The two were at the office browsing through a stockpile of documents when Wei came nearly bursting into the room. By the corridor lay a rusted door, that likely used to operate through the use of keycards of which they had none.
"Boss looks like some body augmentation lab. At least going by the docs."
"I checked the nearby rooms too, and there was mostly medical equipment there.", Lu spoke.
Body augmentation. Sure enough, humans had once reached those heights. Before the cataclysm, great powers often devised different methods to fight for supremacy, bio-warfare being one of them. It was likely one among many such facilities. These however were likely off the records both before and after the event, for obviously different reasons. Those psykers and metahumans, ones that paid them a visit all those years ago...there were rumors that some bio-firm managed to create them artificially. In truth, nobody really knew their origins. Most among the common folk even denied their very existence and the nonsense sagas they spout over radios. However, they knew better than that, some of it was surely real. Odds are these folks never even got a chance to witness them firsthand, so it was quite understandable to hold such a perception. Those that did get the chance though, often ended up treating them as some sort of messiahs. Yeah right, some messiahs they were, leaving them to rot, fighting over mere breadcrumbs as they tucked their tails and ran back to their comfy hives for the cake! Wei was reminiscing as,
"Boss can you read what it says?", Lu's voice brought him back.
There was also a dysfunctional computer and a desk filled with dusty records of which two labels read, "Project Rebirth"," and "Prototype X-9 Alpha." …yes, strangely in English. Of course, it was odd enough to see some language they could not read, likely of foreign origin, but those files did not nearly seem as old as the rest of them.
The files were filled with some research on cellular modification, tissue structure, and some other nonsense. Wei recognized some words, but the rest were beyond his pay grade. This was an utter waste of time and they needed to get moving soon. "Let's bust that door open, he spoke."
They brute-forced through a set of heavy metal doors, their hinges groaning in protest, and entered what appeared to be a central laboratory. Strangely there was only an empty gap between two of these doors. Past them, they stumbled upon multiple rooms around a central square, with an illuminated glass tube at the center of it. It was covered in a translucent liquid, with numerous metallic thick chords and cables that ran along the roof and even the floor. At its center was something that resembled a tree trunk, with ruffled skin, but it had no leaves and its roots and branches were connected to the metallic cables on both ends. A faint aroma hung in the air. Mesmerized, the trio barely avoided tripping over the cables as they watched on, moving ever closer. That faint glow was the only source of illumination in the entire room.
"What is that thing?"
"Dunno, not something we can take back with us for sure!"
"Jerk!"
"Let's check out the rooms," Wei said, partly because he wanted to get away from that ominous light.
The first room they entered had a foul stench. The desk surfaces were cluttered with overturned trays, and glassware of various shapes, some filled, some empty, some even shattered and its contents still spilled out on the desks and floors, alongside several medical instruments scattered throughout the room including peculiar diagnosis instruments: syringes with long, jagged needles, surgical tools, clamps, and strange mechanical devices that resembled medieval torture apparatuses more than scientific tools. There were also two armchairs with restraints on them, and the cushions were covered in dried blood.
"Somebody likes naughty stuff."
"Shush! The stains are rather recent. The culprit might be still here for all we know."
They entered the next room. In sheer contrast to the last one, this room was filled with dust. A pungent smell hung in the air, more of decay than a rotting stench. A row of metal cages sat in oppressive stillness. Inside, the trio peeked a glance at some of the grotesque experiments, or at least what was left of them—mostly humanoid forms, contorted into unnatural positions, some had their bodies twisted and deformed beyond directions human bodies would naturally allow for. Wei held his urge to puke at the sight as they quickened their pace. Lu just backed out the way he came. Most cages only held skeletal remains of the deceased, their bones often stained with dark, ominous residues, held dried-out cadavers, almost as equally distorted. In the darkest corner of the lab lay a massive metal containment chamber, its doors tightly shut, revealing a glimpse of the unknown only through a set of observation windows, heavily reinforced but now smeared with grime and something darker—something that might have once been alive.
"What a waste! Is this what we humans are worth!" Tian cried out in frustration.
"Let's go see the next one," Wei replied. He has all but resigned at this point.
The room next to it held even more cadavers in cages. The only difference was that these were rotting, some rather recent additions to that twisted collection. The stench was nauseating. In one of the cages there, a low, rhythmic droning sound emanated occasionally from within, accompanied by a faint, yet persistent, whisper of body movement. It was as if the thing inside was still alive, breathing in the stillness of abandonment, waiting for a chance to escape or perhaps death.
"Let's not bother whatever is in there.", Wei headed back.
"Agreed!", Lu and Tian nodded simultaneously as they followed him back out.
"How about we just make a run for it now? Haven't we already seen enough!" Lu almost cried this time. The horrid scenery back there had clearly taken its toll on all of them.
Tian and Wei looked shaken too, however, his cries fell to deaf ears as they slid open the other hatches as if drawn to something. Room after room, they just kept looking. One revealed an empty sick bay stained with patches of dried blood on some otherwise empty beds, restraining devices, and vitals monitors. Some others revealed radiography and sonography equipment of various purposes, only some barely looked functional.
Wei's breaths grew shallower as the trio ventured further into the facility. One of the doors revealed a long corridor leading to only one room straight. The corridor was lit in ominous red light.
"Open the door." Wei didn't seem himself as he commanded.
