Ryan Lambert could feel his stomach churning as he watched the news unfold on the television screen.He convinced himself that he could feel it from his head to the tips of his toes, and it was an extremely unpleasant sensation.His StoLucash couldn't be the only thing churning.His entire body must have been shaking.Even though it appeared as though he was still, he was actually in a very rapid, very dangerous tailspin that threatened to spill his insides across the laboratory floor. It was as though the world was spinning in perfect time with his body.

Normally, Daniel Shue, Ryan's boss and tall, bald, and irritable forty-something, would have been dissatisfied that there was any outside electronic in the room.He would have yelled at Ryan, "This is a research laboratory," "not a movie theater," or some other non-comparable comparison, in a weak, straining voice that sounded like it had been idle for too long.He would not, however, be enraged on this day.He was not going to be bothered at all on this day.He was going to die the day he sat in the corner of the room and looked over Ryan's shoulder at the screen.

Ryan held the phone uselessly in his white-knuckled hand for almost two hours, as if he expected it to ring at any moment.or, at the very least, inform him in some way that it would once again be available for use.He had refused to give up for the first hour, dialing again and waiting through several busy signal beeps, half expecting and half hoping that they would turn into a ring, but they never did.It became increasingly apparent to the two men in the room as time and the news progressed that assistance would not arrive today.In fact, Ryan began to doubt that assistance would ever return.Help was a relic of days gone by.Life had come to an end.He was aware in his heart that the world had devolved into this by watching nothing but death on television.

They had turned it into this.

Not that they had intended for this to happen.They had only good intentions at all times.They had lived their lives with only the best intentions.At least, that's what they were attempting to convince themselves of at the moment.

It wasn't like they didn't have a good reason to believe it.Their brains were complete medical knowledge databases.Ryan was certain that he could, if necessary, diagnose, treat, operate on, and nurse back to health almost any number of typical, problematic medical problems that they would face on a daily basis at any hospital, even though he had never actually tried, at least not seriously.With the changes in the world he was watching, it started to seem significantly less unreasonable to consider using those latent skills.

Of course, he was smart enough to know that sending someone to an actual medical doctor or surgeon would be the vastly preferred first step to any treatment he might recommend.

However, it was precisely that knowledge that had led them here.Their minds and hearts had sung the anthem of "First do no harm" with the fervent devotion of a priest, but their hands had unfortunately made a reality that was worse than the worst horrors of their nightmares

Daniel shifted a little on his stool as he coughed, a disgusting, hacking cough full of blood and spit.He rolled his head along the wall as he did this in the hope of finding a more comfortable place to rest it against the concrete and metal that made up the cabinet and wall he was leaning against.Ryan was jolted out of his slumber by the sound and the movement, which brought him back to the real world.He finally released the phone from his hand and let it fall onto the table, though he did so reluctantly.He raced across the room to meet his superior.

Ryan made his decision as he walked, forcing the unsettling thought down his throat.There was no reason why the man should have to die on his own, without a friend by his side, when he could be dead in a matter of minutes or even seconds.Even though the two men did not always get along, they certainly respected one another and were able to come to an understanding of one another at this point.

The black man, who was tall and thin, comforted his friend by holding his friend's shoulder.Daniel, how are you doing?Can I get anything for you?”He asked, his voice annoyingly trembling as if expressing the internal terror.

Despite the fact that Daniel's eyes were rolling in their sockets, he barely moved otherwise.Ryan couldn't tell for the life of him whether the man's grim wheeze was the other man breathing or just a noise he couldn't help but make.

"Are you alright?"The older man's harsh and irate voice echoed.How in God's name could I possibly be okay?Do you think I look good to you?Do I appear to be okay in any way?”He had difficulty speaking the more he tried, and by the end of his brief speech, he was coughing and hacking incessantly.After that, the coughs stopped all of a sudden, and Daniel let out a cry of pain while doubling over in his chair, clutching his side where the wound was.He nearly fell to the ground due to the intense pain;if it weren't for Ryan, who was standing there like a skilled sentry, ready for the next move, they would have fallen to the ground.

As he attempted to free the other man's hands from the wound, the younger man said, "Let me see it."Let me see it, okay?

Despite Daniel's weak whimpers and moans, he allowed his hands to be removed from the bloody hole so that his fellow citizen could examine it.Ryan kept some hope in what they were dealing with as he moved past the other man's hands and dug through his lab coat.This fire was stoked by his recent reflections on the potential applications of his medical knowledge, and before long, he was fully convinced that he could even cure the man.After all, maybe there was still hope.He knew better when he saw the wound.

There was no hope.

Pus was thick, light yellow-grey, and bulging from the cut, which was green and brown.It was an absolutely disgusting sight that no human being ought to ever have to witness.Ryan came to the horrifying conclusion that no medical professional would be able to assist them at this time.A wound like that would never have been seen by a doctor.Ryan had, though.He knew right away what it was.He also knew that a lot more people would soon come to learn now.A lot of people would undoubtedly become accustomed to seeing this sight.

He took off his clothes and let his hands fall to the ground.As if he could just hold onto his side with enough force, Daniel quickly resumed his gripping motion.Without saying a word, they both knew what was going to happen then.Without saying a word, they were both aware of the horror that ensued.

Daniel said, his voice suddenly calm, almost as if it had managed to separate from his body and become its own distinct entity. "It's the end of the world," he said.Ryan noticed that the other man's eyes were fixed on him as he was looking past Ryan when he looked up at him.He followed the man's gaze until it brought him back to the television, where it was hard to tell whether the images were just the nightly news or a Hollywood blockbuster about Armageddon.

Ryan said softly, "You don't know that."That was completely ignored by either man, and neither of them even acknowledged the statement.

The room was enveloped in a melancholy calm.In a day filled with ominous events, it may have been the most unsettling.Ryan was deeply troubled by the fact that the other man seemed to have forgotten about his wound, despite the fact that he did not want his friend to suffer.Daniel had his arms outstretched at his sides and didn't try to cover the big hole or stop the fluids from getting in.

From the direction of the television, soft, quiet screams broke out.Ryan turned to see something fall over a man, tearing into his flesh and dragging him to the ground.The camera then turned to flee, shaking the view violently.

The eerie calm voice of the anchorman was saying, "...warn you to stay inside, lock your doors, and make no attempt to leave."

Ryan was shocked and diverted from the news when Daniel said suddenly, "We played God," and "And He is angry with us."

Ryan replied, "We did nothing of the sort," surprising himself with his rage.We acted appropriately.We were only attempting to do what was in everyone's and our best interests.We attempted to save lives.In the void, the words echoed hollowly.They didn't seem to have the same weight as Daniel's argument, for some reason.

Ryan told himself that he was just delusional.The man was ill and even dying.With the fever and pain, he must be completely out of his mind by this point.The rantings of a madman shouldn't come across as anything more than that in his words.

However, Daniel's voice and motionless body suggested that he was rejecting all rationality and reality.

We sought to alter our lives and take control because we were dissatisfied with our destiny.We wanted to see things that man was never meant to see and go places that man was never meant to go.Now that we have cursed ourselves, we are doomed to face our own worst nightmares and then vanish, leaving behind no trace of our existence.The only thing that will remain is a small, plain sign that reads, "Here be monsters."And the name of that monster is "Man."