Symbiot chapter 2

Lance Bryce opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness. He pushed the covers of his bed off of himself and recognized that he was in his bedroom. “Why am I dressed in normal clothing?” he wondered. Then it all flooded back, the bathroom, something attacked him, he passed out...

“Then I woke up and walked in here to sleep.” Lance remembered “where did that thing go?” Lance grabbed his metal baseball bat from his closet and crept towards his bathroom. He peeked around the door half expecting something to leap out at him, but his bathroom appeared to be empty, and apart from the fact that there was water all over the floor, his shower was still running, and the small garbage pot was tipped over, everything seemed normal. Lance turned off the shower water, wiped up the water, and picked up the garbage, and then looked into the mirror to see if he had received any visible injury.

He looked fine; in fact, he looked quite handsome this morning. “Huh? That’s not right, what happened to the scar on my forehead?” Lance had never really been a great looker; he was what he would call “average” not so handsome he stood out, and not ugly enough to stand out either. He would often laugh to himself saying that his character in Dungeons and Dragons would have a fifty in his appearance score, and therefore was always overlooked and forgotten about.

Lance was a larger man, and had a bit of a gut. He was 6 feet tall and weighed 260 pounds. He had dark brown hair, blue eyes, and pale white skin from lack of sunlight. His friends sometimes made jokes saying he was a vampire because he spent much of his time in his crypt/room playing video games.

I know I had a scar just above my left eyebrow, where did it go? Before he could put any more thought into his missing scar his phone started ringing. He walked into his living room and picked it up. “Hi Lance its me Ben”

Ben had been Lance’s friend since sixth grade. They had met in their first class and had been friends ever since. They weren’t best friends, but they both knew each other to be reliable and trustworthy, even though Ben was a little racist.

“Hi Ben, what’s up?”

“Oh, my mom’s rather upset about my grades again this semester, but I don’t really care anymore, she is upset with me whether I get good grades or bad ones. Oh yeah, so do you have anything set up for your birthday?”

“My birthday? Oh wow my birthday is at the end of the week isn't it, um I don’t have anything planned yet.”

“Well, it’s your twenty first man, you should have something special for your twenty first. Oh I have an idea, how about I plan a party at my place next weekend? My parents will be out, and we will be able to do whatever we want.”

“Umm, I’ll think about it…”

“Great! I’ll start planning it now, this is going to be a pah tay to remember!

…

The lecture hall was quiet save for the sound of pens scribbling furiously on paper and the hum of the projector. Students sat diligently at their desks in the darkened room, their eyes turning quickly from paper to the display screen as slides moved from picture of one strange looking fish to another. The room was filled to capacity, every square desk space taken up by a student, their attention captivated by the presentation. The only voice to rise in this packed lecture hall was that of Professor Alexander Malarkey, Phd in Xenobiology. From his podium he shifted the slides forward elaborating in slow and measured increments on each image brought to the screen.

“This specimen is unique” he explained “in that it is the only species of water breathing fish, that we know of, that does not appear to have any kind of gills. Rather dissection of the specimen showed it gained oxygen from the water through a sort of osmosis. That is every cell positioned on the exterior of its skin serves as an absorbing material.” A student in the front/right row raised his hand with a question, “Do you mean much like the standard Sea Sponge?”

Malarkey’s head nodded in the darkness “That is correct Andrew, but unlike the sea sponge, whose entire being is a highly absorbent material, this specimen, seen here is dotted all over its skin with oxygen absorbing material. The skin itself is still scaled.”
That same student responded “But wouldn’t such an evolution hinder the fish’s ability to gain speed while underwater? I am just having issues understanding how this trait could truly benefit it.”

Malarkey smiled quietly through the shade,“ Considering that this is the first time that we have encountered a specimen such as this there is much that we do not know about it. Some have speculated that it is a deep sea fish, and as we know the trenches are complete environments unto themselves. The darkness provides a sort of cover for the kinds of fish that near the surface would not be able to make it. It is possible, though we don’t know for sure, that these cells all along the skin provide a kind of early warning system for predators. Does that answer your question?”

The student nodded his ascent, “Thank you professor you have been a true help.”
The professor smiled, glancing at the clock over the doorway and then down at his watch, “Good, and it does appear that I am out of time, remember my office hours are Thursdays come by if you have any questions, oh and don’t forget about the test coming this Friday, so don’t go out partying too long Thursday night people.” The students filed out to leave, grabbing their bags, notebooks and whatever else. The one in the front/right stayed behind, his right arm clutching at a duffle bag that he had with him in addition to his own backpack. As the last of the students left the classroom he approached the Professor.
“Umm Dr. Malarkey?” he said with quiet veneration.

The professor turned “Ah, Andrew good to see you, and let me comment on the good questions you gave in class. It’s good to know for sure that someone is at least paying attention.”

“Oh Doctor” he responded “What I don’t understand is why anyone wouldn’t want to pay attention in your class.”

Malarkey threw him a disapproving look “Yes, yes, you can brown nose me more later, but right now I need to ask if you got the samples I requested?”

