After breakfast, Selena went to the northern part of the campus and went to Dr. Harker’s office. Selena couldn’t miss her office because it was the smallest building in the area. The meeting about what they had found last night had to wait.

She made her way up the stairs, passing by another student. The raven-haired girl with sunglasses was rather small wearing a black jacket, a black button-down shirt with blue jeans and boots. Kind of looked out of place in a setting like this, but who was Selena to judge?

She hiked up the stairs and when inside the building. She decided to take the stairs to work off that big breakfast she had an hour ago. She cursed herself for overeating hash browns and Sunnyside eggs. Unfortunately, they became too addictive for her to say no. Dr. Harker’s office was on the fourth floor and three doors to the right. The door was already open, but it would be rude of her to barge in without announcing herself.

Selena knocked on the door three times. “Dr. Harker?”

There was Dr. Harker, reading over a few files. She rose her head to see Selena in the doorway. “Yes, Miss Logan. Please, come in.”

Selena indeed let herself in and took a seat across from Dr. Harker. Her office was indeed rather small. It had a desk, a couple chairs to sit in, wall-to-wall carpet that was rather old, drapes that were recently cleaned, the color scheme of the walls were the odd color of brown, and the floor creaked every time you walked. Apparently, this wasn’t an office fit for Dr. Harker’s ego. But at least it was hers.

“So, you wanted to see me?” Selena asked.

“I wanted to offer you my extended thanks for covering Dr. Kennedy’s class yesterday. He always was a yellow-bellied bastard,” Dr. Harker being appreciative.

Selena was taken aback by her behavior. “Excuse me?”

“The monster attacks, Miss Logan, or allegedly. If not most, but some of our best instructors and professors are leaving the school. For one reason or another, they chose this excuse to hightail it out of here. Going to greener pastures, if there is such a thing… I refuse to go because I have tenure,” Dr. Harker being direct and honest.

“Well, good for you.” Selena’s tolerance was already waning thin.

Dr. Harker continued her boisterous attitude. “That is why I wanted to speak to you in private. Dixon is on her way out. She is way too soft. She beat me for the position by five votes. It’s only a matter of time before they will call every one of us and they will name me the new Dean of the University. When the time comes, would you be interested in being a part of the school full-time?”

Selena already made up her mind the moment Dr. Harker decided to speak. Clearly, the answer was no. But in the meantime, she would humor the heavenly plump blowhard while being coy, “I’ll give it some thought.”

Dr. Harker got suckered entirely. “That’s all I ask. For the time being, we must do some babysitting. Come with me.”

Dr. Harker rose from her chair and went to the left side of her office. Apparently, there was another door leading to another facility. Having such access was convenient for Dr. Harker. Selena followed her as they went to a windowless bio-engineering laboratory.

The laboratory itself was seven times bigger than Dr. Harker’s office. The facility was filled with state-of-the-art technology and equipment costing over hundreds and thousands of dollars. They even had small incubation rooms costing over $50,000. Selena was indeed amazed by the chemistry lab that Dr. Harker was working out of.

While they were walking through the chemistry lab, Dr. Harker explained Selena of what just happened yesterday. “There is another reason why I brought you here. You see, the auditorium that was burned to the ground and the lab that was flipped over last night wasn’t the only ones that were hit. That one was of the biochemical labs I use for my classes.”

“Does Dixon know about this laboratory?” Selena questioned.

Dr. Harker gave out a belly laugh. “Of course not. She is too busy trying to find the next Aaron Judge. She can waste her time creating scholarship money for those brainless meatheads. This is mine. Off the books.”

This made Selena raise an eyebrow. “Off the books, huh?”

“We do independent projects and research to fund this lab on my own dime,” Dr. Harker summarized.

“And the best part is, we don’t have to pay any kind of taxes. It’s all included,” a female voice added.

They both turned around to see a tall, well-built woman in a lab coat. She had long black hair, light brown eyes with brown skin.

Dr. Harker recognizes this woman, blowing off her two cents. “Yes, Britney. Tax breaks for everybody. Just don’t say that out loud. Logan, this is my lab assistant. Her name is Britney Larson.”

Selena studied the young lab assistant thoroughly. Her mannerisms, the way she carried herself, everything. Apparently, Britney took good care of herself; she looked very healthy. Indeed, Britney took pride in her work and was not afraid to show off her intelligence. She carried a natural charisma and confidence as well.

Selena extended her hand for a handshake. “Miss Larson, nice to meet--. ”

“Mrs. Larson,” Britney smugly corrected with a smile as they shook hands.

Right then and there, she wanted to squeeze on Britney’s hand and break it. But she just grinned and bared it, “Right…”

“Yeah, I forgot. Britney married that dainty tomgirl that follows you around like a puppy dog,” Dr. Harker criticized.

Almost with a reflex action, Britney squeezed on Selena’s hand. To Selena, Britney took offense to Dr. Harker’s words, “Dr. Harker, be nice. He’s a good man.”

This was a sign that she cares about her husband and is highly protective of him.

“Only the things they are good for, right?” Dr. Harker baited.

Now I know why Cherie and Blair called her a fat bitch… Selena thought as she let go of Britney’s hand.

“So where is he, calling in sick like everyone else? We do have a deadline!” Dr. Harker bellowed to Britney.

“We just need a more powerful separating agent,” Britney summarized.

“We don’t,” Dr. Harker strongly disagreed. “If you would’ve done his job and crunched the numbers like I told him to, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

And to think, Selena thought she was far too hard on Miss Chloe Serpentine yesterday and on her own friends. At least, Selena tries to help people to become better. Dr. Harker is just a flat-out bully.

“I’m at a loss…” Selena fishing for information.

