Chapter 4

June 10th 2020 – New Candor Genotech, 17:00

Divya watched the team leave the lab and turned to find them on the cameras before her. She wasn’t too concerned to be left alone, from what she had seen, there was nothing in this building to be afraid of.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here,” She said to no one as she pulled up the footage from the last week and found the feed foe the Bunker. She watched as the crew on the screen responded to the alarm and shuffled down the stairwells to the sub-basement. This was what she needed. She radioed down to the Captain.

“Kara, I’ve got it,” She waited for a response, and when none came she tried again, “Kara, can you read me?”

“Div—hear you—” She didn’t know if Kara was trying to said ‘I can’t hear you’ or ‘I hear you’ Divya shook her head derisively, this storm was going to be annoying.

“I’m in the security footage for the Bunker Captain, I should be able to get into the live feed from here, I’ll radio when I’m in.” Nothing from Kara. Divya could only assume she had gotten the message. She slowed the feed to watch as a few of the employees were inspected before they were permitted to enter the Bunker, and left it up on the screen as she began trying to break into the live footage. Out of the corner of her eye she saw when the doors to Lab 3 opened, allowing someone to stumble out. She turned her full attention to the footage and she could see something that seemed like mist rolling out of the door behind the figure. She leaned towards the screen, watching in horror when the orderly proceedings before her turned to full blown panic as people rushed to get away from the rolling mist.

Security procedures forgotten, the lab crews surged into the Bunker, some needed to be dragged in. Within minutes, the only ones left outside the doors were laying on the floor, dead, she was sure. The mist rolled over the figures, dissipating slowly. She paused the feed and leaned back in her seat, scrubbing her face with her palm, trying to get the image of screaming faces out of her mind. Something tickled at the back of her mind as she walked over to the ComBox and picked up the mic.

“Captain,” she spoke softly, still affected by what she had seen, “Are you set up yet?”

“What is it Divya?” Kara’s voice came roughly over the radio, “Did you break into the feed?” Divya closed her eyes and asked.

“Not yet, I just watched the footage from last week, how bad is it down there?”

“It’s fine, Chris is stumbling like a fool in the dark, that’s all,” Kara replied, Divya could hear Chris protest in the background, “I assume you didn’t call to make small talk soldier.”

How could Kara say that it wasn’t bad? She had seen the bodies, no one else had been here for six days, it had to be horrible down there. That same feeling scratched at the back of her mind now.

“What about the bodies?” She asked, gears working as she stared at the frozen image on the screen.

“Bodies? What bodies? Divya, if you’re afraid of the dark—”

Divya stretched the mic over to the desk as Kara spoke, she pressed the forward button and watched as the bodies twitched and pushed themselves up. The hallway had been clear when they had gotten into the camera feed, before the power cut, that’s what was so unsettling. Divya pressed play as the first one got to its feet and watched as it lumbered slowly off the screen, out of the view of the security camera.

“Divya? DIVYA?” Kara’s voice came from the speaker.

“We have a problem.”

Kara paused, catching the tension in her voice, “Dean, Dante draw your weapons. Anna, help Chris fix those lights,” Kara snapped out to the team, “I’m on my way up.”

Divya placed the mic back on the cradle and grabbed her weapon from beside the desk, she hooked the strap over her shoulder and checked the safety. She walked over to the lab door, locked it and returned to the screen, Kara would want as much information as she could get.

#

Kara, weapon drawn, made her way to the elevator as Dean and Dante readied their weapons, she nodded to them as she passed. Whatever she had read from Divya’s voice wasn’t good and she needed to know what was going on. Why had Divya mentioned bodies? She pressed the button for the lobby and the elevator hummed to life, lights a bit dimmer than when they had first arrived. It was a little different going up without Chris’s incessant chatter to keep the silence out.

As the doors opened she stepped out and swept across the lobby with her tactical light, taking more care in the shadows outside the ring of lights they had strung along the hall. She made her way down the hall toward Lab 4 slowly, noticing the complete lack of sound, so different from their initial entrance. Now, there was no hum of fluorescent lights, no whirr of A/C, nothing that she associated with a large building like this. It was unnerving, but helpful, if anything made a sound she’d be sure to hear it. She shook her head, Divya’s tone was getting to her, making her jump at shadows. She reached the lab and peeked through the door, she could see the shorter woman crouching over the computer, as she had left her earlier. Kara rapped her fist against the glass, startling Divya, who turned towards the door, weapon raised. She let it drop to her side when she recognized Kara and rushed to let her in.

“We have trouble.” Before Kara could even say anything, she had never seen Divya look so frantic, “I needed to know where it came from, so I checked on the feed from Lab 3 as well.” She chattered as she led the Captain over to the screen and pushed her down into the seat.

“Div, what—” Kara spluttered as she was forced to sit down. Divya reached past her and pressed play, the screen opened up to a line of employees waiting to get into the Bunker, as she watched, the scene unfolded before her eyes, “Oh god.”

