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Wednesday morning.
Jerome Clarke was up one minute before his alarm, and the first thing he did, was smile. He got up, showered and for one of those few moments in his life, was completely content. Into his clothes, slide down the banister into the kitchen, Trudy had made him a full English breakfast, and his mouth watered at the smell. Eggs, sunny side up, two slices of buttered toast cut into triangles, baked beans, scrambled egg, and tomatoes. It was like lunch, and it put Jerome into an even better mood. Kissing her on the cheek, he stepped out into the sunshine.
And life was perfect. His third day in work experience, he did worry that all this ecstasy, would wear off, but then he remembered Mara Jaffray, and he knew she wouldn't disappear. God, he hoped this was what his life was like when he was older. No Mick, no Eddie, no poetry, life would be perfection.
"Morning Dr C," Jerome grinned upon seeing him "Did you try my new equation?"
Dr Conners nodded, "You appear to me a good a mood as I'm in Jerome, something good happen?"
"Just my day," Jerome grinned "How did Plant C turn out?"
"Perfectly." Dr Conners led him to the lab, the plant was tall, almost touching the ceiling, with healthy green leaves and long roots "Jerome, its genius. Now if we create replicate this, with additional chemicals to support more flexible cell structures, like…animals…maybe even humans, we could save millions of lives." Jerome's eyes brows raised at the implications.
"Wow…sounds awesome," Jerome rubbed the back of his neck "But…my equation doesn't account for enzyme substrate reactions it won't be able to grow back limbs-"
"Don't worry about that, Jerome," Dr Conners brushed him off "I'm gonna combine your equation with crossbreeding genetics."
"C-cross breeding?" Jerome frowned "What? With like…other animals?"
Line Break
"Cross-breeding humans with reptiles?" Mara shuddered, tugging at the sleeves of her grey coat. What had started as a warm summer day had turned cold and almost rainy. "He's completely given up on stem cells then?"
"He's been working on them for like ten years," Jerome rubbed his hands together "But imagine that? Being part reptile…kinda creepy,"
"But part fish?" Mara thought about it "You could be like a mermaid…breath underwater and all that,"
"You hate swimming," Jerome pointed out, Mara laughed. "My house is just here," he nodded to the small but cosy house. "You sure you're okay with meeting my Aunt?"
"If she likes me,"
"She will," Jerome nodded, with a smile. "She really wants to meet you, I don't have many girls, who are you know…my friends."
As soon as he opened the door Trudy was there, beaming, "Hello dearies! Oh! You must be Mara, I'm Trudy! Jerome's aunt, it's wonderful to meet you!"
"Hi, it's great to finally meet you," Mara smiled shyly, sticking her hand out, only for it to be crushed in Trudy's bear hug.
"Aw! You're beautiful!" Jerome groaned, slamming his head in to the wall, but they both ignored him "I can see why Jerome likes you!"
"We're just friends," Mara smiled, "But he's really great to hang out with,"
Line Break
Mara left shortly, they just sat in the living room, as Trudy flung questions at her and Jerome buried his face in his hands, wondering why on earth he ever agreed to this so called good idea.
But after it was over, Trudy was beaming. "Oh Jerome! Good choice!"
"She doesn't like me like that," he sighed, thrumming his fingers against his stomach. "And you said the same thing about Willow when you first met her," he pointed out, reminding Trudy. Trudy was ecstatic upon meeting anyone who was his friend. Not that he had many. She'd almost killed Alfie with all her apple pies.
"Jerome," Trudy sat opposite him "You won't find someone like her a lot throughout your life. Don't give up so easily." Her eyes drifted to the clock "Off to bed, sleep tight dear," she kissed his forehead and switched off the television. Jerome sighed, jogging up the stairs and into his room.
It took him a while to fall asleep. He stared at the ceiling, just thinking. Replaying Mara's every word, and smiling when he remembered her smiling. He thought about how badly Dr Conners must want his arm back, and how he lost it. He wondered if Plant C was still growing. His computer hummed slightly, breathing through the silence in his room. It served as a good enough distraction, as Jerome drifted to sleep.
Line Break
"Can I see it?" Jerome asked, motioning to the file in Dr Conner's hand.
