Prodigal Formula - Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

         Paul Feldman exuded icy professionalism from the leather chair seated at the head of the Corsica Veneer table in BioCorp’s executive conference room.  As CEO of BioCorp, he was joined by nearly a dozen other members of the executive committee who welcomed General Nathan Veers, Colonel Roger Teague and Colonel Philip Alvarez to their den.  Seated at the far end of the table, exuding contempt, was Doctor Ellis.
         “There’s no reason to make this unpleasant, Birck,” Feldman said coolly.           “You’ve had several years here to carry out your trials and I don’t think anyone here could argue against the fact that the results have been…” Feldman shook his head in disbelief as he turned the page on the report in front of him.  “Well, nothing less than a miracle.”
         “You didn’t call me here to sing my praises, Paul.  You called me here to shut me down.”
         “We’re not shutting you down, we’re just switching gears.  Our friends at the Defense Department were very intrigued by your findings in this report.”
         “Yet I have no recollection of sending them that report.”          
         “Doctor Ellis, if the results you claim are correct, we believe that with the proper application, your formu-” General Veers began.
         “The report is correct, General.  And I know what you mean to do with the formula and it’s unacceptable.”
         “I’m afraid that’s out of your hands, now” Feldman interjected. “You got what you wanted out of this and I think it’s time to see just how far this serum of yours can go.”
         “Save your bullshit for someone foolish enough to believe it.  If you weren’t in hot water with DC for your endless failed defense projects, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
         Feldman maintained an even tone, despite his desire to do otherwise.
         “Duly noted, Doctor Ellis.  But I’m afraid the matter is now closed,” Feldman neatly turned the cover of the report in front of him closed.  “Please return to your lab and prepare for a tour of the premises.  Notify Edward that he’ll have guests.”
         Ellis briskly stood and strode toward the exit.
         “Kyle can participate, as well.  If he is inclined to do so,” Feldman prodded as Ellis stopped in his tracks.
         “Go to hell,” Ellis spat and stormed from the room.

         Twenty floors beneath the board room, Eddie and Kyle stood atop a series of balance beams stretching the distance of the exercise room.  Eddie vaulted from one beam to another, taking the path of least resistance and showing Kyle the way.
         “The series of beams progress vertically in a clockwise order from the start,” Eddie explained.
         “I don’t need your help, dickweed,” Kyle said bitterly as he took the first beam. “I think I can manage jumping.”
         “Suit yourself,” Eddie replied.
         Kyle made the first series of jumps with moderate ease.  In six months of treatment, he had gained control over his muscles, then had learned to walk with crutches, then to run without them and for the last four weeks, had begun to draw close a level of performance that was within the same realm as Eddie’s.  Thought his physique wasn’t as impressive as Eddie’s, he stood three or four inches taller and would eventually surpass him in size.
         Kyle turned sideways on the balance beam and visually skipped two beams, planning his next jump.
         “That’s a long jump,” Eddie warned.
         “When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.  That okay with you, lab rat?”
         Kyle tensed in a crouch for a moment and exploded through the jump toward the beam.  Eddie was right.  Kyle flailed his arms to grab the beam or anything else he may come into contact with, but found no hold and began to fall.  Before he had time to pivot and minimize his impact, an iron vise locked onto his wrist and held him suspended in mid-air.  Eddie sat crouched on the beam Kyle had aimed for, holding him aloft with one extended arm.
         “Tried to warn you.”
         Kyle scowled at him and began to try to pull himself up via Eddie’s grasp.  As Eddie began to assist, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.  Eddie had felt the same way before in the moments before a beam unbuckled from a post or a rope on an exercise ring snapped.  He had experienced these moments often enough – and ignored them often enough – to learn to trust them.  He pivoted quickly and lay on his stomach, locking his legs around the post just as Kyle yanked on the arm supporting him and sent his leg sweeping through where Eddie had just been.  Eddie scowled at Kyle who smiled back.
         “Enjoy the trip,” Eddie said and released Kyle.
         Kyle landed with a small thud on the mats below and howled with delight.
         “Grow up, you big baby!  It was just a joke!”
         “Do I look like I’m laughing?”
         “Eddie, you need to get out more,” Kyle said with a grin.  Eddie had realized several months ago that Kyle was the most antagonistic person he had known.  Of all the harsh comments and cruel tricks, Eddie was most hurt by being told that he needed to get out more.  He had very little choice in the matter, whereas Kyle came and went with his father as he pleased.
         “Kyle!” Doctor Ellis barked from the doorway.  “If you want to wind up in a wheelchair again, taking a fall like that is an excellent way to start.”
         “Oh, I’m fine, Doctor Ellis.  Thanks,” Eddie waved.
         “Edward,” Ellis said shortly before turning to Kyle and dropping a key in his hand.  “Go wait for me in the lab and take a vial of the serum from the supply drawer in my desk.  Something’s come up.”
         “What’s goi-”
         “Now!”
         Kyle quickly departed as Eddie looked on in confusion.
         “Edward, I need you to wait in here.  Some men are going to come into this room and they’ll expect a demonstration.  Like the same one we gave a few months ago, do you remember?”
         “The showstopper, yeah, I remember.  What’s going on, Doctor Ellis?”
         “Just do as you’re told, Edward.  I’ll explain the rest later.”
         Ellis left the room hurriedly as Eddie scampered down to the floor and began his stretching regime.

