DEAD TERRITORY

1 - A study night at school pt.1

2020: Any normal tuesday evening at 20.28

The harsh rain is slapping on the windows of the three-story concrete building located in the very middle of the city Launceston in south-west England. Two blonde boys in hoodies, to protect them from the rain, walks up to the door. The bigger one of the boys grabs the door handle and opens the door. He keeps his hood up while he walks in but the othr boy takes his off. In the hallway of the school they see another, also blonde, muscular tall boy sitting on a bench, looking down in his phone with his other arm around his girlfriend while stroking her hair. Both of the boys looks at the tall guy but neither him or his girlfriend gives the boys a glance. The boy who walks last glares at the tall guy judgementally as if they have a bad history together. They walk up the stairs not caring more for the guy and his girl.

"Kevin, what's the time?" the light bonde boy with brown eyes asks as they walk up the stairs. The big guy, Kevin, picks up his phone to check the time.
"Almost half past eight. They lock the place in about half an hour" he says before putting down his phone in his dark blue jeans that are completely soaked from the rain after walking only from his parents car to the school building.
"Great. Let's see if we can find Eli" he says and runs up with him at the last part of the stairs. They walk down the hallway too a white open door. Inside the classroom most of the tables have been put aside and the whole classroom is set up with different projects and filled with students working on their projects. The boys stand by the door and scan the room.
"He's not in here" Kevin states and is about to leave when his friend pulls him back.
"No, but Lee and Lory are" he says and they both walk over to two girls working on their project.
"No, please, I'm not ready yet" Kevin complains.
"You promised you'd ask Lee out any chance you get. This is a perfect one" Charlie says and they keep walking toward the girls.

"What are you working with?" he asks without further introduction.
"Hello to you too, Charlie" the blonde girl says holding a weird looking remote in her hand.
"We're working on the coolest suit ever" Lory says wearing a normal looking suit.
"It looks like a normal suit" Kevin says scanning the suit the short girl is wearing. The blonde one turns to him.
"Except it's not. inside the suit are suction spots. They stick to her body and they're wirelessly connected the the remote in my hand" she explains holding up the grey remote control.
"Which does?" Kevin asks.
"This" Lee says and starts pressing some buttons on the remote. Lory walks over to the window pane and picks up a chili fries from a bowl. She walks back to Lee and feeds Lee with the fries.
"It means whoever has the remote has complete control over the movements the one with the suit is doing" Lory explains as Lee is eating.
"Does it work without the suit too?" Kevin asks smiling like a dork.
"That's just fucking nasty, Kevin" Lory says and both Kevin and Charlie laugh a little.
"Nah, I'm sorry." Charlie says and looks at Kevin a bit.
"I actually wanted to ask you something, Lee" Kevin says and turns to Lee. Lory looks at Charlie and raises her eyebrows in an asking manner. Charlie smiles and nods at her confirming that Kevin is going to ask Lee out finally.
"Okay?" Lee says and looks up at him.
"Would it be okay if I'd take you out next friday? On an actual date this time" he asks and Lee smiles at him.
"About time you ask. Of course" she says looking happy. He smiles back at her and breathes out wondering why he was even nervous from the beginning.
"We gotta go find Eli now but good luck to you ladies" Charlie says and taps Kevin's shoulder before they walk out. The girls wave at them as they walk away.

They walk into the other classroom across the hallway and see their friend Eli standing by something that looks like a big metallic weapon. They walk up to him and scan the metallic thing on the table.
"What in the natural habitat of the alien is this?" Kevin asks as he bends down to look at closer at the weapon.
"Flamethrower" Eli responds carelessly. "I'm just doing some adjustments to it to see if it can get any further without losing control. I want to get the aim as good as possible and as far as possible." Eli explains as he pets the metallic tube where the fire comes from. "But the night is young. I have a lot of time and right now I'm feeling some toast. I'm gonna go to the cafeteria to get some" he says and puts down his tools.
"Toast sounds great" Kevin stands up again and they walk out through another door at the back of the classroom which leads them straight to the cafeteria. Eli walks up to the counter and Kevin and Charlie stays by a table.
"I can't believe this is your final year" Kevin says and Charlie looks around.
"Yeah. I was just gonna be an exchange student for freshman but it's been nice three years. At least I get to graduate senior in America" he says looking back at Kevin.
"Yeah, and the best part is Colton stays here" Kevin says and Charlie laughs a little. "I saw the look you gave him when we came in earlier. Don't try to laugh it off I know you enjoy leaving him here. Him and his tacky girlfriend" Kevin says looking into Charlie's eyes. Charlie remains smiling.
"Mathilda isn't that bad. She hasn't done anything. Me and Colton were on bad terms long before she came into his life" Charlie explains.

