Black Mamba

2013 - Unknown location, New-Mexico.

Six men and one woman in long white overcoats were standing before a large glass panel each taking notes on clipboards as they studied their subjects. Four of the six men were either going bald or had a mass of white and gray hair on the head while the two others looked much younger and trailed slightly behind. The lone woman had her hair in a tight bun, her hair a swirl of gray and black. The only sound in the room was the incessant beeping of machines and soft murmurs as they watched.

After a few minutes the youngest man turned around and shook his head walking to a desk where he brushed his dark curls back and studied his notes.

"This is insane..." He whispered softly to himself, earning himself a glare from the rest of the Scientifics on his team. David had always dreamed of being part of a team like this. The biggest names in the industry were here. In a government facility, working on a high security confidential file. He had been recruited right after his graduation, the very next day to be exact. He had gotten outstanding results in his genetics course earning himself the first A+ in the history of Mr. Kovacevich's course. But this, this was abomination. Had he known...

Known what? He wasn't fooling anyone. He still would have done it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He would have been stupid to brush such an offer. Not even for the money, though the seven figure check did help. No. This project, splicing human genetics with animal genetics in order to cure certain diseases, or strengthen the immune system was his dream. If they succeeded, this was Nobel Prize quality. And that was his goal. The big Nobel. But now David was second guessing. Something wasn't right. They hadn't been told everything and it was making him nervous to see which direction it was going. Enhancing muscular and cognitive capacities. The tests were going great but that was it, they were going too well. The subjects were advancing at an incredible rate.

Something made him uneasy. Maybe it was the way they gave him the chills. Those cold dead eyes. He shuddered and decided he needed a coffee. Sticking his pen in his pocket, he took his clipboard and entered the access code to exit the room. The doors released with a soft pressurized sound and slid open. Five inch of reinforced steel was used for the door; none could break it without blowing up the whole thing.

He walked down the hall the door closing with a soft cushioned sound. Letting out a yawn, he placed his clipboard on the table and grabbed a Styrofoam cup and pressed the magic button supposed to make this wonderful machine miraculously deliver him caffeine. He grabbed a granola bar from the vending machine and sat down sipping the hot coffee as he went over his notes. He checked the various scans they had and test results and frowned as he checked the chart again. This was weird. It seemed the subjects were able to send each other telepathic messages. The graphic showed that at the time of complete silence they were showing similar patterns of activity. He rubbed his eyes and flipped ages stopping at the last update. A screen shot had been made of the subjects. He frowned deeper then dropped his coffee before he ran to the observation room. He punched in the code wrong the first time causing him to slap the keyboard and try again. As the door softly opened, David gagged and doubled over and threw up. Dead.

The whole team was dead. Blood was splattered all over the place guts spilling out of the woman's stomach, one of the scientist head was even missing. David only had time to punch the alarm button before he felt a sudden burst of pain, stars flashing before his eyes. He looked down and saw a metal rod sticking out of his stomach. His eyes widened and he let out a hoarse scream of pain. He coughed up blood and fell to his knees a large chunk of his flesh hanging at the tip of the rod. His last vision was a pair of snake eyes staring straight into his, before his eyes blurred and he fell to the ground.

One breath, two breaths. Sharp pain ran through him and David breathed out. For the last time.