𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊 (𝐁𝐓𝐒 𝐗 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫:- 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩)

Beastie

The lights in the corridor flickered slightly as the scientist and the commander navigated their way toward the control room in hopes of finding the woman. It had been a good five minutes since Hwan's death and Doctor Lee was as quiet as a mouse, replaying the event in his mind repeatedly as a form of punishment for letting such a thing even happen. For his incompetence in not being able to do anything about it.

The two hadn't uttered a word to each other, since creating any sound could attract something else. They had come to the safe assumption that if the rats were capable of escaping that easily the possibility of something larger escaping was undoubtedly high. Lee flicked through every animal that was tested and showed the most signs of aggression. The rats weren't that high on that list, and if they were able to cause the kind of damage that killed Lee, then the larger animals were likely to do much worse.

"Did we take a wrong turn?" The commander asked him as they reached a T in the corridors. The scientist, not wanting to be distracted from his train of thought, glanced at the commander for a split second before answering and diving back into his world.

"No, I know the layout of the building like the back of my hand, I'm positive that the room should be another two left turns away.."

"You better be Doctor, I don't plan on leaving this shithole on a stretcher..." It looked like the commander was afraid. Fear seemed to have taken rest on his brow, and it was fairly obvious that the commander was on his toes. His big speech about the magnitude of horrors he'd faced on the battlefield seemed to have just been empty words. A man like him was capable of feeling fear and that fact alone eased Lee.

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From the looks of it, the lockdown hadn't even begun. The doors weren't locked and the gates hadn't closed shut near the exits. It happened automatically when the protocol had been initiated. This meant that there were two possibilities; the woman had not yet reached the room or something had stopped her from initiating it. It seemed that Lee and the commander had both come to that conclusion when they realized that it was taking way too much time to initiate the lockdown.

"Subject 306...." Lee came to an abrupt halt, making the commander do the same. The soldier turned to look at him, expecting him to elaborate. He did not look like he was in the mood for another interaction with whatever was cooked up in the labs, albeit ironic since he was the one that found it so fascinating at first. Lee could sense it was Hwan's death slowly taking a toll on the man's resolve. The environment they were in definitely did something to a person, it was only a matter of time before the commander felt it.

"The other chimp.." he breathed out with eyes as wide as saucers. Of course, there was a second chimp, how else would things have gone worse for them?

"The first had to be put down since the vaccine worked faster and the reaction took nearly the same time...the second chimp took time to show any signs which is why we thought it might have developed a way to counterattack the side effects...but it started showing a slight increase in aggression so we kept it isolated in an open enclosure for further observation..."

Lee spoke fast as images of the worst raced through his mind making the scientist want to climb into a vent and remain till help arrived. "But that was two weeks ago...I haven't made my rounds to check on its development..."

"Is the power shut off by default when the alarm is pulled?" the commander turned to him fully with his gun held tight, his knuckles turning white from the force of the grip.

"Only for a few seconds since the emergency generator is immediately activated soon after.." Lee adjusted his glasses in a swift motion.

"So what you're saying is with the alarm being pulled...the door to the enclosure would have lost power..."