“That’s not all,” Divya changed the camera on the screen to show a lab, “This is Lab 3, in the sub-basement.” She gave Kara a look that asked for her permission. Kara nodded and looked at the screen again.

There were people in the lab. She could see them clearly. She remembered Lindquist telling them that Lab 3 and the Bunker were run on their own generators and put it out of her mind. Something was wrong with them. As she watched, she noticed more things that set her nerves on edge. The figure at the lab desk closest to the camera reached out for a pen.

“Why are they moving so slowly?” She voiced. Divya just nodded as they continued to watch. The scientist picked up the pen in loose fingers and lifted it. The pen slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the desk below, Kara could almost hear the sound it made. The scientist was not distracted by this though, he simply continued the motion, writing something in the space before him and returning the ‘pen’ to where he had picked it up. Everyone in the room moved as if they were in molasses, “What the hell is this?” She asked, horrified.

The mechanical behaviour of the men in the room was unnatural, and was that blood on the coat of the scientist? There was blood on the desks too, and what looked like a body in the back corner of the room.

“I don’t know,” Divya said worriedly, “I think we’re safe from them, they’re locked in there by biometrics and they haven’t tried to escape all week. I checked.”

Kara couldn’t tear her eyes away as she watched one of the men in the back of the room walk into a glass partition. She could see a bloody mark on the glass where he had hit his head hard enough to break skin. He rebounded slightly and tried to walk through the glass once more. Something about the hopeless repetition sent a shiver down her spine. She swallowed the fear that tried to creep in and pushed back from the desk.

“We need eyes inside that Bunker,” She said to Divya as she stalked over to the ComBox. Depressing the button for the mic she spoke to Rodriguez, “Chris, can you hear me?”

After a few long seconds she heard the static of the radio, “Loud and clear Captain,” she wasn’t sure when she’d been so relieved to hear Chris’s voice, “What’s going—” He was cut off by a loud clanging noise, “Jesus Christ!”

“What was that?!” She was on edge after seeing the video feed, her eyes kept darting to the desk, watching Divya work.

“Ah, nothing Chief, Dante just dropped one of the flood lamps.”

“Captain…”

“Tell Dante to be more careful, we can’t afford to lose any of those lights,” she ordered, away from the screen she felt more in control of the situation.

“Yea, you got it Cap. Dante! Cap says smarten up!” She heard Dante grumble something that made Chris laugh.

“Captain, we have movement,” came Divya’s voice from behind her. She stretched the cable of the mic and peered over at the screen. The same scientist from before had turned toward the laboratory doors and was making his way toward it slowly. As they watched, he raised his right hand to the biometric scanner.

“Chris, weapons trained on that lab door. NOW!” She commanded forcefully. She released the mic, “I need to see that hallway Divya.”

Divya changed the camera view to the hall, they could see the team, weapons trained on the double doors. Kara could practically hear the hiss of the doors as they opened, letting the man out into the hallway.

#

Chris had been feeling uneasy since the night before. He was used to pre-mission jitters but something about this whole ordeal had felt off from the minute Kara had been called into Genotech. Hearing Kara’s voice across the radio now, he knew something was up. The Captain sounded like she was barely restraining a full panic.

“Cap says smarten up!” He called out to Dante, hoping to cut the tension he could sense rolling out of the radio speakers.

“If I smarten up, that’ll make you the only idiot left in the group Chris,” Dante mumbled as he picked up the light he had dropped. Kara’s tone changed immediately in her next communique.

“Weapons trained on that lab door. NOW!” He dropped the mic and readied his weapon, flicking off the safety as he swung the muzzle towards the lab door. In the corners of his vision he could see the rest of the team mimicking his actions, just as the doors before them hissed open.

It was a man, he looked like he was a bit lost, and injured, judging by the slow gait. Chris made a slow approach, not wanting to startle him.

“Easy there, we’re here to help,” he took another slow step forward and motioned to the others to drop their muzzles, “We’re the Emergency Response Team, sent out by Darcy Lindquist.” He wasn’t sure if this guy even knew the head of security, but better to keep talking in that calm voice, it always worked on civilians. He took another slow step forward and the guy raised his head to look at him.

What’s up with this guy? He thought to himself as he saw his face, it looked like someone had clawed at him sometime in this last week. The scientist’s eyes were clouded over with something that looked like cataracts. Chris felt a shiver run up his spine, something was very, very wrong with this guy. He backed up, bringing his weapon up. At the sudden movement the scientist’s eyes cleared and focussed straight on him. In seconds the man was on him, fingers distorted into claws and teeth bared as he snapped at Chris’s throat. He brought his arm up between them, unintentionally lodging the meaty part of his palm between the man’s teeth. One sharp pain later and the man was forcibly pulled off of him, a chunk of Rodriguez between his teeth.

