At least a dozen people in long white coats were running back and forth, scrambling to gather up weapons and shouting into communicators. “Another one got out!” someone screamed, and Tasha shuddered. The thought of one of those things running around loose made her skin crawl.

      A woman stopped beside her. “Hey, what are you doing?! Don’t just stand there, grab a gun and help us find it!”

      Tasha blinked at her, thinking she couldn’t be serious. I’m only an assistant. This wasn’t in the job description. I don’t even know how to use a gun.

      The woman huffed angrily and ran off. Tasha was relieved. She glanced around the room, watching the chaotic scene. People appeared and then disappeared into the hallways, through three separate doors. Monitors along the far wall displayed every possible nook and cranny in the building as the cameras searched frantically for the missing experiment.

      One of the doors flew open yet again and a familiar voice yelled “I found it! On the third floor!”

      Tasha’s eyes fell on the man standing just inside the room, panting as he tried to catch his breath. A rifle was in his right hand. He looked up and noticed Tasha, then grinned at her from behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “I found it,” he repeated in her direction.

      Tasha nodded, smiling. “Good job, Doctor.”

      “Wanna come help me catch it?”

      Tasha’s face turned red. “You... want me to come with you?”

      The doctor looked at her, puzzled. “Sure. I’ll need all the backup I can get!”

      Tasha lowered her eyes. “Oh. I’m sorry, Doctor, but I don’t know how to use a gun.”

      He looked surprised. “Really? We’ll have to fix that. Sit this one out then!” And with that he waved and headed back into the hall. Several more people ran after him.

      Tasha flopped into a nearby chair and sighed. So much for being alone with him. But I guess hunting down one of those things wouldn’t really be that romantic.

      She had been Doctor Ian’s assistant for the past two months, from her first day on the job. It was love at first sight. He had stepped out of one of the experimentation rooms, splattered from head to toe in blood, and given her the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen. Like he was genuinely happy to see her. Like he’d been waiting for her. All his life.

      He would be considered a nerd. Skinny and pale and sporting large glasses, a perpetually stained white lab coat over baggy plaid pants and sweater vests, he wasn’t exactly prince charming. But he had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Eyes that seemed to see her very soul.

      The room had gone quiet. All the scientists involved in the search had followed Doctor Ian to the third floor. Tasha looked up at the monitors where she saw them all standing around in the hall. The floor and walls were covered in gore. Blood, clumps of flesh, battered internal organs, all splashed across the hall as if someone had just exploded. A few minutes later Doctor Ian returned, so covered in guts that his messy blonde hair looked completely red and Tasha couldn’t find a single spot on him that was clean.

      He smiled at her again. “Well, that’s done.”

      Tasha laughed nervously. “You have an exciting job.”

      “Yeah, but now we have to get back to work.”

      Tasha was happy as she stood up and followed him to his office. Her small desk was across the room from his, facing him. She spent a great deal of time filing papers and organizing files and helping him go over test results. She didn’t have clearance to go into the experimentation rooms with him, and so never knew exactly what was going on. But she had seen some of the test subjects and always waited just outside the door for him, ready to fetch anything he might need.

      “Do you need some coffee?” she asked, walking toward the door to get some for herself.

      “That would be great,” he said, eyes quickly scanning a document in his hands.

      She left the office, closing the door behind her and heading for the meager kitchen area. She poured herself a cup of coffee, then another for the doctor. She hummed happily to herself as she added cream and lots of sugar to his cup. She couldn’t explain why, but she felt extremely pleased to know exactly how he liked his coffee. He liked sweet things, she had realized within a week of working for him. And so she occasionally brought chocolates to work with her and always made sure to offer him some.

      The female scientist who had yelled at her earlier appeared in the kitchen, filling a glass of water. She looked at Tasha with disgust. “What are you so happy about?”

      Tasha’s faint humming stopped suddenly. “Excuse me?”

      The woman frowned. “Today was a disaster. Three weeks of work just went down the drain. Millions of dollars wasted. Anyone who cares about our work here would be devastated, not humming and grinning like an idiot.”

      “That’s not true!” Tasha found herself saying a little too loudly. “Doctor Ian cares about his work more than anyone and he’s still smiling!”

      The woman stared at her. “The way you talk about him, the way you look at him, is highly inappropriate for a working environment. Besides, you have no idea what kind of person he is.”

      “I do know! I know he’s a sweet and friendly person. I know he’s brilliant and kind and always makes time for others!”

      “But have you seen him working? Have you been in the experimentation rooms?”

      Tasha reluctantly shook her head. “Not yet, but he says that after I’ve been here long enough, I can.”

      The woman laughed. “You’re in for a big surprise then. Doctor Ian is a monster in those rooms, a butcher. He has absolutely no regard for human beings.”

