St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Two Years Ago
"Whoa! Whoa!" A worker yelled as he was thrown from the back of a steed. He'd spooked it when he tried to force it to ride past the thrad containment units. From my position on the gangplank I could see him scrambling down the hall to get away from the spooked evo. I broke into a full sprint and rushed to the steps that lead down to the factory floor.
While steeds were normally docile when they are spooked they could be extremely dangerous due to their massive size. Plus that steed was Magnus, the oldest and largest steed in the factory.
I slid down the guardrail of the stairs and hit the factory running. Magnus was kicking and thrashing around the containment units making his way towards the worker. I jumped on top of a nearby crate and onto Magnus back. He hissed loudly then kicked and bucked making a huge dent into the side of the thrads unit. The worker screamed and huddled in a corner.
I held on tightly as I channeled energy into my crystal and grabbed the back of Magnus head. My energy circled Magnus like chains and stilled him instantly. I grabbed hold of hos reigns to keep up the illusion that I had just managed to wear him down and didn't use my splicer powers and maneuvered Magnus away from the worker.
"That's okay boy, everything's fine…" I whispered softly as I stroked the tuft of fur on top of his head. I glanced down at the worker who was just now realizing that Magnus was under control. "Are you hurt?"
The worker stood up and dusted himself off. It was the first time I'd actually gotten a good look at him. With my attention set to getting Magnus under control I didn't really pay much attention to who the idiot was, and of course that idiot was the new hire Daryl Ford. He'd only been working at the factory for a month but was already acting like he already knew everything. Which the fact he thought it was a good idea to bring a steed near a predatory evo like a thrad shows that he didn't.
"I'm fine!" Daryl scoffed and looked me up and down with contempt. "I didn't need a filthy splicer to come and save me. I would have gotten him under control eventually."
I bit back a cutting remark about the fact that Magnus wouldn't have been swayed by his expert display of cowardice. Instead I looked over my shoulder at the thrad containment unit that Magnus hit. There were at least fifteen thrads inside the unit and I expected everyone of them to be screeching and hollering in outrage but they weren't. I spurred Magnus to the front of the unit and saw fifteen pairs of eyes of reptilian eyes staring back at me from the dark corner of the unit.
"Hey! You little shit I'm still talking to you!" Daryl snapped and marched over to me.
"What the hells going on down there!" Someone yelled from the Gangplank. Daryl and I both looked up to see the factory foreman Hawthorn Fredrickson glaring down at us. Hawthorn or Haws as everyone in the factory called him, was a massive and menacing man that had a permanent scowl on his face.
"Nothing! The splicer brat was moving Magnus around and he suddenly started going berserk!" Daryl exclaimed. Haws scowled and slammed his fist into the rail.
"Why the hell is he moving him! I told you to do it!" Haws snapped. Daryl flinched and glared at me. "Chase get the fuck off Magnus and let that idiot take him to the stables outside."
"Yes Haws!" I exclaimed as I hopped down from the evo and handed Daryl the reigns. He scowled and snatched the reigns from me. He spat on my shoes as he walked away and pulled Magnus away. He was lucky that I was still controlling him or Magnus would have jerked and pulled away and we would be hack in the same position again.
As Daryl walkeed away from the thrads containment units all the thrads eyes followed Daryl and Magnus. That behavior in itself wasn't typical of thrads, in groups they were loud and aggressive. Constantly fighting between themselves until there was a clear alpha of the group.
"Hey Haws can you come down here?!" I yelled up to him. Haw arched a eyebrow at me but made his way to the staircase regardless. When he reached me and saw the massive dent in the side of the unit and looked like he was about to blow.
"Did that fucking idiot do this?!" He barked. I nodded silently then pointed to the thrads inside the container. Haws noticed the thrads for the first time, all of them were now staring at the two of us as if they were studying us.
"That's not normal thrad behavior." I said. Haws nodded and took a few steps back away from the container.
"No it's not. Follow me…" Haws replied and started back toward the main office. I followed close behind him as he walked back up to the gangplank.
We were currently in the western warehouse of the factory, where most of the more combat oriented evos created were stored until they could be prepared for shipping. The main office of the western warehouse sat in a office in the rafters, this was so that in case of a containment breech there was a safe place to hide until all the evos were rounded up.
The western warehouse was the most heavily staffed since it was home to the most dangerous evoss created in the factory and the safest was to move around in the warehouse was to travel using the gangplanks. As we made our way to the office we past a few dozen other workers on their way to assignments.
They all either nodded politely and waved as I passed or looked at me with contempt. The ones that smiled were veteran workers that had been with the factory for a long time and were used to seeing me around, the ones that scowled at me were probably new hires like Daryl with little to no time in or summer workers.
The veteran workers were one of the reasons why I didn't mind that my parents "Volunteered" me to work at the factory every summer. Unlike everyone else in town they didn't treat me like shit just for the fact I was a splicer, they also went out of their way to hide the fact that I used my powers at work since it made their jobs easier and saved their lives from time to time.
When we reached the main office Haws opened the door for me and pushed me inside then closed the door behind himself. The main office looked like any regular office building, there was a main room with a few cubicles and people seated at each cubicle doing their job and a couple of larger offices. Haws office was the largest one. He motioned for me to head inside, the serious look on his face telling everyone that it wasn't the time for pleasantries as we walked past them. Once we were both inside he made closed the blinds so no one could see inside then made his way to the "way to small for a man his size" desk that was situated in the center of the room.
