The deep rumbling purr of the Impala reverberated throughout the almost empty parking lot as Dean pulled in to a parking spot close to the building. He cut the engine and pocketed his keys as he opened the door to get out. He walked up to the large, two story building, taking in the bland appearance of the grounds and entered the main key code.
Once inside the cool building, he made his way back to the supply closet to grab his cart. The building seemed vacant, was there even anybody else here?
He pushed his cart to the main hall of the building, turning down the corridor to his right to the wing labelled as Thursday. He hummed Highway to Hell under his breath, stopping to grab his dark blue uniform at the entrance and pulling it on over his jeans and plain black T-shirt.
The entire building so far had been white floors, white walls too clean and perfect. It creeped him out that anywhere could be so freaky clean. He stepped up to a large, thick glass door and punched in his keycode and waited for the loud click as the lock slid in place and the doors parted to allow him entrance.
He found it odd that his first night he would be working alone, but as he checked over his list of to-dos he wasn't nervous about the simple tasks he'd have to do. Honestly, it was the thought of what kind of experiment was waiting for him.
Was it a monster? A horribly disfigured person sure to haunt his dreams? He wasn't sure he wanted to find out. But, work is work. He would have to do what he could until he could find a better job, hopefully beneath the hood of some classic car.
He held tighter to his cart and pushed past the doors, stepping in to a near frigid room. It wasn't what he expected. It wasn't white, instead it was stainless steel. Everything. The table tops, the stools, most of the tools, even the walls. Stainless steel and glass. The floors were a cool blue tile, impeccably clean and stretching the entire length of the very large, very long room. No windows sat in the walls. The ceiling was insanely high, much higher than any building he'd ever been in. The ceiling had to have been at least thirty feet high, maybe even more. But that wasn't what caught his eye the most.
In the very center of the room was a massive tube filled with a liquid that seemed to glow a color close to seafoam green and emanated light enough to light the entire room in a dull green. Floating in the middle of that glass container, was a person curled up in the fetal position with their ankles crossed before them. A mop of thick, dark hair seemed to sway with some invisible current. He couldn't see any facial features. There were tubes everywhere on the pale form. Stuck in various places in the arms that were loosely wrapped around pale knees. Coming from behind the knees in the area he could only guess was the face.
It was eerily quiet beside the occasional sound of a rush of bubbles travelling to the surface of the liquid in the massive tube. His hairs stood on end with how weird he was feeling standing there in the entrance of his wing staring at this person-like experiment. He spotted a square plate at the base of the large tube and took slow, wary steps closer to the apparently sleeping form.
He squinted in the dim lighting to make out the letters.
#5 - Castiel
"Castiel, huh?" He wasn't sure why he was talking aloud, but he figured it couldn't hurt anything. In fact, maybe it would help him to feel more comfortable in the increasingly uncomfortable environment. "Well, that's a mouthful, so I hope you don't mind Cas."
He stepped back and away to his cart, starting to hum a nameless tune as he flipped the light switch to turn on the very, very dim overhead lights.
He started by grabbing the sanitizer and spraying the counter tops and shelves thoroughly before grabbing his microfiber cloth and starting to rub everything down. Every time he turned his back to the massive tube, he felt eyes staring down at him and grew increasingly uncomfortable.
It was silly, he knew, but he thought the feeling disappeared when he faced it instead. So he made sure to adjust the way he was disinfecting the beakers and wiping down any surface he could reach so that he was also facing toward the massive glass tube. As he worked he hummed various songs from Metallica, Led Zeppelin and even AC/DC. A few hours passed and he didn't even notice until he glanced down at his watch.
He worked his way clockwise around the room, leaving the large desk directly in front of Castiel for last. He glanced at the long surface, littered with various papers and sketches.
He angled his head to get a better look at a specific one of a male body, well muscled and labelled with various science jargon he didn't understand. He looked it over, flipping to the page underneath and skimming through a paragraph in the middle of the page.
Subject unresponsive to all stimuli. Electrotherapy evokes no change in brainwaves. No indicators of pain response to any amount of charge. Subject believed to be aware-
"Hey, Dean! Are you almost done in there?" A loud voice caused him to jump and quickly place the paper back down. He glanced up at Samandriel just as he walked into the room. "We're going to get lunch in the cafeteria, you coming?"
A shaky exhale left his lips and he smiled and nodded at his coworker. He got a bad feeling in the pit of his gut about revealing that he was reading the scientist's work, unsure how his coworker would react. He didn't want to get fired for peeking
"Uhh, yeah. I was just finishing up this table. Be there in a sec!"
