Why did the world have to be this way?
Not long ago, Hyena and Hellflower had respected the Academician, but now, they were at odds. Meanwhile, Chimp, that worthless man desperately afraid of death, chose to die rather than give up on the man he adored.
Great treason is like loyalty. Great loyalty is like treachery. Great falsehoods are like truth. Why did the world make people so inscrutable? Why were their hearts beyond comprehension?
Dozens of soldiers emptied their clips wildly at Cloudhawk’s hiding spot. Everything in the lab had been nearly blown apart. If any of them so much as stuck their head out, he/she would immediately be sporting several new holes. There could be twice as many of them and they still would have no way to fight their way out!
Academician Roste would be here soon, and the three of them together couldn’t face him, much less with an additional fifty well-armed guards. Hiding here wasn’t an option.
Hyena’s talons anxiously clawed at the ground, leaving ragged gashes in the metal. He was like a cornered animal, desperate and furious. He would rather die than be captured alive again. As a soldier, he couldn’t suffer the indignity of being someone’s puppet.
“Kill our way out! If we die, we die together!”
But Cloudhawk called him back. “No! Don’t give up, we haven’t lost yet. There’s still something we can do.”
Hellflower turned skeptical eyes his way. “What’s your plan?”
“It’s not certain and very dangerous. But, if it works we can kill the Academician!”
“Well, now’s the time! If you’ve got an idea, then get to it!”
“Alright, first we need to get out of here alive.” Cloudhawk pulled out the Gospel of the Sands. He went on, “Remember to work together!”
The gunfire was beginning to wane as many of the soldiers stopped to reload their weapons. Cloudhawk focused his psychic energy into the Gospel, and all of a sudden, the room was engulfed in a sand storm. The tiny grains not only impeded vision but also got in their eyes and forced them shut.
“Now’s the time!”
Hellflower’s powerful legs launched her into the air. She soared out of cover with a gun in each hand, and though she also couldn’t see, she knew where every target stood. She pulled the triggers in rapid succession, each bullet striking one of their attackers.
Hyena bounded out from behind cover on all fours and charged into the crowd. As easily as a wolf among sheep, he flung aside three soldiers effortlessly. Another he mangled into ribbons of flesh.
Suddenly blind and under attack, Chimp’s people lost their composure. They couldn’t keep up their barrage.
“Don’t get caught up in the fight! Run!”
Cloudhawk grabbed Hellflower and dragged her behind him out of the room. Hyena leapt through the throng, tearing through opponents with his razor-like claws until a path was clear, and then, he, too, fled.
Three minutes later, Academician Roste arrived at the lab, followed by a contingent of mutant soldiers. What he found was a gory mess of a dozen or more corpses with the rest of the soldiers in disarray.
“Academician. Boss Chimp, sir. He…”
Roste saw his director’s broken body among the dead. He hardly seemed to register the fact. Cutting off the soldier, the old scholar pressed him for information, “Where are they?”
“They fled. I think towards the animal containment section.”
Academician Roste left without another word, beckoning for the flock of mutant soldiers to follow.
123 Liberating the Beasts
A hundred years ago, there was once a wise and knowledgeable Seeker. In the ancient ruins, he uncovered an ancient piece of biotechnology; only, most of its secrets had been lost to bygone ages. For years, he diligently studied, spending decades of hard work which resulted in numerous advances and discoveries. In his twilight years, he took on a young and brilliant student to pass on everything he had learned.
That young man’s name was Roste.
Roste inherited that old scholar’s legacy. Decades passed like days as he dedicated himself to this singular field of study. He compared ancient knowledge with the crude modern practices, ultimately creating “Roste’s Alteration Procedure.”
At first, his experiments were performed exclusively on wastelands animals. By promoting and accelerating beneficial mutations, he made the creatures smarter and stronger. Eventually, he succeeded in cultivating beasts with the capacity for critical thought. He called the evolved creatures a new class: Sagax Brutumilia.
However, in Roste’s eyes, the beasts were never more than creatures. They were “other” and thus, he spared them no empathy. Besides, endowing these monsters with strength and intelligence would one day put them at odds with his own species. Therefore, he stopped his research but used the basis of what he learned from creating these animals for something new.
This history was the origin of Roste’s quest to transform humanity. He wanted to take the benefits of Sagax Brutumilia’s abilities and transplant them into a human body. This mad endeavor sounded absurd, but after countless attempts, he finally succeeded in creating half-beast soldiers!
These transmuted warriors were able to retain the intelligence and memories of a human while attaining the survivability and combat prowess of a wild animal. In theory, they possessed the same capabilities to learn as humans and the raw physical prowess of their animal forbearers. In essence, his research was complete, ready for mass production and dissemination. Only, his beast warriors had one critical defect.
Through testing, Roste discovered that the subjects were predisposed to contracting strange diseases. He called it Racial Cognitive Disassociation Syndrome.
As the name implies, sufferers of this affliction retained the memory and cognitive abilities of humans but also the base nature and emotionality of animals. Due to how these two overlapped and conflicted, the afflicted ended up rejecting their humanity despite their human bodies. The mind deteriorated until victims had become something that was neither human nor beast.
