The Zompire by Wayne Brown

such case made it out and were to be judged as a criminal offence against the state, his word would sure hold little water against theirs. He called Lenzo in secret to seek his advice. Lenzo thought about it briefly and figured that even though it was risky to tell them now of research into this serum, it was necessary to let them know now because he doubted that they would leave the lab without seeing the remains of the vampire cremated. He told Mabel he could let them in on it and also explain to them the chance that the serum could revive and give them chance to conclude their tests on the vampire. Lenzo let out a worried sigh as he finished the call and went back to where the rest of them were in the lab room.
     
    “We have a last avenue to explore” he began …. “towards the end of the previous year we launched into a research which we believed to be worthwhile in this lab and the results we got have been resounding and astonishing. Not much is known outside about this research as we did everything including funding of this research within ourselves here. We succeeded in developing a serum which can regenerate dead cells. It has been administered to smaller mammals and has worked. I’m suggesting we try this serum on our specimen. It might yet revive him…..”
     
    They had all been listening attentively. As opposed to his expectation that they will be offended that they had not been involved in the research and development of the serum, they were curious to see the effect and use of this serum which would be fascinating if it did serve the purpose it is said to.
     
    “ I very much hope you’re not squeezing our balls with this one….and for the sake of your job, you better fucking hope it works!” said one of his superiors.
     
    “Do we have this bloody hell serum available now?” Dr Kerkov chipped in and asked.
     
    “Yes we do,” Mabel replied.
     
    “Let’s give it a try then..” Kerkov replied, looking at the rest of his colleagues who gave their approving nods and looks.
     
    Mabel led the way through the flight of stairs and passage that led to the serum storage area. It was a cold room which ensured the serum is stored under temperatures that favors its preservation. He took out two tubes filled with the serum. Mabel told them that he was not certain the dosage to be given to the vampire as they had not administered it to a large mammal before then. They talked about how best to determine the appropriate dose while questions were thrown also as to how it was usually administered. They brainstormed when they got back in the theatre and after few deliberations, decided it would be appropriate to calculate the dosage to be given based on the body mass ratio of the vampire to that of the smaller mammals that had been used in the initial tests of the serum. Mabel checked his records and obtained the file for the rabbit named ‘Malcolm’ on which they tested the serum first on. After calculating the mass ratio and obtaining the appropriate dose, Mabel instructed the assistants to set out the tools and equipments for the bone marrow operation. The delegates from the National scientific research body were excited as much as they were surprised at the intricacy of the procedure. They had not expected that the point of injection would be the bone marrow. The surgery which took nearly an hour was a tedious one and everyone was glad when it was all done. They left the theatre and after taking off their overalls and gloves, they washed thoroughly before going to the lounge to relax. A training assistant to Mabel kept watch to observe and look out for any changes. After two hours of rest. Mabel announced that he wanted to go and check on Michael who was observing the Vampire. He met him there, still waiting but there were no changes yet in the readings of the meters. Mabel told him he could now let it be.
     
    “He is on lock down anyways; whenever it awakes we would come to see him” he said.
     
    They