Were Inc Uncaged

by Marcus Breathnach

  They boldly stood gazing at the equipment around them, the things in the cylinders seemed to be in a dormant state or possibly dead, however neither of them wanted to risk another encounter with the increasingly difficult to kill symbiotes.

  They separated as they walked around the room to examine all it contained and uncover whatever it had hidden. Aisling approached a display stand that stood at waist height, she faced a cylinder, leering at it before she felt compelled to reach out and touch it, the substance within the cylinder caused her to jump with fright when it threw itself towards her hand, even after she pulled her hand away it seemed to struggle to get closer to her like she was what it needed to survive.

  “Probably best you don't do that again, we don't know a lot about these things”

  Marie playfully laughed as she took the digital-pad from its allotted slot at the base of the cylinder and began reading through it intently, Aisling nodded in agreement with Marie’s suggestion then set out to explore the room with more caution wherein she stumbled over her own feet then reached out to break her fall and inadvertently activated a hidden door that opened up into a larger room. Marie gripped the digital-pad firmly in her hand while she helped Aisling up, they both looked into the new room with astonishment and at first glance the room appeared to hold even more sinister creations! They entered the room with great reserve, they could see cages that contained skinless beasts, their teeth both small and large, their eyes mutilated and their skeletons deformed, the smaller creations seemed like they were underdeveloped; it was like Were Inc scientists tried to create or cross breed some kind of a dog or wolf but failed. The companies rejected or failed experiments seemed to be stored in these two rooms, but why were they not just destroyed why keep failed test subjects? They walked further into the room where they stood at a huge glass chamber that housed a man, with a cybernetic arm, eye and some manner of a metallic chest plate. There was a plaque on the base of the chamber that read in large bold print ‘Kian’ Marie looked at the digital-pad she held been joined by Aisling

  “according to this digipad he is or was, Kian a member of the Eiru royal family, it doesn’t say the name of the family but, it states he was a willing host to...”

  Marie began to explain

  “oh, he’s a prince of Eiru and a willing test subject for project mortal bounding; the symbiote’s began to eat away at his organs and degrade his bones so they replaced his affected organs, injected him with nano-machines and added cybernetic technology to replace his arm and eye”

  Marie finished with a sigh quickly looking away from the digipad to the willing experiment.

  Aisling gasped abruptly fighting back the urge to be sick, Marie gave the digital-pad to Aisling while she tried to take a closer look at the man

  “if we stay here that could be us”

  Aisling drawled,

  when from the corner of her eye Aisling could see the only dark patch in the bright white room, she knew a symbiote had found them but, she couldn’t move her feet? They were been held firmly to the floor by the symbiotes hands that had somehow reached across the floor and took hold of her completely unnoticed, it covered her boots up to her ankles without her realizing it. The body of the shadow slid along the floor quite quickly stopping next to her then began to extend upright and grow directly next to her taking a firm shape, the symbiote had begun to look just like her, like a living silhouette of Aisling! Clearly this symbiote differed from the others they had seen, it had a level of intelligence; at least enough intelligence to recognize the being it was trying to mimic, the ones they’d encountered in the facility above where dangerous but clearly not as cunning or as this mimic.

  “Marie”

  Aisling mumbled unable to take her eyes from the human shaped symbiote,

  black and navy in colour and as solid as a rock, it was incredible to witness yet terrifying to behold, Marie’s ST-15161654 assault rifle made short work of the creature as she opened fire almost relentlessly. When the creature fell away from Aisling it staggered backwards slightly before it burst into pieces with great force, both Aisling and Marie ducked down behind the nearest pedestal providing some cover from the shrapnel. The burst of hardened symbiotic shards was forceful enough to shatter many of the cylinders around it, freeing the failed experiments inside them.

