Going Into the Darkness

THE LAB

The lab was always empty at this time of night. That was perfect for all the cleaning that went into it. But with all things that are evil, if the evil wants to get out, it will find a way. The scare came from earlier that day. The vial slipped out of the hand of the doctor that was in charge for the day. They were unsure of just what it was, but they knew it was deadly. They knew at this point it was alive and it seemed to bond with whatever it touched.

Doctor Jones quickly yelled, "CLEAR THE ROOM! NOW!"

The three of them started running for the door as the alarm sounded. James, the lab tech was the first to reach the decontamination room door. He was long, and lean and his age of twenty-four helped him move quickly. He was new there; he had worked for less than a month. He always kept an eye on the door. Ever since he had seen the video of the last lab accident where only one had gotten out in time before the door had closed and sealed the rest of them in. Being set on fire was quick and merciful, he thought after seeing what had happened to the first two. At first, their protective suits seemed to help. At least it appeared that way until the first few drops hit the floor. It was evident that the suit was breaking down and turning into slime as it hit the floor. As holes appeared in the suits, the screams started, and they just kept getting louder and louder. The sheer agony was hard to listen to let alone watch. You could see in seconds that the suit and the person inside it were quickly melting into goop on the floor. Even as they collapsed, their cries of pain still rose from the floor till nothing was moving at all. The video showed it is a lot better to be burned instantly instead of going through that. At least in James' mind that was the decision he would want to make but that kept him on his toes, which paid off in this instance.

James stepped in and cleared the door knowing that he didn't want to be in its way when it closed. The next to make it into the decontaminator was Jessica. She was average height and weight with shoulder-length straight brown hair that was pulled up and tied up under the hood of the protective suit that she wore. The suits they were in made moving slowly and made her really clumsy. Jessica was out of breath by the time she made it into the room. The second siren let loose. It wails and then the announcement was blasted throughout the facility 10 seconds before lockdown and flash. Each second was counted down. It took Dr. Jones a few seconds to make it to safety. He made sure he had not gotten anything on himself, there would be no point in making it in there if any of it had made it on him. Dr. Jones was an older man of average size. His hair was a steely grey that stood out against his dark hazel eyes. His breathing was labored enough to fog his glasses. With 3 seconds remaining they pulled the door closed and locked it to start the decontamination process. Everything seemed to go silent as the last two seconds were counted down. The Dr knew just what was coming next and he braced for it but even though he was ready he found that it was more intense than he had ever thought it could be. As the countdown reached zero flames seemed to come from everywhere filling every inch of the lab.

The heat was intense even though they were protected by the glass and the wall and the suits that they were in they felt like they were still roasting. The temperature in the lab skyrocketed, making it close to 2000 degrees before it started to fall off. The three were safe although they felt like they were cooking. Dr. Jones told the others that they can start getting out of their suits they would need to be destroyed as well.

They each slipped off their suits and put them in the bin which incinerated them. They were all glad to get them off and it didn't take too long for the room to be more comfortable, they were all sweating, and they wanted a shower, but it looked like everyone was safe.

It did not take long for the three to be released once they had verified that nothing had gotten out of the room and the outer door was opened. It was a relief to be free again now that the danger was over. They looked through the window, and each one looked at the broken vial on the floor knowing that it could have been the cause of their deaths. They notice a scorch mark on the floor where the substance had landed and was burnt away. They all breathed a sigh of relief, the danger was over, and everything was quickly returning to normal.

They knew that the work was over for today except the cleaning and filling out all the accident reports. Except for the inevitable questions that would follow on how it happened and how to stop it from happening again. The doctor knew he was in for endless questions about how it happened. He was just glad that they had made it out without anything else happening. James and Jessica left as soon as they had filled out the mountain of paperwork that was mandatory whenever anything happened let alone something as drastic as this.

After the scare of the day James was giving serious thought to finding a new line of work. There was no way that he wanted to wind up locked in a room and dissolve into a puddle of goop on the floor or to be blasted by the fire and become a cinder. There was a problem though with his clearance and the knowledge that he had would not allow him to simply walk away. With a frown and a sigh, he sat there wondering just what he was going to do.

Jessica had a completely different outlook. She loved her job, the thought that one day she had the potential to make a discovery and change the world was all that she could ever ask for in life. Even if it took the rest of her life to do it, she would be okay with that even if it meant risking her life to do it. This incident did make her stop and think that things needed to be more secure. She never wanted this situation again she was not ready to die just yet.

Dr. Jones was very disappointed in himself and realized just how bad things could have gotten for them and he knew that the paperwork was just the beginning of it. He started thinking maybe he was starting to get a little old for this work and all the stress that went along with it. He was only in it to make that one big discovery, which is why he was in research anyway. But now after the accident, he started thinking that he was old enough to retire and the next generation could pick up his research and carry it on from there. Jessica had been working with him for five years and he had to admit that he couldn't ask for anyone better to carry on his work. When he finished doing all of the paperwork, he decided that it was far late enough today, and it would take them at least a couple of days to fix the lab. He was tired and more than willing to go home and see his loving wife. As he looked down, he saw that his hands were still shaking slightly, and he really couldn't make them stop. He was not sure now why they were shaking. He wondered if that is what caused the accident or if they were shaking because of the accident. At this point, it really didn't matter, and this too would be a problem for another day if they continued shaking.

Dr. Jones quickly dressed for home and got his keys and wallet from the locker that he had. He paused to look in the mirror that hung there he saw a very old and tired man looking back at him. At this point, he decided that with the lab needing work and everything it was time for a small vacation so when things were ready, he could be as well. That is if he decides to come back after the vacation.