The Zombie Effect

by Sampson, Roger

  Jason enters the lab and stops at the powwow that’s taking place. “Jack, let’s test this theory of yours. Jason, run the standard battery of bio tests,” Cliff commands. Jason glares at Jack. Not only is this asshole taking his internship, he’s cock blocking with Beth and has Cliff wrapped around his finger? Hell no. But he’s gotta play the long game.

  “Yes, Dr. Barrister,” Jason responds with a smile.

  “Let’s see what this thing can do,” Cliff says.

  Jason types at the console. Jack and Beth enter the clean room and suit up. Smiles agape. They enter the freezer. They retrieve the container with the sample and place it on the steel work station. They open a refrigerator and claim a plastic container. Beth syringes small amounts of the compound on a large piece of glass split into fifty sections. Jack follows and syringes samples of organic matter onto each piece behind her. They place the glass on the microscope and exit the clean room. Jason types and monitors dance with data. The monotone of the microscope motor whirs silently.

  Jack and Beth enter the lab again and they huddle around the monitors. A light on the microscope control panel illuminates bright red. This grabs the group’s attention. “We got something,” Cliff announces. Jack studies the monitor.

  “It’s the blood samples,” Jack reveals.

  “What type?” Cliff asks.

  “All of them,” Rachel chimes in. Cliff looks up at Rachel and then at Jack. This was not something any of them expected. This compound gets more mysterious with each question they answer. Cliff won’t admit it yet but he is starting to get the feeling this material may be what he’s been looking for. If it is, he’s not sure that’s a good thing.

  The monitor announces “TEST COMPLETE”. Cliff sighs. “Fifty biological compounds and the only thing it responded to was blood samples,” Cliff summarizes. Rachel looks at Cliff like he’s announcing aliens. She’s never seen anything like this, and it worries her a little bit. Beth studies the image of the blood and types on the console to transfer the image to the monitor.

  “What is it doing?” she asks nervously. Rachel looks up at the monitor.

  “What do you make of that?” Cliff inquires. Rachel studies the image and sighs heavily.

  “I think it’s feeding,” she advises, trying to hide her concern. She’s a scientist, and this should be an exciting moment. But for some reason, it’s not.

  “Like staph?” Cliff inquires, trying to wrap his brain around it. Rachel nods yes. Anything that feeds on blood samples is something they need to take seriously, she thinks.

  “But there’s something else,” she answers. She points to the monitor. “These were stored samples, right?” she continues.

  “Yes,” Jack responds. Rachel sits at the console and types feverishly, her brain clearly working the problem.

  “We need a live subject,” she insists.

  “Why?” Cliff asks.

  “This compound isn’t built like Staph. It’s at least part synthetic. But it seems to react to blood in a similar way to Staph. The only way to do a live comparison is to use a live specimen,” Rachel advises.

  Cliff looks over at Jason. “We need a couple of specimens. Let’s use a mouse and an ape,” Cliff requests. Jason scribbles the note on a notepad and bolts out of the room.

  “Have you already run containment protocol?” Rachel inquires.

  “Not yet,” Cliff answers. Beth looks oddly at Jack.

  “What’s containment protocol?” she asks.

  “We never test on live subjects until we know how to contain the material first,” Jack replies. Beth knows the answer to the question but asks it anyway since this whole thing feels surreal.

  “Contain it?” she asks.

  “Kill it,” Jack replies.

  There is a heightened tenseness in the air. This material is clearly a huge find. One none of them expected. At the same time, until they know what they’re dealing with, you have to treat it with respect. The minute you don’t, it could go very badly. Cliff types repeatedly on the console. A robotic arm in the clean room removes the tray from the microscope. Rachel enters the clean room and puts on a protective suit. She unlocks a locker on the far wall.

