Animalia by Cristian Johnson (free novels to read txt) 📕

the corpse with its blood draining all over the floor. It looks at Dr. Roberts and back at the corpse while starting to flip the corpse onto it’s back. The boar injects its tusks into its back and starts to push it back into the corner of the pen. Then with a loud cry it charges to the edge of the pen with blood leaking out from the body, it curls its head and flicks its body upwards as the corpse is launched and lands on the viewing glass. The white fleshy blob now not resembling a human was dropping off in pieces. Sam with eyes filled with horror steps back.

Dr. Roberts looks at the body and the boar with shame and turns around. Casually, like it did not even matter he tells Sam “This was a waste of time, both subjects are not suitable. One is still too human, the other one too animalistic for what we need. Sam go clean up and finish the job.”

The doctor then heads toward the other side of the room and grabs something from one of the lockers. He grabs a small box then starts loading bullets into a gun. It was decided much earlier in the research that the only way to finish the job was to eliminate the subjects if they did not successfully merge with the AZ Gas. There was only one way for the subject to stay alive, and this time both subjects had to die. He looks at Sam and grins and passes him the gun, and walks off to the other side of the room. Sam grabs the gun and makes his way to the elevator. He feels a chill down his spine, he knows what he has to do but does not want to. He continues to look down at the floor as he jumps suddenly when the elevator comes to a halt of the pen. He walks out and looks at the boar, it's now breathing slowly and limping away from him. Sam then walks to it slowly, the boar lets out a squeal and it tries to run away. It fails miserably and it ends up tripping and slams its head on the ground. Sam slowly removes the gun from his pocket and aims at the head of the boar.

Two brown eyes stare up at Sam, they blink slowly and then it says “Please…. help me….” Sam then realizes that it's the voice of a child, not an adult. A kid that has been transformed into this monstrosity. The boar looks up and its breathing continues to get faster. Sam’s arm shakes uncontrollably trying to get a grip on the gun, trying to shoot the boar, to do his job. He takes a deep breath as he stares into his eyes of this subject, of this child…..and pulls the gun away from him.

Suddenly the elevator door opens and Dr. Roberts marches towards Sam with an upset expression on his face. “I knew it! I shouldn’t have trusted you with this simple task, hand me the gun.” He snatches the gun from Sam and shoots the boar point-blank in the middle of his eyes and then puts the gun back in his pocket. The boar’s head cracks back then it flops to the ground, blood spills out from the bullet wound seeping into the floor.

Sam nervously tries to explain his actions. “The boar…the boar spoke and it sounded as if a child. I thought all subjects had to be over 18...that was a child! I almost killed a child!”

Dr. Roberts looks down at the subject. “It was a test subject. Yes he was a juvenile, but he was a nobody an orphan found on the streets. If we are to take the next step in this new world you must understand Sam ... we need all types of subjects at all costs. Willingly or none, the more we have the more tests can be done. “

Sam shakes his head in disbelief not wanting to accept the truth. “No, I can’t believe you are doing this… was this happening to all of our test subjects? Were they all just people that had no idea of going into a slaughterhouse!”

Dr. Roberts slams his hand on the wall “Sam, you must understand what we do for this research laboratory, we have to do things that may seem cruel and unspeakable. All of this will help us influence the world. We can finally defy the laws of nature, we do not have to beg to God or mother nature herself to provide nourishment, we will make our own. get any type of product or meal. This work can end world hunger. Just think of it Sam we are reworking history as we speak.

Sam finally decides to take a stand and looks at Dr. Roberts. “I’m done! I am scared I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to go back to medical school, I want to help people not kill them. I’m not cut out for this job. I did not sign up for any of this!”

The Doctor stares down at Sam stepping towards him, “Oh my dear boy, you know much more than most employees that have worked under me, and for that, I’m going to have to put you in your place.”

Just like an alpha predator with no fear of doing what he pleases, Dr. Roberts starts to pull the gun from his pocket slowly and aims at Sam. He knew deep down he was going to be troubled especially if after seeing his reaction to the juvenile subject. Sam panics and begins his escape looking for an exit from the pens. His eyes locked onto a small door on the side and decided to bolt for it. He cocks the gun and tries to shoot Sam but has to reload his gun and continues as he glances at the door. He shouts at the guards to lock the door but it’s too late, Sam is gone from his sight. He runs to the door as he suddenly slips on the pool of blood.

“Oh, you ignorant child you will get what's coming to you now.” Dr. Roberts stands up and wipes the blood off his face and goes toward the wall. He grasps the handle and pulls down on the alarm.

