CHAPTER 1

 Day 5

Natalie woke up with her head pounding, the light making her cringe.  The clock read 8:30am; it was time to get moving. She called Heike and woke her up, she sounded worse. She got ready, fixed her hair - down. It took a very hot flat iron, and a ton of hairspray. She wore a nice pair of dark jeans, and a purple low cut top. 

She picked up Heike from her apartment, on the other side of town. Heike was wearing a nice plaid button up green and white top, and pair of slacks, her hair was too short to put up. Brown and light she had fixed it to look messy and it flipped out in the wind. She showed her some information; she found where the coroner's office is located, names and people they need to talk to. 

They arrived at the large empty office around 10 am. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. They talked briefly then walked in. Natalie was in first, she approached the young girl at the front desk. The girl was a bit heavy, but well kept. She had dark brown hair, cut short and an unusually long face. She wore nice wire rimmed glasses and a mildly expensive suit. She smirked and asked who they were here to see.

"We are here to speak with Dr. Reins" Natalie said.

"Oh, do you have an appointment?" The office assistant snapped.

"U-" Natalie started, Heike interrupted.

"Yes, we do. I am Ms. Parker; I spoke with you today, about the possible murder, in the home case".

"Oh yes I remember, have a seat. I'll let him know you're here", she gestured to the chairs behind them.

They sat down, "What the hell Heike????" Natalie said smiling.

"Haha, didn't think I could be a sneaky bastard did you?" She was proud of herself, well deserved.

"Well, let’s just hope he cooperates with us."

About ten minutes later a stalky, heavy set man appeared from the back of the office. He was older, maybe late 50s. Hair short, all gray. He was taller than the two of them, but short for a man. He wore a long white lab coat, hiding his tan slacks and nice charcoal button up. His shoes were expensive, just like the Rolex on his right wrist. He motioned for them to follow him to his office. It was large, with a nice antique desk. On it were pictures of his family - a younger wife, and three children - all boys. He had some paperwork scattered about and asked them to excuse the mess. He had quite a few certificates, accommodations and golf artifacts on his walls.

"I understand you're here about the home case. What can I do for you...you're not with the police?" He seemed very intrigued.

Natalie deferred to Heike, "yes, you're right we aren't the police. We were just extremely concerned about this. There were events that happened that night that were, well, disturbing. We just wanted to ask your thoughts on the matter. Have you completed the autopsy?"

"Not yet. I have had quite a few more deaths than normal this week; I have been swamped to my ass." That was a new saying.

Heike proceeded to discuss the happenings, leaving a few "this only happens in scary movies" details out.

"So, if this is a dangerous situation why would they just release me the body?" He asked a good question. They had no reason.

"We don't know. Is there a way we can, 'assist' you with this? It's just that she," she was looking to Natalie, "was there the night everything happened, I walked in at the tail end. It was, odd to say the least. Something else was going on we are curious as to what that is".

He sighed, and then said something they didn't expect. "Okay, you've peaked my interest. Let’s go.”

Excitedly, they turned to each other and smiled. The Doctor called for his assistant, Morgan, to get the body ready for the autopsy. Morgan did as the Doctor asked. He gave them each a lab coat and head gear and led them to the morgue. Natalie had never actually had the pleasure of seeing a morgue. They are much creepier in person than on TV. Dark, cold rooms with unoccupied tables crowding the space. The big silver doors, like portals to the dead covering an entire wall. They entered through the massive swinging doors to the dark abyss; Alonya occupied the middle of the room, only a white blanket covering her. A chill ran down Natalie's spine and legs, almost numbing her feet. She pushed herself to enter the room. Heike was already inside. The Doctor, in his gear walked over to another table, at the end of the room and carefully moved it into place next to the corpse table. It was his tools, all lined up and shining under the large light that hung above.

