WITH THE FOLDER tucked neatly under my blouse, I walked up to the compound's entrance.
The burly security guards were caught off guard by my early arrival, and they regarded me behind the throughly tinted lenses of their sunglasses.
Today, I wore a tight black pencil skirt and a matching pair of black heels, different from my usual blouse and loose black dress slacks. It was a strategic choice that I only hoped would work.
Fortunately, my outfit had the intended effect.
I smiled inwardly when I noticed that the guards were more focused on glancing at the bottom half of me than my top, effectively hiding any hint of the papers beneath my blouse.
"Access badge." The dark-haired guard spoke finally, after not having found anything suspicious about me.
As usual, I unclipped my badge from my blouse and handed it over.
The guard took it and quickly scanned it before handing it back to me. I reclipped it to my blouse and looked up to see both guards had stepped aside.
"Go ahead." The dark-haired guard barked, crossing his arms across his chest.
I muttered a quick 'thank you' before making my way inside the entrance to the compound. It seemed that after weeks of going through the same process, the security guards seemed less suspicious of me and less focused on intimidation as they had been on my first few days.
If only they knew they had every right to be suspicious...I thought, pleased with how my plan was unfolding so far.
Once inside, I noticed that the compound was far more barren than I had ever seen it. Typically the main dome room had numerous groups of people walking quickly across the floor and down various hallways. However, since I was so early, I only saw maybe two or three people walking about the halls.
Internally, I was cheering for how smoothly everything was going so far. But I refused to show it in fear of drawing any unwanted attention.
Keeping a neutral face, I found myself casually making my way toward Flip's old office.
Once I approached the door, I slowed down my pace, waiting for a pair of researchers to pass me before quickly slipping inside Flip's office. The door was unlocked as always, and I found myself questioning how easy it was to sneak into a place with such valuable information.
Not having time to give it much thought, I immediately went over to the filing cabinet. Opening the drawers, I slipped on a pair of latex gloves I had stored in my skirt pocket before taking the file out from my shirt and placing it back where it belonged.
Quickly, I shut the cabinet door, slipping my gloves back into my pocket. Once that was done, I made my way toward the office door, waiting to be sure I did not hear anyone walking by. When I was sure nobody was near, I opened the door, and quickly slipped out of the office, closing the door behind me.
Looking around, there was nobody nearby to have witnessed it. So, I casually walked away from the office and began making my way back toward the research section of the compound.
Back to where the creature was being held in chains.
The thought made me quicken my pace, and I found myself in the elevator leading down to the creature before I knew it. The elevator doors opened with a ding and suddenly I was accosted by the sound of panicked voices and screams of agony.
Fearing the worst, my heart dropped and I took off running toward the sound. I made it to the tank just in time to see a lab-coat-clad man flung into the glass wall in front of me.
I gasped as he hit the glass with a loud thud, falling to the floor, unmoving.
I was frozen in place, my mouth agape at what I was witnessing. Before I had time to act, I felt thick fingers grip my arm and tighten painfully.
I let out a hiss of pain, turning to see who had grabbed me. I sucked in a breath when I came face to face with Hunter. I could feel his warm breath on my cheeks as he gripped my arm tighter, roughly pulling me to face him.
His eyes wandered appreciatively down my body, no doubt noticing my attire. However, perhaps I would have reconsidered my plan if I had known it would have this effect. My face wrinkled in disgust as his eyes wandered up my body back to meet my gaze.
"You better do something!" Hunter seethed, sweat dripping down his face and onto his snarled lip. I turned my face away, trying desperately to put some distance between us.
My stomach churned at the sight of him so close, and it brought back memories of the last time he was this close.
Back when he tried to drown me.
I scowled at the thought.
When I didn't respond quickly enough, Hunter growled in frustration, roughly pulling me beside him as he led me over to the tank's entrance.
"Make that thing stop!" Hunter shouted, pointing towards the scene happening inside the glass walls.
I was about to bite back at Hunter with a snide remark for calling the creature a thing, but the words died on my tongue as I took in the scene in front of me.
The creature was in the same spot as I had left him, braced against the far end of the tank. However, I was surprised to see that his tail had completely grown back. It looked the same as I remembered, decorated with an array of blue-green scales that shimmered under the fluorescent lights.
