Alpha-11

The examination staff brought Philip a cooked slab of prime rib.  One of the young scientists held the meat to Philip's face with a set of long tongs.  Philip showed signs of confusion over the cooked food.  He examined the meat with an inquisitive stare as if he wanted to consume it but was not sure if it was something he desired.  He sniffed a few times and turned his head toward the scientist holding the food obviously more interested in a human meal than in the cooked food.  Philip continued to stare which made the scientist uneasy and he eventually took the tongs away from Philip and placed the steak into a bag and sealed it for tests.

Dr. Dawson was busy examining Philip's blood through a microscope.  The blood had already begun coagulation which meant that it was no longer flowing and useable to Philip.  "From what I can tell our subject is deceased.  There is no indication of any functioning system in the body".  A group of young doctors dilligently took notes as Dr. Dawson explained his findings.  "What I would like to do is remove some of the subjects vital organs and determine what is causing his body to continue functioning".

The medical team suited up into surgical scrubs and brought in the necessary equipment to perform organ removal.  Dr. Dawson tied his surgical filtration mask around his face and placed a cap on his head to prevent any hair from falling onto Philip.  He ordered his staff to anesthetize the subject while it was still unclear if Philip could feel pain.  As the doctors injected Philip with regional anesthesia Dr. Dawson kept a careful eye on Philip's brain waves.  The needle was inserted and there was no indication that the brain was receiving any type of stimulus from the area of entry.  Normally the brain would go from being stimulated due to pain and slowly calm as the anasthesia set in however Philip's brain pattern never changed.  His hypothalamus showed active as he remained in a constant state of hunger.  Dr. Dawson waited for ten minutes and decided to proceed with the surgery.  As he cut into Philip's chest he noticed that the blood did not rush to the area of incision in fact there was no blood at all.  His chest opened as if the doctor was cutting through leather.  The doctor then broke through Philip's rib cage all the while no reaction from the subject aside from his continued gnashing at the staff.  To prevent any bites the team tied down his head and neck keeping it as stable as they could.  Philip would open his mouth and bite the air with no effect.

Dr. Dawson pulled away the ribs and stared into Philip's chest.  His heart was no longer beating.  Most of the team gasped when they saw it but Dr. Dawson remained calm as if he'd expected it, which he did.  He cut the heart out completely and removed it from the chest cavity.  All the while Philip's status never changed, his brain showed his hunger and his face stayed steady on the doctors.  Dawson took the heart and placed it on an examination table.  Out of habit he tried to reach for the stitching but realized there was no need to stitch the subject as his wounds were permanant uneffective.  Dr. Dawson left Philip's chest opened and walked off with his heart to examine it in private.  Most of the medical team stayed put, unaware that they were staring at the dead boy who was not quite dead.

"Let my research show that our subject is not alive in the functioning sense of a living human.  It however is reactive to uncooked food showing the urge to feed though it's brain may not even know why.  The molecular structure of protein in flesh is broken down when heat is added to it.  It appears that the pure protein in uncooked flesh has a level of amino acids that is unattainable in it's cooked counterpart.  The heart of the subject is non-functioning meaning that the subject's brain is the only thing keeping the body alive, in a sense.  Enough nervous stimulation is reaching the system to cause muscle movement in the most primal of means.  At the present time there seems to be no awareness of subject's surroundings and no indication that it can think or process typical information.  We will continue with our tests alloted the amount of time we are given.  I plan to research the brain with a risk of destroying the subject however if we are able to find a resolution or a way to slow down the subject's degeneration it may be worth the risk".

James Dawson turned off his recorder and placed it on his desk.  He removed his glasses and rubbed his temples which he often did when he was thinking.  His office was dimly lit by florescent lights powered by a diesel generator stationed outside of the constructed research tent.  The lights irritated James, though througout his career he had been exposed to years of bathing in the artificial lights.  At fourty-two years old time had not been kind to the doctor.  A self-proclaimed work-a-holic, James had spent two failed marriages within the confines of various hospitals and research labs.  Originally specializing in Orthopedics he felt himself being drawn away into the field of Biochemistry which was why he was chosen to lead the team there.  He rarely kept in touch with his 2 children and often wondered why he thought having kids was good in the first place.  Though now as he sat in his makeshift office, surrounded by researchers and doctors, he thought about his previous life with his families and the regrets that he could have avoided if he hadn't been so driven to succeed amongst his peers.

His right hand brushed through his thinned hair and he touched the bald spot on the back of his head.  Maybe if he hadn't been so stressed all of the time he could have avoided losing it.  It didn't matter now, who knew how much time he had left.  The world had taken a turn for the worse when he met Philip.  Nothing had been written about this disease, there were no records of past incidents.  Dr. James Dawson was now writing the history of human kind in his small poorly lit office.