Species Unknown [Book 2: Pisces)

02. SOMETHING FISHY

"Noah?"

"Yeah, he's in charge of most the tank maintenance, I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of him in the coming weeks." He paused, looking over my shoulder. "speak of the devil..hey Noah, come meet the intern!"

I turned around to see a tall man with wavy blonde hair pause in his steps, turning to face us from the hallway. His warm hazel eyes glanced over us before he smiled, moving to lean against the doorframe of Flip's office.

"Noah, this is the new intern Lani. Why don't you show her around the tanks and get her started with a few tasks." Flip said, as he made to leave the room.

"Tanks? B-But...I can't swim." I scrambled, watching as Flip walked to where Noah stood watching me by the door.

Flip smiled, "Well, better not fall in then" he laughed, patting Noah on the shoulder before leaving the room.

I watched Noah chuckle, returning his gaze to me.

"You really can't swim?" Noah asked, looking at me like I was a fish out of water.

"No, I can't." I deadpanned, crossing my arms.

"You picked a great place to work then." Noah smiled, seemingly enjoying frustrating me.

"Looks like it." I muttered.

"Well, let's gets started then. Follow me intern." Noah said, pushing off the doorframe to walk down the hallway, his lab coat rippling behind him.

As we walked we passed by rooms, each filled with large clear glass tanks that's spanned up the walls. Each tank was filled with fish of all kinds, and people in lab coats walked by, checking them and writing something on clipboards.

We passed by tanks with fish I had never seen before, fish with bright neon colorings, fish with legs, fish with transparent skin. I definitely have never seen any of these fish in an aquarium before, and they didn't look like they belonged in the ocean. It was unnerving.

Though, it's not like I would recognize them anyway, my background was in environmental science, not marine biology. Which made me question why I was even chosen to intern here. I applied by chance, looking for a new job that would keep my mind occupied. I never expected to get in, let alone work at the Pisces Department.

"What's wrong" I heard Noah ask from beside me. I hadn't realized that I had stopped to stare at a particularly unnerving fish. It was large, like a tuna, but bright red. It had legs like a frog that attached to its abdomen, but they didn't move. It looked like some kind of failed experiment, nature that had gone horribly wrong.

I looked away, suddenly feeling sick, "I'm not sure I'm fit to be an intern here" I told Noah, "I mean I don't even recognize any of these fish."

Noah looked at the tank and back at me, "Nonsense! In fact, I would hope you didn't. We cross breeds here, none of these fish exist outside of this lab."

I blinked. "Oh."

"C'mon, let's keep moving." Noah said with an easy smile.

I nodded and we continued walking. Noah explained that the compound was separated into two halves. All the hallways on the left side of the compound lead to the exposition section of the compound where species were displayed for observation. All the hallways to the right lead to the research section of the compound where the experiments were actively being performed.

According to Noah, I would be working in the exposition section since the observation tanks required more rigorous maintenance. A perfectly monotonous task for an intern.

I noticed Noah pass by a particularly large tank that, unlike the others, looked empty.

"What about in there?" I asked, pointing to the room.

Noah paused. I could see the slightest look of hesitation cross his face before he explained, "It's empty, it was a maximum containment facility that used to keep one of our largest specimens, but it got out."

My eyes widened. "What do you mean 'it got out.'" I asked in disbelief.

Noah paused to look at me. "It escaped."

"A fish escaped?" I repeated slowly. How could a fish escape? It's not like it could just grow legs and walk out of here! Then I thought back to the odd red fish with the attached legs in the other tanks. I swallowed.

If I see a walking fish I'm gone. I thought to myself before shaking the image from my head.

"We're not entirely sure what happened, all I know is that once day it was here and the next gone." Noah explained.

I swallowed. "What kind of fish was it?"

"I'm not sure, I never worked with it or asked. Apparently it was a special request from Dr. Richard Grant himself ." Noah said casually. My head was still spinning. How could he be so calm?

I had so many questions. "The CEO of C.R.O.S.S. labs requested a fish?"

The more Noah told me, the more confused I got.

Something was definitely not adding up.

"Yes, Dr. Grant is fairly active among his departments." Noah said with a shrug "But it's not here anymore so why does it matter?"

I let out a breath and steadied myself, "I guess it doesn't."

Noah smiled. "Shall we continue the tour?"