The Snipers of the Apocalypse

Doctor of the Dead Part 3

"Catchy." Doc commented as Murphy typed. Suddenly, we all jumped. The file CZ wanted us to watch started playing immediately, the first sound coming out of the computer being a monkey's screech.

Something was definitely wrong with the animal, it's eyes alone told me exactly what it was. They looked exactly like a Z's eyes; milky white and bloodshot.

Clips of chained up primates moved across the screen in slow succession, all of which showing symptoms that closely resembled the virus that was slowly eradicating humanity today. It didn't take a genius to know that they were being experimented on.

"Not surprising they were doing animal testing." Warren spoke as our eyes stayed glued to the screen.

"Yeah, but what were they testing?" Murphy absentmindedly played with the hair on his chin in thought.

"Murphy's right." My voice was monotone as my attention moved to one specific spot on the screen. "Look at the date on these videos." I could hear clothes shift slightly as everybody moved to get a better look.

"It's the year before anybody was infected." I spoke grimly as my friends, and Murphy, processed the observation. "How did they know to be working on a vaccine before anybody was infected?"

I couldn't tell if Murphy had clicked something or if CZ was remotely controlling the computer, but suddenly the videos went away and a different file opened. It seemed to be a personnel file for one of the doctors that had worked at the lab.

"What's this?" Warren questioned from over Murphy's shoulder.

"That's her." He sneered in response. "That's doctor Merch." His tone changed as he pointed one long finger at her picture, pressing his fingertip to the screen. "That's the bitch that did this to me!"

Warren and I pressed our hands to either one of his shoulders as he moved a bit erratically at the sight of the woman that basically altered his DNA.

"Okay, okay." Roberta's smooth voice stopped Murphy from moving as another video started to play.

This one wasn't of the previous primates, it was people. One of which was immediately identifiable as Merch, the other a man, seemingly another doctor, sitting isolated in a cube. Merch was speaking to him from the other side of a thick window.

"Let's start again from the beginning." Merch spoke to the man.

"Doctor Merch, I just got through telling you." The man, who's name was Doyle given the name on the file, seemed agitated, like he'd told his side of whatever story he had a dozen times already.

"Tell me again." Merch also seemed to be tense as she spoke. "We're just trying to help you."

"Don't believe her!" Murphy shouted at the screen as if the man on the other side of it could hear him. None of us stopped him.

"I took the suit off after my shift." Doyle stated confidentially.

"At what time?" Merch questioned.

"7:15, like I said."

"And then what?"

"Tossed it in the incinerator and went straight to decontamination."

"Let's back up a second."

"How many times are we gonna-"

"When you took off your suit, in what order did you remove your items?"

"I followed protocol."

"Which is?"

"Boots. Then I unzipped my suit. Removed it. Gloves."