Natural Being
Chapter 1 <Part 2/3>
I tensed as I swung the door open, but surprisingly nothing jumped out at me. I sighed a breath of relief.
“I’ve got to stop watching all those horror flicks.” I stared down into the semi-darkness and took a step forward. It was a staircase. There was obviously a basement down there, and as it appeared, some kind of machine was running, causing that deep rumbling sound. Looking closer, I noticed that there seemed to be a light somewhere beyond the staircase. I thought this place was deserted. All paranoia of a psycho-killer evaporated, and I warily crept down the flight of stairs, trying to stay light on my feet so to not make much noise.
The air downstairs was cold and stale and reeked of chemicals. I was in another hallway, and the light grew brighter the further down the hall I went. The unidentified hum became increasingly louder as I rounded the corner—and for good reason.
As I poked my head around the corner, my jaw literally dropped. “What in the world?” Inhabiting an area that must’ve been twice the size of the building itself, was an extravagant laboratory. Covering the vast amount of wall space were posters, papers, sketches, and diagrams. My eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of massive chambers, shelves filled to capacity by vials and flasks, and several sets of computers. Up against the walls, large generators whirred and from the look of things, powered just about everything in the lab—including the seven-foot electron microscope that filed the entire far left corner.
“What the…?”
My heart skipped a beat at the sight of the center attraction, and my legs seemed to move by themselves to bring me up to the large glass tank that loomed magnificently in front of me. From what I could discern at a glance, the tank was about 6’x 7’x 5’ and was filled with some clear liquid—water possibly. Above it, an elaborate black, box-like machine draped serpentine tubes over the tank’s edges and into the bubbling liquid. It was a science geek’s paradise.
“But why would a lab of such magnitude be in the basement of an abandoned animal hospital?”
“Hey!” A deep but velvet voice came from behind me. “What are you doing here?!”
I spun around to see a rather young—and not that bad looking—man dressed in a white lab coat rushing towards me, eyes stern.
“I…um,” I stammered to get an explanation out, but for some stupid reason my tongue wouldn’t work correctly.
“You can’t be down here! How’d you get in?” The man, obviously a scientist of some sort, latched onto my arm and began to drag me towards the staircase.
“Uh…the front d—.”
“What is she doing in here?!”
My brief explanation was interrupted by another scientist—this one much older and stauncher than the first—suddenly burst from one of the back rooms and rushed over to the side of the man whose firm grip as cutting off the circulation in my arm.
“Did you let her in?” He glared down hard from me to his younger associate; the light from one of the generators gleaming menacingly on his thin-rimmed spectacles.
“No! I just walked in and she was standing in front of the rejuvenation tank. I didn’t even hear her come in.”
“Than how do you suppose she got in?” Said the older man—who was actually only around 45, but still had a premature balding spot inching its way down his head—spat irritated. “I thought the upper level was secure.”
“It was.”
“Did you actually go upstairs and check? Or did you just assume that no one would come by for a visit?”
“N-no, sir!” There was a twinge of fear in his voice, and I could feel his hand tremble on my arm.
The older man lashed out seized my free arm.
“Why are you here? Did someone send you?” He led me down a separate hallway with several rooms lining each side
“No…I only came for an interview.” I squirmed between the two men, straining to free myself. But I only succeeded in giving myself a rug burn. Why is this guy so paranoid? I don’t look that threatening.
He scoffed through his teeth as we stopped in front of one of the heavy metal doors.
“Well, you’ve gotten more than you needed. Unfortunately.” His boney fingers fumbled over the keys of what looked like a security panel just outside the door. “You won’t be able to tell anyone.”
“Huh?” I felt my heart leap into my throat, the blood pounding in my head.
“Wait!” The younger scientist on my right beckoned. “What are you going to do with her?” His voice held some concern—he obviously still had some of his humanity left—and he stood anxiously over me as the door clicked and slid open, revealing a cramped and dank concrete cell.
“I don’t know. But we can’t have her blabbing to everyone about what she’s seen.”
“No!” I cried, squirming harder and flailing backwards. But the apprentice caught me and wrapped his other arm around my heaving shoulders to keep me from struggling. “Please! Please sir, I beg you! Don’t!” Tears streamed down my face as his grip tightened, and they shoved me into the damp darkness.
There was a loud slam and click of a lock, and I scurried to door, pounding my shaking fists against the cold metal.
“Hey! Let me out!” I could hear their voices through the cracks around the door. “Please! I promise I won’t say anything!” I chocked back a sob and wiped the tears away with my sleeve. What the hell was going on? I had heard of kidnapping, but this was ridiculous.
“But sir, she’s just a girl.” The velvet voice of the apprentice sounded from behind the chamber door.
“Yes, I can see that. But that still doesn’t excuse her from snooping around my lab.”
I crouched down and put my ear to the gap in the wall.
“But we can’t just get rid of her. It’s immoral.”
“That may be true, but I don’t see any other way. We can’t risk exposure.”
There was a brief silence, and then the apprentice’s voice chimed back in, but softer this time.
“I have an idea, but I’m not sure how well it will work.”
“Well don’t leave me hanging man! I need something!”
“Alright, then.”
Their voices faded as they walked off down the hallway, and I was left in silent darkness. Only the hum of the generators could be detected from inside the cell. My sobs had quieted, but my pulse still drummed in my head and my chest heaved with my heavy breathing.
Why was this happening to me? Was I being punished for something? I couldn’t come up with any logical reasons—except for the occasional prank on my little sister—so I assumed that it was just my dumb luck.
I waited for what seemed like forever when a light rap came across my chamber door. There was scraping of metal and a light poured into the gloomy room from a small window in the door.
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Sane people...guard your minds.
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