The assistant came back and joined the doctor. Together they uncovered the body. Her skin was dull gray, but all the moisture had left it. It was eerie, it didn't look like Alonya at all, and her entire body had shrunken up, like the fluids had been pulled out by a vacuum. Her face was sunken in and her eyes were still open along with her jaw. It was locked into place. Heike must have been thinking, she asked him if he had the right person. He looked at them, astonished at the decomposition of this barely two day old corpse.

"Well this is odd". He said in a matter of fact manner.

"She didn't look this way when she died, this may seem stupid to ask but, what exactly is the odd part?" Natalie wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Well, the color of the outside tissues is much deeper and gray than most cases. Not to mention the lack of fluids noted." He deferred to his assistant who responded, "When they brought her in, I thought it was odd at the time, there was no pooling of blood outside of the wounds, or anywhere on the body".

"So where do we start?" Heike was ready to get this moving; her curiosity had kicked into over-drive.

He first assessed exterior of the subject; taking samples of her skin and swabbing the inside of her mouth and the gaping wound in her forehead. The assistant was intently watching the doctor, hoping to one day fill his shoes. Then he told the nurses, Heike and Natalie, to be prepared he was going to "open her up". The nurse in them started taking control and focused in on what he was doing, medically. He started with her chest, the loud crack was intimidating. The immediate look was what you'd expect. Organs all smashed into a small space. They looked at Doctor Reins; he was prodding and moving her insides around, looking for a specific starting point. He looked up and shook his head, "There is no fluid in here, she is bone dry" he said confused.

"We are somewhat new at the morgue situation, our patients are mostly alive so can you explain what you’re seeing?" Natalie asked.

"When you open someone up, there is a minimal amount of fluid left in the body, that’s there to keep the organs from rubbing against each other. Only in extreme cases is this not true. Was she starved or in extreme heat or cold?"

"No, no heat or cold. Unless you count an extended extreme body temp. The dehydration and starvation - she was in comfort care so she had not eaten or drank for three maybe four days prior to her death." They answered, as honestly as possible.

"The temp wouldn't dry out the space between her organs, and a few days with no food or water won’t either, not to this extent. The reports I received from the station were that she was possible homicide. That she was struck in the head as she was dying. They said this was verified by nurses, so that'd be you two right?"

“The initial 'findings' they shared weren't right. There was a problem. We tried to explain it to them, but they responded like we were insane. That’s why we came to you." Heike sounded sincere.

"This problem would be what?” The Doctor asked.

"The problem is that she may have died prior to the 'bash her head in' incident even though she appeared to...be...alive". Natalie said hesitantly.

He looked at them, then at the head wound, "well by the looks of this gash in her head, it was delivered post mortem."

He finished taking samples from her body, and brought them to their in house lab. Once he finished viewing the samples he looked at Heike and Natalie.

"At this point in the autopsy I am going to examine her brain." He gestured Morgan, who brought him a very gruesome looking bone saw, and began to cut her head open.

"Well this is disturbing; I’ve never imagined how this actually looked, in real life". Natalie shuttered and turned to Heike.

"I agree. But this entire thing is off the wall, even for me". Heike replied.

"Oh my god. Look at this!" The doctor shouted to the nurses.

"What? What is it?" They both hurried over to the end of the table, and their mouths hit the floor.

The brain. It was not what you would expect. It was dark, smaller than normal, all except for the brain stem. It was completely untouched, or at least it looked that way. A normal brain is supposed to fit inside your head with some 'wiggle room', fluids surrounding it to keep it safe. It’s composed of both gray and white matter, that look exactly like it sounds. Do you remember in school when the teachers and parents try to get you to not smoke cigarettes? They show you this anti-smoking picture of a smoker’s lung, filled with cancer. It’s all black and shriveled? He removed the brain and set it on a table. He also removed the brain stem, as a whole. He started poking and prodding at the specimen, jotted some notes then beckoned them over to it.

