You should lighten up if you're gonna be a fungi

The odour of warm damp earth, like the first rain as summer wanes, clouded Sam’s dream. Not unpleasant, almost soothing. But beneath hung subtle undertones of decay. He was running through the woods in the growing dusk of his nightmare, pursued by an invisible presence. - He rolled over in the tangled sheets, faint daylight crept around the edges of the curtains -. A branch in the undergrowth seemingly leapt up and tripped him. He clutched at the bed covers that felt like loose damp soil between his fingers and woke with a gasp as he hit the ground.

Dawn was breaking, Sam laid still as he caught his breath, sweat cooling on his back. A glance at the alarm clock and a sigh. There was no time for breakfast, but coffee might help, and at that thought he noticed the earthy taste in his mouth.

The short walk to campus was automatic, he crossed the gardens under the tall pine trees, down the corridor to his office and instinctively looked at the clock, 9am just on time. Starting up the desktop computer, he stared flatly at his obscure reflection in the monitor until it was ready for his password, opened the student consultation form for Kate Marshall then sat back in the chair.

An email dinged into the inbox and he woke from peaceful rest.

‘Dear faculty,

All staff members working late please remember to close doors and windows. The estates team are finding lights on in the mornings and rooms left unsecure. Staff found to be culpable will be liable for damage or losses to facilities and equipment.’ sent 10:04

Dr McKenzie peered through the window into the lecture hall before entering and pulling the door gently closed behind him. There was a spare seat on the front row, he sat and half listened to the presentation already in mid flow, shuffling his documents into order.

‘The interrelationships between fungus and other species has been of much interest. Some species co-exist in their ecosystem such as in woodlands where mycelium biodegrade the dead trees and in return add nutrients to the soil, in a sense working together. But more than that, mycorrhizal networks between mycelium and roots allow for a kind of communication, we will touch more on this later but the exchange is nutrients in return for sugar from the trees via photosynthesis.’

Dr Allen continued with his explanation as he clicked through the presentation and the biology students mostly took notes or stared straight ahead with tired eyes. Dr McKenzie shuffled his paperwork repeatedly and frowned at the thought of trees and his dream that night.

‘An example of a symbiotic relationship -’ Pausing to clear his throat as the slide changed to an army of marching ants. ‘- is Ophiocordyceps or the zombie fungus. Some species of ants seem to cultivate it for food and in return, as the mycelium lives inside of them, from time to time, ants have been observed to climb high up and on to far reaching branches, and poof!’

The slide changed to a close up of an ant with a mushroom erupting from its head.

‘releases spores all over the forest floor below. The ant of course dies but the cycle continues...’

The bell rang and the students departed past Dr McKenzie who’s face was now pale.

‘We will continue tomorrow!’ Dr Allen shouted. Then seeing his colleague sat still in the ensuing stampede his eyes widened, smiling, ‘Sam! How are you? You don’t look so well, would you like something to drink?’

‘That’s actually what I came to ask you about, would you like to get some coffee?’ Asked Dr McKenzie, gesturing with his ordered documents.

‘Good results?’

‘Promising.’

‘That’s fantastic, is Kate ready to submit her thesis?’

Dr McKenzie took a deep breath. ‘David, there’s more going on than you think, we should go somewhere and talk.’

They walked through the busy corridors in silence to the café on campus and when they had their drinks, sat down in the corner.

As if he had been holding his breath all the way there, Dr McKenzie nearly burst as soon as they were seated and in a rushed whisper said,

‘I’ve been reviewing the tests, all the data we have on it and there just has to be something I’ve missed!’

- Slurping his coffee -

‘I have to be honest David, I’m waiting for someone to tell me I’m coo-coo crazy!’

This he blurted out a little too loudly, David looked around but the few students sipping and scrolling weren’t listening. Meanwhile Sam was frantically spreading little stacks of paper on the table.

“Seriously, I need you to find a hole in all this so would you do me a favour and read these over tonight?’

‘Of course! I’d be happy to finally prove you’ve lost it!’ laughed David ‘What’s the news anyway?’

Sam forced a smile from the corner of his mouth, glanced around the room and leaning towards him said ‘So patient zero’ then checked over his shoulder and whispered ‘remember when we took that donor brain sample down to neuroscience for dissection, Kate found something weird, right?’

Leaning in as he listened, Allan watched intently and saw the same old anxious look in Sam’s eyes, he drinks too much coffee he thought to himself. ‘Yeah the kind of grey… squishy stuff?’

‘We found out what it was pretty quickly, a fungal infection’

‘Is that how he died, Fungal meningitis?’

‘No, he was completely healthy.’

‘Well – what do you mean?’

‘It was an accident, he was rock climbing and took a bad fall. He was on the organ donor list, left everything to science and his family respected his wishes.’

‘What’s the big secret?’

