Inside the main foyer of the biology building, the air was dry and stale.
"Quick, let's block that hole with that counter desk thing over there. Move some of that concrete debris on top to make it more secure," Wilfrend said, and everyone moved quickly. The entry was was in pretty good shape, but some concrete had fallen from the ceiling and some of the slabs were broken on the floor.
"Do you think this will keep them out? Those big gorilla monsters might be able to move the giant boulders out of the way," Serenitee said. She glanced at the space where glass and metal doors, in bad shape, were completely blocked by boulders and debris. They were extremely lucky one of the broken doors created a space for them to crawl in.
"I think those giant bastards are the ones that put those boulders there in the first place," he looked at Serenitee until she stopped fidgeting and paid attention. "What we need to think about is, if they put those boulders there, are they keeping things out or something in?"
"Shit. I don't like the sound of that," she said.
"Rem. Rom. Any movement at the door?"
"Nothing Wilf. Haven't seen anything move at all," Rem said.
"Lets stay wary boys, who knows what kind of bullshit we have just walked into," Wilfrend said.
"Is this a pan and fire kind of scenario?" Rom chimed in.
"Only time will tell. Serenitee, how are we going to find the lab. Quicker is better. Those monsters might have given up, but I'd feel better if we can fortify ourselves somewhere and rest," Wilfrend said, looking around, his rifle moving as his head did.
"I have the exact location here. It was never a secret during their time, it was the lab that Dr. Cerses started in, before he escaped America and launched the age of gene editing."
Wilfrend nodded, but he looked troubled. "You know, it's strange. The air is stale, and the dust is thick here. From what I can tell, nothing has been in this area in months, if not years." He looked at Rem and Rom, "are you picking up any scents or signs?"
"Nothing," said Rom.
"I would guess this entire place is abandoned. I don't even see any signs of rodents," Rem said.
"So what are those fucking monsters afraid of?" Wilfrend said, his eyes serious and squinted. Even his incredible sight didn't penetrate walls though. "Lets roll out. Lead the way Serenitee."
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The building was easy to navigate and the floors were fairly intact. They did have to rappel down a broken staircase, but they soon found themselves in the lab wing on one of the lower floors.
"Is this it? Seems a little underwhelming," Rom said. He scanned the cramped hallway, well illuminated by the broad spectrum lights attached to their rifles. In the labs they had looked in, all they could see were glass tubes, debris, and some long rotted paper and wood products.
"These are just the regular student labs. Cerses lab was a specially funded one that was completely self sufficient. It should be at the back of the building, on this floor," Serenitee said.
"Wait, did you hear that?" Rom said. Despite only having flashlights, the lupines edited vision let them see well in the dark, but that was nothing compared to their hearing.
"Yes. It's behind us and moving slowly. Must be trying to sneak up on us," Wilfrend said.
"Well I don't want to find out what kind of mutated monster has been living in the dark of a genetics building, do you?" Rom quipped. Then he started down the hall a little faster, "Last one there is a rotten egg."
That was their signal to move forward, and Wilfrend stayed in the back covering them. He switched the power cell on his weapon to increase it's damage by 20%, though he wasn't sure if that would be enough after seeing those monsters outside. The increased power pack also meant there was a charge delay between each shot. 'This is getting hairy,' he thought. He pulled out a grenade too, but didn't like the idea of using one in a lower level of an ancient building.
In the waving lights of the rifles, they could see something different up ahead. It seemed anachronistic in all this flaking and broken concrete.
"I think that is it," Serenitee called. She ran faster, seeing the door and the wall more clearly. The door had an old time look to it, like a bank vault maybe. It was a dull grey, or white, but it looked like it might have gleamed bright when it was new. The wall itself was of the same material and she wondered if it was a composite or polymer, since it seemed brand new centuries later. Dirty, but completely intact. 'If the inner lab was sealed properly, this could be the biggest scavenger pay day in history,' she thought.
"This door looks military strong, and the electronics on the outside are ancient and busted. What was our plan for breaking in here?"
"Don't worry about that Serenitee. I have I have the key right here," Wilfrend said, while patting his pocket. He came equipped with some pretty modern door opening explosives and he wasn't too worried about getting in. What worried him were the sounds from before were much, much closer.
"It's here," shouted Rem. The light on the end of his rifle shone brightly and steadily on a horror out of a nightmare. The creature looked like a giant rat crossed with a baboon, and had sharp spikes all over.
"What the hell is that thing," Rom yelled, illuminating it with his rifle light as well.
Wilfrend pressed the trigger of his gun and felt it sink into a charge mode. "Who cares," he said as his gun discharged. The pulse was significantly larger than the fast shots that Rem and Rom were firing.
The creature made a noise they couldn't really call a scream, but it sounded angry and it started to dash down the hall. It looked very agile as it ran along the wall briefly, jumping over obstacles and using all four hands to propel itself.
Serenitee called, "We need to get the door open."
"You're right. I can't stop shooting, so reach into my right front pocket. I have the key there," Wilfrend said.
Serenitee scrambled forward, terrified, but the adrenaline allowing her to do what was needed. The monster had slowed down under the barrage of modulated phased fire. She put her hands into his pocket and rummaged around. "I don't feel a key in here."
"Dammit, the other pocket," he yelled.
She moved her hand to the other right front pocket and found a rectangular plate. It was a smart shaped charge. "I haven't used one of these before," she said.
"Put it in the center of the the door, place your palm on it for 2 seconds, and say arm."
She followed his instructions hoping against hope that this would be enough to get into the room. "Arm".
As the strange creature got closer, they could see that it wasn't much bigger than the lupines, but was covered in a sort of reflective plating, like an insect exoskeleton.
"Is that why our weapons aren't slowing it down?" Rom said, firing again. The creature slowed, but there was no obvious damage. "I can't believe so many mutants are equipped to deal with energy based weapons. This is freaking crazy, we would have been better to pull out some ancient gun powder based weapons and 50 caliber bullets."
"It's armed," screamed Serenitee. She was a little worried that she'd get hurt by the blast but there wasn't really time to think about it.
"It looks like this guy isn't going to let up. I have one trick left, but we need to slow him down a little." Wilfrend armed the grenade, while Rem and Rom increased their rate of fire. "I hope I don't bring the building down on top of us," he said then threw it towards the approaching rat beast. All three lupines turned towards serenity and the limited cover provided by crouching against the wall.
The sound from the grenade was deafening in the small space. They huddled together, fearing a catastrophic collapse of the building. Dust and debris flew everywhere, and the creature screamed, loudly.
"Did we get him?" Rem said.
"I don't know, I can't see anything yet," replied Wilfrend said.
"What about the door?" Rom asked, looking at Serenitee.
She turned back and saw that the charge went off, except the door hadn't budged even a millimeter. "It's not looking good guys."
They heard a very loud shifting of debris from the hallway. "Damn, I guess a grenade wasn't enough for him either," Wilfrend said, almost chuckling.
"I'm glad you still have your sense of humor boss, but I think we're fucked," Rem said.
"I think you're right kid, I think you're right."
They turned their guns back towards the coming danger, selecting the highest settings as they prepared to make a last stand. Rom actually pulled out his vibrating tanto blade, 'At least I'll scratch him, maybe,' he thought.
Wilfrend saw Rom's blade and thought that wasn't too bad an idea. He pulled out his laser machete, "Let's do this, monster!" he yelled.
Serenitee sat against the wall looking dumbfounded. 'So close, and yet, so far. How could it end like this,' she thought.
Then she fell backwards into the open lab.