Peretti strafed sideways as he fired, moving toward the exit. Sully fired from across the room hoping to draw the thing’s attention. It didn’t work.
In a blur of hair and teeth, the experiment closed in on Peretti much faster than anything any of the ex-soldiers had ever seen. Peretti barely managed to avoid the chomp, teeth as sharp as knives snapping shut where a moment ago his head had been. Another inch and he would have seen the inside of the experiment’s mouth up close and personal. Peretti rolled aside and squeezed off another three shots. The experiment staggered back, crimson lines running from multiple wounds along its arms and torso. Anything else would have died ten times over.
Still, the thing advanced.
Rolf could only watch from the observation window as Peretti grabbed Kang by the BDU top and pulled. They didn’t make it very far before a claw punched a hole clean through Peretti’s chest. Still unconscious, Kang remained oblivious to the shower of gore.
From the doorway, Sully peppered the experiment with another shot. It focused on him with yellowed eyes, little trace of the human it had once been. Sully looked from the experiment to Kang. The thing raised its head, issuing another howl.
Dot pounded on the window.
Rolf slammed a fist on the red button and wasted precious seconds waiting for the door to fully open. He charged into the lab guns blazing, coming to a stop by the table where the experiment had been strapped. Sully seized the opportunity and hurried toward Kang.
The experiment growled, flexing its clawed hands. In an impressive display of strength, it ripped an entire workstation out of the floor and hefted it across the room. Instead of retreating, Rolf dove forward. He landed on his stomach and carefully aimed at the one spot he knew would hurt any male. Three bullets hit the thing between the legs. It dropped to its knees, clutching at its bloody meat.
Sully had Kang at the door. Dot was there helping to pull the wounded guard through the hallway and outer door to safety.
Rolf got to a knee and emptied his clip in the thing’s head. Fifteen bullets made fifteen new holes. It finally dropped. After a raspy gurgle, the thing stayed silent.
Even though he didn’t want to, Rolf knew he had to confirm the experiment was dead. After a quick reload, he approached with caution, stopping an arm’s length away. His gun remained fixed on the body, finger tensed over the trigger.
The experiment’s chest didn’t rise.
Rolf inched closer, sweat chilling his brow. He nudged the thing with his foot. It didn’t react. He eased a hand down and felt for a pulse. “Clear!” he shouted over a shoulder.
Even though the thing was dead, Rolf backed out of the lab without taking his eyes from it – he couldn’t shake the feeling the thing would get up. A hand on his shoulder made him jump. “Stand down. We’re clear.” Dot’s voice was composed, more like her normal, efficient self.
Rolf took a moment and exhaled a long breath. He wiped the sweat from his brow on a sleeve. “Anybody injured?”
“Dr Sturgess has a bump on her head. Nothing serious as far as I can tell,” Cruz said.
“Dot, get on the horn and see if you can get Doc Brogan up here to take a look at Kang and Dr Sturgess.” Rolf leaned against the wall and relaxed despite the jolt of adrenaline spiking through his body. “Somebody want to tell me what the fuck just happened in there?”
“I second that,” Sully said, looking at the two technicians and their unconscious leader.
“Genetic splicing.” Mara folded her lab coat and placed it under Dr Sturgess’ head. She looked over at Rolf; her green eyes would have pierced a hole through lesser men. “That,” she said motioning toward the lab, “was Project Lupine. We’ve been attempting to pair human genes with various animals. Until recently, we hadn’t had much luck.”
“You call that luck?” Sully grumbled. “Remind me not to invite you to Atlantic City.”
“They’ll never understand, dear.” Dr Sturgess pushed up to a sitting position. She rubbed at a spot on her head and grimaced. A splotch of crimson streaked her mostly silver hair. “What we do here is for the benefit of all mankind. Think of all the disease and sickness that decimate humanity but not animals. If we could only find a way to combine some of their DNA with our own, the results would be miraculous. Diseases like Alzheimer’s, Ebola, or AIDS could be eradicated at the genetic level. At least, that was our intent.”
