Sarah and Jacob started pounding at the door, screaming at no one or nothing in particular, their shouts echoed throughout the building, announcing our presence to every escaped creature in the lab. The little boy hid behind my leg, hiding his face in my pants leg. I don't know what caused it and I wasn't sure why I did it, but I draped my tail over his shoulder and pulled him close to me, which seemed to calm him down. The security guard shouldered his 240 Bravo and stepped in between Jacob and Sarah, pulling them away from the door.
“Shut up”, he scolded, “I told you they get smarter!”
“Question”, I said, “who is they?”
“Every single thing in this lab”, the guard answered, “we were researching a group of parasites that can take over most biological life forms. They get smarter the harder you come at them, a little like the predators. Their senses develop depending on how their prey acts. Meaning if they make a lot of noise, their hearing develops. If they don't make any noise, like you, then they learn how to hunt by vibrations.”
“Then we need to escape”, I said, “right now.”
“Are you blind and deaf you fucking dome head?”, Jacob snapped, “the entire facility is in a Class 1 quarantine. No way in or out.”
“Then we'll blast our way out”, I said, “I have enough explosives to level a mountain.”
“Fat chance”, the guard said, “the walls are 4 inch thick plate steel with ball bearings in between them.”
I sighed, “why are humans always building shit like that? What is the upside? ...okay, security guy, what's your name?”
“Allen”, he said.
“Where's the safest place we can hide right now?”, I asked.
“That would be...”, Allen thought for a minute, “the lounge, there's food and water and it's right next to the security room.”
“Then that's where we're going”, I said.
“Hell no”, Jacob said, “no way are we following your orders you Chitin covered freak.”
“Are you hoping some other freak will come along and save your skin asshole?”, Allen asked, “you know before you get eaten?”
Jacob started to protest, sighed and gave up, scowling at me.
“Everyone single file”, I said, “first the kid, then the scientists. Allen bring up the rear and keep that Bravo of yours ready to rock, it's the biggest gun we have right now.”
“Got it boss”, Allen said pulling his 240 off his shoulder.
I shouldered my rifle in exchange for my sword, grabbed my flashlight and we started down the hall. I led the scientists down the hallway we had come to the large, circular atrium. I herded them all to the middle where we all crouched.
“Okay”, I said, “Allen, which hall do we go down?”
“Hang on a minute”, Allen said pulling out his PDA. He set down his 240 and pulled up what looked like a map, “down that hallway about 500 feet and to the right, second door on the left.”
“Lets go”, I said standing, “it's dark down that way, so hold on to my tail, at least that way you won't get lost.”
The little boy didn't hesitate to take a hold on it. Sarah and the other scientist didn't either, Jacob, however, gave me a dirty look.
“Maybe you'd rather take your chances with what ever worm is waiting to crawl into your brain in the dark?”, I asked.
Jacob growled at me and grabbed my tail where it met the razor.
YOU ARE READING
Isolation-#Wattys2015
FanfictionI went into this job thinking it was just another bug hunt, some Scientist dude who got careless with his vials and spawned nothing more than some blood thirsty flesh craving fruit fly or a huge snake. I thought it would be in, kill the monster, get...
