[booyanti]

Chapter 2 - The accident

The next morning Katie arrived early at work, locking her bike up she noticed that there was already a bike there. Heading in she was greeted by Kourtney who had already made a pot of coffee and was sitting at her desk ready for the day.

“Wow, and I thought I was going to be the early bird today.” Katie joked as she greeted Kourtney.

“Yah. Haha. I live so close that sometimes if I’m awake and can’t sleep anymore I just come in and get things ready for the day. It’s actually kind of nice, it’s quite and it lets me think.” Kourtney said nodding her hello and then smiled in what Katie was realizing was “the smile” Chris had mentioned the day before.

Walking down the hall and into the lab Katie looked around, saw that she was alone, and decided to take a private tour of the lab while Chris wasn’t there. It wasn’t as neat as she thought it would be, she didn’t find any creepy crawlies or crazy bacterial samples but she did find herself fascinated by two vials that were in the fridge labelled “Secret plant growth formula” and the other saying “Cross species transfer RNA”. It wasn’t that they were inherently interesting on their own, it was the fact that they were both labeled with the same ID number on them “5500439” implying that they belonged to the same experiment. Further, Katie realized that that meant someone else had likely come before her and attempted a similar experiment. One that Chris failed to mention as we toured around and he explained what Katie would be doing. She grabbed both the vials, some microscope cleaning solution, a couple tubes to put samples in, a few slides, and then went to the computer to type in the ID code to see if she could find out anything about it.

Sure enough, upon hitting enter, the computer brought up a file a PDF labelled “Human Growth Experiment”.

‘HUMAN GROWTH EXPERIMENT!’ Katie screamed silently in her head. Grabbing both vials she quickly made up some dyes and applied them to samples of each vial which she then placed onto slides. Peering into the microscope, having placed the “Secret plant growth formula” slide on the microscope, Katie was able to see plant cells, but not your typical plant cells; no, these plant cells were larger almost double the size of an average plant cell and their cell walls were easily double the thickness if not more.

Katie was stunned, she’d never seen such large plant cells before, and in fact she thought such a thing would be impossible at that size but instead there they were in front of her. Pushing herself away from the microscope there suddenly came a huge “SURPRISE!!!!” from behind her, which startled Katie enough for her to throw her arms out to catch herself from falling out of the chair, but in doing so she knocked everything from the counter onto the ground.

Turning around she saw Kourtney and Chris in the doorway holding a small little gift bag and a cupcake with a candle in it. “Oh god you guys startled me, I was looking at these vials I found in the fridge but now I suppose they’re on the ground….” Looking down Katie could see the liquids combining and if she wasn’t mistaken they were beginning to bubble.

“Oh don’t worry about it” Chris said, walking towards her with the cupcake. “There isn’t anything in this lab that is toxic, we’ll clean it up in a second. Come here first we wanted to surprise you and welcome you to the job.”

“Yah, I mean it’s nothing big, just a small token to greet you with.” Kourtney said while passing the little gift over.

Katie quickly opened the package, she’d always liked surprises and certainly didn’t expect one from her new work place. Opening it Katie found inside a charm for a necklace that was in the shape of a chemical she was all too familiar with, it was the molecular structure for a plant steroid. She laughed and thanked the pair of them saying it was a perfect little gift.

“You’re so welcome!” Said Chris “So how about we light this candle and have you blow it out before the cupcake gets stale.” Chris said while pulling out a lighter. What they’d failed to notice however was the fog that was slowly working its way around their ankles and just as Chris got the lighter lit there was a huge “BOOM!!!” and then everything was quite, dark, and painful.

“IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT!?!” Yelled out Katie. “I FEEL OKAY, IF ANYONE ELSE CAN HEAR ME LET ME KNOW WHERE YOU ARE SO I CAN COME HELP.” Katie continued trying to find her friends, hoping to not find them injured or dead under an overturned book shelf or lab bench.

Kourtney was first to answer a moment later “HELLO! I’M OVER HERE, I SEEM TO BE STUCK UNDER SOMETHING.” The voice coming from the other side of the room.

