Experiment Number One

This was the plan:

First, I would dress up in a guard’s uniform to defend against anything trying to attack me while also using it as a disguise. It was probable that no one in the compound would give me a second glance if I was hidden beneath the thick pads of the guard’s uniform. Unlike the lab, the hallway was pitch dark. I had to use some orange glowy thing I found attached to the vest to see where I was going. Otherwise, I was concealed by darkness. No one would know it was me.

Second, I would make my way to the Dhasl hall. Now, there was logic behind it. The last time there was a power outage, no one came to check the hall. It had to be out of fear of getting possessed by the Dhasl. That or they thought it would be easier to focus on the problem of the Dhasl spreading after they got the lights on to prevent any unknown deaths trying to battle them during the power outage. So it would either be empty, or there would be a few stranglers of guards there. I had never fought anyone before but thought I could knock them out. Somehow. But that problem was something to solve when the time came.

Also, during the blackout, Lieutenant Wallace said he happened to discover me in Dhasl hall on his way back from his “out-of-office meeting.” There was no way he would’ve even been in Dhasl hall unless there was some kind of way out of the compound at the end of the corridor.

Plus, if I escaped through Dhasl hall, I could retrieve Lieutenant Wallace who was locked inside one of the cells.

I ran throughout the compound, trying to remember the way out of the maze. If I could return to my original cell, I could use the intuition that saved me so many times during those days to guide me to Dhasl Hall. It wasn’t a guarantee, my clairvoyance. After all, it might’ve just been an increase in anxiety that I tricked myself to believe was some superstitious power. It was all or nothing. So many things that should be un-explainable happened between those dull walls of the compound that a queasy feeling guiding me around would be seen as normal.

I ran to the hallway and stopped outside the doors where my original imprisonment occurred. I stood there for a second, calculating. I went left, right, left- but what was after that? I gave it up to chance to find out.

Before I could sprint off in the direction, I heard faint voices coming from inside my old cell.

“There’s nothing Wallace could do to stop us. We already have a trial of the serum created all while he’s morphing into a monster.” It was Doctor Taylor. I slowly pulled open the heavy metal door to see inside the room. She was standing alongside Ren Clash and George. They all held high-powered flashlights as they stood before my old glass beaker.

“He already informed outside forces of our plan. They could come storming in here at any moment! That freak three-eyed cave woman thing could find me and–” Ren Clash shivered. There was a panic in his voice.

“We have the defense now, Clash. All we have to do is get the green light for human trials.” Doctor Taylor turned her head to George. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring straight ahead. “You guys went behind my back to create a catastrophic weapon,” George said. “Do you know the effects this is going to cause?” His voice was low and menacing, not the upbeat jolly old man I remember. That was his proper form. The real captain of whatever operation he was working under.

“Volent would be the world’s most dominant power with the lab-enhanced mutants. We can do whatever we want, when we want, and everyone fear us.” Doctor Taylor tried to make her case.

“What about when Falerine gets a hold of the serum? How about Herane, Starxs, Emovers, Fourthmouth? It will be an all-out war. The destruction of the Earth,” George exclaimed. At least one person in that mess understood the consequences.

“We just have to make sure that never happens.”

“It has already happened. The moment you created that serum, you released its possibilities to the world. It won’t be long until it starts spreading around the country, the globe, and we have a mutant apocalypse on our hands.”

Doctor Taylor took a second to reply. “The first trial of the serum is in my lab right now, all we have to do is lock it up and keep it safe. Only a few people know about it. Let’s keep it that way.”

“A few people,” George said as he turned around and headed up the staircase, “is far too many.”

I slowly closed the door before he could notice I was listening in. I could still hear his harsh voice through the barrier.

“We will eliminate any staff that helped you create the serum. Along with Wallace and the girl.” My heart dropped to my stomach as I pushed myself against the wall. I had no time to run, so my best chance was to hide behind the door when it swung open and hope that he missed me out of the corner of his eye. I backed as far into the corner as I could, and it took everything in me not the yelp out in pain when George walked out of the room and slammed the heavy frame against me.

“And someone turns these lights back on before it makes our problems worse,” he yelled right before the door closed. He stomped out into the hallway and faded into the void.

I sprung right into action. I knew that if I stood there long enough, Ren Clash and Doctor Taylor would come out and spot me or maybe another guard member. I had to find Dhasl hall as fast as possible because they would’ve killed Lieutenant Wallace if I didn’t.