by <unknown>
At last, the high-caste superior swiped a glance at Sanjae before leaving without another word.
"Mr. Gandhi..."
Sanjae carefully approached the supervisor.
"Sanjae, Mr. Pandit told me a lot of things just now."
For once, the supervisor was not in a pissy mood. Instead, he quickly stated in a serious tone. "Varo's crew who were working the night shift last night had something to do and asked for leave, but I rejected their request."
"Ah, you mean Varo's entire crew requested for a leave?"
Sanjae was slightly amused by this. He was well acquainted with Varo's crew. All four members of his crew lived in the slums just like he did. Their families relied on their measly salary to survive.
To be able to work in Blackwatch was a great privilege for the people in the slums as the company offered the highest salary in the market for even the lowest position in the hospital. Furthermore, the company had a strict policy to discourage discrimination against lower-caste employees. Therefore, many Dalits sought opportunities to work here.
With this context provided, why would Varo's crew request for leave? Sanjae remembered this one time when Varo refused to take a leave even when he caught a fever and toughed it out during his shift. After all, taking too many leaves may give the company reason to fire you and this was the worst possible fate for every Dalits in the country.
"Don't interrupt me!"
The supervisor barked with a frown on his face and went on. "I hope that you can hold out for what's coming next because what you're about to see might test your mental fortitude. With that said, I have high hopes for you and hope that you can stay with us and do your job properly, understand?"
"Yes, got it, Mr. Gandhi!"
Sanjae nodded profusely. He was slightly taken aback, even flattered that the supervisor was not chewing him out as usual.
"If you can preserve and keep up your work efficiency during this period, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you in front of Mr. Pandit after all of this comes to an end. if Mr. Pandit is pleased, he just might let you sign an agreement and officially become a faculty member of the hospital..."
Sanjae's jaws dropped when he heard the supervisor's tremendous offer. He answered without a second thought, "Don't worry Mr. Gandhi, I won't falter no matter what I see next!"
"Good..."
Sanjae nodded his head firmly and left skipping up and down.
After hastily making his way to the warehouse lobby, he went for the old janitor at the counter. "Mister, I'm from the sanitation department and I'm here to get a set of protective suits."
"Oh, the sanitation department..."
The old man squinted and sized Sanjae up with scrutinizing eyes. There was a curious look in his eyes that Sanjae could not make out.
After several glances, the old man got up and went into the warehouse. He took a plastic packet out of a stack of containers and set it on top of a table. "Here it is, sign your name here and you can go."
Sanjae proceeded to sign his name and left the warehouse with the plastic packet in hand. Then, he went to the hospital morgue.
The hospital's morgue was located in a building a distance away from the hospital building. The building was moderately sized, around the length of a basketball court. Inside were rows of refrigerated lockers that numbered up to the hundreds. Even during the hospital's peak period, the morgue had never reached maximum capacity.
When Sanjae arrived at the morgue, he saw several soldiers clad in military outfits with live weapons posted by the gate.
In addition, the entire morgue was surrounded by large sheets of plastic film, leaving only a small passage erected at the entrance and exit of the morgue. A makeshift sanitation zone was set up and connected to the entrance of the morgue.
This meant that to enter the morgue, one would have to pass through the sanitation zone to be thoroughly disinfected before passing through the passage into the morgue.
Sanjae was shocked by this display.
"Who's that?"
One of the soldiers immediately stepped forward when he saw Sanjae and eyed him up and down. "Where're your documents?"
"Oh, over here, sir!"
Sanjae gulped when he saw the gun in the soldier's grip and hastily produced his documents. "May I enter now, sir?"
"Go ahead."
After verifying the documents, the soldier waved Sanjae in and the other soldiers made way for him as well. With that, the slightly traumatized Sanjae paddled into the sanitization zone.
What he saw inside the sanitization zone would shock him for the third time today.
Inside the dimly lit sanitization zone was a man that he had never seen before who greeted him with a strange smile.
"Dear Mr. Sanjae, I'm Joey, a series of Androids developed by Blackwatch. Now, please follow my instructions and put on your positive pressure protective clothing."
The man's voice was completely mechanical. It took Sanjae a moment to realize that this person was not a real human.
"An Android?"
After the Android introduced itself, Sanjae started to inspect the robot's body out of sheer curiosity. There were several Androids in the hospital as well, but they were usually posted at the reception as consultants so Sanjae had rarely, if not ever seen them.
"Mr. Sanjae, please follow my instructions and put on your positive pressure protective clothing, thank you for your cooperation."
When Sanjae tried to step forward and touch the Android, it took a step back on reflex and reminded again.
"Oh, oh, sorry..."
Sanjae nodded embarrassingly. After that, he put on the positive pressure protective clothing by following a set of complicated instructions provided by the Android.
