safe word

1.
Over the last five days an extraordinary series of events took place, the likes of which I nor my colleagues would ever have anticipated. Helping Hands was one of the first facilities hit, but it wasn't until the 3rd day that the story made its way all over the international news and it all started to fall into place what was really happening.

On the first day a young buck rabbit staggered into the emergency room and collapsed. He was malnourished and skinny, with a weeping wound freshly cut into his chest, 'FUCK VERMIN' it read. His body was riddled with tumors and cysts, and his fur was falling out with barely a touch from the nurses. He had acute conjunctivitis in both eyes rendering him near blind, and his breathing was painful and labored, his chest made a horrible rattling noise on each breath.

The E.R. doctor on call scheduled tests on the tumorous lumps and started him on a course of antibiotics to help clear his lungs of infection. It was assumed at the time he was a kidnap victim of a gang, or perhaps an underground sex trafficking operation, dumped when he became too sick to manage. When he was stabilized he was moved to a new ward under the direct care of Doctor Levoski a middle aged hare and a specialist in rodent and herbivore diagnostic medicine. The hospital usually tries to make patients more comfortable by assigning a doctor of similar species, many sick herbivores find themselves unduly stressed in the care of a predator.

One the second day Levoski came to my office with a blood workup on the patient. He had been screened for all the usual diseases and viruses and kept coming up with false positives. Meanwhile their condition continued to decline and he was unable to communicate with us as to his identity, so we had no family history or any way to find his relatives. I agreed to assist the doctor in further analysis of the blood work, as he was convinced it was a virus of some sort and needed my labs resources.

On the third day came the news reports. In densely populated regions all over the country rabbits, mice, rats, and a handful of other species had turned up out of nowhere showing signs of the virus, the same vile words carved into different parts of their bodies. The news ticker scrolled along all day as each one was identified, each reported as a missing person nearly a year or more before, the most recent being 6 months. Our patient continued to deteriorate, all treatments basically rendered ineffective against the mystery ailment. Levoski complained the sudden explosion in the breadth of the case was giving him headaches.

On the 4th day the hysteria had set in through the media, with reports playing all day. We worked with our research staff to isolate the proteins in the samples we had. When we finally identified it, it all felt so obvious. Myxy, the myxomatosis virus, responsible for nearly wiping out populations of feral European rabbits in the 50's and used in Australia on the wild populations there. It had never been known to cross the species gap before, which was why we didn't screen for it in the first place. But the symptoms fit, and they were fatal.

The virus we were seeing was mutated, with large amounts of junk proteins as though it had been deliberately tampered with. It was more efficient, virulent and resistant to treatment. The phrase “Fuck vermin” rang in the back of my mind...a weaponised myxy virus, targeting a wider species spectrum? Levoski must have had the same thought as I did, his eyes went wide and he stared at his hands. I imagine he was realizing he himself had been directly exposed, and his eyes were looking a little bloodshot... We called the Centre for Disease Control and locked down the ward, taking decontamination showers and antivirals immediately.

On the 5th day Levoski didn't come in to work. I worked alone and made my notes from the samples we had. In private I couldn't help but admire the elegance of the manufactured proteins, and ended up lost in thought on the motivations of such a large scale attack. I closed up the lab and dropped off the files in my office before making my way out of the ward.

It was only when I heard the shrieking of the patient in the halls in front of me, far from the locked down ward he was meant to be housed, and saw the bright yellow flash of the quarantine suit clad CDC workers dragging him from the room, that I snapped to reality. I could not see faces, only the blank reflective masks as they rounded on me. A quick glance to one another and they made a run for the door dragging the buck with them, his tumors rupturing horribly as he struggled in blind terror. They kicked in the emergency exit where more men waited by an unmarked vehicle, the doors slammed before I was able to see what became of him.

The alarms in the facility began to ring and I heard footsteps behind me. I rushed back to my office today to find it in disarray with my most recent research gone, my computer, files and all the notes Doctor Levoski and I had taken gone, I was left only with this very tape recorder which I always keep safely hidden.

I checked his office too and I saw it was also bare, as though the papers were never there at all.

I made my way to the lab down in the research wing, as I expected the the fridges are empty and all our samples missing. They have taken everything, this is unacce--

*Click*

I...Jack Lancaster caught me in the hallway after I found the fridges emptied. I could smell that fetid komodo dragon drool before he entered the room, just as well, managed to hide the recorder before he saw it. He's on the board, a rep from Lazaurochs Pharma, the hospitals parent company. He pushed me back into a seat and told me to let it go. Laz has it under control and the CDC took the samples for more 'thorough' analysis. When I made protest he just smiled, and leaned in close, his tongue grazing my muzzle.

'Keep your mouth shut Evelyn, and Laz will take care of everything. Be a good girl… or I might just let slip exactly what it is you get up to around here...'


2.
I did not go to work today. My mind is too caught up in recent events and I was unable to sleep until the wee hours. Angelique stayed up with me and stroked my hair til my heart finally stopped racing.

In the late morning hours I went to the garden looking for Serendipity, as I had not seen her for a few days. She's been spending the last few weeks in our home terrorizing the small micro-fauna colony near the back of the property bordering the forest and I was frequently gifted with trophies and offerings in my shoes.

The weather is becoming warm and pleasant again, with the sun rising high no longer obscured behind a wall of grey clouds. It was in this warm sunlight I spotted a massive preying mantis, a favorite species of mine. A bout the length of my palm if not more, and locked in mortal combat against the tiniest of lupine aggressors. Armed with what appeared to be a toothpick sized spear the little creature faced off against the bright green insect.

The spear flew and missed its mark, bouncing harmlessly off the mantis's exoskeleton. In a flash the spiked claws whipped out to grab the micro wolf, pinning it helpless with its spiny protrusions. I knelt down to watch as the mantis enjoyed its meal, popping the little mammal open easily with razor sharp mandibles and devouring him alive as it would with its own mate. What a beautiful creature, and an all too timely reminder we mustn’t yield to those who challenge us.

Bon appetite mon ami.