Prologue

I woke up with the feeling of cold steel on my back, I tried to move my hands and feet but they were being held down by something.

I was eventually able to open my eyes and I saw a high ceiling with bright white florescent lighting that forced me to close them again. I opened them again but this time I squinted so that the bright light wouldn't hurt my sensitive eyes. I strained my neck and I was able to see right and left even though something seemed to be wrapped around my neck.

The room I was in had white tiles on the walls and on the floor. It was really clean and combined with the florescent lighting it looked very sterile and cold. The room didn't only look cold but it also was cold, I could see my breath turn in to a cloud of vapor as it left my mouth and nose every time I exhaled.

I tried to move my hands and legs again but I couldn't even budge them, I struggled to free myself until I run out of steam and just fell back boneless onto what felt like a hard steel board. I lay there staring at the bright lights on the ceiling when I heard voices coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like two men talking,

"......so how was the result on the new stiff, did you get anything?"

"Of course not, this tests are nuts to begin with. The company is wasting its time with the new strain, hell the whole project is just a giant sink of cash, they are wasting their money. What is a pharmaceutical company doing developing new viruses anyway? Shouldn't they be trying to cure diseases not starting new epidemics."

"I don't know man but the things we are working on....shit, I've never seen anything like this. I know that genetic engineering had progressed far but a triple helix? That's some sci-fi shit right there."

"I heard that they found the original virus in lice that were in the hairs of bonobo chimps."

"Yeah, I heard that it mutated the lice to increase their leaping powers by three hundred percent."

"Hey I'm out of cigarettes, give me some of yours."

"Here you go you damn mooch, which reminds me aren't you supposed to be monitoring the stiff? Why are you here bumming a smoke off of me?"

"Relax man, the stiff ain't going anywhere. He is brain dead as a potato. The idiot wasn't much of a genius before he turned into a vegetable either, the moron stepped in front of a train in grand central. They say it was an accident but I think it was suicide. The man had no family or friends, he was probably trying to end his miserable existence."

"But how could you leave him alone, we don't know the effects of the new strain on humans. What if he turns into a zombie."

For a moment there was laughter which was mixed with violent coughing,

"Zombies, you are funny Phil. You know you and I might think this is a joke but the company takes this kind of thing seriously, I mean they actually make us strap in our test subjects before administrating the tests, I mean can you believe that? It is actually in the guidelines. It is as if they believe that one of the subjects is going to get up and run away."

I heard more laughter followed by even more violent coughing.

Then something started to beep in the room with me.

"Hang on Phil, do you hear that?"

"It seems to be coming from operating theater A."

"I think it's my cellphone. Damn it, I must have left it in there with the stiff after talking to my wife."

"Is that safe?"

"It's fine, the virus dies once it leaves the subject. That is why we have to go to all this trouble to infect somebody then cut open the subject while they are still fresh. Well I have to go and get that, if my wife calls and I don't pick up she becomes naggier and an even bigger pain in the ass to live with. *sigh* Sometimes I wish that I could stick a scalpel in my wife instead of these poor assholes, she would probably deserve it more."

After that I heard the *snick* of a door opening and footsteps in the room I was in. Eventually a small balding man wearing glasses and green scrubs came into my very limited line of sight.

For a second he just stared into my eyes and I stared into his. I could even see his pupils dilate so much that his lime green irises nearly disappeared.

Then he opened his mouth and let out a high pitched blood curdling scream.