Before the Fall

Chapter Two - Hazards of the Job

Aster

Xander and I were put into a team of about five other people. We were assigned to the large bioengineering and biomedical firm, H-Corp. Our lead editor told us that the company had sketchy ties to the government and rumors on the street was something huge was about to go down.

We tried going right in the front door, so to speak, but were rejected for interviews or answers to any questions we had.

We even stooped so low as to go dumpster diving through their trash.

What company incinerates everything they discard? Who does that?

H-Corp.

That's who.

One by one our team members quit. They, like Xander and I, had been fielding harassing phone calls, attacks on our financial information, and we even felt as if we were being watched sometimes.

More like, all the time.

I tried not to become paranoid. Even as my laidback, always smiling husband became antsy and constantly on edge, looking over his shoulder every few minutes.

Nothing was sacred as far as H-Corp was concerned.

We once found hidden cameras in our bedroom, focused on our bed. Everything we did had been filmed and was being held as blackmail material in case we decided to continue our investigation.

What we had discovered about H-Corp is they had a thing for animals. Small ones at first, mice, squirrels, etc. before they gradually began acquiring larger animals, such as foxes, cats, dogs, wolves. People who walked into H-Corp, usually through a side door, were never heard from again.

Nothing linked these people together. It made our investigation very difficult.

The authorities turned a blind eye, whether paid or threatened, they just didn't care. Every time we showed up at the police station, we were thrown out.

We began to think we were the crazy ones.

After three years of this, our firm was shut down. The owner had left and emigrated to Argentina or something. No one knows for sure. But we showed up to work one day and found the doors chained and all of our belongings on the sidewalk, already picked through by the homeless and less than ethical population of the city.

Xander never once admitted defeat. I begged him to quit but he insisted we continue. H-Corp had something to hide and he swore we would somehow be the ones to expose them.

But I was afraid.

Strangers would brush past me in the stores, breathing threats into my ears before walking away with a smile like nothing happened.

My parents disappeared.

Every friend I ever had, no longer existed.

Yet Xander and I persevered. We spent all of our savings on lobbying the government. Sending emails with our findings, letters, packaged, whatever it took.

Emails were blocked.

Letters were returned.

Packages were reported as suspicious, leading police to our door.

And then one day, we were invited to H-Corp.

* * *

Xander

I knew Aster was afraid. In an almost clinical OCD way, she ran over every surface of our apartment before we slept each night. No plants were left, as she had discarded them for fear electronic bugs were in them spying on us.

Her paranoia was severe, but understandable. She often complained that people threatened her when she went places, and it happened to me as well. It got so bad at one point, she almost had a panic attack walking into the library.

When we received word her parents had disappeared, we immediately contacted the police, but because of our reputation, they authorities didn't even bat an eye at our report.

We knew the real reason they ignored us.

It was H-Corp.

They had heckled our co-workers so badly, many of them had either given up on the job, and some had given up on their life. Two of our co-workers committed suicide.

But I'm like a bulldog.

When I get my teeth into something, it's hard for me to let go.

Even when I should.

I should have let go for Aster.

I never thought she would suffer the way she did because I wouldn't give up on exposing a hideous company for what it was doing.

All the leads we had led to one common theme.

Animals and humans.

Crossing DNA and genetics to create new species.

New beings.

New types of humans.

And they were doing it at an alarming rate.

Faster than any lab had done with cloning.

We had suspicions they had already succeeded.

But what could a few hybrids do to eight billion humans?

I wish I never knew.