[Moosh da Outlaw]

Oh my... Good opening, eager to see where this goes.

Thanks.

Very, very good. The opening clearly expressed the entire setting, the possible characters involved and just what this epidemic is. I want to know what this Fuzzle/monster will do.

You'll find out soon enough...

Cool chapter! I can see how well you thought it all out. But I chuckled when the Intern said "Mmmm, mmmmmm?" and went to get these so-called "Happy pills".

Glad you liked it.

<~*~>

Shouts and wild cries erupted from a nearby door that had been left open. Dan flinched; he hated loud noises almost as much as he hated sorting fuzzle cages. Thats why he never wore his headphones. Sighing, the intern turned the corner and peeked boredly in the room. A group of interns inside were struggling to contain a pack of fuzzles that had broken loose. They were running around, stepping on fuzzles and flailing their arms. It was mass hysteria. Their vykker bosses, of course, were standing safely out of harm's way in the viewing stands on the outside of the broad, circular room. His own boss, Helix, was cackling like a maniac at the sight of a particular intern running around screaming with a fuzzle latched on to his face.

"Mmmmmm?" What happened now? Dan asked, crossing his arms. Nedd, who had managed to avoid being caught up in the chaos, rolled his eyes and replied,

"Mmmm mmmmmmm mmm." They want to see who would win in a fight- their fuzzle test subjects or a normal fuzzle.

"Mmmm?" Why?

"Mmm." Because they can.

The interns finally contained the fuzzles, who were smothered in blood and snapping their teeth. Dan watched as one of the interns picked himself up, weakly gave a thumbs-up to the vykkers behind the safety glass, and fainted from blood loss. Helix laughed even harder.

"Okay, so," A vykker said, blaring for his voice to be heard over the uncontrollable laughter, "lets start the tests. Nedd!" He shrieked unexpectantly. Nedd jumped in suprise. "Get your lazy butt moving and DO SOMETHING USEFUL!"

Nedd ran off to get the test subjects in the other room, still looking startled; more startled than he usually looked, anyway. Dan slinked off to the corner of the room, trying to appear invisible, but to no avail.

"DAN!" Helix barked, his voice shrill. "Where do you think you're going?!"

Dan flinched and stopped trying to hide. He shrugged in reply.

"Go get some new fuzzles or something, ones that haven't been reduced to tatters beyond repair! And get rid of these ones, they're starting to stink up the place."

Dan nodded submissively. He gathered up the cages of fuzzles, loaded them onto a cart, and wheeled them out of the room. The fuzzles inside were dripping blood and shrinking away from him, baring their teeth in an aggressive manner. Dan was unjaded. He pushed the cart into a foul-smelling room that was painted a chocolate brown color and lit to a minimum. It was lined with rusty, broken cages caked with dried blood. Even more cages hung from racks on the cieling to conserve space. Dan had to duck his head and press his elbows against his sides to avoid knocking anything over. He eventually came to a huge, perfectly round hole in a platform surrounded by thick chicken wire. At the bottom, too far for the eye to see in such gloomy conditions, was a massive pit carved into a huge metal jug. They dumped fuzzles, slogs and other test animals who had outgrown their use into the giant hole. The rotted meat was eventually shovelled out and used as food for the guard slogs on the basement level- it was much cheaper this way.
Without a second thought, Dan opened a fuzzle cage, shook it over the pit, and dropped the fuzzle inside. It shrieked as it fell, and Dan flinched. Why did they have to die so loudly? Couldn't they consider whoever might be listening?
When he was finished with his grizzly task, Dan went to the storeroom, which was pretty much a bleached-white hallway full of fuzzle cages, gathered up as many fuzzles as he could fit on the cart, and brought them back to the testing room. Nedd was already there, tormenting a fuzzle in a cage with a stick. Dan could tell by its lack of fur and foaming mouth that it had been recently injected with Cylonite less than an hour ago.

"Now then," A third vykker said cheerily. His name was Brux, and everybody hated him. He used to be just as bitter and evil as other vykkers, but, one day, when he was testing his equiptment, a machine backfired and electricuted him. It had effected his brain somehow, because when he had woken up, he was giddy and happy and overly-exited, much to everyone's horror. Nobody could understand his change in personality.
Brux literally skipped over to the infected fuzzle cages. He shoved Nedd backwards roughly, who landed on his back, suprised. Brux said "Leave the fuzzles alone. We can't have them angry for our tests!" and he skipped back to his seat. Helix shook his head slowly, struggling to comprehend what it would be like to be happy all of the time.
Two vykkers ushered Dan and Nedd away from the cages. They gratefully obliged and stepped behind the safety glass.
An intern who had survived the fuzzle attack, one who was covered in bloodied gauze, pushed a large bulletproof-glass box on a stretcher into the room, limping with each step. The two vykkers latched a fuzzle cage to each side; one that was infected, and one that was normal. The infected one spat and hissed at the normal one, and the normal one quailed under its murderous glare.

"Mmmm?" What's supposed to happen? Dan queried. The two vykkers stood behind the glass, prepaired to release the fuzzles on command.

Nedd shrugged. "Mmmm mm." Beats me.

Helix turned on a tape recorder and droned into it. "Experiment 1, test 1. Tested fuzzle, 51 minutes on Cylonite, vs. regular fuzzle."

They released the fuzzles.

The normal fuzzle recoiled as the contaminated fuzzle hopped cautiously out of its cage and sniffed the air. The atmosphere was tense. Nobody dared to break the silence. The normal fuzzle squeaked hopefully. The contaminated one swung around, flashing its needle-sharp teeth, and dove with abnormal speed and accuracy. It clamped down on the normal fuzzle's neck, thrashing and tearing away at skin and muscle. The normal one bit down above the eyebrow and pulled back, tearing away the flesh. The contaminated fuzzle screamed and jumped back, blood splashing down onto the floor of the container, and attacked again. The normal fuzzle countered, its jaws wide open, and tore away at the sicky fuzzle's left eye. The contaminated fuzzle aimed for the heart, and struck true. It was already over.
The match was followed closely by a bitter silence. The contaminated fuzzle nudged its dead opponent with its snout before tearing into it like a starving lion, tearing away hunks of flesh and swallowing it without chewing.
Helix spoke into his tape recorder:

The contaminated fuzzle won. There was a pause. Cylonite is dangerous. Our tests, as i've said before, have confirmed that the disease can be transmitted through violent contact with other subjects...

"Mmmm mmm?" Violent contact? Dan asked, horrified. It was unusual for interns to show any emotion concerning their subjects, but he made an exeption.

Nedd hummed: They can transmit the Cylonite disease by biting their enemies. It happens almost every time. That fuzzle there, the one eating the other one, got the disease from another fuzzle.

Can the disease jump species?

Nedd paused; this information was classified. Nedd, seeing as he was a higher rank and had been in the job longer than Dan, was allowed to know this information. I don't know, he lied.

The fuzzle crunched on the other fuzzle's bones and swallowed them, eyeing the two interns ravenously. Dan shuddered.

<~{.epidemic.}~>

The fuzzle didn't know where it was, nor did it care. All that mattered was that it had to bite something, had to spread the disease, the chaos, the power!
It hopped into a room from an air vent. It was a dark, gloomy labryith full of crying animals and endless rows of cages. It liked it here. It was cold, damp, and dark. Satisfied, it hopped under a rack covered with cages and waited.