“That’s because I did explain anything yet,” Dr. Harker stating the obvious as Selena is growing more impatient with Dr. Harker by the moment. “What we are doing is creating a brand-new steroidal therapy that uses natural hormones by other means.”

“I’m afraid to ask this, from animals?” Selena followed up.

“We're not killing any of them,” Britney stepped in. “We are only taking the blood samples from animals intravenously. We don’t need that much. The hormones are just a component of something far greater.”

For this kind of research, funding doesn’t come cheap. It’s rather expensive to conduct such studies. Yet, if proven correct, you can really name your own price, and anyone who is anyone will gladly pay it. It was high risk and high reward. Dr. Harker had every right to be on edge, but… Something was off.

Getting funding for such research is one thing, but who is forking over the money to conduct such research in the first place. Who is their benefactor and what are their goals?

Selena was very intrigued by this as well, “And who is this particular sponsor of yours?”

Feeling that Selena was asking too many questions, Dr. Harker shot back with her familiar tone, “You would know if you would say yes? Now more than ever, everyone wants to be faster and stronger. Living forever is a tall man’s tale with nearsighted vision.”

“Very clever,” Selena rolled her eyes. It would be a cold day in hell before she would leave the Crux Nexus for a bitch like Dr. Harker.

Dr. Harker continued her prose, “I do believe in this day of age, we are dying out as a human race far more rapidly than we should be. Most scientists have already predicted we may not survive another third world war or even another 100 years on this earth since it is so polluted. For us to adapt and overcome, our bodies must change.”

“Scientists. Was one of them named H. P. Lovecraft?” Selena teased while receiving a laugh from Britney.

“No wonder I like you. Case in point, how many people have died because of obesity? How come many others can easily die by having a common cold rather than the HIV virus?” Dr. Harker mentioned as this hit close to home with Selena.

Knowing Dr. Harker struck a chord with Selena’s anger, she continued, “Not because everybody’s different. It’s because every ‘body’ is different. You see, we are not all the same. We may have cracked the genetic code completely, but if I were on that panel, I would’ve pushed it to the absolute limit. Afterward, why stop there? The human genome project was a milestone for humanity on a general scale. The moment the project ended, left a lot of questions unanswered. If they had only kept ongoing, they would have cracked so many codes on why we are so different from other creatures on this earth. While your immune to many types of bacteria, meanwhile being susceptible to other viruses?”

Stepping back and thinking about what Dr. Harker had said made a lot of sense. Selena could agree with Dr. Harker, but she had to play devil’s advocate for her sake, “For what purpose?”

Having people disagree with her had always been a problem with Dr. Harker, “I don’t understand.”

She understood. The problem was someone like Dr. Harker always wanted to be right. It was simple for Selena to explain herself, “For what purpose of pushing it to the absolute limit? Maybe, just being different is rather difficult as it is. To understand who you really are is not in one’s blood but in one’s soul.”

Not having a simple rebuttal of her own, Dr. Harker only laughed it off, “I expected this from an occultist, but you do have your strong positive points.”

Suddenly, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man entered the room with a lab coat. He was slightly thin and was also the same height as Britney. By the looks of his hair and face, was indeed high maintenance and took pride in his appearance.

Recognizing this young man, Dr. Harker greeted him the best way she knew how, “Well, you’re up at the ass crack of dawn. I just hope your wife didn’t keep you up all night like last time.”

“Nice to see you, too…” The young man relented.

He would feel a lot better when Britney went to him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him for a kiss. He would follow suit as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Both Dr. Harker and Selena felt awkward by the kissing couple.

“Donovan Larson, our mathematician… And the lucky bastard who married my assistant,” Dr. Harker added.

Donovan breaking the kiss and the embrace looked over to Selena who was standing there awkwardly. He merely took notice on Dr. Harker’s future endeavors, “I see you're recruiting more members for your little shit party…”

“Actually, I’m just passing through,” Selena coyly corrected. “Also, there is something I want to give to all three of you. It’s a hint of pet dander. My friend has this dog, and I have no idea what kind of--”

“What you want to find out what the dog is? By any chance, is it a large breed?” Britney asked.

“Yes, about 200 pounds,” Selena confirmed, pulling a hair sample from her pocket. “I guess you can say, I want one for myself.”

Donovan has always been a dog lover, but to his knowledge, he never heard of a large breed dog that size.

“Some large breed. Oh well, I’ll do it. Just to get my mind off things,” Donovan agreed as she took the hair sample from Selena. Dr. Harker walked away in disgust, having more important matters to deal with.

“Thanks, Mr. Larson.”

“No, don’t call me that. Donovan. Simply Donovan,” him, never minding the formalities.

“Thanks, Donovan,” Selena nodded, trying so hard not to cringe.

“Oh, Selena. About Dr. Harker. Don’t believe a word she says. She’s the toxic one around here. Always willing to step on others just to get what she wants,” Donovan warned. Yet, Selena gave a knowingly smile.

“I know the type. I grew up with one like her,” with a slight nod and a wave, Selena left the laboratory.

Making her way out of the building, she took a left sharp turn at the hallway and accidentally bumped into another student. Unfortunately for that student, she dropped her smartphone, breaking it. As a matter of fact, it was the same woman she just walked by when entering the building.

Sincerely, Selena shared her great regret while the student was picking up her broken phone. She even helped her pick up the pieces, “I’m sorry, I’m very sorry… Just send me the bill, and I’ll pay for the damages.”

Usually, anyone who was anyone with an expensive smartphone would be pissed off. Even on the verge of rage and rightfully so. Eerily enough, she was calm and somewhat aloof by the situation, “Don’t worry about that, professor. I got three of them back at the house.”

Somewhat cocky of her fortunes, Selena still felt relieved by the student’s temperance, “Good.”

Afterward, Selena left the building and made her way back home, anxiously wanting to go over what she had discovered.