He expected the kid to leave after saying that and acting like he was cleaning and not trying to snoop in no way, nope not him, but he didn't. Instead he stood there with an oddly blank look in his eyes and a false smile on his mouth.
Th'hell was his problem? That was weird as all hell.
He shrugged and tossed his rag down, heading over to meet the kid and place his hand on his shoulder to steer him away from his wing. The look on his face seriously rubbed him the wrong way.
So far, everything in this place was weird. Was it so unusual for members of the staff to be as well?
"So how are you liking your first night? Is it creepy?" The kid seemed to be animated again, all polite and friendly formality as they walked down several halls to the cafeteria, eyes no longer glazed over and far away.
"Uhh, it's alright. Can't complain too much, and the creep factor is way high when you got people in fish tanks." He responded and drew a light laugh from the male beside him.
"It'll get easier. Once you work here for a while you kind of get used to it. I don't think any of us here weren't weirded out at first."
"Good to hear because it is like a serious sci-fi movie up in there." They came up to probably the only doors in the entire facility that didn't have a lock and pushed them open. There were eight round tables, each one with seven chairs seated around them. Along the far back wall was a buffet style setting, with various foods set out to be eaten.
Sitting at the table closest was a group of people. There was five of them, seven if he included himself and Samandriel.
"Here we are, hey fellas!"
They approached the others at a steady pace as Samandriel pointed out who was who.
"Right there is Adam, sitting next to him is Kevin, then Charlie, the ever lovely Bela, and last but not least Garth. They're the other cleaners here." As he spoke, he pointed out each individual person.
Adam seemed to have a build smaller than himself but bigger than Samandriel, with a pleasant enough looking face, dirty blonde hair and pale green eyes. Kevin beside him was of an Asian background with long black hair. He looked just as young as Samandriel, but looked terribly shy whereas the other male had a constant smile. Beside him was a pretty redhead who raised a hand to wave and smiled brightly at him. He liked her. She seemed friendly enough. To her side sat a brunette vixen, as fierce as she was beautiful. With that mischievous glint in her eye, Dean wasn't sure if he should try to befriend her or not, but he sent her a flirtatious wink because hey, why not? She was hot. And the last one, Garth, was a very lanky kid with a goofy face and medium length brown hair. He, too, waved and smiled so Dean also felt a positive vibe coming from him as well.
"This is Dean, it's his first night. He's over in Thursday." Samandriel told them, sliding out a chair and sitting down.
"Hi, I'm Kevin." Kevin spoke in an open, friendly matter but his face looked stressed to the max. He could make out dark circles beneath his eyes. Was he okay?
"Don't mind him, he has a lot on his plate. He's worried about his college exams. I'm Charlie." The redhead smiled and gave a salute, Dean immediately liked the vibes she sent off.
"Bela. Charmed." She had a pleasant, velvety voice, but spoke as if she believed she was better than those around her. Stuck up, Dean would call it.
"Aw, shucks, c'mere and gimme a hug, big guy. You're part of the family now." Garth rose from his chair, immediately moving to hug Dean. A small round of chuckles came from the other coworkers at Dean's expression. Garth pulled back, slapped him lightly on the shoulder and sat back down.
"Don't worry, he grows on you," said Charlie. "Are you hungry? Food's over there."
"Starved. I could probably eat a horse about now."
Dean started to like her more and more as she pointed in the direction of food. Dean noticed Samandriel already heading over so he trailed behind him.
He grabbed a plate and looked at the spread before him. There was a section for salad, various dressings and toppings around the large bowl of salad. Beside that, there was a pizza, a pan of baked ziti, a tray of burgers, chicken and ribs, condiments were also around the tray. Then there was another section dedicated entirely to dessert.
He noticed some usual desserts, cookies, brownies, slices of cake, but what had him the most excited was the pie. There were two of them, one visibly apple and the other he guessed was cherry.
He got two burgers and a nice slice of apple pie, a cup of soda and sat down at the table. The idle chatter the others had begun died down and they looked at him expectantly. He paused, burger halfway to his mouth.
"What?"
"Welllll... How do you like it?" Charlie started.
"Like what?" He replied.
"Y'know, working in Thursday? Working in a super weird lab? Pretty much being in some sci-fi movie with a bad plot?"
"It's work," he said after a brief chuckle. Yeah. He's going to like her a lot. It's not like he actually liked this job, though, he just needed somewhere to earn money until he can go somewhere more preferable. Somewhere he could lose himself in loud music and grease and car parts.
"You aren't scared? Being in there?" Kevin asked through a mouthful of cake.
"Why would I be?" This confused Dean, his wing was relatively simple. Easy to clean and his experiment was sleeping. What was there to fear?