"No!" Dr Conner shook his head, and then at Jerome's surprised face, continued to explain himself "I-it's just…well, Jerome, even though you helped create this serum, it's still technically property of the lab, and I can't show it to you,"
"But…it's just a prototype of my formula mixed with some cross breeding, it's nothing I wouldn't be able to figure out for myself, if I wanted too." It almost sounded like a threat. That if Doctor Conners didn't show him, he'd find out anyway. And was offering him an easy way out. Dr Conners didn't take the bait. "Sorry Jerome, hey, why don't we take an early break and we'll start up on some plant hormones,"
Jerome nodded, watching Dr Conners place the file in his desk then head downstairs to fetch a cup of tea. And of course, he didn't even hesitate, he crept into the office and picked up the file, carrying it out into the corridor and placing his notebook behind it, so it wasn't so painfully obvious that he was breaking the rules. He frowned, scanning it- why hadn't Dr Conner's shown him? This seemed perfectly norm- okay, scratch that. Jerome turned the page and saw that Chris Conners had already started testing on humans. Humans Survived: 0 Humans Deceased: 27 "Who on earth is volunteering for this to be tested on?" Jerome whispered, walking down the corridor. He glanced up at the door just ahead of him, noticing he hadn't been in this section before. Room 209.
"Yeaahh…" Jerome frowned "Why do you have a giant spider here? They're not normally tested on, because they're so different from humans?"
"But they're fascinating. I've got thousands of spiders, I keep them in room 209, it's just a giant habitat for them."
"Great."
Jerome shuddered, imagining that just behind that door were thousands of spiders. It sent a shudder running through him.
Line Break
Just upstairs, in the room directly above Room 209, on the table lay a piece of radioactive rock, picked up from a hurricane that had happened in Korea only a few days before. It glowed, an eerie green. "I know!" the 40 year old cried down the phone "I mean the referee is totally biased, I'm pretty sure his uncle is Welsh or something, he totally had it in for the Australians! What? Yeah, I'm practically done here, just need to put the rock into some water, give me a second mate," he placed down the phone, only to switch it onto speaker
"Well hurry up, Lou, down at the Chicken place they're giving away ten buckets to anyone who spends over £9!"
Lou did hurry up, instead of gently placing the rock into the water, he dumped it in there, splashing a few drops over the floor. He wiped his hands, and grabbed his phone, heading out.
One drop.
One drop of water, that had been infected with the rock, slid down the one crack in that room. Down the drainpipe, into the room directly below. The room crawling with thousands of spiders.
One spider that was skittering along, got hit by the drop as it fell from the drain pipe. One spider, among thousands was infected. The small insect shook for a moment, before crawling back up the wall, none the wiser.
But that was fine, right? I mean, what are the chances of that one spider, out of thousands biting someone?
Line Break
Jerome Clarke heard footsteps. He was leaning against the wall in the corridor, reading the file, trying his best to memorise everything that didn't look right. He swallowed, looking around for somewhere to hide. Only room 209, and it was probably locked. He looked down, at the far end of the corridor was 210, maybe he could make it- "Jerome?" called the voice, it was Dr Conners, Jerome made a dash for room 209, there was no way he could get caught with this file, he'd be kicked out and banned forever. The door was unlocked, and he closed it shut behind him.
He immediately regretted his decision. Resisting the urge to scream he began wiping the spiders off himself, as they appeared, more and more and more of them. They were horrible, creepy crawly little things with too many legs, oh god, there was one on his leg, he shook his violently, falling and colliding with the back wall. "Don't kill them, don't kill them, don't kill them," he whispered, flicking them off him. They were in his hair, they were in his hair! He ran both hands through his hair rapidly harshly. They must have been millions, you couldn't see wall, and ceiling was cobwebs-
"Ow!" Jerome swiped the back of his neck and he did kill that spider. "It bit me!" Jerome whined, rubbing at the soreness. At least these spiders had the poison sucked out of them. He headed back for the door, hoping Dr Conners was gone. Slamming it shut behind him, he shook all over, trying to get the horrible creatures off him. He could still feel their legs crawling up his arm and it made his hands spasm and shoulders shake. He'd need to go home and have a scalding shower.
Sprinting back to Dr C's office, he placed the file back, and headed out to the find the Doctor. Scratching his neck, unaware that the spider who had bitten him had been contaminated. Unaware that the radioactive water had bonded with the spiders biology, was now coursing through him.
All Jerome felt was the slight tingling, of a spider bite.
Review?
Rachel: First person to review the chapter- you rule! We could be super hero's together! It's called Lucy! Wonderful! And I didn't realise it was based on a song! Wow! I'm glad you like the Jerome/Dr Conner scene!
Lorna: You might be a superhero like Spiderman, because you never fail to make me smile. Seriously, you're awesome like that. You've made my day! Haha! I love Coronation Street too, not as much as Trudy though! And you really do put effort into every review, it makes me put more effort into my writing! Thank you so much! I'm going to use that Spiderman quote soon! Don't you worry, and HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA the homer simpson thing, the movie was the greatest! I think we have a lot in common
To all those who review in the future, thank you all! Seriously, I appreciate it!