Hybrid Darling

Chapter 2

"Traxe, this is either a big problem or a great miracle and I have no idea what to do. Get your optimistic ass down here and see for yourself!" I yelled into the communicator.

I hung up on the communicator as a few lab assistants and Traxe came rushing into the room. As soon as they laid eyes on the glass window, their mouths all dropped open. We stood there surprised , and quite frankly worried, because Hybrid A broke out of it's designated area and left the room. 

"Impossible... the glass can't shatter. It would have died throwing itself against the window so many times. Unless... No it's too early... Someone check the health and progress records immediately! I need a full update on this as soon as possible. This isn't right."

For once in forever Traxe's voice had no pep to it, and he did not make any sickeningly optimistic comments.

Hybrid A was only here for 6 months. It was okay if it had finished the Rebirth process already, but only fully Mature Hybrids could leave their designated areas. And that process usually takes about one year. While Traxe was technically the only successful hybrid, we have had others like George and Anna but they ended up losing their supernatural half quickly. Something went wrong and I don't remember, but they both died about 5 months after they Matured. They changed something in the hybrid areas and after a while, Traxe popped into the scene.

"Hey Mr. Willow, apparently someone changed the ingredients in the food we gave Hybrid A and that caused it to mature at a ridiculous rate. I have no idea how it's still alive. Or maybe it did die and someone carried it off." yelled Ben.

I made my notes and decided to make my lab report later. I grabbed a firelamp (flashlight), my notepad and one of the unopened snacks in the lab and headed straight for the Piles. I ran to the stairs which led to the cafeteria and down to the Piles. It was the supposedly lowest area in the entire building, but there's a hidden special hybrid below it that only the Lab Leaders and I know about. I decided to make my way to the special hybrid first and see if it was fine.

I jumped the last few stairs and landed on my feet. I turned to my left and stared right into the darkness. After a second I turned on my firelamp and waved it around a bit. Next to the large doorway was a rusty chain, but it was very high up. I looked into the Piles to check any unusual footprints. Hybrids have deeper footprints than humans or the supernatural. Nothing was unusual in there so I walked in to look for an iron rod. Right at the entrance there was a rod, conveniently with a small hook at the end. I became ridiculously suspicious. I picked it up and reached for the chain. I had to stretch my arm way up so that the hook would catch on the chain and using all the strength I could muster, I yanked on the chain for it to fall down. The chain screeched as it fell down and made clanging sounds whenever it hit the metal wall. When it was all the way down, I threw the metal rod as far as possible in the Piles. Another very loud screech sounded out through the whole floor, and I watched as a grey metal plate slid up from the floor and disappeared into the white wall. As the place was pretty dark, except for the area illuminated by my firelamp, no one would be able to see either the chain or the metal plate.

I slowly made my way to the vent opening and crawled inside. Before I made my way forward in the vent, I took a small pin lying on the floor and dislodged the metal plate from it's hook. That's one of the flaws of this thing, we always have to dislodge it which is time-consuming but necessary. As the hook slipped out from under the metal plate, the plate slowly slid down back into place and I heard the chain slowly slide back up. Once the plate was secure and the chain stopped screeching, I crawled through the vent and made a few lefts and rights until I reached a large moss-covered vent cover underneath me. The vent cover was always kept unscrewed for easy access, but it was hidden well enough for the hybrid not to notice it. I slammed my fist against it a few times until it fell onto the ground. I jumped down and landed on my back. A wince escaped my lips because I fell on the vent cover. I slowly sat up in a daze because I had not eaten yet. Grabbing the snack from my pocket, I snarfed it down and stood up.

A soft voice whispered through the area, "Hello Jason. I saw the hybrid. She called herself Darling. She...she was trying to get me to escape with her but I said no. Her legs grew long and hairy. There were eight. Four eyes emerged on her forehead, along with her two normal eyes, made six. Mr. Traxe should know what she is. She is in the floor above. She hides very well, but is noisy. It got annoying."

This one's name is Jennie. That's what Traxe calls her anyway. It's impossible for anyone not to know that they simply adore each other. I never come here because of that, but they rarely send Traxe so that she wouldn't get overly emotional. Then the Rebirth and Maturity processes don't work correctly and whatever. There are many procedures and cautions to take with this business.

Jennie continued, "If you can, because she is successful, let me take a look at her thoughts please. I think there is something off and unnerving about them, I can't put my finger on it..."

Jennie started crying and screaming uncontrollably and headed the opposite direction of me. I climbed back up to the vent with the cover, placed it on and rushed out of that vent immediately.
There's a small button next to the sliding plate which opens it, and we just unhook it when we're out of the vent.

I made my way out of the Piles and up to Hybrid A's lab again. There were a few more people up and about, a lot of them in a panic but some were just trying to calm others. That or they were celebrating. Either way it was chaos and confusion central. Traxe's office door was covered in sticky notes with questions and complaints. I knocked on it and instead of his usually chipped up, sunshine-filled voice, there was a gruff, annoyed voice replying, "What the fuck is it now?"

"It's me Traxe, open the door. I have some news and it's pretty bad." I replied.

He eventually flung open the door after what seemed to be 3000 years. He grabbed me by my shirt and yanked me in the room, then slammed the door shut on the incoming crowd.

"Boy, if this Hybrid went down there I will make it's existence hell." He spat.

My head immediately bent down and my feet looked very interesting. I didn't want to tell him but he must have known what I was about to say.

"Well... Traxe please spare my glasses at least. I went down there and Jennie said that the Hybrid did manage to find it's way in her area. However, it didn't do anything to her! Jennie also said that the Hybrid called herself Darling and tried to convince her to escape. She refused and Darling grew into some kind of spider-creature."

Traxe suddenly collapsed to the ground. He passed out, but I don't blame the poor guy. It was all so confusing and stressful, and to keep up that optimistic approach to everything for so long. That's something. The communicator beeped repeatedly and a green light started blinking. I picked it up.

"Hello? Is there a problem? Report to the office immediately. Not this one, my office." I hastily exclaimed.

"Well... is Mr. Traxe available? We need some help down here. The Hybrid escaped the facility and wrecked all the vehicles.

"Even our RainCart? For real?"

"Yes even that. It really doesn't want us to leave and catch it."

Then ringing sounded out through the building. The TV turned on and news started playing. All of the shouting and crying and yelling stopped and all was silent. Except for the TVs.

NEWS:

A hybrid has just escaped from HIDE Labs and is causing havoc in the nearby city. The entire area has issued an H-State and everyone is to evacuate immediately. HIDE North is already on it's way to capture this hybrid and hopefully bring us back to some state of peace. More details on this matter in a minute.

The commotion outside started again and there was banging and pounding on the door. Traxe's eyes opened and he shot up. He looked at me, then at the door and then back at me. Then he got up, went straight to his desk and started writing down some notes or something.

Then, the door burst open.