Project Orpheus: A Tale of Blood and Feathers

Chapter 30: The Monster

Myrtle was very tired of this whole thing, surrounded by the figurative monsters who had created this problem and the actual monsters that threatened her life. Still, they were supposed to be safe from here.

"Noh," Chester called out. "What...what is 421? You never told me."

"Well, have a look." She said.

The large metal plates that had risen over the glass windows was suddenly swapped out with an image. It was a screen - the glass of the window was also a screen? Or perhaps there was a projector shooting onto the glass? It was very hard to tell, and frankly Myrtle didn't have time to think as she saw the abomination outside.

It was a horrible, terrible thing. A head twice the size of a human, long and stretched like a bird or a horse but tipped in a beak. The top of the head was twisted into a ring of gnarled flesh and bone, with long knobs of twisted flesh protruding from it. Those flesh horns ended in long, whipping tendrils of muscular flesh. Its body, if it could even be called that was a withered and empty sack. Four limbs and a tail were visible, sure, but the whole scrawny thing was not even as long as her arm. The body was pale, veins and even arteries visible on it, and so frail and thin that it barely looked like more than a sack full of the occasional twitching bone. Horrible unearthly noises came from the things throat as it made its way closer to the walls.

"What is that?! What the hell even is that?!"

"It was supposed to be a Pachycephalasaurus. Turns out there was an error in the DNA extraction that got rid of the gene that stops encephalization, and, well, this is the result. Usually something like this dies in the womb, but somehow this guy made it through! A spectacular survivor, he adapted this new form of movement all on his own. A true testament to nature's strength!"

"Nature? Nature?! This is a sin against nature itself! This thing is...it's a monster! It should die! You should put it out of its misery!"

"How do you know it's miserable? And why should I kill something just because it looks ugly to you? This thing's genetics are no more horrendous then any of the other dinosaurs you've been gawking over, but as soon as that reaches the phenotype, it's suddenly an affront to nature?"

"But you sa-"

"Look now is not the time to argue about this," Noh said, "get ready, it's trying to break int-"

But her statement was interrupted by the loud and angered thumping of a ramrod against the wall, cracks forming against the wall.

"What?! What? Noh, kill it! Kill it now!" Chester ordered. "Terminus Contingency, use it! Use! It!"

"No can do, Chester. 421 is only 3 months old. Not developed enough for the surgery yet."

"Oh...oh no..." Chester said. "We're going to die. We're going to die!"

"You're not going to die! That outside wall is steel reinforced concrete, there's very little chance it can get through tha-"

Another large thump against the wall, and the video feed showed the walls cracking.

"Oh! Fascinating! It's capable of that level of force without injuring itself? Remarkable!"

"Noh! It is going to kill us!" Myrtle said.

"There's a bunker you can all get to, hide away. You'll be safe there, 100%. It's a panic room designed to resist a nuclear bomb. There's no way he's getting in."

"Are there other people here?" Myrtle asked.

"Oh, plenty. Most of the evacuated staff came to this building."

Then there was no other option. The other people needed time to escape to that bunker, and they were the only ones who could do this. So they had to.

"...will it chase us?" Myrtle asked, her voice grim.

Noh was silent for a minute.

"421 is incredibly territorial. He also seems to have no perception of what his territorial range is. If you kept his attention, he would follow you for as long as it took to catch you."

"Myrtle...Myrtle, what are you doing?"

"Chester, it's what we're doing." She said. "We're going to distract this thing."

"We're? We're doing no such thing!"

"Yes we are. You caused this mess as much if not more then anyone else, and you will make up for it!" Myrtle snapped.

She clenched her fists tight, her anger rising at the whole situation. She could see that lit a fire under him.

"I will not!"

"If you don't, it's not guaranteed to work. He may focus between us and not leave. We both need to lure him away."

"But...but what if it kills us? What if it catches us!"

Another loud thump as the wall started to heave under the pressure of the dinosaur's attack.

"Then at least we've bought time for everyone else in here to get to the safehouse. No more arguments! God willing this will serve as your penance. God willing, we survive."

Myrtle steeled herself. It was all well and good to argue about ethics, but the reason for the arguments was to someday put them into action. She never would have imagined her ethics would lead her to sacrificing herself to a rabid maladaptive monster made of nonsense and horror, but if that's what was meant to be then that's what was meant to be, and there was nothing more or less to it.

"I'll open the door for you, so you can get out. It'll be on the left. He hears better than he sees." Noh said.

After a long moment's pause, she continued, "Myrtle, thank you. I know I've given you some shit, but you're a good person. This is a difficult thing you're doing."

Myrtle gave a smile, looking at one of the cameras, hoping that that particular one was the one Noh happened to be watching them from. "Thank you, Doctor. You are not a monster."

She heard the electric buzz of the lock going off.

"One more thing," Noh said. "I can only see from the cameras - once you leave this building there's nothing I can do to help you besides telling you over the radio the obvious. I'll try and get someone to help."

Myrtle simply nodded, and grabbed Chester's arm, pulling him along until he decided to go along anyway.