You Don't Belong Here

Chapter Ten

The human female had arrived earlier than usual and was finally able to move without the assistance of walking sticks. She entered the laboratory without voicing some type of obnoxious greeting and eased into the seat at her work station. She logged onto the device which had been producing slightly less frustrating music as of late, and she began to read some type of message displayed on the screen. She scrolled down, down, and then down some more until she reached the end of the message. "This isn't right...it has to be a joke..." the words had been soft, barely audible from across the room.

She retrieved the communication device and pushed a series of buttons before placing the device to her ear. O'kaor watched curiously from his position in the tank as she read the message over and over as she began to raise her voice at whatever miserable human waste of space that had the unfortunate task of answering her call.

"What is this bullshit?! I AM making progress! Because if I weren't, I wouldn't be working here! You can't do this! Gregory, this is my life's work..! Do you realize you're taking away the greatest opportunity that this facility has ever seen?! Do yourself a favor and go jump off a bridge! No, it's not a threat, it's a friendly suggestion..!"  She slammed the receiver down to its original position and sat motionless for several minutes. When she finally did move, she turned to look at O'kaor with an unreadable expression gracing her features. "What would you agree to do to get some time outside of that vat, Ghost?"
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Brielle limped slightly as she made her way through the facility nearly two hours later than usual. She had gone to have the brace and pins removed from her leg and was still adjusting to the ability of taking normal steps. As she ventured down the corridor towards her lab, she noticed a dozen armed guards standing around her doorway and the booming sound of an animalistic roar echoed throughout the building. Many of the guards aimed their weapons inside the lab, and Brielle did her best to run (or hobble) towards them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You don't have permission to be in my lab!"

"They have permission, Miss Rinaldi." Brooks stepped out to greet her with a strange grin plastered on his face. "This asset is being removed from your custody."

"Brooks, what the hell are you doing?" She tried to look around his shoulder, even trying to stand on her tiptoes, but another soldier blocked her view into the room. "I got the results you wanted!"

"And now there's nothing else you can do for us. You will be escorted to the front desk where you will turn in your security pass, and you will be escorted from the premises."

"I won't! You can't fire me!" Shuffling inside the room, and a few guards barked out orders to one another. "What are they doing?" The guard blocking her view tried to usher her away from the door, but she pulled away from his gloved hand and attempted to sidestep him. She caught a glimpse of the scientist James trying to figure out how to unlock the tank, and her eyes grew wide. "Get away from there!" She managed to push past Gregory Brooks and the armed guard but was quickly grabbed by the wrists and held in place with her hands behind her back as she watched a team try to restrain Ghost with poles similar to what a dog catcher would use so they could drag him from the vat.

Ghost grabbed one pole and used it to fling his would-be captor across the room before pulling the metal stick into the fluid and snapped it like a twig. His mandibles flared as a threatening growl sounded throughout the room at the other guards and scientists. "Get away from it!" She kicked her restrainer in the kneecap with a sickening snap and he fell to the ground. She managed to get halfway across the room before she was thrown to the ground by three other guards and they tried to place her in handcuffs. "GET OFF OF ME!!"

An ear-piercing roar ripped through the air and echoed through the hallways as she continued to struggle against her co-workers. Somehow the team had managed to drag Ghost from the tank and were trying to restrain him on the ground as well, but his claws ripped through one man's throat and he snapped another's neck. "Unless you can prove useful to me in the next five seconds, Project Ghost will be transported to a remote government facility and lobotomized."

"I can sedate it!" Brooks narrowed his green eyes at the woman, scrutinizing her words. "Let me do it!"

"Sir, what are your orders?" In that moment one of the soldier's received a bloody lip from the force of Brielle's skull slamming against his face in the struggle.

"Let her up." Each of the guards currently struggling to restrain the woman looked at their boss in disbelief, but Brooks ignored their surprise. "Let's see if she can do it. In the event that she can't, we'll...I'm sure the asset will tie up the loose end for us." Reluctantly they released their hold on the woman and she pushed herself to stand, a thin layer of dirt from the countless unwelcome shoes stomping across the floor coating her white tank top and black denim shorts.

Everyone watched silent and motionless as she stepped toward the creature that was standing beside the tank and looking ready for a fight. She eased closer until she was about five feet from the massive alien. O'kaor narrowed his amber eyes at the female as his mandibles flicked through the air. The entire room wreaked of fear, but this female seemed calm as always.

"Ghost, get on the table..." he didn't move. "You're getting to leave the lab. Aren't you sick of being stuck in here?" Again, no response. "If you get on the table, I can give you something to help you sleep so you don't have to listen to their bullshit anymore." She cast an accusatory glance over her shoulder toward Brooks, but he simply watched with his arms folded over his chest. "There won't be a fight, and they won't hurt you." That was a lie, and she could tell that the creature knew. His beady eyes narrowed into slits and a low growl rumbled through his chest. "Just get on the table, Ghost. You can trust me. You'll be safe. Just let me give you the injection." Another lie, and they stared one another down for several seconds.

At last O'kaor slowly stepped around the female and moved to stand alongside the exam table before staring at her once more. She waited, and he sat on the metal slab before adjusting his position and lying on his back. Brielle outstretched her hand to James who offered her a syringe full of various tranquilizers. A soldier moved as if he were reaching for the restraints on the table but stopped when Brielle glared at him.

"You stay the hell away. This is my job, do you understand?" The man did as he was told and stepped back against a nearby wall. Brielle moved to stand behind Ghost's head as the creature's eyes tracked her every movement. Carefully, she brushed the dread-like tendrils away from his neck and shoulder with her fingers and raised the needle to a vein at the base of his neck. Brielle eased every bit of the solution out of the syringe and placed the object on the table beside his shoulder. She waited, taking the time to analyze the intricate features of his facial structure.

Her fingertips delicately brushed against the short spines along the side of his face, and his mandibles flexed slowly as a soft clicking sound filled the room. Within minutes Ghost's eyelids closed and his chest rose and fell with each heavy breath. Brielle remained in her spot until Brooks was sure enough about the creature's unconscious state to order the guards to wheel the asset to the loading dock for transport. They didn't bother with the restraints because the amount of tranquilizers used was enough to kill an elephant, and there was no doubt the creature would be out cold for the next several hours.

One of the guards pushed her to the side as they carted the alien away, and she watched helplessly as they rushed out of the lab. Within moments Brooks was the only one that remained, and he offered a prideful grin before gesturing around the room with both hands. "How long did you honestly believe you could keep this up, Bri?" She looked up at the suited man and watched as beads of sweat rolled down his face from the excessive heat of the room. "They aren't your pets. They're assets. Just freaks that serve a scientific purpose until the government pays enough money to fund a small country, and then they're hauled away."

"You disgust me."

Brooks snickered at the remark before backing out of the room. "It's not like the movies, Bri. You can't have some sort of sick romanticized connection with these things. You had your chance at something good, and you threw it away. I could have made you happy. Now look at you: sad, alone, out of a job, and covered in sweat."

He left her then, and he followed the same path that the creature had been taken down to get to the loading docks. He would see this thing through. He would have one last taste of victory against the woman if it was the last thing he did.