With a heft Andrew lifted up the duffle bag and presented it in front of him “Yes, the package just came in today, when can I give it to you?”

“And you haven’t looked at the contents of the package?”

“No…why? What’s inside if I might ask?”

“Nothing that you should be looking at, meet me in my lab in about thirty minutes? Can you do that? And bring the package.”

“Of course.”

“Good, see you then.”

Andrew Smythe hefted the large duffle bag as best he could, but he wasn’t the strongest or healthiest man out there, he wasn’t even close. He was a 5’8’’ 195lbs person who spent way too much time indoors and he knew it. His skin was a pastey white that resulted from too much time in front of the microscope and at the library, doing homework. Maybe I should workout some he thought while barely keeping the duffle bag above the floor as he headed up the stairs and out the door. It opened up to the lobby and then to the main doors out of the building. The day was picturesque, sunny and warm with a light breeze. The sound of the rustling trees filled the warm day of April to the melodic sounds of birds chirping in the distance. Andrew didn’t notice it. He was too busy thinking about his own problems. All I can say is “Thank God” his lab is only a block away or else I wouldn’t make it. Seriously if I didn’t need that A to make my father happy I wouldn’t even be putting in the effort. I hate brown nosing that self absorbed jackass. If I knew my getting involved with his work meant all of this bullshit that he makes me do… What a pain in the ass. That is all. He thought while ignoring the area around him. And running into the small crowd of three women going in the other direction. There was a crash. The duffel bag fell to the concrete along with Andrew and the woman he had collided with. The women’s cries filled the air.

“Oh my God, Sharon are you okay?” one of them said as the two crowded around her. The other one turned her head over to Andrew who was slowly picking himself up. “Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?” she exclaimed “You need to watch where you’re going.” fucking bitches Andrew thought as he got up and looked himself over only thing they ever do is complain, what the fuck is their problem? Sharon stood up with the help of her friend and looked at the two of them saying, “It’s alright Liz, Sara, really it is. I’m fine, neither of us were really paying attention. It was really no one’s fault.” Sharon looked herself over to see if any harm was done. Nodding her head with satisfaction to note she just had a couple scratches along her white muscular thigh and the bottom of her arm.

“Are you sure?” Liz placed in “I mean, it was like we were talking, but this guy here was all by himself. I mean what the hell was this runt doing?”
Thinking you bitch, not like it is something you do much oh the things he wanted to say, but held right in.

Sharon continued “Really it was nothing, worse things have happened and you know it.” She turned to Andrew and said “You alright?”
Andrew looked at her with suspicion, nodding his head and thinking to himself what is she playing at? Sharon smiled “Cool, now my friends, as you have seen, have blown this completely out of proportion. So how about we just pick our things up and get going. We still need to make soccer practice after all. Sound good Liz, Sara?”
“Whatever you say Sharon” Sara said, eyeing Andrew with unveiled disgust.
“Let’s go” Liz added.

The three grabbed their sports bags and headed towards the central event field and practice as Andrew headed towards his duffel bag. It had come partially unzipped due to the collision. Fucking bitches Andrew thought as he came up to his bag what I would do to them if I only had the chance. I would put them in their place. And what was up with that Sharon girl? There’s no way she was serious, about caring. A girl that hot… she had to be playing something. But what? Andrew shook the thought off as he looked down at the duffel bag he had dropped. He noticed as he came closer to it that cold water vapors were racing out the small hole, like something was on ice. His curiosity got the better of him. With mild trepidation he eased open the zipper farther and peered inside. It was pints of human blood.

“What the hell?” Andrew gasped pulling back and looking around the campus to see if anyone noticed. The campus was mostly empty and those that were out had their own affairs to deal with. No one had seen anything out of the ordinary. “What the hell, does Professor Malarkey need it for? He’s a xenobiologist, not a doctor” he said quietly to himself. Shit, I best not think about it, I didn’t see anything, I’m just going to get this bag to his lab. I am going to get that A. I am going to satiate my father…that fucker.
With some effort he hefted the duffel bag up and headed down the mostly empty college street; heading towards the main science building. With great effort he was forcing further thought back, but the curiosity was eating at him. “What does he need this for?” he said to himself as he walked “I have to find out, I will find out.”
The April afternoon sun moved west towards it’s endpoint and setting as Andrew headed towards the laboratories and his answer.

…

Liz was in a huff, giving Sharon disapproving looks that she couldn’t help, but notice she was ignoring. They were almost at the field and she would miss her chance if she didn’t say something now. She had to say something. “Sharon, I just don’t get you sometimes, why were you nice to that little college nerd.”

“Because, Liz, you can’t just be nice to the people you want to sleep with.”

“And even then, sometimes you don’t have to” Sara cut in. Liz and Sara giggled as Sharon smiled. “I mean, boys love it when we play it hard on them,” Liz added, “It makes them feel like they have accomplished something if we actually accept. So why be nice if you don’t have to? Naughty gets you so much further.”

“I guess, blame my upbringing,” Sharon said with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, we won’t hold that against you” Sara said smiling. Liz and Sara laughed again as the two of them pulled off their jogging pants and began to warm up for practice.