Even as Sunoo realized that they'll be overtaken, he heard Sungjoon gasped out, "Next turn—" and as they reached the end of the empty stretch where the tunnel curved again, Sunoo whirled around, raising the handgun in his sweating, shaking hand, training it back on the last turn they'd taken.
Sicheng and Sungjoon flanked him, gasping, nine-milli-meters aimed alongside him. Twenty meters of blank passage, filled with the now deafening cries of their unseen pursuers.
As the first of them tore into view, all three of them fired, slugs ripping into the two creature that at first Sunoo thought was a lioness- then a giant lizard- then a dog. He caught only a mad, patchwork vision of the impossible thing, seeing parts of it that his mind fit into a whole- the slitted, cat-like pupils.
The giant snake head, a gaping, slavering jaw filled with bladed teeth. The squat and powerful
barrel-chested body, sand-colored, thick legs bowing in front, muscular, springing haunches propelling it toward them at an incredible speed and even as the bullets found its strange, reptilian flesh, there was another behind it. And the first explosive rounds that smacked into the thick body of the closest creature knocked it
off of its clawed feet, staggered it backward as blooms of watery blood spattered the tunnel walls and, shaking its head, screaming in ferocious sorrow, it launched itself at them again.
Sunoo squeezed the trigger again, four, five, six, his mind screaming as loudly as the two monstrous animals that ran at them, eight, nine, ten, and the first went down, stayed down, but there was still the second and now a third, tearing down the tunnel, and the handgun only held fifteen rounds.
Suddenly, somewhere in the shadow- a two snake like claws stretch over and stab grope the creatures, squishing them hard until they exploded in its deadly claws. No one has noticed it.
Sungjoon jumped back, behind the line of thundering fire. An empty clip skittered across the floor, and then he was next to him again, aiming and squeezing, the handgun jerking smoothly in his practiced hand.
Sunoo counted his last round and stumbled backward, praying that he could do it as fast as Sungjoon and saw that the third animal was stumbling back, its wide chest gushing thin streamers of red.
It collapsed into the puddle of watery fluid it created and stayed there.
Nothing in the tunnel moved, but there were at least two more around the corner. Their wailing cries continued to wax and wane through the tunnel, but they stayed back, out of sight as if they knew what had happened to their siblings, and were too smart to charge into waiting death.
"Fall back,"
Sungjoon said hoarsely, and still aiming at the blind corner, they started to edge backward, the
shrieks of the hybrid creatures rolling over them in lonely, terrible waves.
-
Monika moved quickly away from the door when she heard the key in the lock, not wanting to be too close to whomever Eunsuk had brought along. He had Mingyu already standing ready, just in case there were any sudden moves but when she saw the young man and his passive partner step into the lab, she doubted he'd have any trouble.
What's this? A few too many drinks, perhaps? An unseen mortal wound?
Monika smiled, waiting for him to speak or for the woman to move, her heart full and warm with good humor. It had been so long since she'd talked to someone who could respond without prompting, and the fact that her fine plan had worked made her all the merrier.
Behind him, Eunsuk sealed the door and stood
blankly, holding two weapons on the unlikely pair.
The young man gazed wide-eyed around the laboratory, his dark gaze settling on the wide airlock window in something like awe.
The woman's head was down, rolling across her chest.
He had the pale skin. Not too tall, but sturdy
enough. Yes, he'd do quite nicely and since this might even have been the one to destroy Hanbyul, there was a certain poetic justice being served.
The youth's darting gaze finally rested on Monika, curious and not altogether as frightened as Monika would have liked.
"Where are we?" the young man asked quietly.
"You are in a chemical research laboratory, approximately twenty meters below the surface of Dobong Cove," Monika said. "Interesting, yes? Those clever designers even built it inside of a shipwreck or they built the shipwreck around the lab, I forget ex- "
"Who are you?"
Sungjoon smiled again, shaking her head. "I am Monika Chu. And you might be?"
Before the young man could speak, the woman rolled her head up, a wobbling white face with many opening little eyes looking around in fixed, helpless hunger.
An infected one!
"Mingyu, take the woman and hold her," Monika said quickly.
She couldn't have her damaging the fine
specimen Eunsuk had managed to catch but as Mingyu grabbed for the female, the young man resisted, pushing at Mingyu with fast, angry hands, a sneer of bravado on his face.
Monika felt a pulse of distress. "Eunsuk, hit him!"
Dr. Eunsuk brought his hand up quickly, cracking the struggling youth a smart blow across the back of his skull; he stopped fighting just long enough for Mingyu to pull the woman away.
