The final chapter of the first short story of 'Plague.'

Please let me know what you think.

Plague.

The Factory.

Why is it, every time I try to find a cure, I find myself confronted by someone who either wants something from others while being out of their depth of what could happen or is being chased by others who plan to kill them off because they know too much? David thought to himself while he sat opposite the woman in the lab, wondering about the implications of what she had told him before their 'deal' was even agreed with. A part of David was tempted to hear her out and carry on as if nothing was happening or even wrong; the woman he was sitting opposite seemed competent enough on her own.

But he couldn't; while he would have wanted nothing more than to focus on the cure, concentrate enough of it from fresh, and learn more about why it worked since he didn't have anything in Clive's notes.

But he couldn't.

David had no idea why someone was making anthrax or studying it even to the point where a woman was creeping about at night trying to find the lab it was being made in, that was something he had no intention of letting get out of hand, but he had encountered enough poorly thought through experiments which had terrible far-reaching consequences. But right now, the pair of them needed to share information about each other.

"Are you going to start?" The woman asked.

David had no intention of dropping any real clues; the fact the woman seemed to recognise him was bad enough, but if he could keep everything vague, it would mean she wouldn't discover who he was. As far as David was concerned anything that kept McGee a dozen steps behind him, the better.

"Okay. My name is David, that's all you're going to get."

"You don't trust me?" The woman didn't seem even remotely bothered, but curious.

"I don't even know you. What did you mean when you said that about anthrax?"

The woman sighed and looked down at her hands. "My name is Dr Olivia Vance. I work here."

"You work here?" David couldn't hide the scepticism in his voice; seeing this woman during the day was one thing but when she ran around in the dark made him very suspicious.

'Olivia,' if it was her name, nodded. "I do, but then I learnt there was a military contract where they wanted a number of anthrax formulas."

"What for?" David already had a good idea.

"Weapons, but the CEO has reasoned out a deal of working on the formulas in order to better discover new cures in bacterial infections. It sounds good on paper, but at the same time, I know there was an accident a few days ago. A small group of people were infected, and they have died. A small number of people… one is bad enough, but a group. That's catastrophic."

"And worrying," David suddenly had a good idea why this woman was in the factory at this time of night. "You were looking for proof, weren't you?"

Olivia - if that was indeed her real name - nodded, "Correct. I was originally brought in to help as part of the team because of the possibilities of finding new cures and vaccines for other bacterias, not just anthrax. When I saw a couple of security guards in the lab, that was when I realised the big mistake we'd made."

"Security guards?" David repeated, wondering if he should believe this story or if he shouldn't right now at this point. While there were security guards on staff at the factory, they usually just kept out of the way of the workers and scientists conducting their research. They were ordered never to get in the way. But it would make sense if there was some dangerous work going on and the military was breathing down their necks if there was something that dangerous being worked on.

"Yeah. They're really taking the military contract seriously. The security guards have been told to keep an eye on all of us. Some of us realised quickly what was going on, and they've been trying to sneak materials and evidence out of the labs, but the security guards have always stopped us."

That made sense. If the military were watching every move then they would put a lot of pressure on the factory labs to make sure none of the scientists removed even a slither of information to take out and go to the media. While David didn't think much of the military's logic, he had to congratulate them for not posting a platoon here to watch everyone's moves since the town would soon work out there were soldiers nearby.

The military was clearly determined to learn from their mistakes following that 'Blind gas' mess, but David could not help but feel they were on their way to just making new ones.

"How did they kept the deaths secret?"

"I haven't got a clue."

"Mm, so they must have come up with a means of burning the bodies, or some other kind of story…Okay, so you work as part of the anthrax research team, yes?"

"Yeah, I do."

"So you know where the anthrax lab is? But why did you come here?" David asked pointedly.

Olivia frowned, and then she realised this stranger still didn't trust her. Well, the feeling was mutual; she didn't know anything about him, or even what he was doing here beyond conducting an analysis on some kind of sample. What made it worse was he could be some kind of trap, for the unwary scientist who was trying to do what she was, prove the factory was conducting dangerous experiments into anthrax.

But somehow she doubted that.

For a start, she had dimly recognised him, and she knew she was closer to the name to match the face and the profile now. For another he didn't seem like the type of man who would just sit around studying like this, just waiting around in a laboratory in the dead of night for someone to come to him as she had.

"I was going around the factory to throw off anyone who might spot me while my back was turned - not the best-laid plan, I know, but night security is virtually water and airtight now. I had to avoid 6 guards before coming here. I figured if I went through the factory the long way around, walked in and out of labs and rifled through other research notes nobody would really know I was more interested in anthrax. I want to steal the files on the experiments and hand them in to the authorities and let them deal with it," Olivia told him.

"Yeah, I noticed the increased security," David commented, not voicing his thoughts on the matter. But it did explain a great deal. Suddenly he came to a split-second decision. "Okay, I'll help you."

