Copelands head office buzzed with excitement.  The quarter results were in and the numbers looked good.   Tony sat back in his office chair and stretched out his long legs. Rn his fingers through his thick wavy brown hair.  He took another sip of his Carmel latte and licked his lips.  It felt good to be back in the office. His vacation had been just what he needed.  The short  trip to Chicago with his latest interest was a break he felt he had definitely deserved.  He let his mind wander slightly and felt a warmth crawl up his thighs.  Yes the trip was well worth the risk,  a seductive smile crossed his face as a few pleasurable moments flashed through his mind.   With some R and R behind him he was  now ready to get to back to business and his family life.

Tony Everett  Copelands CEO and founder felt a deep self satisfaction  as he studied the latest stats of the marketing and sales report that had been printed and laid neatly out on his desk for him.   He could not help but feel complete confidence in his plan as he followed the graphs.  His dream team as he liked to call them did good he thought to himself.  Yes, real good.  Spending was low profits were high.  It was a number game first, to Tony.  And as long as he saw profits things were good.  After all he had a great research team running the project what could go wrong he thought to hims self.

 He was happy he had placed Eve in charge of  the Center.  She was smart with very strong management skills.  But there was a part of him that could not help but fantasize what having her work close to him  might be like.  She was a take charge kind of gal and running a lab was second nature to her. But she was also as hot as hell.  the kind of woman he found alluring.   Like all  women he had come to know, he knew inside of her was apart that wanted to be controlled and he wanted to be the man to do just that.  Well for a short while anyway. That thought made him tingle slightly  with excitement.  With the wonderful numbers he was looking at he thought to himself,  perhaps rewarding her with a trip might be in order.  

 Tony had no desire to end his 15 year marriage to his wife Roxy.  She was not only beautiful and smart but  loyal, to him, their children and their marriage.  He loved her, and the two beautiful children they had together. He truly loved the life they shared.  It did not make any sense to him why he had these urges to fulfill.  Somehow, deep inside every so often this need would awaken.  A burning desire in him would emerge and fester with in him till he satisfied his hunger.   Perhaps because he was attractive and a bit flirtatious it just was easy for him, maybe a bit to  easy. An occasional brief trip to somewhere quiet with some little cutie would put him back into his mind set.

 Yes Eve he thought to himself with her sultry curves and long blond hair was someone to consider, a definite contender for next time . It took a moment to get the  visual of being with her out of his mind as he heard his private phone ring.

Josiah Gently laid Zach down to wait for help.   The warm flow of Zach's  blood trickled down on to Josiah's hand. His eyes followed the trail of red bodily fluid from Zach's  neck.  He looked at the open wound where flesh had been ripped from his neck. He felt nausea rise from the pit of his stomach. He did not need a medical degree to know  that this was bad.   He could only imagine the pain Zach was in and wanted desperately to help him. Pieces of  jagged skin surrounded the deep  bite.  Zach's eyes closed as he breathed in deeply.  "The room is keeps fading in and out."  he whispered to Josiah. "Hang in there man." Josiah softly said to him. "Help will be here soon."  Josiah reached for his radio again.  This man needed help fast. Josiah knew time was of the essence.  He looked up and   yelled out for Doc Keller.

Zach began to feel himself drift in and out of consciousness. He was sure he was loosing blood at a fast rate from the way he was beginning to feel. He fought to stay conscious and alert. Images of his life began to flash before him.  Memories of  his childhood danced in his mind. Summer days spent at his grandparents lake home.  He could see his Grandmother smiling as she watched him jump from her  dock into the calm water.  Water splashing up to where she sat watching him with pure joy.

  He missed his Grandmother deeply and felt comfort seeing her face now. He felt himself basking in the warmth that her love radiated to him. Growing up she had always been his place to turn for comfort.  Even in his later trouble teen years she was the one  he would turn to for guidance,  understanding and love. She never judged him or scolded him for his mistakes or poor judgment with some of the paths he had taken.  She was his constant light while she was alive.  It only seemed to make sense to him that hers was the face he would see now as felt life -his life slipping from him

It had been almost 5 years since he had seen a vision of her.  Her death now 6 years prior  had been hard on him.  He had watched cancer ravaged through her body.  Leaving her bed ridden the last month of her life, slipping in and out of this world daily.  Her face was so clear now almost as though he could reach out and touch her. He wanted to touch her. to feel her arms hold him.  To nestle in her bosom and forget his pain.

 He could hear her calling out to him to come back as he swam out farther before diving under the cool water again. He felt happy and safe being with her again.  He turned his head to look at her from where he floated.  Her face still warm and gentle somehow,   now,  had a look of concern and worry. He could hear- no almost feel her, calling out to him again to comeback that he had gone to far. Her voice became louder as though she was almost pleading to him to comeback.  He could see a tear now, falling down the side of her cheek as she extended her arms out to him.  "Come back" she called to him again.

Chapter 5 continued


It went against any logic.  What they were witnessing was almost impossible for their minds to comprehend or accept.  Human eating  human.  They watched frozen in shock with disbelief and fear.  Mesmerized by the insanity of this ghastly madness.  The four of  them having never seen such grotesque rabid animal like characteristics before in any human.

On the ranch Cody had seen many animals feed off each other.  His own livestock had  at times become prey to wolves and coyotes.  Wild animals that occasionally wondered onto his fields looking for food.  It just was not all that uncommon in the wild to see animals feed off of the corpse of other animals. He had even heard of different cultures where drinking animal blood was ritualistic.  But this was sick beyond anything he had ever seen.  He felt the threat of  nausea  begin to grow in him.  He swallowed hard to fight back the purging feeling.   "Doc can a a rabid human do something like this?" Cody asked quickly. " Is there some sort of disease or adverse reaction to a drug that would make a person act this way?" He continued. Doc Keller hesitated before answering.  "I have seen hydrophobic before but- never seen anything like this." Doc said,while  momentarily  taking his eyes of the demented man that had just been slayed by Josiah's bullet.   He had heard of demonic possessions, he had visited some asylums in his younger years but there was nothing in his medical career that he had treated or studied that resembled what they were seeing now.    "Its like the bullet has only temporarily stunned him." Doc said as he studied the harrowing man some more. Then looked questioningly over to Eve he asked.  " Eve what kind of research is going on here? " "Is this man a participant?'  Eve stared straight ahead. She was unable to  take her eyes off the bloody site in front of her.  "We --umm the research we are involved in-  was umm studying a drug that was potentially designed to treat a brain cancer." It was created to temporarily put the patient in a hibernation state."  She said softly.   She watched  the man and woman behind him for a moment before speaking again. "Yes I think I know them both.  But somehow they look so twisted and mangled."  

They watched unsure of what to do next. Josiah steadying his gun in his hand, let his head turn slightly, surveying the grounds around them. "Shit, what the hell is going on." he mumbled softly not sure what the next move should be.  But feeling Eve was the only one here that could offer some sort of explanation.   He did not want any unnecessary risks taken by his companions,  Softly he asked Cody. "If he starts to move again, we could tackle him and try to restrain him enough to let Doc examine him."  "I can take him down again". Cody said as he watched the figure thrash on the ground while gnashing his teeth.  Slowly behind him  the female figure continued to make  her way towards them.  

 Eve let out a gasp and felt vomit rise up her throat.  This was her center. Her research center she was responsible for. How was this even possible she wondered to herself.  "Oh God, what is happening?" She cried,  as she turned away from the three men to release the contents rise to her mouth that she could no longer hold back.   Cody put his arm around her to help hold her up.  She wanted to collapse.  Her knees shook and her head felt dazed.