Captain Rex and a small platoon of men entered a dark hallway. The lights flickered above them causing them to have to turn on their own flashlights to see well enough. They heard a small groan from the room that held their main target. They had gotten an anonymous tip off about a psychotic man doing illegal experiments on once intelligent beings.
Rex held his two pistols up as they leaned up against the wall. A scream from what sounded like a young child echoed throughout the room followed by the laughter of a deranged man.
"Oh calm down sweetheart. It will only hurt a bit. I have to know if this works."
The screaming suddenly cut off causing Rex to look at the rest of his squad. They knew that the child was now probably dead.
Rex then signaled to two of his men behind him. The men then approached the door before kicking it down. The man inside looked over. His bloodshot eyes were devoid of any emotion as they flickered back and forth. Below the man, Rex saw a small child lying dead on the ground. Her body seemed to be a mess of different, animal, body parts all clumped together.
"Get on the ground!" growled Rex.
"Oh? You seriously think you are going to be able to catch me that easily Captain Rex?" the man sneered. "Don't worry. My pets will deal with you."
The man quickly pulled a switch releasing a plume of smoke into the air around them. Rex's squad immediately started shooting at where the man had once been, but when the smoke cleared, they were unable to find a single trace of anyone.
They looked around as they heard unusual screeching and groaning. As the squad began to survey the area, multiple creatures jumped out of the shadows ready to attack. Luckily, the squad was ready.
They immediately fought back shooting the creatures that attacked them. Eventually, the battle ended. All they saw around them were dead, mutated corpses of kidnapped children. Many of them didn't even appear to look human anymore.
Just as the squad was starting to relax and feel safe, they heard a soft whimper coming from a few of the cages.
"Sir. We need to put them out of their misery. There's nothing we can do for them now," a clone said quietly.
Rex sighed before nodding. They all made their way towards the cages lined up along the wall. Each cage they passed contained one of the man's experiments. The once normal beings were now mutated. Many of their features were altered to look like other animals.
As they passed one cage in particular, Rex noticed a tiny, baby creature hiding in the corner. It seemed to be terrified of the squad as it curled up into the wall as much as it could. Horrified, it watched as each of its cell mates were being put down right in front of its eyes.
One of the clones walked up to its cage reloading his gun. He pointed it at the tiny creature's head ready to immediately put it out of its misery, but Fives quickly stopped him before he could pull the trigger and called Rex over.
"Sir. This one appears to be different. It looks afraid rather than angry, and it doesn't appear to be as mutated as all of the others."
The men examined the cage for more information before finding a label. On it, it said Eoraptor, Velociraptor, and Zillo Beast Mix. Rex narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet. He found a small lock on the cage.
"Soldier. See if you can break it open," he ordered one of the clones. "The rest of you, continue what you were doing, but be on the lookout for anymore creatures that act like this one."
Unfortunately, when they finally regrouped after covering the whole room, only the raptor was left alive. The rest of the creatures already seemed too far gone.
"I got it!" one of the men shouted as he finally was able to unlock the younger raptor's cage door.
"Good job Case," Rex stated before slowly heading towards the cage. The raptor stayed curled up in the corner of the cage. With each step forward Rex took, the raptor grew more and more scared while whimpering.
"How do we get it out?" a clone asked in concern.
The raptor was making soft clicking noises as if trying to communicate with them. Case narrowed his eyes. To him, it sounded a lot like morse code. He responded back to the raptor by making soft clicking noises of his own with his tongue. The raptor quieted before looking over at Case and replying herself with soft chirping noises.
Rex watched in amazement as she slowly walked over to Case. Case reached out his hand, and she went up to sniff it before growling and slowly backing up. She let out a soft call and went back into her corner.
"How did you know it would go up to you?" asked one of the clones in wonder.
Case then pointed out her claw as it tapped out morse code sounding noises.
"She appears to know morse code," he replied.
"How do you know it's a girl?" Fives asked while nudging him in the shoulder playfully.
"She told me."
"Then what's her name?" asked Rex.
Case narrowed his eyes once again before clicking out another message to the young raptor. She just stared at him before looking down in despair.
"I don't think she has one," Case said sadly.
"Well, let's get her back to base to have her examined. At least we have one survivor," Rex stated.
The raptor looked up fearfully as they slowly began to approach her. She was unsure on whether or not she wanted to make a run for the exit. Making her decision when one of the clones got a little too close to her, she immediately jumped up and ran for the exit. Fives quickly managed to scoop her up. The young raptor immediately started snapping at his hands and crying out for help. She felt unsafe in his arms.
"Here. Give her to me. I think she trusts me a bit more," said Case as he gently took her from Fives's arms. Her whines began to grow softer. Although she felt safer with Case, she was still scared of being held against her will. She felt trapped once again.
"Easy. I've got you," Case said calmly as he gently pet her head. "I promise I won't let anything hurt you."
She whined a bit more, unfamiliar with the soft gesture.
Rex looked at his comm when it blinked up at him. As he answered it, he told the clone on the other end that they had found one survivor and that they were returning with it. He also mentioned how this survivor was also being a bit difficult and that they would need a gunship in order to get them all to safety.