To this point, Sanjae still was not informed of what was happening in the hospital. However, Sanjae knew better than to ask questions since as far as he was concerned, all he needed to do was complete whatever task the hospital appointed to him. Could anything else be more important than the punctually paid, fixed salary he received every month?
Therefore, he obediently put on the protective clothing as he was instructed. Then he clicked a button as he was told and was showered with disinfectant solution.
After completing a set of lengthy procedures, the Android finally announced, "Dear Mr. Sanjae, you've completed the disinfection process. Please step into the door in front to enter the morgue."
"Alright..."
Sanjae found himself slightly embarrassed when the Android was being so courteous with him. In all his life, nobody had ever addressed him with something as dignified as "Dear Mister."
After lifting off a sheet of curtains, Sanjae walked past the passage and made his way toward the morgue. Before he opened the door, he heard a muffled conversation coming from inside.
"Why isn't the next shift here yet..."
"D*mn it, that b*stard Sanjae must be late..."
"I don't want to be stuck with these gross corpses anymore, they must've been cursed by Shiva... I can't stand it anymore..."
It was the voice of Varo and the others.
Sanjae hesitated for a moment but still ended up cautiously pushing the door open anyway.
"Sanjae, you're finally here!"
When he pushed open the door, he saw Varo and another colleague wearing the same protective clothing as he did. Even their heads were completely covered as well. There was a stretcher with sheets of white cloth laid over it beside them.
When they heard movement at the door, they turned around like frightened birds. They were extremely relieved to see Sanjae arriving.
"B*stard, you're late!"
Varo gritted his teeth. "Would you look at what time it is? You made us wait for half an hour!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Varo..."
Sanjae tried to explain, "I arrived before eight, but I had to get the protective suit at the warehouse, then there were all these disinfection processes which made me..."
"Alright, that's enough expla
ining!"
Varo rudely cut Sanjae off. "It's the morning shift's turn to take care of these corpses now. That brat Garava took the day off as well so it's just you now."
"Alright, no problem."
Sanjae was growing ever more confused. He did not know why these two suddenly came to hate their jobs so much. After all, they entered this profession a year or two before he did.
"Keep up the good work, you poor sob Sanjae!"
The colleague next to Varo stepped forward and patted Sanjae on the shoulder. He slapped Sanjae's shoulders so hard that he felt a tinge of pain running through his shoulders.
With that, the two took off immediately as if it would kill them to linger just a second longer.
After the two left, Sanjae surveyed around the morgue and noticed that most of the bodies covered underneath the white cloth bulged up like a mountain. It seemed like it was not just a single corpse covered underneath but several stacked together.
"Huh..."
It only just occurred to Sanjae that he should have asked Varo what was happening and why the corpses were not deposited in the lockers.
Unfortunately, Varo had left.
"These corpses weren't here when I left last night. Does this mean the hospital received all these corpses overnight?"
Sanjae found it strange. He scanned through the morgue and counted nearly fifteen stretchers, which meant fifteen bodies.
Seeing as there was not much else he could do, he pulled an empty locker open and approached the nearest stretcher to check the tag strapped to the deceased's legs. This was his job description - to move these corpses into cold storage so they would not rot until the police or relatives came to claim the bodies.
The moment he flipped the cloth over, he was stunned by what he saw.
He saw three pairs of pale legs underneath the cover...
Three pairs of legs meant three bodies since the common person only had a pair of legs.
"What the hell?"
Sanjae complained. He did not understand why three bodies would be piled up together in the same stretcher. This should not be acceptable for many reasons, whether it was for preserving the reputation of the hospital or to avoid complaints from the relatives of the deceased.
With that in mind, he threw the entire cloth out of the way.
As soon as he did that, he was presented with the sight of a horrifying, deformed, and twisted corpse...
This corpse. No, all three corpses were mashed together like the way conjoined babies did. The heads of two of the corpses were joined together like a gourd while the head of the third corpse drooped over to the side.
Furthermore, their bodies were mixed together and became so bloated it looked like a gigantic drum. They were joined together almost seamlessly; it seemed like they were born like this.
It was chaotic, distorted, utter madness...
These were the first thoughts that came to Sanjae's mind when he saw this. Although there was not a single drop of blood on the three corpses and their expressions seemed completely at peace, he still felt an immediate throbbing pain in his mind.
Sanjae immediately felt like throwing up...
"No, I can't vomit here... I just had breakfast..."
Just as he was about to throw up, he remembered that the breakfast he had this morning had to last him until the evening. If he vomited now, chances were he was not going to get to eat any food until the next morning. He would also have a terrible stomachache and would have to deal with it for the entire working day.
With that in mind, he suppressed the immense urge to throw up.
After suppressing this terrible urge, Sanjae quickly understood why these corpses were not put in the freezer. It was because they were simply too large. The lockers were not designed for corpses of these sizes.
What happened to these corpses? What happened to them?
Sanjae wondered, his heart drummed against his chest.
