The Zombie Effect

by Sampson, Roger

  “What is that?” Cliff asks confused.

  “The micro camera inside the mouse. It’s still transmitting,” Jack replies, not realizing Cliff knows that but can’t figure out why anything is moving in the mouse to begin with.

  “The mouse died almost an hour ago,” Beth chillingly reminds them. They all knew that, but hearing it out loud is like a real-life horror movie suddenly launching them into the nightmare. Chills run down their spine.

  Back in Med Lab, Rachel lifts a syringe from the tray. “Extracting blood sample from the ape’s heart,” she announces to the listening recorder, which hovers above the room like a casual observer. She injects the syringe into the ape’s chest and slowly pulls the plunger back, slowly filling the barrel. She places the full syringe on the tray gently. Movement catches her attention behind her. She turns to the mouse. You can hear a pin drop in here. Rachel stops breathing for a second as if trying not to give her position away to the boogie man. Nothing happens. She turns back to the ape and lifts another syringe.

  Back in the lab, Cliff, Beth and Jack fixate on the mouse’s micro camera monitor. They are trying to diagnose the logical explanation behind the movement they saw. Could it be a malfunction? Perhaps it’s moving from displacing gases. Cliff checks the vital statistics monitor. No movement. This would indicate a malfunction in the camera possibly. “No vitals. It’s definitely dead,” Cliff concludes.

  “But this is circulation,” replies Jack with a hint of frustration in his voice. Suddenly the vital statistics monitor blinks and scrolls new data.

  “Fuck me. I’ve got brain activity here,” Cliff announces. Jack and Beth shoot a look in Cliff’s direction with horrified eyes. Beth’s jaw drops.

  In Med Lab, Rachel circles the ape’s table so she faces both tables from the head side. “Signs of advanced skin degradation and infection apparent. Rapid cell decline,” she converses with her trusty recorder. The mouse twitches. Rachel’s eyes bulge in that direction. She slowly plods toward the mouse. She’s not breathing either, as if that will keep her presence more stealth like. But that’s silly. The mouse is dead. Right? She’s never been wrong about the death of a subject in all her years of science. Then why the fuck did it just move? she thinks to herself. The mouse twitches again. Rachel stops in her tracks. That was not the twitch of a nervous system glitch. It was like the leg moved. Trying to free itself. That is certainly not a twitch. Could she be wrong about it being dead after all? What seems like an eternity passes and no movement. Must have been a twitch. No other logical explanation makes sense. She steps toward it.

  Cliff, Jack and Beth attempt to piece together the strange events that unfold before them in the lab. The brain activity in the mouse they’re monitoring makes no sense. The mouse is dead. Isn’t it? “These aren’t normal brain wave patterns,” Cliff informs them. On another monitor, the mouse’s micro camera signals movement. Something is happening. Beth sees it and her eyes bulge.

  “Jack?” she asks nervously. Jack whips around. Cliff looks up at them.

  “What the hell?” Cliff rhetorically responds.

  Rachel approaches the mouse slowly. The mouse twitches. This doesn’t make her feel better. She leans in carefully, like approaching road kill. Her mask is slightly cloudy from her nervous breathing pattern. A leg breaks free from the pin holding it down, the pin still in the leg, looking like a nervous system reaction. Or at least that’s what Rachel hopes. She stands to attention over the mouse. The leg moves around like it’s trying to stand. This mouse is not dead. “What the fuck is going on?” Rachel spits. The mouse’s eyes open, staring back at Rachel. They’re red and white glazed orbs, nothing like the eyes it was born with. Rachel gasps and takes a step back.

  Cliff continues to study the monitors. The vital stats monitor dances with bizarre brain activity. Jack shoots a look at Cliff and Beth. “They’re not dead,” he proclaims, realizing Rachel is alone with the animals in Med Lab. Cliff’s eyes widen. Beth holds her hand on her mouth. Jack grabs the phone and dials.

  Rachel slowly approaches the mouse again. Three remaining pins hold it in place for now. Rachel continues her report. “The mouse is apparently not dead after all. It’s displaying rabies like symptoms. Eyes glossed over, red eye, bleeding from the mouth.” The phone rings, interrupting her report. She jumps and sighs. She looks over at the phone and walks over to it. As her back turns from the animals, the ape’s red and white glazed eyes creep open.

