Prologue
Peter sat on his bed in his room. It wueas mid-August, and the setting sun blazed across the hot earth, baking it until it was crisp and dry. He was bored, everything in his house, all the game consoles, the pool table, and his laptop and more, seemed dulled by the heat. Going outside was not an option, he had never been a summer kind of guy. He loved the winter; fall was always a refreshing cool breeze promising plenty of cold weather to come.
He thought about his lab. His parents had it build for him when he was 13, because he had shown his passion for science. He was the kind of guy that everyone liked, his spiked blond hair and earring gave him a "gangster" look. Everyone wanted to be with him, but he was more of a loner, not a people-person. People respected his ingenuity, and he was definitely not in the category of "nerd'. He did not do just any old tests in there, but nobody knew exactly what he would work on when he was in there, except for the select few he allowed in his lab. There had been several break-in attempts on his lab, but like the rest of the estate, it had top notch security, and his parents had been quite charitable and many expensive computers and machines were kept inside.
He decided to call Ethan to work on a project they had been doing, they were developing vitamins that would make a rat increase brain activity and be able to think and reason more effectively, and solve problems, such as escaping a maze, more methodically. Ethan only lived a few blocks away, in the same neighborhood so he arrived fairly quickly.
Ethan Wesley had short brown hair that stuck up and to the side, and brown eyes. He was always well tanned, and his features were soft and mild. He was a very thoughtful, quiet person.
When he arrived, they grabbed some chips and headed down to the lab. After Peter had been working for a while, he thought he had gotten the perfect combination, so he called Ethan over. They grabbed a rat out of a cage, and put it on a tray. Peter took a piece of bread and dipped it into the vitamin solution and set it down in the tray. He picked up the vial of liquid he had been using in tests the other day and moved it to the other side of the tray so he could put the vitamin in its place. He rushed a bit too much and some of the thin liquid splashed out of its tube onto the bread the rat was eating, and created a puddle on the tray.
He cursed under his breath, he had spent an hour developing that vitamin and now that had mixed and reacted with the other liquid it was useless. They watched the rat finish the bread, and they held their breath as they waited to see what, if anything, would happen. After a while of nothing happening, Ethan asked, "What was that? The stuff you spilled?"
Peter responded, "It was a strain of the rabies virus, a fast acting strain. It should take effect tomorrow, on a rat. It takes two to three days for a human."
Then Ethan asked, "Should we just kill it now? I think that would be best for it."
But Peter quickly said, "No, if we kill it we might get infected. We have to let the virus run its course, and after the rat dies if it's left alone for a few days the virus will die off. We should get it into a glass tank and set up a video camera, I'll set it up so it streams live to my laptop. Then we should clear out of here."
Ethan went back into the house to grab the camera, and Peter got out a tank for the rat and spread sawdust in it. Then he started to put the chemicals back into the fridge, but as he started to wipe up the spill, he had a sudden thought. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and he tilted the tray so the new chemical that had been created from the reaction dribbled into a beaker, and he stashed it in the back of the fridge. He thought it would be good to keep it, just in case it was some sort of breakthrough.
When Ethan came back, they set up the camera, locked up, and left.
~ ~
Andrew sat at the kitchen table doing his homework, eyes drooping. He hadn't had time to finish his homework the night before, because his mom was working late and he had to make dinner for himself and Anna. His mom had also left a note for him to sweep the house, and clean the bathrooms. Between that and helping Anna with her homework, he hadn't been able to finish his.
So he was forced to get up early to finish his book report for language arts. They had read the book 'Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry", and seen a terribly acted movie based on it, and they had to write an essay on what he liked better, the book or the movie, and why. He personally disliked both, but the book was better because in his mind, at least he could make it realistic and the character's feelings actually show, unlike the movie and its emotionless actors.
Then there was a loud knock on the door, and he opened it up to see Anne's father. Andrew hadn't seen him in at least 3 years, and he almost never showed up to visit Anna. He asked to see Mrs. Ross, and Andrew called his mom down.
Andrew's mom had always had custody over both Andrew and Anna, but from what Andrew could hear from the kitchen; Anna's dad wanted her back. There was a lot of arguing going on, and eventually they both came into the kitchen. Anna's dad explained how he would have Anna every other week from now on, because he missed his little girl. This was devastating news for Anna and Andrew, because they were extremely close, and Andrew loved his little sister and he didn't want to lose her. Anna hated her dad, because he was very mean and when she went back to her dad's that night, she learned pretty fast that the only reason he wanted her back was because he needed someone to clean up and maintain his apartment. Andrew was devastated when he went to school that morning, because Anna was the only one that truly understood how difficult his life was.
~ ~
A few days later, Peter, Ethan, and Peter's other friend, Liam, got together to watch the effects of the reaction, and were not surprised to see the rat exhibiting all signs of rabies, eventually leading to death. Peter had almost decided to get rid of the new virus, and he was going to switch off the video, when Liam yelled "Wait! Wait, turn that back on, it looked like it moved at the end." So Peter turned it back on, and sure enough, the rat had begun twitching. It raised its head, and looked around, but it was greatly weakened. It tried to get up, but it couldn't. This struggle continued throughout the rest of the video, all the way up to the present. They decided to go check on the rat.
When they got to the lab, the rat was crawling around its cage, trying to stand, but it couldn't. They watched it carefully, and Peter noticed it wasn't doing anything with its right back foot. It had turned a grayish color, and it seemed lifeless.
They decided to keep the rat under careful observation for the next few days, with the video camera. Peter would observe it whenever he could, and he noticed the deadness in its leg was spreading. He tried to feet it, but it turned away lettuce, bread, and cheerios. He couldn't figure out what it would eat. When it died finally, he began growing and testing the virus secretly, and infecting more rats, studying the effects. He spent lots of time trying to feed them, he tried everything from cereal to crickets, and he finally figured out that they ate crickets. He began experimenting to figure out what else they would eat, and they seemed to love lizards as well. He did more intense testing on the rats and discovered more and more about the virus, all secretly. He was very glad he kept that small beaker. He started mixing it in different ratios, and got better results with more of the vitamin, and they were able to get up and move around better, and faster. But they always seemed to have a dead spot.
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I hope you guys like it, Not sure if I want to continue the story so comment if you want me to keep writing! :D
