Chapter 2: The Rain that falls hard
"Umm….so you're Mr. John Mercer correct?" A man – in his 40s- asked as he eyed the mister 'John' Mercer sit down on the chair that was in front of his wooden desk. "And you graduated with a PhD in Chemical Engineering yes?"
'John' Mercer merely nodded in response to his questions, which were quite redundant.
"Well, it also says here that you worked with GenTek for 2 years, you also taught in Harvard University for a few years after that and left New York City a few months before that outbreak…." The dean continued. Inwardly, Mercer could only sigh at this man's pointless banter about his – sort of- background that was present inside the brown envelope that the old man now currently held. After a few more seconds of reading Alex's – or John's- profile, the old man finally made his decision. "Well then, let's get the pleasantries out of the way shall we?"
Alex could only raise an eyebrow at the dean's last statement.
"Alright" The man said, reaching out towards a piece of paper that lay on top of a stack of other files. "So here's your schedule, and remember to arrive on time at all times. Also, don't forget to attend any meetings that might be scheduled for the College of Science. Good day to you, and don't forget that your official day as a teacher starts tomorrow." He finished by standing up and extending his right hand forward for a handshake, which was returned by Alex, or John( That's what others will be referring to him as).
"You won't be disappointed" John said with a smile as he retrieved the envelope that he had given to the dean earlier.
LATER:
Alex was currently getting himself acquainted with his new work-station, which happened to be right next to the laboratory that he would be operating in during days when the students would have to perform practical experiments. Being the only Chemist in the school, it was of no surprise to him that he would be all alone in this laboratory, which was also had his desk at the same time, but he'd be lying if he said that he wouldn't enjoy some company.
Alex sighed as he moved his desk closer to the windows – since that was where fresh air was coming from.
'Well…..time to set this place up I guess' He thought – standing up and walking towards the storage room, most likely to start organizing the chemicals that were inside and cataloging the ones that were needed but weren't in there. He also made a list of the chemicals that were hazardous, along with the chemicals that were just plain toxic, and listed down the proper equipment needed to handle such chemicals. Finally, he made sure to list down the prices of each individual item that was desperately needed for this laboratory to properly function as a chemistry lab.
A FEW MINUTES LATER:
"Ah so you're the new teacher in this department?" A girl said – causing Alex to instinctively turn around to face the source of the feminine voice. At first, he thought it was just her inhumanely fragrant aroma that was different about her, and then he realized that this girl that now stood before him was most definitely not human, not even a little bit. He turned around and saw a beautiful girl with bright crimson hair that reached all the way to her thighs. She had dark green eyes and pale skin that seemed to resonate with the sunlight due to its unblemished state. She also wore the Kuoh University teacher's uniform.
"Uh, hello? I guess?" Alex answered in the most awkward and broken sounding Japanese he could muster, which inadvertently caused the girl the chuckle softly. "I'm sorry I'm not used to having visitors, and neither do I speak Japanese fluently. But yeah, I'm the new teacher in the Science department, the name's John Mercer; I'm the brother of Dana Mercer."
Alex finished by stretching out his hand for a handshake.
"Hello there, my name's Ara Gremory, I'm a Physics teacher" She introduced, shaking Alex's outstretched hand. The moment their palms met, she immediately tensed – not visibly of course. In slight fear – keyword being: slight – she hurriedly took a step back and did a courtesy nod. "So uh, we'll be meeting each other frequently since I'm also going to use the laboratory for some experiments with my students. Good day to you Mr. Mercer"
She said that and just left the laboratory; leaving Alex to his own musings as he simply shrugged and continued moving the different chemicals and instruments to their respective racks. But there was that nagging thought behind his head though…
'That girl….she's not human'
OUTSIDE:
'What the hell was that!?' She asked herself as she hurriedly distanced herself from the chemistry laboratory. Something was wrong here. 'I have to tell my brother about this'
MUCH LATER:
"Took you long enough" Alex commented as he watched Diana, who had just finished a two hour lecture; exit her classroom with a stressed look on her face. On her shoulder was a large bag, which she – instinctively – handed out to Alex, and a red envelope, which she also gave to Alex. Without a word, the duo started walking down the hallway, which led to the School exit. "So…why the long face?"
"It's been a long day Alex" Dana answered – sighing and huffing in annoyance and fatigue. "My classes aren't exactly the shortest or the easiest types, especially now that we're nearing the end of this semester. Still, it could be worse. You?"
"Well my official classes start tomorrow, and I still need to get some materials. But other than that – he suddenly recalled his meeting with that girl some time ago – everything's been fine I guess." Alex answered. He didn't have to mention that incident just yet. Dana's having sort-of fun with her life now and there was no point in involving her with these things. Still, he had some investigating to do.
"Have you met any of the teachers here? Or at least 'tried' to socialize with anyone?" Dana asked, curious about Alex's ability to socialize. Alex – again – recalled his earlier encounter with that girl, which, in fairness, was the only socialization he's had for some time – discounting Dana and that dean of course.
"No….I don't really care about talking to other teachers unless it is necessary…" Alex replied as they started going down the stairs.
"You're such an emo you know that?" Dana said jokingly, remembering her childhood with Alex, who, at the time, didn't really care much for company – exactly like he was now. They stepped off the stairway and proceeded towards the school gates; with the highschool and college students walking around the campus. Realizing that their current topic was not the best one, Dana quickly changed it. "So where will you be staying then?"