      Tasha hesitated for a moment, not sure how to respond. She glanced at the doctor’s sugared coffee and remembered his smile. “You’re wrong,” she finally said. “He’s a gentle person. I’m sure he has to hurt people sometimes for his work, but it’s important to him.”

      The woman chuckled again, highly amused. “Whatever you say, honey.”

      Tasha grabbed the two cups of coffee from the counter and hurried into the hall, nearly colliding with two people before reaching the doctor’s office. She sat his coffee on his desk and he looked up at her. “Thanks, Tasha.”

      She nodded and returned to her own desk, but she couldn’t focus on her work. She couldn’t stop watching him, thinking about what the woman had told her. Doctor Ian was cute and clumsy. He couldn’t possibly be that bad. She finally spoke up.

      “Doctor?”

      He looked at her. “Yes?”

      “What exactly do you do... in the experimentation rooms?”

      He stared at her blankly for a few moments, as if the question surprised him. “Well, we test our products on them. See how their bodies react to the different strains we’ve created.”

      “Strains?”

      “Of viruses. To use for biological weapons. And of course we’ve been trying to create reanimated corpses that will serve as soldiers in the future.”

      “The zombies?”

      The Doctor held his hands up immediately and made a shushing motion. “Don’t let the others hear you say that! They really hate that term.”

      Tasha was embarrassed. “Oh, sorry.”

      “But yes, the zombies. We’ve been able to create twelve so far, but none of them have lasted very long and we’ve had varied results on their motor functions and cognitive abilities.”

      “I see,” Tasha said, “So... the work you’re doing... it’s for a good cause then.”

      “Oh, absolutely! It’s the most important thing in the world for me!”

      The doctor was beaming with pride, and Tasha decided he had earned the right to do so. He was the head scientist over the whole lab, the top paid employee of their mysterious company. He only answered to a select few people, men in fancy suits who showed up once a week to check the progress of their work, dish out money to fund more experiments, and occasionally fire someone who wasn’t doing their best.

      The doctor suddenly smiled at her. “You want to visit the experimentation rooms, don’t you?”

      Tasha was taken off guard by his question, but she nodded slowly. In truth, she was a little uneasy about seeing what went on behind the locked steel doors. But the thought of getting to know Doctor Ian better, of being able to understand his work and his goals, overcame her fear of the unknown.

      “I’ll ask Shreve tonight. He’s coming for the weekly meeting.”

      Tasha’s heart fluttered. He really wants to show me his work. He wants to share it with me.

      A clock chimed somewhere in the building and the doctor stood up. “Time to do a check-up,” he said cheerfully, grabbing a pair of latex gloves from a nearby dispenser as he left the room. Tasha followed him into the hall and stopped just outside a large shiny door.

      “I’ll be waiting here, doctor, in case you need anything.”

      He waved in return and closed the door behind him. Tasha stood quietly for several minutes before sliding down the wall into a sitting position on the floor. A few scientists walked by and gave her dirty looks. I don’t care. I’m Doctor Ian’s assistant, not theirs. As long as he’s pleased with me, nothing else matters.

      She’d been waiting for nearly two hours before the door swung open and the doctor peeked out. “Tasha!” he yelled, but his voice was nearly engulfed by another sound.

      Screaming. Someone was screaming from within the room. It was so loud and high-pitched that she couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female. As the doctor stood in the door way, she stole a glance into the room behind him. Something laid on a table, something that took her several seconds to realize it was a human being. She could see an arm and two legs, but everything in between was just a big bloody pile of goo. At the top, she could almost make out a face. But it was so distorted and twisted with shock and horror that it did nothing to help her distinguish the gender.

      “What is...”

      “Tasha, listen to me!” the doctor suddenly yelled, and her attention was snapped away from the grizzly scene inside. She realized then that in Doctor Ian’s left hand was an arm. A bloody, mangled arm. In his right hand was a saw.

      “Yes... doctor?” she managed to say, feeling a little dazed.

      “I need some buckets right away!”

      The bizarrely serious look on his face made her scramble to her feet and dash off without another word to the supply closet to grab the requested buckets. They were large and bright orange and she couldn’t carry more than two. She reached them to him and he immediately dropped the arm into the first bucket with a disgusting thud and thanked her as he shut the door again.

      He emerged another hour later, covered in a fresh coat of blood, and this time there were no sounds coming from the room. The lights were off and Tasha couldn’t see anything before he closed the door and locked it with his personal key. He pulled off his glasses and pulled back his soaked lab coat, holding up his sweater to wipe the lenses.

      He looked at her and grinned. “Second time today,” he said with a laugh.