  “Shite, we’ve well and truly over stayed our welcome”

  Aisling announced pulling Marie by the arm closer to her while she ran through the broken glass and symbiote’s that lunged at them both seeking survival. They raced through the room avoiding the jumping lunging symbiotes only to be met with a locked door that seemed to have no means to open it! There was no key panel no handle or any overwrite possibilities. Aisling frantically looked around the bright room suddenly shouting

  “Cover me”

  she raced back through the symbiotes narrowly escaping them with only a few very close calls, yet when it seemed she had avoided that hazardous minefield of horrors she was attacked by a lonesome goblin! The goblin grabbed Aisling by the waist and the throat, lashed out its tongue then threw her away knocking her against the chamber with ‘Kian’ inside cracking the glass quickly draining the liquid from the chamber and breaking a number of Aisling’s ribs in the processes. Aisling was tough enough to get up and stand firmly before reaching for the Pan-card she glanced at when she first entered the room. Now she would have to make it back to Marie with yet another enemy in her path, she thought the list of enemies was long enough already, however the symbiotes had leapt onto the goblin when they couldn’t find another host to bond with. The goblin tried to pull them off itself but it was like trying to pick up oil with its bare hands! It’s screeching and whaling fell to uncaring ears with Aisling and Marie who were hoping the symbiotes killed the beast. The symbiotes didn’t kill the goblin, they quickly bonded with it creating an even more bizarre and dangerous monster. The symbiotes seemed to act as a thick armour coating for the goblin, they even increased its movement speed to superhuman levels, it was able to chase after and catch Aisling in a mere moment; wrap its sizable hand over Aisling’s head and began to crush her skull! Its evil face smirked at Marie who fired on the monstrosity trying not to hit Aisling, but her efforts were in vain as the symbiotes had given the goblin a near indestructible armour coating and a higher level of intelligence enabling it to speak to them.

  “You humans are a plight on my lord’s realm, he will reward me for getting rid of you”

  its voice was raspy and gritty and when it spoke it had a demonic double audio to its voice like it was speaking over its self; as if its voice was been wrenched from an unholy plane of existence. It all meant nothing when a cybernetic hand broke the goblins arm by merely grasping the beasts arm tightly, the symbiotic coating may have stopped bullets but it didn’t save the goblins bones from breaking, the goblin unwillingly released its hold on Aisling and looked up to the owner of the arm as it tried to free itself from the cybernetic hands grip. For a moment Marie thought the goblin looked at this Kian like it knew who he/it was

  “in my kingdom, I rule over all and this is not allowed”

  the man spoke, then he tore the goblins arm away from its owner tossing it over his shoulder, Kian stood still looking at the goblin with a stern scowl as the goblin writhe in pain

  “ladies I think it’s time you left”

  Kian suggested with a sense of garniture in his stance

  “Thank you”

  Marie exclaimed as she grabbed Aisling’s wrist and pulled Aisling to her side

  “the card”

  Aisling reminded Marie before they tried to approach the locked door just as they had before, this time the door opened by itself as they get close enough to it. Once through the door and several feet away from it the door closed automatically, the two ladies followed a single and increasingly bright light corridor to freedom while Kian dealt with the newly empowered goblin.

  They escaped into a rain filled forest and took a deep breath of fresh
air then let out a grateful sigh of relief, but, the darkness didn’t seem to lift their spirits. They relished the soft breeze on their faces and the feeling of the cold rain on their skin; it was almost sensual to feel the freedom of nature around them, when below them was the cruelness of technology. The rain refreshed their cause just enough to give them hope, hope that they might indeed make it out of the nightmare they struggled to live through.

  They began to walk in a randomly chosen direction through the forest when Aisling asked bluntly

  “do you think it’s safe to say, that this is by far the worst mission either of us have been sent on?”

  Marie laughed but she agreed

  “I can say this for sure, I am never coming back to Eiru after this, I'm going home getting my well-earned pay cheque, quitting this job and living on a beach with a fine looking man who caters to my ever need!”