‘The infection was huge, surrounding the brain. It was a complex, branching tissue that had rooted itself into the frontal lobe but other threads may have been connected with other areas.’

‘So he was going to die anyway?’

‘The infection was so big he should have died from a seizure 6 months ago! But instead he was running marathons and climbing mountains until he had an accident. I have no idea how he was still alive and healthy but the weirdest thing is the cell samples we took were still respiring. The cells were alive and I think Kate has proven a nutrient-sharing pathway between the infective tissue and brain cells.’

David stared with his mouth open ‘She’s going to win a prize for this, just think of the funding! Kate must be beside herself.’

‘She didn’t show up for our meeting this morning but she’s ready to submit, I just need you to check the data. This is huge, she’ll be under immense scrutiny.’

‘Understood, boss. Now the bags under your eyes make sense!’

That night Sam’s dream returned, he always had stress dreams, especially this time of year when he was grading papers and tutoring PHD students. The same presence pursued him among the misty trees and he tripped again. Only this time he didn’t wake when he fell. He was aware that he was dreaming, he was waiting to hit the ground but he kept falling, tumbling through the air. The air was getting thinner and he wasn’t falling but flying, so high, stars glistened above him and the earth shrank beneath as he tumbled on. Then the thinning air no longer filled his lungs and he gasped frantically. Sam awoke with the clammy covers over his face and tangled about his writhing body.

Sitting on the edge of the bed catching his breath, he tried to recall the details of his dream. The thought of tumbling made his head spin but when he played the details over from the start he remembered the hand in the woods, it definitely wasn’t a branch he tripped over. A hand had grabbed his ankle and this time he pictured it clearly. With a shake of his head and a long breath, he got up and ready for the day.

On the walk to the office Sam’s mind wondered to the day’s work but he couldn’t stop thinking about the dream. The lack of sleep left him nauseous again. Tumbling. And he had to tell Kate whether or not to submit her work. Running. She’s never missed a tutorial before. The hand.

When Sam arrived David was waiting for him in his office with a police officer.

‘Good morning, is everything OK?’

‘Morning Sam, PC Hamilton this is Dr. Sam McKenzie’

‘Good morning Dr. McKenzie, may I ask you some questions privately?’

David took the hint and closed the door on the way out. PC Hamilton gestured to sit down and Sam perched on the desk, fiddling with the ID badge hanging from his neck.

‘Dr McKenzie, I have some questions regarding Kate Marshall, when was the last time you saw her?

‘Friday afternoon… in the lab, is she OK?’

‘How did she seem to you? Did she seem out of the ordinary?’

‘She seemed fine, well, stressed as is expected, she’s working on her PHD and we were discussing submitting but she is very eager to finish and I told her she should wait to be sure she’s ready.’ Sam realised he was rambling as Hamilton took notes.

‘Did she tell you of any plans? Of going anywhere?

‘No nothing, we had a meeting yesterday and she didn’t show up, which is unlike her.’

‘So, you had plans to meet?’

‘Yes I’m her tutor, we were going to talk about her thesis, is she OK?’

‘I am aware you are her tutor, that’s why I am here. How well did you know Kate?’

‘Oh no what’s happened?’

‘So far we know that Kate was reported missing by her housemate on Sunday morning, we are pursuing any possibilities at the moment. Do you know if Kate had a boyfriend?’

‘No. I mean no, I don’t know if she did or not, I don’t know her outside of the lab. It’s unusual for her not to show up and I would have expected her to let me know if she couldn’t make it.’

‘That’s helpful, thank you Dr McKenzie. And one final thing, does she have any personal belongings here? A locker or something?’

‘No locker but she keeps some things in a drawer in the laboratory, I can show you.’

The two walked down the hallway and when Dr McKenzie opened the desk drawer PC Hamilton stepped in front of him and removed a file. When Sam saw him flicking through Kate’s work he nearly asked him to be careful but thought better of it. Hamilton saw the hesitation in Sam’s eyes and watched him attentively as he said,

‘I’ll need to take this all with me to read through.’

‘That’s Kate’s work, it’s very important, she will need to submit it soon.’

Hamilton turned to face Sam and said slowly ‘Kate Marshall is missing Dr McKenzie. I’ll send someone later to collect her belongings, until then nobody can enter this room. Go and find Dr Allen, tell him to lock this door.’

Sam couldn’t find the words to explain himself, he turned on the spot and left with a red face. When he returned with Dr Allen, Sam waited outside while the officer repeated the instructions. PC Hamilton left after seeing the door was locked.

‘What was his problem? I was trying to tell him her work is important and he looked at me like I was on a wanted poster.’

‘He’s just doing his job, nobody knows where she is.’

‘I know but what if something happened to her? You didn’t see him, he probably thinks I’m a creep!’

‘You’re over thinking it Sam, you look exhausted. Why don’t you take the day off?’

‘I’m fine, did you read through the research?’

