Orpheus Reborn - PT 1 of 4 (Zombie Fiction)

Author's note: This is the very first piece of Z-Fiction I wrote.  It is intended to set the back story as to how the undead came to be in my imaginary little world.  It is a longish piece for a blog, so I've serialized it and will post it over the next several days.  Be forewarned, towards the end of the story there is an adult theme; a scene with a prostitute, nothing graphic, though.  I tried to make it as tasteful as possible, without losing the essence of the scene.  If you are offended, I apologize.  I am also going to serialize this story across a couple of weeks, so I can post a couple of other mini related things, w/o overwhelming the readers. I hope you enjoy...

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On western Long Island, a single light shone from the 4^th story of a squat office building, which housed a medical research group.  An event was taking place that was so small that it would go unnoticed by everyone but those involved, for some time.
 

"Dr., look at this."
 

"What is it Stephanie?" Dr. Thomas Goodson said looking up from the papers in front of him.

"I’m not sure; I’ve never seen anything like this.  These samples from the latest batch of the Orpheus Serum are exhibiting some unusual characteristics."  Dr. Goodson adjusted his glasses and got up from his desk.  He was going on the long side of middle-aged; the gray was starting to win out on his head and mustache.  According to his colleagues, he looked like Capt. Kangaroo.  They had even gone so far as calling Stephanie, his young lab assistant, Ms. Greenjeans.  While the title irritated Stephanie at times, Dr. Goodson was good-natured enough to not be bothered by it.

He crossed the lab to where Stephanie sat.  She shifted away, so he could look at the microscope that sat on the counter. "Hmmm" he said as he looked through the eyepiece.  What the doctor saw would have been meaningless to most people.  To a trained geneticist, like Dr. Goodson, it was very interesting.  If one considered that for the last 14 months there had been absolutely no forward progress on the Orpheus Project and threats of de-funding had been made, what the he saw was even more interesting.

The Orpheus Project was his baby.  He had labored many years to get funding for it.  Dr. Goodson believed that by manipulating certain viruii and proteins he could make a serum that would help the paralyzed and aging.  So far, results had been less than promising.  After 14 months of failure, his corporate sponsors were putting the pressure on him for results.  Despite his good-natured appearance, the strain was increasing.  The Dr. knew that if he didn’t produce soon, his life’s dream would be shut down in the name of profit.  He checked the related notes, and then looked back into the microscope. His pulse went up with excitement, "Very interesting, indeed.  It appears that there has been some unexpected mutation in this batch, and they are multiplying.  Let’s start a series of Alpha tests and see what the outcome is."

"Uh, Dr. you realize its 2:30 in the morning right?  I agreed to stay late, but I am not staying here all night.  These samples will be here in the morning.  Besides, what will everyone say if the two of us spend the night together" she finished with a devilish grin.  Dr. Goodson looked at the clock, then back at Stephanie.  She was attractive, and if he were 20, oh hell whom was he kidding, 30 years younger the idea of spending the night with her would be exciting.  With a sheepish grin, he reached up and patted her on the shoulder.

"You’re right.  Let’s wrap it up and head home."  With thoughts of cancellation running through his head he sighed, "There’s always tomorrow."

Too be continued...