and is suffering from a seizure. No immediate signs of change... Ninety seconds in, Rat-nine has begun developing tumors all over its body. They are growing at an accelerated rate. Hmm? It appears that bone has started to sprout from its body. Subject is coughing up blood and its teeth appear to be growing in size? Oh my, subject appears to be growing rapidly, it is almost the size of its cage. I…”
Its growth suddenly increases as its tumors multiply and even more bones pierce out from its skin like spikes. I go to speak again into the recorder but stop as the rat's growth causes it to be pressed up against the glass of its container. It continues to grow and the glass cracks. I take a step back and flinch as the cage shatters, glass falling about everywhere. Rat-nine, now free from its enclosure, lays on the table and spasms as its body continues to grow. Blood flows from every hole on its body and skin ripping as new muscles are grown and entire new limbs sprout out of its body. Eyes, ears, legs, and tails. The rat continues to grow and scream on the table, limbs flailing about and searching for anything to grab.
It takes but a few minutes for the rat to grow to the size of a cow, its limbs hanging off of the table and bone spikes scraping against the ceiling. On the side of the table, Rat-ten’s cage falls off and clatters noisily to the floor, the rat inside squeaking in fear. Standing by the door and ready to run, I watch as the thing continues to grow and mutate.
It eventually stops growing. It has covered the entirety of the lap table and is now pouring over its sides with layers of flesh and matted fur. Limbs and tumors twitch and pulsate as the thing breathes heavily, a line of bloody saliva falling from its open mouth that contains far too many teeth. So many that it is now incapable of closing it mouth. Its head is massive now, like that of a horse and has several eyes and ears. From the top of its twisted head, a collection of horns grows in a haphazardly twisted mess.
Watching it for several moments, its rapid growth seemingly finished, it simple continues to lay there and breathe, its eyes unfocused and cloudy. Steam is visibly radiating off of its body from the shear energy of so much rapid growth, the air in the lab quickly becoming hot and humid. Even the blood pooling on the floor around it is hot and bubbling.
Taking a step forward, I speak into my recorder. “Subject Rat-nine appears to have undergone a violent mutation… It has grown drastically in size and has developed multiple growths. Where did it get the material and energy needed for such drastic changes? Growth on this scale should be impossible without…” I get interrupted as the mutated rat moves. Its many eyes lock onto me as I approach it and it lets out a squeaking roar, blood and spit flying everywhere as it calls.
I rapidly backpedal away from it as it starts to flail about on the table, fighting to right itself in order to pursue me. The bone spikes protruding from its body scratch and catch on every surface as it moves, carving furrows in the tiled ceiling and knocking out one of the lights.
I stop moving when I realize that it cannot move, practical pinned in place by its own horrendous and grotesque cancerous growths. Letting out a calming breath, I move over to the landline and call for aid and for the others to be brought here. Hanging up the phone, I watch the rat as it flails and calls out with angry blood-soaked roars, thankful that the camera in the corner should be recording all of this.
It doesn’t take long for a soldier to arrive; he curses and levels his gun at the rat. “Jesus, what the fuck is that!?”
“Don’t shoot it! It is a valuable test subject. I won’t have you killing it and getting its brains splattered all over my lab!”
He turns to ask me something, “Ma’am, what-?” but is interrupted as the mutated rat starts to violently cough and shake. It eventually coughs up a mouth full of blood and a glob of what is probably minced pieces of ruined and malformed organs. Its limbs give one last shake before its whole body goes limp and stops moving.
The soldier simply stares at it and says, “Holy shit…”
Pulling up my recorder, biting my lip and feeling disappointed. I speak into it, “Rat-nine has died after undergoing a violent mutation… Further testing will be necessary. Potentially with HMTI-1’s assistance and input…”