[ol][li data-annotation-id="6482e188-e3bd-3282-92d5-0cedb6139846"]Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, and Dalits categories of India's social structure caste system.[/ol]
Chapter 536: Infection |
It took insurmountable willpower to stay with these corpses for the entire day.
Although at this point Sanjae had been well acquainted with corpses, he was still filled with an overwhelming sense of dread and disgust when surrounded by them.
Complete, unfiltered disgust.
It seemed like these corpses were still alive. Not only were the corpses twisted, but they also seemed to be constantly twisting and bending Sanjae's mental state. Every second spent with these corpses was torture.
Still, Sanjae forced his trembling hands to move and lifted the cloth off of another stretcher.
Then the third, then the fourth...
Nearing the end, he felt like he was about to lose his mind. He wanted to shut his eyes but the moment he did so, the image of these corpses would arise in his mind. He wanted to forget but there was nothing he could do to achieve that.
It felt like the shape of these corpses were branded into his mind, like a sharp knife twisting and turning inside his mind, driving his psyche to a point of insanity.
At one point, Sanjae passed out...
"Fuse with us, fuse with us, for we're all alone. It's only by fusing into one, fusing into one..."
Inside his dream, he heard the repeated murmur. The nightmare seemed to corrode into his brain and caused him to knit his brows together like he was in inexplicable pain.
"Hey, wake up!"
After what seemed like forever, Sanjae felt the touch of someone shoving him and he slowly opened his eyes. He saw several people dressed in protective clothing and polyethylene helmet staring back at him.
Sanjae raised his hands to rub his eyes but remembered that he had a polythene helmet on as well. After he came to his senses, he pushed himself up along the wall and stared back at them, visibly confused.
There were five of them. All of them were forensic doctors who regularly came to the morgue to perform autopsies.
"Hi there, forensic doctors."
Sanjae bowed courteously. He was slightly ashamed of having fainted and would not dare to look into their eyes.
"What is this, it's working hours and you're just sleeping here?"
The forensic doctors teased him, "How do you even manage to fall asleep in this place?"
"No, I didn't, I wasn't..."
Sanjae stammered, "I was just..."
One of the forensic doctors waved him away. They only meant to tease him and were not expecting an answer anyway. "We'll take it from here, we're going to dissect these bodies now. You can leave now unless you have something else to do."
"Got it."
Sanjae was grateful for not having to get in trouble and quickly left before they could change their minds. He passed through the previous passage and into the isolation zone again and saw the Android named Joey still standing faithfully at its post. It instructed him how to thoroughly disinfect himself and to take off the protective suit.
After he took off the protective suit, he was instructed to not leave from the route in which he came in, but to use another exit. "After disinfection, please head out this way."
"Where does this lead to?"
Sanjae was puzzled by this and looked at Joey. The Android quickly explained, "Dear Mr. Sanjae, according to regulations, after touching the corpse, you'll need to be isolated for a short time. Over the next month, you'll be responsible for overseeing the morgue during the day. At night, you can follow down this exit to stay in the quarantine room the hospital has prepared for you."
"Hold on, I didn't touch the corpses..."
Sanjae quickly refuted, "I was wearing the protective suit the entire time. There's no way I could be exposed!"
"Don't worry, it's just standard procedures."
Joey said with a smile. Its smile seemed so manufactured and ingenuine, it seemed like nothing more than a practiced twitch of a facial musc
le.
"But my family..."
Sanjae still tried to explain.
"We've informed your family members."
The Android cut off his final route of escape. "The hospital has signed an agreement with them and received their permission, please don't worry."
Left without a choice, Sanjae reluctantly stepped into the exit.
At the other end of this new passage was a newly constructed quarantine zone. The walls of the quarantine zone were marbly white and had stamped labels on the doors numbering from one to ten.
Another Android appeared in the corridor and pointed at one of the rooms. "Dear Mr. Sanjae, please enter quarantine room five."
Sanjae nodded in response and opened the door to quarantine room five and he was greeted by two familiar figures.
The moment he saw them, there was an indescribable dryness in his tongue and a strange throb in his heart. These sensations left as soon as they came. He paused briefly, unsure if what he just felt was all in his head.
Sanjae recognized the two people in the room.
"Varo?"
There was no mistaking it. It was his colleagues who had left earlier this morning.
As it turned out, the two of them could not leave and had to be quarantined just like himself.
"Sanjae, you're here as well!"
Varo was a completely different person from this morning. He sat in his single bed and looked around the room with an agonizing look. "We're stuck here, there's no way out..."
"Not stuck, we're just quarantined."
Sanjae replied.
"What's the difference?"
Varo was at a loss. He slammed his fist against the wall. "I should've figured, those corpses must contain some viral infectious disease! Chances are we're already infected."
"That won't happen, we were wearing very expensive protective suits. All of this only implies that the hospital wouldn't simply give up on us!"
Sanjae tried to cheer up his colleague.
"You think so? Why would the hospital care about people like us?"
