Genesis (ONC2022)

Day Two : Part Two

Word count →_→1133 words

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The large hallway way empty as Doctor Eli made his way to the diner. There wasn't a tight meal schedule but once or twice a day large groups gathered in the diner to have their meals if not catch up on the day's work.

As he got to the diner, he found his friend and partner, Daniel already occupying one of the tables and helping himself to a bowl of Mac and cheese.

After getting his own food tray, Doctor Eli sat next to him.

"Eli, thank goodness you are finally here." Doctor Daniel said as he shoved a forkful into his mouth. "I wanted to ask what you thought about today. Great start, wouldn't you agree?"

"It would seem so." Doctor Eli replied as he moved the vegetables around his plate. "But I'll admit, I'm quite surprised you were able to find a volunteer for the program. After our last attempt..."

"Oh it was nothing, the kid was happy to help." Daniel immediately cut in.

He had practiced the lie for so many times in his head now that telling it to someone else and making them believe it was second nature.

"Well, I'm glad. I just hope the kid doesn't have some nasty allergies. You did a full medical check on him, right?" Eli continued.

"Oh for god's sake man, I'm not an amateur you know." Daniel said, clearly irritated by his partner's questions.

"I'm just saying. It was quite strange how quickly the virus attacked his system. It hasn't been a day and already he is exhibiting covid symptoms." Eli pointed out thoughtfully.

"In that account, it's not a coincidence at all." Daniel said as he pushed aside the now empty tray. " Time is of the essence and I didn't want us to waste it unnecessarily. We already know how the virus affects the system and the infection rate. It is of no importance to us for this program. So to eliminate any bottlenecks, it was important to speed things up a bit so we can focus on the performance of CovX2."

"What do you mean when you say speed things up? What did you do, Dan?" Eli asked, suddenly alarmed by the conversation.

"I may have added a little catalyst in the covid sample that was administered to subject zero to speed up the infection." Daniel replied without so much as remorse.

"Are you mad? You can't do that sort of thing, Daniel!" Eli reprimanded him, his loud voice temporarily drawing the attention of the others who were dining around them.

"That sort of thing could kill him." He went on, after taking a deep breath to calm himself and dropping his volume. "That was reckless, even for you."

"Relax, nothing will go wrong. Besides, we have some of the best medical minds in the world all keeping a close eye on the kid. I won't let anything happen to him." Daniel replied confidently. "Now that we're on the case, did you check up with the rehabilitation home? Make sure Buck's okay?"

"Last night they said he was having a little trouble eating again but Fei said they were bringing in the vet. Should be nothing concerning though. Probably a little tummy infection but we'll know for sure if it's related to our drug by the end of today." Eli replied.

"Good, you'll keep me posted." Doctor Daniel said as he stood to leave. " I have to look over at our samples and check on our subject before I call it a night."

With that he left Eli to finish his supper.

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Meanwhile

Eight hours earlier

Fei Simmons , Resident caretaker and founder of the Simmons Foundation for endangered species rescue and wildlife rehabilitation home, sat by her desk going through her Instagram when she saw Jacob, their vet walk into the office.

"Fei, how's it going?" He asked as he made himself comfortable on one of the chairs directly facing her.

"Same old, same old." She replied, stashing her phone into her jean pocket as she got up. "I'm glad you could come, Jake. I need you to have a look at one of our pioneers. You've met him. Bucky."

"Is it that bad? Last I checked Buck was fine after the science people brought him back." He said as he stood to follow her when she led him towards the cages.

The cages were in the underground part of the facility, that meant they had to hitch a lift on the elevator.

"Yeah, they brought him back about a week ago after they had their own vet issue a health certificate for him. He's been fine ever since, as you know. Even after we quarantined him for forty eight hours, Bucky was fine. But yesterday he started to not eat. " She said as the elevator came to a sudden stop with a ping.  "Have a look at him and tell me what you think. Cody's on shift, he's been keeping an eye on him and the others in case he has some sort of bug."

They made their way past the multiple cages towards the little cubicle that was the office of the keepers. Cody Grey was a caramel blonde haired man of half British, half Korean descent. He was filling up a bucket with some bananas and fruits when they approached him.

"Cody." Fei called out to him when they got to him.

"Hey Fei. Jake." He acknowledged them as he stood to full height. "Come to check on Bucky?"

"Yes. How's he doing today?" Fei asked as she took up her own bucket of feed.

"He's still pretty much the same. He's been sleeping all morning, I'm hoping he can atleast have a bite to eat." Cody replied as he began to lead them to the cage he had been assigned to. "Otherwise his mate's going to have all the good stuff. Or his sons and daughters. Again."

They made it to the cage at last. There were about half a dozen apes occupying the large space. One of them, the largest, had secluded himself by the cave like structure within the cage. He seemed very weak and made no move to approach the humans as they observed him.

"Cody, he looks worse than yesterday." Fei observed in alarm before turning to the vet.

"I'm on it." Jake said as he opened the cage and made his way to the big ape.

He made a few observations before making his way back out of the cage after five minutes.

"I want you to bring him in tonight so we can keep a close eye on him overnight. I don't like the looks of him. He's dehydrated and not to mention starving. It's some stomach bug but nothing I've ever seen before is this harsh." Jake explained.

"Okay, I'll get the guys to load him up and then deliver him to your hospital." Fei replied.

"Good. I'll be heading back to make preparations." Jake said, and with that, he turned to make his way out.