Ah, he thought, sliding doors. Another wonderful thing about working for the InCom Research Corporation. One never had to twist a doorknob.
The doctor walked inside the small viewing area. It was a walkway running the length of the inner room with plexiglass windows and a locked plexiglass door.
Behind that door was a humanoid figure in the fetal position in the center of the room. The only light in the room shone directly down upon it, and the fluorescence of the light made the figure devoid of any color.
The doctor prepared his testing equipment. He did not note the figure move once the whole time. Typical. After he pulled on his latex surgery gloves, he went to the controls for the metal claws that would probe and test the subject.
When he reached the viewport of the machine controls, he saw a sudden movement and the figure disappeared entirely. The doctor quickly glanced around the inner room, and then decided to call security.
As Doctor Johansson picked up the phone and dialed the number, he saw something appear in the center of the room. It looked to be a deep red liquid. The liquid was dripping from a point lust above the ground. The doctor moved his gaze up to see the specimen holding a white-garbed nurse in its hands. The nurse was unconscious and was bleeding amply from her cut wrists.
The doctor yelled for security to get to this cell and hung up the phone. He couldn’t wait for them. He ran to the inner cell door and pressed the combination lock code on the lock pad. The door swung open
To his surprise, the doctor saw no one in the center of the room, and the pool of blood had disappeared.
Then the specimen descended upon him with unearthly speed. It clawed and scratched until the dumbstruck doctor had become a dumbstruck scratching post. Then the outer door opened.
A heavily armed security team poured in and pointed their guns in random directions. Upon seeing the former Doctor Johansson, one member exclaimed a vulgarity.
The specimen, now hidden, leaped at the opportunity of the shock. It jumped out of the corner, surprising the security team. It leaped over one of them and scratched another with its claw-hands and soon made it out of the outer door.
Before the team could pursue it, one security officer pulled the emergency lockdown lever in the room. The sliding metal door rapidly slammed shut and klaxons began blaring. Other doors could be heard doing the same thing in other areas. Everything was now contained. Safe. Trapped.
***
Agent Frink saw the blip on the “Hot Spots” map before Bureau HQ could even call him about it. According to the synopsis provided, it seemed as if a specimen had escaped captivity in the InCo Research Complex.
Frink frowned. The Hot Spot was in Minnesota, a few hours away driving. He better call Agent Johnson at the office to get started immediately.
***
Johnson got the call and immediately informed agent Andy via cell phone. Andy was at Wal-Mart picking up some Puritan shirts, so it would take him a while to get to the office.
During this wait, Frink called Johnson and told him that another Bureau 13 team was being called in to investigate the incident. Team 13 would serve as backup.
But this thought did not slow the agents down. As soon as they converged, they took off for the Gopher State.
***
At the InCom Research Complex in Minnesota, the first lockdown situation was followed soon by another incident.
A highly confidential and highly contained “experiment,” Specimen N0S4A2, also escaped its cage due to the distraction. The bloodsucking creature had escaped in a different section of the complex, so security forces were stretched thin.
The research director was glad he had called the dark-suited conspirators at Bureau 13 for help.
***
Johnson, Andy, and Frink reached the research complex after about five hours of driving. Once there, they met with Team Petticoat. The agents of that team seemed ready to dive into the first quarantined area with guns ablaze, but they handled all the questioning professionally.
Team Petticoat informed Johnson that they had already spoken to the research director and head of security. They learned that at 8:02 that morning, a researcher had called for security in cell 502 for an unknown reason. An entire security team had quickly responded and found the researcher dead in the outer part of the cell. According to the security team, a creature burst from a corner when they arrived, clawed one security guard, and escaped the cell. The area was immediately put under quarantine.
Johnson saw this as sufficient cause for Team Petticoat to investigate the holding-and-research area. Team 13 would wait at the surface to guard the only open entrance into the section while the other team hunted down the creature. The other security forces could then focus their attention on the second outbreak.
Soon enough, everyone was in position and the search-and-destroy mission began.
***
As Team 13 waited above the complex, Johnson talked to the research director and the other two agents tried to look cool. Frink seemed to enjoy showing off to the other scientists there that he was a federal agent.
When everything seemed calm enough, Johnson received a distress call on his earpiece. Team Petticoat had apparently found the creature and wounded it. Then it led them into a trap, and most of the team was down.
“They’re down four of their six members,” Johnson told the other two agents.
“You mean, they’ve lost two of every three members,” Frink corrected. Andy contemplated smacking the scientist upside the head.
Johnson continued without expression. “The remnants are trapped in Sub-Hall B-4, next to the primary loading bay. We must finish eliminating the specimen.”
“How about we take a security team with us?” Andy asked hopefully.
“That’s not a possibility,” Johnson said, “All remaining security teams are preoccupied with containing another escaped experiment: Specimen N0S4A2. That one is a high-level threat, and the facility is diverting all of its forces toward its elimination.”
Andy sighed. “Let’s go. Frink, come with us. We need the firepower.” He looked at Frink’s only weapon. “Even if it is only a pistol.”
***
You will have to wait for the conclusion of this adventure until after Team 13's next epic adventure (Adventure 011). Note that chronologically, the sequel to this adventure comes before 011, but it works out better this way.
Adventure Archive
Home