The Rabid Mind Read online

  Day 1

  Dr. Dulling showed her around and explained her duties, then promptly left to teach classes. Becca was now alone in the basement. It was a sterile environment, with strict protocols in place to keep each test group of mice isolated, so there would be no chance of cross contamination. It had well lit work areas, but no windows. She called it her ‘dungeon assignment.’ She had to wear special thick gloves, lined with thin pieces of metal, so that if any of the rats bit her when she was caring for them, she wouldn’t be exposed and contaminated by the virus. The rats couldn’t bite through the metal to break her skin. Only her hands and forearms went into the cages and they were completely covered by the gloves. The gloves made her clumsy, due to their bulkiness. For eight very important weeks, she would be in the dungeon performing her duties carefully, while she collected and recorded as much data as possible.

  The subjects consisted of white lab rats with pink noses — all very cute. Initially, Becca was uncomfortable around them, not knowing how they would react to her presence. She had never been around mice or rats before, but they quickly grew on her as she cared for each of them. She named several of her favorites and, in particular, named one ‘Einstein’. He had figured out how to unlock the simple spring catch on his door to escape. Smart little bugger. Good thing she caught him before he got the door all the way open, or he surely would have escaped and the other nine rats wouldn’t be far behind. Becca shivered in fear at the thought of rats running all over her, or around the basement. She had known of a few other students who had been bitten during experiments. If they got out, they could bite her on any unprotected area of her body and possibly infect her with whatever Dr. Dulling was injecting them with. She was all alone down there; it was summer and Dr. Dulling’s wife was off spending money on a vacation in Hawaii. She had the whole house completely to herself. Unfortunately, that also meant that no one would know if anything bad happened to her.

  She was glad Einstein wasn't in the first batch of rats to be tested. Dr. Dulling explained that one rat would be injected with the ‘vaccine’ and observed to see if the other rats learned from his behavior as he turned smarter. He put a tight, red, thin metal collar on the test rat that was injected with the ‘vaccine’ to tell it apart from the other rats in the cage. The other nine rats had a small dab of tan colored paint put behind their heads to identify them as being in the test group. At the time, Becca thought it was a very odd way of testing the rats, but he was the boss and ran the program. At the end of her eight hour shift, her notes looked as boring as her day had been. There had been no noted changes in any of the rats’ behavior.

  She thought it was cruel to put the collar on them so tightly. She figured they could hardly breathe. She recorded it with her cell phone after Dr. Dulling left the room, adding: “These innocent, sweet, friendly rats are being tortured by having collars on so tight they can barely breathe. This one’s unable to get the collar off and must be suffering. Tears are in my eyes as I must continue to act as if I don't care about the cruelty to these poor, innocent, gentle creatures. See how the poor thing is just lying there in pain? It’s just horrible!”

  Becca went on to record the other rats that had been marked with paint. That was just plain cruel to do that to them. Who knew what the ingredients of the paint would do? For all she knew, it could be highly toxic! She made sure to point that out. She also started thinking about all this testing being conducted and came to the conclusion that surely a number of the rats would die. She recalled having heard that rats and mice didn’t always make it through these types of tests and how horrible it must be for them. That would be a great thing to record and get on the video. She couldn’t wait. She was so excited that she was going to make a difference to how animals were treated in the future. She sighed happily.

  She thought she had a good start to their video of animal cruelty. The rat had been lying still in the cage — Dr. Dulling had given it a mild sedative that would last for about ten minutes to keep it still so the ‘vaccine’ would spread throughout its body before movement, but no one else needed to know that. She thought, ‘maybe I can get on Oprah when this over. What should I wear?’ She thought for a while and then dismissed it from her mind. She needed to get back to work. She’d need a lot more than one video to make it on Oprah.

  Omega was the name they gave to the primary test rat that was injected with the virus. She was told it was a vaccine to help Alzheimer's patients. She thought for a long while about how it was supposed to make the other rats smarter too. It didn’t make sense at all, unless he was counting on the aspect of learned behavior, but how could that help humans? She shrugged her shoulders. It didn’t really matter at all. The only thing that did matter was to get as much recorded as possible about the cruelty that was going on there. Oh well, she thought, it was time to go home and share her information with Jason. She locked up the lab and left.