“Look, no offense Doc, but I don’t give two shits about your intent. All I care about is getting the rest of our happy asses out of here alive.” Rolf motioned around the small group around him.
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. Once the alarm sounded, a quarantine protocol went into effect. Only the project leads and TriGen brass, seven of us in total, were to be evacuated along with our research.” Dr Sturgess held up a flash drive attached to a nylon strap from around her neck. She looked at her assistant, an expression of pain on her face.
“How could you?” Mara said backing away, betrayal lighting those green eyes. She sat next to the other rescued technician; they leaned on one another.
“Mara, Bernice, I’m sorry. TriGen wouldn’t have let us work if we didn’t agree to their demands. You must understand.”
“What about the rest of us? What about the facility?”
Dr Sturgess looked down. She licked her lips but said nothing.
“Answer the question,” Bernice said.
“An explosion would wipe out the facility and any evidence of our experiments. It’s supposed to look like an accident. Your families would all have been paid handsomely.” The calm, even tone in Dr Sturgess’ voice turned Rolf’s stomach.
“We’re all expendable.” Rolf shook his head, slowly letting the anger fall away. “I guess I should have suspected as much. Typical executive bullshit.”
“I hear that,” Sully said with a nod.
The alarm blared on. A few people in lab coats ran past seemingly uninterested in anything else but where they were going.
“I thought we were clear? Why didn’t they cut the alarm?” Dot asked.
“Each of the labs tried the same experiment at the same time. The only difference being the subject. Lab Two reported their subject expired shortly after the initial injection. Lab Three’s subject didn’t survive the transformation,” Dr Sturgess said.
“What about Lab four?”
“No one has had contact with them since the experiment began.” The doc looked down at her watch. “It’s been just over an hour now.” She pulled a handheld radio from her lab coat and handed it to Rolf. After trying to get ahold of anyone but only getting static, he handed it back.
“We simply didn’t know what effects, if any, the splice would have. That was Leroy ‘Pig Sticker’ Addison.”
“The cop killer?” Sully whistled. “That’s one bad dude lying dead in there. He killed a dozen cops with a Rambo knife or something.”
Dr Sturgess nodded. “It would seem the splice took to the more violent subjects – the more violent the better the splice. If only I had more time to discover why.”
Rolf grabbed the old bird by the lab coat and pulled her close. Through clenched teeth he asked, “Who was on four?”
“Richard Dean Novak.”
Rolf let the doc go. She took a step back and smoothed out her lab coat.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cruz said. “The serial killer?”
Dr Sturgess only nodded.
Mara rose and moved closer to Rolf. “You lied to us, manipulated us. And you were prepared to throw us away like trash. For what?” She slammed a fist into the window. “So you could play God with your genetic experiments?”
“Out of everyone here, I expected more from you, Mara,” spat the doctor. “This could be the next step in human evolution. Ten years from now the world will be full of human and wolf hybrids. Think of the possibilities!”
Rolf could tell by the gleam in the doctor’s eyes there would be no reasoning with her. He saw complete dedication there. The
re was no telling how far she would go if push came to shove. He’d have to assume she’d do whatever it took to ensure her work survived, even if it meant stabbing each of them in the back. Unfortunately, right now, they needed each other–
Everything went dark.
The lab, hallway, and every other room lost power. A moment later the emergency generator came on. Yellow lights did little to illuminate the hallway. Visibility was poor at best.
“That’s just great.” Cruz stood and started for the door marked ‘stairwell’ when a scream echoed from somewhere below.
All eyes went to Dot as the small radio clipped to her shoulder crackled and popped. More than one of them jumped. A moment later a garbled voice came through. “…request immediate assistance. I repeat…all security forces are dead. The experiment…loose…”
“That sounded like Dr Dillard,” Mara said.
“Yeah, but what’s he doing on the security forces’ frequency?” Dot asked.
As if in response, the radio crackled and the blood freezing sound of a wolf howling vibrated the small speaker. Dot’s eyes went wide.
“We can’t worry about any of that right now,” Rolf said. “All we can do is get the doc here to her rendezvous point and persuade the powers that be it would be in their best interest to let us come along for the ride.” Rolf glared. “Have I made myself clear, Doctor?” He extended a hand and helped her to her feet.