"This brain, it obviously looks different, right?" All nodded in agreement. "It looks as though it had died, judging by the amount of decomp, I’d say about a week ago. But there are a few other things that I notice as well. The first is the brain stem; it’s still the right size and color. Second; There are different sections of the brain, see the frontal lobe here? It has more damage to it than the rest of the brain. The centers that control hearing, and vision are mostly intact but discolored. The frontal lobe is almost completely destroyed." He took a moment.

"So, how the fuck does someone’s brains end up like this?" Natalie asked.

The doctor looked up, "I have never seen anything like this. I may have to call some other people in to see this." With that statement he walked away from the center of the room and stood with his arms crossed. He looked confused and troubled, deciding who to call.

Heike popped in, "Who do you mean? Like the CDC or like a specialist? "

 He turned and covered his mouth with his hand, the Rolex gleaming off the light.
"Let me make a few calls, before I worry about any agencies." He quickly walked out of the morgue.

Heike and Natalie followed, they got back to his office, and Morgan came in and asked the Doctor a promising question,

"Doctor Reins, would you like me to call Shawn?"

"Who's Shawn?" Natalie asked.

"He's a neurosurgeon; he used to work for the Cleveland Clinic.”

"Yes, call him - He's a friend of Morgan’s dad", he said to the nurses. "I'm going to call a friend of mine – John; he's a human diseases specialist".

The two made their phone calls, and then went back into the morgue to "put things away". It would be a few hours before the others got there. But they were on their way. The small group got the already collected samples prepared, and started researching anything that causes brain damage.

CHAPTER 2

The first to arrive was Doctor Shawn Mauller. He started his own practice after leaving the Cleveland Clinic - for disagreeing with another Doctor over a surgical procedure. The board agreed with the other doctor and the patient died. Doctor Mauller was so infuriated that he quit, and started his own business. He has dozens of awards for surgical breakthroughs and medical research papers. He specializes in the brain, and spinal cord. He arrived in an Audi, an old one - not new. He stepped out of the car wearing loose jeans, and a brown golf polo. He had black hair, he was much younger than you'd expect. He greeted Morgan, and the rest of the group. He grabbed a coat off the wall and asked to see the body.

Doctor Reins obliged and showed him where the body was. They pulled the brain out and studied it first. The young doctor had an intense look on his face, he scrunched his eyebrows and his tan face was showing a look of both worry and excitement. They discussed some things and decided to go ahead and finish the autopsy together. They took a very long time studying each organ, gland and piece of the body. They started gathering information on any abnormalities. Morgan took notes, and the nurses watched the three intently for the long process. Toward the end another man showed up, John Calper.

John was in his early to mid-thirties, and had obtained a PhD in Molecular Pathogens, with a master’s degree in biochemical and molecular biology. He worked for a drug company for about six years, and then a few years ago decided he wanted to do something other than lab work, he opened a bar. He ended up opening one of the most well-known bars in Cincinnati. Apparently he and Doctor Reins had become friends after attending some of the same seminars and conventions a few years previous to that. He still did consultation work on the side for area labs and hospitals. He walked in to the building at about 6pm, as the others were finishing up. He was wearing brown cords, with a Weezer t-shirt, and a bag hanging off of his side. His hair was deep brown, and his face was scruffy. His clothes were wrinkled, and his glasses set high on his nose. He looked as if he was of Korean decent, and the only major traits he carried from that were his eyes, and his build. He was short, but fit. He looked like he just rolled out of bed.

"So boys, and ladies, what do we have?" He seemed extremely excited about this.

"Well, we just finished looking at the entire body, the organs, skin, every crevice and conceivable sample was taken. Here is what we have" Dr. Reins told both of the newcomers what they had discussed, and what the initial findings were, which is why he called them. The group entered his office, and all sat quietly for a moment. Then Mauller broke the silence.

"So, you two are the ones that started this 'investigation'?"

"Yes," Natalie stated "I was there the night she died; Heike came in at the end. We tried to come up with some logical explanation of what happened, couldn't, and here we are."

