Broussard watched intently as the uniformed soldiers slid the collar through the feeding slot and clamped it around the neck of a smaller female. The man nodded to his cohorts and they pushed the control handle, forcing her to the back of the cell.
Two men fought with the crud encrusted mechanism and pulled the door open as two others fought to control the woman snapping, screeching, and grabbing at them. With a stout tug, they pulled her from the filth of the cell as another man gripped her around the middle with a second clamp at the end of a pole.
She tried to spin, slashing and snarling as two uniformed men screwed up their courage and each grabbed a flailing arm.
“She can’t infect you with a scratch!” Carol yelled over the cacophony of screams.
The men wrestled her arms into leather restraints then the six of them dragged her to the exam table. With expert maneuvering and near perfect cooperation, they got her strapped to the table and a ball gag lodged in her mouth. As they tightened the gag, the lead officer glanced to Broussard. “That’s to keep her from biting.” He huffed as he laid the throat clamp aside. “It’s just an added bonus that it muffles her screams.”
“It is appreciated, regardless.” Broussard stepped close to the struggling woman and pulled a pen light, checking her pupil response. “It’s almost like she’s on a bad acid trip.”
Carol’s brows rose. “We could test for foreign substances.”
Andre shook his head. “If her behavior is from something like that, the origination would be organic. She would be producing it.” He rubbed at his neck as his mind raced. “We couldn’t be sure if it wasn’t a certain protein her body created because of the mutated DNA.”
“It’s still worth a shot. If we got lucky and could isolate it, perhaps we could find something to counter it?” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be a cure, per se, but it would help us to keep them docile while we worked.”
Broussard sighed. “I fear it would be a fool’s errand, but at this point, we really have little else to go on.” He turned and nodded to Carol and Tammy. “Run whatever tests you feel are necessary, but keep in mind that something in their system will fight your reagents. Unless we can find a way to block those B and T cells, we may be fighting an uphill battle the entire time.”
As the soldiers filed out of the lab, the lead man stepped closer to Broussard. “Let me see if I got this straight.” He stared at the tiny woman that had fought like a heavyweight boxer. “Something inside her is causing her to act out like she’s on drugs, but there’s something else in her body that fights back when you try to test for stuff?”
“In layman’s terms, yes.” Broussard was ready to dismiss the man.
The guard shook his head. “What if we could pump the crap out of her system,” he shrugged, “like a transfusion.”
“If her body is creating it, a transfusion would do little good,” he replied, his mind trying to read the woman’s behavior.
“Too bad there isn’t a drug you could give her to lessen the effects.” He picked up the pole with the throat collar. “I guess you get to experiment with all kinds of doggy downers to calm her ass down.”
“Yes, yes,” Broussard replied, not paying attention.
The soldier stepped to the door and paused. “I wonder what she’d do if you slipped her a magic mushroom?” He chuckled to himself as he pulled the door shut. “Maybe she’d mellow out for ya.”
Broussard’s head popped up and he stared blankly at the far wall. Carol noticed his expression. “What are you thinking?”
“That he might not be far off.” He stood upright and cocked his head to the side. “For patients with attention deficit and hyper activity, they give a central nervous system stimulant.”
“Because it has the opposite effect,” Carol replied slowly. “You’re not seriously thinking of giving this poor woman a psychedelic?”
He turned and shrugged. “What if it works?”
“What if it doesn’t?” She glared at him. “They’re still people. They’re sick, but they’re people.”
“Your point?” he asked.
She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Experimenting on them sounds more like Higgins than you.”
He stepped back and gave her a stoic look. “I’m not talking about cruel or unusual tactics here; at some point we will have to begin drug testing.” He nodded to the woman still snarling at the researchers. “I am simply curious if it would work.”
“Before we start pumping these people full of whatever we can think of, let’s see if we can isolate the blood chemistry, shall we?” She sighed and turned away. “Then we can determine how best to treat them.”
He continued to watch the woman struggle against the restraints. “Hmm. IF they can be treated.”
“You’re starting to sound like the Alpha I know and love,” Lana purred.
Simon tried not to react to the ‘L’ word. “Is that really what you want of me?” He looked at her expectantly. “You want me to be like I used to be?”
She growled low in her throat as she pushed him back on the small couch. She stared into his eyes as she straddled him. “I want you to be the man you’re meant to be.”
Simon watched as she tugged her tank top off and for the first time, he wasn’t in the mood. He watched as she wiggled her bottom in his lap playfully. “You want me to—”
She pressed a finger to his lips and giggled. “I want you.” She bent low and kissed him. “Nothing more, nothing less.” He tried to sit up and she pulled the pillow from behind him, tossing it haphazardly to the floor. “Nope. I want you on your back.”
Simon sighed and slithered down further, allowing her to play out her game. “You want me cutthroat,” he stated flatly.
“I want you to be you at your best.” She nipped at