He looked past the crazed man and saw Dean struggling with him, weapon wrapped around the scientist’s throat like a makeshift garrote. The man was larger than Dean and Dean backed up, trying to keep him under control. As Chris watched, Dean backed into the lab through the open door. He heard the growls of other things in the room and dashed towards the door to pull Dean out. He made it to the doorway as he watched Dean slam the hand of the scientist he held into the scanner on the wall.

“NO!” Chris shouted as he slammed his good fist on the door, “DEAN!” he couldn’t hear anything from beyond. Leaning his forehead on the door he punched again, weakly this time. Kara had asked him to keep an eye on the kid.

#

“Lab 3!” Before she had finished the words, Divya had the lab on the screen. They watched Dean struggle with the man he held as the others in the room clambered towards him. He shoved the scientist into the oncoming crowd and dove under the closest lab desk, probably meaning to come back out with his weapon ready. Almost as soon as he had disappeared, everything on the screen stilled. Each rabid man calmed and turned back to their never ending tasks.

“I need a speaker in that room Divya,” Divya nodded and opened up another screen.

“Got it!” She thrust a headset into Kara’s hands.

“Dean! Don’t move!” She heard her voice echoing throughout the building, Divya had sent Dean’s screen to the large projector against one wall of the room. On the small screen, Kara could see Chris raise his head at the sound of her voice. He looked over at the security camera, she could almost read the hope on his face.

“I need you to put your hand out slowly, so I know you can hear me soldier,” She hoped she wasn’t sending him to his death with this one small gesture, but she needed to know she had a line of contact. She didn’t want to risk the radio, there was still interference, and that might help them pinpoint his location. She watched the screen intently as slowly, so slowly, Dean stuck his arm out from beneath the desk, thumb up to the camera. She sighed as he withdrew the arm, bringing no attention to himself as he did it.

So it’s movement, she thought as she watched the scientists milling about the room, rapid movement, or at least, anything faster than them. She took a breath and spoke into the headset again.

“Alright, listen up team. We’ve got a whole new situation here, we’ve got an asset trapped in that lab with them and no way to get in without risking him.” She looked over at the screen showing the hallway, then back at Dean, “these things are attracted to fast movement Dean. If you leave that spot or move too quick, they’ll be on you faster than stink on a pig. Seeing as we can’t locate a safe exit for you, you’ll just have to stay still for now and shut off your walkie, we don’t want them honing in on you because you need to hear my pretty voice, you got that kid?” Another slow and deliberate thumbs up.

Where the hell did they find him? She didn’t know many new recruits that could handle this kind of situation so well. She continued.

“The rest of you; these things hear and react to certain noises. They’re not reacting to this announcement, I think that’s because it’s normal to listen to announcements for them, I’m sure the alarms have been blaring in the past week. If we make any more sudden noises like earlier, DANTE, it’ll bring them out.” She watched as Dante hung his head. He didn’t need chastising, but she needed her team to be on point from here on out, if they were going to get Dean out off there.

Kara handed the headset back to Divya and walked over to the ComBox, “Chris, has Anna patched you up yet?” she watched him make his way over to the CB, Anna hovering around him as he responded.

“She’s working on it Cap, sucker got me good.” She could hear the wince of pain as Anna pressed a sore spot on his hand.

“Alright, whatever this is, we don’t know if it’s communicable. You need to get your ass up here and into containment. Now.”

He saluted into the camera and struggled to get up. Anna’s voice came on the line “We’ll get him up there as soon as he’s patched Captain, I’ll make sure of it.” Kara just nodded to herself, not needing to affirm that. She walked back to Divya and spoke in to the headset once more.

“Dean, once we have Chris patched, we’re going to pull them outside, don’t make a move until then.” Another thumbs up, not even a shake this time.

They watched the hallway in front of the lab as Anna patched Chris up, Divya excused herself to set up a small quarantine at the back of the lab they were occupying. She’d had the foresight to choose a lab with a small glass room at the back, thinking Anna might need it for any medical emergencies. The team arrived as Divya finished clearing the room., Chris held up between Anna and Dante, the loss of blood making him dizzy.

“Cap I feel fine.”

“That’s not a chance I’m willing to take soldier,” She said as she took Anna’s place under his left arm, freeing the woman up to make sure her patient was comfortable, “We have no idea what we’re dealing with. Divya will go through the feed and maybe we’ll learn something, but for now, your ass stays behind this glass.”

“Aw, Cap, didn’t know you cared enough for poetry.” Chris replied jauntily, that humour again, she knew how worried he was about the kid.

Kara smirked, indulging him “Get your butt in gear, Anna make sure he’s comfortable in there and lock him up.”

“Can I at least get a magazine…” Chris grumbled as Anna walked him through adjusting the bandages, in case he ended up behind glass longer than they expected.

“Divya, can you run through the last 6 days on the other cameras and still keep Dean on that screen?” She asked, motioning to the large projector screen.

“Yea, easy,” Divya replied as she pulled up the feeds from the last six days on the computer in front of her. Kara stepped up behind her, she needed to know where the bodies had gotten to.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5