When they were that young, if they
were gassed, there was a real chance   
they’d vomit and choke to death, and   
that definitely wouldn’t be humane or  
painless.                              
     “In those cases, a knife is used  
to severe their spinal cords, and      
death’s supposed to be instantaneous,” 
Denise  said, and then added, “or so   
I’ve been told.”                       
     That got me thinking about how    
that would work with humans, but in-   
stead of going there, I tried to con-  
centrate on what she was saying.       
     There were three reasons why re-  
search mice were killed.               
     The first was to see how a project
was progressing. One or several mice   
were chosen at random and euthanized.  
     The specific area being researched
* was then poked, prodded, measured,       
photographed and analyzed in so many   
different ways, that I couldn’t even   
begin to explain them all. At least,   
not without starting a whole new Jour- 
nal on that subject alone, and if you  
think this one’s boring. That one’ll   
put ya in a coma.                      
     The second was when it ended. The 
expense of continuing to feed mice they
didn’t need any more, suddenly became  
an unnecessary expense, and thousands  
of mice were killed in one swoop.      
     That’s the one that got me worried
about the Darkness, but the third rea- 
son was even more troubling, because   
that one happened right in front of me.
     Denise was emphasizing that point 
by stabbing me in the chest and yel-   
ling, “The third reason... THE THIRD   
REASON! REALLY! PISSES! ME! OFF!!”     



CHAPTER 3: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22nd
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