"She's gone," Monika said forcefully, wondering why on earth anyone would want to hang on to one of those. "Look at her, can't you see she's not human anymore? She's one of G's puppets, one of the pathetically altered hungry. A eyed-creatures. A SBHsquad unit without training."
Even as Monika spoke, a fascinating turn of events took place. The woman squirmed around in Mingyu's grasp and with one quick movement, darted forward and bit into Mingyu's face.
She pulled back with a thick, bloody mouthful of his cheek and started to chew enthusiastically
"Serra, oh no, no- "
For as upset as he sounded, the young man didn't move to do anything about it. For that matter, neither did Mingyu.
The doctor stood calmly, blood pouring down his face, watching the A-Virus drone lustily swallow the piece of tender flesh.
Monika was transfixed.
"Look at that," she said softly. "Not a grimace or pain, not a flutter of emotion... smile."
Mingyu grinned even as the woman lunged forward again, managing to snag his protruding lower lip. With a wet, tearing sound, the lip ripped away, exposing an even wider grin.
Blood gushed. The woman chewed.
Amazing. Absolutely breathtaking.
The young man was quivering, his pale skin under-shot with a sickly pallor. He didn't seem to appreciate.what he was seeing, and Monika realized that he probably wouldn't; the woman must have been a friend.
"Eunsuk, take hold of our young man, and hold him tightly."
The youth didn't struggle, too absorbed in the apparent horror that he was experiencing.
The female got another piece of cheek, and Mingyu's smile wavered, probably from muscle trauma.
As much as Monika wanted to continue watching, there was work to be done. The young man's other friends might manage to put down the Nc12 and if they succeeded with that, they might come looking for their bright young man.
But by then, he'll be her bright young man.
Monika walked to a counter and picked up a measured syringe, tapping the side of it with one finger.
She turned to the silent guest, wondering if dhe should reveal his brilliant scheme for catching his friends.
Wasn't that what villains always did in movies?
He considered it only briefly, then decided against it; she'd always considered it a foolish plot point. And she was far from villainous. It was they who had invaded his sanctuary, threatened his plans for creating worldwide peace.
There was no question who the evildoers were in this story.
The young Hispanic was still watching the bizarre luncheon, his mouth literally hanging open in dismay; Serra was swallowing Mingyu's nose, and making quite a mess. She have to dispose of her before Mingyu's arms gave out, though that gave her plenty of time.
Stepping forward quickly, Monika jabbed the needle into the youth's burly arm and depressed the plunger.
Only then did he struggle, his shocked gaze turning to Monika, his body twisting and flailing.
One of Eunsuk's arms seemed to give a little, but he had a good, tight hold on the fighting Hispanic.
Monika smiled into his face, shaking her head.
"Relax," she said soothingly. "In just a few moments, you won't feel a thing."
-
Slowly, too slowly, they backed toward the chamber they'd started in, the lizard-creatures following, careful not to step into view, screaming their terrible song.
Sicheng kept thinking of Serra and Doyoung, led
off to who knew where by the G. Inc. doc, and wished desperately that the monsters would just charge.
He felt the moments slipping by, moments that may have already cost Serra, her only chance,
moments in which Doyoung might be fighting for his life.
"Come on, you stupid shits! We're right here, free lunch! Come on!"
They'd tried yelling, tried firing and stamping their feet, but the creatures wouldn't take the bait.
Once, Sungjoon had tried to fake them out, the three of them slipping back around a corner and when the big lizards had skulked through the tunnel after them, they'd jumped back around and started blasting.
Sicheng got a single round into one of them, and they'd seen that there were only two of the beasts left but both had gotten to cover before any serious damage had been done, and hadn't fallen for the ploy again.
"Sly bastards," Sicheng snarled for about the twentieth time, backing up as quickly as he could. "What the hell are they waiting for?"
Neither Sunoo nor Sungjoon answered, since they'd already discussed it, talking over the creeping shrieks of the stalking monsters.
They were waiting for the three of them to turn around. After what felt like an eternity of slow motion, of backing through the empty tunnel one sliding step at a time, they heard the distant, familiar sound of the cavernous chamber they'd left- muffled waves and thundering vibrations as background to the echoing howls.
Just in time when the real Hyeopil appeared behind them. "When we get into the open, flank the tunnel. I'm going to turn and run, draw them
out- "
They all turned around in shock and saw Hyeopil, his glasses was still there and his smart watch. He looks worried.