  Marie announced looking to the skies that she couldn’t see, the tree tops were so thick and closely interwoven the sun couldn’t penetrate the tops of the trees.

  “Ah there you are!”

  a voice slithered from deep in the forest.

  Aisling looked around almost defeatedly been meet with the gaze of a man she knew too well skulking in the distant shadows of the trees.

  “Aisling, my dear, you’ve escaped my grasp once too often, you won’t be as lucky this time”

  Marie slowly peered around following the glowing line of eyes in the shadows leering at them, Marie’s startled gaze was met with the same glowing yellow eyes everywhere she looked while she spun around trying desperately to find an opening, so they may escape.

  Stricken with worry Marie asked Aisling

  “friends of yours?”

  Aisling answered with worry fuelled strength

  “they tried to abduct me a number of times, they succeeded once, they’re vampires”

  Aisling rested her finger on the trigger of her weapon ready to die if necessary

  “you’ve got a weapon, good, I rather enjoy playing with my food, it builds up an appetite!”

  the first pair of eyes stood from the darkness revealing their owner to be the legendary vampire itself ‘Vladimir the Impaler’ it was the man Marie had seen on the bridge while she looked from the tavern window.

  “You’re friend, she looks good enough to eat, very, tender indeed”

  Vladimir drawled licking his lips

  “you’ll be eating the end of this rifle soon enough”

  Marie barked in reply pointing her weapon at him, Aisling aimed her two pistols also, before they could engage in a thrilling death match a woman’s voice brought Vladimir’s intentions to a stifled halt

  “Vladimir the Impaler, the mighty vampire lord, creator of his race, reduced to a run of the mill bloodsucker”

  they all looked up at a woman who was sat in the bow of a tree above Aisling and Marie.

  Her beauty was nearly unparalleled to any other either Aisling or Marie had ever seen, her fiery fierce red hair curled like melted steal and looked as smooth as silk, her blue eyes sparkled so bright in the darkness they could have light her way home

  “princess Noelle, you grace us with your presence”

  Vladimir drawled biting back both his hunger and anger,

  she grinned at Vladimir then threw herself out of the tree landing to the ground with little sound of impact and barely even rustling the leaves on the forest ground. She sauntered to the ladies, her leather and silver studded battle regalia was adorned with emerald armour plates, it was clear she was not to be trifled with.

  “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Noelle, princess of Eiru”

  she declared followed by a curtsy to Marie then Aisling

  “I shall guide you safely from the marsh wherein you will join me for dinner at castle Grey after you freshen up of course, we’ll need to get you some more suitable attire, walking a warrior’s land in a fluorescent bra and torn leggings just won’t do”

  Noelle chuckled in jest. She then waved Vladimir out of her path while she escorted both Aisling and Marie back to her family’s castle, not too far away from the marsh.

  After a short walk with little to no conversation they arrived in a grand town with a great castle on a rise at the far end of the town, it was dim and grey from a distance like it was designed to look like a skull but neither Aisling nor Marie could correctly name with kind of skull it was meant to be, Aisling oddly felt more at home more like she belonged in Eiru as she got nearer to Castle Grey while Marie was increasingly worried about this strange woman who was leading them to a unknown town and very concerned with the castle this woman was leading them into as the castle’s design would send shivers through even the most war hardened soldier.

  Once they crossed the drawbridge, they could see castle was bright and inviting, the inside of the castle was the total opposite of its outer walls, Aisling and Marie felt secure once the drawbridge chains rattled behind them and the bridge was raised and locked into position, the castle was locked uptight. Princess Noelle stopped in the centre of what could have been considered the courtyard and with a flick of her hair she turned to face Aisling and Marie smiling widely saying

  “right, first of, Aisling, I noticed your favouring your ribs, we need to get them fixed right away then we’ll need to find you both more suitable attire”