      She watched him uneasily, not sure what to say after having seen something so disturbing. She finally decided to just ask him about it. She took a deep breath. “Doctor, what was that?”

      He replaced his glasses. “Oh, you saw? Just another reanimated corpse. After we lost one today, I thought we’d better try to create another one quickly to replace it. You know, the meeting tonight and all.”

      “Did it work?”

      “The subject didn’t respond well to the virus. We had to terminate the experiment.”

      “I see,” Tasha said.

      “I have to go clean up. Shreve will be here any minute.”

      Tasha nodded and watched him disappear around a corner. She returned to his office, sitting down and laying her head upon her desk. Maybe the other scientist was right. Maybe he does do horrible things in those rooms. But it was just a zombie. It was already dead. You can’t hurt something that’s already dead.

      The terrible screams she heard earlier flooded her mind and she closed her eyes tightly, trying to force the memory out. It’s for his work. This will make our military stronger. It’ll make our country stronger. He’s doing good things. He’s a good person!

      Doctor Ian came back to his office with a fresh lab coat and most of the blood washed from his face and hands. Stains still littered his pants and clumps of stuff Tasha didn’t care to identify still clung to stray strands of his hair. He sat down in his leather chair and began typing at his computer. Tasha watched him intently.

      He suddenly caught her eye. “Tasha? Is something wrong?”

      She hesitated for a moment, then stood up and closed the distance between them. “Doctor, I... really enjoy working with you.”

      He was staring up at her and looked a little confused. “I enjoy working with you too,” he said.

      Her heart was pounding furiously and her cheeks were beginning to burn, but she’d made up her mind. She had to tell him how she felt, before her mind became any more clouded with doubts. She swallowed hard and looked him in the eyes. “Do you have anyone that you love?”

      He looked even more confused. “I, uh, love my work.”

      “I’m in love with you.”

      His eyes widened. His pale face became pink. “Tasha... I...”

      She felt like her knees would give out at any moment, but it was too late to turn back now. “I don’t expect you to return my feelings, but I wanted you to know how I feel. I don’t want you to treat me differently. I don’t want this to change our working relationship. I just...” she trailed off, taken surprise by how adorably embarrassed he looked, like a school boy. She wanted to laugh, but realized how inappropriate that would be. Had no girl ever confessed her love for him? Had he never been in a relationship?

      She felt a little more confident as a smile tried to creep onto her face. She walked around his desk and stood over him. She leaned down, inching closer to him. She was moving slowly, giving him plenty of time to stop her or pull away or push her back. But he seemed to be frozen, watching her with shock. When she was close enough to feel his breath on her face, she paused. “Could you accept my feelings, Doctor?”

      “I... uh... think you’re very pretty and... I’m flattered, really.”

      Tasha blushed, extremely pleased to receive the compliment but now fearful that he was preparing to reject her. She was just waiting for a ‘But’.

      “But...”

      She quickly pressed her lips to his, effectively cutting him off. She couldn’t bear to let him finish, to hear his rejection. She wrapped her arms around his neck and within seconds she was in his lap. She eventually became aware of his hands on her back, pulling her closer to him and somewhat clumsily creeping beneath her lab coat. He does like me! He wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t like me. He’d be pushing me away.

      She didn’t dare to break the kiss, even as she pulled off her lab coat and slid his off his shoulders. He was so warm and soft and his mouth tasted sweet like the candy and cakes he was always eating. This was a dream come true. This was what all her fantasies were made of. Just this moment in Doctor Ian’s arms.

      A harsh knock came at the door, causing Tasha to practically leap from the doctor’s lap and retreat back to her desk. He looked nervously at her, then stood up and straightened his lab coat, making his way toward the door. He reached up and tried to smooth out his ever messy hair before turning the knob.

      Shreve, a stuffy looking business man in a black suit walked in. “Did I interrupt you, doctor?”

      His eyes very pointedly shifted to Tasha’s discarded lab coat on the floor. She turned red and sank lower in her chair. Doctor Ian laughed uneasily and picked it up. “Not at all, sir. I was expecting you.”

      Shreve made no attempt to participate in small talk. “Let’s step into the meeting room. I want a full report on what happened here today. I’ve heard some disappointing things about the newest subject.”

      “Of course, sir,” the doctor replied, draping Tasha’s coat over his own chair and giving her a weak grin before leaving with Shreve.

      She was left alone in his office, her face still burning with a combination of embarrassment and excitement. I can’t believe it. I kissed him. He kissed me back. It was so perfect! Why did Shreve have to ruin it?

      She spent a few minutes sulking before an idea hit her. Doctor Ian had said he would ask Shreve about giving her clearance to go into the experimentation rooms. If he didn’t like her and had been turned off by her behavior, he wouldn’t ask. He wouldn’t want her to be around him any more than necessary. But if he liked her, if he wanted her to be with him, he would ask. This was the perfect chance to find out how he felt about her.