"Hm. Well the brain is a problem. Even I have never heard of something that could do that to it. Even if there was something that could turn the brain black, it was almost like it destroyed parts rather than all of it, but the brain stem looks healthy. Any disease or infection that I have heard of either destroys the brain, or doesn't. It doesn't only damage pieces.”  He was still racking his memory.

"Well, if the samples are ready I'd like to start looking at them." Calper was intrigued. He gathered all the information discussed, and then took the samples in groups. He took them by organ system. Starting with the circulatory system. He started with the blood samples, then samples of the heart. There was abnormal clotting, and the samples were almost completely dried up, he stated it was like the heart hadn't beat for weeks. He then moved on to the lungs. He examined samples from the pieces of that puzzle, noting no cancer at a cellular level, there were still "cancerous lumps", from the lungs, but the cells were all wiped clean, except for enlarged mitochondria and a dead nucleus.

As he continued his process the rest waited very impatiently. Everyone taking turns standing behind him, and fidgeting. He moved on to the endocrine system. The samples taken were from the Adrenal glands, the Thyroid and Parathyroid, Pancreas and Ovaries. (He was saving the Pituitary for the neuro system; it’s located in the brain) Then he moved on to the gastrointestinal system. He had samples from all over - the stomach, intestines, esophagus, mouth, tongue. Even had the small amount of stomach contents in a dish.

His secretary stepped into the morgue with a frown on her face, she looked worried. She asked to talk to Dr. Reins and as he walked over to her she said under her breath "there is a very large vehicle outside". He sighed and asked who it was, she said she didn't know. He told Calper to keep working and stepped out into the hallway. Curious Natalie followed and peeked out the window, there was a large truck, and it looked like an armored car - except it wasn't full of cash. There was a woman standing beside the vehicle, arms crossed, waiting for something. Then the back doors opened and four others emerged from the rear of the truck, they brought out with them a gurney and masks. She ran back into the morgue and alerted Mauller, Heike, and Calper. They asked who it was; all she could say was "No clue, X-Files?” With an awkward smile Natalie looked to Mauller for an inclination of what to do. He shrugged, then said get this stuff cleaned and put away, quickly and he'd go out and meet them and Dr. Reins. Heike and Calper got moving while Natalie went to be the "look out". They were still outside.

This mystery lady was a tall, skinny woman. Fiery red straight hair that fell to the middle of her back. She was wearing a dark blue pinstripe suit; underneath her jacket was a white button up, her skirt sat just above her knees, with red stilettos. She was in her late forties and walked with complete confidence. They were going towards the front door. Natalie hurried back into the room and let them know. Everything was almost cleaned up, the samples were gone.

They entered the main area of the building and briefly spoke with Dr. Reins and his secretary. Morgan had accompanied Dr. Reins and was waiting for them in his office. The others tried to figure out where to go or if they should just stay put, too late. They walked straight into the morgue, ignoring Dr. Rein’s office. They all just stood there quietly. The first in was the woman, as she opened the door they saw her badge, hanging off of her jacket pocket - it read "Darlene Harsh, Centers for Disease Control".

The others that followed her were three older men and one younger lady. They were wearing white zip up suits, and masks. The small group backed away from the body as they approached it. She started asking questions,

"Who are all you people?" she said in a matter of fact tone. She looked around the room, studying each of them, sat her bag on the empty tool table and took out a notebook. They went around the room, like in grade school and introduced themselves and their professions; she also wanted to know how and why we were involved in this autopsy. Everyone cooperated, uneasily to her liking. Then Dr. Mauller asked her why she was here. "Well, we got a call from a 'concerned citizen' that there may be an issue with this corpse. Normally we wouldn't bother, except he was an officer and sounded sincerely terrified, mentioned some odd happenings and we told him we'd look into it.

