Inside a hall big enough to accommodate more than 100 people at the same time, several figures wearing lab coats are moving around from one medical bed to another that are placed systematically all across the hall.
For a distance it will appear that these people are doctors that are moving from one patient to another, checking everyone's health, but if one were to look closely, a new understanding of the situation would appear because among all the patients, none of them are conscious, and to make the situation even more horrifying, each of them is tightly bound with polymer straps that are normally used to keep criminals in one place.
Every person wearing a lab coat is moving from one bed to another after filling their glass tube with blood from these patients.
crack
splash
Suddenly one of them lost his grip on their glass tube and ended up breaking it, drawing the attention of many others.
The floor became a mess from the blood and pieces of glass on it.
Compared to almost every person among the many wearing lab coats, this one appears to be quite young, someone who is just entering his thirties.
His body tensed under the gaze of his seniors, but thanks to his luck, his direct senior quickly shielded him by scolding him in a theatrical tone.
"Hey, Jack, have you lost your grip after playing with your little toy too much?"
His senior said in a tone loud enough for everyone to hear.
The gazes that were falling on him became even more intense, now filled with disgust, and the man in question just slammed his hand on his forehead on losing his face on the first day of his work.
He stared at the teacher, who is also one of the most senior people in this hall, an individual standing at the age of above 50 with several medical achievements to his name, and his direct mentor, who brought him to this organization.
"Don't just stare at me like an idiot, and be quick; take the blood sample once again from that patient."
Jack got startled listening to his teacher's order.
"But Doctor, if I extracted his blood once again in such a short interval of time, it could lead to medical problems for him."
He asked with a confused tone, thinking whether he had by chance remembered something wrong from the book.
When the doctor heard this, his face became serious.
"Jack, my boy, listen to my advice carefully," his tone became serious.
"Everyone who is bound in front of you on these beds is not your patient but a subject, used in experimentation just like a mouse, so never treat them like one of us or even an animal."
After a pause he continued:
"It will help you in adjusting to this work much easier because what you are doing right now is not even the smallest tip of our main research; got it?"
Jack became stunned, shaken to his core, not expecting an answer like this.
Never in his dreams had he assumed that his very first job, which he had gotten after such great hardship and after years of dedicated study and enthusiasm toward saving a life, would ask him to treat that very life like an animal.
"Now, do what I have asked you to do; otherwise, don't complain to me when you lose even this job."
Jack can only nod at these words because that's all he can do; after all, he is too helpless and desperate for this job.
Listening to this revelation, there was one more person who was much more shocked and shaken to his core than Jack, and that person was lying just beside the person whose blood is currently being extracted for the second time on the adjacent bed.
"Holy sh#t."
Kevin screamed internally.
A few minutes ago:
Kevin expected to open his eyes inside a hospital bed with a smiling face of a medical staff member or his best friend or maybe both, but reality hit him a little harder than it normally does because when he regained consciousness, forget about smiling faces, he could not even open his f##king eyes.
He tried to speak, but then he felt it; something was keeping his mouth shut, and that thing was definitely not an oxygen mask. Instead, it felt like tape. Heck, now he could not even speak.
One by one, Kevin tried everything, but the result horrified him because, except for hearing he can do nothing, he can feel that his limbs are bound by something very strong, a tightrope maybe.
He can feel that his surrounding temperature is quite cool, but not by much, probably constantly stabilized by an air conditioner.
He inhaled deeply in hope of achieving something by analyzing the odor of the air, but nothing much came out of it except a light smell of phenyl cleaners that are mostly used in hospitals for cleaning the floor.
Kevin did not try to forcefully break away from his binding because now he is no longer sure about his position or his surroundings, so he does not want to take an unnecessary risk with no possible result in view and ended up getting even more injuries.
So he did what anyone else would have done if they were in his position.
He waited for someone to come to him; after all, no one will kidnap a person only to keep them bound forever.
Since Kevin had nothing to do except keep lying on what felt like a bed, various thoughts began to appear in his mind.
"It looks like I have not been saved. Does it mean David failed?"
Suddenly his imagination began to run wildly.
"Is this the work of underworld gangs?"
Thinking about those dark forces portrayed in novels and movies, Kevin became worried for his friend.
"I hope that man has done nothing to David."
Before Kevin could weave even more assumptions in his mind, the noise of various footsteps grabbed his attention.
Kevin became absolutely still to avoid their detection.
He focused on their voices, trying to get a general understanding of his surroundings. His initial attempts remained futile, but he did not have to wait longer because with each passing moment the footsteps drew closer in a systematic way, as if they were stopping for something after every few steps.
"Just what is happening here?" Kevin cannot understand just what is happening, and his covered eyes just increase his irritation.
His wait finally bore fruit when a few steps reached just beside him.
"From the footsteps, there should be two or three people standing somewhere around me," Kevin guessed.
Suddenly a voice, which was quite close to his position, reached his ears.
Crack
"It sounds like a glass falling down and bro—"
He interrupted his own thoughts midway because, for the first time since he regained his consciousness, a human voice reached his ears.
"Hey, Jack, have you lost your grip..."
Kevin cannot believe what he has just heard from the interaction between this supposed newbie and his senior.
subject, experiment, blood extraction, not even a tip, what the F#ck; just where in the hell he ended up being.
Kevin's heart raced wildly as an icy chill slithered down his spine.
The air, which had previously felt merely cool, now enveloped him in a frigid embrace, and he could feel the color draining from his face, a clear indication of the fear that had taken hold of him.
Beads of sweat began to form on his brow as he grasped the seriousness of the discussion unfolding around him.
It dawned on him that the real horror lay in the fact that a skilled doctor, if they lacked compassion for their patients, could wreak havoc.
This realization highlighted the critical importance of the strict protocols and comprehensive tests enforced by the government.
These regulations not only evaluate a medical professional's technical skills and the steadiness of their hands but also probe into their psychological fortitude, utilizing both written assessments and personality tests to eliminate candidates who might possess dangerous mindsets or emotional instability.
"Are these people 'doctors' who have forsaken their medical code of conduct and are now experimenting on humans?"
Kevin is horrified because he himself, despite being very skilled in the field of integrative medical genomics, which is based on both genetic and physical study of the human body, has never tried or even thought about experimenting on a live human.
Before Kevin could analyze and understand his circumstances in more depth, his situation turned from bad to worse.
"Ah, D-Doctor, look, his heartbeats have risen so high. Why is he sweating so much?" Jack's startled voice reached his ear.
"Fu#k, this subject is awake, you idiot! Quick, inject him with high midazolam-included anesthetics."
The doctor commanded in anxiety because there are strict rules to keep their subject in a stress-free emotional state by keeping them sleep-induced till they reach their required stage.
An anomaly subject like Kevin can put not only his job but even his life in extreme danger.
"B-but doctor, that's dange-"
"Step aside, you coward bi#ch; I will do it myself." The doctor did not let him finish; instead, he pushed him aside and took the matter into his own hands.
Kevin did not retaliate because he knew it was useless.
A sharp pain stung him on his right arm before he lost consciousness once again for the third time in a row.