Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- Howl of the Werewolf

I waited for the intense brightness to fade, but as the seconds passed, I realised that it wasn't going to. Looking around, I found myself inside a milk-white chamber of sorts, polished to reflective perfection and bearing a loud, fluorescent light. The room was entirely bare, devoid of windows, furniture, anything at all save a similarly coloured door stood directly behind me. Looking down at my arm, it was still trembling slightly from my encounter with Chris, with a few droplets of crimson blood staining the immaculate floor. Pocketing the pill for now, I unfolded the letter that Eva had handed me and began to read.

"If you are reading this, something terrible has happened, to either you, or myself. After all, there is no other reason that I would send you here. This place is my darkest secret; the worst aspect of my past. But right now, it is the only place that can save us."

Sounds of movement came from the other side of the door, and I hurried to the nearest wall, pressing my back against it just in case anybody entered. But the door remained closed, and the room eventually quietened again. Steadying my breathing, I turned my eyes back to the letter.

"The lab in which you currently stand is known as the Gallows. It was my place of employment from my childhood to the day I founded the Cryptotrappers. And it is also my biggest regret. But within the walls of this place lies a miraculous cure for most, if not all, diseases currently known to humanity- the 'Silver Panacaea'. It is kept locked behind a magnetically-sealed, reinforced titanium blast door that requires the highest security available to access. And it is up to you to steal it.

I also realise the possibility that I have sent you here due to you coming in contact with either lycanthropy, sanguinophagy mortalis, or a similar infection. In that case, I am so sorry, but you are in even more immense danger. This is a place that experiments on cryptids to reach their end goals. They will not hesitate to use you. They will not care if you live or die. If you are found by anyone, then swallow the provided pill immediately. It will be a better outcome for you. In case of further emergency, see below."

Beneath that, there was nothing but blank paper, after which lay one final signature from Eva. With my mission given, I pressed my ear against the door and listened intently. Hearing nothing on the other side, I opened it quietly, feeling it disconcertingly light. On top of that, I did feel a touch light-headed, moreso than flesh wounds usually made me. I tried to shake that feeling off, however, as I began my exploration of the facility, ready to figure out just how I'd make my way towards that cure.

The facility outside of that first chamber still appeared clinical and modernistic, but it did not bear the same unpleasant perfection of the first room. The walls were reflective, but not polished, and the floor had the scuffs of repeated footfall. The place was mazelike, a labyrinth of identical corridors with identical doors, only distinguished by the bronze plaques to the left of each of them. Water Leaper, Burrunjor, Skookum, Hodag; names I recognised, names I didn't. Walking unaided started off difficult, but the further I went, the easier it felt. Occasionally, I'd hear the sounds of an employee, either a gun-toting guard or a scientist dressed with white jacket and clipboard, and I'd have to hide in one of the other corridors. Clearly this place was a little more well-staffed than our small operation, with a much more extravagant facility to boot. But despite the nagging worry of it in the back of my head, I never felt that they knew I was there and that they were actively searching for me. But even so, I never felt that I was making progress. That was until I reached one larger set of double doors, large and undecorated metal unlike every other door in the facility so far. But to my dismay, I found that it needed a keycard, something that I neither had, nor could I get without setting off every alarm in the building. So if I wanted to get any further in, and any closer to the cure, I'd need to make a gambit.