Formaldehyde

Chapter 9

Okay, hi guys, this is Em. As I said Helen has been pretty busy so I'm writing this chapter instead of her. Sorry if this causes problems (can't see how though).

And I know the house/apartment thing is very confusing. I'm going to upload a map onto our facebook page(abnormality writing) soon.

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Nick's point of view

My heart was thumping inside my ribcage. I tried to the steady breathing I learned in yoga. Mel was going to be so mad. Hell, Kat was going to destroy her. My sisters were not people to piss off.

Kat stepped into the kitchen with me following meekly behind.

"MEL!!!" She screamed, making sure Mel heard her. Anyone in a mile radius could hear her. Mel walked out the basement door into the kitchen. She calmly sat down at the table we use for eating. Me and Kat sat opposite her.

"You have to stop this." Said Kat waving Mel's journal in her face.

"No. Science needs to develop." Mel replied.

"But you don't need to experiment on innocent people. Heck, you shouldn't experiment on people at all!"

"Sacrifices must be made." Said Mel coldly. At that remark, Kat was speechless. We knew Mel didn't really care for humanity that much but we expected her to at least have a inkling of sympathy for her tortured subject. Through the silence came a creaking noise. We all looked at each other, it was coming from Mel's room.

"Mel, what do you have up there?" Kat whispered to Mel.

"Nothing. Nick, go check it out." Mel whispered to both of us.

I silently stood up and walked over to the staircase. I sat on the banister and pulled myself up because the stairs are super creaky. At the top of stairs I slipped off the banister and crept along the thin corridor. There were only mine and Mel's room on this floor. Kat's was on the middle floor with the study and sports room. The door to Mel's room was slightly open. I pushed silently open to reveal a short boy delving through Mel's drawers. In one hand in was holding one of Mel's bras(eww) and in the other hand a pair of underwear(EWWW). He brought the undergarments to his face and inhaled deeply. I was nearly sick. Before he could mentally scar me some more I coughed. He looked up and on his face was a mixture of shock and shame. The shock quickly turned into fear. I was six foot and very well built.The boy here however was a squirt at five foot. I laughed at the obvious fear. He dropped the clothes and started to back towards the window which he came through. Me and Mel should really lock that more often. 

"Not so fast kiddo." I said. "MEL, KAT, IT'S NATHAN. YOU  WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HE WAS DOING." I yelled towards the door behind me. I instantly heard running feet as they came to watch the show. They soon appeared at the door, panting. 

"Hey girls" said Nathan weakly. Nathan is their sort of stalker. He's a total pervert. He always tried to give them hugs and kisses. I don't know why he has an obsession with them. I thought me and Matt would be enough brute force to teach him otherwise.

"What was he doing?" Mel demanded.

"Sniffing your... Uh.... clothes." I blushed and gestured at the items he dropped on the floor. I heard Mel gasp and she blushed too.

"You little creep." Kat said with an accusing tone. I walked over to him and picked him up by the scruff of his neck.

"Hey! That's harassment!" exclaimed Nathan.

"So is sniffing a chick's underwear." I said sassily. I knew I must of sounded pretty weird. Normally I'm not sassy but sometimes it must be so. Sigh...

I walked over to the window and dangled his head out of it. "Bye bye." I said before dropping him. He fell onto the window sill, knocking all the breath out of him. I smirked a bit at this as he scrabbled out the window onto the rooftops. I wished him luck with getting down safely. Not!

Me, Kat and Mel all walked back to the kitchen and sat down as if nothing happened. Kat opened up her mouth to speak but Mel interrupted her.

"When you're dead, are you really dead? Undertakers preserve your body with a chemical called formaldehyde. This chemical preserves many of the lifeforms in your body. Maybe enough of them to bring the person back to life. The body won't be fully functioning. The brain cells will be mostly destroyed, you'll only retain most of the basic survival instincts. For example, eating. It won't matter what it is. It'll eat anything, even human flesh."

"So basically a zombie?" I asked. This sounded amazing. Many people who didn't deserve to die could live on. They may not be there well and truly but a grieving parent would accept any substitute for their beloved child. As long as they fed it on time...

"Yes Nick. A zombie." Mel sighed "As I was saying It would do anything to survive. It will have to purpose to live except to live."

"I don't see how this could be even a remotely useful discovery." Kat interrupted.

"Well how about you let me finish." Said Mel angrily. It sounded like she was challenging Kat but Kat let it slide. "So there are many uses for a creature like this. Imagine if a bunch of normal looking people were just standing there and one of them got a bit hungry and starting eating people? What if a mass of these creatures were dropped into a village of terrorists or something? They wouldn't stand a chance. They would all be eaten or severely injured. Understand now? I'm making a weapon."

"The terroists would just shoot them..." Kay said uneasily. I was feeling pretty uneasy too. Mel was creating a weapon of mass destruction in our basement afterall.

"Yes but it wouldn't kill the creatures. It may affect their performance but it might not stop them completely. You see, these creatures wouldn't understand what pain means. We know that it means danger and that something wrong is happening but these creatures won't know that. Their brains aren't fully functioning so it'll be unable to process such things."

"Well this idea sounds all very well and god" lied Kat  "but I don't thinkit's something you should be experimenting on living people and in our basement too. Maybe you should write a paper on it and show a laboratory?"

"No. They'll take all the credit for it. This is my only chance at fame. It would bring in money too. You won't have to take up any jobs you don't want to. You could pick any one you wanted. Don't you want that?"

"Yes but this is the wrong way to get it." And with that Kat stormed off.

"Nick" said Mel quietly. I turned my head to look at her. "If this experiment works and I publish a paper we really will be rich. We could bring mum and dad home then."

"Really?" This idea wasn't the best but I really wanted my parents.

"Yeah. You only have to convince Kat to let me keep doing this. At the mention of Kat my back straightened. I had to do what was right. Even if it meant fighting my own sister.

"NO!" I said, louder than I meant to.

"Fine, but you'll regret this." Mel stood up and walked into basement making sure to lock the door behind her. I sighed. Maybe I will regret this.