Giulia swiped the card and entered the reception only to bump into someone.
"I'm sorry, I did not see you."
She noticed he was a young man of her age, with tanned skin, brown hair, and eyes; he was wearing a lab coat, she recognized him right at the spot.
"Guido?"
He wide opened his eyes.
"Giulia?"
"The one and only!"
Both of them smiled and hugged; Guido was a friend from her childhood, they used to play together despite the fact he was part of the trio of the town's bullies, all under the commands of Ercole Visconti.
All do Guido was the kindest, and he usually protected Giulia, even if she didn't need anyone to defend her; she had her thorns.
"What are you doing here?" she asked once they parted.
"I'm a marine biologist, I'm in charge of the ..." he fell silent and looked away.
Giulia rotated her head in surprise.
"Sorry, confidential."
"Oh, I get it," she nodded with the head, top-secret like everything in that place.
"But what about you? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, well..."
The appearance of a third party interrupted her; behind Guido was someone who Giulia expected never to see again.
Ercole.
He was just as she remembered him, tall, thin, nosed, black-haired, and with an attempt of a mustache, he wore a black suit.
She winced at the sight of him.
"Guido, what are you doing? Those things are ready to be put into the..."
He noticed the girl.
"Wait for a second... Giulia?"
The girl gasped and looked into his eyes; it had been years since they saw each other maybe Ercole had changed into a better person; he deserved the benefit of the doubt.
"Hello Ercole"
Ercole's eyes were wide open.
"Oh, it is little Spewlia!"
«No, still a dick, » she thought.
She just made a face.
"May I know what are you doing here?"
Ercole smirked.
"Well, I am happy to say I'm the new head of security from now on."
Giulia felt as if she had getting poured in a bucket of cold water; she couldn't believe that idiot was going to be her boss. Worst of all, Ercole seemed to be aware of what was happening as his smile grew longer.
"I see; are you a cleaning worker?"
For the first time, Giulia felt ashamed of herself as she gripped the straps of her bag tighter and looked down, much to Ercole's delight.
"I thought you would study astronomy," Guido mentioned in a more friendly tone.
"Things didn't work out as expected," Giulia replied without looking at him.
"But Giulia, things never turn out as you expect; have you already forgotten all those years when you lost the race?"
Giulia clenched her fist as she heard how he kept talking about the stupid triathlon that happens every summer in Portorosso. Giulia always participated every year, hoping to beat Ercole, but he always ended up winning.
"It seems history repeats."
Giulia wasn't looking at him, but she could feel Ercole's stinky breath on her; she wanted to hit him in the face or at least insult him, but she needed the job, so fighting back wasn't an option.
"Em Ercole, I think you mentioned they were ready. Shouldn't we go see them?" Guido interrupted, wanting to end the poor woman's humiliation.
"Oh, it's true," Ercole looked up, "those things are ready to be put in the tank, so we'd better hurry up," but before leaving, he gave the girl a scornful look of scorn, "see you around Spewlia."
With that, both boys left, Giulia just looked below as they walked away, but she managed to notice that Guido was giving her a look over his shoulder as if he felt very sorry for what just happened.
Giulia did not give it importance, as she had work to do.
...
Trying to forget the bad experience of the morning, Giulia began to sweep the corridors of the second floor, while in her mind, she cursed Ercole with every rudeness that came to her head.
Giulia hated those corridors very much as they made her feel depressed, more than she already was, walls and floor concrete, and metal supports.
It was not until Ciccio (the previous head of security) approached her that she snapped out of her thoughts.
"What is it, Ciccio?" she asked, turning around.
Ciccio was a chubby man with fair skin, brown eyes, curly blond hair, and somewhat short, and his nose round.
"The E-3 laboratory is in operation from now on; we need someone to take care of the cleaning."
"And you want me to be that someone."
"You are the best candidate; hard-working, quiet, and punctual we need the best for this."
Giulia rolled her eyes; probably no one else wanted the job; that's why they give it to her.
"All right, I take it."
Ciccio smiled.
"Excellent, your routine will remain the same only at twelve you have to report to the laboratory to clean it, then you can resume your activities."
"Seems fair" after all, it was just another room to clean.
She got up and pushed her cart towards the lab when Ciccio stopped her with one hand. She looked at him tiredly; wasn't that what he wanted?
"Just one more thing Giulia" he got closer to her, "the work you will see there... is confidential, extremely, no one can know whatever happens in there."
"Don't worry is not like I have a ton of people to talk about it."
Ciccio smiled at the commentary, looking almost relieved.
"I'm glad to hear that, now let's go."
A few short moments later, they both walked towards the laboratory, with Ciccio repeating everything she had to do; Giulia just nodded, replying with a yes to everything.
She just had to clean, like every day; there was no reason for her superior to be this insistent.
"Ahhhh!"
They both stopped, looking at each other; Giulia stared straight ahead, the laboratory was a few meters away, and that's where the scream had come.