"Judging by the way you're acting right now Haws I'm guessing that wasn't the first time you've seen the thrads acting like that?" I asked as he took a seat. Haws let out a loud sighed then rubbed his temples.
"Nope, it ain't" He sighed then ran a hand over his bald head. "They've been acting weird now for almost a month now maybe longer than that but we're just now noticing."
"I haven't noticed any of the other evos in the warehouse acting weird. Though I've been a little to busy to notice…" I said.
"Shit, I was hoping you had some weird sort of splicer insight into what's going on." Haws cursed. "While they aren't doing anything the simple fact that they aren't acting normal is creeping me out, its creeping out the other old timers as well. The memory of that failed Lyon experiment getting out is still fresh in a lot of their minds."
"Mom's still self-conscious about that scar." I muttered. Haws scratched his chin and groaned.
"Do me a favor will you…" He reached into his desk and pulled out a folder then held it out for me to grab. I took it then started to read it over. "…get that over to your dad, he should be in the central warehouse today."
"What about all that Titan that needed to be moved the shipping?" I asked, suddenly remember the task that he gave me before Daryl had his accident.
"This is more important. I need your dad's signature on that before we can move ahead and transport out those croyans." Haws replied.
"Gotcha…" I said then turned and started for the door.
"Chase, not a word about the thrads acting weird to anyone. At least not until we know what's going on, the last thing we need is the new guys starting to panic." Haws added.
"Yes sir." I said as I walked out the door.
As I left the office I broke into a light jog. The only way to the central warehouse was to head through the shipping center of the western warehouse, which was on the other end of the building. A leisurely walk from one end of the warehouse to the other took about a half hour. I could cut that down to fifteen minutes if I ran, of course using the gangplanks also shortened the time.
As I neared the shipping center I saw Daryl trying to get Magnus to go inside a evo transport trailer. He was trying to pull the massive thing but he wasn't moving.
"Come on you shitty horse, cheetah freak!" Daryl snapped. There were at least four other veteran workers watching him struggle from on top of the gangplank.
"You guys aren't going to tell him that Magnus doesn't like the transport trailers and needs to be rode over too whatever warehouse he's transferred to?" I asked the group as I passed.
"Nah, the little expert is doing just fine on his own." One of them said with a chuckle.
"He's a know it all dipshit. Idiots like him have to learn the hard way." The second said.
"Okay, just don't let him get hurt. OSHA was on our ass for months after the last time someone got hurt." I said as I walked away.
"Yeah, yeah." The third and forth replied.
I hurried the rest of the way to the shipping center to find the familiar image of Tyler Jacobs or Mobs as everyone like to call him asleep at the security desk again.
I shook my head in disappointment as I passed by the older guard undetected and out the main security door. With him on the door it was way to easy to slip in and out of the warehouse undetected.
Outside the western warehouse the factory complex was a buzz with activity. Steed transports pulled massive trailers filled to the brim with evo containment units across the yards to their destination, people rushed from one warehouse to another in order to reach their posts, only a few people stopping or looking up from whatever report they were staring at for longer than a second to see where they were going.
The Spirit techno-splicing factory was one of the largest in the midwest. The compound boasted five warehouses: North, south, east, west, and central, all delegated to specific needs. The central warehouse where I was going was the main techno-splicing hub and the largest of the five warehouses. All the evos in the factory came from there.
I made a beeline for the central warehouse and had to use some pretty fancy footwork, fancy for me at least, in order to keep from getting run over by a steed transport. I reached the main entrance quickly and was about to head inside when I heard a loud smashing noise followed by the panicked cries of a couple steeds.
I turned around in time to see that a five steed evo transport had tipped over. The evo containment units that it had been carrying were scattered all over the ground.
"By the gods…" I muttered to myself as I turned and headed toward the wreak. I felt a chill go up my neck as I got closer. The driver of the transport crawled out from under the steed's chariot, he had a deep gash on his forehead that was bleeding heavily but that wasn't was sent the chill.
Four thrads crawled out of one of the containment units and let out a ferocious screech then all charged the worker. I forced tendrils of energy from my crystal to wrap around the four evos and try to take control of them. They stilled and tried to fight my control but one by one they all came under heel and submitted.
I quickly rushed over and grabbed the worker and threw him over my shoulder, possibly for greater injury be dawned, if four thrads were able to crawl out then the rest in the container would be able too and I couldn't control a entire container full.
"Thank you! Thank you!" The worker exclaimed as I ran towards the central warehouse.
"Thank me after we're in the building!" I yelled. Just then a loud siren started to sound through the complex, it was the containment breech siren.
Ahead of us the a thick bulkhead started to close over the entrance of the central warehouse. I felt a wave of panic come over me as I ran faster praying I made it in time. My prayers were not answered as the bulkhead closed and locked us and anyone else near the central warehouse out.
'FUUUUUUCK!' I thought as I skidded to stop. Several more screeches filled the air and I turned around to see that the rest of the thrads were starting to climb out of the containment units and scattered, chasing after the poor souls still to close to the transport. A few had even caught a whiff of the worker and I and were now racing towards us, claws extended and long snouts filled with razor sharp teeth set to rip and tear.
'FUCK A DUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!'