The Cerberus Project

The interview

The small silver Prius was having issues keeping traction on the dirt roads of the forest. It kicked up mud from the storm the night before. Martha hated the outdoors, she'd much rather be behind her desk. Sometime around eleven this morning, Her boss began ringing her phone off the hook. He'd just received a call from the CEO of Clintax. The company had begun work three years ago But since then not a single peep of what that work was. This would be the first time they'd opened their doors to the press. She could hardly contain the excitement, This was huge. Yet some part of her felt like there was another story in these woods. The police had blocked off the northern trails, They wouldn't say specifically the area they were protecting, But Martha could map it out in her head. She knew what they were doing, They weren't allowing access to the lake areas. "Something big must've happened out here." Martha said to herself. She pushed those thoughts aside though, And replaced them with the image of a headline. "The Clintax Corporation Investigation, By Martha Carter" And by its side, a shining Pulitzer prize. It was nothing close to a realistic dream, but Martha dreamed it anyway. She was almost to the complex, the massive white building had a glass dome on its roof, though The building itself was only a couple of stories tall. You could hardly see it from the main gate, Which was more suited to a maximum-security prison. It stood at least twenty feet tall, Guards patrolled it's top. Martha pulled up to the wall, it met the road with a large cage, Separating the door from the outside world. She heard a buzzer as one side of the cage opened for her. She felt uneasy driving in, As the first panel slammed shut behind her. A man on top of the wall signaled her to lower her window.  a voice came over the loudspeaker, It echoed through the forest. 

"Name?" he asked in a flat tone. 

"I'm Martha Carter, I-" The buzzer rang over her. 

"State your Business." The voice asked. 

"I Have a meeting with Mister Blanch." Martha replied. 

There was silence for a little while, Before another buzzer rang. The door in front of her slowly began to open. As she drove into the complex, She began to wonder why a medical company needed all this security. She parked her car in the large parking lot, It was populated by no more than thirteen cars. She glanced to her left and saw the wall was being repainted, They were painting over what looked to be massive gashes in the wall. She shut her car door and headed into the building. The inside was gorgeous, with Blue and white tile flooring in a wide-open lobby. Whitestone pillars held up the domed glass roof. She approached the reception desk of the large empty room, Her heels clicked against the tile as she stepped. 

"Hi, Ms. Carter, right?" The receptionist asked. 

"Yes." Martha replied. 

The receptionist gestured to the seating area. "Mister Blanch isn't in just yet, You can have a seat if you'd like." 

 Martha looked over to the row of seats, "Actually do you mind if I take some pictures?" 

The receptionist frowned. 

"I'll be sure to let Mister blanch take a look before leaving." She added.

 The receptionist took a pause, before nodding. That seemed to satisfy her. Martha pulled out her smartphone and began taking photos, she walked to the back of the building. There, in a small lab, worked a team of scientists. They huddled around a clear square, it held nearly forty test tubes filled with a viscous red substance.

 "It's sort of gross, isn't it?" A man's voice spoke behind her. 

Martha had become so entranced she jumped at his voice, dropping her phone. The man bent down and picked it up for her. 

"My apologies, miss, It wasn't my intention to startle you." He said. 

She turned to see the man, He was about her height. His hair was white and balding. He was rather large around his middle, He wore a pink and blue plaid shirt, underneath a lab coat that seemed as old as he was.