Roste was never able to completely solve the problem. The best he was able to do was develop his brainwashing serum. It didn’t cure the affliction but instead destroyed the portion of the brain responsible for emotion. After administration of the serum, subjects lost their capacity for emotion as well as most of their memories. In essence, they became pliable puppets.
Production of these half-beast warriors began, and many were produced, eventually reaching the point where they could develop a dozen or so a month. Due to their strength, abilities, and capacity for following orders, the soldiers became a hot selling commodity. An organization like the Dark Atom was more than willing to pay top dollar, which made Blackwater Base very rich in a matter of a few short years.
Many of the instruments, firearms, and other weapons the base had were given to them by the Dark Atom as a form of payment.
It was irrefutable! Academician Roste was a mad genius.
How could any normal Seeker, surrounded by this barren backwater, create so many inconceivable inventions? In fact, Roste’s most successful accomplishments weren’t his beast soldiers or the transformed humans. It was his medicines. He created all sorts of incredible pharmaceuticals that had previously been unavailable to anyone.
Most incredible of all, for decades, he used those medicines and methods on himself. He performed experiments in secret, spending most of his energy towards developing his own adaptability mutation. Roste extracted the mutagen factors from many other creatures, strengthened them, and introduced them into his own body to produce a nearly perfect specimen. It was the only result he was truly satisfied with.
Now, the might of the wastelands was within him, and there was nothing left for him to take from it. He turned his sights on the inscrutable Elysian lands and the mystical demon hunters indigent to those lands.
Like most scientists, Roste was an atheist. He did not believe the power of the demon hunters came from any mystical god. For years, he ye
arned to capture one so he could determine precisely what it was that made them special. Once he learned their secrets, he could take them for his own. Thus, he would become the first creature in history to combine the best of the wastelands and the best of the Elysian lands, a perfect human specimen!
The strongest! The most resilient!
Cloudhawk was the manifestation of all his desires, especially since Roste knew at a glance that the boy had grown up in the wastes. His existence proved that their gifts did not come from some god!
The news that Cloudhawk had fled to the cage room spread. Soldiers converged on the location.
However, they were too late. Cloudhawk had used the key taken from Chimp’s body to open the doors and slipped in with Hellflower and Hyena. The few soldiers already inside could not contend against the two first-rate fighters and were dealt with in under half a minute.
The animal containment sector was one of the most important locations in Roste’s laboratory!
It was separated into two floors by a steel-framed set of stairs. The lower area was arranged in a grid pattern with eight passageways making escape easy. Twenty-some cages were arranged throughout with roughly half housing mutated beasts of all sorts. All told, there were about a hundred creatures kept here.
Sagax Brutumilia was a fitting name. Not only were they more intelligent, but their bodies also had undergone changes as well. These mutations enhanced their primitive capabilities to make them more agile, more ferocious, and more efficient.
After Cloudhawk and the others broke in and dealt with the guards, they were met with absolute silence. Unless they were looking right at them, it was hard to believe that there were so many creatures here because none made a sound. They all sat in their cages in quiet self-restraint.
Cloudhawk approached the closest one and peered through the bars. Inside were perhaps a dozen lizards muzzled and chained to the ground. They looked back at him through an apathetic and resigned fog.
Cloudhawk knew right away that they were the result of constant failures and painstaking breeding. Each one of them held high research value and were, of course, dangerous.
Hellflower was no fool. On the contrary, she was smart as a whip. She guessed his plan the moment he led them here. “You’re crazy. You can’t be thinking of letting these animals out… Do you think they’ll help you?”
“I know someone in there can understand what I’m saying.” Cloudhawk paid Hellflower no mind. There wasn’t any time. He spoke to the animals instead, “If you want to live, if you want your freedom, then here’s your one opportunity. If we work together, we can all get out of here!”
Several of the creatures were roused from their lethargy when they heard Cloudhawk speak. Several knowing pairs of eyes stared his way.
“I’m like you, a victim of their experiments. We have the same enemy and the same goals.” Cloudhawk wasn’t a fool. He knew his plan was dangerous, but he couldn’t think of anything better. They had to take the risk. “I’m going to let you go and give you back your freedom. In return, I want you to help me fight Roste and the evil scientists who did this to you!”
Hellflower moved forward as though to stop him, but Hyena’s growling words stopped her. “Let me do it!”
Cloudhawk didn’t have time for any nonsense, so without hesitation, he fished out Chimp’s key and unlocked one of the cage doors. Resolutely, he strode in and unlocked the shackles, the only thing keeping the creatures from eating him alive.
Hiss! Hiss! Aaoooghh!
Several burly desert lizards charged. Their mutations made them more like miniature dinosaurs, capable of standing up on powerful hind legs. Not only were they much larger than a normal wastelands lizard, but they were also smarter. They headed right for Cloudhawk.
“Watch out!”
Hellflower was ready to shoot, but Hyena held her arm.
