The Formula

Chapter 10

Something was happening outside. The scientists had left several minutes ago. He had never seen them move so fast—whatever it was, it must have been incredibly urgent. They made sure to secure every lock on the doors, instead of the one main one they usually used.

He thought it was perhaps a very important meeting with Sebastian until he heard the gunshots. His first thought was that the government had found the rebel base. He watched the door intently, ears perked forwards, expecting to see Leap burst through it at any moment. He feared what would happen next. Would he simply kill Felix on spot and burn the laboratory? Or something worse?

Suddenly, the lights died, replaced instead by a dim red glow. His vision corrected itself quickly, and he focussed again on the door. More gunshots echoed from outside, this time much, much closer. It sounded as though the perpetrators—whoever they were—were on his level now. Perhaps even just outside his room. It was difficult to tell.

Then, he heard the scream. Every muscle in his body tensed.

It was Celia! It couldn't be anybody else.

He thrashed as hard as he could against his restraints, desperate to get to her. She was in danger! But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get free. He was bound too tight. All he succeeded in doing was ripping the needle from his arm, spilling his blood over the floor.

Fire licked under the seams of the huge doors. Felix heard another scream—this one far different than the first. Laced with extreme pain. His scales crawled.

Not a moment later, the doors burst open, smashed open by the black dragon. Wreathed in debris, it half-stumbled into the room, snapping its head. To Felix's horror, Celia flew from its jaws.

She soared like a ragdoll, crashing into one of the computers and coming to a stop just in front of Felix. He cried in alarm, pulling towards her, feeling his stomach clench. She was covered in blood—and she wasn't moving.

The black dragon came to a halt and grinned. It threw it head back and laughed. Felix trembled in rage. Any conscious thoughts melted away as he stared longingly towards her—he was confused as how she had found him, terrified for her safety, and blindly enraged at the black dragon. As he flared his wings, electricity buzzed from their tips and he could see the area around his body begin to glow.

The black dragon took a step forwards, moving towards where Celia lay, but something stopped it. It whipped around and hissed. A tattered soldier, also bloodied and partially burnt, dropped to one knee in the doorway, aiming a huge sniper rifle.

He took aim at the dragon, which bent lower, stretching its skeletal wings.

But instead, he pointed the gun upwards, towards Felix, and fired.

Felix expected white-hot pain. Instead, he felt one of his paws come free. The sniper had shot the chain on his right paw. The black dragon frowned, contemplating the significance of such a thing.

With it free, Felix slashed the muzzle around his snout. He roared fiercely, causing the dragon to flinch, before firing as much lightning from his maw as he could.

A thick, plasmatic bolt struck the monster in its side, knocking it from its feet. Felix fired three more—which all went wild, striking the ceiling and partially liquefying a section of it, as well as a computer console, which exploded. The third crashed against the wall just outside the doors, narrowly missing the black dragon as he sprinted desperately from the room.

Felix was only partially satisfied to see its side torn open by the first bolt. He had seen bone and raw flesh. If it was smart, it wouldn't come back anytime soon.