Just Another Shot

Just Another Shot
By: Robbie Bulger


Sitting at his Senior Sales desk on the 121st floor of a secluded skyscraper, Billy picked up the phone and called his associate, Rhonda. The board members at Lab Sonic Medical Industries had just gathered in the conference room directly across the hall from him for an unscheduled meeting.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on. They all just started pouring into the conference room about a half hour ago. It’s definitely some secretive bullshit, something’s afloat, I know it! I’m looking at them all through the window as we speak. Check with New York, see if you can find out what’s up. It’s probably mass layoffs or a corporate takeover, nobody here knows shit about it,” Billy said. Nervously tapping his pen on the desk, he quickly searched the company’s webpage for more information, but found nothing. He then checked both the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones, and once again, Lab Sonic Medical stocks had taken another huge dive!
“Thanks Rhonda, let me know what you can find out ok, I’m gonna see if I can listen in, I’ll call you back in a bit, ok?” Billy turned on the intercom for the conference room and looked through the large glass window directly in front of him. The CEO (Lester Merck) started handing out vials of an unknown substance, then started to speak.

“Protocol 614-73 is set for trials next month, don’t log anything for now, just record any thoughts you might remember later on,” he said. With his back turned away from the window, Lester held up a vial of the new drug for the other board members to see.
“Life as we know it is about to drastically change for the better everyone, our stock options too!
The central nervous system is a mysterious thing, and we now own the one drug that has solved that mystery for good. Sure, there may be a few minor glitches and side effects along the way, but that’s what days like today are for… a kind of live testing if you will.”
After most of the board members had injected their vials, the conference room fell eerily silent for a moment. Suddenly, Pam Newson, the Senior VP of marketing, left the conference room and immediately walked over to the receptionist outside the door and punched her in the face. She fell to the floor screaming in pain, now looking terrified by what had just taken place.
Watching in disbelief as pandemonium broke out, Billy picked up the phone and started to call security but was too late. Before he could even dial the number, the conference room door swung open and everyone who had been in the meeting earlier, was now strolling down the hallway in a zombie like state, attacking the first person they came in contact with.
“You little son of a bitch, have you been spying on us?” A raspy voice shouted from behind Billy, as he was spun around violently. “Mr. Merck sir, what is happening, what have you done?” Billy asked.
“What do you mean? I haven’t done anything… yet, at least not anything they’ll ever prove!” his boss said.
“Relax, Billy, you’ve been with us for a while now, you gotta own at least some shares in the company, don’t you? I am pretty sure we gave you stock options when we hired you. By this time next year you’ll likely be a millionaire, you should be thanking me… another pandemic is gonna be great for us” he said.
Taking out an injectable pen and stabbing himself repeatedly in the arm, Lester Merck walked past Billy and opened a window. As he started moving closer to the window’s ledge, he looked back at Billy.
“I’ll bet you didn’t even know that AI could help cure the next pandemic, did ya Billy?” Mr. Merck said. “You’re talking about that new Protocol 614-73 drug, aren’t you? Are you out of your freaking mind sir? It hasn’t even been tested on humans yet and has already been known to kill rats and chimps on contact, specifically if they have taken previous vaccines. I can only imagine what it will do to humans” Billy said.
‘Well, that’s the whole point isn’t it, Billy? You can’t have a solution without a problem… there would be no money in that!” Mr. Merck said.
Climbing out onto the ledge and into the wind, Lester Merck, the CEO of Lab Sonic Medical Industries, put his fingers in his mouth and made a high-pitched whistle sound, summoning the other board members to his location. Raising his hands over his head, Lester jumped off the ledge of the 121st floor.
Piercing screams of terror now filled the entire floor, as a zombie like trail of Lab Sonic’s highest paid board members followed like sheep, one by one jumping out of the same window!
Stunned and physically shaking from what he had just witnessed, Billy sat at his desk, frantically trying to call security.
A few minutes later a loud ringing noise echoed from the hallway, while all six elevator bells dinged simultaneously. As the doors to the elevators slowly opened, everyone who had jumped out of the window earlier, had somehow survived pretty much unscathed. Other than some minor bruises and badly ripped clothing… they all survived! Now semi-conscious, the board members were once again making their way back inside the conference room.
Ring, Ring - “Hello, Billy? It’s Rhonda, I couldn’t find out anything, are you ok? What’s happening now?”
“No Rhonda, I’m far from ok!’ Billy said.
Then, silence filled the room.
Holding his phone in one hand and lighting a cigarette with the other, Billy stared into the conference room glass window, as Mr. Merck came into view. Both he and the other executives no longer seemed to be in a zombie like state. Mr. Merck stared back at Billy and laughed for a minute, just before giving him a sinister smile and forcibly closing the curtains.
The end