"What, just like that?" Olivia asked, gaping at him in surprise at the sudden shift. One minute he was sceptical and openly so, the next he seemed to believe her.

"You doubted I would help, or that I'd even believe you?" The stranger sent her a small smile that Olivia couldn't help but be charmed by it even though a part of her suspected he was mocking her at the same time.

"No… well, yeah. Ever since we began speaking to each other, you haven't really given me the impression that you believed me. I'm just surprised you seem ready to help me now," Olivia said, hoping that she didn't sound off with him.

"Well, let's just say," the man said as he got to his feet and he carefully picked up and packed up his stuff - Olivia noted how carefully he put away his things as if he half-expected her to try to take it out of his hands - before escorting her to the door, "a few years ago, I had to reassess what it meant to be…a doctor. Since then I have been having to uphold my vows and my oaths."

"Hold on, you're a doctor?" Olivia almost couldn't believe it.

Meanwhile, David cursed himself and he reasoned it was getting too late, or he wouldn't be careless. He decided to shrug it away for the time being and just carry on. He didn't know if this whole thing held water or not, but he had no intention of not doing something he could do to help. Although he was on the run and tried not to get involved, David did care and if the military planned on some new stupid mistake, he wanted to make sure it didn't spiral out of control. Anthrax was deadly at the best of times, it had no place being a weapon.

"Once," he replied shortly, picking up the collection of work he'd taken of the formula.

Intrigued, Olivia followed him out. She partly led the way through the factory. David led her directly to the changing room and he opened the door.

"Hold on, what are you doing?" Olivia hissed.

"I'm dropping this off," David replied and he went inside the changing room, covering the glass window as he went inside so she didn't see where he was dropping it off; he might be prepared to help her, but he still didn't trust her.

After he came back, David and Olivia set off.

David was more than willing to let her deal with that side. Inwardly he wondered about the truths of what Olivia had told him but he was curious to see just what was going on. Still, at the same time, he hoped she wasn't some kind of spy sent to gather America's scientific knowledge.

Actually, he also hoped he didn't transform into the Creature.

It might be seen as selfish of him to put his own private problems above something this serious, but the last thing he wanted was for the Creature to mix with anthrax; he didn't even know if his accelerated healing factor would cure him. Still, if he did transform, and there was anthrax nearby, the appearance of the Creature coupled with evidence would really be enough for McGee to show up and cause problems.

"Here it is," Olivia suddenly said, making David pause as he realised they were in a part of the factory he had simply not been authorised to see, although truthfully as long as he'd had access to a decent laboratory complete with a computer linked to a database and analytical tools to help him break down the contents of the jar he'd retrieved from Clive's house he hadn't really been curious about what the factory held.

He hadn't had any reason to be. The moment he stepped inside the lab, Olivia pulled out a pocket torch and turned it on. The moment the beam of light touched a number of large glass trays behind a sealed glass wall filled with blood. That chilled him, but what worried him the most were the easily identified anthrax spores in the blood, which likely came from sheep as it was the best substance to cultivate the spores in.

"It's definitely anthrax," David nodded, shaking his head at the insanity around him.

"Do you believe me now?" Olivia asked.

David swung around and glared at her, annoyed she was trying to make a point. "I never disbelieved you; I just found it hard to imagine anyone would be incredibly stupid to create it in a factory of all places, now are you going to collect your evidence or not?"

Taken aback by the rant, Olivia went to one of the files and started rifling through it. David stayed where he was, looking between the anthrax trays and the door while his eyes flickered over to Olivia. He still wasn't sure what to make of her, but she seemed sincere enough, but he didn't like this whole situation and he wasn't in the mood for someone to make points with something so dangerous.

David studied the spores in the trays thoughtfully before he headed over to a desk and he picked it up, switching on a desk lamp and holding the paper close to the light so he could read. It was the latest report on new strains of anthrax. They were creating hybrid bacterias, but the report also stressed there was research into antibiotics. The scientists working on the anthrax project seemed to have stretched their research out, experimenting with different hybrid forms of anthrax to create new forms of vaccines and antibiotics.

"Did you know about this?" David asked Olivia, who paused in her own study of the files to stare at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

David held up the reports. "It looks like the factory were not only just working for the military blindly; they were taking advantage of the situation and they were studying the anthrax spores. They were combining them with other forms of bacteria, researching vaccines and antibiotics."

Olivia studied the report in David's hand but he could tell she wasn't surprised. "I did know, but they're researching bioweapons as well. It has to end."

"I know. If anyone got wind of this and they knew what they were doing, these anthrax trays can be a terrible threat," David agreed, "are you going take these or what?" He asked, seeing from the window light was starting to appear. It would be dawn soon. They needed to get out of here now.

