It was a beautiful summer night, but Leyna could not enjoy it for she had to work late. To enter the company's terrain she first had to pass through security. The man on duty looked rather bored as he noted down her name, phone number, and the building she would be working in.
As she walked to the lab through a small park, she looked up to the sky.
Full stars, a small crescent moon.
A smile crept on her face. She didn't mind coming back to work at this hour, as she enjoyed her job.
To enter the laboratory building, she needed to use her badge to unlock the doors, and again to get into the laboratory area itself. She exchanged her jacket for a lab coat, put on safety goggles, and swapped her sneakers for special laboratory clogs. A yawn escaped her throat before she entered the lab and got to work.
-
It was almost three in the morning when she was finishing up her work when a loud bang shook the building. Wide-eyed and heart racing, she ran through the entire lab area, but whatever it was it had not been from in here with her.
She quickly finished cleaning up her workspace, checked if she had noted everything down, and started to hurry towards the exit when the lights went out.
With the feeble light coming in from outside she made her way back to find a phone and call the security desk.
The line was dead.
She had been slightly afraid, but now she was ready to panic. She hurried to the exit of the area and exchanged her lab outfit for her normal one. With trembling fingers she tried to tie her shoelaces when someone knocked on the door.
She shot up and looked through the small window.
It was a security officer.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She unlocked the door to get into the hallway and speak to the man.
"Are you Leyna?" he asked quickly.
She nodded and pointed at her badge. "What happened? I heard a loud bang and—"
"We have to evacuate. I'm not sure yet what's going on, but I've been given the order to get everyone out. Back-up is coming."
"B-back-up?" Leyna asked, startled. "Did a gas cylinder or something explode? Is a clean-up squad coming?"
The security officer shook his head. "Look, I don't know much more than that and—"
A gunshot sounded outside.
Leyna's eyes widened in shock. "W-what was that?"
"Quickly!" He pushed Leyna towards the staircase. "Get into the basement and exit nearest to the reception." As he spoke he kept his eyes on the door leading outside. His hand went into his jacket and got out a gun.
Leyna was shocked by the fact that he carried one, but before she could ask more questions another gunshot was heard outside—closer this time. Without saying a word she slipped towards the staircase and went down into the dark.
The light of her phone illuminated enough so she could see where she was walking. Still, she had no clue where to go. The basement connected all the buildings of the area and thus resembled a large labyrinth.
Is it a terrorist attack or something? she wondered. But the research we do here can't be important enough to attract something like that...
As she exited the basement under the original lab building she had to use her badge to open the door; that is, if there had been power and if it had still been locked. At the intersection, she stood still and tried to get her bearings. Biting her lip she looked at the path left, then at the path straight ahead. Both hallways looked identical with the bare concrete walls. She sighed, and started down the left hallway.
Walking around in the dark with only her phone's light filled her body with adrenaline. She couldn't hear anything from whatever was going on above of her. At some point, she tried to make a call, but the concrete around her blocked the signal.
She was starting to doubt if she was going the right way, as the path seemed to go slightly down. Also, the amount of normally locked doors requiring a badge seemed to be more than there were buildings between the lab and the reception.
She was just about ready to turn around and try a different path when she heard something in the distance. Hoping it was a security officer, she called out.
No answer.
Yet the sound continued. Leyna couldn't quite place it. Fast footsteps?
Fear gripped her heart and she found herself nailed to the ground as the sound closed in.
The light of her phone cast ghastly shadows due to her hand shaking badly. The footstep-like sound was coming closer faster and faster, and she could now hear it was not just a single pair—nor was she sure it were shoes that were making the noise.
Her heart skipped a beat as a low shadow suddenly came into view.
It was a warthog, pristine white, and seemingly running for its life.
Leyna eyed the beast as it disappeared the way she had come from.
What the fuck?! I thought our animal research department had no animals bigger than rabbits?
Then shock hit her. If it is a lab animal, how did it get out? Is it dangerous?
She looked at the direction the beast had run off to. For a moment, she doubted about what to do but then decided to continue on her way. A special team would need to capture the animal, as she had neither the training nor the equipment to capture the poor thing.
One thing comforted her, though: if that was a lab animal, and the abnormal white skin suggested so, she was going the right direction, though seemingly with a slight detour.
Not even half a minute had passed since the white warthog had come running by, when a loud shriek echoed through the hall.
Eyes wide and heart beating in her throat, Leyna managed to take a few steps back until she stood against the wall.
Something else was closing in, fast.
She tried to illuminate the dark with her phone so she could see what it was, but the sound the creature made before appearing already gave it away.
It was a horse.
The white beast was galloping madly, foam at its mouth, yet it slowed down as it came closer to Leyna.
The light cast vivid shadows as her hand trembled uncontrollably; the horse had stopped at the edge of the darkness and was now turning back to face her.
Is it rabid? she thought, the rushing of her blood loud in her ears.
The horse emitted something akin to a scream and walked up to her, lip pulled up exposing pearly white teeth covered with foamy saliva.
Oh, fuck, Leyna thought and she started to shuffle away from the beast alongside the wall.
Suddenly the horse stared into the darkness of the hallway where it had come from. Leyna saw its eyes move wildly in their sockets as pure panic took control, just before the horse turned away and ran off.
I have to get out of here, Leyna thought as she watched the horse disappear into the dark.
She turned around to run to the reception—figuring she was close—but stopped after only a few steps.
There, at the edge of the light, something stirred.
Leyna trembled so hard that her phone's light only illuminated what was out there for fractions of the time.
She took a step back.
The light receded with her, but a nearly translucent white hand without nails appeared out of the dark, followed by another.
The rather thin arm attached to it was long—too long.
The creature's head freed itself from the shadows.
Long, tangled raven hair covered the face of the humanoid thing that was crawling closer towards her.
Leyna stumbled backwards and the thing leaped at her like a grotesque frog, landing almost at her feet.
It looked up, pitch black eyes glared into her brown ones. The mouth opened up in a high-pitched scream.
Those teeth...
They were silver and shark-like.
Metal.
Leyna couldn't help but stare at the creature, paralysed by fear and disbelief.
The rumours, she thought, they were true...
The mouth opened more and more, the jaw unhinging itself like a snake's.
It's been more than half a decade...
Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground.
The Nazi human experiments...
The creature lunged at her.