When they calmed down, they looked around. There didn’t seem to be any men left running around.

“Is that all of them?” Myla asked, wiping away a tear.

Lorilei considered. “Athena, are there any of cell block A left alive?”

“Yes Lorilei. There are four convicts still showing full vital signs.”

“Fuck,” Lorilei cursed. “Spread out and find them. They can’t have gotten too far.”

They spread out, heads lowered, checking under every table and chair, every nook and cranny.

“Oh here’s one,” Myla said. He was hiding under a ledge. “Come out here, it’s okay little guy,” Myla said in a soft voice. She tapped her fingernail on the floor. “That’s right, it’s okay, come out here.” He crawled out slowly, cautiously. ”It’s okay. It’s okay,” she repeated, as she stood up and gently lifted her sneaker over him. He turned and crawled quickly back toward the way he had come. “It’s okay.” She crushed him gently before he could back under cover. She giggled quietly as she twisted her foot.

“I found like, two over here,” Alexis said. There were two little men hiding in a corner. Having been discovered, they came out and fell to their knees, lifting their hands up with their wrists together, begging to just be handcuffed and left alive. “You’ll have to beg harder than that if you want to live, you little criminals,” she scoffed, and put her heel down in front of them, lifting her huge, gory sole over them. “Kiss my fucking shoe, you little worms,” she demanded. She lowered her Jordan close enough to the floor that they could reach with their mouths, and leaned down and around, craning her long neck to see underneath. “Oh my fucking god, they’re actually doing it! Yeah that’s right bitches, lick that shit up. Lick up your dead friends if you don’t want to end up like them.”

“Oh my God no way,” Myla said. “That’s so gross!”

“Yeah,” Alexis said, laughing. “Fucking pathetic! You don’t deserve to live, you little bugs, get fucked,” she said. She pressed her foot down until they crushed beneath it, and shoved it forward, smearing them across the floor.

It took the girls a while, but eventually Lorilei found the last one. He was tucked into a corner with nowhere to run, shaking in fear when she spotted him. She advanced slowly, not taking her eyes off him. She eased her foot forward, meaning to smush him against the wall, but in the very corner she could not reach him. He remained safe tucked into the tiny triangle of space between her toe bumper and the corner. She sighed in frustration and studied the man.

”I’ll make you a deal,” she said quietly and slowly, like a teacher scolding a student. “If you just come out, I promise we won’t hurt you. You just have to sign an NDA and you’ll be fine. The other option is, I reach down there with my fingers and pop your little head, okay? You’re trapped: Eventually I will get you. Do you want to come out and sign the NDA and live instead?” She nodded her head in condescending persuasion. “Yes, right?”

After a few moments, the tiny little head in the corner began to nod sadly. Myla and Alexis had come up behind them quietly, though Alexis was on her phone again. “Good,” Lorilei said, feeling fiendish with her friends at her back now. “Now, all you have to do is, come out.” She lifted her shoe just a tiny bit, still keeping him trapped in the corner, but now with enough room to crawl under her shoe to freedom. “Just go ahead and crawl underneath. Don’t be scared, you can do it!”

Myla bit her finger to hide her giggles. Lorilei fought to keep a sneer off her smile, and kept nodding with fake enthusiasm. The little man was considering it apparently, shaking his head in frustration. “Come on,” Lorilei goaded. “Go ahead and crawl.”

Eventually, with no other choice, he actually did. They watched the little form bend and tuck himself down with some difficulty beneath her toe box, and slowly disappear from sight. The interns stifled their excited laughs.

”I know it might be a little gross and scary under there, but don’t worry, you can do it. Just crawl, like a little worm.” Lorilei grinned and lowered her shoe the tiniest amount she could. She could just barely feel something moving under there.

They waited a long time, coaxing him to come out, until eventually they did see tiny little hands appear at the edge of her shoe, then arms, then finally a head. He was crawling on his belly, struggling to pull and wriggle through the tight space. “Wow, good job,” Lorilei said. 

He twisted his head around and looked up.

“But, you know I was just kidding, right little worm?” Lorilei laughed and pressed down. His lower body crunched, all his insides gushed out, and he spasmed and twitched, before slumping dead.

”Wow, what a fucking idiot,” she said. She lifted her foot, and his upper body clung to her midsole and then got stuck to the slick underside of her sole. She giggled and then pressed her sole against the wall, crushing and smearing down the rest of his corpse.

”Okay, that was fun but let’s go, we’re late for the party,” Alexis said, looking at her phone.

”That’s all of them, right Athena?” Myla said.

”Correct. There are no remaining convicts from Cell Block A left alive.”

“Wait, what’s that?” Myla pointed to movement at the other end of the lab.

There was one tiny speck of movement in the distance. They went after it. As they got closer, they saw it was wearing blue. 

