Carnage (Vol.1)

Chapter Seventeen : Pheromone Effect

     Tsumiki went to the cafeteria and Suguru went to look at other job options while Megumi, Satoru, and Sukuna are currently in Shoko's lab.

     "Your health is important, I can't have you malnourished so don't hold back." Shoko sighs, checking his vitals to determine the state of his body.  "A person can only donate a pint of blood safely, there's a fact for you."

     "Do you need that much?" Megumi isn't too fond of the idea of giving her that much blood at once. He's still hesitant to trust her.

      "No, I don't. But for this to work, we need complete honesty. Do you take any sort of medication?" She questions, her tired eyes reminding him of a mother like in the movies. It's those eyes that are saying don't you dare lie to me.

   "Heat pills. I take them monthly, I have since even before this whole virus." Megumi answers truthfully because he can't find a reason why he should keep that a secret. Heat and rut pills are a normalized thing, just like birth control and condoms. It's health and it's to take precautions so one doesn't end up in a dangerous situation.

     "I understand that, although you'll need to stop taking those from now on." She says firmly, surprising him.

      "What? Why would I–"

      "That's not safe for Memi, you don't know what will happen to him." Satoru glares, speaking up. If anything happens to any of them, he is the one who will shoulder the blame because he brought them here. Even Satoru is having doubts, just like the others, and he will protect his friends.

     "It's perfectly fine, no one has ever died from not taking their heat pills." She tells Satoru, irritation in her tone. She then turns her attention back to Megumi, "The pills affect your pheromone balance and that's what I'll be extracting along with your blood. I can't have any chemicals affecting your natural state. No pills of any kind and get back onto a schedule. Three meals a day on average, the cafeteria provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Snack if you want, our goal is to bring your health back to how it needs to be."

     "How long would that take?" Megumi fidgets, uncomfortable with this new development. He's been taking his heat pills for so long, he had forgotten what it's like without them.

      "Not long. I suspect a week. You're slightly dehydrated and starved, luckily nothing too serious. Taking in alpha pheromones isn't a negative or positive, do as you please with that." Shoko adds in the last part, casting a glance at Sukuna.

     "Shoko, how do you know omegas have the key to finding the cure?" Megumi holds out his arm so she can take his blood pressure. She's silent as she does her work, contemplating where to begin.

She nods, pleased to see his blood pressure is good. She takes it off his arm, setting it aside. She sits in her chair, looking at Megumi's youthful face. He's still so young, had so much ahead of him, she wonders what he would have become if the virus hadn't spread.

"I know how the virus was created. A scientist from one of the other facilities wanted to create a cure for a disease. Foolishly, he believed he had succeeded without the proper precautions and trial runs. He spoke out that he had the cure and injected people with it. As you can see, it was a massive failure." Shoko takes out her pack of cigarettes, fidgeting with it. She really needs a smoke but she can't do it in the lab because of contamination and she doesn't want to smoke in the presence of the young boy.

    "So you people were the cause?!" Satoru snaps, disgusted by the people here. He grabs Megumi's arm, giving a tug. "Megumi, let's go, she's just some lunatic–"

    "What a foul mouthed kid." Shoko scoffs, rolling her eyes.

     "Satoru, enough." Megumi glares, pushing his hand off. Hurt crosses his features before they harden, betrayed. He storms out of there, not wanting to hear anything more from the woman. Sukuna comes closer, taking Megumi's hand in his, his thumb rubbing over Megumi's knuckles.