  Jack holds the phone to his ear. “Come on, God damn it. Pick up,” Jack blurts.

  Rachel approaches the phone and picks up the receiver. “Hello?” she answers.

  “It’s Jack. Don’t do anything. Something’s wrong,” Jack commands. The ape pries the right arm needle free. Then the left. Then the legs. It quietly pulls out the needles. It drops the needles to the floor. The noise grabs Rachel’s attention. But she’s afraid to look.

  “What the?” Rachel inquires with a definite hint of fear.

  “Rachel?” Jack calls from the phone receiver. Rachel slowly turns her head around. The ape stands on the table in an aggressive stance. Its bloody eyes stare at Rachel as if looking right through her. It gapes its jaw open wide. Rachel’s eyes bulge with tears.

  “Jack?” Rachel pleads weakly.

  Jack shoots a look at Cliff with panic like he witnessed a shark attack. Cliff and Beth dart for the lab exit. “We’re coming Rachel. Get the hell out of there!” Jack shouts and slams the phone down. He follows on Cliff and Beth’s heels.

  Rachel drops the receiver and slowly creeps toward the Med Lab exit. The ape stalks her with its eyes. Rachel spies a scalpel on a surgical tray and slowly reaches for it. On the other table, the mouse frees the last pin and wrestles with the needles until they fall to the tray. Rachel watches in horror. She just wants this nightmare to end. The mouse turns to her and glares at her through its glazed orbs like it knows her. Her eyes bulge and she stops momentarily. The mouse darts for her. She breaks for the door, which seems like miles away. The ape launches like a wild dog chasing a runner at Rachel. Rachel screams and trips over a chair.

  Jason walks by Med Lab and sees the chaos happening inside. The soundproof room is even creepier with the visual horror taking place within. He approaches the door and stops. His eyes bulge with the sight of the grotesque homicidal ape lurking inside. Instead of entering and helping Rachel, he grabs the house phone on the wall next to the door. “Security to Med Lab. Something’s happening. I don’t know. Hurry. Fuck no I’m not going in there,” Jason cowardly declares. He hangs the phone up.

  Rachel wrestles the ape. It’s unnaturally strong. It tosses Rachel across the room, slamming her into the table where the mouse was. She grimaces and shrieks in pain. The mouse retreats toward a wall vent. Rachel starts hyperventilating, fogging up her mask. She removes it in a panic. The ape tracks her and lunges. It wildly flails its arms and legs, scratching at her and biting her arm. Rachel screams in pain.

  The door to Med Lab flings open and a security guard barges in with his weapon drawn. Cliff and Beth are right on his heels. Beth screams at the sight of Rachel on the floor in the corner with the ape draped over her like a wild animal. In the opposite corner, the mouse shoots through an open air vent and takes off for parts unknown. The ape turns from Rachel to address the guard. They have a momentary stare down. The guard lifts his weapon up to the ape with eyes open wide. He’s never had to actually draw his gun before, let alone kill anything, and definitely not wild animals. The ape springs at him. He fires three quick shots. The ape hits the deck. The guard relaxes for a second and looks over at Rachel. The ape’s eyes open wide again and it springs up looking pissed off. It growls violently at the guard. Jack bolts in and stops himself like he hit a wall. The guard shits his pants and unloads his clip at the ape. The final round clips the ape between the eyes just before it gets to him and it drops down again, motionless. The guard drops his clip and reloads waiting for the next attack. The ape stays down this time.

  C
liff and Beth race over to the sprawled Rachel. Rachel shrieks and shakes when Cliff touches her. “It’s me Rach,” Cliff reassures her. Rachel recoils and takes a minute to get her bearings. Beth holds her hand tight. They help Rachel up into a sitting position. Cliff looks Rachel over and finds a tear in her sleeve above the wrist. “It broke the skin. Let’s get her to Medical,” Cliff appeals. Jack races out of the room and scrambles to find a wheelchair. He rushes it over to Rachel and they lift Rachel slowly into the chair. Jack wheels her out.