  “She uses a dozen chemical agents. Whichever of them kills the material, we keep handy when testing on the animals. Just in case,” Jack educates Beth. Rachel retrieves a cooler from the refrigerator and places it on the table. She opens it slowly to reveal a panel of syringes of various colors. She removes each syringe and places small amounts of its contents on the compound samples. Cliff studies the monitor. The compound shows no ill effects from any of the chemicals. Cliff knows this isn’t right. These are toxins being applied to the material. Something should have an effect on it. Cliff eyes Rachel through the observation window and shakes his head no with widening eyes. Rachel applies portions of all the syringes in her case on the compound. Nothing has any effect. Cliff again shakes his head no. Rachel looks at the table and searches for an answer why this isn’t working. She’s as lost as the rest of them. She exits the clean room.

  “Nothing?” Rachel inquires in clear frustration.

  “You try everything?” Cliff asks.

  “Yes,” Rachel replies. She studies the monitor. Her wonderment over this new organism is rapidly being replaced with a more primitive emotion. She’s used to being in control in the lab. She gets the feeling she isn’t anymore. “What the hell are you?” She rhetorically spits. “It’s not reacting to any of the agents. I don’t understand,” she continues.

  Cliff is just as baffled. He types away on the console. The robotic arm picks up the compound sample tray, wheels across the room to the incinerator in the corner. Rachel shakes her head yes. If poisons won’t kill it, fire surely will, she imagines. “Let’s start at one hundred fifty degrees,” she advises. Cliff types. The incinerator powers up, its burners spring to life giving off heat and light. The group studies the monitor again.

  Jack and Beth are slack-jawed at the event unfolding before them. Jack can’t help but to feel a sense of excitement, even though he has to temper himself. He’s never seen Rachel get this upset at anything. That, more than the behavior of this material, is concerning to Jack. But his normal feeling of boredom has been replaced with a sort of Indiana Jones sense of adventure. At least for the moment.

  As the group watches the monitor like hawks, searching for any kind of reaction out of the ZnMBe, it fails to comply. It just dances in the monitor, seeking out more to feed on. “One seventy five,” Rachel commands. Cliff types. The fire in the incinerator gets brighter. The compound continues its defiance. Cliff types again to increase the temperature. The fire burns hotter. The compound stands its ground. Rachel’s eyes begin to widen a bit. “Staph dies at one hundred seventy. Try two hundred,” Rachel says. Cliff types. Jack approaches the window. He never considered the possibility they could have stumbled upon something dangerous. The thought sobers him up a bit. The compound continues to stand. It’s clearly not Staph related.

  “Take it up steadily in fifty-degree increments every few seconds,” Rachel commands. Her goal to find containment protocol boundaries is being rivaled by the sheer will to beat this thing now. Cliff types.

  “Two fifty,” he announces. Rachel watches the monitor. The blood and water boil but the ZnMBe compound remains as if its plan is to beat the humans. Cliff types. “Three hundred,” he announces. Jack looks at Rachel with a hint of concern. Rachel doesn’t notice, her eyes fixated on the monitor. Cliff types again. “Three fifty,” he says with disbelief. Rachel shakes her head.

  “What the hell is this?” she rhetorically asks the universe.

  “What can survive at this temperature?” Beth chimes in.

  “Nothing,” Rachel responds as if asking to explain the Red Sea parting. Cliff types again.

  “Four Hundred,” he says.

  “Nothing,” Rachel responds with clear concern in her voice. Cliff continues to type.

  “Four fifty,” he advises. Rachel an
d Jack’s jaws slip open.

  “Are you sure the temp is correct?” Rachel asks Cliff as if Cliff could have possibly made a mistake. Cliff shakes his head yes, but with the same level of concern. He would so very much like it to be wrong right now.

  “Zinc melts at eight hundred,” Jack interrupts the moment, more to provide a shred of hope than to show off his science knowledge.

  “Five hundred,” Cliff says softly.

  The compound’s dance begins to slow. Everyone’s eyes widen at the hope this revelation brings. “Five fifty,” Cliff says with more urgency. The ZnMBe compound separates from the zinc beryllium silicate and stops moving. You could hear a pin drop in the lab as everyone has stopped breathing, or at least that’s how it sounds.

