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I sat in my chair, completely surrounded and more frightened than ever.
“Secure the dome. Units One and Two deploy to all entrances,” the bearded man commanded.
What the fuck was happening right now?
Something roared outside. Angry. Violent.
My stomach dropped to my toes. Everything inside me told me to run, instinct demanding that I escape. My anxiety at being shipped off to a jail of some kind vanished and suddenly I was infinitely more afraid of losing my life.
Some of the soldiers ventured out of the room in a triangular formation, leaving a small group in the room with me, surrounding me, but still I didn’t feel safe. I shivered, and the men shuffled tensely around me. They were scared too.
A gun popped outside. A man shouted a word of warning, only to be quickly cut off by a sickening gurgle sound. I hesitated to think about what that meant.
That’s when the gunfire really started. And the screaming. I’d never heard anything like it before and I could feel myself beginning to panic quietly inside. Men shrieked, the sound earsplitting and terrifying. Wet tearing sounds echoed in the dome and the soldiers still standing with me began to look more worried by the second.
Crunch. Rip. More screams.
I closed my eyes for a second before opening them again. Bile rose in the back of my throat. Images of the mutilated human bodies I’d seen before I came here passed through my mind and I struggled to keep my nausea in check. Oh, my god. Keep it together, Cosima. Think of how you’re going to get out of here.
“Subject #574 infiltrated Dome Three. Whereabouts of Subject #725 still unknown,” a terrified voice yelled over the radio before the sound clipped off with a shout.
Scratching. Shredding. Screaming. Agony.
The sounds of a man dying a horrific death echoed around us and I wanted to throw up.
This was turning into way more than I bargained for.
My terror rose in my chest, my heart pounding out of control. I found it hard to breathe as whatever creature was out there came closer, the sound of bare feet slapping against the tile, and I froze. A massive figure appeared the doorway. In the shadow, his skin appeared blood red. Bulging muscles twitched, larger than any I’d ever seen. He had to be at least eight feet tall. Red, glowing eyes stared into the room, like the ones I’d seen outside, and one of the soldiers took a step back in fear. It definitely wasn’t a fucking bear.
It was a beast.
No one said a thing. The radios were mute. In that silence, I felt only terror.
Like a cornered animal that knew it was about to die. I needed to run. I needed to hide.
The figure’s chest rose and fell, its breathing loud and terrifying.
The lights flickered, and his eyes found mine. And I finally got a good look at him.
The creature looked human, with a few traits that suggested some sort of unknown genetic engineering. Larger eyes, a more pronounced nose, ears that were angled slightly differently than mine were just some of the things I noticed. Maybe they were experimenting with the senses or enhancing them to some degree for military reasons.
There was little doubt in my mind that this was the Alienus Bestia that the scientific paper had alluded to. I trembled with fear. This was the creature created by science. A genetically engineered super soldier. I couldn’t help but notice he was completely naked too.
Standing before me, about eight feet tall and maybe three hundred fifty pounds of pure, unadulterated muscle, he was death personified.
My mouth opened in a silent scream. My hope fled at that exact same moment.
Guns popped off all around me. I watched with horror as not a single bullet punctured the creature’s skin, simply bouncing off onto the floor around him. The weapons the soldiers had were useless against him. One of his hands snaked back and covered the back of his neck. I would have thought it strange had I not been so focused on my own terrible fate.
I had a feeling I was about to die.
He sniffed the air, ignoring the pops of the guns and the still screaming soldiers in the room, only focusing on me. The lights flickered again, and he growled, smelling the aromas on the air once again.
He was detecting my scent. I had no doubt.
His face flicked toward me once more, focusing on me, and I whined with horror. Then he roared and burst forward, straight in my direction, only to run into one of the men guarding me.
He attacked the bearded man first, tearing his head off in a single, brutal motion. I watched in horror, unable to process what I had just seen. The man didn’t even have time to scream, but I did. My ears burned from the shrillness of my voice and my lungs burned.
