The Troop

EVIDENCE LOG, CASE 518C

PIECE A-17 (Personal Effects)

Lab journal of Dr. Clive Edgerton [Original audio recording, pre-transcription]

Recovered from SITE A (220 Makepeace Road, Summerside, Prince Edward Island) by Officer Brian Skelly, badge #908

Test subject 13. Alpha series.

CHIMPANZEE (Marshall BioServices; breeding batch RD-489)

Age: 3 Years, 7 months. Female.

Subject’s pre-test weight: 105lbs

/Date: 09.22/

OBSERVING RESEARCHER: DR. CLIVE EDGERTON

09:00 I introduced the modified hydatid [Genetic Recombination Y8.9-0] via injection. Subject is alert and energetic. Enjoying the use of its large enclosure with swing bar, reflective steel mirror, and splash pool. Subject is evidencing no overt signs of distress or pain.

10:00 Subject state is unchanged.

11:00 Subject state is unchanged.

12:00 Subject state is unchanged.

01:00 Subject state is unchanged.

01:54 Subject displaying signs of agitation. Pacing its enclosure. It issues a series of vocalizations… shrill doglike yips.

02:13 Pacing continues. Vocalizations climb to a high and possibly pain-stricken pitch before softening. Subject is scratching its posterior aggressively. Blood observed in small quantities.

03:09 Subject has consumed all foodstuffs placed in its enclosure. Approximately 5lbs peeled and diced fruit, 1lb dried mealworms, 5lbs root vegetables. Equivalent to 10% of subject’s total body mass consumed in less than forty minutes [02:29-03:07]. Subject failed to masticate food fully. Subject choked on fibrous tubers. Subject regurgitated said tubers. Shortly thereafter subject consumed them again.

04:00 Subject continues to scratch its posterior aggressively. More blood. Half a pint lost? Possible risk of anal fissure.

05:00 Scratching has largely stopped. Prominent indentations under the ribs indicate rapid weight loss, although at perhaps a slightly slower rate than that registered in both rodent and feline test subjects. Weight loss still far too rapid to have any practical applications.

05:23 Visible folds of skin now gird the subject’s pelvic brim. Eyes sunken into skull. Tissue degradation evident. Subject’s demeanor placid and seemingly unconcerned. Hydatid has narcotizing effect? [post-edit note: see H. diminuta transfection case study]

05:45 A large hydatid has extruded from the subject’s anus. Approx seven inches long. Significant tissue damage, swelling, and redness evidenced at extrusion site. Possible anal prolapse. Subject appears to be in no evident physical pain. Hydatid now approx one foot long as of recording… two… now two and a half feet.

05:50 Subject paces enclosure. Movements sluggish and hesitant. The extruded worm—now five feet long—is trailing from subject’s anus. Hydatid is thicker toward midbody: diameter of a medium-gauge electrical cord.

05:52 Hydatid has fully extruded from subject. Approx ten feet in length. It lies in a cochlear coil on the bare cement. Subject seemingly unaware it has passed the worm. Eyes vacant and glazed. Bumping into walls. Visibly disoriented.

06:12 A bloody froth emits from subject’s mouth. Thick, creamy lather resembling milk foam. Subject evacuated froth with surprising force—hard enough that a copious quantity of blood simultaneously ejected from subject’s nose. [post-test update: investigation of froth showed it to be teeming with dwarf hydatids] Subject is seemingly unaware of trauma.

06:30 Definite prolapse of anus. Severely hemorrhaged fistlike section of lower colon plainly visible. Dark purple in color. Subject exhibiting no evident signs of distress.

07:00 Subject lies down heavily on nest of hay and sleeps.

08:00 Subject continues to sleep. Rapid aspiration of lungs.

09:00 Subject continues to sleep. [post-test update: upon consulting microphone rigged to pick up ambient sound inside the enclosure, a definite squirming sound could be heard between 09:13 and 09:16. Hypothesis: sounds emanating from within subject?]

10:10 Subject wakes suddenly. Eyes quite wide. The visible white portions are networked with burst blood vessels. Subject is in deeply agitated state. Clawing at face and body. Subject is gibbering uncontrollably.

10:12 Subject calm again. Hangs listlessly from play-swing.

10:14 Subject sits in play pool. Splashes water upon self apathetically. Water tinted red with blood from bodily wounds. Subject appears to be developing skin-surface lesions. Swellings noted on chest and arms and legs.

