Apocalypse Fighter

Chapter 41: The Eternal Bug

       Dr. L looked like a big mouse in the dark. His eyes were rolling, his hands were rubbing his head, and despite his misery, Richard was amused by his comical gestures.

       Dr. L’s eyes were wide from amazement, "You are really ruthless,” he said, “and it takes real guts to inject yourself with so many potions! You are having an overdose, though, and now your gene chain is breaking down. If you take another, different injection, you will die immediately.”

       Richard was confused. What Dr. L said was inconsistent with what he thought he knew, and he had never heard anything about another injection. What could he mean by that? – he wondered. "Is my gene chain breaking?” he asked. “Is that why my physical form is deteriorating? Or are you talking about gene degradation?"

       “Don’t worry,” Dr. L replied. “The details don’t matter. What matters is that I will not let you die.  Here is what we will do: First, I will inject you with Lora West’s serum. With that, there is a 90% chance that you will live.”

Richard gave Dr. L a skeptical look but said nothing.

“Hey!” Dr. L exclaimed. “Don’t look at me with such a strange look in your eyes. As I said before, Lora West is a crucial member of our group, and her serum is very powerful. It is so effective that it was listed as a national-control serum. It is a state secret, though, which is why you’ve never heard about it. I’m only telling you about it because you saved my life. In a sense, whoever injects themselves with this serum becomes a part of a unique family!”

       Richard: “A family? What do you mean?”  

       Dr. L: "The serum should stabilize your genes, but from now on, you will be subservient to Lora West, and to anyone else who shares her bloodline. Obedience will become an instinctual response, like eating, sleeping, and making love – and you will have no choice but to do as your told.”

Dr. L seemed to be getting excited as he explained the serum. He took out a test tube and sniffed the sticky, strange, dark red blood inside.

       “No way!” Richard shouted. Even if Dr. L was telling the truth, he was not willing to be in thrall to anyone, and especially not Laura West. He would rather be dead. “If I did that,” he cried, “She would use her hold over me to torture me and my entire family! There must be another way…”  

       “There is a second method,” Dr L. admitted, “and it might be even better than the first!”

       Richard gave the doctor a dirty look and said, “Then you should have led with it, don’t you think?”

Dr. L shrugged as he took out a bottle from his pocket. He showed it to Richard and said, "There are Amoeba inside this. They are one of the smallest living organisms in the world. They are single-celled protozoans with remarkably simple structures. Here, let me get a microscope so that you can get a look at them and see what I’m talking about."

       Richard sighed and said, “Fine, but please hurry up. Need I remind you that, not only am I dying over her, but I am in a horrific amount of pain?”

       Dr. L looked at Richard’s body, as if for the first time, and he started to gag. “S-S-Sorry,” he stammered. He set up the microscope as quickly as possible, instructed Richard to take a look, and continued: “As you can see, Amoebas are a unique type of insect. What sets them apart from other bugs, though, is that they have quite simple structures, and they don’t have a fixed shape. Furthermore, they can live forever. Thus, it is important that we never underestimate them.”

       “How could that be?” Richard was stunned. He had never heard of anything living forever. There it was, though – plain as plain could be. He saw a group of oval creatures. They reminded him of vibrating worm eggs. Every couple of seconds, they split; duplicated. The process was not fast, but it was regular, and there was a rhythm to it – Dum, dum, dum, split! Dum, dum, dum, split!

Richard had never seen anything like it, and in amazement, he asked, “What do you call it?”

       “I call it, The Eternal Bug,” Dr. L replied reverentially. “And there is nothing in the world that can stop it from reproducing.”

       “That’s pretty cool,” Richard said, “but I’m skeptical. Do you really think that The Eternal Bug can save me? I feel like you are f*****g with me. Please, just kill me already. Put me out of my misery. It is the humane thing to do… Don’t let me become a Degenerator.”

By now, Richard was in rough shape. His internal organs were decomposing, foul fluids were oozing from his every orifice, and he was holding on to consciousness by a thread. In the state that he was in, he no longer wanted to live. If he wasn’t put down soon, he knew that he would become what he most feared: a mindless, flesh-eating monster; a Degenerator.  

       When Dr. L heard that, his face turned white. “Don’t say that,” he gasped. “Don’t give up hope. You are the best experimental body I have encountered so far. What a perfect opportunity! Drink the Amoeba culture solution in the bottle. Drink it!"

       Richard opened his mouth to refuse the treatment, but no words came out. He had lost his voice. When Dr. L saw this, he grinned, and he approached him with the Eternal Bug Solution. He thought – If he won’t take it willingly, then I will force it on him!

       As Dr. L approached him, it occurred to Richard that Dr. L had been tied to the water pipe, and he wondered - Who untied the rope?

***

       After injecting the activation potions, Lily Sawyer and Wayne Page had gone to rest in another room. In the evening, Lily got up to go to the bathroom, and she asked Wayne to accompany her, and he agreed. In order to get there, though, they had to pass Richard’s office, and as they did, what they saw going on inside shocked them. Dr. L was holding Richard’s decomposing body and he was holding a vial inches away from his mouth.

       Lilly stepped into the room and shouted, "Dr. L, what are you doing? Let go of Richard right this instant!"

Because of where Lily was standing, Dr. L could not tell who was talking. "Who’s there?” he roared. “Whoever you are, this is none of your business, so get the Hell out of here! Get out, or I will kill you!"

Wayne was right behind Lilly, and they both stepped into the light. When Dr. L saw who was there, he caught a whiff of their odor, and he was relieved.

There were two sides to Dr. L; the side people knew, and the side he kept hidden. The side he showed was timid and kind. The side he kept hidden was wicked and smart, and he had a unique ability: he could smell danger.  

        Dr. L took a deep breath to confirm his first conclusion, and as he let his breath out, he smiled. Lily and Wayne smelled of fear and weakness. They posed no threat to him, and it didn’t surprise him when Wayne put his hand on Lilly’s shoulder and said, “Let’s just go to the washroom and return to the others. We didn’t see anything, okay?”