  Day 2

  Becca returned to the lab at 8 a.m., unlocked the door and turned on the lights. She checked the log notes of the experiment on the computer to see if there were any special instructions added to the day’s duties, but there was nothing.

  She started her work day feeding and providing water for the rats, and then she cleaned their cages and put down fresh bedding material. This had to be done to keep the area clean of any cross contamination. This took her about ninety minutes.

  Next, she needed to enter the experiment room to check on the rats. She approached the door leading into a decontamination chamber, guarded on either side with key locks. She swiped her card and entered. There, she removed her gloves and outer clothing and deposited them into a sealed container. They would be decontaminated before use, to prevent any viruses or microbes from leaving the inner lab. Suddenly feeling adventurous, Becca stripped down totally nude. Maybe Dr. Dulling would stop by and check in on her between his morning and afternoon classes, she thought.

  Becca stepped into her Tyvek suit, put on latex gloves, with a set of thick leather gloves over the top of them, and slid a shield over her face before entering the experiment room.

  She approached the test subjects. She noticed they were sleeping as she slowly turned on the low burning lights located inside the cage. No immediate reaction. Oh great, another boring day, she thought. The rats finally started moving around as she opened the cage door to usher them into a second clean cage set up with food. The rats didn’t resist; they knew what was waiting for them inside the other cage. Becca smiled as they raced across the cage to the feeders along the back wall.

  She observed them for a few minutes, recording no abnormal reaction to first light. The Omega (when he first woke up) hid his head slightly from the lights, but seemed to recover quickly. He was a little slower than the rest of the rats when they raced inside the clean cage, yet that in itself was not abnormal behavior. She did record it though. She scanned the test rats’ temperatures, which showed the Omega rat had a slightly higher than normal temperature.

  Becca cleaned out the used cage and placed it in a container to be taken out, sanitized and prepped for tomorrow’s switch. The litter on the bottom of the cage was deposited inside a metal tray that she would take to the small incinerator to burn. She thought again about all the protocols and the precautions she had to take. “All of this, just for an Alzheimer’s cure?” Something was very wrong here. “Whatever this is about won’t last long after I expose you, Dr. Dulling,” she said.

  Before leaving the area, she made sure the camera recording the rats was hooked up and working properly inside the clean cage.

  When she was finished, she entered the chamber room, removed her gloves and shield and stripped out of her suit, stuffing everything into a bio-hazard container. Becca was about to get dressed when she heard the upper door slam shut. She looked up suddenly and realizing that Dr. Dulling was there. It was perfect timing. Becca quickly exited the chamber, still naked, and stepped onto the cold cement floor of the main room. She smirked at the thought of what she was
going to do next.

  She ran over to the chair, where she placed her bag when she arrived, and dug into it, pulling out a small nanny camera. She turned it on and positioned it discreetly, making sure it was aimed in the right direction. “Now, Dr. Dulling, it’s time to have some fun,” she whispered under her breath.

  Dr. Dulling was a middle-aged man with a slight belly and receding hair line. He had brown eyes and wore glasses. Though usually very focused, Becca knew she could easily distract his attention.

  Becca listened as his footsteps echoed louder and louder as he reached the basement door. She waited another second, then turned around and slowly started to make her way back to the chamber room. Just then, Dr. Dulling walked in abruptly, but found himself suddenly paralyzed at the sight of Becca in the nude. His face blushed bright red as he struggled to mumble, “Oh, I’m so sorry Becca.”

  Becca stopped and slowly turned around, pulling her long dark hair forward onto her chest. “No, I’m sorry — I forgot something in my bag and came out to get it,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t want my clothes to……..,” Becca continued justifying her actions, but Dr. Dulling heard nothing. His mind was racing as he thought about how gorgeous she was, how soft her skin must feel and how much he wanted it.

