Another World at War

Chapter 13: The Virus

Location: New York City, United States of America

Unit: 1st Houston Laboratories Research and Development team

Date: August 6th, 2007 CE

A man in a white full-body Hazmat suit stood above several vials of an unknown elixir. The unidentified substance had recently been extracted from a meteorite that fell onto the doorstep of a Houston Laboratories; it was an absolute gold mine for the scientists who were working with it as everyone was pretty sure they just encountered a new element.

The room he worked in was small, with three white walls, each plated with lead and steel beneath the shell. Picking up some of the green elixirs, he mixed it in with another liquidised element before swirling it around, watching it fizz and bubble with extreme vigour, he stepped back in surprise before he saw a flash of black.

On the fourth wall was a reinforced glass panel observing the hazmat suit. Three figures stood there, the one in the middle paced back and forth, stealing glances at the progress bar on his electronic pad, slowly a checklist started to be ticked off, and then progress slowed on the final test.

He sighed, looking up, "What's taking so long?"

No response.

Then the figure turned around and mouthed something. The man to the right watched the lips carefully, "He says, his microphone isn't working. There's a fault in the suit."

The middle man looked to his right, "You can read lips, Captain?"

The man on the right, whom the middle man had called Captain, had black hair with a few brown strands to match his eye colour, quite a distinct hair colour. His name was none other than Jonathon Mclaw, a British Government representative whose file had been mostly withheld or seemed somewhat fabricated.

Mclaw nodded, "When you're in the job for as long as me, you pick up these things fast, Walters."

The man in the middle was Lian Walters, who would eventually become the leader of the Oceanic Empire. The man's sharp grin had disappeared before being replaced by a look of concern before tapping a few buttons on his microphone, "Diagnostics of the suit look good, try it again."

No reply.

Walters sighed, "I see... get out of there," he paused, "The experiment has ended because of faulty gear."

Mclaw took a step forward, focusing, "Hold it..."The hazmat suit kept on moving.

Mclaw shouted this time, "STOP!" beating on the glass.

Walters looked at the third man in the room, a security guard, confused. He stepped behind Mclaw, "Captain?"

Mclaw turned around, gritting his teeth, "Put the facility on lockdown. Something has happened."

Walters eyed the security guard before turning to his pad, "Lockdown initialising."

Mclaw walked to the door, "Open it."

Walters did it from his pad and the steel door slid to one side. Suddenly a group of heavily armed guards ran down the hallway, assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and pistols. Every one of them was armed to the teeth. Mclaw knew about Walters's private army but always brushed it off as someone with too much money. They stopped outside the door and Mclaw addressed them, "We believe there may have been an infection breach in the newest experiment or the hazmat suit was acting weird."

Walters glared at Mclaw, "Captain..."Before Walters could finish his sentence, a scream came from the end of the corridor. The unit immediately reacted as a figure turned the corner.