      She quietly exited the room and crept down the hall, toward the meeting room. She arrived at the door and stood beside it, trying to listen. She could hear Shreve’s raised voice but couldn’t make out what he was saying. She very carefully reached down and twisted the knob, sliding the door open just a little, enough to allow sound to escape.

      “You’re wasting our money and our time! If you can’t start producing real results, we’re going to have to cut off funds.”

      Doctor Ian’s voice sounded strained, worried. “We’re doing our best. We just don’t have enough subjects to work with. You were supposed to send us more. As of today, we have no new subjects in the entire building.”

      Shreve’s voice sounded like a roar. “Then find your own subjects! I want results this time next week, or there will be serious consequences!”

      Tasha slid the door shut and silently walked back down the hall. She felt guilty for listening in, and felt sorry for the doctor. How could he possibly ask about getting her clearance when he was already in trouble? Things had went from amazing to depressing in the course of ten minutes.

      She stopped beside Doctor Ian’s office and leaned face-first against the door. She felt so stupid now for saying such silly things to him, for putting on such a shameful display. He had enough on his mind. How could she face him now?

      She started to turn around when she heard a loud, sudden cracking sound, almost like a bat hitting a baseball. White light flooded her vision and she felt the sensation of falling backward. All sound then melted away, and she lifted her eyes to see the ceiling above her. Through the haze of light, she thought she caught a glimpse of Doctor Ian’s face. And then, nothing.

      When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was that she hurt. Everywhere. It was as if someone had simply poured a bucket of pain over her entire body. Her eyes seemed blurry and she strained to see in front of her as objects started to become clear. She could see a plain white wall at first, and slowly the rest of the room came into view. A tiny video camera sat in the far corner of the ceiling, pointing at her. To the left, she could see a large metal door. And to her right...

      “Good morning, Tasha!”

      She turned to the voice and blinked. Doctor Ian smiled at her, the same smile he had given her the day they met, the smile that told her he had been waiting for her all along. The smile she fell in love with.

      “What happened?” she asked, and realized her voice was tiny and weak. Her whole body was aching severely and she couldn’t move anything. It took her a while to realize that her arms and legs were tied down with leather straps, and she was completely naked.

      She jerked wildly, her first instinct to cover herself, then cried out when sharp stabbing pain shot through her arms. The dull aches became unbearable stings. “Doctor, what’s going on?! What’s wrong with me?!”

      He reached out a latex glove-covered hand and patted her head. “Calm down, Tasha. It’s alright. Your body adjusted to the virus wonderfully. The first part of the experiment has been a great success.”

      She heard the words but her brain couldn’t seem to process them. “Experiment?”

      “I explained it to you before, didn’t I? Creating reanimated corpses. Wait, what was the term you used? Zombie? Yes, you’re a zombie now.”

      She stared at him in horror, not able to believe what he was saying. All the more terrible was that he was still smiling. “No... please... you can’t do this to me!” she cried, “I’m your assistant! You’re a good person, you wouldn’t do this!”

      The smile faded slightly. “Tasha, I thought you understood. This is a very important experiment. In fact, today we’re going to start the second phase.”

      “Second phase?”

      The smile returned. “You’re the most successful subject we’ve encountered so far. Judging by your reactions since waking up, you’ve retained all your motor functions and have incredible cognitive abilities. You can still think, talk, and feel. You’re a perfect specimen to study.”

      She tried to shake her head, but her neck was so stiff that the pain was too great. Tears fell down her face. “I don’t understand... I can’t be dead! I’m not dead!”

      Doctor Ian seemingly ignored her. “The next phase of the experiment is to find out just how much damage a subject can take before it finally dies a second time.”

      Tasha’s vision was becoming blurry again from her tears. She tried to control her sobs, as each time her body shook she was racked with excruciating pain. “Please... please don’t do this.. I love you. I thought... I thought you...”

      He patted her head again. “I told you, Tasha. I love my work. Now you’re my work.”

      Tasha gaped at him, still not able to get over the shock of what he was saying. He even turned a little pink, as if he were confessing his love for her. “Oh God... she was right... the woman in the kitchen...”

      But Tasha’s voice broke off when she spotted the large saw in the doctor’s right hand. He held up his left hand and grinned. “Look, I remembered the buckets this time!”

      And anyone unfortunate enough to wander by the experimentation room as Doctor Ian entered or left would find their ears overwhelmed by the sound of screaming. And some would wonder what lurked beyond the door, perhaps even catch glimpses of a bloody mess that vaguely resembled a once beautiful young woman. But the doctor would smile and lock the door, cheerfully returning to his office.

return