The Forgotten Experiment

Prologue: The Patient Zero Tapes

The VHS tape was labeled "SUBJECT 7 - TERMINATION FAILED" in shaky red letters.

I shouldn’t have watched it.

But as the archivist for Blackwood Research Facility, it was my job to catalog their abandoned projects. The footage showed a man strapped to a gurney, his veins glowing faintly blue under his skin.

"Final log," a scientist whispered off-camera. "Serum 7-X induces cellular regeneration but causes extreme...appetite changes. Subject has consumed two orderlies. Recommend—"

The screen filled with static.

When it cleared, the gurney was empty.

And something was licking the camera lens.

Chapter 1: The Basement Files

Blackwood closed in 1987 after a "containment breach."

Now developers wanted to turn it into condos, which meant boxing up sixty years of nightmares.

I found Subject 7’s file in a rusted cabinet:

NAME: Victor Harlow

CRIME: Murder (6 counts)

STATUS: Volunteered for parole program

The last page was a photo—Victor grinning, his teeth filed to points.

Scrawled beneath: "THEY TASTE BETTER ALIVE."

Chapter 2: The Hunger

The deeper I dug, the worse it got.

Experiment logs described test subjects who healed from gunshots in minutes—then tore through steel doors to get at the control group.

Autopsy photos showed stomachs packed with undigested fingers.

And then there were the tapes.

So many tapes.

In "SUBJECT 23 - FEEDING CYCLE," a woman sobbed as she devoured her own arm, the flesh regrowing faster than she could chew.

I was so engrossed I didn’t notice the temperature dropping.

Or the wet sniffing sounds from the air vent above me.

Chapter 3: The Survivor

Dr. Eleanor Grayson’s name appeared on every file.

The lead researcher. The one who’d supposedly died in the breach.

Her personal journal was worse than the official records:

"Day 187: The serum works perfectly if we remove the amygdala first. No guilt, no hesitation. Just perfect, obedient soldiers who never die."

The last entry:

"They’re in the walls now. Victor sings to them at night. I think I’ll let him in tomorrow."

A sticky fingerprint marred the page.

Still damp.

Chapter 4: The Awakening

The power went out at 3:33 AM.

My flashlight caught them in glimpses:

A hand with too many knuckles under the door

Teeth marks in the steel filing cabinets

The ceiling tiles breathing

Then the intercom crackled to life.

"Archivist," crooned a voice like ground glass. "We’ve been waiting for someone...tasty."

The vents exploded in a shower of dust as dozens of pale figures dropped around me, their glowing veins pulsing in unison.

At the front stood Victor—older now, his grin stretching ear to ear.

"Time for your physical," he whispered, reaching for my jaw.

Epilogue: The New Research

They never found my body.

Just my recorder, its final minutes filled with wet chewing sounds and a familiar voice humming "You Are My Sunshine."

The condos opened last month.

Funny thing—tenants keep reporting blue lights in the basement.

And the super swears he’s seen a man in a lab coat down there, offering free "health screenings" after dark.

"Painless," Dr. Grayson promises.

"You’ll live forever."