She had finally done it.

She graduated college with a PHd in Biology with minors in anomalous and unique animal behaviorism. She had studied all her life specifically so she could work in the best company and industry in the world.

Iris.

Her name was Sammie Smith. A very generic name but she'd make herself stand out no matter the cost.

As soon as she graduated, she applied for a position with Iris and even went through the interview process. It wasn't anything different than any other interview, really. Just questions about her availability, why she wanted a job there. Her strengths and weaknesses. Standard things.

And then it happened.

She finally received a call that she had been hired!

Sammie stood outside the large white building. Everyone in the city could see it wherever they were outside. It was the pride and joy of the country with the best scientist in the world, Henrik Von Schneeplestein.

'I hope I get the chance to meet him!' she was so excited.

As she walked inside, she was scanned by many guards just to get in through the front door. They took their job very seriously but she knew they had to. Iris dealt with a lot of important matters in the world. If the technology or information they had got into the wrong hands, it could mean disaster for entire countries, including the one they lived in.

She assumed it would be other countries trying to infiltrate or get in. . . .

Sammie noticed a lot of people. . . mainly girls her age. . . were in what appeared to be the main lobby and suddenly, she grew nervous.

She walked confidently up to the front desk to a woman who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else, "Uh. . . good morning! My name's Sammie Smith. I'm here about orientation?"

"Take a seat"

Sammie blinked, "Oh. . . is everyone here also been hired?"

The woman glanced at her, "Just take a seat, honey. Someone will call your name eventually. . . . hope you brought a book with you"

Sammie gulped, a little nervous now. Was this not an actual orientation? Was this a way to weed out other new hires to get the best one?

If so, she figured there'd be better ways. . .

But Sammie did as she was told and went over to an empty seat, sitting down by another girl who was blonde and much prettier than her in Sammie's opinion.

The other girl smiled at her, "Hi. My name's Bridgit. What position did you apply for?"

Sammie smiled back, "The Anomaly Division. I studied in biology and animal behavior to put it simply"

"Oh really!?" Bridgit grinned, "Me too!"

Sammie was even more worried that her theory may be correct.

After a long while of playing on her phone with games and social media videos, Sammie checked the time.

'It's after lunchtime.' she sighed, 'I've been here for hours and there's still twenty other girls here and some have even LEFT! This is ridiculous'

What was weird, though, was that no other girls' names had been called since Sammie had gotten there.

Something else was at play here.

And then it clicked, 'This is a test!'

It made perfect sense to her. It HAD to be! They were weeding out people using a behavioral tactic, seeing what they'd do and how long they'd stay there.

Well, she wasn't gonna play into it!

Sammie stood up and walked up to the woman at the front desk, "I'd like to do my orientation now"

"Take a seat and your name will be called."

"No, it won't" Sammie crossed her arms, "I know now that this is a whole trick and ploy to weed out the quitters. I'm not one of them. I'd like to continue with my orientation now, please"

The woman snorted, "Miss, if you don't sit back down, you'll be escorted out without being hired. You sure you wanna go there?"

Sammie took a deep breathe, thinking about it but she was stubborn, "You're not going to fool me"

All the other girls seemed curious about what would happen to her. Many of them hoped she'd be another out of the way.

The front desk lady stared at her for at least ten seconds and it was the most agonizing ten seconds of Sammie's life.

Until she smirked, "Well done. You may go through those doors" she stood up, "And as for the rest of you. . . go ahead and go home. You failed. Guards, escort them all out please"

Sammie felt like she'd faint, her head was so heavy and dizzy. But she did it! She passed!

She went through the doors before she could pass out and on the other side was a hallway.

With no doors.

She was confused and turned around only to discover that the doors behind her were now gone as well.

'Well shit. . . . so THIS is a part of it, too, huh?'

She shouldn't expect anything less from the most prestigious company in the world. They can't just have ANYONE working there.

'No doors. . . but there has to be a way out' she felt like an animal in a cage.

But that's just how they wanted her to feel.

'They're treating me like a behavioral experiment. . .like a mouse in a maze' she figured, 'Well, then, if that's how they wanna do this'

She had to be tactical and think about this.

'I did an experiment like this before in college.' she walked down the hallway to the other side which also had no door, 'There's no obvious way out. It took the mouse a while to figure it out.'

Sammie looked carefully down the hall and finally spotted it and the correct angle, 'But I'm not a mouse'

In the middle of the hall on one side, there was slightest bevel that didn't belong. She went over to it and pressed it.

And just like that, the hidden door opened.

There on the other side stood a few people in lab coats. The man in the middle had a clipboard and didn't even look at her.

"Impressive score. You're the only applicant who passed this time around."

