The next chapter will be posted over the weekend.
An Even Darker Secret - Part IIITesting Room 12-K, Area 69 – Bone County - Winter 2001
Saturday – 8:37 AMThere’re people all over the room aimlessly walking around in circles. There’s some medical equipment and cabinets on each side of the room.
Ray and the man get into the room and look around.
Ray: “What the hell is going on here?”
Man: “I honestly have no idea.”
Ray: “What are you supposed to be testing with these people?”
Man: “It’s a new drug but I don’t know what it is for!”
Ray quickly walks around the room trying to locate Claude and Shinji.
Ray: “Where the hell are they?”
Man: “What do they look like?”
Ray: “One is an Asian kid wearing a rather expensive suit. The other one looks tough and is wearing a black leather jacket.”
Ray and the man look around. They finally find them in a corner, awake but are completely unresponsive.
Ray shakes Claude.
Ray: “Come on kid, talk to me!”
Claude looks at Ray. He stays silent.
Ray: “Come on!”
Claude starts blinking repeatedly and tries to say something.
Claude: “Wh… what? What is this place?”
Ray: “We’re at Area 69. I don’t know what happened to you but we gotta go!”
Claude: “Area 69. Really?”
Ray: “Yes! Did you find that nerd we’re supposed to be looking for?”
Claude: “No! We just fell down here and then some scientist took us to this lab and injected something in our veins. I don’t remember anything else after that!”
Claude has a terrible headache.
Claude: “My head f*cking hurts, man!”
Ray now shakes Shinji up but he doesn’t react at all. He looks completely lost and unaware of his surroundings.
Ray: “What are we gonna do?”
Claude: “We need to find that guy and get the hell outta here!”
Ray looks at the man.
Ray: “Listen pal, if you want to see your family again and in one piece, you better help us find this kid and something to return our friend back to normal. Do you understand?”
The man is scared.
Man: “Yes, yes… of course. Let me make a call, please!”
Ray: “All right, but no monkey business, ok?”
Man: “I’ll just ask something so I can help you.”
Ray escorts the man to a phone. The man takes the headset and dials a number.
Man: “Tiffany? Hi, this is Gerald, how are you? Could you please tell me the file numbers for the new drug tests on the 12th floor?”
Gerald grabs a piece of paper from one side of the phone and writes down what Tiffany is saying.
Gerald: “Alright Tiffany. Thank you.”
Gerald hangs up and takes the piece of paper and reads the numbers.
Gerald: “I need a terminal to look these up.”
Ray looks at Claude.
Ray: “Wait here with Shinji, kid. We’ll be right back.”
Ray goes back to the elevator lobby with Gerald.
12th Floor Elevator Lobby, Area 69 – Bone County - Winter 2001
Saturday – 8:59 AMRay hides behind Gerald as he did before. Gerald opens up the terminal and types down the numbers on the paper. After a few seconds, a rather large document is printed on several sheets of paper.
Gerald takes the document and reads it carefully.
Gerald: “Well, it seems your friends have been administered a drug called H-795. Since it was commissioned by the military, I have no clearance to get the details on what this particular drug does. All I can tell you is that it’s still in a very early testing stage.”
Ray: “And how do you know that?”
Gerald: “It doesn’t have a commercial name yet. ‘H-795’ is just a code.”
Ray remembers the conversation he overheard when he entered Area 69...
Ray: “Do you know any of these men? Miyamoto or Clarkson?”
Gerald: “Miyamoto is the head of Zaibatsu Pharmaceuticals here in San Andreas. Dr. Clarkson is a researcher from the U.S. Army. Why?”
Ray: “They were talking about this drug, but according to Clarkson’s words, the treatment wasn’t supposed to start until later.”
Gerald: “Well, maybe he changed his mind.”
Ray: “I don’t like what you’re doing here, Gerald. Why are you testing a drug like this?”
Gerald: “Don’t look at me, I’m just an analyst. I check test results and compare them. I don’t know where the data comes from or how it was obtained.”
Ray: “Can you at least try to get more info about the drug?”
Gerald: “I’ll try to look in the archives, but it’s usually well-guarded.”
Ray: “Let’s try something. Do you have any test results from this drug?”
Gerald: “We can go back to my office to find out.”
Ray goes back to the testing room and gets Claude and Shinji while Gerald activates the elevator. They all go back to the first floor where Gerald’s office is located.
Gerald’s Office, Area 69 – Bone County - Winter 2001
Saturday – 9:15 AMEverybody get into the office. Ray closes the door while Claude and Shinji lie down for a bit. Gerald sits back on his computer and looks for the test results.
Gerald: “I found some results. Apparently testing began 20 days ago...”
Gerald analyzes the results and thinks for a few minutes.
Gerald: “Well, the subjects haven’t reacted well to the first batch of the drug. It says here that some of them ended with brain damage or terrible stomach problems. Holy sh*t...”
Gerald is shocked.
Ray: “What? What’s going on?”
Gerald: “These results are terrible, and the drug is being tested with humans!”
Ray: “Don’t look so surprised Gerald. I’m sure worse things have happened here!”
Gerald: “I’m genuinely surprised. A drug with these results shouldn’t be tested in humans!”
Ray thinks for a moment.
Ray: “Can you compare that drug with Equanox?”
Gerald: “Equanox?”
Ray: “Yes. I also heard Miyamoto and Clarkson talking about it.”
Gerald goes back to the computer and gets Equanox’s results, he then runs a program to compare both results and produce a summary of similarities and differences between them.
After a few minutes, the results are finally ready. Gerald takes a look and quickly stands up with a shocked look on his face.
Ray: “What’s the problem?”
Gerald presses a key on his computer. The summary comes out from the printer after a few seconds; Gerald grabs it and looks at it more closely.
Ray starts getting anxious.
Ray: “Come on, say something!”
Gerald: “They’re almost the exact same drug, but the side effects of H-795 appear to be more lethal, although there seems to be something in the composition of the drug that prevents these side effects from happening. Now I understand the terrible results, this safety mechanism doesn’t always work, apparently.”
Ray: “What does it mean?”
Gerald: “Well, Equanox is a failure because it keeps people awake for days and they eventually end up in the hospital with terrible diseases. According to these results, H-795 also keeps people awake for days, but they never feel tired and many eventually die from exhaustion.”
Gerald gives another read to the documents.
Gerald: “15 people died in the past 24 hours. Some of these subjects got here just a couple of days ago.”
Ray: “I heard Clarkson talking about sleeping pills. They put these people to sleep first and I guess they wake ‘em up and keep them that way with this new drug.”
Gerald thinks for a moment.
Gerald: “He shouldn’t do that. The sleeping state should be natural, not induced. The components in those sleeping pills must be messing up with H-795’s safety mechanisms.”
Gerald looks at Claude.
Gerald: “Did you take any sleeping pills before the drug was tested on you?”
Claude: “I don’t remember what happened at all. It’s freaking me out!”
Gerald: “I’ll see if the computer has something on you.”