Then came the shot and a roar, one that Giulia couldn't identify as it didn't sound like that of any animal she knew. Giulia freaked out and dropped the cart while backing up a bit. The door opened with a metallic screech, and Ercole staggered out.
"Santa ricotta," she whispered.
Ercole was holding his right hand with his left one, as it was bleeding from it, and… He was missing two fingers, his shirt stained with blood, and he was sweating and extremely pale. Giulia put a hand to her mouth as the bile rose to her neck; she had to turn around because otherwise, she would vomit.
"Help! A doctor!" someone screamed, Giulia believed to be Guido.
Without being able to bear it any longer, she ran to the bathroom; when she got there, she got into one of the cubicles, picked up the cup, and vomited all the breakfast.
...
After making sure there was nothing left in her stomach, Giulia came out of the bathroom wiping her mouth with toilet paper; she threw it into a trash can and sighed.
«Easy, it's over, it's over,» she said to herself; she had never seen anything that graphic, «What the hell are they doing in there?»
That would surely haunt her for the rest of her life; when she accepted the job, Giulia never imagined dealing with things like that, but after breathing, her heartbeat returned to normal, she had to compose herself.
That was until she saw Ciccio approaching.
"Oh Giulia, there you are!" he hastily spoke, came running, and was also sweating.
Giulia knew it could only mean trouble.
"Thank heaven...I need you...to come with me."
Giulia shook her head.
"No, please don't make me go back!"
"You're the only employee available...we need you," Ciccio spoke between breaths.
Giulia inhaled air once more, steadying herself in her chest, not just because of her contract; she didn't want to lose her job now that dad wasn't getting paid. Thinking of her papa gave her strength.
"Okay," she said resignedly.
Ciccio sighed in relief.
"Excellent, now come! We don't have much time!"
...
They returned to the lab; Giulia's cart was still in the same place she left it; she pushed it and advanced along with her superior, with her eyes on the front, avoiding by all means to see the spot where Ercole had been.
However, she soon realized that her attempt was futile; on the wall was the stain of a bloody hand; Giulia had to breathe again to keep from vomiting.
Ciccio opened the door, and Giulia was finally able to see Lab E-3.
There was a huge black cauldron that covered almost the entire wall in front; its tubes came out of it like the branches of a tree, and they reached the ceiling.
Right in front of it was a large swimming pool surrounded by steps covered in white tiles. Next to it, there was a tremendous capsule filled with water, stuck to the wall vertically.
There were also many machines on the left side.
It was all quite impressive, but sadly there was only one thing that Giulia could focus on; a stun stick thrown on the ground, the tip of which was bloody; the whole floor was stain with blood.
If Giulia hadn't thrown up everything, she would have run to the bathroom once more.
"You have...fifteen minutes to clean this mess up," said a terrified Ciccio.
Without even thinking about it, Giulia started to work because if she stopped for just a second to think things over, she would fain.
She took a bucket from the cart and ran to the sink on the left side; when the pot was full, Giulia threw the water on the ground.
Luckily for her, the laboratory had drains that could carry the blood to the sewer, so at least she would not have to dry it with the mop.
But as soon as the waters carried the blood, they also brought something else out from under a machine; at first, she thought they were chips, but when she bent down to see them better, she felt his heart stop.
They were Ercole's fingers.
"Santa gorgonzola."
For her tone, Ciccio turned to see her.
"Now what?"
Gathering all the strength she still had left and closed her eyes, Giulia took the fingers; chills went down her spine when she touched them, got up, and held them out to Ciccio.
His eyes widening when he saw the torn parts.
"Oh...eh."
Trembling, Ciccio took them, and Giulia sighed in relief when she no longer felt them; she quickly returned to the sink and washed her hands.
"Fifteen minutes," Ciccio shouted as he fled the room.
Giulia grimaced and refilled the bucket.
«This isn't worth the pay,» after that day, she will ask for a raise.
The bucket was bursting; Giulia switched off the tap and turned to pour the water, and that was when she saw it .
In the tube, there was someone; at first, she thought it was human because it had two arms and legs, then she realized it also had a tail.
Four fingers on each hand, in addition to that, its skin was scaly and green-blue.
It did not have ears, but what looked like two small fins, nor did it have a nose just two nostrils, its globules were yellow, while the pupil was brown and the iris black; on each arm, it had a navy bluefin; and its hair...was strange, they looked like purple sea corals that danced in the water.
It had its hand on the glass and was looking at her.
Giulia screamed, and that thing did it too because bubbles came out of its mouth; the creature detached itself from the glass and swam backward; it looked like the tube was connected to the pool.
Giulia's breathing was increasing; first, she had witnessed a scene straight out of a horror movie, and now she had had an encounter with a monster.
«So that's the big secret» that explained Ciccio's insistence.
All she wanted was to get out of there as soon as possible; she dumped the water and started cleaning as fast as she could, all the time avoiding looking at the water.
«That thing ripped Ercole's fingers.»
If only she had looked a little more carefully, she would have noticed that the creature was bleeding from a wound on its chest.
