The control room was a scene from a nightmare. Sparks danced from exploding consoles, technicians screamed in terror as monstrous figures lumbered through the chamber, their guttural roars echoing like a symphony of madness. Dr. Vance, her once pristine lab coat tattered and stained, pushed past the frightened lab personnel, shoving me towards a specific console."Activate the emergency purge!" she shouted above the din, her voice a desperate plea swallowed by the chaos.My mind, still reeling from the recent transformation and the primal savagery that had overtaken me, struggled to process the information. But amidst the confusion, a flicker of my old self – the inquisitive scientist I once was – sparked to life. Years of forced participation in this laboratory, years spent observing and learning (albeit unwillingly), coalesced into a murky understanding. Activation codes overheard in hushed conversations between researchers, snippets of discussions about containment protocols – it all came flooding back, pushing through the haze of fear and adrenaline.With a trembling hand, I reached towards the console, a complex mass of flashing lights and cryptic symbols. My fingers danced across the board, a practiced rhythm returning despite the years of disuse. The emergency purge sequence, a protocol Dr. Vance had once muttered about in frustration, flickered into my memory.With a final confirmation press, the room lurched. Red emergency lights pulsed even faster, casting an ominous glow across the terrified faces. A synthesized voice blared over the intercom, its robotic monotone announcing an "unidentified system malfunction.""What did you do?" a lab technician, his voice laced with a primal fear that mirrored my own, shrieked at Dr. Vance."Emergency containment protocol," she replied sharply, her eyes never leaving the holographic display that pulsed with a malevolent green light. "It should seal off the affected areas and neutralise the serum within the test subjects."But the answer came too late. A monstrous roar echoed through the room, followed by the sound of shattering metal. A hulking figure, its body grotesquely swollen and skin stretched taut, burst through the shattered security door. It was another guard, the Lazarus strain turning him into a grotesque caricature of his former self. Its red eyes scanned the room, locking onto Dr. Vance with a primal hunger.With a ferocious snarl, it lunged. Time seemed to slow down. I saw the fear etched on Dr. Vance's face, the helplessness in her eyes. A primal urge, the same hunger I had felt earlier, surged through me. This time, however, it was accompanied by a surge of protectiveness, a flicker of the man I once was.Without conscious thought, I threw myself in front of Dr. Vance, taking the full brunt of the creature's attack. Its claws raked across my chest, tearing through my lab coat and leaving deep gashes. The pain was excruciating, but the metallic tang that had overwhelmed me earlier was absent. Instead, a primal roar ripped from my throat, a sound that echoed the creature's own ferocity.The force of the impact sent us both sprawling. The creature, momentarily surprised, hesitated. Ignoring the searing pain, I lunged for a nearby metal pipe that lay discarded on the floor. Grasping it with surprising strength, I rose to meet the creature's next attack.The ensuing fight was a brutal ballet of desperation and primal fury. The creature, fueled by an insatiable hunger for flesh, attacked with relentless ferocity. But the Lazarus strain had enhanced me as well. My movements were faster, my reflexes sharper. I fought with an animalistic ferocity, driven by a primal instinct for survival and a desperate need to protect the sliver of humanity that clung on within.Each blow of the pipe landed with a sickening thud, but the creature seemed impervious to pain. Its red eyes burned with an unholy light that sent shivers down my spine. Dr. Vance, taking advantage of the distraction, scrambled away towards the opposite corner of the room.Suddenly, a technician, his face pale with terror, grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall. With a panicked yell, he sprayed the creature with the white foam. The creature recoiled, its guttural roar turning into a choked gasp. Seizing the opportunity, I landed a final blow with the pipe, connecting squarely with the creature's head. It crumpled to the floor, its body twitching in a final spasm before going still.Silence descended upon the control room, broken only by the labored gasps of the surviving technicians and my own ragged breaths. My vision swam, the metallic tang slowly creeping back onto my tongue, a constant reminder of the monstrous potential now locked within me."Thank you," Dr. Vance rasped, her voice laced with a mixture of gratitude and horror.I looked at her, the blood staining my clothes a stark reminder of the brutality of the fight. The scientist within me questioned the necessity of..."