Kwai kwai everyone! It pleases me that I managed to write this chapter so quickly, considering my pattern of taking long breaks between chapters. I hope you all enjoy the read. Remember to leave a review or send me a PM!
Chapter 11: Solus
Over fifty six million kilometers away from the planet Earth, a red planet orbited around the solar system's star. Mars, the fourth planet from the sun and one of the first celestial bodies humans ever colonized, was very slowly rotating through space. Leo Colony was one of the largest colonies on the red planet.
Various metal buildings stood up on the flat plane it was built on, yet a thick wall surrounded the colony to protect the residents from dust storms. Being within the Tharsis region, the colony was shadowed over by Pavonis Mons, a now inactive volcano. The sky above the colony was a rich butterscotch color while the sun shined brightly despite the brownish gray clouds that occasionally blocked its gaze.
The oxygen levels on the planet have greatly risen, thanks to the involvement of terraforming. It was perfectly safe to be outside without any assistance, but that didn't change the fact that the planet's atmosphere was tremendously cold. If one were to go outside, it was best to wear multiple layers of clothing. But the fact that humans could survive on the planet was thanks to Wayland-Yutani's colonization program.
Leo Colony housed a population of over 22,000,000 people. Since it was midday, many people were working while the children attended school. Around the outskirts of the colony, near the massive wall, two individuals were walking together while they held hands. One was a man and the other was a woman. The two of them were bundled up in thick clothes to protect them from the cold climate of the red planet, yet their heads were fully exposed.
The couple made small talk and occasionally laughed while they made their way down a gravel walkway towards the nearby shipping lane. Both were holding traveling bags and the man even had a backpack on. Where they were planning on going wasn't clear, but what mattered was that they wanted off Mars.
As the couple walked and moved past the occasional tourist, a man suddenly stepped out from behind one of the tall buildings close by. This man was wearing a thick, blue coat with the hood pulled over his head, making it hard to see his face. White mist appeared over his shadowed over face as he exhaled into the cold air. In his gloved hand, he tightly clenched onto the handle of a kitchen knife.
The hooded man stood there silently and watched the couple, as if contemplating what to do. However, he stood there for no more than ten seconds before he suddenly started running towards the happy couple. From the sound of his heavy footsteps, the woman looked over her shoulder to see the rushing man and let out a horrified scream. Her partner noticed the attacker and attempted to shield the woman, but was awarded with the knife being sliced across his throat. His eyes widened in horror and he began to gurgle as he fell to the ground. Red blood spurted from his neck as he lied on the ground with the hooded man standing over him. The woman just kept screaming for help before she too was silenced and the local police force rushed to the scene with their weapons at the ready…
Linwood's brown eyes widened suddenly as he let out a startled gasp. The quick beating of his heart practically echoed in his ears as he let out heavy breaths. He quickly raised a hand to his forehead and he let out heavy breaths. His body was in a cold sweat and the air felt cold.
The bald man was confused. Where was he? His eyes darted around the light room he was in and his shoulders slumped. It was clear now. He remembered where he was. Aipaloovik VII; the ocean world where he had been cut open against his will. But something was different. But what?
His hands! The inmate looked down at his hands to see that they were no longer restrained. When he rose up his upper body, he was pleased to see that his ankles were also free. The leather cuffs were uselessly hanging from the side of the medical bed he was on. Not only that, but there were no silhouettes in the nearby window, and the door leading presumably to that room was open.
"What the fuck…?" Linwood thought aloud with a hoarse voice and he swung his legs over the side of the bed.
When his bare feet touched the tiled floor, the bald man flinched and quickly raised his legs again. He sighed and tried to rest his feet against the floor again, this time expecting the cold, before he stood up. All he was wearing was a medical gown that was an aqua color. There were thick laces tied around his waist and around his neck to keep the garment in place. But other than that, he was completely naked. A deep frown plastered his face when he felt the cold air against his backside, but he had no way to cover it. It was his wish to get some normal clothes as soon as possible, but first, he had to figure out what the hell was going on.
Still tired from whatever drugs he had been exposed to, the inmate stumbled towards the open doorway and into the other room, which was just as cold as whatever cell he had been put in. Something wasn't right however. The air smelled wrong and tasted of iron. Upon looking to his right, the source of the strange smell and taste was revealed. The corpse of an officer was slumped over the office desk. Blood was splashed onto the nearby wall and the monitor in front of the corpse. And what was worse, some flies were buzzing around the corpse.
Linwood felt repulsed by this macabre site. Bile quickly rose up his throat, but he managed to swallowed to keep it down. He raised a hand over his mouth and nose before he stormed out of the room and into the hallway outside. He gasped for air once outside and he rested his hands on his knees. He may be no stranger to death, but he despised dead bodies. Seeing a still, lifeless body filled him with unease.
The sound of alarms blared through the hallway he was in and the inmate looked up finally to see that yellow lights were flashing upon the ceiling. The main lights had also dimmed slightly, which made the hall appear darker whenever the alarm lights went out. When the bald man looked either way he could go, both sides appeared the same, almost like he was a mouse in a maze. Something was wrong. That was no secret.
