A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 24 Flayer Memory

       

The sharp scent of disinfectant lay heavy in the air. It was a horrid scent, sour and unnatural, fitting the drab, white walls of the underground lab perfectly. Most of the lab was set up like a complex medical facility, with bio and genetic engineering clean rooms set up all throughout. The entire facility was kept ultra clean, with dedicated, specifically trained teams for each type of cleaning task. Callin hated the scent, hated the way it seemed to slide inside his nostrils and embed itself there, lurking amidst every one of his running thoughts. The cold, gray scent of the steel shackles on his wrists seemed accented by the astringent disinfectant, a nightmarish combination.

He could scent the lab workers and the guards that surrounded him as they walked, their body odor reflecting their health and personal grooming habits. He wondered if anybody in the lab really knew the extent of the information his sensitive nose was capable of detecting. He had kept that ability as quiet as possible, never mentioning what he could scent. Even when he could scent the abnormal spike in one of the guards hormone levels, signaling an oncoming heart attack. Or even when he could scent the strange, savage odor of some genetically created creature hiding in a closet as they walked by. Hiding and waiting to strike.

He tensed as he heard the creatures breathing quicken, sensing it was about to burst through the door and attack them. He cursed the heavy steel shackles on his wrists, shackles reinforced by a mini- computer embedded in them that was wirelessly hooked up to the lab network. Any of the guards remotely monitoring them through the many cameras as they walked could hit a button and send thousands of volts coursing through him, dropping him to the floor in an instant.

The shackles were also programmed to sense excessive force being applied to them, and would discourage that by shocking him unconscious in seconds. They had started putting the shackles on him a few weeks ago, every time they needed to bring him anywhere in the lab. He had tried to break them two different times. He had woke up lying on the concrete floor to the heavy kicks of the guards surrounding him, the dull snap of his ribs breaking under their steel-toed boots traveling up through his body bringing him to alertness.

Now, he gathered his strength as tightly as he could, prepared to once again try to break free. If whatever was hiding in that closet attacked them, he was as good as dead if he couldn't break free of the shackles. He felt more than heard the closet door erupt off its hinges as the creature behind it came through with a jarring howl. It sounded huge!

Callin spun and dropped down low as the guards around him began to scream. The dull white of the walls erupted in red, the color of life ripped away, and warm wetness sprayed down on him as he ducked and rolled back away from the action. He heard body parts hitting the floor, thick meaty thumping sounds that would haunt his dreams for weeks. Finally, as he rose to his feet, panic threatening to totally overwhelm any planning, any rational analyzing, he saw the demon from the closet.

It was massive, a creature so tall he figured it must have weighed way over five hundred pounds. All silvery wiry fur from head to toe, long arms grotesquely muscled with wicked claws adorning its hands. Hands, not paws, he noted. And blazing, bright blue eyes. Human eyes, filled with undeniable intelligence. It stood on two feet, like a man, but resembling some twisted, broken mix of ape and bear and human more.

He gaped at the pile of bodies strewn about the hall. Gore was spread everywhere, even on the ceiling, some of it sliding slowly down the walls. Silence held the hallway in its vast, heartless grip as Callin and the creature stared at each other, separated by a mere ten feet. Callin was in shock. He couldn't believe the devastation this thing had wrought in the few seconds it had taken him to duck and roll back. His mind was so stunned that it felt like trying to form a thought was like walking through deep, clinging mud. Still, despite that confusion and shock, his instincts had him settling into a half-crouch, readying to fight.