Chapter One: Break In
The night was dark and gloomy. The stars were outshone by light pollution from the city. The moon wasn't even out, so in the forest outside the city the only light came from the city itself. The deeper into the forest the less light there was. On top of that, a light fog made seeing beyond one's arm span nearly impossible even with the dimly visible city lights. That didn't stop the five figures from crossing the short stonewall that separated the outskirts of the city from the forest.
They dashed through the woods with only the occasional snap of a twig under foot or jacket snagged on a branch to slow them. They stopped at a van that was sitting idle on an old dirt road. "You kids sure you want to come along for this?" asked the tallest of the five.
"You bet we are. I was gonna do this anyway even before you offered to help!" said another, receiving a "SHHHHHH" from all the others.
"A bit too enthusiastic, aren't we?" chuckled the tall figure. "Now come on, into the van. It's about a ten mile drive there, and we don't have much time."
Although ten miles wasn't much, it was enough to leave the dim lights of the city behind. The van sped down the dirt road surprisingly quietly. The trip was made mostly in silence except when the van hit a bump and the passengers were tossed around.
"Get your foot off my face!"
"Sorry Tara!"
"I think I lost a tooth"
"Quit complaining Mark, at least you aren't being crushed to death!"
"Jeese Mary, I'm off. Happy?"
"Shut it back there! I need to concentrate in this fog!"
The van was silent for the remainder of the trip, aside from Mark's groaning. "We're here," announced the driver.
"Finally. Could you drive any slower Trev?"
"Quiet Lars! We're right outside the facility"
"The wha?"
"Building moron."
The five moved from the van to the building quickly and fairly quietly. It was only a one-story building, but it was huge nonetheless. The tall one, Trev, led the group to the door. "Alright Tara, get us in."
The girl pulled something from her pocket and pushed it into the pad lock on the door. She twisted it and the lock opened.
"Good job. Let's move," Trev once more took the lead. They entered the building and ran down white walled corridors, passing doors labeled things like "Medicinal Products", "Food Products", "Product Storage", and "Product Testing". They slowed when they reached "Product Testing" and "Storage". The group finally stopped at a door marked "Test Animals".
"Alright. Mark, Tara, Lars, take care of the animals. Mary and I will sabotage some of the machines further down the hall.
"But I wanna do the sabotage! Mary likes animals more anyway! Come on, you know I live for this stuff and I swear I'll tear your bike apart when we get home if you don't take me-"
"LARS! Shut up." Hissed Trev. Mary, help these two release the animals while me and the baby take care of the machinery."
"Kay" she replied indifferently.
***
Trev and Lars took off down the hallway leaving Tara, Mark and Mary to their job. Once more Tara pulled out the object she'd used to open the pad lock and stuck it in the door's lock. The door creaked open. "Your dad's skeleton key really is useful," remarked Mary. "How'd you get him to-"
"Stole it" Tara replied nonchalantly. They stepped into the room to be greeted with howls, whines, hisses, and all sorts of animal noises. "How many animals do they have in here?" Asked Tara over the din.
"I don't know," said Mark. Glancing around the room there were dozens of cages in rows stacked on top of each other. Some held domestic animals, mostly dogs and some large cats. Some held animals that were native to the nearby woods, coyotes, wolves, rabbits, deer, and in one cage a mountain lion. There were a few chimps, too.
"Remember what Trev said. Release the calm ones, sedate the carnivores, and replace the sedatives in some of the," Mark looked around the room for something. His eyes spotted what he was looking for and he smiled. ", Syringes," he said as he walked to a table against one of the walls. ", With the stuff he gave us." he finished as he emptied ten syringes of their contents refilling each of them with the stuff Trev had given them. Tara was doing the same thing next to him, and Mary was looking into one of the cages with a rabbit inside.
"You're so cute!" she whispered.
"Mary! We don't have forever! Start letting them out of their cages." Mark sighed. Mary was so easily distracted.
"Mark," Tara said
"Huh?"
"You just jabbed yourself with that needle."
Mark quickly removed the needle from his hand and suppressed tears.
"That went deep," said Tara, poking his hand, "It's a good thing you didn't push it in or you'd be out for hours"
"Stop it!" Mark hissed angrily. "And save some of the sedatives. We'll need 'em for the wolves."
After Mark and Tara finished their work with the syringes they turned to the cages behind them. Mary had already released most of the dogs and all of the cats, most of which were laying on the ground growling or whimpering. Mary was once more staring at the rabbits.
"For the love of-. Mary you're not five!" Whispered Mark as loudly as he could.
"Leave her be, Mark. We'll take care of the rest of them," said Tara. She and Mark released the rest of the calm animals. Some still growled or barked angrily in their cages. Those that had been released seemed to understand what was going on, scratching at the door the trio had entered through. Mary was stroking the rabbit in her lap. It seemed content. Mark and Tara then moved to the violent wild animals. The majority of them were surprisingly calm; the rest bared their teeth, some foaming at the mouth.
Mark attempted to get the needle through the bars of the first coyote's cage. It lashed out in his direction when he came too close. While he provided this distraction, Tara injected the rabid animal from behind with one of the remaining sedative syringes. The two did this for three more coyotes, two wolves, two angry cats, and a vicious chimp.
This method continued to work until all of the wild animals were sedated, their cages open. Only the lion remained.
***
She watched them both as they approached her cage. The boy moved to the front saying "nice kitty" as he came closer with the needle showing behind his back. The creature let a growl escape her mouth as the boy neared, the real threat coming up from behind. Just as the boy stabbed and pulled back, the lion whirled around. Her jaws sank into the girl's hand. The other occupants of the room, the conscious ones that is, turned to see the source of the disturbance. As she prepared to pull the pathetic girl's hand from her wrist, sleepiness suddenly overcame the lioness
***
Tara was in immense pain. Her hand was bleeding far worse than Marks had, and they had no gauze or bandages so she had to use a cloth torn from her sleeve to prevent the bleeding. Still, if Mark hadn't acted as quickly as he had, she might have lost blood and a hand.
"Are you sure that will stop the bleeding?" asked an uncertain Mark.
"Done it a bunch of times. It's easy to get cut jumping fences and crap."
"Guys, the bunny bit me."
"HAVE YOU BEEN PAYING ANY ATTENTION?" shouted Mark
"Who was screaming?"
"That's a no," stated Tara.
"I hope Trev is doing better than we are," said Mark to no one in particular.
***
"This is Signet. I've got an unmarked van out back in the woods. Check license number 5740J43. Signet out."