Gina Cantelli brought the ad to the door of 1313 Forandring Street, a
fairly typical, unmarked building. Gina herself was a reasonably
pretty young woman; 24 years old, skin that was just a little pale,
straight but short black hair and bright green eyes. She wore a
horizontally striped black and white shirt and tight black jeans. In
her youth she had been a typical goth kid, but grew out of that after
high school. Ever since getting out of school she'd been staying home
with her parents, unable to get a job or afford college. So the chance
to make a few bucks from some innocent medical testing sounded just
fine to her.
Gina opened the door to the building and stepped inside a bland
doctor's office waiting room, complete with cheap carpet and plastic
plants, several uncomfortable looking chairs against the wall and a
middle aged secretary behind a desk. Gina stepped forward nervously,
not sure that this was the right place.
"Uh, 'scuse me," Gina said to the receptionist. "I'm here for the
medical testing... This is 1313 Forandring Street, right?"
The receptionist looked at Gina, surprised but bored. "Oh. Someone
showed up. Yeah, this is the place. You got the ad?" Gina showed her
the newspaper. "Alright, take a seat. I'll let the doc know someone
showed up."
Gina did what she said and sat down on one of the chairs as the woman
picked up a phone and spoke into it. "Hey, doc. Yeah, finally got
someone. The girl's out here now. Go ahead and send Jimmy out."
In a few moments, a handsome man in pale green scrubs opened the door
next to the receptionist's desk. "Miss? You're here for the testing?"
Gina stood up. "Yeah, so long as you guys are paying... Am I the only
one here?"
The man, Jimmy, apparently, shrugged. "Only one so far. Come on back."
Gina followed the man as he turned around and walked to the back. Gina
gave a little wave to the middle aged woman she never got the name of,
who ignored her completely.
The man lead Gina back through a short hallway to a sterile office in
the back, a simple table inside with a sealed cooler on it. He
gestured to a chair next to the table and Gina sat down, confused.
"Hey... Jimmy, was it?"
The man chuckled. "Heh. My name's James. Dottie just likes to call me
Jimmy."
"Alright, James. This place is kind of weird for medical testing.
Don't they usually have these kind of things in doctor's office's or
hospitals? And can you tell me what it is I'll be, y'know, testing?"
James sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I've been working here for about
six months now and it's not like any doctor's office I've ever been
to. Still, Dr. Noriko knows what she's doing. And you, miss...?"
"Gina Cantelli."
"Ms. Cantelli. You'll be testing a new energy drink designed by Dr.
Noriko. It's been tested safely on animals, but you'll be the first
human trial." James reached over to the cooler, which Gina nervously
noticed had a bio-hazard sticker on the side, and opened it, with rows
of tall soda cans inside.
"Wait, I don't have to sign any papers or or contracts or anything?"
"Dr. Noriko said she wanted to keep this sorta... under the table.
Feel free to walk out if you're not comfortable with that. I can
promise you'll get paid, though."
Gina almost did walk out, but she did want the money, and James said
the drink she was going to test was safe for animals. It would
probably be safe for her, too. (Besides, James WAS rather cute.)
Tentatively, Gina reached for one of the cans...