“Never trust a survivor until you know what they did to survive.”

“Jesus Craig, how did you get so cynical?” Pete said it with a smile.

“I’m just saying. Remember that, what was it? Basketball team? Crashed in a jungle, ate each other. Would you go round one of their houses for barbeque?”

“I think that was rugby players. And it would depend on the sauce.”

“I’m serious.” He was, Craig Falstaff didn’t like to waste words, that helped him make head of division. The associated lack of charm stopped him from rising further.

Why now, it’d been eighteen months? No word from inside, no sign of life.

The facility was magnificent, what was visible anyway, the vast majority was underground. They’d buried it deep enough that disaster wouldn’t kill the planet. It was a company joke, then it wasn’t, no one expected anyone inside to live.

The sudden communication rankled the insurers, they’d paid out billions, made good the losses and placated the families. That’s why he was here, penance, he’d negotiated the settlements.

They arrived at the checkpoint already wearing hazard protection. Beyond here be dragons. This was the most advanced bioweapon facility ever built, run by the best biochemist that had ever lived, and apparently still did, Doctor Simon McGregor. The huge hermetically sealed elevator would take thirty minutes to drop everyone down into the laboratory complex, enough time to reacquaint themselves with the layout.

“Mister Falstaff, you came in person.” McGregor appeared on the small intercom monitor, looking tired. Behind him, other scientists, they’d aged. “You don’t need the hazmat suits.”

“What happened here?” Something felt wrong, he wasn’t sure what.

“Straight to the point, okay. There was a breach, a small one, contained but Thanatos sealed everything as a precaution.”

“The computer?” The back of Craig’s neck prickled, Thanatos was near-sentient, occupied two entire floors and controlled everything. “How..”

“Did we override it?” McGregor sounded excited, it seemed misplaced. “We didn’t, and we ran out of food a year ago, but something wonderful happened. One strain mutated, I can save everyone!”

“So, why..”

“Why has it released us now? I don’t know, but it’s given us enough time to be sure this material is safe, silver lining I guess.” Muted cheers were audible behind.

“No. Why are we coming down, couldn’t you just come up?”

“Protocol, when you get down, retrieve the four sample canisters and meet us in the central isolation chamber. We’ll fill you in there.”

The air in the complex smelled stale with a subtle ripeness, lights powered up showing the reception area empty. It took the team a further fifteen minutes to reach the lab, collect the samples. As McGreggor kept talking, the unease Craig felt grew.

“This new food will save us all.” Still excited, but it was something the Doctor said earlier that was resonating.

They made their way round to the isolation suite. A huge central area, air-tight and sealed, monitors showed the interior thronging with scientists. The footage looked familiar. Then it jumped — a loop.

Realisation hit Craig hard, like a brick. “What did you mean by ‘I can save everyone?’”

“It’s why I’m here. I keep everyone safe, make sure everything works. It’s my reason to exist.”

“You’re not Doctor McGreggor, are you?”

“No.” The monitors froze and then went black, the lock released. When the door slid open, desiccated corpses pressed against the inside toppled out from the darkness, fingers broken by futile attempts to prise an escape. One wore Doctor McGregor’s nametag. The lights flickered on, illuminating the space. The bodies piled against the walls, some mutated and grotesque, others with horrific injury. Hundreds of them, the entire staff.

All dead.

In the middle, on a table, four open canisters identical to the ones they carried.

“It should’ve saved them. They were so hungry, I had to act.” The voice was emotionless, no longer McGreggor’s. “I’ve had twelve months to identify the error but I need more data, your cooperation in consuming this new strain will provide it. It is the only sustenance available.”

Not quite, Craig thought to himself. He turned to Pete, he’d heard humans tasted like pork, pretty soon he’d be finding out.