  CHAPTER 9

  The medical facilities at Barrister are set up like a clinic with two wings. The first wing is for minor medical issues and even small procedures and testing. The opposite wing is a secure wing that is used in case of quarantine, infectious disease or other needs with locked rooms with reinforced Plexiglas windows. This facility was built thanks to a Hicks Corporation grant. The fact the company hoped it would be used for weapons testing subjects was something Cliff never expected to happen. But in those days it was best not to look your gift horse in the mouth. The irony of the current situation is not lost on Cliff.

  Cliff and Rachel met in the Biochemistry internship program at Stanford University in the fall of 1986. Cliff was a senior and Beth a freshman at the time and they were optimists in the purest sense of the word. In fact, that is what drew Rachel to Cliff in the first place. Before the lessons of life bent and then broke Cliff’s ideology, he was well on his way to changing the world. They met at a rally where Cliff’s mentor was lecturing on the needs of the mission fields of Africa and South America. Cliff was busted by Rachel “spicing up” the punch bowl to give it a little extra stress relief. It was a very cute moment that led to a three hour conversation about everything from ideology itself to the crazy ideas Cliff had in the areas of mixing biology with technology.Some of those inventions, including the micro bio-camera he even followed through with. Rachel listened for hours.

  They went on their first date the next afternoon. In a world where it can be impossible to meet your soul mate, Rachel knew from the very first night. Not because she was caught up in the whims of romance. Not because he was an upper classman. Not because he was a dashing young man. In fact, he was the opposite. But when you meet someone whose life goals match your own and your paths are heading in the same direction that is something to take note of. The fact that his heart was filled with kindness, compassion and a desire to help humanity was the clincher for Rachel. She fell hard and deep for Cliff and him for her. They were married 3 months after Cliff graduated the following summer. Shortly after that, they received their first national attention from a paper Cliff published on elemental fusion efficiency. That was when Hicks entered his world. In those days Cliff was too naïve to see the dangers of getting into bed with big Pharma. It would take years for him to realize he was better off as a small fish in a big pond. When you’re offered to have your dreams realized overnight, especially at such a young age, temptation is sometimes impossible to resist. Cliff saw only the good he could do in the world with all that money. And good he did to be sure. The cost of doing so much good was the variable left out of Cliff’s equations. Would he still have made the same choices had he known? Nobody knows. Not even Cliff. But right about now none of that matters. They are where they are and there is no turning back.

  Rachel lies on the bed in the regular patient room, pale as a ghost. Beth sits bedside, caressing her hand. A nurse applies antiseptic ointment to the scratch marks on her arm. She wears a surgical mask and gloves, which seems macabre considering it’s Rachel Barrister in this bed. Cliff surveys the bite on her other forearm. The bite marks seep pus through red swollen tissue. “It’s infected already,” Rachel concludes. Cliff tries to hide the worry in his face. He can’t help the sudden feeling they’ve opened Pandora’s Box.

  “Don’t jump to conclusions,” reassures Cliff.He’s as much trying to convince himself than he is Rachel. He knows full well it’s not only infected, but spreading fast and there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it. Rachel smiles faintly through a furrowed brow. One of the many things she loves about this man is his never ending willingness to lie straight to her face to make her feel better. In a strange way, it does.

  “Where’s Jack?” Rachel inquires.

  “Mixing you a wonderful cocktail,” Cliff responds in a warm, reassuring tone. Cliff knows if there is one person he believes has the smarts to figure this out, it’s Jack. Rachel and Beth smile faintly. The sense of death fills the room. Nobody has the nerve to speak its name, but like watching a ship sink without lifeboats, they know they need a miracle, and they are scientists. They don’t deal in miracles. But it’s amazing how quickly you’ll be willing to turn to a higher power when hope seems lost. Cliff picks up a tweezers with his rubber glove and recovers a small tissue sample from the pussy mess at the bite site. Rachel cringes.

  “Thank you,” she says, hoping that something, anything will help. Cliff looks into Rachel’s eyes.

  “You’re going to be fine,” Cliff assures her. He smiles warmly at her and expresses his love for her in his eyes. They have been through everything together, and by damned they will get through this, Cliff thinks to himself. Rachel receives the message loud and clear. She smiles gratefully with tears running down her cheek.