‘Yeah, it’s a very robust data set, if this is the real deal then she’s done a terrific job. She’s meticulous alright.’

‘Excellent, that’s a weight off my mind.’

‘Glad to hear it but really you should get some rest.’

‘Thanks, I’m just planning next week’s lectures, it’s a nice easy day.’

Sam stretched and yawned as he looked to the wall clock, 5pm. He took his bag and walked through the biology department entering each room and checking for unlocked windows and powering down any computers left on. When he made it to the laboratory he and PC Hamilton were in earlier, the lights were still on.

‘Do I risk arrest for entering an apparent crime scene or getting sacked for leaving the lights on,’ he mused sarcastically. Then unlocked the door and leant in to flick the light switch. But as he stood on the threshold, in the corner of his eye he saw a blue medical glove spotted with blood in the rubbish bin. He stared for a moment, remembering back to the previous week when he and Kate were handling samples and she turned around as he walked past and scratched her hand with a scalpel. He stared for a moment as he realised what this could mean. Kate’s blood in the lab, the scalpel in the sharps container, his fingerprints on it.

Before he could decide whether or not to try and hide the glove, he heard someone enter the hallway. He switched off the lights and locked the door, then turned to see the cleaner walking towards him.

‘Good evening Dr. McKenzie, working late again?’

‘Good evening Ken! Yeah, I can’t sleep!’ he put on a smile but it was more of a grimace.

‘I hear you, that’s why I work nights!’ Ken joked as he walked past.

Sam smiled and continued down the corridor, checking rooms again. He thought about what to do, Hamilton said to stay out of the room. He thought about what could happen if he didn’t do anything and someone found the glove. But surely Ken would empty the bins today? What if the police officer sees the glove before Ken get’s there? Then there’s the scalpel, what if they search the room and find it? He could picture Hamilton’s piercing stare and knew he had to do something.

He walked back down the corridor and taking a deep breath, entered the lab. He took the rubbish bag and placed the container of scalpels carefully inside, it took only a few seconds. Then he saw the accident log by the desk. What if Kate recorded the accident? That would prove it wasn’t his fault, it would explain the blood. She was always meticulous. He started flicking through the book to find the latest entry. Outside sirens wailed and he froze on the spot.

Sam dropped the book and rubbish bag on the desk and rushed to the door. There was nobody in the corridor, he started walking. There were footsteps behind him, he didn’t look back.

‘Excuse me?’ A voice called to him.

His mind was racing but he acted on instinct just carried on walking as calmly as he could.

‘Excuse me, where are the gardens?’

Whoever it was, he was now at the lab door and Sam was nearly at the end of the corridor.

Sam glanced back as he turned the corner and he saw Hamilton at the lab door peering through the glass, then back at him.

‘Hey you come back!’ he shouted, but Sam was already out of sight and now running as fast as he could. Hearing the sound of Sam’s rapid footsteps he immediately started the chase.

Sam took the door to the stairs and ran up to the first floor. He heard Hamilton calling for back up behind him. He hid just out of sight and Hamilton continued on past down the hall. Sam slipped through the door as it was closing and up the next flight of stairs. Hamilton glanced quickly down the length of hallway and would have kept going but Sam’s phone ringing gave him away, Sam reached into his pocket to silence it but it was too late. Hamilton ran back after him.

On the top floor he had nowhere left to go except the roof. He climbed up the last stair case and slammed the fire escape behind him. His phone was ringing again, barely audible over the sirens outside. David’s caller ID appeared on the screen. The night sky was alive with blue flashes. His pulse filled his ears and when he answered the phone he had to shout.

‘Hello? Something really bad is happening.’

‘I know I’m so sorry, someone found her body, on campus.’ David was shouting too.

Sam was confused, he ran to the edge of the roof and looked down on the gardens. The police cars were parked at angles, lights blazing, officers cordoning off the area. And right below him, a light shone on a body.

‘Stop! Stay where you are!’ Hamilton bellowed as he crashed through the door.

‘I don’t understand, what happened?’

‘The cleaner found her in the gardens, and started shouting, I was just leaving campus.

Maybe she fell off the roof. I don’t know. I just called the police as soon as I saw her. Its so strange -’

- ‘Stay where you are Dr. McKenzie! I need back up on the roof.’ Hamilton bellowed again, then into his radio. -

‘What’s strange, tell me!?’ Sam asked

David looked up and saw a person’s silhouette against the night sky.

‘It looked as though she was there for a long time but that doesn’t make sense, she was all overgrown with - ‘

‘ - He’s over there! McKenzie, you are under arrest, turn around!’

Another police car arrived and it’s flashing lights illuminated the scene. David’s eyes locked on to Sam’s as his silhouette lit up to reveal his contorted face.’

‘Overgrown with what?’ Asked Sam flatly, as he feared the answer.

‘Mushrooms.’