  Becca thought for brief moment — that’s right, I know you want me and I bet you never thought you’d get a good look at this, did you? Now walking in his direction, she said “Actually…ah, this is not exactly how I planned this would happen, but I’m kind of glad you got here when you did.” She continued to speak. “I have about thirty minutes before I have to make my next recorded observation on the Omega and other test rats.”

  Now standing just a few feet away, she gazed at him as she gently caressed her own breasts downward to her abdomen. Dr. Dulling choked up, completely speechless and mesmerized. He glared at her with fire in his eyes, amazed by her stunning, perfectly-shaped body with not a blemish or slight imperfection. It was at that moment he knew exactly what she wanted from him and he made no effort to resist.

  Dr. Dulling couldn’t believe what had just happened.

  Becca quickly got dressed and went right back to work, as if nothing had happened. She knew the video would ensure her voice was heard. It was the ace up her sleeve and insurance card to getting everything she wanted with no interference from Dr. Dulling.

  Dr. Dulling thought, as professional as she is, that was almost too easy. He smiled, remembering that he was the deciding factor on whether her thesis got approved or not. Ah, yes, life is good, he thought, really good!

  “I have to get back for a lunch date with the Dean. I need to give him my weekly progress report.” Dr. Dulling absently told Becca as he headed towards the door with his briefcase. She thought for a moment, then said. “Okay!”

  Dr. Dulling nodded his head, still in disbelief, as he opened the door. He walked to his car, his mind recollecting the images of Becca’s naked body. Could make it back on time to see her before she left for the day? Dr. Dulling not only looked forward to their next encounter — he expected it.

  Alone in the lab, Becca smiled as she reviewed the video on the nanny camera. As she hoped, it captured the entire event just perfectly. She and her boyfriend Jason had practiced having sex in front of the camera to ensure she had the right angle.

  “Yeah, I hope you enjoyed it, doctor, because that was the first and last time you’ll ever put your filthy hands on me,” she said.

  At 3:30 that afternoon she posted her last comment for the day. She noticed the other test rats were steering clear of the Omega rat. He was a bit sluggish, acting somewhat abnormal, and still had a slight temperature. Maybe they sensed he wasn’t himself. She knew it couldn’t be anything too bad — after all, Dr. Dulling was aware of its behavior but didn’t seem concerned. Becca shrugged her shoulders, shut off the lights, secured everything and left for the day with a happy little bounce to her steps.

  Becca arrived at home, where Jason was waiting in excitement. She was barely through the front door when Jason snatched the video out of her hands and practically threw it into his player. He sat back, his eyes gleaming as the video played, and he watched in disbelief how easy it had been for Becca to seduce her boss. So beautifully done, it was captured just right. In short, it was a masterpiece.

  “Finally, that arrogant prick is going to get what he truly deserves,” said Jason. He didn’t enjoy seeing Becca with another man, but he understood the reasons why it had to be done. He knew it was far more disgusting for Becca to do than it was for him to witness on tape.

  He was downloading the video to his computer when Becca called to him, “You take care of that babe. I have to jump in the shower to scrub off the stench that freakin’ nasty man left all over me!” All the soap in the world wasn’t enough to make Becca feel clean.

  The nanny camera worked like a champ and Becca was such a pro. Jason was so proud of her. With her back to the camera, no one would be able to identify her, but Dr. Dulling, on the other hand, was clear as day — there was no mistaking the fact that he was having sex with a woman that was not his wife. Dr. Dulling’s wife, unlike Becca, wasn’t particularly attractive. She was short, heavy set, with short brunette hair and it was clear the woman in the video was not her. There would be no doubt about it. The date and time stamp on the film was additional evidence. There was no way Dr. Dulling could get out of that. Even better, given his wife’s controlling nature, the embarrassment of it all would surely force her to drag him naked over the coals of divorce court, as well at the court of public opinion. “Sweet revenge is mine at last.” Jason thought, with a savage smile.