Hyena fixed his sharp eyes on Cloudhawk. The thought of using these creatures had never crossed his mind, nor did he suspect Cloudhawk would think of it. All that was left was to see if the kid’s luck would hold out.
In fact, even Cloudhawk saw it as a gamble, but his confidence came from experience.
Back when he was with the Tartarus Mercenaries, Cloudhawk had encountered the rat king. It was nearly as intelligent as any human. These creatures were no different, and after being locked up with the scientists for so long, he bet they understood human speech.
They had to know what he was saying.
If they had even a shred of logic, they had to know this was their only chance to get out. If they let it pass or killed him, they would spend the rest of their lives chained up in these cages oppressed by these hateful scientists.
He faced the oncoming lizards with a calm exterior, not even flinching from their roars.
The first one to reach him spread open its maw to take a bite! However, the largest of the herd lunged forward to knock it away. This one was the alpha and also the smartest. It communicated with the others through a series of growls and hisses that caused them to calm down.
It paid off! It paid off!
Cloudhawk had been nervous, especially when the sharp teeth of the lizard were coming for his face. Thankfully, he was saved by their leader. Otherwise, Cloudhawk doubted he would be able to fight off even just one. No one would have been able to save him.
“Quick, open all the cages!” Cloudhawk spun around and threw the keys to the others. “Fast as you can!”
As the precious minutes passed, they flung open the cages, one by one. The distribution of intelligence was different and uneven in each cage. As such, each time, they were nearly attacked only to have the ones who understood step in to protect them.
A particularly sturdy cage had its doors flung open. A pack of wolves came screaming out, a flurry of tooth and claw.
Their alpha padded out and stopped next to Hyena. She was a female, but if she stood on her hind legs, she would easily be ten feet tall. Her body was covered in a sleek white coat that made her look exceedingly majestic and noble.
This one was the most highly evolved of all the creatures here. Physically, she was very different from normal wolves, highly agile, and capable of explosive force. When she reached Hyena, she stopped as though she recognized him and licked his hand – an elder showing affection to her brood.
Hyena’s heart was in turmoil. He was a patchwork creature, part man and part beast. The blood of these wild animals pumped through his veins. He had the thoughts and memories of a man, but he no longer shared their emotions. To his eyes, the life of a wolf was more pleasing.
It filled him with a sense of identity.
Hyena knew he was suffering from the condition Roste would call “Racial Cognitive Disassociation Syndrome”, the most serious side-effect of his transformation. It was an unsolvable problem, so Hyena knew he would never really belong with humans ever again.
124 Last Stand
Amidst the flood of a hundred or more ferocious wastelands beasts, the three humans were left untouched. It was a miracle.
Cloudhawk was drenched in sweat. He heaved a sigh as he was finally able to let the fear go. Siding with a pack of wild animals was probably the craziest idea he’d ever had.
Roste’s arrogance led him to believe he had created a new species. He’d even given them a name. These mutated victims looked much the same as their wild counterparts, but they were, in fact, orders of magnitude more capable. They were changed, but not in such an exaggerated fashion that they were unrecognizable. The difference lay in the distinction between evolution versus forced transformation. Both led to improvement, but whereas evolution was always a positive influence, forced transformations were often unpredictable.
The biggest disparities induced by these mutations were in intelligence, strength, and agility.
Cloudhawk didn’t have time to open all the cages before he heard footsteps coming their way. They were approaching from several angles amidst shouts and harsh commands. Judging by the sound, there was a l
arge group closing in.
Cloudhawk looked to his left and right. “They’re finally here?”
Hellflower raised her guns, and Hyena began to slowly shift into his beast form. The beasts around them could sense the danger bearing down and bristled threateningly. The fight was about to begin!
Bang!
Several of the doors to the containment area were kicked open and several hundred fighters poured in. They had crossbows, stun rods, and electric nets that they brandished as they flooded both floors. In no time, they had the area surrounded, but it was clear that they were frightened by the situation they discovered.
“Kill them! Kill them all!” When he recognized how dire their situation was, one of the scientists shouted out the order.
The soldiers raised their guns, loading bullets, and winding back arrows as they prepared to fight. Cloudhawk didn’t need to give any orders or warnings since the beasts that had been locked up here were all smart enough to know what was coming.
“Squeak squeak!”
Several of the rats chittered and suddenly, they were off, almost too fast to follow. In a blink, they scurried from the first level up to the second. Moments after the scientist gave the order, they were already in the crowd of humans, biting and clawing at vulnerable spots. A series of pained cries preceded several of the warriors falling from the walkways.
The rest of the beasts howled and joined the fray. The scientists shouted hysterically as they bore down on the humans, “Hurry! Kill them! kill them!”
An enormous eagle with golden feathers dove at them. It didn’t look much different from the ones found in the wastelands except for its color and the fact that it was twice as big as normal. Each feather shone with a gleaming bronze, which was especially bright at the edges of each wing. They were light, hard, and sharp like dozens of blades strung together. As it swept by, those feathers easily cut open the fragile throats of the humans.
It swept through the room like a bolt of blood-tinged golden lightning. In mere moments, it’d killed countless people.
The Wastelander Page 85
