Evolution

Chapter Nineteen: Unwilling

"What do you say?" Jesse beckoned menacingly at Max who seemed just as shocked as everyone else in the vicinity

"Are you sure about that?" Max quickly regained his composure

Jesse nodded as Max narrowed his eyes on him

Silence settled as the anticipation strangled me, and then, Max nodded and stepped forward "Alright then"

Cheers and screams followed, loud and eager to watch the fair fight about to commence. Max pulled his shirt over his head, tilting his neck from left to right, readying himself. I focused hard, Max sporting various scars up and down his muscular torso.
When Jesse gripped his own shirt to remove it, I turned and began towards the door I had exited hours before.

All eyes were on the fight about to start, not a single soul stood elsewhere from that make-shift ring.
Everything was going to plan.
I hastily moved forward and pulled open the corridor door, closing it quietly behind me. I checked up the hallway, again, not a soul in sight. I hurried through, past the broom closet I had once considered hiding inside. I rounded a few corners until I came to the corridor of the lab, the door with the little window in sight. I gripped my knife in my belt as I moved closer. The air around me was quiet, more eerie and nerve-wracking than I had remembered.
Once I was ready, standing face to face with the lab door, I breathing in heavily and pushed it open. I expected John, or his fellow scientists to be inside, but surprisingly they weren't. As I closed the door behind me, silence followed. My footsteps moved closer to the various tables, equipment, tubes, vials, needles and cork board full of hung paperwork. Creeping forward, a small noise grew noticeable. I was unsure of where to start my digging. My hand remained on my knife as I stepped forward and looked over the cork board full of hand written documents. I began skim reading, something I was particularly good at in high school English class.

Experiment 1, Day 1: 
Creatures do not seem to react to the anti-biotic. 1 vial of Milaris used, ineffective, dose increased to 4 vials, no reaction.

It was a small, simple entry, and the following 24 entries remained the same, only with different drugs and higher dosages. My eyes roamed and then the words began to change as I read further down the board.

Experiment 32, Day 68:
An accidental prick with an infected needle infected Steven with the Creature virus. He began to change, morph. I panicked and injected him with 2 vials of Milaris, it slowed the process. Two hours later, the process returned to its usual rate of speed. I then injected him with a further 6 vials under the instructions of Shaun. 6 hours later, Steven seems to be showing signs of health. His vitals are improving.

Experiment 33, Day 69:
Steven has not turned, his vitals are healthy and we cannot find any signs of the virus in his system. We have found a cure. We have found a cure!

Experiment 34, Day 70:
With Shaun's agreement we have decided to test the theory based on Steven's experience on a healthy living specimen. Tomorrow we will infect a healthy person with the creature virus and then inject them with 8 vials of Milaris. The key is timing.

Experiment 35, Day 71:
We infected a healthy 32 year old woman with the creature virus today and followed Steven's process. 4 hours later, she died. This is very disheartening and confusing for us. We will now analyse the blood of both Steven and the woman and compare the differences to determine a cause of opposite reactions.

The small noise then began louder, tearing my eyes away from the monstrosity facts I was reading. My head turned in the direction of a closed off room, a metal door holding in the noise. I tried to ignore it and continue reading, but it persisted. It was going to give me away. I moved slowly towards the door, still in complete shock of what I had read. They had found a cure, but again, it was with consequence. They were using healthy humans for their experiments; they were infecting healthy humans with the virus. Shaun and his scientists were killing innocent people.
This was the sacrifice I had overheard them discussing.