  “Is it getting hot in here or is it me?” Cliff humorously breaks the silence. The group lets out a big breath with a chuckle. Rachel smiles at Cliff like he just pulled a prank on them. Cliff smiles back, thankful the event has ended. Jack and Beth chuckle and look at each other. Cliff fans himself and chuckles. “After that, I think we’re ready for lunch,” Cliff muses. Rachel agrees. “Let’s do the live test this afternoon Jack,” Cliff continues. Jack nods in agreement.

  CHAPTER 7

  The side door of the clean room opens on the far side of the room and Jason, clad in a protective suit, enters with a pair of cages. One has a small ape in it and the other a mouse. He sets the cart in the center of the room on an exam table and transfers the cages to it. He straps the cages down. Rachel enters the clean room and retrieves a case from the refrigerator. She approaches the animals. “The probes and micro cameras are in the hard case on the table,” instructs Cliff. Rachel opens the case and removes the probe syringes. She carefully holds one of the large syringes and approaches the animals.

  The micro camera probes were invented by Cliff at Barrister. They’re one of his greatest achievements. He combined modern technology in a microscopic environment. The probes use a combination of heat signatures, sonar and HD digital video technology in a probe the size of a pinhead. The probe is injected into the bloodstream and as it circulates an image is generated by the activity around it. With this technology they have been able to document the movement of foreign bodies, viruses and even medications throughout the body and get a diagram from the inside how they affect the body, similar to the theory of the putting Dorothy in a tornado in the film Twister. The probe measures a variety of biological elements including blood pressure, density variations, blood thickness, platelet count, blood flow speeds and nutrient levels. The invention was enough to get Cliff’s name in conversations for a Nobel.

  She injects a cocktail into the ape which includes a dozen probes along with a solution containing the ZnMBe compound. The monitors in the lab spill mountains of data. Internal organ statistics, circulation metrics, and images which clearly separate the compound from the blood and organs. Vital signs scroll on a separate monitor.

  Cliff gives Rachel a thumbs up that the injections successfully accomplished their task. Jack’s eyes are glued to the monitors like he’s watching a tense scene in a horror movie. Rachel approaches the mouse. She looks up at Cliff through the observation window. Cliff gives her the thumbs up. She injects the mouse. Monitors dance again. She bags the syringes and tosses them in a biohazard waste container. She gazes up at monitor feeds inside the clean room. So far there has been no indication of any activity or interaction from the compound.

  Rachel is about to break her gaze when one monitor reveals a darkening hew which is indicative of circulation density change. Something is happening. The mouse squeals and writhes in its cage. Just then the ape starts twitching like it has a nervous tick. The probe monitor reveals the compound attacking blood cells. The blood cells surrender quickly and turn black like the compound cells. One turns to two. Two to four. Both animals twitch and convulse. Rachel switches attention back and forth between the monitors and the animals. Cliff, Beth and Jack appear slack-jawed in the lab. Jason’s eyes bulge.

  The mouse falls over and twitches. A drop of black colored goo drips from its nose. Rachel studies the reaction with a gaping jaw. Jack and Beth eye the action in horror from the lab. Suddenly the excitement of this find is giving way to a more sinister feeling. Beth covers her mouth at the mouse’s horrific demise. Meanwhile, the ape writhes in pain. It flips itself onto its back and lets out a guttural scream of torment. Its chest rises and lowers several times in arrhythmic fashion before it slows and stops. The ape falls limp. Rachel shoots a look at Cliff in the lab. Cliff, mouth agape in horror, slowly shakes his head no to her. The monitors quiet down as if the faucet has been shut off. You could hear a pin drop. Nobody has words. They all stand in stunned silence for what feels like an eternity. Rachel sighs heavily to break the silence. She heads out of the chamber into the clean room where she changes in shock. She reenters the lab.

  “What the hell happened?” demands Rachel.

  “It just took them over and killed them in less than two minutes,” Cliff slowly summarizes. The words leak from his mouth like a doctor delivering terminal family news. Rachel studies the monitors searching for a logical explanation that makes sense. She finds nothing but more questions.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Have you?” she confesses. Cliff stares at the dead animals in the clean room chamber. He eyeballs the monitors. He looks at Rachel with stunned shock in his eyes.

