The LAB

Chapter 8

            Devan paced in his office, grumbling with every turn-around he had to do in the small room. These rooms were not built for trucks, and for pacing Accords. With a huff, he parked back behind his desk, tapping a tire on the floor in some uneasy fashion.

"Line up the pros and cons for me."

A rather intimidated Ford Escape stood near the corner of the office, more afraid of the Honda than anything else in the lab, even with scratches deep within his white paint.

"Sir?" the Ford questioned, earning a stare which screamed from the Honda before him. He stuttered but pulled up a screen over his hood with diagrams and various notes before clearing his mind up.

"Uhh, oh, um... hold on I... yes... Okay! Yes! The Pros and Cons, yes sir." Devan huffed as the Ford busied himself with all the notes.

"Okay, so the main issue is combining the new strain with the already present one in 312. If it all works out, you will have an easy to control beast with high loyalty drive and the ability to fly, which could be useful for altering hounds as well. The downside is the error X04 appearing and either killing off the subject or causing some unknown trait to appear or vanish. So you could be left with a vicious killing machine that does exactly as you say, or something with two tires that sets itself on fire until it dies. One of the two."

Devan stood there, completely confused by the Ford's words. After a long pause, he finally spoke.

"What exactly is... this X04 thing? Is it a common error or just some weird strain that formed behind another or what?" Devan asked, more curious now that he had a bit more information on his latest subject. The Ford loaded up more graphs and notes as he bit his lower lip in concentration.

"Aha! Alright, here it is. The X04 is an error found within a strain from the third generation of subjects. It's not a strain completely, but is only present when some strains collide with the older ones, creating an unknown and unpredictable error in DNA and genes. Some can live until their end with it never showing, others have it appear randomly and it ends up being the death of them. Not as common anymore due to the fact most of the third generation of subjects have either been terminated or just never showed it. We have found many subjects with it, as it's easy to find in simple blood samples. Mostly with the mixed Brands. We managed to prevent it from happening in the later generations." The Ford paused, looking at his boss with more amazement that he was following all of this rather easily.

"Is there a way to somewhat control what the X04 attacks?" Devan asked suddenly, giving a light smile.

"I am not sure at this point, sir. Though, looking at the notes and seeing how we were able to prevent it from happening, I'm certain we can figure out a way for it to only affect certain parts of a subject." Devan nodded at the Ford's answer, standing tall on his suspension before calmly driving over and opening the door.

"Test that out for me, will ya? See if we can make something big and mean where the error only attacks like, the back tires or something." The Ford hurriedly nodded before leaving the office. Devan only chuckled as he shut the door slowly, returning to his mental insanity.

Larry snorted in his cell, his body leaning against the bars so often his frame was starting to bend to the bar shape. Dragging a tire across the floor, the small vibrations painted a picture in his mind as he blindly looked around. He could still feel the three youngsters by his side in the next cell over, to which he gave a relieved sigh. He had lost the older Corvette long ago to the X04 error making its engine reverse itself, a test that ended up in three workers dying in a room of fire. He wasn't about to let these three leave his grasp that easily. Still, something felt very wrong. Everything smelled the same, beasts were still in their cells, work went on as normal, so what was triggering him awake? He frowned and rubbed his fender against the metal bars, trying to expand his mental image of the area, straining to see other levels and areas of the complex. The older Mustang was going mad from it all, he had to figure it out and fast. Giving the bars a strong bump with his front, the mental image expanded and finally he got the answer, as it came right towards them. With a hefty snort and a jump to his tires, the sudden noise of metal chains clanking and his movements rose the awareness of all near. Every beast in the corridor rose in barks and huffs as the newest issue to arise came down the hall.

Two white Humvees with chains on their towing hitches dragged the dead body of a rather fit and well hound. Its mouth wide open as blood slowly dripped from the tongue, eyes open wide in shock with the remains of foam around the corner of the jaws. The usual silver color of the hound was dulled and blueish purple spots covered the hind quarters, much like odd bruising. Another worker followed shortly after, cleaning up any fluid that came off the dead hound. Every beast fell silent as the group slowly went by. Larry himself putting a tire through the bars to keep the younger vehicles clear of the hall.

"What.. what was that?" Cougar asked, his fanged front straining to make a real frown.

"Sudden death, that hound was too healthy to be dead right now, and for sure wasn't a fight," Larry noted. Other beasts listened into the older being as he spoke. Jaslo paused, pushing herself more to the back of the cell, "But it had marks on the back, wouldn't that be from a standard hound fight?"

"Not from a fight, you can tell the difference between physical damage and something uncontrollable like that," Larry quickly answered.

"Something new is in the air, and I don't want to find out what that hound died from. I suggest to remember how those marks looked and to stay clear of anything with it, alright?" Cunner, Cougar, and Jaslo all nodded, taking the order from their guardian well. The small Blazer huddled up with the even smaller Mustang at her side, while the metallic furred Humvee parked himself between them and the hall. Larry huffed, relaxing somewhat against the bars once more, feeling the slight panic from the others around him.

"I hope this place burns to the ground and stops existing soon, can't take anymore of this shit." The blind car snorted before resting his front back on the cold ground once more, his cloudy eyes slowly closing.

"Nobody deserves this hell."