“Yes, very clear.” She smoothed out her lab coat. “Allow me to make myself clear. The only hope you have of getting out of here is escorting me down to the fifth level. There’s a ventilation shaft that leads directly to the surface. A helicopter will be waiting.”
“Fine. But we play by my rules. I say stop, you stop. I say go, and you go.”
Sturgess nodded.
“Any objections?” Rolf asked looking from person to person.
“What about everyone else?” Bernice asked. “Are we just going to leave them?”
“They’re already dead,” Dr Sturgess said. Rolf could almost see her breath from the iciness of her words.
Another scream preceded running footsteps, the sound coming from the stairwell.
Cruz moved closer to the wall and raised his Desert Eagle. Rolf motioned Sully over to support him. “Cover our six,” he whispered to Dot. She moved a few paces away from the group, her rifle pointing off into the gloom.
A guy in a blood streaked lab coat burst through the stairwell door and tumbled over Cruz. The guy came to a stop a few paces from the door as it closed behind him. Heavy breathing could be heard from the stairwell. Someone, or something, was coming after him.
The guy’s face blanched. “It’s right behind me. We have to get out of here!” He clutched a shredded arm to his chest, blood staining the polished white floor below. “They all started changing. Costello. Beck. Coates. Don’t you see? They’re all infected!”
“Whoa, take it easy, buddy.” Sully moved toward him but the guy inched back.
“Don’t come any closer!” He looked down at his wound and grunted.
“Dot, get them in the lab,” Rolf ordered, seizing command. “Keep your heads down and don’t move until I give the signal.”
Without a word Dot gathered up the scientists and did as instructed. The wounded scientist refused to budge.
Cruz backed away from the door as a pair of feet slapped to a stop on the other side. They all heard something sniff the air the way a dog would.
“Oh, God, she found me.” The wounded scientist leaned against the wall and staggered a few steps down the hallway leaving a bloody trail. After another two steps he fell, sweat pouring from his body.
The door burst open.
The slender hybrid stood silhouetted in the doorway, a confused look on its face. It sniffed at the air as Cruz retreated. A tattered lab coat clung to her shoulders. The badge identified it as Ashley Costello. In her little photo she had much less hair and smiled. With one giant stride, the thing that had been Ashley was at the puddle of blood, lapping it up.
“Holy mother of God,” Cruz mumbled.
Sully eased up behind her, and double-tapped the beast. Ashley’s body slumped to the floor adding to the crimson puddle.
Rolf ran past the carnage and stepped into the stairwell. Gunfire from below. Someone was still alive down there. As he turned to head for the lab, the injured scientist jumped up to his feet, his body changing from normal to hybrid in about a minute. Cruz turned just in time to catch a claw to the jaw. He tried to scream but only a garbled whimper escaped. The hybrid was on him and biting as Sully opened fire. Two shotgun blasts tore chunks out of the thing’s back. It stumbled forward trying to stand, but fell.
Rolf hurried to his fallen comrade. Cruz was a mess of shredded flesh. Blood poured from his ruined mouth. He clasped Rolf’s hand and choked. Rolf squeezed back knowing it wouldn’t be long. “Hang in there, Cruz.”
With another shotgun blast, the infected scientist was no more.
“Sully, get one of those scientists over here. Now!”
By the time Mara ran over, Cruz was gone. Rolf handed her the Desert Eagle. “I hope you know how to use it.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, a frown creasing her brow. “He wasn’t part of the experiment. How did he change?”
Dot and the others turned to Sturgess.
“We don’t know,” the doctors finally replied. “It happened shortly after the first successful splice. One of the technicians got too close while recording a hybrid’s vital signs.”
Realization washed over Mara’s face. “Oh my God, Natalie.”
Dr Sturgess nodded. “Yes. We covered it; said she had a family emergency.”
Mara slapped Sturgess, snapping the older woman’s head sideways. “You son-of-a-bitch! You knew. All this time you knew what could happen to us and you said nothing!”