         Kyle rushed into the lab and fumbled the key into the lock on his father’s desk.  He slid the drawer open and quickly located the bottle of serum.  Pocketing it, he closed the door and locked it as Ellis entered.
         “Did you get it?  Let me see it,” Ellis barked.  Kyle produced the bottle and handed it to his father.
         “Good.  Good,” Ellis said as he checked the amount of serum in the vial.  “Four, maybe five doses left.”
         “Dad, what’s going on?”
         “Listen to me, Kyle.  Soon, some men are going to come in here to take over everything.  They’ve sold us out.  They’re going to want all of my notes and all the serum and God help me, they may want to take you, but I’m not going to let that happen.  Do you hear me?”
         “What?” Kyle cried.  “Why?  I’m okay!  Nothing is wrong with me!”
         “I know, I know,” Ellis put his hands on his son’s shoulders.  “I’m not going to let them take you.  And I’m not going to let them defile what we’ve worked on for so long.  We’re going to destroy my notes and take this serum and get the hell out of here.  I need you to watch the door and let me know when they’re coming, okay?”
         Kyle stood in shocked silence and confusion.
         “Kyle, look at me.  You’re my son.  My flesh and blood.  All that I’ve done here has been so that you could grow up to be anything you wanted to be.  Anything and more.  I know I haven’t been around a lot and I know I haven’t been the model father.  But we’re going to do this one thing and we’re going to get the hell out of here, okay?”
         “O-okay,” Kyle stammered.
         “Good boy,” Ellis smiled and cupped his hand to his son’s cheek.  “Watch that door.”
         Kyle stood by the door while Ellis sat at his computer and launched a program that had sat dormant on his computer for years.  One by one, his files were corrupted and deleted.

         Feldman and the military accompaniment stood in the exercise room while Eddie finished his third consecutive five-minute-mile.
         “Most impressive,” Colonel Alvarez noted.
         “He can run like that for several more, Colonel,” Feldman said proudly.  “Eddie, come over here for a moment, please.”
         Eddie turned the treadmill off and stood in front of Feldman.
         “Eddie, what’s 382 times 523?”
         Eddie paused in thought for a moment and looked at the ceiling.
         “199,786.”
         “Our soldiers don’t do a lot of multiplication in the field,” General Veers said.
         “Ask him any question you like,” Feldman replied.
         General Veers paced around Eddie in review.  Eddie followed his gaze uneasily.
         “Son, in battle, one needs to assess their enemy and act decisively.  If I were your enemy, how would you come at me?”
         “Pardon?”
         “How would you attack me?”
         Eddie paused and looked to the others, then to Feldman who gave a small nod.
         “Well, I would exploit my strengths against your weaknesses.  I’m younger and in superior shape-”
         “Not very flattering, is he?” Veers chuckled.  “Please continue.”
         “Younger, faster and stronger may do me little good against someone of your size, though.  You’re taller than I am by roughly five and a half inches and you outweigh me by somewhere between 35 and 38 pounds.  If I were to be drawn in too close to you, I could have the tables turned on me.  My strengths could mean very little if you were to gain leverage on me up close.  Your reach exceeds mine by about four inches, so I would need to rely on my speed to hit you and evade your attacks.  And I would need to incapacitate your legs to remove any advantage your weight has over mine.  I would go for your left leg first because you favor it a little in your stride.”
         General Veers exchanged a glance with Colonel Teague.
         “Not bad,” Veers nodded and turned to Feldman.  “You said there was another test subject, correct?”
         “Right this way,” Feldman gestured.  “Probably in the lab.”
         Feldman held the door open for the group as they filed out of the room and gave Eddie the thumbs-up before disappearing behind the door.  Eddie was bothered by the demonstration, but felt a surge of pride with the recognition he received.  Pondering this, he returned to the treadmill.  He found that running cleared away the stray thoughts that clouded his vision and he often indulged himself with an impromptu jog.