I remembered being shocked when I first saw his tail, but now that I looked at it again, I realized it was entirely beautiful.
My eyes followed up his tail to his chest that rose and fell with quick breaths. His gills flared with each heavy drag of air he took, and his muscles clenched in preparation for another attack.
When my eyes trailed up to his face, I was taken aback by his expression. It was so full of anger a chill ran down my spine. His usual calm features were twisted into a furious scowl, with his eyes burning with blue fire. I watched as his lip pulled up into a snarl, revealing the sharp fang-like teeth beneath.
It was during moments like this when I realized just how inhuman the creature was. But I wasn't afraid. Hunter was doing something to provoke him, and I could bet that the creature's attacks were well deserved.
I watched as a group of lab-coat-clad researchers surrounded him, slowly getting closer. I noticed that some of them had syringes readied in their grasp as they approached the creature, and those were the ones his eyes followed carefully, watching, waiting...
As they got closer, I watched the creature's muscles tense up in preparation. He shifted his tail slightly, causing the researchers to pause in stipulation. But they had already gotten too close.
With inhuman speed, the creature twisted his body, lashing at the closest body and sending them flying into the tank wall in front of me. My body jolted at the loud thud as they hit the wall, falling to the ground with a low moan of pain.
I observed in awe as the rest of the approaching researchers quickly took a few steps back, out of striking range of the creature.
I was amazed by how easily the creature tossed them aside as if they weighed nothing, and I found myself holding in a laugh. In fact, I rather enjoyed watching him fling Hunter's men into the walls. Especially after reading Dr. Grant's log the night before.
But my joy was short-lived.
I felt Hunter tighten his grip on me once more, making my arm pulsate painfully as he led me towards the tank door. He opened it with one quick movement and, without a second thought, shoved me inside.
"Make this stop, or I will!" Hunter demanded from outside the tank, gesturing to another group of laboratory employees that had just entered the room. In their hands, I saw that they were preparing different kinds of guns and tasers.
I bit my lip.
As much as I wanted the creature to continue flinging Hunter's researchers into oblivion, I didn't want to see the consequences.
Hunter slammed the tank door shut and I turned, looking at the commotion in front of me. A group of three researchers remained in the tank. Two hung back as one attempted to approach the creature once more. He held his hands up in surrender as he approached, but the creature just snarled at him the closer he got.
I almost admired the determination of these researchers to continue attempting to approach the creature even after watching their friends get tossed across the room. But I suppose getting slammed into a wall might be a lesser evil than facing the wrath of Dr. Grant for not delivering results.
Either way, I had to make this stop.
I took a few more steps toward the scene. It seemed that in fighting off the researchers, the creature had not yet noticed my arrival.
The researcher was getting impossibly closer to the creature, who seemed too tense for another attack.
I knew it was only a matter of time.
Sucking in a breath, I rushed towards the researcher, grabbing him by the lab coat and pulling him behind me, effectively putting myself between him and the creature.
"What do you think you're doing?!" The researcher shouted, slightly breathless. A nervous bead of sweat dripped down his thin face as he frowned at me, confused by my brazen action.
I could see out of the corner of my vision that the creature had stilled.
He had finally noticed me. I thought briefly, keeping my attention on the researcher in front of me.
"You need to step back, unless you want to end up like your friends." I said, gesturing towards the groaning bodies against the far end of the tank.
The researcher scowled, "I know what I am doing, you need to get out of here, now!"
Ignoring him, I turned towards the creature. Our eyes met and I could see the tension leave his body. The anger dissipated from his face as he took me in. He looked exhausted, his gills flared with each heavy breath he drew and his silver hair hung wildly around his face. His mouth was slightly agape and his eyes darted all across my face, taking all of me in as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He didn't think I would come back...The thought entered my mind, making my chest ache.
The creature's gaze on me was unwavering, and I found myself involuntarily moving closer to him.
With hurried steps I ran to him, and the creature's body leaned toward me. Just as I was an arms length away, the creature suddenly leaned back and his face twisted into a scowl.
Before I could process his abrupt change in mood, his body clenched and twisted. Time seemed to move in slow motion as I watched the creature's tail lash out, headed straight towards me.