“Shit, it’s a guard!” Lorilei said. “It’s heading for the door, stop him!”

”Oh fuck, I thought we got them all,” Alexis said.

Then they watched in slow motion as the big doors began to open. Someone was on the other side, coming in. The little man sprinted forward, waving his arms up to get their attention.

”Don’t let him get away!” Lorilei shouted desperately to whoever was at the door. Her career flashed before her eyes.

The little man crashed into an object, bounced off and fell on his ass. He looked up. There was the raised sole of a rubber treaded boot, resting on a sturdy high heel. Above it was a woman in business casual and striking platinum ombre hair, looking down at him with confusion.

The interns froze. 

“Oh shit,” Alexis mumbled.

Angela looked from the man, up to the girls, quizzically.

”It…” Lorilei stammered. “He…”

Angela tilted her head and looked past them, at the grisly red remains staining the floor and halfway up the tables.

”It’s…it’s not…” Lorilei said quietly.

Angela sighed, and rolled her brown eyes. She looked down at the little man at her foot, who was propped up on his elbows, not sure what was happening now. She lowered her foot, slowly but surely, as if she was still contemplating something. The guard panicked and tried to scuttle backward but he was too late, and got slowly crushed from the legs up, giving a final shriek as he disappeared beneath her boot with a wet crunch.

The girls watched in shock as she gave her foot a twist, and then lifted it, revealing a red stain on the floor. The body was mushed into pulp between her treads, and she seemed to forget about him stuck there as she walked calmly into the lab, looking around. After she surveyed the carnage, Angela saw the interns were standing in a line with their hands clasped, and heads bowed in shame. She sighed and rolled her eyes again. “Look, I don’t know what happened here exactly, but I’m sure it’s all fine. None of them escaped, right?”

”No,” Lorilei mumbled.

”Did you get any data?”

”...Yes, I think so.”

”Then it’s fine. Honestly, it looks like you just did McKeyla’s work for her, in the end, and I’m sure she won’t mind. I’ve been telling her she needs to accept help on the project, even if she wants to do everything herself. So don’t beat yourselves up about it.”

”Yes Ma’am,” Lorilei said quietly.

”Don’t call me Ma’am, call me by my name: Angela. I’m not the good Doctor, or Tanya.”

”Ok Angela.”

”Just… relax. Take a deep breath. What are you girls doing now?”

”We’re uh, going to clean this mess up?” Lorilei said.

Alexis gave a quiet pained gasp and glanced at her phone.

Angela clocked this. “You look like you want to get out of here. I get it, it’s late. Go out, go party or whatever. I’ll get Savanna to bring her special crew up here and clean it up. It’s their job anyway, and not yours.”

Alexis looked up and beamed. “Really?”

”Yes, it’s fine. Savanna has clearance, and her little special crew have been assigned to the project, as you know Lorilei. And I know Autumn is having a big party at her mom’s place tonight - Please don’t look so surprised. Tanya isn’t there, she’s at the investor’s meeting in Toronto with Dr. McKeyla, but she’s still been texting me complaining about it. So why don’t you do us a favor and go, and have fun, but make sure they don’t destroy Tanya’s house, ok?”

”Thank you Angela!” The interns said, and darted off to grab their belongings.

Angela shook her head and smiled. She lifted her foot to look at her sole, and wrinkled her nose a bit. She held her ankle there and grabbed a pen off the table, and used it to dig the mushed remains out of the deep tread.

”Thanks again Angela!” The girls said, waving happily as they headed out through the door. They almost ran into Savanna, who was standing there with a grumpy look on her face. Her arms were crossed, and there were several floor cleaning machines idling behind her, with little men in white jumpsuits piloting them.

”Oh, Hi Savanna,” they said in friendly, nervous voices.

”Hiii,” she replied, in a friendly voice, though her face conveyed nothing. She watched them go, leaving their bloody shoe prints all down the hall, then turned back to Angela, eyebrow cocked.

”I told them it was ok to go,” Angelo explained.

”I know you did. That’s why I’m here, cleaning up a laboratory shitshow after some dumb teens. Not like I have a million other things to do or anything. What the fuck happened here anyway?” She stepped to the side and said “Go,” and the cleaning crew hummed by and got to work with their zamboni-like machines. A bunch trailed in afterward on foot with mops and buckets, and Savanna stepped over them without looking. 

“Girls will be girls, I suppose,” Angela said. “Come on. You’re not much older than them, Savanna.”

”I guess I’m an old soul. Do I get paid extra now that I’m part of some top secret program?”

Angela tapped on her smart watch, making a note. “Yes, absolutely, I’ll put it in the budget. Thank you for reminding me. Do you think McKeyla left any yogurt in the fridge?”

”We should probably take a look, at least.”