  Back in the lab clean room, Jack opens a plastic case in the freezer. He lays it gently on a table and opens it. He gently picks a bottle of Ciprofloxacin and inserts a syringe into it gently. He fills the syringe, removes it slowly and caps it. He repeats the process three times and places the syringes on a tray. He lifts the tray onto the two-way drawer and pushes it through. He exits the clean room, removes the suit and enters the lab and retrieves the tray carefully from the two-way drawer and places it on a cart. Jason types on a console behind him. “Kinda sucks what happened to Dr. Barrister,” comments Jason. Jack stops and looks up at him.

  “Yeah,” Jack agrees, not wanting to engage him. Jason continues to type without looking up.

  “Ciprofloxacin?” Jason inquires.

  “Yeah,” Jack responds again, wondering where this conversation is going.

  “Hope for your sake it works,” goads Jason.

  “What?” Jack asks rhetorically with a touch of contempt.

  “Just sayin. Hate to see your big discovery kill someone. Might ruin your chances with his daughter,” Jason sarcastically scolds. Jason rises and locks eyes with Jack. That was a hell of a lot more than a shot across the bow. Jack ponders which action to take in response. In any other situation, Jason would be collecting his Chiclets from a bloody pool on the floor for taking such liberties. But Jack gets this is not going to help Rachel. Maybe he’s growing up a bit. Maybe Jason’s right. Who knows? But this is not the time nor the place for this. Jason smirks and exits the room. Jack follows him out with his eyes.

  Cliff enters the room as Jason exits. “Hey,” he calls to Jack. Jack breaks his gaze and looks at Cliff.

  “Hey,” he responds absently.

  “Everything OK?” Cliff asks, noticing the distraction. Jack looks at Cliff and smiles. He picks the tray up and hands it to Cliff.

  “Yeah. I’m gonna run an MRI on the ape and find out what the hell is going on,” Jack advises. Cliff taps Jack on the shoulder, nods in approval and takes the tray.

  “Keep me posted,” Cliff requests. Jack heads out of the lab.

  CHAPTER 10

  The blood analysis lab is a relatively small fifteen foot square workroom with a work station counter, refrigerator, microscope station and blood chemistry analyzer. Jason enters the room and sits at the workstation. He loads a slide on to the microscope and writes notes on the pad next to him.

  Jason started out as a promising young man. His SAT scores were in the top 5% nationally his senior year in high school. He had his pick of more than two dozen universities to study including Stanford and Ohio State. He gave all of that up in order to study at Waterston. Not because it was a top ten most prestigious private university. Not because
he didn’t want a mainstream education. He did it because he wanted to intern for Dr. Cliff Barrister. He worked hard his first two years in order to achieve the coveted position. He held it for over a year. He was the big dog on campus and everyone knew it. He knew it. They say that power corrupts. Perhaps that was his problem. Perhaps he grew a sense of narcissism achieving his goal so early in life. Whatever it was, something started him down a different path. He began showing up late for classes. His ideas in brain storming sessions became banal. For some reason, unknown to anyone including him, he simply started coasting. He was the man. He hadn’t heard the old “what have you done for me lately?” cliché, or simply didn’t think it applied to him. Either way, the grumbling started. And when Jackson Hart was offered a full scholarship to Waterston for his graduate studies, the writing was suddenly on the wall. And for someone so smart, the news that he was being replaced as Dr. Barrister’s star intern came as a shock to Jason. More to the point, it hit him in his most vulnerable place. His ego.

  Suddenly people stopped respecting him. They even laughed at him from time to time. Humble pie is tough to swallow for anyone. But for Jason it was especially bitter. He had no intention of taking it lying down. To add insult to injury, now Jack was moving in on Beth. Taking his internship with all the future opportunities it came with was bad enough. But this scrawny little punk was also stealing his girl. Not that Beth had betrothed herself to him, or even agreed to a date for that matter. But that was of little importance. The internship would have brought her affections with it. So now, it’s on. Can’t be hasty. Have to play the long game.

  Then the perfect counter measure suddenly fell in his lap.ZnMBe. Jack’s big discovery. The opportunity Jason needed. It presented huge problems to solve. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s infected Mrs. Barrister. It would be tragic if it kills her. But that is on Jack. In the aftermath, Jason can ride his white horse in and save the day amidst the smoldering ashes of Jack’s demise. Oh what a grand day that will be. Soon. Very soon. In the meantime, he needs to solve the problem Jack’s created. He needs his white horse.