Omega Pathogen: The Beginning Read Online Free Page A

doorknob momentarily before he’s able to open the door. It crashes open so forcefully that it strikes the interior wall, bounces off, and strikes the younger scientist in the shoulder. “Please, Doctor Kosktov! You must come quickly!” the younger scientist yells frantically. “What the hell is it?!” asks Doctor Kosktov. “Sir, it worked! The subject has recovered from the fever and is conscious,” replies the younger man.
    “Doctor Levonen, if you have come in here and disturbed me after I explicitly informed everyone I was not to be, I will personally see that you are the next test subject, instead of one of our criminals in the pens,”  Kosktov states, with a low and calm voice, leaving Levonen with no doubt he is serious. “ Sir, it worked this time! After all these years, it’s finally worked!”
    Doctor Kosktov rises and walks out of his quarters, donning his lab coat and tucking in his wrinkled dress shirt. Ahead, the younger scientist alternates between a jog and a walk as he periodically turns with excitement in his eyes to look back at his superior.
    The hallway from the living quarters is only wide enough for two people to walk abreast, with little room to spare. It’s lit by single fixtures in the ceiling, separated by several feet, which makes the space between them dim. What area of the hallways that isn’t grey is in shadow, and it's difficult to see far while under the overhead lights.
    Doctor Levonen turns the corner to the right and opens the elevator door. Waiting impatiently, he shuffles from foot to foot and rubs his hands through his black hair. Doctor Kosktov rounds the corner, his light blue dress shirt now neatly tucked into his pants, and lab coat in place. A slight amount of anticipation begins to enter Kosktov when he looks at the younger scientist, and realizes he is still excited and not nervous, even after his threat to use him as the next guinea pig in their experiments.
    The elevator doors close and the two scientists begin their descent even deeper into the bunker. The bunker complex consists of the top level above ground and is the only entrance. The area is a cave inside a large hillside that has had the ceiling and walls reinforced and enclosed with two large steel access doors. The level is only used when supplies, equipment, and new subjects for the experiments are brought in, and for storage of dilapidated equipment. No vehicles are stored in the ground level, or anywhere onsite, since the occupants of the bunker complex--scientists, maintenance staff, and prisoners alike--are not permitted to leave.
    The next level below is the living quarters for the staff, with a joining section containing the power generation for the installation. The second sub-level contains food stores and dining and recreation areas, although use of the recreation area has decreased to almost nil over the years. The third sub-level is the lab area. The laboratory is in the best condition, even though most of the equipment is outdated and functioning poorly, even by the standards that existed when it was originally designed and built. The fourth sub-level is where the experiments designed in the lab are carried out. This area contains the isolation area for the test subjects. The final and fifth sub-level contains the test subjects themselves, Prisoners of the State. Some are the worst humans to have walked the earth, committing unspeakable acts of depravity. Others have dared to speak or write about the Motherland in an unfavorable light.
    There are no guards outside the complex. They’re not needed. Someone could just walk out if they decided. However, only someone intent on committing suicide would do so, as the facility is hundreds of miles from any habitable areas and the temperature in this part of the world, at its warmest, is just slightly above freezing. Most of the time it is well below zero. The overseers of this project, who are thousands of miles away,saw fit to make leaving without