Jack held his breath as he carefully peeked into the room. When he saw no one there, he stole the opportunity while it lasted and ducked inside. His steps were light and fast as he kept checking over his shoulder, and once he made it to the terminal he checked his forearm. Beneath his pushed up sleeve revealed the hurried scribbles of inked characters, which the young man copied into the passcode bar.
"Yes!" Jack hissed between his teeth when the screen revealed the desktop. He burrowed through his back pocket, checking the doorways once more as he pulled out a tiny usb. As soon as it was plugged in, files opened up within a folder titled after the research company.
"Okay, latest entry, for Project- oh shit, there's more than one prehistoric experiment here? What the fuck... Okay there, just copy them all." Jack sat there biting the tip of his thumb, watching with wide eyes as the green bar slooowwwly filled up. Painfully slow. Man, these were heavy-duty video files, would the usb be able to hold all of them—?
Jack's head snapped back in the direction of the doorway he'd come from. Were those footsteps, or just his imagination? Shit, someone was coming! He glanced desperately at the bar, whispering "come on come on come on" as he tapped his foot. When it finally finished, Jack yanked the little device back out, turned off the screen, and hurried in the opposite direction. He thought he was in the clear, but just as he'd ducked past the door, the approaching staff member suddenly called out "hey!" from behind.
He broke into a run— which may not have been the best idea, but he couldn't afford to get caught now! He weaved through different other rooms, some technological, other science-y and laboratories. He slipped into a room he didn't recognize at first, but when he tried moving for the door he heard footsteps approaching from that direction too and backtracked. But not too far behind him was multiple footsteps, leaving Jack to look around wildly for his next best option— hide.
Where could a hacker hide in the middle of a giant, freakish company-owned building working on illegal experiments?
There! He spied a heavy duty door. That looked solid enough to deter anyone from looking. He ran to it and flashed his badge, and to his relief his id card still worked. The door clicked open, allowing him to push through before shoving against the door with all his might, and it slammed shut behind him.
With a relieved sigh, Jack backed away from the solid obstacle, but he soon after clipped his heel against something and toppled backwards with a yelp. He saw foliage in his peripheral, but his attention was otherwise occupied when he found his back slamming against the slope of a small cliff. His breath was knocked clean from his chest as he tumbled down, landing into the bushes with a noisy crash. The plants went still for a brief moment, and then Jack finally managed to roll out with a weak groan, gripping his sternum.
"Ow..." He slowly sat up, then managed to get back up onto his two shaky legs. He blinked once, twice, and then realized with a jolt that: One, he was in a huge roofless enclosure, and two— where did his glasses go?
Jack dropped back down onto his hands and knees, feeling the ground nearby. They couldn't have gone far, surely. Maybe they were still up on the cliff?
"Shit, shit, where did they go, where'd they—?" Jack sighed and squinted up at the heavens. It still looked cloudy out. He was hoping to have escaped the facility before the rain came in, that way the water would erase any tracks left behind.
Well, this certainly was not ideal, but at least he had bought himself some time. The only surveillance the enclosures had were— ... Night-vision cameras. Fuck. But that's okay! He still had a little more time, surely no one would think to check in here—
Ah of course, he felt his heart jump in his throat when he heard the sounds of the door unlocking.
"Hey, you two! Make sure you check all the way to the cave. Just don't go in there, it should still be sleeping."
"Yeah, if the rain don't wake it up then I'm sure our fresh meat will!"
"Quit your complaining Greg, they pay us to be security, not to think! Now come on, let's just do a light check, then when we don't find him we can get outta here."
The footsteps were now over the forest floor, which gave Jack all the incentive he needed to start running again. He did his best to duck and weave through the dense low foliage, but leaves were still slapping him in the face, making him even more disoriented. Thankfully, what few trees there were arched high overhead, at gargantuon proportions not too different from redwood. The roots meant less brush to struggle through, but the gnarly ground was difficult to navigate, and meant less cover.
Just as Jack made it past these roots, however, he heard the clouds rumble from above. There came a steady, gentle noise like a roar, and then water began to splash on the plants all around. Jack slipped a bit on the dirt that was turning to mud, his clothes already soaked by the cold deluge. But his urgency finally paid off, when through the brush he spied the yawning darkness of a cave. Shelter!
He spurred himself the last few meters, almost tripping again before his steps finally echoed on cold stone. Panting, Jack leaned on his knees, glancing back out at the foresty enclosure. How lucky, he'd expected to run into some freak of nature in here! It seemed this enclosure was empty, to which Jack couldn't complain. The only problem now was where to hide.
Though Jack was now out of the rain, shivers did begin to grip at him. He folded his arms over his chest as he hurried deeper into the cave, still squinting to try and see. Not only was his whole world blurry, but it was so dark in here. It and the cold would have made the hacker sleepy, if not in the middle of trying to lose his persuers. Somewhere to hide, hmm... This cave seemed to go deep, yet it didn't branch out into many tunnelways, as far as his human eyes could tell.
