Designated (Book 1): Designated Infected (31 page)

He grinned, brandishing his teeth like a weapon as he
leaped at the panel slamming against it hard enough to cause the
reinforced plastic to rattle in its frame. He beat relentlessly
against it as he clawed at the woman who sat on the other side.

Anastasia’s hand strayed to the remote attached to
her chair, tapping the button she watched as his nostrils flared.
Fresh saliva rolled along the cloying strands dangling from his chin
as he turned and threw himself at the plate of meat on the shelf
beside his now destroyed bed.

Her pad sat bare for the first time since this
experiment had begun. Nothing she wrote could compare to the sights
before her. There was very little left that could identify the
creature as once ever being human. Turning from the slathering form
she rolled down the shallow ramp and headed out of the laboratory's
door, moving along the corridors towards her quarters and her bed.

34

Waking from a deep semi-drug induced sleep, Anastasia
pulled herself off the bed; the steel handle suspended from her
ceiling a harsh reminder of her physical malady, with a soft grunt of
determination, she swung down into her chair and rolled towards her
shower. The walk in shower cubicle stood in stark contrast to the
rest of her room, the white tiles pristine and gleaming under the
recessed lighting in the ceiling above her.

Shifting her weight, she pushed down into the padded
seat of her chair, her fingers splaying as she set her weight against
her slim, muscular arms. Her knuckles turned white as the pressure
built crushing the foam padded fabric of her chairs seat.

Forcing her weight across, she braced herself swinging
like a pendulum; her body's entire weight shifting from one arm to
the other as she slid across to the cool, smooth shaped plastic of
her shower seat. Pushing the chair into the box-like cubby set into
the wall she started the water flow. Sighing, she sat beneath it as
it pounded down against her bare body, the spray stinging her skin as
she let it push the knotted muscles back into place.

Reaching up she pulled the pins from her hair letting it
fall over her alabaster white shoulders, cascading like satin on
cream as it settled against her heat stained body.

The sodden strands of her raven tresses clung to her
body like damp wool as she reached out for the shampoo, letting the
thick liquid curl into her hand, she set the bottle back on the small
shelf and tried to wash away the grime and dirt; images danced in her
mind, shifting and blurring as she washed her hair clean.

The face of the man slowly descending into death danced
behind her eyes as she drew her fingers through the tangled mess of
hair, images of his battered and frail form shifted in her head as
she pushed the tangled mess higher into the water letting the hot
spray soak through it cleansing away the impurities. She let her hair
drop back as she pulled her fingers through it, the water running
over her hands, a warm glove of moisture hugging her slim digits as
she pushed her sodden hair over her shoulders.

Lifting her hand once more, she picked up the pale pink
sponge. A soft smile played across her features as she
plucked the pale purple bar from atop the shelf, pushing it over the
sponge a small layer of bubbling lather sprang up over the surface.
The bar was slick and wet in her hand as she lifted it once more
running the rapidly softening lump over her skin.

For seventeen minutes, she sat beneath the pounding
water as she cleaned away the harrowing images from her mind letting
it swirl and spin with the dirt and sweat, trapped in the spiralling
whirlpool of water as she brushed away the dust of her life's labour.

Slapping her hand against the button set into the wall,
its bulbous chrome mushroom sitting stark and brazen against the
polished white tiles. Sighing in contentment she waited for the water
to cease before reaching back for a towel and pulling her chair out
from the hole behind her. Laying the white plush cotton sheet on the
seat of her chair she once more levered her nude, wet form on it and
folded the ends over her legs and lower body before reaching for a
second towel. She twisted it around her hair and left the end draped
over her back as she rolled free from the shower.

A soft knocking drew her attention as she entered her
room once more. Glancing at the door, she pulled the towel from her
head and wrapped it around her bare chest as she called out to the
source of the noise.

'Yes, enter.'

The tall form of a man strode into her room as she
pushed the corner of the towel in on itself, his sharp engaging eyes
fell upon the wet towel wrapped form before him and widened slightly.

'Apologies ma'am I should have known you would be
indisposed given the days early hour, I'll come back.'

Anastasia smiled as she pulled her fingers through her
hair the soft pattering of water filling the intervening silence.

'No, it is no bother, what did you need?'

Coughing into his hand, he turned his back to the almost
bare form of Anastasia; not only to offer her some small privacy, but
to also hide, his rapidly reddening features.

'I was asked by one of the technicians at the lab to
tell you that Subject A's condition has deteriorated over night and
that your presence is required as soon as possible.'

A harsh sigh drew his attention and made him turn
slightly at the sudden sound, his eyes swelled to a size not often
seen as he beheld the now semi-naked form of Anastasia perched on her
bed, the towel now held balled in her hand as she began to hurriedly
dry herself. A startled yelp made her look up, her eyes latching onto
the young Private currently caught between utter embarrassment and a
wish for death.

Smirking Anastasia held his gaze. 'What is the matter?
Have you never seen a pair of breasts before private?'

His crimson blush deepened as he was forced to fully
turn and face the woman addressing him, his stuttered, almost whimper
like reply made her sardonic smile broaden as he desperately tried to
worm his way free of the situation.

'If you are simply going to stand there and gawk and
babble, make yourself useful and go to that draw and pass me a
shirt.'

The young soldier nodded as he opened the draw she was
pointing at, again attempting to avert his eyes he held out his hand,
almost stuffing the shirt in her face in the process.

