Solving for X by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

Opening the doors to the laboratory brought an immediate assault to the nose. The overbearing caustic smells of chemicals irritated his eyes and nose and were foreign enough to threaten sneezing. He was afraid that if he breathed too deeply, it would burn his throat as well. Despite the fear of allergy, he found the colorful, bubbling liquids fascinating. He took a step closer to get a better look at one particular beaker.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Startled, he whipped around to find a young woman his age in a lab coat. Each assessed the other. Stances tense and ready, their eyes met with a distrustful challenge. “Unless you’re interested in being unable to see.” She smirked. “In which case, by all means. Come on into our labs as you like and mess with whatever you see fit.”

“I’m with…” Garrett turned to point, only to discover his group already moved on.

“I know who you’re with,” the young woman snapped impatiently. “So, your complex wasn’t busy enough policing its own people? It had to come stick their nose into our hard work, too?” Her tone remained conversational, but her eyes were piercing.

“Uh,” Garrett held up his hands, placating. Such animosity to his complex wasn’t unusual coming from the likes of Jenna or Marcella, but it was odd hearing it from a stranger. “We’re just doing our job.” Her dry smirk turned sardonic.

“That’s right, the obedient little lemmings.”

“Aren’t we all?” Garrett muttered. Jenna once used that word to describe everyone.

“Watch it,” the young woman warned. Her nostrils flared and Garrett wondered how she could stand to welcome the smell. He was beginning to wonder if all the fumes had gone to her head. “We don’t follow orders blindly here. We do what is best.”

“For whom?” Garrett wondered aloud.

“Everyone. We’ve worked hard on this. Lifetimes. So many lives lost.” Her voice choked on the final words. She recovered quickly, eyes turning fiercer. “You and your complex mock it. Well, it’s no snake oil, I can promise you that.”

“The elixir?” Garrett’s eyes lit up. “You mean it actually works?”

“I’ve seen it bring back life from the brinks of transformation.” Garrett marveled at the thought. A hand fell heavy on his shoulder.

“But at what cost?” Garrett shot Erik a questioning look. Erik gave it a squeeze, but his eyes glued to the woman. “You speak of lives lost, your father among them, but do you include the ones you’ve tortured?” She turned her nose in the air.

“What is one life worth compared to the millions we could save?” Garrett’s stomach twisted at the thought. That one life was worth something to the people who cared about them. That one life was someone’s parent, sibling, child, friend. Weren’t they all one life? “They were already half dead,” she argued. “And now we have a cure.”

“You are selling something that is still in trial runs,” Erik corrected.

“It works, I tell you!”

“Because you know,” Erik continued, ignoring her outburst, “that everyone is desperate and fearful enough to buy it.

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