(Continued from issue #0 which is in the CCC #63
Dr Eloise Calappa sat on the floor, a blood soaked bandage over her right eye. Standing over her were three men in black suits and sunglasses, almost identical except for hair colour. The rest of the lab swarmed with people in full body hazmat suits.
"Let's start from the start, Dr Calappa," said the middle man as he look down at her. Eloise saw her reflection in the glasses mirrored surface.
"I need medical attention," she stated.
"In good time doctor," said the second man. "So, from the top."
Eloise sighed. "Ty came into the lab and collap..."
"Why?" asked the first man.
"I'm getting to that! You also interrupted at the same time when I told you my story the first time!" Eloise snapped as she used the wall to get to her feet. "That's it! I'm not talking any more! I want my lawyer! I want to talk to Dr Xiphos! I want a goddam paramedic! NOW!"
The trio flinched as she threw the bloody bandage at them. The middle man tapped his ear and spoke into his wrist. "Did you get that sir?"
"I did." A man removed his hazmat helmet. "Now get Eloise some medical attention."
"Yes Dr Xiphos."
"Orestes," Eloise scowled at the middle aged Greek man. "You've been here the whole time?"
"A situation like this one my dear warrants it."
-
Ty Canol ran deliriously along the street. His hands ached and were changing colour to black, his eyes felt like they were expanding, his leg throbbed, and all the while his skin felt like he had ice water just under the surface of it.
"What's happening to me?!" He whimpered as he staggered towards his home. "Stupid crabs!"
Ty veered onto the road, jumping back as a blue SUV hit the horn and rushed past him.
"I'm walking here!" Ty yelled frantically as he scurried about in a weird semi circle pattern before falling onto the ground. "Oh god it hurts."
Slowly he got back up shook his head clear and exhaled. "Three more blocks. Home in three. Lie down, you'll be fine."
--
Orestes Xiphos looked at the stitching work the paramedic had done around Eloise' eye. "You're quiet lucky you didn't get any glass in your eye."
"I didn't do this," Eloise lied. "As I told your people in the cheap suits..."
"Yes, yes, Ty hit you in the face and ran off, so you say," Xiphos groaned as he sat down beside her allowing the paramedic to place a patch on her. "What I find curious is that only YOUR fingerprints are on the beaker. Can you explain that, Dr Calappa?"
Eloise gritted her teeth.
"I didn't think so," Xiphos patted her knee as he stood up. "Is this boy your lover or something?"
"No!" Eloise protested. "He's just an intern."
"Why are you protecting him?" He asked curiously.
--
Ty sobbed in pain as he watched his fingers of his right hand knit themselves together in a weird carapace. He frantically tried to split them back but to no avail.
"Oh please god, no! Please! Help me!" Ty weeped as he staggered home. A jogger and his Doberman bounded towards him and the dog let out a snarl.
"Easy Melissa!" The jogger soothed as they stopped. "Um, you okay man?"
"Hellf!" Ty spluttered. He touched his mouth to find his bottom lip had rotated into a pair of plates poking up across his lips. The dog went from a snarl to attack mode; barking loudly and straining on the leash. The jogger screamed in terror and released the leash, as he ran off in the opposite direction. Melissa the dog charged forward and leapt for Ty's throat. Instinctively he threw a hand out and shut his eyes.
-
"As you know Dr Calappa, this isn't the first time something like this has happened," Dr Xiphos said as he walked her towards a large red van with SONGBIRD emblazoned on the side. "It was about three years ago in our centre in Townsville we irradiated some Tiger Quolls." Xiphos gestured out the dimensions of the carnivorous marsupial. "A pair of brothers working there were mauled. Shocking injuries. They mutated into a complex hybrid organism in a similar fashion to your intern."
"And what happened to them?"
"Oh they went off to become super heroes in a colourfully named city," Dr Xiphos said dryly waiting for Eloise to catch up to the sarcasm. "They were quarantined, dissected and disposed of like all mistakes. Also you can't have giant half quoll monsters roaming the streets now can we?"
The side door of the truck opened and Eloise stopped. "Please don't."
--
Melissa the Doberman whimper as she hung precariously in the newly formed claw that was Ty's hand. Ty looked down his monstrous arm to see the dog dangling in his massive pincer.
"WHARDAPHARK!" He yelled only to decapitate the cringing pooch in a shower of blood as he flinched at the sight of his arm. The twitching body flopped onto the floor. Ty screamed again and ran for his house.
"PHLUCK! PHLUCK! PHLUCK!" Ty screamed through his mutated mouth.
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