commiecrusher

PANDEMIC TALE 1: Monotonous Materials.

Dr. Gerard Price rapidly walked through the doors of the secluded G2 site he has been working at for thirteen years. He then glanced at his watch, it was 7:30, which meant he was late for work, again.
Jerry is a simple man, he gets his work done and enjoys his free time. He sticks to his routine, and it didn't take much to make him satisfied. If he was being honest he didn't quite like surprises, or anything out of the ordinary for that matter.

He was an odd fit for a job at the Foundation, which strictly deals with things out of the ordinary. Though surprisingly, even an organization like the Foundation has a place for men like him. As usual, he clocked in, and walked down the familiar corridors of the facility. Something unusual was happening at the security office, everyone seemed to be crowding around the computer systems. Dr. Price shrugged and continued forward, it probably wasn't anything of his concern.

After the routine morning journey across the site, he finally arrived at the hallway labeled SCP-008. A dull assignment even to his low standards, but still a place where he felt at home. "I don't even know what kind of experiment to do next.." Dr. Price thought to himself. Progress has slowed on the study of SCP-008,in fact people who are assigned to it see it as more of a punishment then a serious job.
To Dr. Price, this was fine because he would rather be bored out of his mind then actually having to work. For the five years ago Dr. Price has been synthesizing different strains of the virus. His work was highly classified, but to him it was harmless. Most researchers who knew the existence of -008 would argue it should be classified as safe.

Yet here he was drifting to the thought again while he should be working. Jerry stared at his computer screen for a second after he snapped back to reality, cracked his knuckles and got ready for his daily tests. Experimentation has been difficult since the ethics committee cracked down on -008 research a few years back. "What a bunch of nerds." He mused to himself. Work was much more interesting when he could conduct actual experiments, he used to make so much progress. He could feel his soul degrading as he reflected on that thought, what they had done in the past was wrong. He knew that.

Of course Jerry wasn't the one to take the fall, he was just following orders. If he was to be guilty everyone in the whole facility was to be guilty too. Jerry found himself looking at the same screen as he was when he first logged on the computer. Same as every day. Dr. Price was the only researcher assigned to SCP-008, not that he needed the help. It did get lonely in his own secluded corner of the site, though. His current research goals were to discover an anomalous cure for the disease, but hasn't made tangible progress outside of SCP-500.

Dr. Price drifted to memories of the degraded the minds of some of his previous subjects, who waited violently in their cells, possibly for the day that Dr. Price would free them from their esoteric cages. Maybe death was the only cure. The walls were soundproof, so the moans never really got to him. He tried not to think about them much.

Different samples were synthesized, tested, exterminated, and reported on daily. Today was no different, he approached the containment chamber, donning his foundation HazMat suit, and after a short decontamination in the airlock, he approached the sample container.
He inserted his keycard, which opened up the fancy vial container, revealing various vials labeled SCP-008-A through -M. Continuing on, Jerry took a sample to his lab, along with a vial of "human tissue samples". Putting the samples underneath the microscope, he immediately knew something was wrong. "This can't be right… the cells are not being changed in any observable manner." Dr. Price double checked his work, "I definitely put SCP-008 on the petri dish, did I not?" He did. This was not the same behavior as the virus he was working on yesterday.

This was not good. Jerry hurried out of the airlocked laboratory, but sadly, he was too late. Four security guards were inside his office, ironically more people then he has seen in the room at the same time in the past decade.
"What is going on?"
Jerry asked, almost yelling. He was nervous yet he knew he didn't do anything wrong, he had nothing to be worried about.

"We are here to take you in, Dr. Price." said Sergeant DiPietro in his usual gruff attitude. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Price was too clever to incriminate himself because of the wordplay, "No, nothing besides the fact that I was just about to call you guys."

"Jerry, what has gotten into you?" said Pvt. Donald. His so called friend.

"What are you talking about?" Price said bluntly, keeping himself from freaking out.

"Enough of the shit-talk Gerard. We know you were snooping around the testing chamber earlier." the Sgt. said as he put him in handcuffs.

"What? You're arresting me?! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Jerry screamed.

"Don't make this hard for us.. we are just doing our jobs." Pvt. Donald said quietly, he took no pleasure in what he was doing.

"I demand an explanation for this! This is an unwarranted arrest!" Jerry insisted. He gulped as he saw the demeanor of the room didn't change.

Jerry was escorted down the hall in handcuffs, to the shock of his colleagues, and they were told to keep working. He passed by Hannah, who held his gaze and then suddenly looked away. A pang of fear rippled through his body as he was brought to the site directors office.

With his eyes facing down towards the floor, Jerry then suddenly realized the gravity of his situation. The Foundation would never do an arrest in this manner unless there was serious evidence.
The two security guards brought him to the office of the Site Director Malrick, two guards stood inside the room armed with assault rifles, safety off.

"Take a seat, Mr. Price." said Malrick, he then waved at his guards "Let us have a conversation in private.". The two guards complied, and Price was left alone. "Do you know why you were brought here?"

"Not exactly, sir." Dr. Price said solemnly.

"You came to work early today didn't you?" the site director inquired.

"I came in late today! I really don't know what this is all about. I don't even know why I am here." Jerry explained, almost crying. It seemed as if Malrick didn't want to hear his excuses.

The site director presented a log of personnel who accessed SCP-008's containment chamber and started reading it out loud.

"[6:30] Researcher Gerard Price. I think you know how bad this all sounds Gerard. Nice try clocking in late to cover your alibi, though." the site director explained.

Jerry gulped. "I slept in this morning.. Can't you pull up the camera recordings?"

"Unfortunately, all video feeds from the entrance zone leading to SCP-008's containment chamber were tampered. Put on a loop." the site director paused.

The gravity of the situation finally dawned on Jerry. There was no way he could prove his innocence, and plenty of proof against his word.

"We also found this in your office" the site director said as he produced a suitcase, took a short pause, and then opened it. The suitcase contained five vials, presumably containing SCP-008.

"The only saving grace to your actions are that you were too slow to replace the stolen samples in time. We catch on quickly, Gerard. Caught red handed right when we got the cameras back online."
Jerry looked overwhelmed and bewildered, he has had a good relationship with Malrick since he has gotten on the site. The revelations had been too much for him and his mind was not able to accept what was happening. He sat back in his chair, and let out a long sigh. There was nothing he could do to get out of this.

"There are still remaining questions, however." The site director said solemnly. "You can be cooperative, and we might give you another chance to live. D-Class of course." The site director signaled to the two guards

"Take him to the interrogation chamber."