An oppressive sense of dread had long settled over them all as they uncovered the laboratory's experiments—one after the other. However, this appeared to be the main attraction. There were three large capsules of thick bulletproof glass, each filled with a swirling, viscous fluid. One was completely empty. Within, another an amorphous, pulsating biomass floated—its shape, shifting and undulating, occasionally revealing grotesque, barely human features. The other one was a small pink mass of pulsating flesh and veins which vaguely resembled an embryo, familiar to most who'd seen a miscarriage. Thick metallic cables kept pumping air and chemicals into these tanks. The sight was mostly quiet except for the gurgling noise from the air bubbles floating up within these capsules.
The facility's walls were plastered with faded warnings and biohazard symbols, their significance becoming increasingly chilling as the scavengers realized that they might have just trespassed into a place where they should not have as a sudden realization dawned on them—this place was not merely abandoned; it was waiting.
"No more. Let's leave now." As they turned to leave, however;
"There is only one way out from here." A sweet feminine voice suddenly rang out.
And then it went dark.
Panicked wails welled up from deep within their souls as they rushed back to the corridor they came in from. Wei kept cursing; this entire expedition was a mistake. If only that accursed bastard in the guild had not told him about some grand fortune... wait, something did not add up, no matter how hard he tried Wei could not remember who it was.
The shadows seemed to twist and writhe behind them as if the facility itself were awakening from its long slumber. The air grew colder, and the oppressive silence was broken only by the soft, mocking whispers of the unknown, reminding them that some places are best left undisturbed.
They finally saw some illumination back at the central square. But their hopes were drowned out as a shadowy figure slowly emerged behind them. The shimmering glow from the glass capsule barely made her face visible. She was an unearthly beauty dressed in a raven black gown; brandishing long lustrous black hair behind her. By all accounts, she seemed a goddess born of the night. Her barely exposed porcelain skin seemed to glow in the shimmering light as the scrutinizing stare from her glowing crimson eyes washed over them. Then her lips perked up in a satisfied playful smile that clearly did not match the mood.
She was no goddess, she was an enemy they needed to put out before anybody else died.
"As I said, there is only one way out."
"Open fire. She's an enemy!" Wei wailed. He might have been a moment too late to react but there was still hope, He just had to convince himself. If only they managed to somehow kill this bitch, they could go home. Gunshots bellowed as the continuous muzzle flashes lit up the room. The woman had vanished. In the next moment, however, Tian's scream reverberated through the hall as he was dragged away somewhere in that instant. Their eyes didn't follow a thing.
"Is she even human?"
"I can't do this. I can't!" Lu sat down on the floor. Wei opened fire as she appeared again. The woman strolled forth bullets sinking into her skin, barely making any dent at all. Wei's mind finally snapped, as he dropped the gun and simply ran. He seemed to catch the silhouette of the bloody bitch emerging in a corner of his blurry vision before it went completely dark. He could swear he saw the smiles on the faces of his dead wife and his sickly daughter in the fleeting moment.
"I love you, Nue."
The woman grabbed his limp body by the caller and dragged it along like baggage as she approached Lu. He wasn't dead of course, in fact, none of them were. She tossed Wei right beside Lu, who's made a puddle where he sat while grasping his head. She grabbed him by his hair and pulled his face up.
She was an unearthly beauty. But more than anything there was something familiar about her. To his horror, he realized he knew this woman. In fact, she was one of the top officials who came along with the metahuman advance party from Chang-Jin stronghold. And then all his repressed memories came rushing back in. It was him; it was all him. He was the one who broke the news of this base to Wei and his party. This wasn't the first time either. He has done this several times over the course of the last three years. All the nightmares he'd been having were simply his memories desperately trying to flood back in.
"Are you done with your drama?" The woman asked, clearly not amused.
"Ye-yes ma'am!", he replied almost immediately.
"You sure made me work a lot today. I had to carry three grown-up men back to the testing facility all by myself."
"My sincerest apologies, ma'am.", he replied in a stern voice.
"If you're really that sorry, carry the last one yourself. Seriously, all you need to do is lure in a fresh batch of test subjects for me every month or so into this facility. I've even taken measures to ensure they can't escape once they make it in. Why is it so hard for you?"
"I really have no excuses to offer, ma'am!"
"It's fine! I've been having some conflicting results and it will require some further testing. This is the worst!" She then nodded as she pondered something.
"Oh right, before I forget, your rewards are kept at the usual place. Don't forget to collect them. I'll be counting on you again. Now shoo!"
A deep self-loathing gushed forth from his stomach. His misery was far from over. The woman was only half right when she said earlier there was only one way out. She likely meant the eventual death of her victims but for him, there was no way out. He'll forget all of this, locate some scavenger's party again, promising some incredible fortune only to lead them down the path of their inevitable demise, over and over again.
Lu stood up, with glassy eyes and a heavy heart, tears long dried up, ever since the sheer weight of his realization had hit him hard. He grabbed Wei by his hands and kept dragging him down to the containment facility.
"Boss Wei, our time together was short but I never truly hated you. You were a great leader to have! So, let me do the last honors and see you off. Please find it in your heart to forgive me."
He murmured as they both disappeared in the darkness of the corridor.
Unbeknownst to him however this excursion would in fact mark the end of his long inescapable nightmare. Soon a massive monster invasion, commonly referred to as a stampede, although incomparable in scale to such previous instances, would lay siege on the forward base the the following month. The remnants of foot soldiers and guardsmen left stationed to guard the stronghold never stood much chance against waves of such horrid abominations, much less the common folk. Even the stronghold would fall only days after, forever leaving a gashing scar in the bloody annals of human history since the Day of Judgement. The event would later be dubbed worldwide as the Purge of Hunan, 2108.