  Noelle announced as four women gathered around them

  “we can’t have a lady of your stature walking around in, well, rags fit for a gutter rat, these are my servants, they will tend to your needs, Aisling, come with me please; your ribs need medical attention, Marie if you would be so kind to go with the ladies, they’ll take good care of you”

  Noelle waved her hand ordering her servants to attend to Marie. Noelle and Aisling disappeared into the vast castle walls and before Aisling knew what had happened she was undressed and up to her shoulders bathing at the base of a waterfall! It was refreshing and oddly filled with warm water? The bath looked to be formed from large rocks maybe it was dug or crafted from the rocks at the base of the waterfall itself, but she couldn’t understand how the water was heated to perfection, nevertheless the water was so relaxing that Aisling decided to just embrace the only act of real kindness she had known since coming to Eiru, so she closed her eyes and begun to subside and let the water wash away all the tension, anxiety and fear that had begun to course through her, it had almost consumed her very essence, but the warm bath could be just what she needed to wash it all away if even for a short time. She was being cleansed of all her worries, so at ease was she, she had not noticed Noelle had joined her in the waterfall bath, that was until Aisling felt a touch that softened the pain from her broken ribs and a woman’s voice telling her

  “try to relax”

  Noelle’s voice was honeyed and smooth like it was made from the finest champagne, Aisling didn’t even open her eyes she was simply enjoying it all too much

  “I’m going to apply a treatment called Si needles; they boost your body’s natural ability to heal itself”

  Noelle told Aisling gently.

  What Aisling did not know was the water she soaked in had a blend of chemicals made from the rarest herbs and rocks in Eiru; it too was also designed to speed up the body’s natural recovery. Aisling could muster enough sense to mutter through her extreme relaxation to ask

  “how do you know who we are?”

  Noelle swished around the water to sit behind Aisling resting her Si needles on the edge of the bath, Aisling asked her question just before the pinch of the first Si needle was inserted into her lower back

  “all of Eiru knows who you are, as for your friend, well, I’ve been listening to you, hacking your communications link, it wasn’t hard, I saw you when you first got to Eiru, I’ve been tracking you ever since but you’ve proven to be very illusive”

  explained Noelle

  “this is amazing”

  Aisling groaned with delight as the pain and tension began to slowly evaporate, by now Noelle
had inserted over a dozen Si needles into Aisling’s back

  “great, it's mainly used to treat our military after war”

  Noelle replied smirking as she slowly twisted out all the needles one by one and just like that, Aisling’s pain was completely gone! Now that the pain was gone it suddenly dawned on Aisling, she was bathing with a strange woman! She wasn’t sure of how to act, she wasn't sure if she should stay in the bath or not, she was so unsure of how she should act or what she should do; her body became rigged and she was unable to speak or move. This made Noelle giggle to herself

  “do you think I'm going to jump on you or something?”

  Noelle joked with a hearty belly laugh. Aisling wasn’t sure how to respond so she just remained silent trying to think of what to do, Noelle chuckled to herself and carried on with the after treatment of the Si needles

  “you’re quite beautiful but, you’re not irresistible”

  Noelle told Aisling poking fun at Aisling to which Aisling suddenly took offence and forgot her discomfort, she sharply stood up towering over Noelle asking

  “what the hell does that mean?”

  she barked in reply

  “As I said you're quite beautiful, but me, now you see, I’m irresistible and I know it”

  Noelle snickered; Aisling now realized Noelle was deliberately riling her up and begun to see the funny side of it

  “you do have great tats though”

  Noelle drawled as she put the Si needles back into their cases

  “say what now?”

  Aisling blurted out loudly covering her breasts

  “your ink, your tattoos”

  Noelle answered laughing boldly

  “you don't have to be uneasy around me, please just relax and let the blend do its work; people form the mainland are so repressed”

  Noelle pushed the closed the Si needles case off the bath onto the ground before she too lay back and relaxed in the warm water. It wasn’t long until they both got to talking about other things including castle grey, vampires, project mortal and evil of the prince of all lycanthropes.