Just as Eli reaches over the counter to grab his toast given to him from the lady behind the counter, the principal's voice is heard in the speakers around the entire school.
"The school is now locked down. All external doors are locked and will be opened again tomorrow morning at six pm. I hope you learn a lot and get far with your projects" her voice sounds joyful. When Eli has got his toast all three of them walk back into the classroom and is met by a golden retriever who runs up to them happily and greets them.
"Waylen! Come here, boy!" Erik's voice calls across the classroom before he walks up to them to get his dog.
"I'm sorry. It's my dog. We're testing our project on him. But don't tell my parents, they're gonna kill me" he says and sends the dog back to his two friends working on their project.
"What kind of project?" Charlie asks looking over at the dog still.
"They're gonna turn him into a monster" Eli says and walks back to his flamethrower, casually eating his toast.
"Not a monster. Just some kind of super dog. Over here, Heather can explain more" he says and leads them back to the table of weird bottles with weird substances in. Heather writes something on her notepad while looking at the different substances.
"We have extracted rabies, IED and an early state of pheochromocytoma which will raise the adrenaline and therefore make the dog more resistant to pain and more determined with what he wants. Mixing these substances and putting them inside the dog with this syringe will hopefully create a vaccine working effect which will not only make the dog immune or at least more resistant to rabies but also make him physically stronger and faster and raise his adrenaline levels, making him almost impossible to stop when he knows what he wants. Khalil, could you bring out the dog candy? I think we're ready to get this tested now." Heather says putting different amounts of the three substances together in the syringe.
"Is this safe?" Charlie asks.
"No, not one bit. If my calculations are correct the dog will be more determined than the average dog to get the treat and therefore nearly impossible to stop. Erik, put him on a leash and hold on tight" she orders and Erik does so.
"Okay. The camera is started. I want to avoid seeing the change the first time because doing this to the dog was NOT my idea and I still think it's horrible" she looks angrily at Erik.
"Better than on a human straight away" he says and holds Waylen as tight as he can. Heather taps the syringe a few times and walks up to them.
"Okay, are we ready?" The others nod. Heather inserts the syringe into Waylen and gives him all of the substance. After that she puts the syringe away and walks out. The others stay and look at the dog. Things are slowly starting to happen. He stands up and stops wagging his tail. He barks a few times and pulls on the leash. He starts itching across his entire body. Khalil looks at him closer.
"I think his eyes are bleeding a little. Are they supposed to do that?" he asks in an arabic accent.
"I don't think so, no. Heather didn't mention it" Erik says visibly struggling to hold Waylen back now. Eventually the leash breaks from Erik's hands and Waylen runs over to get the candy. He knocks the whole table over and eats the candy. After that he itches a little more before he runs out through the door pushing it open with his body like it's nothing.
"The door wasn't closed?!" Erik calls out.
"I don't think he can do that much damage. Can he?" Khalil asks and Erik shrugs his shoulders. Suddenly there's a faint scream and chaos is heard from the other classroom. Erik, Khalil, Charlie and Kevin all run out to the hallway only to see Waylen run down the stairs. They hear a window break and Kevin runs over to the stairs to look through one of the windows. Wayles has set off into the city running faster than a dog is supposed to.
"Shit" he says to himself.
"Well, that ain't good" Erik says standing beside him.
"Do you think it can affect humans?" Kevin asks looking at Erik.
"I think we might find out" Khalil says and both of them turns to Khalil who's looking into the other classroom. Inside the classroom is Heather with a bite wound on her arm. Her friend Logan is standing beside her with a first-aid kit on the table trying to wash out the wound from all the blood before she can bind the wound.

"What happneed?" Erik asks and runs up to her. People in the classroom have gathered around her.
"What happened?! Don't you see what happened?! That stupid dog bit her!!" a girl with black hair yells at Erik pointing to Heather's wound.
"The blood is black!" Logan calls out. "It was red at first but it won't stop bleeding and now it has turned darker almost coal black" she says and holds out the paper she has used to clean the wound to Erik. Erik looks at the paper and see the blood is sure a lot darker against the white paper towel than it is supposed to be.
"I'm so sorry" Erik says backing up a little. "It was my dog. It was my idea to use him"
"Should have known" the blakc haired girl says giving him a glare.
"It doesn't matter. Just leave me alone, everyone!" Heather calls out looking at the crowd around her.
"Are you sure?" Erik asks concerned.
"Just go!!" she yells at him getting upset. Erik and Khalil walks out again. Logan takes Heather with her outside to the hallway. Everyone in the classroom slowly goes back to their work.