Dr. Zushioh Phd

His name was Dr. Zushioh, PhD. A scientific theory he had developed indicated that it was possible to create organic life. His idea was that if one gathered all of the essential DNA and organs needed then one could create an entirely new species. If he were able to succeed in this endeavor, he would be a god. All he needed were the pig organs he had ordered two days before, but they still hadn’t shown up and he was getting anxious.

If the science organization he was being funded by found out about his little experiment, he would be finished and his entire legacy wasted. The organization would consider it insanity. No, he needed those organs immediately. What could he do? There was not an animal in sight that he could use. Just then he heard his cat, Boots, scratching at the door. He couldn’t murder his own cat. What a horrible thought. He let the cat in opening a can of tuna placing it on the floor for Boots to eat . He sat down at his desk. He needed to think this through.

Dr. Zushioh watched the cat closely, staring at the layered colors of its sleek orange fur. The cat, nibbling at the tuna, gave him no notice. Lying on the table was the scalpel he had smuggled home from work to use when the pig organs arrived. He needed those organs. Time was running out. To think! A new species of his very own! What would he call it?… But to kill his cat? Who had been through so much with him?… But the cat was old, and nearing his time anyway.

Poor old Boots looked up at his owner. Dr. Zushioh had a bitterness that started in his eyes and seemed to quiver through his whole body as his right hand went to pick up the scalpel. As he wrapped his fingers around the knife, his hand shook like the knife was pumping electricity. As he grasp the blade, a single tear rolled down his face. A look of pain in his eyes, he pet the cat gently with his free hand. “It’s all going to be okay.” He reassured the cat. “It will all be over soon.” The cat purred, but he could also sense the tenseness in his owner’s body.

Dr. Zushioh slowly brought the blade to his cat’s throat. The cat had fallen asleep and looked happy and warm. The doctor felt like he was going to vomit. “I’ll make it quick and painless.” He reassured himself. He brought the blade closer and then swiftly he sliced the cat’s throat. A look of horror seeped onto his face. The blood on his hand reflected in his eyes. He cried “No! Oh God! No! He wept, the tears filling his face. In a vain attempt to play ignorant with himself, he mumbled painfully, “Boots, wake up. Please wake up. God, please forgive me!” The cat lay there, blood steadily pumping out of the slit in his throat. Dr. Zushioh’s face morphed from sad and horrified to grim and morbid. His eyes full of sorrow and regret. He had killed his only friend in the world.
An entire hour of weeping and mourning later, the doctor sat in his chair, his body dead and useless. He had been asking himself a painful question. Should he still use the body? It was a terrible thing to ask himself, but he felt it could not be avoided. On one hand, how could he do such a thing? Dishonor his friend’s body like that? On the other hand, he didn’t want his cat to have died in vain. And what would he do if he didn’t use the cat? Find a new one? No. He had to use this one. The question was, could he? He decided that he would. He was numbing to the horror. Tick tock, Tick tock.

After he had dissected his cat, he realized the organs within weren’t going to be enough. He would have to get more, but from where? Then he had an idea. He could go into the woods and look for wild animals – animals that had never been someone’s beloved pet. His gut clenched and he cursed himself for not having thought of this before. He couldn’t give up now; not after what he had done.

A branch cracked loudly under his footstep startling him as he attempted to move silently through the underbrush near his home in search of animals and small critters. The morning hours were creeping up on him. Soon he would have light to see by, but for now, hunting was impossible. He had put the organs he already had on ice, but he wasn’t sure how long they would last since he didn’t have a state of the art perfectly temperature controlled industrial cooler like the one at the lab, at home. Out here in the pitch black, he was starting to feel uneasy. He had this haunting feeling that someone was after him. Everywhere he looked all he could see were monsters waiting to kill him. When he looked closer at these “monsters” however, they revealed themselves to be no more than trees and sticks. As he walked along a narrow and winding dirt trail, he heard something in the bushes. He was both excited that it was probably an animal and terrified that it could be someone after him. He drew a small knife from a sheath on his belt. He slowly walked up to the bush and jumped through, brandishing the knife at whatever was in front of him. At first glance, he thought it could be a large animal of some sort, but after a moment he was its true and horrible nature.

What he saw was a car that had crashed. It had come off the overpass above and had fallen into the ditch where it lay. Inside there were four human beings: a man, a woman and a young boy and girl in the back. They man’s head had smashed through the windshield. His neck had been cut by the broken glass and he had bled all over the hood of the car. On impact, the side of woman’s head had bashed onto the dashboard. Her neck was turned at an unnatural angle and her eyes staring up at Dr. Zushioh. Coughing blood out onto the windshield, she managed to choke out the words “help me.” The doctor’s first instinct was to help, but instead he found himself slowly backing away. Once he had backed through the hedge, he rotated his body and ran in the direction he had come from.

As he was running, he thought he should go back and help. He stopped in his tracks. He had to help that woman. He ran back until he reached the bush. He just stood there, frozen. What if he couldn’t help? What would he do? He didn’t know. As he stood there, it became brighter. It was still dark, but it was brighter still. Finally, he ran through the bush. He could see better now, although the crash scene looked just the same – except, something was different. He didn’t give it much thought as he ran to the woman. She was dead. Her head was face down on the dash. Her nose had been bashed in and there was blood everywhere. It made no sense. If she’d had injuries like this, there was no way could have moved her head, much less talk.

He was baffled. Did she do this to herself by smacking her face on the dash out of pain? No, that wasn’t possible either. Her neck muscles, even had they not been severed would not have had the strength to do this. It had to have happened in the crash. Then he saw it, there was no blood on the windshield. She had never moved. He had imagined it all. His brain was playing tricks on him. There was nothing he could do He sat down on a tree stump. He thought wearily. There was nothing he could do. Why was he ever here?

