Chapter 3: Highway To Hell
April 19
Well… I’m calmer now, so I’ll write a little.
Things are getting really strange here…
Yesterday I had a bunch of shit in my mind, and no matter what I did, the images of the massacre were burned in my mind. Even worse was the fact that, as on the first day in this place, I couldn’t sleep well.
Fuck.
Even when I managed to get a little sleep at the dawn, I had horrible nightmares… Nightmare about blood and screams.
I relived the killing of that green fluffy, but this time it looked at my eyes and pleaded with me to spare it… and I just smashed its head with a hammer, laughing as a maniacal; and proceeded to do the same with the foals and even with the head of the HR department, Boris, was his name if I’m not wrong.
I know, it is just a dream… a Nightmare where I had no control over my actions… but…
Well, fuck… I know for a fact that a dream is formed based on something in the unconscious mind. And this place is really messing with me.
And the fact that I felt absolutely nothing about the whole thing makes me afraid of myself… both in the dreaming and awake. I just didn’t care and felt as if everything was normal… it really frights me.
It was just like when I took some strong psychotropic medicine for my depression years ago… But different… My emotions are getting… I don’t know… Dull, alien and estrange in a way I can’t easily convey.
Well, at least I got some good news. Elisa sent me a message saying that we have the day off, and I want to make it worth it. We cannot leave the facility yet, but she said that our every need would be taken care of.
There’s a park nearby and all, but I will just eat something (I didn’t eat yesterday) and stay in my room, maybe I will do some research on these fluffy things.
It’s funny that Andy managed to pass by here, and we are going to hang out a little… of course, I wouldn’t tell the guy a thing about all this shit, he couldn’t handle it.
Ah, almost forgot. They put a curfew on us at 7 PM.
This only means to me that the shadiness of everything is just getting amping up.
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- Chemistry Lab
Boris was calmly walking between the many lab equipment, beakers and flasks with many colored substances that he didn’t care about. His sunken eyes had only one goal, the leader of the Chemistry department, Dr Scott Fields, who was working on some estrange mix in his desk.
Letting some steps of distance between the two, Boris waited for Scott to finish his job; in the meantime, Diana approached Boris with the results of the last test.
“How did they perform?” - Asked Boris, without even looking at his employee.
“Sir, it was different from we expected” - Diana took a look at her notes - “Number 3 and 55 found the mangled fluffy and tried to find help, failing the test instantly.”
“As expected, not everyone can follow simple orders…”—he turned his head—“And the other three?”
“Number 4 and 66 completed the test, it seemed that 4 was going to run away when he saw the mid-preparation milk bag, but 66 made him stay and dispose of the fluffy… breaking its neck.”
“Yes, by his backstory it is really unexpected…and 7?”
“Sir, he performed extremely well… in fact, I think he enjoyed it far too much…” - Diana flipped her notes quickly - “As per your order, he killed 6 groups of six foals with a hammer, but his behavior seemed too unstable during his job.”
“Hum… understandable. So basically we have three candidates for the job now.” - Boris spoke casually.
“Hum… yes. And there was another problem” - Boris lifted one eyebrow after hearing this - “It seems that 66 got lost on his way to the cafeteria and found a room where 7 was… working”
“Did he make any complaint or file any behavior report?”
“No…?”
“Good.” - Boris started walking in the direction of Dr Scott, and with his skeletal hands he dismissed Diana - “You can go now, I want your test to be ready early tomorrow. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
And Diana took her leave of the room, letting the two department chiefs alone.
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Scott was finishing his mix-up when Boris approached him, Boris quickly noted that Scott was so concentrated that he didn’t even notice him coming.
“Good day, doctor, hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Oh, Boris, no, you aren’t” - Scott smiled and raised the flask he was working on - “This is just a stronger version of coffee I have been working on. And it is-” Scott gulped the entered content of the flask “-terrible.”
Scott was young, but he was a genius in his field. That’s why Nix corporation sought him out. And anyone who saw his disheveled appearance and long brown hair would think he had the position he had.
“I came here to discuss project Thanatos with you.”
The light frame of Scoot turned dark when he heard these words, as if it brought a heavy burden with it.
“Boris, why do you want to know it, Boris?”
“You know why!” - Boris small frame shook, he was almost drooling over his own words - “A compound that can enhance the mental capacity of a creature tenfold, make learning new things easy and even improve the physical body! This is a miraculous drug!”