Sunoo run to him, embrace him tightly- almost crying. He pulled away and cupped his face as he shook his head, his young features pinched with worry. "You just got here with us, you won't parted with me again. Sungjoon's a better shot than I am, and we can run faster. We should do it."
Hyeopil sigh and nodded his head but the worry was still there and Sunoo smiled a little before turning to Sungjoon.
They had almost reached the chamber. Sicheng shot a glance at Sungjoon, could see him struggling with the decision and finally he nodded, sighing. "Right. Run as fast as you can, back for the stairs to the lighthouse. We'll pick them off as soon as they're too far along to turn around."
Sunoo blew out sharply as he grab Hyeopil's hand tightly.
"Got it. Just say when."
Sungjoon could feel the change in the air just behind him, the drafts that swirled around the underground chamber fluttering against the back of his neck. Another step and they were surrounded by open space.
Sicheng quickly side-stepped, standing between the tunnel they'd just backed out of and the one next to it. He saw Sungjoon get into position, Sunoo and Hyeopil standing perfectly still in the mouth of the passage...
"Go!"
They both spun and ran, sprinting away, and Sicheng tensed, hangun held close to his face, listening for the rising shrieks, the pound of feet.
"Now!" Sungjoon shouted, and they both swung into the passage, firing.
The howling monsters were less than six meters away and the heavy rounds smashed into them, great, bloody holes exploding through their rubbery skin, bone and watery red splattering wildly.
The shrieks died beneath the thundering bullets, neither of the reptilian things making it as far as the opening. Two strange bodies fell still, crumpling to the stone floor in ragged heaps.
As soon as they stopped firing, Sunoo and Hyeopil came jogging back into the chamber, Sunoo's cheeks flushed, his eyes flashing with urgency. Hyeopil... still blank but the worries was still there.
"Let's go," Sungjoon said, and then the three of them were running into the passage that Eunsuk had disappeared into, the lost time lending a desperation to their flight.
Sicheng finally let the fear slip inside, giving up the angry frustration he'd suffered through their backward crawl.
The tunnel turned, angled down, the three of them curving with it, terror for their friends and teammates driving them faster. Sicheng swore to himself that if they were all right, if there was still time for Serra, if they could all make it out of this alive, he'd give anything.
His car, his house, his money, he won't screw anyone else till he get married, He'll clean up his act and walk the straight and narrow-
It wasn't enough, and he didn't know why anyone would want it but he'd sacrifice anything, do whatever it took.
The passage swerved again, still sliding down and they tore around the corner, and there was a wide open set of doors, a tiny passage between the outer and inner, a giant and dimly lit room behind it.
Doyoung leaned against the frame, holding his gun, his face pale and blank.
"Doyoung! What happened, what- " Sungjoon started, but the look on Doyoung's face as he turned to watch them approach, the terrible emptiness there, made them all stop in their tracks.
Even as his mind searched to deny it, his heart filled with a horrible, aching loss.
"Serra's dead," Doyoung said softly, then turned and walked into the room.
Sunoo felt a welling rush of sadness inside as he stared after Doyoung, Sicheng and Sungjoon both grim and silent beside him. Hyeopil staring at Doyoung with observing gaze. The blank shock on Doyoung's face before he'd turned away told them what must have happened.
Poor Serra. And Doyoung, what must it have been like.
They'd found the lab too late. He glanced down at the key card slot next to the door as he stepped into the double seal, feeling a horrible sense of futility at the pointlessness of it all.
They'd come to find information, only to find tests, only for Serra to get infected and then to turn against Doyoung even as they'd reached the one chance they might have had to cure him.
... but Eunsuk. Kang-
He stepped through the second door, frowning.
The laboratory was huge, counters lined with equipment, desks piled incredibly high with stacks of paper but it was the open hatch across from them that first commanded his attention, his gaze immediately drawn to the thick sheet of plexi or reinforced glass set into the thick door.
It was an airlock, the inner door standing open. And behind the second sealed door, past a mesh grate, the dark waters of the ocean swirled past, bubbles spinning by.
The laboratory was underwater.
The second thing he noticed was the blood, a thick trail of crimson leading across the concrete floor in splatters and pools, but ending in a sliding smear.
Doyoung must have moved a body...
Hyeopil pursed his lips in discomfort, his eyes filled with worries and Sunoo need to hold his hand for comfort. Something was wrong, if Hyeopil was acting this way- it means... something is wrong.
Doyoung had walked to the airlock and turned, seemed to be waiting for them to cross the room. Sunoo started toward him, his throat tight with sympathy and swelling tears.