'Oh grow up. You have already seen them is there much
point to not looking now, just turn around while I sort out the rest,
or better yet wait outside, we can talk once I am done.'

The Private scurried away after snapping a hurried
salute and bolted from the room, a throaty chuckle his only parting
companion as Anastasia laughed at his fleeing form.

Anastasia rolled out of her room three minutes later;
passing the soldier with a smirk on her face she began her short
journey back to her laboratory.

'So what was the rest of the message Private?'

'Ma'am, the subject has, according to the night shift,
ceased all non-stimulated function and focused only on his quest for
sustenance.'

Nodding, Anastasia dismissed the soldier with a wave of
her hand as she neared the lab's doors.

'And you have my permission to tell your squad mates
about my tits.'

She watched his blush turn scarlet in the reflection of
the steel covered doors before he turned and rapidly walked away.

'So what have you got for me?'

The lab staff stopped mid-stride as she barrelled in
through the doors, their rhythmic thumping, her accompanying fanfare
as she rolled into the room, dominating it completely.

'Well, he seems to be slipping deeper into a primal,
almost feral state, the only reactions we have had, are from bangs on
the glass, or when we have sent food in there.

'The bodily voiding has ceased. In fact, we have had no
indication that any of the normal bodily functions, such as
urination, or defecation, are still occurring.

'Thus far, we can say with one hundred percent certainty
that his only function is to consume any form of protein based food
source he sees, and that includes us.'

Anastasia’s eyebrows rose as she looked at her
compatriot, he smiled down at her as he stopped several feet from the
cell.

'Watch.'

He moved closer to the cell's wall and tapped on it
lightly.

Subject A launched himself at the glass, scrabbling and
scraping in his desperation to feed on the supple living flesh before
him. Stepping back, he flicked a switch on the pedestal box next to
him and shut off the lights in the cell, plunging it into darkness.
The assault instantly ceased.

'Well that is new, anything else to report, Marcus.'

The man next to her shrugged.

'Not really, it all sits in line with the original notes
you took and your findings in Russia; although his anger and
aggression seems to be on the rise. I would put him, at roughly,
stage four in progression, bordering on five.

'Clive's group have a similar test running; although,
their findings have been slightly more,' he paused as he glanced down
at her once more his eyes locking on hers a shimmer of a deeply
repressed urge passing over him before he managed to force himself to
continue, 'accelerated than ours.' Anastasia nodded, ignoring what
had just happened as she rolled to her desk and powered up her
computer.

'My original tests showed that it mutated from host to
host and seems to affect everyone differently. The only things
staying the same, are the initial symptoms and the desire for
protein.'

She tapped at her keyboard rapidly as she spoke. 'Keep
watch on him and let me know of his development, and please remember
to feed him; I have to go and speak to Baker and Colinson before
reporting to the Head.'

Marcus nodded as he watched her turn away from him and
exit the laboratory, the doors thumping closed behind her.

****

Baker sat behind his small desk, the smattering of
paperwork cluttering up the pitted and scratched surface. He lifted
the white coffee mug in his hand, the steaming liquid scalding his
lips slightly as he let it flow. Gulping greedily he felt its rolling
warmth slip though him, a small smile blooming on his tired face as
he felt it hit his stomach, the warmth bursting forth as it settled.

The sharp, almost caustic taste filled his mouth, he ran
his tongue over his teeth as he set the cup back down, a soft
knocking drew his attention as he began scanning the pages in his
hand once more.

Setting the small sheaf of papers on the desk he called
out, the words ringing off the mushroom brown walls as he spoke. The
door swung inwards with a soft squeak on poorly oiled hinges, his
eyes were glued to the last sentence of the report as the “guest”
entered.

The sound of rubber, plucking at the short, worn, pile
of his office carpet, made him look up, a pair of deep blue, almost
purple coloured eyes locked with his. He felt himself pitching
forwards and falling into those deep purple pools. Shaking his head,
he pulled himself back to the normal world and smiled.

'Doctor Stanislova, to what do I owe the pleasure?'

Her smile seemed genuine, but Baker saw something in
there, a festering seed of semi-crazed depression that made it a very
saddening thing to gaze upon especially on a face as strikingly
beautiful as the one sat before him.

'Well Mr Baker.'

A wry smile crept across his features as he waved a
broad index finger in her direction.

'You know “Doctor” that it is Lieutenant
now, my promotion was last week.'

He rotated his shoulder, showing the two diamond shaped
pip badges on his shoulder epaulette. Anastasia inclined her head
slightly in acknowledgement of her minor error.

'I had forgotten that you had been rapidly promoted to
avoid any more interventions from outside superiors.'

Baker smiled at the slightly barbed remark, the smile
faltering at the end as the still stinging memory floated back to the
surface. Anastasia's voice sinking ever deeper into the vortex of his
swirling mind; the echoing of her voice drifted away from him as
images danced in front of his eyes.

Shaking his head he dropped back into the room with a
thump, his eyes showing just how startled he was at the sudden
drifting of his mind.

'Sorry, what was that?'

Anastasia cast a disapproving glance at him, 'I was
saying that I still cannot process the fact that this unit is under
the auspice of the Royal Family.'

Baker smiled at the quizzical look dancing across
Anastasia's face as she questioned him in her usual roundabout way.

A short sighing breath left him as he thought back to
the dying days of the ninety’s and the unit's formation.

'It was the closing days of 1999, we had been doing deep
cover operations in most of eastern Europe and east and northern Asia
in a joint operation between, Four Two Commando and the Special Air
Service.'