<div align="center">(http://i54.tinypic.com/291jodg.jpg)</div><br/><div align="center"><strong>::Last Night::</strong></div><br/>A buzzing medley of white noise reverberated in the otherwise silent lab. The varying pitch vacillated between the flicking sound of florescent lights, the chugging fan of an open laptop, and the whirr caused by myriad heating and cooling units that controlled the precise temperatures of the 600 serpents coiled in a multitude of containment units. Amidst that sterile environment, a hunched figure sat at a table stacked with books and notes, scribbling madly to affix calculations and hypotheses to paper before they fled his mind.<br/><br/>An electronic alarm, in imitation of a siren, blared from a cell phone placed atop one of those stacks of papers. Heaving a heavy sigh, the hunched figure straightened and rolled his broad shoulders. Ten hours at the serpentarium had given him knots in every muscle of his back and neck. The alarm had been set for 11pm and he knew he ought to wrap up before it got any later.<em>Still…</em>He shook his head and resolutely decided to hold to his schedule and started packing up his supplies.<br/><br/>Large hands stilled their efficient flow at the sing-songy lilt of a light feminine voice, “David! What a pleasant surprise!”.<em>Fuck! I should have left at 10.</em>Turning slowly, a forced smile spread across his lips as he laid eyes on the tall blonde in the entryway to the lab. Mandy had been hounding him for weeks, thinking she was subtle with her flirts and hints that they should hang out. Truth was, he wasn’t the least bit interested in her, or anyone else for that matter. He had been goal oriented since he was a kid, and now his goal was to immerse himself in research and begin his graduate work on the right foot. What he didn’t need was a leggy undergrad looking for her MRS degree.<br/><br/>“Hey. I’m actually just heading out. Gotta catch up with Ron and go over some stuff about the Texas coral, you understand?” He flashed a charming smile that had her stammering effusive words of understanding and hopes of seeing him the next day. Nodding noncommittally, David slung his backpack over his shoulder and dashed out of the lab and into the pounding rain. With his head ducked down and shoulders hunched against the onslaught, he trudged through the campus with his mind still racing with thoughts of the venom he had been studying earlier.<br/><br/>Lost in his inner musings, at first he didn’t notice the diminutive woman across the quad. It wasn’t until he heard her soft plaintive cries that he even looked up.<em>What the hell…? Did a stripper get lost or something? </em>Dark brown eyes turned to the woman as a hand swept up to push back the length of dark red hair that had been obscuring his vision. She was a pretty little thing and probably cost a fair bit of change for whatever frat party she was headed to. With a polite smile, he listened to her broken English and tried to figure out how quickly he could point her in the right direction. That patient look did not have time to shift before the tiny thing shot up at him and sent him into oblivion.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>::Present::</strong></div><br/>David’s inert frame rested still as stone on the pallet he had been placed on, bright red hair a sharp contrast to the sterile white pillow his head rested on. He was floating along in a ridiculous dream about a deadly stripper with one long fang and the most intoxicating venom he had ever seen. The odd dreams were finally intruded upon by some loud sounds coming from the other end of the room. With a groaning rumble, he turned over onto his stomach and pulled the pillow over his head to drown out the sound, his muffled voice calling out “Don’t make me kick your ass, Ron! I just need a couple more hours.”<br/><br/>When the noise continued, he huffed an agitated breath into the sheets and finally pushed himself up to snarl at his unruly roommate. Once blurry eyes focused on the world around him, he was suddenly thrust into the reality of the situation. Surrounded by strangers in a decidedly unknown location, his brain jumped into overdrive.<em>Where am I? Who are these people? What the FUCK is going on?</em>His every muscle was tense and his eyes began darting around to find any clue as to what was going on. There was a nut job chick with a Darth Vadar mask and toy light saber, a pissed off blue haired girl, a somewhat calm Asian dude, and a buff old man.<br/><br/>Just then a tall pale man arrived and called to one of the strangers, voicing his intention to explain the situation. David wanted to rush the guy, to push past him and fight his way out. But where exactly was “out” and who was to say that getting past that one man would really get him anywhere but back in this room? Rising to his full height, he called out after the retreating form of the man, “Hey! Hey wait, what about the rest of us!”