A squirrel ran by his feet. He remembered about project and drew his knife, but the squirrel was long gone. He remembered Boots. Poor Boots. He cried a bit feeling that he was never going to catch another animal and that Boots had died in vain. Unless – he looked up at the wrecked car. He couldn’t use the brains because of the damage done to them, but he could still use the other organs. Retching into the bushes at the thought he wondered, “What have I become”? He disgusted himself, though these people were already dead. This revolutionary science was for the greater good of humanity. And after all, the morgue would do no worse to the bodies. it was just possible that , maybe they were even registered as organ donors. Yes, he would think of them as organ donors.

He carried the man and the woman back to his house. They were still warm. That meant that they had died recently and he could probably still use their organs. They were heavy, so he had to drag them one at a time part of the way. He hoped that he wasn’t damaging the precious organs too much. Once he finally made it back to his house, he started dissecting. He decided he’d use the man’s body because the tough material of the skull had already been broken. He laid the body out on a stretch. First he removed the brain and switched it out for his cat’s brain. Then he switched out the eyes, painstakingly reconnecting the muscles and micro capillaries. With these eyes, his creature would be able to see in the night. He replaced feet with paws and attached the tail bone. The man’s liver was shot – most likely from years of drinking, so he replaced it with the woman’s. Finally, he fused the cat’s teeth and sewed the body back together. Removing glass from the neck and repairing the trachea was all that was left to bring it to life.

The Chemical he had ready in an IV pump was called DCRT. It was a stimulant found at the ruins of Pompeii. It might have been used by that ancient culture as a sort of witch drug. This amazing drug that he had managed to recreate in the lab had the incredible power to bring things back to life. For example, if someone was stabbed and died, if you stitched up the wound and brewed a tea, pouring it into the patient’s mouth, the recently dead would awake as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately when tested on smaller animals such as pigs, it would bring them to life for a day or two but then the drug would overload their system and they would die again.

Dr. Zushio hooked up the IV and turned it on. It slowly pumped the black thick liquid into the creature’s body. At first nothing happened. Then about 20 minutes later, as he was about to give up, the creature opened his eyes and took a breath. Its breath was uneven and slow. The creature looked up at the doctor. The doctor removed the IV. He had done it. He has created life. He was going to win Nobel prizes. But then the realization hit him. He could not tell anyone of his success. No one could find out. If anyone did, he would surely be locked away forever. He had killed a cat and dismembered two human bodies. The creature just stared. It did not move or attempt to get up. It just laid there breathing heavily and staring at the ceiling. The sounds of its labored breath were haunting. The doctor fled to the next room but the heavy sounds of the creature’s breathing followed him – in and out, in and out. He could no longer stand it. Crawling into his bed he pulled a pillow over his head, but still all he could hear was the breathing. It was hours before he could get to sleep. All he could think of was the breathing and poor old Boots.

He dreamed that the creature came to kill him, and rightfully, to avenge Boots. He was awoken by the doorbell and walked slowly toward the door, sure that it was either the organization he worked for or the police come to take him into custody for his crimes against humanity. Opening the door, he was surprised to find only the mail carrier. “One order of pig organs for a Dr. Zushioh.”

Oh, the doctor said, he had forgotten all about the pig organs. “Yes, that’s me.” “OK, I’ll need you to sign here”, he said extending a clipboard. “Yes, of course said Dr. Zushioh, just let me get a pen.” He closed the door. He heard the breathing, in and out, in and out. He assumed that the mail carrier could hear it too. I have to kill him he thought. He grabbed his knife and holding it behind his back he opened the door. “Do come in for a moment. I can’t seem to find a pen. I’ll get you a drink.” The mail carrier normally would have refused, but it was a dreadfully hot morning and he was feeling parched. As soon as the mail carrier came though the doorway, the doctor slammed the door behind him. The mail carrier could not see the creature or the bodies as the entrance to the doctor’s home lab was closed. “There is cold soda in the refrigerator, right though there.” The mail carrier took two steps to the refrigerator and opening the door bent in to see what he could find. While his back was turned the doctor, working quickly stabbed the man in the back of the neck, angling the blade upward into the brain. “This is for the greater good”, he told the dying mail carrier.Though he knew that the truth was otherwise.

The doctor went to his desk in the lab. He sat down, howling “I’m a monster!” his whole body shaking he cried “how could I?, Why would I?” He racked his brain searching for any good that might be left in his life. “I have ruined my profession. I dissected people without permission and killed another who I feared might be privy to my evil.” He wept as he choked out his most painful mistake, I killed my best friend, and for what.” He looked at the creature on the table, a species that could not even move. “I must pay for these crimes. My final act should be to end my life,” he thought. The creature managed to take a breath. “Kill me” it managed to say. The doctor nodded and taking his scalpel, he stabbed the creature though the head. “It is over” the doctor said painfully as he seized the IV and pumped the powerful drug into his wrist. Soon the drug would overload his system, killing him with a finality that would prevent any attempt at bringing him back to life. His heart pumped the drug though his system “only a little longer now”he reassured himself the drug was taking effect his heartbeat had already started to speed he felt nauseous and puked onto the lab table gasping for air to keep up with the ever increasing pumping of his heart his vision blurred but he could swear he saw the creature sit up scalpel still ipald he coughed and blood came out and the creature screamed in pain.The world spun into a blur until nothing was distinguishable at all,
and suddenly he found himself in an entirely black room, he walked forward and back searching for a lightswitch or even a wall. After a few minutes of this he gave up and sat on the dank damp ground. He heard the breathing. In. Out. In. Out.