Excerpt: Counting Sheep for Wolves

Dr. Jackson Webber held up the opaque serum, tears glistening in his eyes. He had done it, he had finally done it! Immortality was in his grasp, in reach of every living thing on the planet. For fifty long years he alone had struggled when all else had given up, and now the world would reap the benefits.
He placed the test tube gingerly back in its holder, looking longingly at the deep blue liquid. Soon enough he would get his turn to taste eternal life, but for now there were regulations to follow, red tape to cross and papers to sign. Human trials could be bypassed entirely; he had done enough work with donor tissue to be assured there would be no side effects.
The doctor spared a moment to play with his favorite lab-rat, ENV#300-52, or Envy as Dr. Webber called him. The rat had been one of the first to live through the doses, and was nearing twenty years old. At that point the serum had been imperfect, and while never the most friendly of rats, Envy was growing more and more aggressive as the years went on. However, Dr. Webber thought, that could be because of the flawed nature of the drug, or perhaps the strain of living so far beyond his natural lifespan. Shutting off the lights, Dr. Webber finished his closing up-routine, his fabrication machine already set to generate a barrel of serum by dawn the next morning.

Opening Scene: Host PETER MANOWITZ sits on set in his red chair; GUEST sits in smaller leather chair. Camera 3 pans left slowly, focuses on GUEST’s face.
“Dr. Webber, am I understanding this correctly? You claim to have invented an immortality drug?”
“First: thank you for having me, Peter. Secondly, that is correct; I have successfully engineered a vaccine against humanity’s last disease: age.”
“Wow. I must say, I am impressed. Now, what do you think this means for the entertainment industry?”
“Actors will be able to continue their careers indefinitely, directors will be able to keep making great movies, and game show hosts can come close to equaling Bob Parker’s reign.”
Laugh track in background.
“Well thank you for coming on the show, Dr. Webber. You saw it here first, folks: the immortality drug is a thing of our present!”

Kitty Eldritch is suing the Gregory Smith Memorial Hospital, on charges based on a “failure to meet expectations.” Miss Kitty went into the hospital early last Monday for an experimental total body rejuvenation treatment, which should have corrected the damages age has done to the thirty-two year old. In her statement, she showed dissatisfaction over her results, which quote “Were like, really disappointing. I just want to look like I’m eighteen again, right? And they totally messed up.”
The hospital rebutted with a statement of its own, stating that Miss Kitty had undergone the procedure with full knowledge of its experimental qualities, and signed a form of consent.
The case goes to court later this week.

“Hey, did you hear about that ghost up in the old hospital?” Darcy asked her friend Evan.
“No, what?” Evan replied, always eager for a ghost story, especially around Halloween.
“Well supposedly, there’s a ghost or something wandering around the hospital, the one they shut down left week? You know which one. They say it wanders the hallways at night, crying out to be fed. You can hear it when the wind is right.”
“Ghosts don’t eat,” Evan said, playfully smacking her shoulder. “You mean there’s a zombie!”
“Zombie, ghost, whatever,” Darcy said, rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders. “Anyway, it was wandering the hallways, they say it got loose yesterday and that’s why the schools are closed down!”
“Nah,” he replied, “I heard it’s because there’s a raw sewage leak under the cafeteria, so gross!”

This is an emergency broadcast. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill.
There is a contagion loose in the area. Please remain in your homes. If you have come into contact with someone who may be infected with this contagion, bring yourself and them down to the inquiry station set up in the center of town immediately.
It is unsafe to leave your homes, please remain indoors until the contagion is contained.
This is an emergency broadcast. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill…

A small sign on the outskirts of a downtrodden city reads:
We have food and water. We can provide safety and shelter. Follow the A58 train tracks down to the station, and cover your tracks. We will have someone stationed there every day at noon, when the sun is highest in the sky.