A Twisted Fantasy (Leon Kennedy X OC) [BOOK 2]

Chapter 20: That damn panting

"Any luck?" Leon called from somewhere deeper in the labs.

I blinked, tearing my gaze away from the papers to respond, "Uh..no, not yet." 

Luis had written these. He'd done everything Saddler asked and was still infected. Even with his hand in this, something tugged at my heart. How much of a chance did Luis ever have with a man like Saddler? He likely spun him a web of lies and half truths to get him working, then implanted an embryo in his neck at the first opportunity.

My eyes returned to the memo for a brief second before I began scanning the countertops, looking for the keycard. There would be time to stew later, right now we needed to get through this lab.

The place was pure chaos, different tools and glassware scattered around the place in what must be Luis' own brand of madness. Now I'm not the most adept scientist, but through my years of invading labs I'd picked up enough to recognize a good chunk of the equipment. He had centrifuges, a robust PCR machine and an incubator. It clearly wasn't the space they used for experimentation.

After scouring the rest of the room, I began rifling through the drawer of the last counter. More papers, pipettes and centrifuge tubes scraped against my fingers, but I froze as a sighing creak in the distance caught my attention.

I froze, looking up from my search and craning my ears. The noise hadn't been in the room with me, but it certainly wasn't far. I turned toward the glass entrance to the lab.

Please tell me I imagined that.

I stalked toward the door, keeping my distance so it wouldn't sense my presence and automatically open. Tension coiled in my stomach as if I was going to see Frankenstein's monster trudging up the hall. I bit my lip before glancing through the glass.

The tension in my shoulders dropped as I stared down the  empty hallway. I paused, listening for any stray ganado that may be heading this way, but after a few moments, nothing else came.

It's not like I'd class ganados as the stealthy type, so I doubt they'd be able to sneak up on me in this setting, but I couldn't help but feel like something was lurking nearby. I glanced back into the lab, like the culprit may somehow be crouched between two filing cabinets. Perhaps it was the shifting of metal, or a stray pipe wheezing under the pressure of the complex. 

That was definitely easier to swallow as I lingered for just another moment before returning to the search.

I moved in the direction Leon had disappeared through. The hall split off in three directions, the ones on my left and right leading to more sets of doors and the short path ahead led to a door labeled 'waste and storage' with a card reader next to it holding a stale red light.

I looked down the halls to my left and right.

"Leon?" I kept my voice hushed, trying not to grab the attention of anyone that may be close by. I hadn't been paying attention to which route he'd taken. Maybe it was even him who made the sound that had my nerves dialed to ten.

No response came as I softly called him name again.

Left it is.

My boots echoed off the tiled floor as I made my way down the long corridor, pulling the door at the end open.

It was another lab space. From the one light above me I could see it was probably more of a Hands-on lab, one where you might find dissections or something foul growing in a petri dish. My least favorite kind.

My hand rubbed at the walls to my sides, looking for a light switch as I sniffed at the heavy air. It smelt like iron, mixed with formaldehyde that could barely conceal the thick smell of sour milk. I finally found the small panel, and flipped the two switches. The room lit up, revealing its dark secrets.