"That's a good question" Alex began. "I haven't really thought about it that much. I don't need to sleep, eat-sort of, or bathe. But if it's necessary then I could just get a hotel room somewhere; I have a lot of cash with me after all or I could buy a house…"
"Meh, it's your choice. Just help me carry my bags to my apartment" Dana said. "You can stay there if you want, but I doubt that."
"Yeah, I guess I need a place of my own to blend in huh?"
"Well if you're up for a little stroll I know of an estate not far from my apartment. It's for sale since the current owner wants to move to Europe, but he's not leaving till someone buys his estate. At least that's what I heard anyway." Dana suggested. "It's pricy, but probably not too pricy for you. Speaking of money, how much do you have on you?"
"Some three-digit million dollars"
"Oh"
Many hours later:
"Damn this place is huge" Alex commented as he stood by the entrance of the estate that he was planning on buying. Without a second of delay, Alex pressed the button by the side of the gate – it was presumably the doorbell, but he could be wrong. Luckily for him, it was the doorbell since a servant suddenly exited the house and stalked towards the gate.
"Please state your business here" The manservant said, feigning attention as his eyes drifted back and forth towards his shiny golden watch.
"Yeah, on to business then" Alex muttered, causing the old manservant to momentarily raise his right eyebrow. "I heard that this place was for sale. If it is, then I want to buy it"
"You're a straightforward one, nevertheless, you are correct. This estate is for sale" The manservant said with a tired sigh, as if he'd been waiting a long time for someone to actually buy this place. "Before I let you inside, I have to see some identification first"
"Oh yes of course" Alex muttered as he 'took out' his ID, but, in reality, all he did was reach into his pocket and used Blacklight to take on the form of his former employee ID in GenTek. In hindsight, it would've been easier and simpler if he had just used his Teacher's ID, but he'd left it at home and couldn't use the Blacklight to mimic it since he'd forgotten what it looked like. "Here"
The old man took it and examined it for a few seconds before opening the gate and handing the ID back to Alex.
"Now if you'll follow me, I'll take you to the young master"
INSIDE:
The view from outside was obviously a lie. He thought it was big at first glance, turns out this place was just plain colossal. Chandeliers lined the ceilings; gothic-style candles and furniture were neatly arranged by the walls, along with some paintings of people and landscapes.
'I want to buy this place, but all I logically need is just one room with nothing in it. Still I want to buy this place' Were Alex's thoughts as he followed the old man further down the hallways, trudging on red velvet sheets.
"Please wait here" The manservant said suddenly as they stopped in front of a large wooden door, complete with intricate carvings of what seemed to be war. The old man stepped inside as quickly as he could and slammed the door shut.
'Something's not right' Alex thought, narrowing his eyes and activated his thermal vision. Behind the door were two people. 'Nothing out of the ordinary I guess'
The only strange thing was that the other person, presumably the 'young master', had an unusually high body heat, far above what could be considered a fever. That, in itself, was strange, but not a cause for alarm. The man was probably very sick at the moment, but it didn't add up.
'Let's just see' He said to himself as he deactivated his thermal vision when he saw the manservant approaching the door.
"You may enter" The old man said, fully opening the door so that Alex could enter. The manservant remained by the doorway, silently observing Alex, who remained cautious about this whole thing.
'Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?' He thought, and, for a moment, he wanted to be wrong.
Without warning, a huge spike suddenly impaled him from the side, pinning his whole body to the wall. Alex, not knowing what was going on, decided to play dead and halt his regeneration. Heck, he even spilt some biomass on the floor to act as blood. But, where did the spike come from?
"Oh, this one will be quite the treat" Alex heard a voice say as he activated his thermal vision. The spike was apparently connected to a large tendril from the other side of the room, and the tendril itself was connected to the person who was sitting on a chair next to the window. He definitely did not look human; glowing red eyes, greenish skin, and, of course, the tendril that was attached to his back.
'A mutant?' He thought, his body unmoving as the 'mutant' stood up off his chair.
"The rich ones always taste the best" The mutant commented as it approached the 'dead' Alex. "Wanna have the first bite their Jax?"
"Of course Mr. Duncan" The manservant, now identified as Jax, said as he approached Alex, who was still attached to the wall. The manservant, or Jax, grabbed a sword, which was previously hung by the wall, and wordlessly lopped off Alex's right arm. The arm fell to the floor, blood spreading all over the carpet. "This one's a bleeder eh Mr. Duncan? Hehehe"
Without hesitation, Jax bit off a large chunk off the arm's bicep area and swallowed it whole. Of course, he's probably going to regret doing that later since he just chugged down a huge amount of Blacklight, but hey, we're not complaining.
"That was a fine meal now was it Jax?" Mr. Duncan asked with a sinister smile as he too bit off a part of the tricep area of the arm. "Needs a little more seasoning eh? Let me just get some-"
Both of them exploded in fit of blood and gore, and some meat chunks.
Alex sighed as he casually removed the giant spike that had impaled him and threw it across the room. Then he looked down on the floor, more specifically: Looked down on the two utterly devastated bodies of 'cannibalistic mutants'.
'Well, I'm hungry too' With that, Alex simply unleashed his own tendrils and devoured the two 'mutants' on the floor, along with all other meat chunks scattered in the room. He then had a head-splitting head-ache shortly after.
"What the hell?!" The headache wasn't a physical one, mind you, but more on the 'What the hell is this shit?' type headache.
Yup, those two he just ate? They were devils….
CUT!