"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"
Chapter 4. A Turn For The Worst
Within a day, the boy awoke, wincing almost instantly at the tenderness of his abdomen. He struggled for a moment to sit up, fighting through the pain, and quickly realized he was extremely hungry. Looking around, he noticed a large brass button near his bedside, with a silhouette of a nurse engraved above it. Studying the picture for a moment, the young boy understood what to do as his small index finger depressed the button for a few moments. Within a minute, a nurse entered the room, her warm smile glowing from a perfectly curved face, framed by her short blonde hair. She spoke softly and kindly to the young boy, as her training in bedside manner had always taught her. "I'm your nurse, Jolene, and I can get you anything you need." she said, the same warm smile still in her face. Subject #15 smiled and decided immediately that he liked this grownup, and she seemed very nice. Hesitating, he asked her, "Could I please have something to eat? I'm very hungry." Without a second thought, the young nurse nodded kindly and began to offer him his choice of anything he wanted, naming off several examples which made the boy's eyes grow with hunger and delight. After #15 had decided what he wanted to eat, the nurse promptly headed out of the room, smiling and telling him she would be back shortly.
The young boy rubbed his stomach gently, so as not to irritate his already tender stitches. He lifted his hospital gown to look at them, very lightly touching them with his fingertips for a minute or so. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Jolene re-entered the room with a tray of meatloaf for him. She giggled and immediately apologized for startling him. Swinging the bedside table over to him on it's steel pivoting arm, the kind nurse set the tray down gently and removed the top. The scents of freshly made meatloaf and potatoes seemed to instantly strike the boy's nose and his eyes lit up, his mouth salivating. Jolene smiled, pleased that she had made this young patientd so happy, and without a word left him in peace to eat.
Over the course of the next few days, the boy gained more mobility as he recovered. Dr. Tenenbaum noted that he was the first to show signs of rapid tissue regeneration, a very interesting turn of events. This, of course, was not the focus of the experiment,merely a pleasant surprise to the young doctor. Within a week, Subject #15's incisions had fully healed, and all his vitals seemed to be stable. Bridgette was thankful for this, thinking to herself that perhaps this one would survive, and that they had finally gotten the results they were hoping for. But even in all her research and brilliance, Bridgette Tenenbaum could not have known how wrong this experiment would turn over the days that were to come.
Within a few days of release from his room, the young boy dubbed Subject #15 was once again in a bright, sterile room. He turned as he heard the door behind him open, expecting to see the doctor again. Imagine his surprise when it was Jolene, the very kind nurse from his recovery room, that stepped in. She smiled sweetly at him, waving with her free hand, as the other held a clipboard. She leaned over beside his chair, and spoke very softly to the boy. "The doctor sent me in here to do a few standard tests on you. I hope that's okay." Had it been any other nurse or assistant, this young boy would have been apprehensive. But Jolene had been so kind to him, he could only smile and nod at her. She returned his smile with one of her own, and reached over to the table for the blood pressure cuff. As she strapped it around his left forearm, she explained it's purpose in a way she hoped he would understand. Subject #15 got the basic idea as she told him what it was for, and could not help but feel at ease around this kind woman. Jolene pumped the bulb of the blood pressure cuff several times, looking at the clock on the wall to time his pulse. The boy began to look very uneasy as she pumped, his smile turning to a concerned frown.