Chapter 1

The sun shines down upon a large metal building, the shadow it casts engulfing a lone man. The man lumbers into the building, a tired expression upon his visage. He is there for one reason, to interview the head scientist at Charme Genetics.

As the man enters the building, the extra light allows you to get a better look at his face. He's in his late 20s, eyes as green as the fresh spring grass, his left a glossy glass, and hair as dark as the night sky. He covers his fairly well toned chest with a gray shirt with sleeves that reach his wrists, a pair of dark jeans adorn his bottom; a pair of dark shoes on his feet.

He walks along the marble floors towards the wooden desk at the front. He looks towards the woman sitting behind the desk and shows his press pass.

" I'm here to interview the head researchers on Project Peake." he states with a tired smile on his face.

She looks at the pass and reads the name aloud, " Aaron Yoole, you're with the Los Angeles Times?" she inquires after looking at the pass.

" That's what it says." Aaron states in an annoyed and exhausted tone. She presses a couple buttons on the computer as the elevator dings.

The elevator door opens and a man walks out with a white lab coat stained with a fluid, looking like pig blood. He walks over to the journalist and says "Are you the 5 o'clock?" As he comes to a halt in front of the exhausted man.

" Uh.. yes, I'm Aaron Yoole….." he states, holding out his hand.The scientist shakes his hand and says " Come, Come, what took you so long, I don't like being kept waiting. It's a waste of my time." As he walks back towards the elevator dragging the journalist by the wrist and the elevator takes them up to the lab.

The elevator door opens, letting out Aaron and the scientist. They walk into a lab filled with cages that are riddled with animals. "These are the subjects we have experimented on." the scientist explains.

" Are said experiments ethical?" Aaron inquires, holding his pen and notebook at the ready. "We believe so, because of the fact that in the future we will be able to save hundreds of thousands of people from the horrors of cancer." He replies calmly.

" Just because you believe they are, doesn't mean they are. The question was, are the experiments factually ethical?" Aaron states. To which the scientist replies " If you're asking if any have died, then no; we have not had a single death."

Aaron writes something down in his notes and looks back up at the scientist.

" Oh yeah… can I get your name, so I can quote you in my article?" 

The scientist takes off his badge and tosses it to the journalist and on the badge it says "RYAN FORGE".

Aaron scribbles the name down in his notes as a loud "BOOOOOM!!" rings out and the building starts violently shaking as a blast of energy engulfs the entire building. The world goes black as Aaron and Ryan are sent into a state of unconsciousness.

Ryan opens his eyes, and looks about his surroundings; white walls surround him and a long rubber tube is connected to his wrist, on the bed next to him is the journalist from before.

" What happened?" Ryan says as he reaches for his head to make sure it's still attached. Realizing that one of her patients was awake, a nurse makes her way over to Ryan.

" You're awake, after an accident like that I was beginning to think that you'd never wake up." 

"Well I am one stubborn bastard." Ryan declares.

The nurse looks over to Aaron, who is just now regaining consciousness.

" Oh? Seems my other patient is waking up." she states as she makes her way over to Aaron; who attempts to sit up, but the nurse stops him.

" Hey, hey; don't move too fast."

"Looks like you're as stubborn as I am." Ryan states; looking towards Aaron.

" I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not." Aaron responds.

Aaron looks around his surroundings, realizing that he is in the hospital.

" Why am I in the hospital?" he inquires.

"Don't you remember what happened?" Ryan states as he delivers a recap of the earlier events.

" Oh… so it's your fault then." Aaron declares after hearing Ryan's explanation.

"Well I didn't quite know what they were doing in the basement. I just hope everyone is alright." Ryan declares.

Another nurse, this one male walks into the room with a clipboard in hand.

" According to the check ups we did on these two, they're completely fine and can be released as soon as they're ready to leave." the male nurse explains to the female nurse.

" H-how is that possible? A building fell on them!" the female nurse asks.

Ryan looks over at Aaron and shrugs. 

" Whatever… I'm just ready to get the hell out of here." Aaron states, yanking his IV out and standing up.

" Hey! You're not supposed to yank that out!" the male nurse exclaims.

Ryan pulls his IV out gently and says "Thank you, but I got to go with him on this one. I don't like hospitals." 

" Wait right here and I'll be back with dismissal papers for you to sign and a fresh change of clothes." the female nurse states as she leaves the room.

Aaron and Ryan walk out the front doors of the hospital, having changed into fresh clothes and signed what they needed to for dismissal.