" Look, Mr Boris, I know what you are thinking, but you are wrong" - Scott put the flask in his desk and faced Boris; eye to eye - “This thing has greatly varied side effects. Even I don’t know what it can do and how it works. I just theorized its benefit, but we are years before it can be safely used…”
Boris took a small notepad from his back pocket and raised four fingers.
“Subject one, two-year dog of the Australian Shepherd breed named Brian. The dose was applied in liquid form mixed in its food. It’s intelligence, cellular division and muscular mass are greatly enhanced, It shows a sign of aggression and had to be put down after two days. In the autopsy, we found that some hormones were in great imbalance, but that it would not affect humanoids in the same way.”
Scott’s eyes widened, he already knew where Boris was going as he flipped his notes.
“Subject two; a brown male earth pony foal that was called Juan. His doses were applied three times in a span of a week. In the same way, as the dog did, he had a splendid development. As he grew older, his mental capabilities got to the same level as an alicorn’s, and his size showed how great his strength could get… for a fluffy, of course. Unfortunately, he manifested smarty syndrome and had to be put down.”
They were all the worst fears Scoot ever had, to create something and this thing be used in the wrong way. Boris didn’t care about Scott’s reaction, he just flipped his notes and continued.
“Subjects three; Two Female Alicorns one white and one dark blue, the latter being a runt. Because of their appearance, we choose to call them Celestia and Luna. Both of them were given the same dose in the space of three days, with the substance being in the airborne form. As expected, as they grew, they became bigger than normal fluffy ponies, with Celestia being as tall as a normal pony and Luna just a little smaller, and their intelligence was the equivalent of that of an adult human. Celestia didn’t show any type of side effect, but Luna became more aggressive and furious with the world. We locked both of them in the basement for the time being.”
Scott thought everything was just horrible, but… a subject without side effects… how could this be possible?
“Subjects four…”
“Wait… why this fluffy… Celestia, didn’t have any side effect?”
“You are an idiot sometimes, Dr Scott.” - Boris spoke in a mocking tone, for Scott chagrin - “Do you believe you are the only one working on this miraculous formula?”
“You stole my formula!”
“Of course not, I would never do it” - Boris lips contorted in a devilish smirk - “I just used it as a base for something better. And that’s why we can go for the next step.”
“You fool, you really think you’re going to get scot-free of this?” - Scott had pride in his work, and no one would steal it from him. That’s when he looked at Boris’ hand, still up.
“Subjects four…”
“No you didn’t…” - Scoot couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“What I didn’t ?” - Boris devilish smirk rose even more.
“I… I will tell everything to the ethics committee, they will fire you and…”
Boris started laughing, first it was low, like the sound of teeth colliding, but it soon grew louder and louder, filling the entire room with his maddening voice.
“They will do what? Fire me? Demote me?” - Boris shouted, his dead-looking eyes widened with the fire of madness - “You are just a child, little doctor, I AM in control here.”
Scoot just looked flabbergasted.
“Do you know why I’m here? It is because I WANT to be here.” - Boris closed the notepad, returned it to his pocket as he continued - “Look around, little doctor, we ARE the government here; all these islands are OUR private islands. And we can do as we want here!”
Boris let his lone finger raised and approached Scott’s nose, making him retreat his head as far back as he could.
“I know so much dirt about this company and its owners that I could bury the entire city of New York with it.” - Boris retracted his bony finger, to Scott’s relief - “I CAN do ANYTHING I want here and no-one will say anything, do you understand, little doctor?”
Scott was angry, but he had no choice. It was highly probable that Boris wasn’t lying.
“Now, I can offer you a choice.” - Boris demeanor returned to the cold and dry normal one, as if a switch was pressed - “You can stay working in this company and help me in my preparation, or I could just destroy your whole life’s work. Your choice.”
Scott’s impulse was to reject Boris, to shout at him and say how he should just burn in hell, but he couldn’t. He had a family now, and a young daughter that meant the world to him. He couldn’t put everything to lose.
"Yes, Boris… I… " - It was as if he was barfing daggers from his throat - “Accept to work under you…”
“Wonderful” - Boris reply, his face emotionless - “Now, please go to the room A37; they are doing the final test for the last dose of the substance. We need it done for the application at 8 PM.”
Scott knew what it meant, and he was utterly powerless to stop it. It was all planned, Scott knew that Boris was certain he would comply. He knew about his family. About everything.
“And, Little doctor” - Boris called as Scott was leaving the chemistry room - “don’t delay yourself, today we will use the last and strongest dose we got.”