Tha Ant - Chapter 6 (628 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: The_Ant
Rating: 1.88 on 13 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2005-01-17 11:39:10 EST
(Chapter 1 http://www.ubersite.com/m/56777)
(Chapter 2 http://www.ubersite.com/m/56855)
(Chapters 3-5 http://www.ubersite.com/m/56884)
CHAPTER 6 - The Last of the Old Rob
Rob was lying back and trying to relax. A white-smocked attendant swabbed the inside of his left elbow with iodine, then tore open a sterile plastic wrapper and withdrew a big needle. Rob looked at it and suddenly thought of the old joke. Why is virginity like a balloon? One prick and it's all over. He asked Rob to make a fist, and then nodded, slipping a needle into a vein, and taping the needle in place. The needle was attached to a few inches of rubber tubing with a plastic doodad on the other end. Rob was alarmed to see bright red blood fill the tube halfway. The attendant turned away, letting the length of rubber rest against Rob's arm. He could feel the heat of his own blood against his skin.
"Hey, where're you going?" Rob asked. "What if I bleed to death?"
The attendant smiled. "You can't. The other end of the tubing is sealed. You'll be receiving your injection through the valve shortly."
"Why not just inject us in the arm?"
The attendant was preparing another volunteer, a Latino with bloodshot eyes. "There is always a slight burning sensation with these injections. We don't want anybody jerking around and breaking off a needle in their arm. That's why there's a length of IV tubing between you and the doctor."
Rob tried to relax. On the far side of the room he saw Doctor Pfaltzer appear. He began administering shots immediately.
Rob thought of the blowout that had occurred on the boat this morning when, after receiving the call confirming him as one of the chosen fifteen volunteers, he finally got around to telling Megan what he was up to.
She didn't want him being a guinea pig, didn't want him risking his life, didn't want him 'celebrating' his birthday in such a gross way. He had ended up storming off the boat, thinking not only of the money, but of the sense of... freedom he'd have, if the claims for the new drug were true. Potential risks had not entered his mind at all.
Until this moment. Suddenly he wanted to be back on the boat, passing the day in a haze of nothingness, sleeping, smoking a bit of whatever they could scrounge off of anyone on the Pier had who had anything worth smoking, sleeping some more, maybe going to dinner at the Stinking Rose... a lazy, do-nothing day. Christ, he thought, why didn't I-
"Last on the list, I see," Doctor Pfaltzer said, looming over Rob. "Well, let's get done with you."
An attendant had been wheeling a cart along after Pfaltzer, and it stopped beside him. He removed the lid from a numbered tray and held up a syringe. Pfaltzer glared down at Rob's long, unruly hair. "I assume," he hissed, "that you do not count a barber among your acquaintances?"
Rob shurgged. His throat was suddenly terribly dry. He couldn't speak. For a moment the Doctor held the syringe at crotch level, and Rob thought, now I know what a urinal feels like, as he imagined the needle pissing its genetic brew all over him while Pfaltzer sighed as if unloading a bladder-straining stream. Pfaltzer slipped the needle into the plastic receptacle at the end of the rubber tubing.
"This may burn a bit," Pfaltzer said softly, his accent barely there.
Rob saw movement on the other side of the room. Schroedecker had come through the doors looking like he'd just had a fight with someone. His bald head was shining like a beacon, his clothes were rumpled and his tiny white barb of a beard was bent to one side as if he'd slept on it.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Rob thought, it's not too late, and said, "Listen, we better stop for a second, cause I'm having second thoughts."
Pfaltzer did not look at Rob. He simply said, "That is unfortunate."
Rob looked down, saw the serum forcing the blood back down the tube and into the vein, felt a burning from inside his arm, as if someone had laid a trail of gunpowder inside him and ignited it, and as the burning burrowed into his chest and filled his heart, and raged up one side of his throat toward his brain, he realized that all of the other volunteers were lying still, silent, unconscious, even the young black guy, who in his stillness looked more than ever like he was crafted from mahogany, and then Rob felt as if his brain was burning, as if it were a sponge that had been soaked in gasoline and set aflame, as if it had been submerged in acid, as if the sun had suddenly began to burn inside his skull.
A voice bellowed in the back of his mind, 'a slight burning sensation my ass!'
Then darkness.
The last thing Rob heard that he could be sure of was Doctor Pfaltzer. His voice was far away. It sounded as if he said, "Fairy goot."
User Reviews
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-03 11:29:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Supreme Overlord damage control...
Submitted by Supreme_Overlord (user info) at 2005-07-21 22:20:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
shite
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-02-08 12:21:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Umbilical_Cord (user info) at 2005-01-30 15:43:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Bloody good shyte.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-01-24 18:43:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-01-23 11:19:47 (#)
Ranking: 2
I like how you're devoting some time to this set up. A lot of good stories get cut short on Uber because, well, we apparently don't like to read. So I'm glad you're giving the story the time and attention it deserves.
Good stuff, man.
--
Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-01-23 11:19:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like how you're devoting some time to this set up. A lot of good stories get cut short on Uber because, well, we apparently don't like to read. So I'm glad you're giving the story the time and attention it deserves.
Good stuff, man.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-01-19 16:16:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-01-19 14:43:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2005-01-17 13:41:24 (#)
Ranking: 2
This post = fairy goot.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-01-19 08:17:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
6 whole chapters and not one mention of Ant Bea.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-01-17 19:02:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2005-01-17 13:41:24 (#)
Ranking: 2
This post = fairy goot.
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Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-01-17 11:43:07 (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh No!
Poor Rob. That isn't Fairy goot.
--
Oh God, please don't let this 'fairy goot' thing catch on...
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2005-01-17 13:41:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This post = fairy goot.
Submitted by Satansgotsyphillis (user info) at 2005-01-17 12:17:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-01-17 11:43:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh No!
Poor Rob. That isn't Fairy goot.