Steampunk Apocalypse! - 184 Doctor

“Clean this mess up.” Ed ordered the nurse as he turned around and began washing his hands. He obsessively scrubbed them clean to the point that they turned red in color. Once finished, he stepped outside. ‘A bit chilly.’ He thought as he covered his arms and shivered. Looking out over his surroundings, there were many armed Nazi German soldiers guarding the area.

“Sir!” A brown-haired soldier saluted to him as he walked by. “Shall I fetch the vehicle?”

“Mm.” He nodded while folding his hands behind his back. “I think I’ll visit the twins today.”

The soldier hurriedly nodded and rushed off to complete his duty. A short moment later, he returned in a dark green jeep. Ed stepped inside and sat down in the passenger seat. The soldier drove the jeep through the compound towards another building.

Ed watched out the window as they drove. There were emancipated humans on the other side of a long-fenced area. They looked more like zombies than humans, and to any ordinary person, such a sight would produce nightmares for weeks on end.

The soldier noticed the doctor’s staring and grinned. “So doctor, how are you enjoying Stammlager so far?”

“Once you’ve seen one camp you’ve seen them all.” Ed sighed while shaking his head. “As long as the Fuhrer allows me to complete my experiments, he can send me to hell for all I care.”

“Haha, is that so.” The soldier nodded in understanding. “Well, the war will end soon. I’m looking forward to heading home to the wife.”

“A pity that you’re probably wrong.” Ed derided.

“Sir?” The soldier glanced at him in confusion.

“The war was lost even before it began.” He sighed while shaking his head again. “We can conquer the west easily enough, but the British and Soviets are the real problem. Our navy is as good as nonexistent, making an invasion of the British islands impossible. If they don’t surrender, then the war simply won’t end. The Soviets are also a hardy bunch, and not even the great Napoleon could conquer those wastelands. Do you think the Fuhrer is comparable to Napoleon in warfare?”

“Sir.” The soldier frowned. “You could get in a lot of trouble for what you’re saying right now.”

“As if.” He snorted in disdain. “You could get in a lot of trouble if you spread it. Me? I’m not an expendable asset.”

An awkward expression appeared on the soldier’s face as they reached their destination. Ed opened the door and stepped out of the car. Before leaving, he gave the soldier a final piece of advice. “If you really want to see your wife again, then I’d suggest you start planning now.” He smiled. “I hear South America is lovely this time of year.” He slammed the door shut before the soldier could reply and headed for the nearby building.

Upon entering, he saw dozens of sets of twins playing in the front lobby. Some were as young as five, and others were just on the verge of adulthood. Unlike the emancipated skeleton-like bodies the people outside had, these twins were all healthy and well-fed.

“Doctor!” A little girl ran up and shouted excitedly. “Lollipop?” She asked, her pleading gaze shining with joy.

“Mm.” He nodded while smiling. He patted her on the head while reaching into his coat and pulling out a handful of candy. The girl took one and the other children immediately rushed to grab pieces of their own.

“Let’s see…” After finishing the handout, Ed picked up a nearby chart and began reading through it. “Betty, Frania. It’s your turn today.”

Two teenage girls looked over to Ed, a hint of worry in their eyes. Unlike the younger children, they at least had a vague idea of what was really going on. However, they knew they had no choice. Their best chance of surviving was to obediently obey the doctor’s orders.

Ed and the twins entered a large doctor’s office. The floors and instruments were all new and clean. One would think of it as a normal doctor’s office if they didn’t know any better. “Lay down please.” He gestured towards a pair of patient beds.

The girls obediently laid down and Ed began strapping them in with leather belts so that they couldn’t move. When finished, he walked over to a nearby microscope and cycled through several different slides. Each slide featured a different type of bacteria that he was currently studying. ‘Mm, it’ll be this one today.’ He nodded to himself. Opening a freezer, he removed a sealed jar. He stuck a needle into the jar lid and slowly extracted the bacteria from within it. ‘I wonder if I would win a Nobel Peace Prize upon curing malaria?’ He chuckled to himself, as the idea of himself winning such a prize was absolutely ludicrous given the current circumstances of the world.

