We move off the rock structure and begin climbing up the rest of the cliff face. The handholds are rather small and placed far apart, so it's a huge stretch from one handhold to another. My arms and legs begin to ache, and my pace begins to slow a little. Flint powers ahead of us, hauling himself up with renewed vigor. Serena and Terran follow closely behind him, and Arus and Tori take up the rear, the latter struggling. Arus climbs beside her, offering reassuring words, and the two of them shakily make their way up the cliff.
At last, just as my arms are about to give out, we reach the edge of the cliff and haul ourselves up over the lip and onto the grass above. We collapse onto the ground, breathing heavily, and lie there for a few minutes to catch our breath. I slowly sit up, massaging some feeling back into my legs, and stare at the lab, mere metres away from us. Its hulking walls tower over us, tinged a pinkish colour by the slowly rising sun. The rest of the group begins to sit up, and we all examine the walls, looking for a way in. I take a few shaky steps forward, then grin as I spot the faint outline of a door not too far away.
"I think we've found our way in," I whisper to the others, pointing at the door. "There don't seem to be any guards around this side as well, so we should be able to get in fairly easily."
"Nice work, Meg," Serena says, getting to her feet and beginning to make her way over. We follow her, taking slow, measured steps, eyes scanning the shadows for any guards. The path to the door is unguarded, and an uneasy feeling begins to develop in my stomach. This is almost too easy.
We reach the door, and I search for a handle, sighing. The surface of the door is perfectly smooth, with no indentations to push or pull. I grit my teeth and begin to ram my shoulder against the door.
"Meg, no," Flint warns, stepping forward. "There's most likely another way in. If you keep up with this, the guards will come."
"Charlie and Fern are in there," I mutter angrily. "I'm getting them out, no matter what." I step back and raise my hands, drawing a large ball of seawater out of the ocean and ramming it into the door. It buckles a little under the weight, and I slam the water into the door again, a relieved sigh escaping me as the door breaks free of its bearings and topples inwards. Flint sighs, shoots me a glare and steps inside, the rest of us filing in after him.
The inside of the BIO-CORP lab is as cold and intimidating as the outside. The ceiling, floor and walls are all white, and numerous doors line the corridor, each exactly the same as the last. In the distance, I can hear a chorus of shouts and yells, and soon enough a troop of guards comes racing around the corner, weapons in hand. We spring into action, each of us shifting into our hybrid forms and tackling the troop. I swing my stinger at a guard's temple, sending him crashing to the floor. Another guard fumbles for his radio, yelling instructions into it frantically until Terran shuts him up with a kick to the stomach. The troop lies in a crumpled heap on the floor, and we shift back, taking off at a run down the hallway.
We scan the walls of the corridor, wrenching open doors and looking for any sort of sign that they might be here. Most of the rooms turn out to be mini-laboratories, groups of BIO-CORP scientists absorbed in their research. We move round a corner, taking out another guard troop, and begin examining door labels in the new corridor, keeping an eye out for any more guards or scientists.
"Renewable energy investigation, GMO testing, storage room, prosthetics lab..." I mutter to myself, growing more and more frustrated as the search turns up nothing. Terran finishes dealing with another guard group and jogs over, worried.
"Found anything yet?"
"Nothing," I answer, moving onto the next door and yanking it open, only to find another empty laboratory. I sigh and slam the door shut, then turn around and keep going. All of a sudden, another figure, that of a young man in a labcoat rounds the corner and stops. The expression on his face is contorted with rage, but his eyes are cold and almost soulless, staring ahead at us. The man freezes, then composes himself, his expression returning to a neutral state. He smirks and steps forward, addressing us calmly.
"Well, well, well. Looks like the other rats have wormed their way out of the woodwork."
YOU ARE READING
The New Zodiac: Arisen Anew
FantasyWe are not what we seem. We look like regular teenagers. We act like regular teenagers But we're not, We are the New Zodiac. And this is the story of how it all began. Cover by @shadowsleek
