Beyond the river Sanzu

ACT 2-Aromatic

That room's temperature was slightly colder than outside. That room hadn't a window, and it was dark inside. There was a small desk with four drawers and a chair. A wooden beige closet was leaning against the right wall. In the place where the bed should be, there was some sort of refrigeration reservoir. It had two small spinning fans, encrusted in the edges. At it's sides there were small bags, made of linen. Dan warily picked one of the bags and opened it. Inside there was parsley, the source of the scent.

He then opened the ark, and froze in shock. Between the rocks of ice, three statue-like figures were lying, motionless with the eye lids open: there were ... corpses in there. Dan backed away screaming, almost throwing up in disgust.
Cold sweat began, again running down his back. Unconsciously, he kneeled. How did that dead body ended there ? Were there experiments, morbid experiments, being performed in people ? Those persons had lost their colours, and appeared to be there for some time.

" I must stay calm; I can't afford to lose it now ! I've got to focus ! ", Dan thought, as he regained his composure, thinking in the man downstairs, and how Dan couldn't go nuts like him. Dan got back on his feet and started searching the desk for something that could point him some directions. The corpses were dressed, and the one in the bottom was still wearing a lab coat with a Biodine brand in it, and a name written: Rick Eill.
Probably a researcher too.
Those men were there for, at least, days, and the refrigeration prevented the stench reaching the other divisions. Vincent had to know that they were there. Suddenly, the refrigeration ark's motor stopped working, halting the noise and shutting the fans. Dan returned to the hall, leaving the door open and then proceeded to check the other rooms. Vincent was clearly a disturbed man, talking to himself and using strange drugs. The most certain fact was that he probably injected those men - his coworkers - and then... it could have happened to Dan if not by mere random toss of the coin. But why ?

In the other rooms he didn't find anything besides a few papers of research, graphics and a laptop, between traces of blood. As he left the third room, he felt something was different and realized something. He noticed that he now could hear the motor's sound, whereas before, when he climbed the stairs, he couldn't. A small suspicion grew inside him. To test his theory, he walked towards the middle door and closed it. He couldn't hear it functioning.
Then he opened it again and could hear it all, even the noise of the fans rotating. He concluded that the rooms were practically sound-proof. Even if there were people in there, they wouldn't hear them fight, anyway. The doors must of been made of a sort of polymer material that was insulating to noise. Hence if it wasn't for the cat begging him to get out, he wouldn't had opened the window, and wouldn't had heard the sound that startled him. In the end, he should be thankful to that « dumb animal ».

When Dan returned downstairs, the man was (yet somberly) petrified, gazing intensely upon his own feet, as if hypnotized.
As Dan walked around him, he discoursed an unexpected, resentful speech:
- And so, everything that Men wanted to live would be the return to childhood, and to the happy memories. Once you have them, you can become obsessed in to spend the rest of your life trying to make them happen again. Because people want to promote that hand drawn world that they knew. Each generation has it's definition of that ideal place.
I, for example, remember the time when technology was expanding ubiquitously, but still was a primitive and distant threat. Nowadays, it dominates and enslaves us, unmercifully. What do you think about that ? So, as machines are built to react in a more human way, people turn themselves, almost without noticing, into machines... - then he resumed his silence, and quietness.

Dan gazed him for quite some time, trying to think something about that sudden cyberpunk rant, and that man's pain. Maybe that was his way of apologize for all he had done, or a strange confession.
- What about my sister ? - Dan asked once more, exasperated.
- Somewhere... I... don't know... I haven't seen her for some days now...
- In the research site ? - Dan was almost fulminating him with his stare.
- She is Dr. Sagi's assistant... he's a weird person... he's...
- What on earth happened here, you murderous maniac ?
- They came.... they escaped...they're everywhere !
- They, who ?
The man didn't answer. Dan repeated the question. Again, no reply.
Dan couldn't think anything, and he didn't want to. He kept looking at that wretch, astonished and disdainful.

It was, clearly, something related to the lab center. Could she still be there ? What to do ? He should call her again, or the police, or somebody that could help.
His cell phone was in pieces, completely ruined. He couldn't call the police, or anybody else, and the freaking house hadn't a phone as well.

The kitchen's cabinets had the normal items that a kitchen has, like pans, frying pans, forks and spoons, glasses and dishes, and several more items. He decided to go to the town and look for help, that is if there was still someone in town who hadn't go crazy. As he was preparing to cross the exit door, the man mumbled again, ominously:
- They... - but Dan decided to not listen to him.
Outside, he went to the car, but it didn't start; it seemed it hadn't gas anymore. A little further down the street, he found an indigo coloured motorcycle.