Sirens blare out of the speakers and lockdown procedures begin in the laboratory. Both Dr. Roberts and Sam are in the same hallway now, but this time Dr. Roberts has six guards with him. As the lockdown commences Sam runs rapidly seeing flashes of red lights and hearing loud sirens all around him trying to find a safe room to hide.

“There has to be a way to find an exit out of this building.” He breathes heavily taking constant stops to catch his breath. He weaves and slowly stays in the shadows of the lab and tries to avoid everyone. The armed guards and Dr. Roberts run down the hall of the bottom floor as they inspect each room quickly to spot the traitor. Roberts walks to the corner of the hall, Sam notices and continues to run. A squeak of his shoes alerts Roberts, as he goes for his gun and the kill. He lines up the shot right in the middle of Sam’s body and fires. Bullets bounce off the walls and ricochet but do not hit him.

Sam continues to run away shouting to himself “Oh, God... Oh, God... Oh God... how am I still alive right now? I can’t keep up like this.” He wheezes. “He’s just going to continue until I'm dead.” Barely with any energy, Sam supports his body against a wall and notices an open room with no one inside. “Yes..that will do, he will never find me here.” Sam rushes inside the darkroom as he tries to find the power switch. Gun still on hand Dr. Roberts walks down and notices the open door. Sam blindly tries to find a light source but soon finds what it seems to be a tall cabinet. “A perfect place to hide.” Sam squeezes inside and tries to close the cabinet door as much as he can.

Dr. Roberts walks toward a room with dark letters in front of the door saying AZ GAS CONTAINMENT. He then opens the rusty door and turns on the light as he surveys the room. Looking amused as he sees the blunder of a mess around the room. He closes the door behind him. “Well, Sam I believe this is the end of the line, you have nowhere to run, you have to be hiding somewhere, aren't you.”

Sam’s breathing gets faster as he hears the steps growing closer to his direction. The cabinet he is hiding is cracked open slightly and can hear Dr. Roberts.

“You know child, I saw potential in you joining us, joining our team to see what we do but it seems you don’t fully understand. I always make sure if they’re any loose ends in the lab, I will take care of them by any means necessary. Roberts finds a small trail of broken glass and moves objects with a large generator next to him. He continues to search and notices a large container connecting with many wires and tubes around it. “Can it be?” It's the AZ Gas capsule that is used for testing, it's the jewel of his experiments. “Hmm, perhaps the workers panicked and left this area unattended. They don't know the importance of this room. He takes another look, it's so obvious Sam was here knocking down items and making this place a pigsty. He must be hiding elsewhere.”

Sam watches Dr. Roberts from a small distance as he continues to walk away from his direction towards the door. “He didn’t look over here” He whispered to himself and shifted to get a better look. Unfortunately for Sam, his short-lived victory was ended by him falling from the cabinet to the floor.

Dr. Roberts jerked his body around and in awe as he found Sam. “Well look at that, you were in here after all. You gave me a run of a lifetime, I was afraid for a little bit that I would have to call in some rough measures to exterminate you.”

Sam is in panic mode now, sweating uncontrollably and goes to hide under a desk as he tries to find a way to escape the clutches of Roberts. He knows that he can not find a way out of this, but he has to try. He notices a glass beaker is next to him and has one chance of getting out of here alive. “I only have one shot, I hope I don’t miss. I hope I don’t miss,” he whispers to himself.

Dr. Roberts starts to walk to the table and as he begins to pull the trigger. Suddenly, loud siren noises come from the generator as Roberts looks around and can’t find Sam. “Curse that little brat...thinking he can outsmart me. ME THE PROFESSOR WHO RUNS THIS PLACE. I AM DR. HENRY ROBERTS AND I WILL FIN-”

Hissing sounds began to emerge from the generator. Dr. Roberts looks at the generator glass cracking and finally the pressure can hold no more. A flash of light consumes Dr. Roberts, as the explosion over the laboratory grows indefinitely. As the explosions grow over the building glass shatters and metal bursts to millions of pieces. It continues to consume everything around it. It reached the major cities and eventually farmland. They become distorted and broken apart constantly from the debris millions of cries are heard from the horizons of earth. Soon the clouds AZ Gas dust makes its way across all the continents putting everyone in the world into a coma state. They fall where they are if not killed from the debris. The gas continues to spread among the animal wildlife, which breath in the air and die instantaneously.

Everything has fallen to the gas but not all of the living organisms have