         “They’re coming!  I see them!” Kyle cried.
         Ellis shredded the last of a stack of papers and yanked the keyboard from his computer and tore the cable from the device, dropping them both on the floor.
         “Come over here,” Ellis called to Kyle.
         The doors opened as Kyle backed up to his father and the group filed in to the lab, led by Feldman.
         “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Feldman said, looking around the disheveled lab.  “But I had suspected that it would, so I made certain to catalog and back up all of your files last night.  We can send you the bill for the keyboard and paper.”
         “Go fuck yourself,” Kyle spat.
         “Well, he’s definitely yours, Birck.  Now if you’ll just hand over that bottle of serum.”
         “What are you talking about?  I haven’t made any serum for a month,” Ellis said.
         “Except for the bottle you keep in that desk drawer, right?”
         Ellis gritted his teeth together as Feldman crossed to the desk.
         “I must have misplaced the key,” Ellis said in mock amusement.
         “No worries, Birck,” Feldman grinned, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a key.  “No worries, at all.”
         Feldman unlocked the drawer and opened it, giving a small sigh at the contents of the drawer.
         “Where’s the serum, Birck?  You know we can’t let you leave with it.”
         “You’re done taking my work, Paul.”
         “Am I?” Feldman glanced over Ellis’ shoulder.  “Your son has made such a tremendous recovery.  I wonder if he’d be willing to take a few tests for us.”
         “Over my dead body,” Ellis growled, taking a defensive stance in front of Kyle.
         “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, either.”
         Feldman picked up a phone and dialed a number.
         “Hello, Security?  Could you send a team down to-”
         “Fine,” Ellis conceded.  “Here.”
         Ellis reached into his pocket for the bottle of serum – and found nothing.  He began checking his other pockets before a voice stopped him.
         “You can’t take it,” Kyle cried.  “It’s not yours to take!”
         Kyle was holding an empty lab bottle – and a full hypodermic syringe of serum.
         “Kyle, put that down!” Ellis bellowed.
         “We can’t let them take it, Dad!”
         “Kyle, give me that,” Ellis ordered, stepping forward toward his son.
         With no further warning, Kyle plunged the syringe into his chest and injected the full contents.  The group stood stunned for a moment except for Ellis, who stood once more, with his hands on his son’s shoulders.
         “Oh, Kyle.  No, no, no.”
         Kyle smiled at his father and attempted to take a step towards him, but found his knees buckled and he took a moment to right himself.  His smile turned to a pained expression and he doubled over, clutching his stomach.
         “Do something!” Feldman screamed at Ellis.
         Kyle’s body tensed up as if it were about to implode before he turned his head toward the ceiling and released a scream that resonated within the laboratory loudly enough to shake the vials on the shelves.  Colonel Alvarez rushed forward to Ellis’ side.
         “We need to restrain him before he hurts himself,” Alvarez said urgently, placing his hands on Kyle’s shoulders and pushing Ellis out of the way.
         Kyle, still clutching his stomach, shook loose of Alvarez’s grasp, turned his head and bit a plum sized chunk of flesh from the meat of Alvarez’s left hand.  Alvarez recoiled in shock and horror, looking at the gaping wound in his hand.
         “Fucker... fucker bit me,” Alvarez said in wonder.
         Kyle raised up to his full height and threw a burning glare at Alvarez for a moment before taking his father by the hand and running past the small group of witnesses and out of sight.  A full minute after they left, Feldman’s jaw had still not closed.

         “What do you mean you can’t find them,” Feldman barked into the phone.  “It’s a building with FOUR fucking exits!  Find them or find a new job!”
         Feldman slammed the phone down and leaned forward, resting his knuckles on the board room table.  He looked up at a host of internal security officers, two medical personnel, General Veers, Colonel Teague and the injured Colonel Alvarez.
         “We’ll find them, General.  I guarantee it,” Feldman said.
         General Veers looked toward Feldman in concern.
         “I certainly hope so.  For your sake.”
         General Veers returned his worried expression to Alvarez.
         “Phil, are you sure you’re okay?  I think we need to get you to a hospital.”
         Colonel Alvarez was seated in one of the leather chairs, covered in a layer of sweat so think, he almost seemed gift wrapped in cellophane.  Two or three times a minute, he would be seized by a violent convulsion that left him doubled over.
         “I think that might not be such a bad idea,” Alvarez replied, standing from the chair.  He doubled over once more in pain and clutched his stomach.  A low guttural sound escaped his throat and from deep within, a stream of dark, viscous liquid poured forth from the mouth of Colonel Alvarez.
         “Jesus Christ!” exclaimed one of the medical personnel on his arm.
         Alvarez’s head whipped around and looked up with eyes bloodshot to near red and wild the fury of a caged animal.  Dropping to a crouch, he took the woman on his arm by her shoulders and leaped forward, vaulting through the air and pinning her with his weight against the projection screen wall.  Holding her in place, his jaw opened wide as a wild groan escaped his throat and he sank his teeth into the soft flesh of her right bicep, sending a violent splash of blood across the pristine white projection screen.

         The Outbreak had begun.