Taking the needle, he walked over to one of the strapped girls and stuck it into her hip. He slowly injected the contents into her bone marrow. Once completed, he wrote down some notes and patiently observed for any changes. Over the next hour, the girl quickly developed a fever, and her skin turned a harsh red color around the injection site. Strange blisters festered on her skin, causing an excess of bleeding.

“No good.” Ed sighed while shaking his head. He had already isolated several strains of bacteria that were effective against malaria, but all had extreme adverse effects when tested on humans. ‘Well, I might as well continue the experiment.’ He sighed to himself while preparing another needle. This needle was filled with the malaria-causing parasite, and he injected it into both girls. He then patiently observed while taking down notes.

‘Oh, the experiment is reacting worse to the parasite than the control?’ Ed smiled as his interest grew. ‘Who would have thought that the bacteria would actually increase the speed with which the symptoms spread despite it killing the parasite in isolated experiments?’ He hurriedly edited his notes to reflect his new findings. Today’s research placed him one step closer to his goal, and that was always good news.

Suddenly, the girl that had been injected with the bacteria started trembling and sweat covered her body. “Ughh.” She groaned as she struggled against her restraints. Her fever quickly grew worse, and her heart rate sped up drastically.

Ed grabbed his stethoscope and placed it to her heart to listen. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. THUD! With a big final beat, the heart burst. “A pity.” Ed feigned sorrow while shaking his head.

“What happened to my sister?” The other twin shouted hoarsely in fear, as she couldn’t see well due to the leather straps.

“No need to worry.” Ed nonchalantly replied while preparing a new vial. He walked over and injected a clear fluid into the girl’s neck, and her eyes quickly grew dull. A short moment later, she joined her sister in death.

“Hahhh.” Ed let out a long sigh. ‘I really do love twins. Such perfect control groups are the best reward this war has to offer.’ He glanced down at the one he had just killed himself. ‘A pity that the remaining one is useless when the other twin dies.’

Ed exited the office and glanced at a blond nurse waiting just outside. “Clean up inside.” He ordered as he walked away.

The nurse silently nodded, not wishing to extract the doctor’s wrath by back-talking. She always made sure to do her job perfectly, which was why the doctor had kept her around so long. She raised a mask to her face and entered the room to dispose of the bodies.

Walking back through the lobby, the remaining twins were ignorant to what had just happened. Twins vanished all the time, and most of the younger ones simply thought they returned home or switched facilities. The older ones were smart enough to keep their silence, as the loudmouths had long since met their fates at the hands of the crazy doctor already.

Exiting the building, Ed returned to the waiting soldier and vehicle. He stepped inside. “Take me to the chambers.” He ordered.

“Sir.” The doctor nodded and began driving. After a brief period of silence, the soldier gulped and asked what was on his mind. “South America… How long until it would be ideal to visit?” He asked. “I do have some leave time accruing…”

“Two years at most.” Ed replied without looking up from his notes. He was reviewing some of his previous experiments to see if any of them were worth revisiting. In one such experiment, he had attempted to create Siamese twins by stitching two boys together. Unfortunately, both boys died as a result. “A year would be safer though.”

“Thanks.” The soldier nodded, grateful that the doctor was showing him such kindness despite them having just met for the first time this morning.

Screeeech. The jeep stopped in front of yet another series of buildings. Ed took his notes and briefcase with him as he walked over to the chambers. The soldier took the jeep keys and followed while wielding his MP40. It was his job to ensure the doctor’s safety should anything go wrong.

“Relax.” Ed smiled. “They won’t be in any sort of state to cause problems.” The duo walked pass several patrols of armed guards and reached the chambers. Ed walked up to a heavy and thick metal door. Glancing through a small window, several adults were inside.

