Artificial Earth

41

Marble City
Medical laboratory

MARBLE CITYS MEDICAL LABORATORY was located on the fourth floor of a dilapidated building south of Kennebeck Stadium. Standing apart from other establishments, in a remote corner of an abandoned lot, this section of the city is where the Health and Sanitary Services Bureau decided to erect It's facility for those who have passed away.
A long black van with the insignia of a red cross crept silently inside the lot, stopping infront of the worndown structure. Several men, all wearing silver protective clothing stepped out of the vehicle into the pouring rain, opened the rear end of the van and took the well covered remains of Old Ted inside the building. Using a stretcher, the men pulled the corpse along the dark hallway of the first floor. The place was deserted except for the two security gaurds sitting behind a desk at the far end of the corridor, above them, a single light bulb serves as the only source of light inside.
"Goodmorning Chief." said one of the gaurds.
"Goodmorning Jeff...Tod." Wilkins greeted back.
"It's still very dark outside......feels like it's still midnight." Jeff said.
"Yeah, strange weather we're having." the Medical Examiner replied.
"You staying for a while Chief?" Jeff asked, looking at the men and the stretcher.
"Yeah, most likely, got a weird case here." Wilkins replied, looking behind him.
"Okay Chief. Just buzz us if you need anything." Jeff said.
"Thanks." Wilkins said, heading inside the elevator around the corner, followed shortly by the men pulling the stretcher.
Upon reaching the fourth floor, the elevators door automatically slid open. The Medical Examiner and his team stepped out towing along the stretcher. This section of the building was different, soft white incandescent lights on the ceiling flooded the entire hallway, a long black couch with a small table occupied the area near the entryway, several magazines were neatly stacked on the table where people could wait for results from examinations being conducted and a medium size T.V hung on the wall adjacent to the couch. Wilkins and his team walked passed the waiting room and the Medical Examiners office, pushing through an open doorway into a white-tiled room.
The morgue has quite a distinctive type of odor, a spoiled rotten stench that no amount of air purifier could put out. It would probably take years working in a place like this before one develops a certain immunity to its smell or to get used to the stench of death. The men in bio-suits began wheeling the corpse into the stainless steel refrigerator.
"After you finish you can go....The next team will be here shortly with two more corpses." Wilkins said as he walked out of the morgue.
"Chief!" a tall slender man called out from across the hallway.
"Dan.......you're late." Wilkins hollered back.
"Sorry Chief.....Had to use a different route, Bay Area's flooded, waist deep. Had to take a cab on Marlin Street to get here." Dan explained, walking towards his boss.
"I thought they evacuated the Bay Area a few days ago?" Wilkins asked, heading towards his office.
"They did. There are still a lot who stayed behind and refused go.....geez, can't believe it myself." Dan said, following the medical examiner into his office.
"Well...can't blame them. Some people are reluctant in leaving the safety of their homes and would rather stay than go to an evacuation center." Wilkins said as he sat behind his desk.
"Still....." Dan said.
"Anyway, We have ourselves a strange case here..." Wilkins said, opening the case folder on his desk.
"Victims name's Ted Mullins...fifty-eight years old, single. Got admitted at St. Patricks a few years back, Urinary Track Infection....that's about it, no other previous health problems." Wilkins stated, closing the folder.
"Have you determined cause of death yet?" Dan asked.
"Not yet. But I assume the two puncture marks on the neck had something to do with it...victim was bled, dry as a desert. Can't say for sure 'till we make an autopsy and examine the victim."
"I'll set up the scanner, see if there are any foreign objects on the body."
"I'll do the autopsy after you finish scanning him. We're expecting two more stiffs, but we give this one a priority. Murderers are still out there, lieutenant wants a preliminary report asap. "
"I see....I'll call Genko and have him ready the lab."
"Good. We'll also need his expertise in the matter. This is gonna be a long day." Wilkins said.