Katie gathered herself together and shouted “Okay Kourtney I’m going to come find you and help you out okay, just stay calm!” Standing up Katie felt light headed and reached out to steady herself on what appeared to be the only lab table not to have been blown over. ‘Were these lab benches always this short?’ Katie thought for a brief second ‘No of course they have been, it must be the shock of the explosion I’m just disoriented’ She figured not realizing how tight her shoes and remainder of her clothes felt.

Rushing over to where she believed she had heard Kourtney’s voice Katie started to push over a few things that had fallen in her way. After moving two lab benches and a few ceiling tiles she made it to a large bookshelf. “Kourtney, are you under this book shelf? I don’t think I can move it, this thing is huge. Perhaps if we both try at the same time we can move it.” And she waited for an answer.

“Yah Katie it’s me, I have enough room to position my legs on it so that I could push up with my legs if maybe you could try lifting while I do that.” Said Kourtney from below the bookshelf.

“Okay I got it, position yourself and on the count of three we will both try.” Katie moved into position to try and lift while her trapped co-worker pushed from underneath. “Okay I’m ready out here, so in 1… 2… 3!” and with that they both put all their might into moving the book shelf but shockingly to both of them the bookshelf felt much lighter than they both thought it would be.

“Ummmm wow that was a lot easier than I thought it would be!” The now freed Kourtney said, dusting herself off and standing up.

‘That’s odd’ Katie thought. ‘I really could have sworn Kourtney and I were the same height, but now I look easily an inch maybe even two taller.’ Looking down at Kourtney’s feet to see if perhaps she’d lost her shoes or was standing in a divot in the floor after the explosion. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary she just blamed it on the disorientation from the explosion and then realized “CHRIS!”

Kourtney and Katie both looked at each other unsure where he could have gone and he hadn’t as of yet called out or answered any of their calls. The two quickly started searching the room.

“Find anything?” Kourtney asked.

“No not a trace of him anywhere.” Katie replied.

“I’m right here… *Cough*” Came Chris’ voice from the doorway area. “I must have been blown out of the lab completely and straight down the hallway. Aren’t we all lucky that we survived, and it looks like none of us are even hurt.”

Katie and Kourtney now turning to see Chris coming through the door like them with torn up clothing and looking a bit worse for wear. Katie looking at his shirt noticed that she could see what looked like a six pack and a really fit chest through the large holes that were now in it from flying debris. ‘Wow, I never realized he was that fit, it really is a shame he’s so short because everything else about him would be perfect otherwise. Ugh now is not the time Katie, we all were just in a big explosion stop ogling your co-worker.’ But she wasn’t the only one, it seemed that Kourtney as well noticed how fit he was under his shirt.

“Hey Chris!” Kourtney said in excitement to see he was okay. “If it wasn’t for the explosion and all the dirt all over you, I’d be saying you look great. I never realized how fit you were.”

Looking down and through his own shirt Chris saw staring back at him a perfect set of abs and a perfect set of pecs. ‘WTF!’ He thought to himself ‘I don’t even work out…… jesus this is odd, must have to do with the explosion but am I the only one affected? I mean it doesn’t look like anything is different with the girls at all’ he continued. ‘Well I can’t let on just yet if there are no effects on them, wouldn’t want to worry them.’

“Uhhh yah, I’ve been hitting the gym really hard lately. Thought I could use another tool in my box beside my face… you know on account that I’m short.” Chris said embarrassingly.

“Well I’m just happy we’re all okay.” Katie said, clearing the awkward air. “What should we do now?”

With that question Chris jumped immediately to action, he called the fire department to come and ensure nothing further would happen and called up the boss who luckily was out of the office this morning. With concern for our well-being the boss asked us all to get checked out and then head home and rest for a couple days emphasising to Chris that it wasn’t like we could work anyways seeing as the lab was in shambles. Chris relaying that when he said that he sounded especially disappointed.

*End Chapter 2*