Experiment VII

Chapter Fifty: No Way Out

TW: Body horror, violence, gore, etc.

My gaze flicks over to a soft blue light emitting from the small keypad mounted on the wall beside the door as it releases a quiet beep. My brain tunes out Chester's muffled string of complaints as I extend my fingers towards it, hesitating before punching in my best guess at the access code.

9762

I blink in disbelief as the light switches from blue to green and the click of locks disengaging echoes through the hallway.

Neither of us finds the time to question the blind, borderline impossible luck as the automatic door retracts, unveiling the darkened room within.

With no idea what to expect, I rush to step inside with Chester close behind, not giving hesitation time to fester. Squinting as my vision adjusts to the poor light, I keep my hand resting on my holster, drawing some degree of comfort from its presence resting on my hip.

"Don't let him out!" a panicked shout reverberates off the walls, synchronized with the door snapping shut behind us, boxing us in.

I draw in a quick breath, eyes scanning over the immediate surroundings. But nothing quite catches my interest beyond a few felled tables, and smashed monitors, among other assorted messes one might expect to find in a ransacked lab until my gaze lands on a tipped-over tray. Several medical implements lay sprawled around it, clearly knocked over in some kind of commotion. A dark liquid coats each of the tools, and even with its exact colour remaining invisible in this poor light, it's more than clear what colour it is. Red.

"Over there..." Chester whispers.

The soft nudge of his elbow shifts my attention over to the far corner. Only then does a hunched-over figure catch my notice. The stiff silence lingering in the air remains unbroken, even as their wide shoulders erratically heave up and down.

"Contain him," the same unfamiliar voice from before filters through the room, originating from an intercom fixed to the wall, rather than from the person in question squatted in the corner. "There's a sedative on the counter. You'll need it."

Slowly unclipping my sidearm, my eye sharply follows Chester as he sidesteps toward the counter. He makes a reach for the syringe laying atop it amongst several coloured vials toppled over and pages of notes scattered like a whirlwind.

The glass vials lightly clink as Chester grabs the bright injector, catching the vial that threatens to roll off the table with his other hand.

A low, grating growl shifts my attention to the dark figure in the corner, now turned around and towering over me at his full height. The air in the back of my throat hitches as my eyes trail up the mutant's massive build and onto his face and the tusks protruding from under his lower lip. A flap of raw skin folds over his ear, the pinky flesh peeled away around a gaping hole in the side of his head. My throat goes dry as my eyes linger on the sizable section of his skull simply gone, exposing an unobstructed view of the mutant's brain.

I stumble back, yet find myself unable to tear my gaze away from the clean-cut window through his skull displaying his still-pulsing brain only partially encased within. My stomach lurches as the sight splayed before me as his glazed-over eyes fail to focus on me while mine refuse to unglue themselves from him.

I vaguely register Chester stalking up behind him, injector in hand. Just as he gets close the mutant's massive arm swings around, sending Chester flying into the steel cabinets above the counter with a crash.

Sufficiently snapped back to reality, I pull my gun on the unidentified mutant, only to have it knocked from my hand within an instant. Ignoring the throbbing in my wrist I dial back in for long enough to duck under the next swinging fist, narrowly avoiding another collision.

Getting clear of the incoming charge proves impossible though, as the mutant releases some incoherent bellow when he rams into me. I gasp, the air knocked out of me as my back hits the floor with his forearm pining me to the ground. His arm presses against almost the entire length of my chest, the bone of his elbow digging into my already-wounded shoulder.

I claw at his arm, but my clammy fingers fail to find any purchase from my opponent's iron-clad grip. I screw my eyes shut as crimson droplets drip down from his blood-caked head, splashing over my face. My legs flail beneath him in an attempt to get free as the crushing pressure continues to build until something inside my chest finally snaps under it with a resounding crack.

"You-"

Blinking the blood out of my eyes, I just about catch a visual of the face looming over me. The blood runs cold in my veins as I wheeze, struggling to draw in a ragged breath as his crazed stare meets mine.

"..Borg?" I choke out, not quite believing it as the pressure pushing into me eases marginally.

With my lungs' urgent demand for oxygen the sentiment of recognizing the man above me isn't enough to stop me from shoving my kneecap into his ribs a few times. Given a chance to escape, I scramble out from under him as best I can and just about find my feet with a groan as I clutch onto my side. Something was bound to be broken.

Coughing and spluttering as I heave in long-sought-after breaths I steady myself on a nearby medical cart as the world sways dangerously. With my strength depleted there's no more to summon to refute another oncoming attack from Borg.

And yet it never comes.

Borg stays planted in the exact same spot, blood dripping down over his ear as his eyes bore into me.