There was the faint drip drop echoing deep within, mimicking the loud and heavier pour of rain outside. For a while, his footsteps were the only other sound, but the further in he got the more he heard... Was that wind? A draft! Jack picked up the pace, for a brief moment hoping, believing, that perhaps he had just found a secret way out. This wouldn't be in any of the maps, after all, it was a cavern! Who knows how many tunnels could actually be—
The hacker quickly found himself slamming face first into a wall, bouncing back onto his butt with a grunt. Ow, okay fair, he should have put his arms out to navigate better. But was that the cave wall he felt already? So soon? Maybe it was a column. But then why did it feel so... Warm?
The wind had suddenly stopped, and then a low, raspy draft sighed against the stony walls. Jack scooted back, a sinking feeling beginning to form in his stomach, knotting up his insides.
He had a bad feeling about this.
Something big was shifting before him, moving in the darkness. The wind was now replaced by— to Jack's chilling horror— an unmistakable yawn as the... Thing, woke up. Jack knew he should have moved, gotten up, run back the way he came, something, but he was paralyzed. He couldn't see what monstrosity he had stumbled across, but what little light that did glisten off of the stone gave his eyes just enough to make out a huge, hulking shadow.
The gargantuan figure shifted, and then it went deathly still, even its breathing. Jack would have held his breath too, but the cold air he was sucking into his lungs didn't feel like he was getting enough oxygen.
Then it suddenly moved again, and a wave of hot air ruffled Jack's hair and soaked clothes, leaving the human to shudder as he tried to stare back into the darkness at what was likely his demise. He could feel its gaze on him, studying him, perhaps analyzing if he was worth hunting or a threat. Jack couldn't bring himself to move, or to even try and escape, only to sit there and tremble violently like a deer caught in the morbid fascination of headlights. And it felt like that was the case, as the longer Jack stared, the more he could have sworn he could make out some kind of eyes looking right back at him in the darkness. And yet, despite his wild imagination, why did those eyes almost look... Human?
A clattering back at the mouth of the cave made Jack flinch, his head swinging away from those faint eyes to then gasp with fear. The two security guards had made it to the cave. Jack found himself scrambling to all fours, and then he pushed up into a blind stumble, trying to retreat deeper into the cave. Maybe the beast would see two armed guards worth more attention than a scrawny hacker?
The ground suddenly shook as the giant monster got up and crawled forward— away from Jack. The alarmed cries of the guards were enough to make Jack halt and look back, only for his insides to freeze as he heard a rumble deeper than the thunder from the heavens. The growl broke off into a warning snarl, but as the guards fled Jack realized he could just barely make out a part of the experiment's body... Why did its shoulder look like a human's!?
The encounter outside the cave fell quiet, and then Jack saw the giant figure shifting again, turning to crawl back into the cavern. Lightning lit up the world outside, however, allowing Jack a proper look at the beast at last. And he couldn't suppress the gasp that escaped his lips.
It was a giant. Not just a giant dinosaur, or some creepy nocturnal or mutated monstrosity like Jack had imagined, but a giant. As in a humanoid! It appeared to be dense and muscular, as expected of a beast its size, but also so unfathomably big and perhaps tall... It was hard to tell since the ceiling of the cave was too low for it to stand. But so many of its features were still recognizable; its face was undeniably human, and adorned with fluffy hair atop its head, with its jaw outlined by the stubble typically grown by men. Whatever it was though, that growl had been so deep, so animalistic! Was it going to come after him next?
Jack wasn't able to make out the giant's eyes in time, but he realized now they had the faintest glow to them, reflecting the light like a cat in the darkness. He watched as the eyes came close, and then the giant stopped moving, undoubtedly looming over him once more to assess whether he was a threat or not.
"... Umm." Was all Jack could think to say. He tried to rack his brain for something placative to say, but different words slipped from his tongue: "I-I think you mighta just saved my life, thanks." The giant's eyes rounded, and it pulled its head back as far as it could, studying Jack again. Jack stared back uncertainly, then shivered when he remembered how cold he was. He slowly pulled off the lab jacket, letting it drop onto the cold ground at his feet; it was too soaked to be of much use now, and his cover had served its purpose anyway.
He slowly backed up a step, and then another when he saw no movement to persue from the giant. Jack finally turned and trudged to the closest cave wall, hunching down into a crouch to continue shivering as he hugged himself. His breath echoed past his chattering teeth; adrenaline was still coursing through his system, but he knew full and well that he wouldn't be able to outrun something as big as the experiment laying before him. It was blocking the way he'd come anyhow, and trying to hide would be folly.
Jack tried to start bracing himself as he heard the giant pull itself closer to him, but despite ducking his head and closing his eyes, nothing happened. The giant simply stopped, having just scooted closer to him. But when Jack slowly sat up to glance upward, the giant lowered its head and pressed its large nose into him. He froze as he felt the beast sniff him, nudging him enough to almost be knocked over. Jack finally reacted when it pushed against his sternum, wincing with an "ow!" as he reflexively tried to push away.
