Chapter 3

The door slowly swung open with a long, grating sound of metal. Mond immediately raised his pistol and motioned for Andrew to stay behind him, while the flashlight in his left hand swept across the dark room. The beam could only reach a few feet before being swallowed by the shadows filling the interior.

"Police. Don't move."

No answer.

Andrew switched on the weapon-mounted flashlight and stepped up beside Mond as they cautiously entered. The room turned out to be much larger than they had estimated from the outside. Several laboratory tables lined the walls, while thick cables snaked from the floor toward massive equipment occupying the back of the space.

What made Mond pause for a moment were several indicator lights still glowing among the rows of panels. The building's electricity had cut out while they were outside, but the equipment in this room seemed entirely unaffected.

"There's still power," Andrew said, sweeping his light across one of the panels.

Mond approached the machine without touching it. "That means there's a backup power source."

"For two years?"

Andrew's question made Mond look around the room again. Dust covered most surfaces, but not all. Parts of the floor looked cleaner, especially around the machinery that was still running.

"Looks like someone is still maintaining this place," he said.

In the center of the room stood a long desk with several computer monitors. Most of the screens were dark, but one still displayed a slow-moving green line. Andrew stepped closer and directed his flashlight at the screen.

"This isn't just a generator," he said.

Mond glanced over. "What do you mean?"

"A generator only provides electricity. If this monitor is still running a system, it means something is still active."

Before Mond could answer, the sound of dripping liquid came from the right side of the room. They followed the source until they found a large glass cylinder standing behind a metal apparatus. It was nearly as tall as an adult human, with several pipes and tubes connected to its base.

Clear liquid filled most of the cylinder, but there was no one inside.

Andrew stepped closer and aimed his flashlight at the glass surface. "Empty."

Mond inspected the pipe connections. Some parts still looked damp, and a small puddle had formed on the floor right beneath the cylinder.

"Looks like it was just used."

Andrew crouched down to examine the puddle. The liquid shared the exact same color as the residue they had found in the corridor.

"If so, why leave it like this?"

Mond hadn't answered when a short alarm beeped from the computer desk.

Beep.

One of the monitors suddenly flared to life. Both officers instantly raised their weapons toward the source before realizing that the text appearing on screen was merely system data.

SYSTEM STATUS: ACTIVE

Below that text were numbers that kept shifting.

SUBJECT COUNT: 17

Andrew stepped closer. "Subject?"

Mond stood beside him, watching the numbers closely. Within seconds, seventeen dropped to sixteen.

Andrew frowned. "It was seventeen, right?"

"Yeah."

The number changed again.

15

Andrew looked at Mond. "Why is the count going down?"

Mond didn't reply immediately. Instead, his eyes drifted to several other monitors that were waking up one by one. Those screens were linked to security cameras across various sections of the facility. Some rooms were empty, a few featured surgical tables, and one specific area made Mond halt his steps.

Rows of glass cylinders filled that room.

"Zoom in," Andrew said.

Mond magnified the feed from one of the monitors. The recording quality was poor, but the shapes inside the tubes were still distinct enough.

There were humans inside.

Andrew slowly lowered his weapon.

"Dear God..."

The feed shifted to another tube. Then to the next. Some bodies still looked entirely human, while others displayed inexplicable physical mutations. There were arms that seemed unnaturally long, abnormally shaped fingers, and patches of skin thickened along the neck and shoulders.

Mond kept his eyes on the screen as the camera switched to the next subject. One body featured a severely distorted, protruding spine, while another was almost entirely covered in scales.

"What did they do to these people?" Andrew asked.

Mond didn't answer right away, his attention caught by the data text appearing at the bottom of the monitor.

LIFE SUPPORT ERROR

Then, new data popped up.

SUBJECT 07 — STABLE

SUBJECT 12 — UNSTABLE

SUBJECT 14 — TRANSFORMATION 83%

Andrew read the last line in a quiet voice. "Transformation?"

Mond immediately grabbed his radio.

"Dispatch, this is Officer Mond. We found what appears to be an active research facility inside the building. We need additional units and medical support immediately."

Only static answered.

"Dispatch?"

No response.

Andrew tried his own radio, but the result was identical. He stared at the device, then looked up toward the ceiling.

"Jammed?"

"Could be," Mond replied, though his tone betrayed his own uncertainty.

A sudden sound from behind made them both spin around. Mond aimed his flashlight toward the noise, revealing a glass panel separating the main room from a smaller back chamber. The door to that room was ajar. Inside sat a chair, a desk, a few medical tools, and dark, dried stains on the floor.

Andrew reached to move closer, but Mond caught his arm.

"Hold on."

Before they could check the room, the main monitor chimed again. This time, a video file began playing automatically.

A man in his fifties appeared on screen. He wore a white lab coat, his hair greying at the temples. His expression was grave, even tense, as if the recording had been made in a rush.

The date was stamped in the corner of the screen:

14 MARCH 2024

The man's name flashed a few seconds later.

DR. ADRIAN VOSS

"If this recording is playing," Voss began, "it means the security system has failed or someone has successfully breached the facility."

Andrew glanced at Mond, but his partner kept his eyes locked on the screen.

"Project Chimera was never designed to create monsters."

Andrew snapped his gaze back to the monitor.

Voss continued in a calmer tone. "Our initial objective was to enhance the adaptability of the human body to extreme conditions. We wanted to create humans capable of surviving disease, radiation, tissue damage, and environments that should otherwise be fatal."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"However, the experiment shifted when we discovered something within the genetic engineering process."

The image suddenly shuddered. The audio broke into static before normalizing.

"The first subject showed—"

Voss's voice cut out due to interference.

Krrrttt...

When the picture cleared again, Voss's expression had changed. His face looked far more tense than just moments before.

"If you find the subjects in this facility, do not attempt to open their tubes."

Andrew stared at the screen without blinking.

Voss leaned slightly closer to the camera.

"Do not attempt to wake them."

The video stopped.

The screen went black.

For a moment, no one spoke. Andrew finally broke the silence.

"We need to get out of here and wait for backup."

Mond was still staring at the monitor that had just gone dark. "Wait."

"What?"

He pointed to one of the adjacent screens.

The subject count, which had just registered fifteen, had changed once more.

14

Andrew slowly raised his weapon.

From the back of the room came the sound of vibrating glass. Mond and Andrew turned in unison, watching as the previously empty cylinder stirred back to life. The pump at its base whirred, and clear liquid surged through transparent pipes into the tube.

A white mist slowly filled the inside of the glass.

Behind that haze, a silhouette began to take form.

At first, it was vague, but soon the shape sharpened—the outline of a human-like figure standing inside the fluid.

Andrew took a step back as the shadow shifted.

Mond raised his pistol higher.

The silhouette approached the glass from within the cylinder, stopping right before them.