Grey
"Interesting," I muttered, turning the knob of the microscope to better see the blood sample. The blood was a mixture of blood cells and dead cells, but somehow, the dead cells acted like living ones. Those dead cells had been dubbed 'Turned cells', after the undead that now stalked this earth.
I leaned back from my desk and took off my glasses, sighing from the stress of today. I'd been working on a vaccine for nearly four years, and still to no avail. I took the glass sample out of the microscope and lined it with the other samples from today. I scrawled my findings on my work report. 'Test one hundred and two. Failure.' My stomach growled, I'd been working for hours without a break. Everyone else who had been working in the lab had signed off hours ago, and I was the only one left in the cold, dark room. I stood up from my desk in my lab and shrugged on my doctor's coat.
As I walked towards the door, I noticed that everyone else was missing, probably at lunch. Just the thought of it made my mouth water, I quickened my pace as I opened the lab doors. The bright fluorescent lights of the corridor hurt to look at, since I'd been so used to the dark confines of my lab all day. The floor was more empty than usual I didn't see anyone until I rounded the corner, nearly bumping into a tall doctor.
"Sorry." He said with a grin, his face unfamiliar to me. He had a long, ugly scar running through his eyebrow, and his shaggy blue hair was tied back, I guessed his hair length was just past his ears. I stared dumbly at him for a moment, I didn't think they allowed 'abnormal' looking people like him into the City.
"No, no. It was my fault." I smiled warily up at him before he nodded goodbye and brushed past me. Weird.
The City, the name of the place I was working at, was practically a utopia. Ever since the 'Zombie' outbreak eight years ago, the elites of this world combined resources and built this place, an enclosed city surrounded by a huge stone wall. Strict rules were followed in order to survive, and brutal punishments were dealt out. I wasn't one of them eight years ago when the outbreak started, I was only sixteen. But over the years I trained as a doctor, and the City hired me to make the vaccine since I'd graduated with flying colours. That was four years ago, and I still hadn't made any progress. I tried not to think about what they would do to me if I didn't come up with any results soon.
I walked through the doorway and out into the small courtyard, the gravel mixed in with sand crunching under my shoes as I walked. I paused underneath the large cherry tree in the centre, a rare sense of natural beauty in this hell. I knelt at its base, reaching out to touch the small mound of gravel that I had made at its roots, to mark it.
"I miss you," I whispered softly, feeling the gravel underneath my fingertips. This route was part of my daily routine, I always took the long way to the cafeteria as an excuse to walk by here. I knew it was stupid, childish thinking, but I couldn't help but wish she was up here with me. I knelt there for a few long minutes, my heart aching for the body that had been buried underneath all this damn gravel.
Finally, my hunger drove me to my feet, and I forced myself to leave the tree, continuing my path to the cafeteria. Just like the east side of the building, it was nearly devoid of people, albeit for a few people I didn't recognize. Recruiting, maybe? The personal military was a vast array of soldiers, officers and captains, and the team of scientists was almost as impressive.
I took my usual place in the cafeteria, skimming over the papers I had brought from my lab. My weekly report was due today, and I could be sure of a reprimanding. I glanced up at the large room, completely empty. Something was definitely wrong, there were usually people eating at the same time as me. There were two janitors on the other side of the room, polishing the massive City symbol that adorned the entire wall. It was a large, brass decoration of a scales of justice, with their slogan, Salus En Sacrifcio, etched into the space above it. The same symbol that was branded onto the back of my neck.
The two janitors, one was a tall, muscular man with dark skin, scars adorning his arms. The other, a skinny, lanky man with shaggy hair, kept looking over at me. Maybe they knew where everyone was. The next time they looked over, I waved them over to me. They came over, pushing their cleaning trolley with them.
"Do either of you know where everyone is? I have to hand in my report by today." I said with a smile to the muscular one. I didn't recognize these two either, and a sense of unease crept inside of me. Something was terribly wrong. The man shrugged, giving a nod to his co-worker who stood behind me. "I don't think you need to worry about that right now." He smiled, but the friendliness in his smile didn't reach his eyes.
"What? I don't understand. I need to-" I started, but the other man clamped a cloth over my mouth and nose, holding me a headlock so I'd be forced to breathe in whatever was on it.
"I'm sorry, Doctor Grey, but your services are needed elsewhere." The muscular man grinned again while I struggled against the other man holding me. I tried to scream, call out for help, anything, but it all came out as a muffled cry. My eyes started to tear up from the septic stench of the cloth. Panic washed over me in a wave, taking complete control of me. I tried hitting, scratching, even clawing at my captor, but my eyelids grew heavier by the second as I inhaled the scent of the cloth. The muscular man's sinister grin was the last thing I saw before my eyes closed completely, and my body grew slack against the other 'cleaner'.