With that she motioned for her, people, to 'bag and tag' the body. She then required that they receive all of the samples and tissues that had been collected, just in case the body was contaminated with some relentless infection. Calper handed her some with a 'happy to help' smirk on his face. She was not amused. She turned to Natalie and asked if there was any more that they had 'forgotten', she said no. Darlene then said, "I'd feel better if we looked around, just to be sure".   And her team started opening everything. Nervous and obviously uncomfortable they sat down, as the CDC asked. One opened up the body door that contained the rest of the specimens.

CHAPTER 3

"They took everything. Who the fuck even called them?" Mauller was pissed. His face was red and he kept putting his hands on the top of his head, pacing around.

"It was one of the cops we talked to, she said so. I just don't know which one." Heike and Natalie looked at each other with disbelief that one of them would have called. "Seriously, they did NOT take our story seriously"

"Well someone believed it, and they called the CDC. They must have sounded very scared of it, or they would not have come all the way down to Dayton Fucking Ohio" Calper was starting to show his frustration, leaning back in his chair, shaking his head.

"Heike, who questioned you, after we left the police station?" Natalie asked trying to make some connection.

"Uh, oh it was Bryan - the one that took us home. He called and told me that he needed to ask a few more questions, could he stop by. It was odd though, he said he was getting ready to go in to work and wanted to ask me before he went in." She confirmed.

"So, what exactly did he ask you?" Calper leaned in.

"He asked me what I thought happened, I stuck to the story. He looked a bit rough but I just figured, 'he's a cop'. He asked me before he left if I was worried about the whole thing. I said 'hell yes I am it was the craziest shit I have EVER seen.' Then he gave me his card and left."

"It sounds like he was second guessing himself." Natalie said. "May be we should call him, just tell him we wanted to talk about the case and see what he says?"

"That’s not going to help us with the diagnostic process." Dr. Reins added.

Calper replied "No, but it could help us with the legal part, he could let us know if anything else has come up with the case".

"So, it's settled then, I'll call him." Natalie reached for her phone, Heike handed her his card. She asked him if he was free to talk about the case, not at the station. He said yes, he could meet somewhere in an hour, asked if her apartment was okay. She said yes. "Okay, so I should get home. Do you want to wait here, come over after?" She was asking the room.

"Yes. We're all in now." Mauller was right.

Natalie returned to her apartment about 40 minutes later, it was nearly 8pm. He arrived shortly after. She started with small talk, weather and other pleasantries; got him a coke and then he asked her why she wanted to talk.

"Well, I was thinking that the whole situation was bad, and I was so shook up that I may be acted like a big baby. I first wanted to apologize for that then I wanted to go back over it, to see if I missed anything. I hope that’s okay, I'm not wasting your time am I?" She tried looked at him with concern and a little bit of fear to let him know she was serious.

"No, that’s great actually. You were the only reliable witness, and as a professional you ARE a very reliable one. We just need to get you and your information on the same page. So, was there something in particular you wanted to tell me or do you just want to start from the beginning?"

"Let’s start from the beginning. You ask I tell, or do you just want me to start talking?" She asked, unsure of the best way to get information from him while sharing her own.

They started talking, from the very beginning. She went over the same basic story with him; he was asking a lot of off the wall questions. Finally she stopped, and asked him what he really wanted know. He stated very simply "I want to know what you were trying to tell me, before I pissed you off". He sat up uncomfortably in his chair, serious face. "I could not stop thinking about how freaked out you were and that you lied. You don't seem like the lying type of health care professional. So, even if you have to tell me 'off the record' what you really think happened, I want to know."

"Oh", she was stunned, "Can you excuse me for just a sec, I'll be right back". She went to the bathroom, in the back of the apartment, called Heike and told her what was happening. She said “He really seemed like he just wanted to know, the case was pretty straight forward anyway, well at least the murder part was.” Natalie said she was going to tell him what happened. They were resistant to the idea at first. She told them she would start slow, feel him out and if it felt safe, she'd continue.