Suddenly, a gas began to fill the chambers. The prisoners began to cough and gag as their eyes and skin turned red. The gas quickly resided, leaving the suffering prisoners a bloody coughing mess.

“Mustard gas.” The accompanying soldier muttered in disgust. He held contempt for such weapons of war.

“Mm.” Ed nodded.

After the gas cleared, several soldiers opened the heavy door. Ed patiently waited outside and reached into his brief case to pull out a jar of petroleum jelly and a saline solution. As the patients exited the chamber, he went up to each one and poured the saline solution into their eyes. He then covered portions of their exposed flesh in the petroleum jelly.

“That’ll do.” He quickly finished and turned back around to head towards another building.

“That’s it?” The soldier asked as he followed along.

“I’m not particularly interested in this experiment.” Ed sighed. “But it keeps the Fuhrer happy. My subordinates can handle taking notes on the subjects’ reactions to the medicine.”

The duo soon reached another chamber that looked almost identical to the other one. However, this chamber had frost covering the glass window that lead inside. Ed reached up towards the window and wiped away the frost with his hands to peer inside.

Nearly two hundred people were huddled together in this chamber. They were naked and shivering for warmth. Ed turned to a nearby soldier. “Fetch me several buckets of ice-cold water.”

“Sir.” The soldier nodded, not bothering to question the orders. He was used to such things. Only several minutes later, a group of soldiers returned with several dozen buckets of water.

“Do it.” Ed ordered while glancing down at his notes. Written down were a series of recorded numbers tracking experiment counts, water temperatures, body temperatures, death times, and more.

A soldier opened the door and the group of soldiers proceeded to douse the prisoners in freezing cold water. Screams of anguish echoed from inside as the shocked prisoners tried their best to avoid it.

“Sir.” A soldier handed Ed a sheet of paper that had records of the air, water, and body temperatures.

“Good work.” Ed nodded as he grabbed the paper and continued to observe.

The original soldier that drove Ed glanced at the notes. “What’s the point of dousing them with freezing water?” He asked.

“You sure are talkative for a guard.” Ed smiled. “That’s rare for a guard these days. Your type usually gets themselves killed early in their career.”

“Sir?” The guard gulped nervously, fearful that he had angered the doctor.

“I’m curious as to whether the Soviets are inherently better at handling cold weather.” Ed answered. “Like I said earlier, invading the Russian wastelands is as good as suicide. The invaders can never handle the weather once winter arrives, yet the Russians seem to do just fine. I’m simply seeing how their bodies react to hypothermia when compared with other test groups.”

“Oh.” The soldier nodded in understanding.

The duo headed back for the jeep and drove to their next stop. The experiments were an all-day affair, and Ed never seemed to grow bored of it. Infections, immunizations, sulfonamide, sterilization, poison, explosives, and other experiments were carried out one after another. The day finished with blood, bone, muscle, and nerve transplants between pairs of twins. The luckier twins were only disfigured or injured, but many died as a result of the tests.

The sun was slowly setting upon the land as the day finally wound to an end. Ed glanced at the soldier that had shadowed him all day. The two were standing outside the building where they had originally started the day. “Did you learn a lot today?” Ed asked while wiping his glasses on his sleeves.

“Sir. I did.” The soldier nodded nervously. This was his first day serving the doctor, and he truly didn’t wish to screw it up.

“You didn’t do too badly.” He replied. “I’d give you a solid eight out of ten. I do enjoy someone that listens and takes an interest in my work.”

“Sir!” The soldier grinned widely while saluting.

Ed reached into his coat and pulled out a small pistol. He didn’t say anything as he hurriedly aimed it at the soldier’s head and squeezed the trigger.

BANG! Shock covered the soldier’s face as a bullet went straight through his forehead, blood dripping down his face. A short instant later, he collapsed to the ground.