Sicheng and Sungjoon were right behind them, quiet, looking around the vast room when behind them, the door back into the passage slammed shut.
They spun around, saw Eunsuk standing there, holding a tiny semi-automatic, a .25, pointing it at them with no expression on his face.
"Drop your weapons."
The low, quiet voice was Doyoung's.
Sunoo turned again, confused- and saw Doyoung pointing his gun at them, his face as blank as Eunsuk's.
Now that he was close enough to the airlock, he saw the body on the grated floor. It was Serra, her white face streaked with blood, a gaping blackness where her left eye had been.
Hyeopil shivered, thoughts of his past coming through his mind. He dislikes the situation so much.
Sungjoon stepped toward him, holding his gun loosely, confusion and disbelief in his voice.
"Doyoung, what are you doing? What's happened?"
"Drop your weapons," Doyoung said again.
His voice had no emotion at all.
"What did you do to him?!"
Sicheng screamed, turned and fired at Eunsuk, the round punching neatly through his left temple. Eunsuk crumpled, sagging-
The second shot came from Doyoung's gun, hitting Sicheng in the lower back. Blood gushed from the hole and as he staggered halfway around, Sunoo saw the dark fluid trickling from his mouth, the dazed disbelief in his eyes and Sicheng crashed to the cement, spasming once before he lay motionless.
It had all happened in the space of a few seconds.
"Drop your weapons," Doyoung said calmly.
He pointed his semi at Sunoo and Hyeopil.
For a moment, both could do nothing at all. Sunoo stared at Doyoung in horror, felt tears slipping down his frozen cheeks, unable to comprehend what had happened.
Hyeopil sternly glaring at him.
"Disarm," Sungjoon said quietly, letting his slip from his fingers and clatter to the floor.
Sunoo dropped the gun, the heavy weapon falling from his equally heavy fingers.
"Back up," Doyoung said, still aiming at his chest.
"Do as he says," Sungjoon said, his voice trembling just slightly.
They stepped back slowly, Hyeopil unable to take his stern eyes from Doyoung's face. Sunoo was too but not stern nor glaring like the older, the handsome, boyish face he'd grown to care about.
Now it was only a mask, worn by a by a creature.
They backed into a desk and stopped, watching dully as Doyoung moved to pick up their weapons, Sunoo's mind whirling with more than just horror and loss.
A eyed-creature that could walk and talk like a
man.
Like Eunsuk.
Like Doyoung.
How? When did this happen?
As Doyoung stepped away, a pleasant woman voice came out of the corner of the room, from behind a desk.
"All finished, then? My God, what a Greek tragedy... "
The voice was followed by an appearance. A slender, dark-haired woman stood up and walked around the desk, moving almost casually to stand by Doyoung.
He was in her mid-fifties, her hair long enough to
brush at the collar of her lab coat, her lined face sporting a beaming smile.
"I'll repeat my instructions for the benefit of our guests," the woman said happily. "If either of them makes any sudden moves, shoot them."
Sunoo and Hyeopil knew who she was immediately, knew that they hadn't been wrong after all.
"Dr. Chu," he said quietly.
Monika arched an eyebrow, seeming amused.
"My reputation precedes me! How did you know?"
"I've heard about you," he said coldly. "and you have a sister, Arnika Chu, anyway."
Her smile froze, then widened again. "All in the past," she said dismissively, waving one hand in the air. "And you'll never have a chance to tell anyone about the pleasure of our acquaintance, I'm afraid."
Monika's smile faded, her dark gaze turning icy. "You people have held me up long enough. I'm tired of this game, so I believe that I'm going to have your nice young man kill you- "
She paused when she realized that the creature created by X-virus was here.
"Nice to see you again," said Monika with a smile. "how are you doing at? I'm afraid... you killed you- "
"Say it or I'll kill you," Hyeopil cut her off by his coldest voice.
Monika brightened suddenly, and Sunoo saw the madness flashing in those eyes, the complete break from sanity.
"Right... Now that I think of it, why create even more of a mess? Doyoung, tell our friends to get into the airlock, if you would be so kind."
Doyoung kept his weapon trained on his heart.
"Get into the airlock," he said calmly.
Before Sungjoon could take a step, Sunoo started talking, fast and deadly serious.
"Was it the A-Virus? Did you use that as a platform for whatever this is? I know you were responsible for the increase in amplification time, but this is something new, this is something that G. Inc. doesn't even know about. It's a mutagen with an instantaneous membrane fusion, isn't it?"