  “No. Jack, you may have the scientific find of the century here,” Cliff expresses. Jack smiles weakly, the irony of a major find that could end the world is not lost on him.

  Not one person in the room wants to deal with the ramifications of this event. The possibilities are both hopeful and frightening simultaneously. The price to do great things is always high, but none of them expected this. However, this material provides a unique opportunity that Cliff can’t ignore. Regardless of his personal disdain for the leaches at Hicks, they will not go away until he holds up his end of the funding bargain. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Cliff knows he needs more information. And he needs some leverage. For that, he needs the people in this room. That starts with keeping their minds in the game.

  “We need to celebrate,” Cliff announces, breaking the tension. Rachel and Jack look at Cliff and break out of their nervous mood.

  “Before we send our report to the CDC, I want to do the necropsy before they get cold,” Rachel advises. Just the words Cliff needed to hear.

  “We’ll study the data and figure out what happened in there,” responds Cliff. Rachel nods and heads for the lab exit.

  “Good work Jack,” Rachel says, patting Jack on the shoulder.

  “Thanks,” Jack smiles warmly.

  Jack and Beth sit at the console and study the data tables. “Look at this,” Beth announces. Cliff approaches them. The monitor broadcasting the internal feed from inside the animals is still relaying an image. Something is still moving.

  “It’s still feeding?” Cliff asks in wonder. Jack uses the playback controls for the camera to replay the last several seconds like using a DVR. He watches carefully and cross references the statistics data. “It consumed all the iron in the blood and then it multiplies simultaneously. The Beryllium accelerated the process so it would seem. It’s shielding the bacteria from white blood cells here,” Jack summates, pointing at a sequence on the monitor demonstrating a compound cell attacking red and white cells. He continues. “It’s still working on tissue. But it slowed down. This is some hostile shit.” Cliff listens intently.

  “Less oxygenation maybe?” Cliff asks.

  “Maybe,” responds Jack without a better explanation.

  “Upload the data to my server for analysis,” requests Cliff.

  “Already done,” Jack replies confidently with a smile. Cliff smiles and pats Jack on the back. He hands him a Dixie cup of Champagne. Beth smiles warmly at Jack and he reciprocates. They toast together.

  CHAPTER 8

  The exam room of the Med Lab is a four hundred s
quare foot glass enclosed clean room with six exam tables, a long countertop workstation and specimen refrigerator. This is Rachel’s primary workspace. She conducts all of her exams here as well as necropsies, like the ones she’s about to perform on the poor victims of the compound.

  Rachel prepares a cart of surgical tools. The protective suit in this clean room is not as thick as the ones in the lab, so her gloves are surprisingly easy to work with. She rolls the cart over to the pair of exam tables which rest the dead mouse and ape. She stops the cart between the two tables and turns her attention to the ape. Both animals have been pre-prepped by Jason, so they are already pinned down to the surface. Rachel reaches above the table to the recorder controls and presses the red “Record” button.

  “Dr. Rachel Barrister, Forensic Anthropologist at the Barrier Institute. Today is July 22nd, 2014. I’m conducting initial post mortem examination of two animal specimens, a mouse and an ape. Their deaths following the injection of a new bio-elemental compound ZnMBe. Death occurred within minutes of exposure. Necropsy to determine cause of death and potential human health hazards,” she dictates. She probes the inside of the ape’s mouth, retrieving a slimy black goo sample and places the swab in a vile and seals it. She places it on the tray. She collects another sample from the inside of the ear and nose.

  Back in the lab, Jack and Beth pore over data from the monitor in front of them. Jack works out the details and points to the monitor. “The ZnMBe compound attacks the living cell. It consumes the iron and then infects the cell. That cell in turn looks for healthy cells to attack,” Jack summarizes. Cliff looks at Jack with a hint of wonder mixed with fear. Out of the corner of her eye Beth spies the monitor broadcasting the mouse’s internal probe. Something moved.

  “What the hell?” she asks, clearly shaken. Jack and Cliff look at the monitor carefully. More movement. This is certainly disconcerting to all considering the mouse is dead.