10:16 Subject pulling off hanks of fur. Subject staring at said hanks in a stunned and remote manner.

10:17 Subject is ingesting own fur. Subject is tearing off fur from arms and stomach and neck. Subject is ingesting more fur. There is blood… quite a lot of blood.

10:42 Subject steps out of pool. Moving with great difficulty. Ribs very prominent now. Outline of subject’s skull visible beneath thin skin. Much fur has been forcefully removed from body and face.

10:43 Subject staring into steel mirror. Subject appears to be examining itself. Subject is pawing the mirror gently.

10:45 Subject attacks mirror. Pounding it with great force. Subject leaves bloody prints on the steel. The subject is screeching and screeching and smashing fists into the mirror as if wishing to shatter it, shatter the reflection.

10:46 Subject moves away from mirror. Subject lies on concrete of enclosure. Subject emits low groaning sounds. Also hissing sounds.

11:00 [Dr. Edgerton exits observation booth. Dr. Nathan Erikson undertakes observational role]

11:15 Subject… suh-suh-subject is… Jesus. Jesus Christ… subject… subject is… subject is not a subject anymore. I mean, holy God, is she? How could she be? Subject is more bone than anything. Subject… Jesus, you poor thing. You poor fucking thing, you… I just… Clive, you bastard… this is… oh, Jesus. She’s trying to move. Subject—she is—she is trying to crawl over to something. I don’t know what… what the hell is that? Subject is—oh, Christ. Oh this can’t… subject clearly has a prolapsed anus. This is where the worm—I can now identify the coiled shape on the floor as a worm—where the worm must have exited her body. The subject is making her way toward the worm. The worm is long and white and greasy. The subject’s body and face are covered in lesions. They look like very large and terrible bee stings. Some are the size of golf balls. The subject’s mouth is opening and closing on nothing. Nothing. She’s bitten through her tongue. The subject is hissing—I do not believe she is making this noise herself. I believe the worms are making this noise somehow. The subject has made her way to the evacuated worm. The subject is toying with the worm… flicking at it with a finger… the subject… oh dear God, dear God don’t do that… oh… oh… the subject is—the subject is eating the worm. The subject is shoving the worm into her mouth. Force-feeding herself the worm. She’s eaten the worm. She’s eaten it all. It’s gone. The subject is mewling. Drowning-kitten sounds. She is mewling and lying still. Her lesions are pulsating… I think I can see… fuck no… Jesus. Jesus Christ—CLIVE!

11:23 [Dr. Erikson exits examination booth. Dr. Edgerton reenters]

11:24 Lesions appear to be breaking open all over subject’s body. Hydatids must have escaped the intestinal walls. They entered seams between pockets of subject’s muscle strata. They are presently exiting from fissures eaten through the subject’s swollen skin. They are smaller than the worm that exited the subject’s anus. Threadlike specimens.

11:28 Several large-ish specimens are breaking through the flesh of subject’s cheeks.

11:32 Subject drags itself to a standing position. Subject is reeling around clawing at self. Subject is tearing off swathes of infected flesh. Stark bone visible at subject’s left elbow. Subject seems largely unaware of bodily devastation.

11:36 Subject is tearing a long strip of flesh off forehead. Eyes nearly white. Cataracts? Ocular occlusion? Blood running freely. Subject making no sounds to indicate pain or suffering. Methodically peeling flesh. Several white threads can be seen wriggling in mangled tissue of forehead.

11:40 Two large hydatids break through the lens sacs of subject’s eyes. Worms infested the corneal vaults. Three-inch hydatids, quite thick, protrude from subject’s eye sockets, wriggling rather animatedly.

11:42 Subject blindly consuming own stripped flesh.

11:47 Subject immobile. Worms braiding into each other on exterior of subject’s body. Engaging in procreation?

11:50 Subject exhales heavily. Chest does not rise again.

11:55 Subject assumed deceased. Worms continue to exhibit movement, although not so energetic.

12:15 Exterior worm movement has ceased. Subject’s lower abdomen continues to pulse faintly.

12:33 Large quantity of worms evacuated from subject via anus and mouth.

12:40 All organisms deceased. Bio-decontamination and disposal processes initiated. Test concludes.

Test duration: 15 hours 40 minutes

Subject’s post-test weight: 44.3lbs

Total weight loss: 60.7lbs