"Hey Aaron, I very much don't want to do this but I will swallow my pride and ask if you possibly have a spare bedroom?" Ryan asks while swallowing the lump in his throat he calls pride.

" Why? Doesn't a big shot scientist like you have a large and lavish house?" Aaron inquires in a mocking tone.

"Listen, just because I can manipulate DNA doesn't mean I can be the best husband. Just got a divorce and the lab was my home." Ryan expresses to Aaron.

Aaron lets out a long sigh " I can't believe I'm saying this, but sure; you can crash at my apartment." 

"Hey, I can pay rent if I become too much of a hassle." Ryan expresses. 

" I don't know why you assumed you weren't paying rent to begin with." Aaron states as he begins walking down the sidewalk towards his apartment; Ryan following behind him. "So, is there a girl I should be worried about." Ryan questions as he runs to catch up. 

" Nope." Aaron replies while yawning.

"Just don't get married, it's a trap." Ryan warns Aaron.

" Yeah, I know. I was engaged once." Aaron responds.

"Noticed you didn't say you married." Ryan points out.

" Never made it that far; she walked out at the altar." Aaron sighs.

"Mine threw the altar and still said yes." Ryan states with a laugh as they stop outside an apartment complex.

" Well; this is it. My little shit hole." Aaron states; gesturing towards the run down and dilapidated little building. A rock flies out of nowhere and smashes a random window and the front door falls off.

"Well, this… is better than what I have… technically…" Ryan declares while shrugging his shoulders.

Aaron makes his way inside; followed by Ryan. They ignore the inside somehow looking worse than the outside and make their way up the stairs to the second floor where Aaaron's apartment lies.

They enter the apartment which looks better than the rest of the building.

" You can sleep on the couch. I got extra pillows and blankets." Aaron gestures towards the green couch. Ryan looks around the apartment, it only has one bedroom, a living room that's connected to the tiny kitchen, and a small bathroom. Aaron has a medium tv set up in the living room. And a single window behind the tv. A desktop computer is set up at a desk in the corner of the living room.

"So, I wasn't lying earlier when I said I didn't know what happened with the explosion." Ryan states. 

" I believe you, after all; if you did know, you wouldn't have been inside when it happened." Aaron replies; grabbing an open whiskey bottle from the fridge and taking a large swig.

"Mabey if I could get to that basement I could find out what my superiors were working on." Ryan states, scratching his goatee.

" It's probably destroyed along with everything else." Aaron states; throwing away the now empty whiskey bottle.

"Yknow, you could pass one to me, this shit is stressful." Ryan declares.

" I don't have any more... but I have this." Aaron states; grabbing a blunt from off the kitchen counter.

"Is.. that weed??? I could never, it would jeopardize my work, young man." Ryan states.

" No wonder you're so high strung…." Aaron states as he lights the blunt and begins puffing. " So; you wanna go try and check out what's left of the basement?" he continues.

"Yes, I need to know!" Ryan demands as he notices a tiny black goo on his shoulder that he quickly covers with his shirt.

" Either I'm too drunk or too high….. or some black gooey shit just came out of your arm." Aaron states; his eye wide.

"I don't know what it is, I noticed it at the hospital too but was too scared it might be a parasite." Ryan states his voice flickering with a hint of fear.

" Oh… good. I thought I was hallucinating." Aaron states.

" Hey! Hey! Let me in!" Aaron hears an unfamiliar voice.

" Did you hear that?" Aaron inquires to Ryan.

"You mean that pigeon cooing outside the window??" Ryan questions.

" No; it was a voice. Someone talking, yelling " Let me in"." Aaron states.

"Listen kid, the only noise other than you, is that pigeon." Ryan says getting a little irritated. 

Aaron walks towards the window and the yelling gets louder; he looks down at the pigeon and it looks up at him.

" Hey: stupid human! Let me in!" the pigeon yells at Aaron.

" What the fuck is in my weed?" Aaron questions as the pigeon continues yelling at him.

"Dude; is this laced with something?" Ryan questions as he grabs the bag of weed and inspects it.

" This pigeon is talking to me…. what the fuck did that explosion do to us?" Aaron looks over to Ryan.

"I'm starting to question if I was morally right, with those experiments." Ryan declares.

" I don't think this is the time to be contemplating your moral decisions." Aaron exclaims.

"Yknow, I'm gonna have to get another job. Mine kinda… broke." Ryan declares with a chuckle.

" Well: first things first, we should get some rest and then as soon as morning breaks we go check out that basement." Aaron states.

"A nap sounds fucking needed." Ryan agrees as he plops on the couch and passes out.