  He hated Dr. Dulling. Dr. Dulling had made his life miserable while he was in college. Biology wasn’t Jason’s area of expertise and he felt Dr. Dulling took advantage of that, forcing him to struggle, giving him failing grades and constantly making scathing remarks in a superior tone of voice. Thanks to Dr. Dulling, Jason almost lost the scholarship he needed in order to graduate. Luckily, his advisor stepped in and was able to transfer him to another biology professor that granted him a special project in an effort to bring up his grade. Reminiscing made him want to hurt Dr. Dulling, especially when he pictured the joy on Dr. Dulling’s face as he wrapped his lizard-like arms around Becca earlier that day. Jason wanted to strangle him and watch his eyes dull in death, but that would be the easy way out. Death in itself was the easy way out. Jason wanted something worse — complete and utter shame and humiliation on a scale never seen before. He wished Dr. Dulling enough suffering to last a lifetime.

  Just then, Becca walked into the room, still dripping wet from her shower. Jason walked over and gently pulled her tight against his body. He kissed her, looking deep into her eyes.

  “Sweetheart, you are the best. I am so very proud of you. I know that was a horrible thing you had to do, but remember - you are a soldier for the good of the planet. Take pride in the fact that you will single-handedly bring down that monster in the fight for good.” Becca stared into his hypnotic eyes and smiled lovingly back at him.

  Day 3

  After arriving at the lab, Becca checked the logs on the computer. Again, she found no special instructions or notations of anything abnormal, nor anything about the Omega rat having a fever. Thank God, she thought. She and Jason had stayed up the night before celebrating and she was a little tired that morning. She did her work slowly, since there was no real reason to rush about. The day had been pretty normal, except for the Omega rat’s temperature, which was still slowly rising. Dr. Dulling had yet to say anything about it. She figured it must be a normal reaction for this stage. She really didn’t have enough curiosity to make the effort to ask Dr. Dulling about it though.

  The Omega rat had been sleeping a lot in a corner all by himself. All was quiet and boring. Becca turned on her laptop and started working on her thesis, in between observation rounds. It made the day go by faster.

  In the afternoon, at her 3:30 round, she checked the digital live-r
ecording feed coming from the camera in the cage. She did that every time before going into the experiment room for a temperature check. Horrified, she stared at the computer screen as the Omega rat went on a rampage. It was trying to kill the other rats. She stood in shocked disbelief as she realized two were already dead and, worse yet, the Omega rat had started eating them. The cage had dark splotches of guts and blood all over it. The remaining rats were visibly frightened, huddled on the opposite corner of the cage, trembling in fear and trying to claw or bite their way out of the cage. Becca screamed in horror and, in a panic, attempted to grab the phone. It fumbled several times in her hands as she tried to call Dr. Dulling. It took her several attempts before she finally heard ringing.

  She frantically screamed, “Dr. Dulling!! Oh my God, oh my God! Get over here right now! It’s the Omega…” She had to stop and catch her breath. “He…..he’s on a rampage! He’s killing the other rats and eating them! What the hell is happening! I don’t know what to do! Please get over here now! I need you!”

  Dr. Dulling roared into the phone. “Don’t go in there, Becca! Stay right where you are. Don’t leave. Don’t call anyone else. I’ll be right there!” He closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket as he grabbed his coat and yelled into the other room to his grad student, who was grading papers. “Take my last class today; I have to leave. There’s an urgent matter I must attend to.”

  He raced across the parking lot and jumped into his car. He remembered how the Omega rat had almost gotten out of his cage the night before. He was a smart rat. Dr. Dulling’s heart was pounding loudly in his ears. He was concerned and nervous. If the Omega managed to open the cage and Becca opened the door into the isolated experiment room…. He trailed off in thought. He didn’t want to think about what he would find in the lab when he went inside. More importantly, what would happen to Becca? He would have to make sure to completely suit up before going into the lab, and be sure to seal the main entrance before going into the isolation room. He’d also do a chemical wash of the main entrance, in case Omega managed to get out of the isolated experiment room. It was better to be safe than sorry. This was a virus, after all, unlike any seen before.