The world was locked in another arms race, several smaller conflicts have broken out in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The U.S. was doing damage control and I was a pawn in a larger game of chess. I was helping develop a new chemical agent, a means to an end if you will, something that gets past gas masks. We were calling it 'Experiment 26' and were well into the human testing phase.
The subjects, 10 men and 5 female, all died within seconds of exposure to the chemical agent. It entered the respiratory system and from there entered the blood, systematically breaking down every red and white blood cell you had in your body. The bodies we cut open showed succes with veins turning into long fleshy tubes of crystal, however the autopsy reports were troubling. The subjects died with 26 seconds after exposure, but the brain stayed active for roughly 4 hours fighting the decay. I dreaded what would happen should the brain stay active for a more prolonged period after death, especially with the chemical mutating beyond its intended purpose.
I sighed and sat back in my chair, staring into the interrogation room which was made into a sort of gas chamber to administer the chemical agent. I flipped through two Manila envelopes, reading over information for the male and female subject. The hope was to finish human testing within the year and then move on to focusing on combating it ourselves. The United States wanted a deadly weapon that was safe to deploy on home soil while keeping us, or desirable personnel, safe. The purpose of the test and any further tests was to find out a solution to the chemical agent bypassing gas masks, see how exactly it reacted to our current ones.
I cleared my throat and sat up, "Male subject, you will hereby be referred to as subject 16. Female subject, you will hereby be referred to as subject 17. You will both put on gas masks, that will be provided by Captain Ward, and sit in the room as the chemical agent is administered. If you have any questions or concerns, now is the time to voice them," I said into the intercom, already distancing myself from the subjects in the room. They weren't human, they were lab rats for a deadly weapon.
"Is the gas dangerous?" Subject 17 asked, looking around at the vents.
Yes. "No," I chuckled out. "It's deadly to people with prolonged exposure but that takes hours to kill you! You've been reading to many conspiracy forums," I laughed, genuinely laughed, watching her shoulders relax.
"So the masks, they'll keep us safe? From the gas you're administrating?" Subject 16 asked, relaxing his stance.
If they did, then we wasted the lives of 15 other subjects. "Yes, but in truth they're extra safety measures. Just to make sure this won't cause respiratory distress or long lasting damage. Like dressing a paper cut with gauze and peroxide, or a stubbed toe a splint. C'mon! Were the U.S. government, we wouldn't be testing on you if we weren't sure this was completely safe! Besides, if anything goes wrong you're families will be taken care of," I repeated the same script over and over a total of 9 times now.
Both of the subjects seemed to relax at that last bit, most of them did. I pressed a button and a green light flashed on, Captain Ward walked in with two gas masks. They were standard army issue, the black paint contrasted with the bright white room. Ward handed the gas masks to each subject and watched them put them on, helping to secure them. He walked out, securing the door, and over to the viewing room with me.
"The masks, you think they'll work?" Ward asked, standing straight at my side.
"It'd be great if they did, less time put into developing some new super mask," I sighed rubbing my face. "But I don't think it will, need I remind you about the gas leak from subject 1."
"Stephen. His name was Stephen." Ward answered firmly.
"Don't get attached now, there's plenty of time to do so after we develop this weapon. If we argue the morality now, we'll never finish on time," I answered, looking at the viewing room and pressing the big red button on the console. "Timer starts now," I called over the intercom.
Within the first 10 seconds, nothing, the gas seemed to have no effect. Then the 15 second mark, no change. The masks were holding up, then suddenly at the 25 second mark one of the subjects began coughing hard and ran towards the glass. They banged against the glass and shouted, soon grabbing their throat as I watched their flesh tear open. At the 35 second mark, subject 16 was deceased. Subject 17 on the other hand was alive and breathing, she had even taken her mask off in the process.
"Is she? That's impossible!" Ward shouted. "Shut it off Jeremiah! Now!"
I hit another button, opening the decontamination room watching as she ran in there. I shut the door and watched as the oxygen was sucked from the main room, I stood up and immediately moved to the decontamination room. Subject 17 was there, on the floor and shaking with her knees pulled to her chest. She rocked back and forth as she was doused with a chemical spray that rendered the gas inert through reactivity, me and Ward watched horrified.
"That's fascinating….an immune subject…." I spoke soft, seeing the gas mask's seals had melted from Experiment 26.
"How is she alive! She can't be alive, you said it was impossible!" Captain Ward shouted, pulling at his hair.
"Apparently I was wrong, Captain. It should be, unless she has some blood disease that hasn't been found yet. This bonds to your blood and kills you, well except maybe…." I looked at Subject 17, who was still in a panic attack. "Have some men take her to the infirmary, run every single test we have."
Captain Ward nodded, marching off as I stepped into the decontamination room. The seals were holding so I knew it was safe, I moved to the viewing room looking around and seeing no compromise in the structure. The man who had died had his muscles torn from the crystal blood, the mask melting and beginning to bond to his face. The Experiment had never had reactions this violent, maybe it was from the prolonged exposure? Before I could crouch down to check, he shot up his bones clicking and flesh crunching as crimson red crystals poked from his skin. He stood there in silence as I fell back, his head jerked around as crystals dripped past his finger nails making large blood claws.
"Hey! Are you okay?" I shouted, moving back to my feet.
Subject 16's head jerked my direction, crystals crunching as he did so. A low growl emitted from behind his gas mask, as he shuffled around me. I could see his eyes, they looked angry and almost hungry. Subject 16 suddenly lunged at me as a single gun shot rang out, my ears began to ring as I fell back against the wall. I covered my right ear, as I watched Subject 16's body thrash around violently. Captain Ward grabbed my shoulder as he pulled me from the room, as two men ran past us into the room. I couldn't hear a word from his mouth but dread filled my body. What have we done?