Sturgess responded with a smirk then moved to within an inch of her assistant. “Don’t be so naïve, Mara. You knew the risks when you agreed to work for TriGen. We all did. What happened to all that talk of changing the world? The first sign of trouble and you’re ready to throw in the towel. You’re pathetic and weak.”
Rolf pulled Mara back as she lunged. “Easy now. We need the good doctor in one piece.”
Mara yanked free and pushed past to the stairwell. Rolf motioned for Sully to follow.
“I want details,” Rolf said to Sturgess. “What makes people change?”
Sturgess hesitated a moment. “As far as I can tell it’s the scratches and bites. Unfortunately, we haven’t had much time to discover why. I’m afraid that’s all the information I can provide.”
“Things just keep getting better.” Rolf looked into the doctor’s eyes but wasn’t sure if she was lying or not. The old gal had a pretty good poker face. He supposed she had to in order to keep so many secrets from her staff.
Kang stood there scratching his head, taking in the scene. All eyes went to him.
“What? Why’s everybody looking at me like that?” He took a step back and raised his hands. “Take a look. My shirt isn’t ripped. No scratches.”
“Check him,” Rolf said to Bernice.
She jumped up and inspected Kang. “He’s clean.”
“Good. We need you.” Rolf handed Kang his weapon. “You and Sully have point. We move easy and slow down to five.”
Kang nodded and hurried to the stairwell.
“Let’s go, ladies. Time to leave.” Rolf herded Dot and the two scientists to the stairwell. When he saw that Kang and Sully were in position, he waved them down.
They made it down to four without incident. As they neared the door to five, a chorus of howls sounded from above and below. Sully gave the sign to stop and Rolf made his way to the front. “We’ve got company,” Sully said.
“We’ve got to clear that door,” Kang whispered.
Rolf nodded. He put an ear up to the metal and listened. Another howl cut through the gloom. There was no telling how many of those things were o
n the other side. Kang stood off to the left, weapon ready. Sully stood a step behind Rolf who was in position to turn the knob. When he did, Sully would be the first through with his shotgun immobilizing any immediate threat, Kang right on his heels.
Rolf held up three fingers. He brought one down.
Sweat trickled down Kang’s freshly buzzed head. Each infected person he had observed thus far started off sweating. Could Kang have ingested some blood earlier? Would it be enough to cause an infection? In the end he decided to trust his squad mate and Bernice’s evaluation. Still, he’d have to keep an eye on the guy.
Another finger fell. Rolf’s muscles tensed.
As the final finger fell, the door to the fourth floor crashed open above them. All eyes turned toward the sound.
Five hybrids poured into the stairwell.
“Go!” Dot yelled. She opened fire, spraying all five creatures as they closed the distance.
Rolf opened the door to the fifth floor and prayed it would be clear enough to make a stand. What he saw looked like a slaughterhouse. Blood and gore painted the walls and floor. Two hybrids ripped at a corpse fifteen feet away. The sound of them smacking and chewing was audible over the firefight in the hallway behind them. Three others fought over what looked like an arm a short distance away. More creatures stirred in the darkness beyond.
Sully and Kang advanced down the hallway. Bernice and Dr Sturgess were close behind. Mara looked from the doorway back to Dot unsure.
Rolf turned back.
One of the hybrids was down and moaning. Another limped. The biggest – a black haired beast towering over seven feet tall – advanced on Dot. A growl rumbled through its chest, fangs gleaming white through the gloom. She raised her gun. “Suck on this, Fido,” she said before pulling the trigger.
A click was the only thing that escaped the gun; her clip empty.
“Shit.”
The beast took to the air, its claws poised to strike.
Rolf squeezed off four sets of three-round bursts, hitting the hybrid in the eye, neck, chest, and abdomen in quick succession. It whimpered as the bullets tore into it. Dot dove aside as it landed with a thud. She fumbled for a fresh clip. Rolf slammed a boot on the hybrid’s neck holding it in place. Another three round burst ended its life.
SNAFU: Wolves at the Door: An Anthology of Military Horror Page 10