"Well, because the experiment there doesn't like anyone being in there. Even the scientists are weird about being in there with him." Added Adam, very matter-of-factly and receiving a weird look from Samandriel.
Dean frowned.
"Uhh, it's alright. Nothing too weird or anything. Y'know, just some fish people floating in tanks. But really. Just here to do my job and go home."
"Just be careful, yeah?" Began Charlie, nibbling on a cookie and rolling her eyes. "Don't let these guys freak you out. They've never actually been in there. Only Samandriel has worked in there out of the six of us. He just got weirded out. All the experiments have their temperaments."
Dean flashed a slight smile and nodded before continuing to eat his food. So far the other workers seemed relatively okay. What was up with Samandriel earlier then? Did he know Dean looked at the paperwork?
"Speaking of temperaments, how is your lovely troublemaker, Charlotte?" Bela spoke up, eyeing the woman coolly.
Charlie's mouth twitched at the use of her full name before speaking animatedly. "He's wonderful. He moved all of the scientist's tools to the ceiling, they were so mad that they left early. Some hardcore leviosa jazz. He told me the real fun is when Naomi visits him, though. Apparently, she always leaves in a huff from his wing."
The other occupants of the table chuckled while Dean's curiosity piqued.
"Your experiment plays pranks?" He questioned. Didn't Naomi say they were contained?
Charlie chuckled. "Oh yeah. Big time. If they weren't so scared of him, I'm sure the science guys would try some form of punishment. He's relentless. Sometimes he hides my supplies, too."
"I thought they were all contained and what not?"
"They are," answered Kevin. "Her experiment has telekinetic abilities. He's the most active, so you'll hear more about him than the others." He still seemed like he was extremely stressed, but it seemed to have died down a bit.
"Oh," Dean answered lamely. He didn't think to question which experiment she actually had.
He felt the beginnings of worry start in his stomach before squashing it down.
He had no reason to worry. It wasn't his problem. As long as he got a paycheck, he was fine. His experiment was sleeping, anyway. He didn't think it would wake up any time soon either.
"So what's the point of these experiments?" Dean questioned and all eyes went to him. Several of his coworkers shrugged, but Samandriel spoke up first.
"We are not meant to know." He had that strange look in his eyes for a brief second before it disappeared as quickly as it came and his smile returned. "I think they are just tests or something."
Suspicion sparked in Dean. Something was not right about that kid, although Dean could not seem to figure out what. Maybe he was thinking too much. It probably wasn't weird at all for his personality to shift like that once you got to know him. He needed to go finish cleaning so he could get out of here. He just wanted to go home away from all this weirdness and it was only his first night.
Dean finished his meal and stood up to drop his plate in the bin. The other workers waved him off and he headed back to his wing. He walked back up to the large desk and made to grab his rag but coming up empty. He frowned to himself, looking around the desk to find it on the floor.
He probably missed the desk when he put it down. Dean shrugged and picked the rag up, continuing to disinfect the rest of the table surface and the two stools that were placed before the desk.
He went back to his cart to get the cordless vacuum he was to clean the floor with and made quick progress with vacuuming the floor. Afterwards, he grabbed the steamer and began to sanitize the floor as well.
Sure was a lot of work for a place that already looked extra clean. Once finished steaming the floors he put everything back in his cart and got ready to leave.
The feeling of being watched was worst than ever and he turned to the experiment floating in the liquid. He frowned, wanting to just leave but suddenly feeling as if he forgot something very important. He checked over his list, skimming to see if he missed anything.
Dean glanced up once more at Castiel, frowning more and wondering if the feeling was all in his head.
He decided to take a walk back over to the tank, pausing to look up at the pale man. The feeling that was once so strong was now weak, nothing more than a forgotten itch in the back of his mind.
"I'm not crazy, right?" He thought aloud, murmuring to himself. Bubbles rose to the surface of the liquid as he watched the dark hair sway. His experiment couldn't be the one making him feel like that, could it?
"You tryna tell me something, Cas?" Dean nearly jumped as the doors whooshed open and he turned to see a tired looking man in a white coat coming through the doors. How stereotypical.
Dean turned away from the tank and walked briskly to his cart and grabbed it to push it back. The feeling returned tenfold but he did his best to ignore it. He spotted a white tag on the front of his jacket that read Charles Shurley.
On his way past the man, he could have sworn he heard him muttering about someone being active, but he could have imagined it
He didn't look back as he stripped out of his uniform and parked his cart in the supply closet. He hadn't realized how much time had passed. It was already morning.
It was time for him to go home.
He walked out to the parking lot once more, waving one handedly to Charlie and Kevin on his way to his baby.
Dean started the Impala and pulled away quickly, the feeling of being watched never quite leaving him even after he was home and in bed.