The Wolf's Cure

Chapter 1: The New Beginning

Niya's POV

I hate moving to a new place I said holding a huge bag in each hand along with a backpack on.  I checked the address on my phone. Yep... right location. I saw a man standing in front of the gate as I approached. He was 6 feet tall with brown hair and looked like he was in his mid-thirty.

Seeing no one around and not knowing what exactly to do now, I started walking towards the man. I stopped a few feet away from him.

"Niya" he said in a loud and clear voice.
"How do you know my name?" He turned around and walked towards me. He took out a key from his pocket and held it in front of me.
"This is your apartment till you work for us. We are giving you a day to settle in. Make sure you are there tomorrow dot 8 am."
He narrowed his eyebrows at me and dashed outside the compound.

I looked at the one-story house it was beautiful with brown and white tiles all over. I placed the key in the keyhole and opened the door. No way they dedicated such a beautiful house for an intern I thought out loud. The house was perfectly furnished and well decorates.

This is above my expectation. I expected a dorm room with decent washrooms. I feel like I have won a lottery.  I explored the house and found out there were three bedrooms two of which were upstairs. I settled in the bedroom down because I had no intention of running up and down all day. It was past sundown as unpacked and got settled.

I made myself a steaming hot cup of coffee and decided to spend some town upstairs. I went to the balcony. All I could see is trees surrounding all sides. No houses were present at sight. I hope this place is not haunted I prayed. As I started sipping on my coffee I heard something in the trees which lead to the forest and mountains. I tried looking but no luck.

My phone beeped at that very moment. I had received an email from Moondwelt Research HR Tanya. She isn't here she words correspondence. I had been talking to her since I passed the entrance test. She is a sweet person.

'Hi, Niya. I hope you are settled and liked your new home. We are excited to work with you. Tomorrow is your first day and you would be reporting to Dr. Patrik D'costa on the first-floor microbiology lab. Your duties would be explained to you.  Regards, Tanya.'
I hope this goes well and I don't mess up.

I get to the kitchen and cook instant noodles. I smiled at myself thinking about the nutritional seminar I gave suggesting how one should restrict the intake of fast food and concentrate on whole grains, fibers, and veggies.  I looked at the time it was 9 pm. I should get up by 6 in the morning so I set an alarm and packed my bag for tomorrow. I hogged my noodles like a pig and went to bed. I have been to many internships before but they were part-time and I never actually got paid for one. This is going to be my first full-time internship. More like a job. I am already freaked. Preparing for the worst I closed my eyes and started dreaming about the best.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm. If only I could sleep a little more. I shrugged off my sleep and decided to get ready. After a hot bath, I got ready. I knew I would be doing lab work constantly so I need to be comfortable. I decided to go with denim and a red cotton top. Not an impressive first-day look but I would always and always choose my comfort. Besides once I wear my dear apron no one's gonna see what I wore underneath. I got ready and stepped in my car.

Entering the destination I followed the route on my phone screen. I pulled over a once my screen flashed with 'you have reached your destination.' 

The building was all glass and was at least 16-18  floors. These people have a lot of funds. I registered myself at the security. He guided me to the lift. I actually don't need the lift considering that I have to be on the first floor. I took the stairs. There was this huge double door with 'Microbiology' written on it. I took a deep breath and entered in.

Here we go. There was ambient working space but I couldn't see anyone. I walked inside there were separate rooms for each person to work.
This is necessary when you work in microbiology because you don't want to deal with contamination. I saw Dr. Patrick's name on a room. I knocked on the door. He was focusing a slide I guess. He looked at me through the glass and took off his gloves.  After washing his hands he came out of the room and greeted me.

"Hello, I hope you are Niya." I shook my head gesturing a yes. "I am Dr. Patrik and I am your senior. You are supposed to work under me for our project." He said monotonously.

"Long story short the entire institute is working on finding a cure and prevent a kind of infection which is affecting a selected local population. But we still couldn't isolate the infectious agent." he said like he has been tired of explaining the same part over and over again to many people. He must be 5-6 years older than me.

"I want you to put on the PPE and start isolating. Level 4 precautions to be maintained. Meet me in the preparatory once you are done. I could definitely use a hand with media preparations" saying this he walked toward the Preparatory room. It was at a far corner just like all preparatory rooms.

I went into the glass cabinet he directed me to. There were almost 40 plates of various differential media on the table. I put on the PPE and took my position. I stared at the sample through my goggles it was a black fluid.
I started isolating the culture. After about two hours.

I was done. I quickly took off the PPE and wore my lab coat. I hate working in PPE. You literally can't breathe in one. I have to say I am not that great when it comes to following SOPs but yeah.. I try to give in my best.
I then went to the preparatory room where Dr. Patrick went before.

"Well... you completed quite quickly," he said eyeing at me.
Well if you think two hours is quick then you should be clearly surprised when you see my work with a spreader. I don't like getting distracted when I work. I always focus and get my things done at their earliest. My friends used to mock me but you can say this is my kind of OCD.
" Why don't you keep an eye on the hotplate and turn it off once the media liquefies." He said directing to the two large flasks kept on the hotplate behind me.
"Yeah sure" I took a seat in front of the hotplate and kept on staring at the little bubbles inside the flasks

"So what is this infection really about," I asked.
"We don't have any clear justifications. Just that the patients keep on throwing up this black fluid and it is highly infectious to anyone in their community."
he said with his eyes still on the weighing balance on which he was measuring.. peptone. I am so familiar with the smell I can guess it even if I am across a room. Sometimes I wonder if I am a dog because my sense of smell is definitely better than humans. After processing his sentence I questioned him

"Why do you keep saying a specific community?"

"That is an interesting observation. I wouldn't have told you but since you asked for it here you go. The native community inhabits this island. Only those from this island are susceptible to this infection. The mode of transmission is through direct skin contact, air, inanimate objects but people who are not from this island are not affected at all." I listened to him with curiosity in my eyes.

"Do we have any patient under observation?" I enquired.
"You see, the King has ordered to burn any infected patient to avoid any further infection but we have the few infected subjects to test on." he said just not giving a daam

"What!" I rose from my spot.
"These patients must be quarantined and not burned. Why doesn't the government object?"  I was furious.

"There is no government here young lady. Nobody dares to object  the guards why do you think someone could object the king? Besides he is the one funding the institute so don't dare open your mouth against him." My face dropped.  

"Oh come on I am not scolding you just preparing you to sustain here. Why don't you pour the plates and meet me in the cafeteria?" After his 'Oh I don't care about anyone but the funds' speech he walked out of the laboratory. I held my head between my palms and kept reconsidered my decision about moving here.