“Ah, I just wiped these clean.” Ed complained as splatters of blood landed on his face and clothes. He set to wiping off his glasses once again.

A couple of soldiers noticed the commotion and rushed over. “Sir!” They shouted as they saluted.

“Clean the body up.” Ed ordered while turning around. “He was probably a spy.”

“A spy?!” The two soldiers simultaneously yelled in shock. “We’ll take care of it, sir!”

Ed waved without looking back as he walked away. ‘Well, I would’ve killed him even if he wasn’t a spy.’ He chuckled to himself. He received a brand-new driver each day, and so he obtained a new chance to brag about his experiments each day. Every soldier reacted differently to the experiments, and that was half the fun! Besides, he couldn’t risk any information leaks on some of the more private plans he was carrying out. After all, he did have plans to flee to South America in the near future. Unlike most of his compatriots, he saw the writing on the wall right from the beginning. The war was a lost cause before it even started, and he wasn’t going to stay around to see the end. His fellow doctors at other camps would be lucky if their lives were spared, but with the types of experiments they had been carrying out, such an idea was a foolish delusion. It would take a saint to even consider himself and the other doctors human anymore, but what were the chances of their enemies considering them as such? Even he thought himself a monster hiding in human flesh, and his compatriots were just as rotten as far as he was concerned.

Days passed, followed by weeks, and then months. The war that had been going so well took a turn for the worse. The British did not surrender as the Fuhrer had originally hoped. The Soviets were proving impossible to conquer, as they just kept throwing living bodies at the problem. It was as if they had no fear of death, and the death count had truly grown to staggering heights. Their manufacturing capabilities had also improved drastically over the course of the war, and they were now producing more tanks than all of Germany. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was when America joined the war. Japan had awoken the sleeping giant, and it only hastened the end of the rise of Germany.

Ed fled from Germany before it fell, retreating to a small South American country. He lived out his remaining days as a wanted fugitive, but he managed to stay hidden throughout his life. No one knew when he finally died nor where he died at. It would only be many years later that the world would discover his deceased body and the new identity he had adopted after the war.

…

Ed found himself back within the black void, staring at the Samsara wheel. A complicated expression covered his face as he thought back on the experience he just went through. He had lived an entire lifetime despite having only been alive a short seventeen years in his current life. Worst of all, he had been a horrendous Nazi doctor, and his crimes would still be abhorred even in today’s world. Of course, he himself carried out similar experiments fairly frequently. The resemblance between this life and his past life was quite uncanny. However, he did not subscribe to racist beliefs nor did he believe in any type of racial superiority. His past life disgusted him despite the fact that he hadn’t changed much in his new life.

‘In hindsight, I suppose it makes sense.” Ed sighed to himself while thinking back on his own experiments. Moving past the ones he deemed necessary despite their cruelty, he had also taken certain liberties with how he conducted his experiments. His past life had gone so far as to stitch two twins together, which was an insane idea with no logical reasons for doing so. However, in this life he had transplanted Dupe’s head from one clone to another just to see if he could. Could he really say that he was any better than his past life? Well, at least he didn’t experiment on children, so perhaps he could say that he was better, but only by a small amount.

As Ed continued to stare at the Samsara Wheel of Life, he slowly began to feel his consciousness fade away again. His eyes went dull, and he felt himself sink deeper into unconsciousness.

…

“Mm.” Ed moaned as he slowly slipped into another past life. With experiencing it once already, it was an easier ordeal this time around. It seemed he would be experiencing more in this lifetime, as he had the body of a young boy, whereas he had started at a much later age in his last life as a Nazi doctor.

“Napoleon, come down for dinner!” He heard his mother call for him in the language of Corsican.

“Coming!” He replied as if it was only natural.

‘I was Napoleon in my last life?!’ Ed thought to himself in shock as he observed his tiny body descend a flight of stairs. However, he already felt himself sinking deeper into his past life, and soon, he lost himself to it just like he had with the previous experience.