Iyanna

McAllister
Treatment paper

THE
GLADIUS
EFFECT

15 year old Alana Albert stands in the hallway as she desperately tries to explain to her
mother the adult that was made by her mother’s boyfriend. Outraged and in disbelief, her
mother Karen calls her a liar, as she follows by telling her to get her things and leave. Her
boyfriend stands leaning against a wall as Alana sobs and walks out of the house, which is
the beginning to a troubled life for her.
Flashing forward to two years later, Alana is gathering her things as her doctor walks sends
her off to a mental health hospital on the other side of Minnesota where she will follow out her
last days as a patient and begin her transition back into society after suffering from severe
anxiety and paranoia. She gets there and meets Alex, an 18-year-old who suffers from
hallucinations. She also meets six other patients( Laura, Dan, Hether, Zane, Felix, and Raven)
who are also about to transition into society around her age group. They are all brought into a
room where Doctor Holden, who is over juvenile patients, introduces them to a new drug that
could potentially repair the brain cells that are damaged and altered therefore aiding in the
cause of their mental disorders. Upon agreeing, they are all out on the medication that night.
Doctor Holden is stopped in his office by Miss Marks, who tells him that they have to be
careful with the new medication, seeing as though they are breaking orders by introducing
their patients to a highly experimental and potentially fatal medication.
Laura is the first to experience effects from the drug, as it heightens her schizophrenia and
causes her to hear different voices talking to her. She tells Hether the next morning about the
strange occurrence and asks if she experienced anything like it. Alex sarcastically calls Laura a
nutcase and a loon. She becomes upset and walks out of the general area to her room, ending
the conversation. Laura is later found dead in her room with her ears scratched down to bare
bone and her wrist slit. Hether explains that Laura had been complaining about hearing voices
and night terrors.
One by one, the others start to experience their mental disabilities at a heightened and
terrifying state, making them slowly lose sight of what is reality and what is in their head. After
Dan and Hether are found dead by apparent suicide, Alana goes to Doctor Holden where she
tries to tell him something is wrong with the medicine, and he insists that it’s their conditions
worsening instead. He explains that if their behavior continues, their release will be prolonged
until they are stable and under control.
Alana then goes to the only person who can potentially help her, which is Alex, and tells him
that the doctors are using them for a personal experiment. Alex, being the only one who knows
Doctor Holden and the staff extremely well being that he’s been in the system since
adolescence, does not want to accept the fact that they are behind the irrational behavior, and
accuses Alana of being bitter because she doesn’t have anybody that actually cares about her.
She takes it upon herself to sneak into the lab at the hospital and find out what they are being
given. Once she finds out the name of it, she calls around and finds out that Doctor Holden and
Miss Marks, along with three other medical professionals tried to get the drug approved for the
treatment of mental disorders by the government. However, due to the lack of effectiveness,
and the high risk side effects that could be fatal, it was not approved for testing.
Alana then proceeds to devise a plan to expose Doctor Holden and his peers while
encouraging Felix, Zane and Raven not to take their daily doses. Still in disbelief, Alex decides
to continue on with his treatment. Zane, who is close friends with Alex, is caught by Doctor
Holden hiding his pills in his pillow. A nurse is then given orders to mix the drug into the
patient’s beverage at dinner time instead of pill form. Zane sees a hallucination that night of his
deceased mother as she is seen walking off the balcony, and he follows, falling 5 floors and
meets his death. Upset and confused, Alex is in his room when he reveals to a nurse whom is a
supposed close friend that
Alana thinks the doctors are running an experiment on them, and that he actually is starting
to believe something is wrong with the medication, revealing he himself has also been having
night terrors for the first time in five years. Intrigued, the nurse takes the information to Doctor
Holden and warns him that if his secret gets out, he will lose his license, and go to jail along
with his alliances. Doctor Holden then kills her and informs the other doctors of the potential
expose, and suggests that they dispose of the teens since they were thrown away to the system
anyway.
Alex overhears the conversation and goes to Alana and bursts into tears while explaining to
her that this is the only family he knows. She comforts him and they go to the others to warn
them that they need to find a way out that night. They grab their belongings and run to the door
at midnight just as the security guard leaves to stop the security panel from locking the door
again. Just as they are about to get out of the door, it shuts and they are face to face with
Doctor Holden and four others. The teenagers scram to get away from the doctors. Raven runs
into the utility room where the effects of the Zodacsphren begin to kick in and her vision starts
to shift. She does not see Mrs Marks and another nurse coming after her and is pushed into
burner pit, but not before pulling them in with her. Felix traps a nurse into going into the freezer
and locks them in there, but falls running and is knocked unconscious. Alana confronts Doctor
Holden and threatens that he will not get away with eight patients dying on his watch. In an
attempt to kill her he grabs a nearby extension cord and proceeds to strangle her, however Alex
who was watching from behind hits him in the head and gets Alana loose. With the medication
now In full effect, Alex starts to stumble and it is clear he is starting to hallucinate visions. Alana
urges him to fight it and concentrate, as he tries to go over to the control booth that opens the
doors. ​He is overtaken by Doctor Holden who is about to kill him when Felix begins to turn on

the gas
​ machines as the room fills with toxins. Felix is then seen bloodied and struggling to
make it over to Alana. She grabs him and hunts for the matches kept in one of the nearby
drawers while Felix tries to get the door to the control booth open to save Alex. Alex finally gets
free and Alana finds the matches. Alex types the code in to the panel and the entrance doors
open. As the three leave out, Doctor Holden finally gestures out to Alex to save him, exclaiming
that he’s like
a son to him. After telling Doctor Holden that he doesn’t need family, he lights a match and
tosses it over by the gas tanks.
The three run out of the doors making sure to close it behind them concealing Doctor
Holden. They walk off the hospital premises into the early dawn just as the sky has began
to lighten, as the building is overtaken by a raging fire, burning all of its contaminants.
The trio are last seen boarding a bus and a close up shot shows Alana lightly resting on Alex’s
chest as he stares out of the window and the automobile pulls off driving to the unknown.