Brain Dead; A Zodiac Story

❖ Prologue: The First Incident ❖

November 25th, 2009
8:39pm

The owner of a rundown old factory; a scrawny man with ashen skin and several brown patches covering parts of his skin. His dirty blonde hair was unkempt and thin, being stuck upward using gel with a few strands sticking to his sweaty forehead. Dull grey and empty irises; bloodshot while glued to the brightly lit screen of his old computer monitor, while his twitchy fingers right clicked on the cream colored mouse.

Adler, or Mr. Soricis was his name. He was a surprisingly wealthy businessman, an owner of many factories and companies all across the city. All the large, skyscraper-like buildings belonged to him, paid for by him, and operated all by him. If anyone were to see him in such a place like a rundown, leaky old factory, they would be confused as to why he would be there in the first place.

A factory that had been closed for years, due to sanitary issues and many safety violations. Though Adler, being the stingy man that he was, knew that one closed business meant the loss of payment. He was greedy, for both money and power. Even though multiple people have told him that this wasn't the best idea, Adler was too stubborn and determined to care.

So here he was, checking through emails on the old computer that he managed to fix up, his eyes scanning across the page full of letters squeezed together to make words. He could hear a few clanks and grunts from outside, being the workers that he had managed to hire for the dangerous task. As fearful as they were, they couldn't pass up the enormous paycheck that he had offered them.

Adler sighed deeply, resting a hand on his cheek and leaning forward in his swivel chair. He scratched his stubble, pushing up his rounded, black rimmed glasses, with the light from the monitor reflecting in the lens. He ignored the loud clanging from outside the door, as well as a sudden crash possibly coming from the work area.

"Clumsy idiots..." Was all he murmured, scratching the back of his neck as he continued to stay focus on the many emails piling up in the junk box.

He threw most of them in the trash, especially ones relating to politics and more about what the Mayor of the city had to say. There were many emails that he skimmed past, many of them having the word 'Blank' written in the subtext or just somewhere in the main paragraph of the email. The words 'cure' and 'virus' popped up several times, yet Adler only pushed those aside and continued to clean out his mailbox.

He never believed in emails such as those. Always tossing them into spam and ignoring whatever they said. As connected with society as he was, he didn't really pay attention to what was going on with other businesses. He cared about his own profit, his own wealth and stabilization of his various companies.

Adler continued his work in silence, not too bothered by the sudden crashes coming from outside in the hall. He heard sets of heavy footsteps running back and forth between his door, as if rushing to fix something. Repeated clangs echoed throughout the building; rusted metal pipes squeaking and rattling a bit like usual. The air was muggy and hard to breathe in, since the air conditioner was busted and the ventilation system needed to be rebooted.

"B-BOSS!! Mr. Soricis..!" There came a cry from the hallway; a shrill cry of horror and sheer terror that immediately caught Adler's attention.

He managed to look up from his computer for a split second, scowling in annoyance at the sudden shout. He heard a rush of heavy footsteps coming down the hall, getting closer and closer to his door. More crashes and loud clanks were heard from the main section of the factory, where production took place, yet there also seemed to be a set of loud, excessive...groaning coming from the same area. But Adler didn't focus on that, and instead focused on the worker that was continuously calling out his name.