The Zyne Project Read Online Free PDF Page B

furniture and glass crashing to the floor.
    They both stood motionless and waited. Ten minutes ticked by and the commotion finally stopped, followed by an eerie stillness.
    Bryan and Rosa looked at each other and an unspoken agreement passed between them.  It was time to go in and face the storm that had just blown through. 
    They pushed the doors open.
    Inside, the lights flickered.   It looked like a hurricane had hit.  Papers and folders littered the floor in all directions.  A strange silence filled the space like a heavy fog, filling them both with an almost tangible nervousness.
    It was too quiet. 
    Carefully, they crept along, keeping close to the wall to ensure they didn’t bump into anyone.  As they neared the first office, they could see that a person was lying on the ground in the doorway. A pale hand was resting on the ground and the rest of the body was hidden by a white wall.  Rosa backed up, not wanting to go any closer.  Bryan, sensing her fear, whispered, “Stay here.  I’ll go take a look. If you see anything weird…run back the way we came.”
    She shook her head in agreement and stood terrified in place.
    Bryan took a deep breath and slowly advanced, each step painfully loud in the silent hallway. As he neared the hand, he could see that the fingertips were stained with blood.  In one quick motion, he swung around and looked inside.  The hand was connected to the body of a nurse who had been attacked.  She was lying face down, but blood seeped out from underneath and was spreading left and right.  Her left leg appeared to have been pulled out of its socket and was lying at an impossible angle, the foot exposed and missing several toes.  Taking another gulp of oxygen, Bryan turned the woman over and stared in disbelief.
    She had been mauled.  Her face was nearly unrecognizable, destroyed by its attacker. Both eyes were missing, the eye sockets torn and bleeding.  Long scratches ran down her face in jagged lines and her neck had a large weeping gash that was dripping down and depositing crimson drops into a small puddle on the floor.
    Bryan wasn’t an expert on assault, but could tell that the woman had been killed recently.  Her office was a disaster. All of the hardware had been knocked off the table and bloody fingerprints stained the phone, desk, and wall. Amidst the mess, Bryan noticed that the fax machine had been torn free from the wall and thrown against the floor, but a piece of paper was still lodged inside.
    Picking up the machine, Bryan was able to gently extract the paper without tearing it and looked at what had been its last communication.  
     
    FAX TRANSMISSION
    TO: Nurse May Westin
    FROM: Zyne Laboratories, Corp. Office
ü   Urgent Response Requested
    Attention Nurse Westin – More test mice are showing signs of severe agitation and muscular reformation.  We need to consider a trial termination. Please have Dr. Johns contact me as soon as you can. In the meantime, we’ve scheduled a meeting with the Executive Committee to discuss our findings and assess the risk of termination. 
    It is important to ensure that the test subjects are isolated,
    Error - Fax transmission terminated due to loss of data receipt
     
    Bryan folded up the fax and put it in his pocket.  His mind raced with countless questions and anger boiled inside his chest, but he knew that this was no time to succumb to rage.  There were strange sounds coming from the hallway and with Rosa holding down the fort outside, he needed to finish looking around.
    Emerging from the room, careful not to step on the dead nurse, he looked back. To his relief, Rosa was still standing there, but she was clearly terrified.  She nodded her head quickly as he motioned towards the furthest end of the hallway.   There were several other open doorways that needed to be explored, but this time, he grabbed a large pair of scissors off a nearby table.
    Just in case I need a weapon, he thought. 
    The hallway was empty