The Diseased Heart

Chapter 2

"You're saying that the creature, that has been frozen in ice for over three hundred years, could somehow be alive?"

I nodded to the businessman before me, "Yes, Crawlers are extraordinary creatures, who are able to survive the most extreme climates, starvation, suffocation, poisoning, and even regenerate missing limbs and organs! You know this just as well as I do, so it isn't too much of a stretch to say it may have survived the freezing."

He slid the book across the table back to me, the book that I had studied cover to cover countless times and had gotten me through my five years of schooling, it contained nearly all the credible knowledge we had on Crawlers as a whole. I practically knew the book by heart at this point.

The man sighed heavily, locking his fingers together on the table, "Indeed I do, but if this creature does live, do you expect us to put it in a place with people coming and going by the dozens each and every day? To start the apocalypse all over again, and risk millions of lives? Society has barely gotten to the level we were at Pre-Crawler era."

I shook my head, "Heavens no, If this Crawler is alive there is not a chance anyone with half a brain would consider showing it off. No, sir, there were two of them in that lake. The second one had their head removed completely, which you are aware is one of their very few means of death. It can be put back on their shoulders and they can be put in the exhibit, the other can be brought back to the lab and we can study them first hand."

"And why would we ever want to do that? What would we gain from studying this beast, or displaying a corpse?"

I suppressed the urge to raise my pale eyebrow at the man, almost as much as I ignored the urge to slap him for questioning me. You were likely fed from a silver spoon your whole life, while I have my degree in Cedecimology, the science of Crawlers. I exhaled slowly, trying my hardest to not show my annoyance, "Sir, you funded this expedition. You have been for the past sixteen months, and the whole purpose was to add Crawler artifacts to your exhibit. You yourself said in jest, that a real Crawler would have made the exhibit incredible, but you had planned on making a statue. This is exactly what you thought could never happen.

"And as for studying a live Crawler, if we can decipher how and why they regenerate, fight off diseases nearly effortlessly, and can survive such conditions, we may be able to create a vaccine or medicine that can fix brain damage, regrow the limbs of an amputee, or maybe even eradicate cancer. If people somehow find out you were the cause for this not being possible sir, I'm sure you can imagine the backlash."

He looked at his partners, then looked back at me, "We would like to discuss this privately, would you mind stepping out for just a few minutes?"

"Not at all, sir." I stood and calmly left through the glass door, though the fabric sheet on the inside kept me from seeing in. I was left standing in the hallway to wait on their decision. As much as I hated to admit it, my heart was pounding and my palms were drenched in sweat, a meeting such as this one would never be one I would look forward to.

I carefully pulled a pair of photos out of my pocket and looked them over, they were pictures of the Crawler girls that had been pulled from the lake. Some may find it creepy to obsess over these two, but for me they were an impossible discovery that boggled the mind.

Riley had the matching scars on her arms and Crawler legs from when she had been attacked by her friend Raven just days before Maria had met them. The book included very few pictures, but the few it did show of the Crawlers were undoubtedly this pair.

Just minutes after we had gotten Raven out of her frozen cage, I saw her twitch. She was alive, just as I had thought, no one else noticed, but I surely had, to be fair I was glad no one noticed, as it would have caused a mass panic among the crew. I sighed to myself, thinking of how after all these years, with physical live proof of Crawler's glory, and the handful of people who had the power to destroy them were contemplating such a thing behind a thin wall of glass.

It felt like hours before the men beckoned me back into the conference room, and the lengthy talk held afterwards was completely wiped from my memory. All I could remember was playing on repeat over and over in my mind.

"We have decided to allow the study of the live specimen, and the exhibit will begin construction tomorrow."

○ ○ ○

"What do you mean you have to use bolts?!" I yelled at the employee infront of me, backlit by the large spotlight that had just been hooked up. She shrunk down, likely wondering if she should have asked someone else to deliver the news to me of how Riley would be displayed.

"It is the only way, to hold them in a certain pose, we will have to use bolts and screws to hold their joints in place, at least that's what my boss told me. If you think there's a better way then you should take it up with her..."

I was livid, I could barely think, "You cannot drill metal into something like this! A centuries old corpse cannot withstand such forces, anyone with a brain can guess that! If something happens, there is no way to repair her body, what is your boss thinking?!"

"I'm sorry, but we will have to use something to hold its hea-"

I narrowed my eyes, "Her. She is not an it."

The girl stammered an apology,  "S-Sorry, we will need to use something to hold her head on, seeing as it has been torn off, something strong will have to be done to make sure it doesn't simply fall off, you know..."

I stormed off down the halls of the museum, I knew there was no way I would win an argument with this boss, it is impossible to argue with stupid people, and even more so when they have power over you. I would just have to supervise their work to make sure no extensive harm would be brought to her.

○ ○ ○

I looked around the Crawler exhibit. There were plaques on the walls explaining how these creatures worked and all they could do, a copy of Maria's book was on display as well. Several glass cases held artifacts, one being an intact Crawler skull, another being the mangled vertebrae of their spine, and another being the second ribcage that concealed their heart.

Pictures lined several cases and screens, some of Crawlers, some of their nests, some were even pictures of people who had been showing signs of turning, including the blackening eyes and lumps forming along the spine. Finding these pictures was an unlikely miracle, as we found a phone that had been discarded, but simply needed charging.

I looked at the large glass display case on the opposite wall from me, the stand inside would soon support Riley, safely hidden behind the glass wall from any idiot that insisted on getting too close. The plaque in front read 'Real Crawler', but it was soon to be changed to be more descriptive,  efore any of the public were allowed in.

I sighed, it was truly a shame they would have to drill into her to hold her in place, but there was no other way according to the idiots with power around here. I could think of several better ways off the top of my head. It didn't matter when it came down to it, it woukd get done one way or another.

The world had to know that she was real.