Sammie grinned, "So does that mean I have the job?!"

The man glanced up at her, appearing bored, "I guess. If you can even call it that."

She blinked, "Wait, what? What does that mean?"

The man handed the clipboard to someone else and he walked over to her, presenting his hand to her, "My name is Doctor Arin. I'm head of the Anomaly Division and you'll be answering to me. You'll be my intern"

It took a moment for it to register for Sammie but when she did, she blinked again and tensed, "Wait. . . INTERN!? But I applied to be-"

"All of us started out as interns, Ms. Smith. You're not special. Do you accept the position or not?"

Honestly, she was fuming but then again. . .

'This could be my only chance to work here. . .'

There was no reason she couldn't work her way up.

"Is this a PAID internship?"

"Yes. You'll earn $30 an hour"

Sammie took his hand, shaking it, "Deal"

Arin cracked a small smile, "Alright then. Today will just be Orientation. You'll fill out tons of forms. The standard mixed with. . not so standard. You've already provided your IDs so you're good that way. We'll go over the Benefits you get here and what you'll be doing. What a typical day will look like. Where you can and cannot go. So on and so forth. Got it?"

Sammie nodded, "Got it"

"Good." Arin nodded, "This way" he turned and walked away from her. The other scientists went back to work since they were done observing her. Sammie followed him.

"So. . . How good DID I do? How was my score?" she was curious.

Arin snorted, "Don't get too cocky. It still took you four hours to get past the first test. You almost failed that one had you stayed an hour longer"

Her heart skipped, "Oh. . . well, good thing I didn't"

"Good thing. Here's the directory" he motioned to a crossroads hallway with three other halls to go down. On each wall were signs of what division was in what direction.

Sammie squinted, "Where's the Anomaly Division?"

Arin nodded, "So you can read. Good. You'll go to the elevator down this North hall and the Anomaly Division in all on the basement level of the building"

"Whoa. . . must be a big division"

"It's our Main Division so yeah."

Sammie felt a little embarrassed but tried not to show it.

They went towards the elevator and inside and Arin pressed the button to go down, "You'll never need to go anywhere else but down here. We have our own cafeteria down there. We also have room and board, a gym, pool and your own doctor will be assigned to you. If you so wish, you may even move here with minimal items that will be approved"

"Whoa . . that's cool"

"This IS the best company in the world, after all" he nodded, "But even with all the amenities and the pay raises, sometimes, it won't feel like enough."

"What do you mean?"

The elevator door opened back up and Arin led the way, "You'll find out tomorrow. If you're still here by then, that is"

"What? Of course, I will be!"

Arin snorted, "A lot of them say that." he stopped short like he was thinking about something, "In fact. . . let's give you another test. This way"

'Oh great, another one?!' but she followed without any hesitation.

They reached a door that was pressure sealed with a guard in front. The guard scanned Arin's ID and let him and Sammie in.

Inside this guarded room was a large study space with all the equipment you could ever ask for. Most, she didn't know what it even was or did.

In the middle of the room appeared to be a tank of some kind with a transparent liquid.

Something was floating inside.

"What is that?"

Arin led her closer, "This. . . is an Anomaly."

When she was finally in front of it, she saw it more clearly. Inside the tank. . .

Was an eyeball!

But not only that, it was also green!

And MOVING!

"What. . the fuck?"

Arin lightly tapped the glass of the tank and the eyeball moved to stare right at him, the bright blue iris locked on.

"We call it the Septic Eye . . . because it's green. Nasty little thing. We're not sure how it's sentient yet. We've done a lot of scans but it doesn't have a brain. It's just quite literally an eyeball. From something else. But it has its own sentience."

"Whoa" Sammie had never seen anything like it before, "It's so. . .cool"

The eyeball switched its gaze to her and locked on.

Sammie didn't know what it was but there was definitely something weird about this thing.

"Have you found anything else it could be apart of?" she asked.

Arin shook his head, "No. Not yet. We have other anomalies but nothing like this one. Other anomalies are more. . . less sentient. In physical form. Duplicates that shouldn't exist. Camera studies from things that can't be explained. Sometimes we'll see Skinwalkers in footage but we've never been able to capture one yet"

"Awesome"

Arin turned back to her, "Everything here is extremely dangerous. Every single thing we have contained in this division can kill you if you don't follow proper procedure. You'll still just be an intern. . .. but are you sure you still want the job knowing you could die here? Very easily?"

She didn't even look at him. She was still staring at the eyeball.

Sammie knew immediately what her answer was as soon as Arin had showed it to her.

"Yes"

Arin sighed, almost disappointed, "Then . . . welcome to Iris, Sammie Smith. You are now an official Intern for Iris Industries."