...the necessity of such violence," I finished, my voice hoarse. "But I… I don't know what else I could have done."Dr. Vance didn't answer. She was staring at the holographic display, the red alerts multiplying like a digital plague. The emergency purge wasn't working as intended. Pockets of infected personnel, trapped within the sealed zones, were turning into ravenous beasts, the green bioluminescent glow spreading steadily across the facility's map."We need to get out of here," Dr. Vance stated, her voice regaining its usual steely resolve, though a tremor of fear still lingered in her eyes. "There's an emergency escape pod in the west wing. It can take two."Escape. The word resonated within me, a beacon of hope amidst the encroaching darkness. But a nagging doubt gnawed at my conscience. "What about the others? The technicians, the remaining guards… we can't just leave them here."Dr. Vance's expression hardened. "There's no time. We have a single chance to escape this facility and alert the authorities. If we stay, we'll die along with everyone else."Her words were harsh, but the logic was undeniable. The green glow on the display pulsed ominously, signifying a rapidly deteriorating situation. The metallic tang in my mouth intensified, a primal urge whispering promises of strength and survival amidst the chaos.A part of me, a monstrous part fueled by the Lazarus strain, almost yearned to stay and revel in the carnage. But another part, a faint echo of the man I used to be, recoiled from the thought. The technicians, their terrified faces flashing before my eyes, served as a stark reminder of my humanity, or at least what remained of it.With a heavy heart, I nodded. "Alright, the escape pod. But what about the data? The research on the strain, how to stop it?"Dr. Vance hesitated, then pulled out a small data chip from her lab coat pocket. "I downloaded the critical files. It's enough to expose their work, to show the world what they've done."We sprinted through the corridors, the metallic shrieks and roars of the infected growing louder with each passing second. The sterile white walls, once a symbol of sterile control, now seemed to pulsate with a malignant energy. The metallic tang grew stronger, a primal hunger gnawing at the edges of my consciousness.As we reached the designated corridor, a monstrous figure emerged from a side room, its body a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and bone. Before I could react, Dr. Vance shoved me hard against the wall."Go!" she hissed, her voice laced with desperation. "Get to the pod! I'll hold it off.""No!" I roared, a primal protest erupting from my throat. The scientist within me balked at abandoning her, but the monstrous part yearned for the fight, for the release of primal rage."Don't argue!" Dr. Vance screamed, her voice barely audible over the creature's guttural snarl. "This was always the plan. Go, Kai, save yourself… save the world!"Tears welled up in my eyes, a surge of conflicting emotions threatening to overwhelm me. Dr. Vance, the woman who had turned me into a lab rat, now sacrificed herself for my escape. The weight of her sacrifice pressed down on me, a burden I barely understood.With a final, desperate glance at her defiant figure, I turned and fled. Each echoing scream, each monstrous roar that followed me, felt like a physical blow. The metallic taste intensified, urging me forward, promising oblivion in the face of overwhelming grief.Reaching the designated chamber, I slammed open the hatch and clambered inside the escape pod. It was a cramped metal sphere, barely large enough for two. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat that echoed the chaos outside.As I secured myself into the cramped pod, a single question echoed in my mind: Was I escaping the nightmare… or becoming a part of it? The escape pod hummed to life, bathed in an ethereal blue light as it blasted off from the doomed facility, carrying me towards an uncertain future. The screams and roars faded into the distance, replaced by the deafening silence of space.Gazing back at the receding facility, now a pulsating green beacon against the inky blackness, I knew this was just the beginning. The Lazarus strain coursed through my veins, a monstrous power intertwined with the fading embers of humanity.I was no longer just Kai Tanaka, the lab rat. I was a monster, a survivor… and possibly the only hope for a world teetering on the brink of oblivion.