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Kennebeck Stadium
Station four

STATION FOUR WAS LOCATED ON THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF the Stadium, serving as a communication control room for the military personnels stationed inside the arena. An assortment of various communication equipment laying side by side were manned by enlisted men and officers. Several large batteries were connected to the equipments, temporarily giving them a way to send and recieve messages, allowing them access to the computers. Doug Emerson sat quietly outside the communications room, anxiously waiting for further instructions from his superiors.
"Whats taking them so long?" he thought. "Shouldn't have left Arnold....had no choice...."

Doug was so absorbed by his thoughts that he didn't notice the arrival of several armed commandos.
"Were you the one asking for assistance?" A deep low voice asked.
"Yes Sir!" Doug replied, standing up.
"Where exactly were you stationed?" the Sergeant asked.
"East Wing Sir!" Doug replied.
"You said you were attacked, by who?"
Doug hesitated. "I...I don't know sir..."
"What do you mean you don't know? Did you see the attacker?"
"I....I....didn't saw anything,...Something attacked Arnold....he...he....just vanished, saw a few droplets of blood, his flashlight and gun, called out a couple of times, got no answer, that's when I tried my radio, heard his voice, told me to run..."
The Sergeant stood silently for a moment, looked at his men then looked back at Doug.
"Who do you think took your partner?"
"I....I...don't know..sir."
"Is it possible that whoever's responsible for murdering the Old maintenance guy is also the attacker?
Do we have a serial killer or is this a seperate incident?..And where the hell are the men who discovered the old mans corpse?" The Sergeant thought.
"What's your name son?" the sergeant asked.
"Doug....MP Doug Emerson sir."
"Doug. You, Mp Mcdonald there and Mr. Cobbs stay behind us. Be on your gaurd, got that?"
"Yes sir!"
"Men, Check your weapons....We'll be infront." the sergeant said, addressing his team. "Let's go look for his partner and Mr. Cobbs men."

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Kennebeck Stadium

LIEUTENANT GREENE TOOK OUT HIS SIDEARM and knelt with one knee, hidden from view, keeping to the shadows in a corner across the far end of the hallway leading towards the Majors office. He just got back after looking into a report about a murder, one of the stadiums maintenance crew, and was on his way to brief the Major when he heard the gunshots. The hallway was dark but he could still see the armed men with flashlights in black fatigues and with red armbands storm the office, behind them standing near the doorway was Captain Stuart with an A90 assault riffle hanging on his shoulders.
"What the hell is going on now?" he thought. "Christ!...Did Captain Stuart just...Oh my God! Is the Major dead? This is crazy!" he thought, slowly backing away.
He turned the other way around, rushing towards the opposite direction. Footsteps, heading his way.Moving stealthily, the lieutenant turned towards a set of glass doors on his right side, they were locked. He then tried the other door adjacent to him, luckily it was open. The footsteps were getting closer. The lieutenant rushed in, sat behind a stall and waited. Seven men in black fatigues with red armbands walked passed the store, heading towards the Majors office.
"That was close." he thought. "We need to regroup. This is so crazy! A revolt.....Madness! There are civilian evacuees inside this stadium....innocent people will get hurt in the crossfire. Are they planning to use them as hostages? Madness! What's on Captain Stuarts mind? What is he up too? What does he want? Damnit! I have to get help, get to my men but who can I trust? Pulling something like this, Stuart must've planned this for quite some time....convinced others to join him. Have to find others who are still loyal...the MP's...I'm sure they still don't know what's going on...Who else?....Sergeant Davis, he's my second in command...his elite squad, that's at least fifty. Still not enough. Stuart has at least three hundred of his men here inside the stadium, not to mention another three hundred outside, plus those he converted. I'm sure he has more reserved. Another thing is that, I don't know who else might be involved in this, must be careful. I have to find Sergeant Davis and the others first." he thought.

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Authors Note

Hi there!!! Just finished another page! Thank you soooo much for staying!!! If you enjoyed reading, please don't forget to vote, comment or share the story with your friends! Thanks again!!!