Injection: Tides of War

Chapter 10

The corridor lights flickered to life one by one as they detected her motion. Dark red smears painted the walls and pooled in the cracks where they met with the floor. Pieces of uniformed bodies lay scattered, but the majority of the corpses had been removed. For what reason, Shan could only guess.

She walked at a brisk pace. Forynge had been able to eliminate most of the pain caused by her recent injuries, but a sharpness still pierced her left side with each breath. A broken rib. Injections still weren't able to correct fractures and breaks, however, Syntech had other means of fixing such severe injuries.

The alarm could still be heard in this wing, but it faded the further she distanced herself from the main vestibule. The fleeing birds in the desert valley suddenly came to mind.

A knock sounded from up ahead and she squinted to make out what had caused it, but the area had yet to be illuminated by the motion sensors. Soft scrapes were followed by a heavy clang, which repeated in a mechanical fashion too sequential to be from a living being.

Its endless pattern continued to waft in her direction as she headed down the solitary pathway. She gripped ATLAS tighter, her training unconsciously taking over. When the next phosphorescent bulb blinked on, it revealed an outstretched arm protruding from a semi-closed doorway. The metal door attempted to shut but repeatedly caught on the limb in its path.

A glossy reflection of the ceiling was mirrored on the stagnant pool of blood which had escaped the room and nearly crept to the opposing wall. Shan approached with caution, unsure as to what kind of trap could be waiting for her. Stopping at the bloodied arm, she listened for movement. None came from the other side of the scraping door.

Placing one foot in the crimson liquid, Shan craned her neck to see into the dark chamber. At first, she couldn't make anything out. It was shrouded in dense shadows and blocked by a strange mass. A glass case had been left cracked open at the back of the room, a perpetual flow of cool mist falling from it. The bulb within the case flickered as if on the verge of extinction, but it provided enough glow to brighten the shelves beneath it and give form to the mass at the center of the room.

Shan grabbed the door and forced it open with a strong push. It resisted, but finally clicked back into the wall, allowing the hallway light to scare away the loitering darkness. The mound of bodies caused the room's air to feel thick with petrification. The odor smelled of sickness and excrement, and Shan regretted having entered here. But she scrunched her nose up as best she could, shallowing her breath, and searched for any sign of Rew.

The likelihood of him being tossed in with these executed workers was slim, but she had to be sure. Her ankle rolled as she stepped on the severed arm of one of the dead. She looked down, and to her dismay, she saw what looked to be the hoof of an animal. Looking closer, she concluded that from the wrist onward still resembled a human forearm. She looked at the mound of bodies again, this time making out naked forms – few wearing only as much as a patient's gown – and grotesque abnormalities in a majority of their visible features. Dog heads, lizard tails, spider legs, and bird wings were but a few of the strange mutations present.

Failed experiments? Shan wondered. Had they been selected against their will or had they volunteered for this? It didn't matter. The entire process sickened her. MALMAL would rid themselves of their own humanity in order to gain any advantage over their enemies. She thought of Atropos and what she'd said to her regarding Rew.

A scream of agony travelled down the hall and into the makeshift tomb. Shan Li bolted from the chamber of corpses and barreled down the corridor at great speed, which was made difficult by the layer of blood and viscera covering the bottoms of her boots. Her footsteps reverberated in the empty hallway as she sprinted toward the tortured, hoarse cries.