Infection
[WP] Near your city is a forest of giant concrete spikes protruding from the earth. Nobody knows why they’re there, and everyone who goes into them comes back mysteriously and incurably ill. You and your team have been working your whole lives to unravel the mystery of these strange monoliths.
*****
October 42nd, 2108 -- Data Entry 27
Dogan came back from hell today.
He looked awful, just like the others, with sores on his face with black ooze streaming from them, frostbite-like symptoms on the extremities, and yellowish scleras. Rimus and I admitted him to the infirmary, but he insisted he wanted to be put down. As much as I'd like to oblige him, he is still needed for testing. The poor bastard, he didn't deserve it. Mareck made it back alive because of Dogan, but he isn't much better off either. If they're like the others, they'll be gone in a few days. I'd better go run my tests and say my goodbyes. Goddamnit.
October 42nd, 2108 -- Data Entry 27.1
Subject 17 is under anesthesia. Noted two pus sacs with 2 cm diameters on the left infraorbital foramen, 2.5 cm apart. Four smaller sacs, ranging from 1 to 2 cm on the right middle malar. Multiple open sores on the frontal region, redness has reduced with ice. Pus has been examined and found a surprising amount of decomposed red blood cells. The count is substantially higher than that of the dead leukocytes. This is what is giving it a black appearance. Running an antibody test on the subject has come up negative. Whatever it is, it isn't viral or bacterial. Lungs have been swabbed for mucositis foreign bodies, but results are inconclusive as of yet. The sample has been placed in the optimal fungal cultivator and will revisit in a week. Fingernails are completely missing due to what appears to be frostbite. Temperatures measured inside the quarantine zone reached their lowest at 13 Centigrade, with no possibility of frostbite. Subject 17 was exposed to a hazardous environment for over a week, which could aid in the severity of the damage compared to other subjects. The fingers won't be amputated, since the subject is likely to perish. More later.
October 42nd, 2108 -- Data Entry 27.2
[Data Not Found]
October 43rd, 2108 -- Data Entry 28
He's already gone. So is Mareck. I called my tests early last night and handed them off to Dr. Itasca. I couldn't handle seeing Dogan like that. He and Mareck were in there longer than any of the other subjects, and he was still able to come out alive before he died. Other subjects who have gone in died around 3 days after less than 24 hours of exposure. I don't like to do this often, but I'm hard-pressed to assume that exposure equates to a sort of adaptation that works against an infected host once they are removed from the environment. Of course, there is no ethical way to test that, so for now it remains a mystery. Though, the only person in the zone longer than him has long been gone; months since anyone has seen them. Surely they've succumbed to the infection by now due to pneumonia or internal bleeding. I'd go into the QZ, but the ops won't let me suit up. They tell me that I am crucial to this project, but I know the real work is all Itasca's doing. She's been on this project since April, this is her baby.
What a scientist won't do for results, right?
September 3rd, 2108 -- Data Entry 29
We've all been a little on edge for the last few days. All the ops are whispering rumors about something called the "Black Mass." According to Rimus, he and his men encountered a subject who was dying in the QZ. He mumbled about the "Black Mass" and said it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and that he couldn't wait for the ops to witness it. When they tried to question him further, all he had to say was "it's bigger than all of you." Whatever, leave the cryptic shit to Intel, I just draw blood and tell people they're going to die. Life is simple, I don't need delusions of a giant black glob of dead blood and skin cells rolling down a hill at me. Just let me enjoy my shitty job, I don't need another one.
Rimus is on high alert today, which has me worried since the guy is anything short of a cold psychopath. He told me that his unit was attacked by what seemed like sentient survivors found inside the QZ. I don't remember the sector, but they were pretty deep; the deepest they've gone in for a while actually. One of the op's hazmat suits was punctured and minor surface wounds were sustained. Itasca is tending to them right now. I'll need to head over there to help her since the subject has just been exposed. This could help us understand where the infection starts so that we can at least begin rudimentary treatments. But, this confirms it for me. Survivors are inside the QZ and they seem to be stay alive as long as they don't leave. This is way above my paygrade, I am gonna go stick this jarhead with some needles and ask him some personal questions. More later...
September 10th, 2108 -- Data Entry 30.1
H-O-L-Y. S-H-I-T.
*****
THE END.
It's been a long time since I wrote a piece based on gloom and despair. And yes, that can be a mood sometimes. Sometimes I do feel like leaning towards the dark side, and when I do, I create pieces like these. Hope you enjoyed it!
