Cyanide

Nine

The President slammed her hands on the table, standing up so quickly that she knocked her chair over.
"What do you mean, an epidemic?" She snapped.
Her secretary cowered in her seat.
"The- the trainee Keepers are dying," The secretary explained timidly. "The Experimentals aren't sure what's wrong."
The President sighed in irritation, sinking back in her seat. She couldn't afford to take any pills. They affected her differently and she had to have a clear head now more than ever. An illness of this scale had never happened before in the City. Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she turned to her secretary.
"What are their symptoms?" The President forced out through gritted teeth.
"Fever, nausea, blisters and lethargy," The secretary said, seeming relieved to get back to her lists.
The President felt a horrified sense of familiarity.
"I know what's wrong with them," she said, her voice empty.
The secretary's head snapped up and she stared at the President in disbelief. Ignoring her, the President turned away, standing up and walking out of the room, throwing a cursory dismissal over her shoulder. Her mind was racing. How was this allowed to happen? The President stopped in the middle of the corridor, taking her holo screen out of her pocket.
"Order an elimination of all Rats who have been in contact with the affected Keepers." The President ordered.

Receiving the message, Maria Birchall's eyes widened.
"Madam President, are you sure?" Maria questioned anxiously.
It had been a trying day. After the Rat had been shot, there had been a major rebellion. Three Keepers had died after one Rat stole a gun and turned it on them. Thankfully, the Rats had been subdued and were safely locked away. Seeing her son had been particularly testing for Maria. When the violence had started, she'd only just restrained herself from running in front of Oliver to shield him from the concentrated lasers that shot out of the holo guns. With her daughter Via on the verge of death, Maria's emotions were running high.

The President's angry voice coming through Maria's holo screen pulled her back into reality.
"I have the authority here, not you!" The President snapped. "Do as I say or you'll be relieved of your duties, do you understand me?"
Maria quickly reassured the President that her orders would be carried out swiftly and disconnected the holo call. Sinking down to the floor, she pulled up a calculator feature on her holo and started doing the calculations.

A loud banging sound woke Oliver up. He looked up, eyes still hazy with sleep, to see a Keeper slamming the butt of his gun against the bars of his cell.
"Oh, you're awake."
The Keeper sounded as unfriendly as they all did, but Oliver was used to it by now. There was a hissing noise and the cell door opened. The Keeper walked in, pulling Oliver up from his bed and locking cuffs around his wrists. The Keeper dragged Oliver out of his cell and down the maze of corridors that led to the largest room in the Lab, the one where just yesterday three Keepers and ten Rats had been killed.

The scene in the room was almost the same as the one yesterday. Oliver was pushed into a line of silent Rats, all chained, standing opposite a line of Keepers. Looking around as inconspicuously as he could, Oliver saw his mother standing at the front of the room with two Experimentals flanking her. The four at the opposite end of the room slammed and Maria cleared her throat. Instantly, everyone in the room turned to look at her. She seemed unfazed by the attention, instead signalling to one of the Experimentals, who took out their holo and projected an image onto the wall. Many of the Rats exchanges confused glances. The image was of a chart, with many overlapping lines. It made no sense to any of the Rats, but the Keepers were nodding in understanding.
"This chart shows how many Rats, Keepers and Experimentals are left in the Lab." Maria said, her voice steady but quiet. "As you can see, the number of Keepers has dropped since the last time this survey was conducted. This drop in numbers has, we believe, been indirectly caused by you."
The Rats looked at each other, some looking fearful of what the Keepers would do to them.
"A disease has spread among the Keepers, particularly the trainees," Maria said, her voice shaking slightly. "We have had to eliminate every Rat who has come into contact with the affected Keepers. Over half of you are dead."
Shock ripples through everyone in the hall at her words. Looking around, Oliver noticed that there were far less Rats than there were yesterday.
"This means that the remaining few of you are now a precious commodity. It also means that some of our Experimentals who scored particularly low in the Physical and Injection sections of the Tests will have to become Rats."
Murmurs rippled through the hall. Many of the Keepers looked like their entire world had come undone, which, in a way, it had. The order of the Lab had been so secure, for so many years, was fracturing and now everyone could see what a flimsy system it had been in the first place. 
"The Keepers will now lead you back to your cells." Maria said.
It was a clear dismissal and the Keepers took it as such, taking hold of the Rats' chains and starting to walk them out of the room.
"Wait," Maria called out. Everyone turned to her and she looked back st them steadily. "Do not harm them. They are now the most important people in the City."
At that, the room exploded into chatter and nobody made any move to stop it. Whispers of previously forbidden words rocketed around the room. Oliver, however, turned to the front of the room where his mother stood in conversation with the Experimentals. Lifting his head, he walked straight towards her. As he reached the podium where she stood, the Experimentals moved out of his way. Oliver looked at his mother, the woman who'd abandoned him, and smiled.
"I want to see Via," he said.