Ashley studied the slide in front of the microscope in frustration. Why didn't it work? She had spent years of her life trying to produce a hybrid of plant and animal. A plant with a circulatory system like an animal. An animal that could survive through photosynthesis. It would create a cheap source of food that would end world hunger. But every experiment ended in failure. The plant and animal DNA refused to bond, regardless of what method she used.
The latest batch of cells lay inert on the glass slide. She threw it on the ground in frustration. Looking at the glass on the floor, she felt a little guilty. Why should she force some poor janitor to clean up after one of her tirades? She reached down to pick up the glass, and pricked her finger on one of the shards.
She cursed her stupidity. She should have used gloves. But the cells were dead, so they couldn't harm her. But the glass was another story. She tried to wash the small particles of glass out of her finger under the sink.
As she washed her finger, she noticed that it began to turn pale green. As she continued to wash, the green color appeared to get darker, and spread up her finger to her palm. She removed her hand from the sink and held it up to the sunlight streaming through her lab window. There was a rapid explosion of growth, as her whole forearm turned green. Small thin vines began to sprout from her arms, like small hairs.
The cells, thought Ashley. My blood must have reactivated them somehow. I have to stop them before they spread throughout my whole body and kill me.
She pulled her arm out of the light. The growth slowed, but she could still feel it creeping up her arm. She hid her arm in her lab coat, and walked into the hallway.