The LAB

Chapter 9

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON?!"

Every car in the room jolted as the green Accord burst through the doors with his voice raging. He tone was enough, but his body screamed with rage, looking from worker to worker for an answer.

"Well?! Is someone going to answer me or do I have to release a few hounds to get the gears turning?!" Devan threatened. A shaking Mini Cooper turned and tried to speak.

"S..S-s-s-sir, I.. uh... we.. uh.. we're not entirely sure."

"Not sure? NOT SURE?!" Before Devan could verbally tear the already spooked Mini apart, a Focus approached him.

"Sir, 17 of our healthiest hounds collapsed without warning and died within a matter of minutes. When we preformed tests to figure out the cause, it led to more reasons than we could write down on one page. It appeared slower in normal subjects, the few that caught it I should say. Some lived for a week, others a few days. It has no harm to normal cars but for some reason it's super lethal to the subjects and hounds. We're doing our best to quarantine this."

Devan shook his front and started to pace in the room, all the workers quickly getting back to work on their various screens of work.

"Do we at least know how this all started?" Devan finally asked, stopping in his tracks as he awaited an answer. The Focus sighed, not having an answer for him, and afraid to give him that kind of answer. As if on cue, a heavily modified Acura skid into the room shouting "I FOUND IT!" Soon after an awkward pause, the Acura cleared her throat before rushing over to the main screen and loading up some files.

"The Virus is rather simple, it's the common cold!" The Acura held up a tire, silencing the Accord, before continuing.

"Here's the odd thing. Once a normal cold virus get into the system of the hounds, it pretty much, for some odd reason, creates sort of bruising on their hind ends and throws them into a seizure of sorts, making them fail in a matter of minutes. Now for the test subjects, the bruising or discoloration appears on the trunk or rear fenders. Harder to spot on darker colored vehicles, but reacts the same way as the hounds just slower. Something within the modified strains of our subjects are very vulnerable to a common cold, making it the most deadly thing besides fighting each other. One of the hall workers figured this much out over in Level C, but I'm racing around to give everyone else the details so we can hurry up and find a cure for this, or at least a way for it to not kill our subjects."

A fury of beeps and clicking sounded as several computer systems got the files and many workers went to their job. Devan slowly rolled up to the Acura and tapped her side with a tire. She slightly jumped but calmly answered with a "Yes sir?" Devan held a frown before speaking to her sternly.

"First things first, don't ever silence me with a tire. Face me and tell me you're not finished. Pull another stunt like that and you'll be working the halls instead of the guy that found this info out. Second, has the virus made it to any other levels, and have you found out where it started?" The Acura was taken back at first, not meaning any disrespect but at least this time it was a warning. She took a deep inhale before explaining to him.

"One of the hall workers that monitors the Hound Packs on Level B had come to work with a cold. He's currently on sick leave and we've already started to be more strict on workers and their health. The virus has taken Levels A and C as well, but we seem to have the most of it in check. Some subjects are showing up with the symptoms so we're making hourly sweeps to grab them before the virus spreads more." Devan gave her a stern glare that made her freeze on the spot.

"If this kills any of my subjects on Level A, I will personally kill off that guy and make him wish it was just a cold. Let that be known." With that spat out, the Honda drove out of the room in still a bit of anger. The Acura on the other hand regained herself before gathering her things again and racing off to the next area to spread the word. If there was one thing she didn't want to be held responsible for, it was the death of any subject on Level A.

Groans, whines, whimpers and other painfilled noises sounded from one cell, the bars bent outward to free others within it, but the weak one left. The small Blazer lay flat on her undercarriage, wheezing and fighting for air into her lungs. The last worker failed to use his flashlight on her dark paint as soon after he left panic took over after she collapsed on the cell floor. Larry had bent the bars with strength he never wanted others to know about, taking the two healthier youngsters into his cell and protecting them the best he could. Every beast in the hall was in panic, they all knew what it meant. They all had figured out what happened to those that got sick like this, and nobody wanted it. Their only hope was to call out to the very evil monsters that kept them in these cages.

A street racer who was transferred to the lab sat in a cell across from the sick SUV, his eyes full of worry and sorrow. With a heavy sigh, he watched her fight for life, annoyed that he had to witness this hell but also saddened to see such a young life in danger of going out. Never in all his years had he ever wished harm on another, it wasn't the way of racers.

"Come on kid, hang in there," he muttered, watching the Blazer wheeze and cough up fluid. Finally sick of seeing this he popped onto his rear wheels and started beating at the cell bars with every bit of force he had in his front end, honking and revving his engine loudly while screaming as loud as he could. He figured he'd be fine from this sickness, but if he could do at least one good thing before his end, it was going to be now. He didn't let up until hounds and workers trotted down the halls, even then he didn't stop his screaming and honking, throwing the hounds into mad rage and workers quickly went to work hauling the SUV away. He fell silent, pressing up against the bars as he watched the Humvee quickly haul the sickly car away. His attention was pulled away with the sound of metal snapping, and the last thing he saw or heard was the snarl of a hound.

"Subject 312 is down." Devan froze, his front going pale before spinning around and knocking his desk over in the process.

"You're kidding right?" The Fusion stood there, without a flinch, swallowing hard before going on.

"Sir, it's had the virus for 24 hours now, and we're not sure if the current findings will help it any. We're doing everything we can, as we know your feelings towards those on Level A." Devan whined and turned to the wall, parking himself in the corner of his office. For once thinking of a phrase he had never spoken in his life, a simple way of speaking about something, no, someone.

"Don't let her die. Do everything you can to save her."