The ABO Serum

One Fucked-Up Summer Camp

Puberty hit early for Ryan. His voice was high on Good Friday when they broke for Spring Break and deep when they returned ten days later. He was the tallest boy in sixth through tenth grades and still in the top ten percent when the rest of the guys finished their growth spurts. He also swam competitively from fourth grade on and ran both track and cross country in middle and high school. He wasn't good enough to imagine a career in athletics, but he had a nice body and the girls noticed.

Three curious stares in the firelight that first night of isolation compelled him to share the reason behind his nostalgic grin. "Angela Miller in the equipment shed at the pool in sixth grade. She was a tenth grader and a lifeguard. She caught me watching her and decided to teach me a few things. I grew a foot during the off-season, and she didn't recognize me. She thought I was a hot and much older new student. My older sister was in her class and also a lifeguard, so I knew who she was. Mo was pissed when she figured out I'd been with her friend."

"Apparently Angela said good things about me because I got propositioned a lot. I got a thorough education if you get my drift, but I don't think I ever had a first love. Ya'know, sex is great and all, but I'd like to know what it's like to want all of someone. My sister got married last spring and I realized I've never felt anything that would compel me to pledge my whole life to another person. I've never felt anything that would even compel me to go steady with one person. I can't even imagine what that would feel like."

After that confession, the conversation wound down and everyone returned to their rooms for the night. Ryan drifted off to sleep still thinking about what it might be like to love someone completely. Carey's stalker, Dr. Martin he'd called the man, stumbled over his lap on repeat a few hundred times as his consciousness slowly returned in the morning.

By morning, the alphas numbered twelve, and the first female joined them. Trina was a little too happy about this development. It made breakfast awkward.

GenLife imported about a hundred scientists to this middle American town, but another two hundred or so employees were hired locally from security to janitorial, to college student interns and lab techs. According to Dr. Alan, who turned out to be the senior and most informed staff member among the alpha group, 30% of exposed rats transformed so they could expect roughly ninety alphas/omegas.

He predicted more alphas than omegas because humans with omega potential were more likely to be unemployed or underemployed in nurturing jobs, while more humans with alpha potential would be employed in high-level intellectual jobs like research scientists and doctors, or physically demanding jobs like security. He thought there'd be more omegas among the janitorial staff, but not enough to match all the new alphas.

Not matching up was the reason for isolation, he explained. Both alphas and omegas got chill when they mated, but suffered when they didn't. Unlike with rats, they couldn't just stick pairs together randomly and eliminate the extras. That's why they wanted to recruit already paired test subjects. But even that was risky since outcomes were uncertain, thus they designed the facility with isolation rooms.

They were just in case, but ninety subjects were too many. The building had twenty-six isolation rooms on each of the fourth and fifth floors around the perimeters, so they all had windows. In the center of the fifth floor was the kitchen and a common dining and indoor recreation area. In the center of the fourth floor were the monitoring room and examination rooms.

For now, they kept the omegas on the fourth floor, but Dr. Alan told them plans were underway to move them to a nearby hotel. GenLife was buying it outright to protect their secret and converting the conference rooms to the necessary exam rooms, &c.

Ryan checked in with Carey periodically. He didn't have much to add. Apparently, Dr. Martin went into isolation immediately after he did. Carey and Daryl remained free because they had each other but didn't leave the facility except a quick run home for clothes and toiletries. They stayed in Daryl's office to keep isolation rooms free. And were frequently too occupied to respond. By the end of that second day, they'd filled every room on the fifth floor and the fourth floor was filling fast. Moving the omegas became top priority.