To David's horror, Olivia took out a gun from the inside of her jacket and shot him in the chest. Ears ringing with the sound of the sudden and violent gunshot, David screamed in pain and he clutched his chest out of reflex. He felt lightheaded due to the pain in his chest. He thought he heard the woman say something, but he didn't hear her even as he heard her footsteps echo in his head.

David's emotions exploded all over the place as he became terrified that he was going to die here, in this laboratory surrounded by anthrax trays. The anger within him started to burn. The anger of how he had been manipulated by that bitch who came here for some reason, the horror of discovering the anthrax trays, the frustration he had been forced to work late at night to learn about the chemical formula behind the chemicals in the jar he'd recovered from the Clive house, and lastly the fear he was going to die for no reason whatsoever.

He started feeling himself becoming incredibly strong, and as he tried to stand up and force the pain to the back of his mind in his desperation to escape because he knew the Creature would destroy this room and unleash the deadly strains of anthrax, David only just managed to get out even as he heard the sounds of his clothes ripping and shredding.

X

The young security watchman sighed as he slowly walked through the corridors of the factory's research block. He wasn't in a particular hurry; he had been on shift for the last four hours, walking through the factory and radioing in reports at routine intervals, but otherwise, he just took advantage of the peace and quiet he had available and mentally composed some of the songs he was going to write and then play out on his guitar so he could properly refine them. But right now all he wanted to do was to wait for his shift to end so he could return home, and get some much-needed rest while he worked on his homework. He had never really wanted this job in the first place, but the work was steady, routine, but it was quiet and it paid well. He checked the rooms and labs, but he just stood in the doorways knowing if he went in there he would disturb whatever equipment was in there waiting for the scientists to attend to them the next day; the last thing he wanted was to damage anything and get his supervisor up his ass.

As he walked through the corridors, he fought the urge to check his watch and find out just how long he had. He had learnt the hard way a time ago he had no way of speeding up time like that. It never worked.

Suddenly he stopped, mentally pausing the writing of the song lyrics in his head. He thought he had just heard the sound of roaring like there was a lion or something on the loose. The guard's hand automatically reached for the radio he had attached to his uniform, but he wasn't certain how to describe what it was.

For a moment the guard wondered if he had misheard, or he was imagining hearing things; he had been on his feet for hours already and he was tired, it would make sense if his brain was conjuring up sounds and images.

Suddenly he heard it again, much louder than before.

The guard reached for his radio, making up his mind while he quickened his pace so he could get to the source of the sound and discover what it was. "Control, are there any animals reported on the loose?"

"What?"

"Listen," the guard held up the radio, just as the roaring came. Whatever was out there, it was pissed off. There was also the sound of something being smashed.

"What the hell is happening?!"

"Why're you asking me? I haven't got a - Oh my god!" The guard gasped when he turned the corner and came face to face with the thing which was roaring and growling like an angry wild animal.

"What's going on? What's happening?!"

The guard didn't reply. He couldn't. Standing in the corridor was a tall, massive green-skinned….thing. It was like a man, but much bigger. There was something almost ape-like about the head, giving the thing a wild look. The thing growled and roared.

That was it.

Ignoring the other guards who were still demanding answers from the radio, the watchman ran off in the opposite direction. He didn't care if his friends called him a coward, he was not going to face that.

X

David slipped out of the town, heading for who knew where. He had learnt a long time ago not to get too comfortable whenever he travelled from town to town, and he had gotten packing down quickly without leaving a trace down to a fine art. David walked down the road, thinking of the last two hours.

As always he had no idea what had happened in the time the Creature was in charge, but he had changed back into his human form just as the first lights of dawn rose. He estimated he had only been the Creature for three-quarters of an hour, and when he had transformed back into himself he had instantly rushed back into the Factory, barely avoiding the security patrols and he got back to the changing room. To his relief, his research and the jar was still there, and he was glad he had covered up the door window so that woman wouldn't see where he had placed it and come to find out what was in the file, but it seemed the woman had been in too much of a hurry to get out of the Factory with the anthrax materials.

Once he had them, and he got changed into the spare clothes and shoes he kept in the locker room in case he accidentally changed into the Creature and he needed a quick change and collected his things, David had returned to his apartment, collected everything left there and he went out on his way.

But for the first time in a long time, David felt truly optimistic - he'd found leads and possibilities for a possible cure for the Creature and erasing one of the worst mistakes he had ever made in his life, but now he felt as if he had a chance. He might not have spent much time at the factory learning more about the cure Clive had worked on and used successfully on Del, but he had made a start. He had tonnes of information about the chemical formula of the powder within the jar he'd saved from the Clive house before he transformed. If he could continue studying the chemical and if he could gather the ingredients, he could be a step closer to properly curing himself - granted, he still needed to find out if the paralysis for hours in conjunction with the radiation his body would need to receive to take the cure was a side effect of the powder, or if it could be avoided, but David was optimistic.

All he would need to do now was to continue his research and find an opportunity to cure himself.