((This story is the equivalent of a somewhat dark, sexual, fairy-tale. By virtue of content, I settled on the science fiction category to publish it under. It's meant to be the first in a series. Being extremely short, this first chapter is a quick read.))
"That's my daughter, that's my daughter.... I have to get her out of there!"
John Miller could hear Susan's father up in the observation pod, screaming those words as he saw what was happening to the two of them.
John knew there would be no rescue. The protocol was to let such an event run its course.
At the sound of her father's voice, a shudder seemed to run through Susan Montgomery. A brilliant scientist in her own right, she had known instantly what would happen when the catastrophic leak took place.
For months the laboratory had worked to perfect the chemical agent which assaulted certain areas of the brain, causing an irresistible impulse to have sex.
The stuff was officially known as PK-12, but amongst themselves, workers in the laboratories referred to it as the "Sex Formula."
In experiments with animals it was so overpowering that the creatures would routinely try to breed outside their species.
The sight of chimpanzees mating with dogs, cats with rabbits, or large lizards with rats, had a sobering effect on the technicians who had close contact with the unfortunate animals.
What the privately funded project hoped to accomplish with the discovery was unclear, but the scientists associated with the government wing of San Vada Institute had recently become interested in their work.
Consequently, the scientists responsible for PK-12 were keeping its properties a well guarded secret. This didn't deter certain government researchers from suggesting the possibility of human trials moving forward. Discussions had begun on the possibility of experimenting on volunteers.
It was an idea dismissed out of hand by the woman who invented it, Doctor Stacie Montgomery. The 42-year old scientist deemed the risk far too great. Too much about her "sex formula" was still unknown.
Now, because of the accidental release in one of the isolation chambers, two human beings had been fully exposed. The observation pod was filling up with dozens of researchers who wanted to observe the results.
Susan Montgomery actively disliked John Miller. They came from vastly different backgrounds. She had grown up wealthy, attended an Ivy league school, and had followed her parents into bio-research at the laboratories they partially owned at San Vada.
He was from a poor family, had struggled through a city college, and only entered the field because he desperately needed the work.
John was very well thought of at his job, which he believed explained some of Susan's dislike for him. She wasn't used to having to treat people she considered inferior as equals.
The fact they were both working under Susan's parents, who had come to depend on John's engineering skills, probably made things worse.
Everything John said or did seemed to grate on Susan's nerves as time went by. When they'd first met, he immediately saw what a hard worker she was. He found her to be bright, level headed, and occasionally witty. Despite her usual appearance around the lab, he also thought she was a potentially pretty girl.
At work, Susan looked like the classic Hollywood version of a nerd, with her mismatched clothes, her lab coat, her ever present slide rule, outrageous glasses, and comfortably outdated tennis shoes.
She never wore even a hint of perfume, or a touch of makeup. Had she been a character in a movie, she would be teaching advance classes at "Geek High."
Away from the lab, with her hair down, and her horn rimmed glasses replaced with contacts, she could be an attractive young woman with her platinum blond hair, and blazing green eyes... When she put a little effort into it.
What John didn't realize was that she came from a family that valued intelligence over physical attributes, which is why Susan didn't always make the most use of what she'd been born with.
Her intelligence often scared men off, which resulted in a lot of insecurity on her part. She actually had a strong sex drive, which was frustrated by the fact she could be unapologetically rude, and quite snobbish at times. Never the best qualities for attracting the opposite sex.
Her two best girlfriends stopped trying to match her up when they were still seniors in high school together. Although they knew she had a warm heart, and could actually be free spirited at times, when it came to boys, they considered her hopeless.
It was when Susan started college that she developed a secret sex life that almost nobody knew about.
At 23 she was two years older than John, but they had enough in common at work that at first he hoped they might actually become friends. He flirted with her on occasion, but always in the nicest, most respectful ways.
Sometimes he thought he saw something flicker in her eyes, but for the most part she remained unreadable. Still, he looked forward to their brief exchanges at work, few and far between as the were.
Then one night at the institute's village tavern, about six months after they had met, and unbeknownst to Susan, John overheard a conversation she had with another female scientist.
Normally he wouldn't have eavesdropped, but he was sitting alone, had downed a few shots, and was nursing a beer. Besides, he had frankly found the subject matter fascinating.
The two women were conversing about possible sexual partners, and they discussed nearly every man at the institute, young or old, single or married.
When John's name was mentioned, Susan snorted, and giggled meanly. She had a few choice words about John's physical appearance that made his skin crawl. Apparently she wasn't too impressed by his juvenile attempts at flirtation
either. Finally, she made it clear she would rather fall in love with one of the chimpanzees at the lab, than to find herself in bed with Mr. Miller!
The two women laughed merrily, and their conversation ran on.
John was stunned beyond measure.
He had always been nice to her. He had given her no reason to regard him with such contempt. As a scientist she had to know that some personalities were never going to be compatible, but to make that sort of a statement...To prefer being with a chimp...
That fucking Bitch!
Saying something like that to a colleague, in a public place, was unprofessional and unacceptable. He felt like walking around the divider, where he was slinking even lower in his seat, approaching her table, and throwing his beer in her smug face. Maybe she would find that funny.
Fortunately, that feeling passed quickly. He left without being seen by the two women, angry and slightly depressed.
He couldn't very well confront her about it. What would be the point? So he began to avoid her whenever possible at work.
In the weeks that followed, the rolling of her eyes, the muttering under her breath, the clicking of her tongue, all wore on his nerves.
What he overheard her saying about him that night hardened his resolve.... He wanted nothing more to do with Doctor Susan Montgomery.
And yet there they were, NAKED together on the floor of Isolation Chamber 3-B!
He had reluctantly walked over a report she needed from another worker who claimed she was behind on her own project. He dropped the paperwork off on the counter beside her, and was turning to leave when the leak occurred.
He heard the alarm go off, and the sound of the heavy door automatically locking and sealing them in. He whirled around to see Susan looking wildly at him, her eyes wide with fear.
"Oh no," she cried, sounding like a scared teenager. "Kathy did this. Oh, God, Please---NOOOOOOO!"
She pushed past him, pathetically throwing herself against the massive door, trying to claw her way through it.