To his surprise, the giant pulled back, and a low whine reached his ears. Jack groaned as the aching throb died back down, and when his attention returned to the giant, he was again surprised to hear it moving away from him. But a sudden snarl made him jolt, and his hairs stood up at the sound of ripping fabric. At his feet was then tossed the lab jacket— or what remained of it. Jack squinted at the torn up fabric, and then he looked back up with wide eyes to meet the giant's narrowed gaze. The eyes rounded back up when their eyes met once more, however, and a soft rumble rolled through the cavern.
"I... I-I guess you don't like the staff, huh?" Jack leaned forward and laid his hand on the pile of cloth, only to wince and retract his touch when he realized that jacket had been in the giant's mouth, like a chew toy. What of humans, then? Where did it see itself on the food chain?
The giant snorted through its nose and turned away, crawling back to where it had been sleeping prior to Jack's intrusion. Jack watched as the large form curled back up, still facing him but with less alertness in its eyes. The hacker glanced back down at the tattered jacket, then towards the cave entrance. It was unlikely that it was safe enough to try escaping the building still. But at least the giant had decided to spare him... Somehow. Maybe it was intelligent enough to know he didn't actually work here, otherwise he would have been scared off like those guards, right? Or maybe it knew he was hired to sneak in and obtain enough information that the facility could be shut down— no, surely not. There was no way any of these experiments were that intelligent, if at all.
And yet...
Jack slowly brought his knees to his chest, hugging them in an effort to subside his cold shivers. Whatever the reason, he had managed to come to a truce with the giant. It was still keeping an eye on him, for sure, so Jack had no plans to show any signs of danger. He would just remain here then, wait out the storm; once it stopped raining, he could try sneaking back in, email the files or push the fire alarm if he had to, hell.
But the longer Jack sat there, huddled in the darkness, the colder he seemed to get. His clothes still clung to his pale skin, and the ground seemed to be stealing his body heat. His teeth seemed to only chatter louder as time went on, and the rain seemed to only pour harder and harder.
Jack got to the point of feeling so cold that he began to grow weary as the adrenaline faded from his system, and his head was starting to droop when he heard the giant shift and move again. His head snapped back up, fighting back awake, but he only had a moment to realize before he felt a warm breath wash over him. His shoulders slumped at the heat that faded all too fast, but he quickly tensed back up when he felt the giant's hand land right next to him.
"Wh-whoa, what-what are you- hey!" Jack seized up when he felt the huge digits close in around him, and what little sight he did have was plunged into total darkness. His arms pushed out in a vain effort to brace against the large fingers, but he could hardly even move them. The swing of gravity and momentum made Jack's stomach flip as he felt the giant crawl with its over three appendages once more, and only after it stopped moving did it set him down.
The landing was a bit less than graceful, but Jack was just relieved to feel solid ground beneath him. Well, sort of solid. It felt dense, and yet a layer of springiness to it, like muscle. It was covered in a rugged layer of cloth as well, leaving Jack to come to the frightening conclusion that he was now marooned up on the giant.
He blindly reached out, and sure enough he felt the gargantuan hand carefully meet his curious touch. His own hand flinched back at first, but then Jack nervously let his hand splay over the knuckle in his reach. He soon realized that the giant had curled back up and set him down on its flank, where he could feel waves of heat seeping back into his own frigid form.
Fascinating... By showing weakness, not only did the giant not take advantage, but it also helped him? Maybe it just considered him one of its own, but a really small juvenile— or maybe it was advanced enough to want to take care of something of its own. Would it be too far-fetched to consider an experiment having paternal instincts? Maybe so, but Jack wasn't a scientist; he could make all the guesses and hypotheses he liked, but the giant was undoubtedly doing more than just sparing him now. Like it was protecting him, from the cold, from the security guards, everything.
A surprisingly large yawn escaped the hacker, and Jack suddenly realized just how tired he was despite his current situation. Yet strangely enough, he did feel safe, feeling the ground beneath him momentarily swell as the giant let out a yawn of its own. He even chuckled, letting his hand rest down as the giant exhaled a heavy gust of lethargy.
"Sleepy, big guy?" A gentle grunt was vocalized at him in response. "Y-yeah, me too, I guess..." Jack's shoulders shrugged with a sigh, and he shook his head to himself before warily laying down on his side. It was certainly strange, being able to feel the huge experiment's breathing, its inner workings, but it was undeniably warm. A more relaxed breath escaped Jack's lips as he let his head rest all the way down, finding himself nestled with a surprising amount of comfort. He was startled briefly to feel the giant's hand suddenly lay over him, but it seemed to instead seal the deal, sandwiching him like a warm and heavy blanket.
Never in a million years would Jack have seen himself falling asleep on top of a gargantuan, humanoid science experiment— and yet before he knew it, he found himself dozing off, and his grip on awareness gently grew lax as he slipped into a surprisingly comfortable rest.