The Thing 2: Infection✔️

Chapter 08: Questionable Ethics

He made his way slowly and cautiously through the foggy room and passed through the door he'd initially been heading for. It wasn't anything like a normal door, or even a door on a submarine. He'd been on subs before, and they had hatches you had to spin to open and close the doors. This one seemed to be on a track built into the walls, floor and ceiling. At the push of a button, it slammed open. For some reason, he didn't like it.

When he passed through this door, he came to a very small antechamber that had two more doors, one on either side. They both had thick windows built into the center of them. The one to the right offered almost no view, just the beginning of a corridor that immediately turned left. The other door showed him a table and computers. He went through that door, took a quick look around. He'd come to some kind of command room.

There was a metal island of computer terminals in the center of the room. Along its peripheral were more desks and monitors and keyboards. He checked out the central computers first. It didn't take him long to become dissatisfied. Three of them were broken, and the other three were just CCTV monitors, showing him different portions of the underwater base. One just showed the corridor with the numbered doors, another was a view from inside one of those numbered chambers, the one with the horrible, large-armed monstrosity.

The final view was most depressing of all. It was in some metal room stuffed with all manner of mechanical equipment, what might be a pressure or heat management room. A man in a white jumpsuit was being mauled a Walker.

Blood sprayed the camera lens.

Blake turned away from it, frustrated and furious because he knew there was nothing he could do. Even if he knew where the man was, even if he could get there in under thirty seconds...the man would either die of his wounds or turn into one of them. Blake closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the uncomfortable creak and groan of the metal around him. He'd always hated being underwater. What was worse was the fact that the ceiling was leaking in places. Who the hell builds an underwater research lab in Antarctica?

Turning his attention to the final working computer screen in the room, Blake found a report and began reading through it.

Research Update:

We have taken a number of research specimens and are running tests on them. The most interesting of which is taking place in the Growth Chambers (access code 7291) where the dead specimens have responded to the treatments and are showing results of up to 400% cell growth. The next stage is to attempt reanimation of the cells.

Dr. Shaun Faraday,

Research Director, Gen Inc.

"Oh god..." Blake whispered, taking a step back from screen. They were actually trying to make the things stronger!? What were they thinking!?

He had to stop this.

Blake turned his attention to the final portion of the room. A quartet of large, numbered switches occupied the far wall, beneath one of the windows. He stared at them dumbly for a moment, wondering what they could mean, then he had it. The numbers from the other corridor. He took a quick look at the camera again, and then an idea popped into his head. One chamber had a fire going in it, another had a Walker trapped in it.

He thought about opening one and killing the other, but then gave another thought to maybe just leaving them both contained. Unless...Blake checked the monitor that showed the inside of its cage. He heaved a sigh. Of course. There was a box of what appeared to be ammunition and another pair of test kits caged in with it! Great. Well, screw the fire, he'd just have to take care of it himself. But the first thing he should do was make sure he could get that Prep Lab door open. Blake crossed back over to the switches, found the appropriate one and tried to throw it. But it wouldn't budge. He tried again, as hard as he could, but there was nothing.