"WARNING! ALL LOCAL TEST CHAMBERS RELEASED! EVACUATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY!" the robotic voice of Brother echoed through the halls
That definitely didn't sound good. Groaning softly, the inmate turned right and began to walk. He didn't like how cold the tiled floor was and he gently rested his hand against the metal wall while he walked. He only managed to walk a short distance when he gasped and clenched his head with his freehand. His head started pounding; he felt a throbbing pain right behind his eyes. He felt this feeling once before, but why was it happening all of a sudden. He was never prone to headaches before he came to this god forsaken place.
"My… head…" he grunted and fell to his knees. "What… did you bastards do to me…" he growled.
A loud clang suddenly gained the man's attention. An echoed banging noise rang down the hall from somewhere behind him and he shakily looked over to see what it was. The hallway was empty however, yet the clanging sounded as if it was getting closer. His heart thumped in his chest as his eyes darted around, trying to find the source of the sound. Finally, he felt the instinct to look up.
Not only were there the lights on the ceiling, but there was also the barred grating of an air duct. He squinted his watery eyes to see something dark moving. His heart practically skipped a beat when he saw the creature. It was the same type of creature that the doctor sicked on him whenever he was last awake, he was sure of it. Were these the subjects that voice spoke of earlier?
This monster noisily made its way towards him via the bent, its claws clanging against the metal as it moved. But it stopped once it was directly above him. Linwood let out quick, fearful breaths as he stared at the creature. Despite how dark it was, he could just barely see its silver teeth snarling at him. It knew he was there. And as it seemed to stare at him, his headache pounded in his head with vicious tenacity.
A slow, inhuman growl echoed out from the creature. Then, as soon as it arrived, the creature speedily bolted down the vent and it turned to the left at the intersection. Linwood just stared with horror in the direction the monster left. Its scraping claws slowly faded away as the creature moved further and further away until there was nothing but the sound of the alarms. But strangely enough, his headache went away after the creature left.
The convict finally let out that breath he hadn't even realized he was holding in. Sweat slid down his face and onto the cold floor. With shaky legs, he managed to stand up again. He wanted to leave before that creature decided to come back for him, but there was no way in hell he'd go the same way it was heading.
Without any hesitation, Linwood slowly turned right and began to walk down the new hall. He didn't even bother to check the sign to see where he was going, he just wanted to leave. Was that creature why there was no one around? He remembered two of them in the same room as him the last time he was awake. But that didn't explain that dead guy's bullet wound earlier. That thing was definitely the same type of creature from before. Try as he may, he couldn't understand why or how they got out of their cells.
'It isn't safe here. I need to find a place to hide or something.' he thought to himself.
The new hallway the bald man found himself in was very similar to the previous one. However, he flinched when he stepped in something wet, which made him stop in his tracks. Upon looking down, he saw small puddles of blood on the floor. The man's face wrinkled as he frowned. His eyes followed the trail of blood to none other than the circular entrance to the ventilation system.
Usually the ground-based entrances were closed by a small metal opening that would spread open. However, the entrance to the vent was torn apart. Pieces of steel littered the floor around the entrance. Linwood could only imagine how horrible it'd be for one of those monsters to drag him in there. Instinctively, he raised a hand to his throat and he briefly touched his neck. Shaking the thought out of his head, he looked down at the floor again. It occurred to him that whoever used to be here might've left something behind.
Not too far away from his feet, a ratchet was lying on the floor. The inmate approached the fallen tool and bent down to pick it up. Thankfully, there was no blood on it. It was made of stainless steel and it sported a dark rubber grip. Even though it was only a simple tool, the ratchet could hurt someone quite bad if it was swung hard enough. Besides, it was better than being completely unarmed.
Standing up again, Linwood tightly held the ratchet and he slowly continued on his way, doing his best not to step in the blood again. There was a metal door on the other side of the hallway. Before he stepped any closer to the room, he looked over to the right of the door, which held a white sign that read "Imaging Diagnostics" in a bright yellow font. When he was close enough to the door, a small sensor in the center of the entrance detected his presence. This caused the door to slide open by itself, allowing him to enter.
Wordlessly, Linwood stepped into the dimly lit room. There were no sirens or flashing lights here, which was a relief. The lone man flinched and quickly spun around to see the door slide shut behind him. He let out a small sigh of relief and turned around again to look around.
The room's main lights on the ceiling were switched off, which darkened the room quite a bit. However, several computer monitors lining the wall introduced some light. There was also a table lamp that was switched on in the corner, but the light was rather dim. The inmate glanced at each of the computers. Some displayed medical files and charts while others displayed images of the human respiratory system.
Seeing nothing interesting, he turned to look on the other side of the room. There was a medical bed against the wall. Leather restraints were attached to the bed, similar to the one he had been resting on lately. It seemed that patients would be strapped down here. But there was some kind of machine hanging from the ceiling above the bed. If he had to guess, he'd say it was an x-ray machine.
What Linwood noticed next both confused and somewhat intrigued him. There were pictures hanging all along the wall in front of him. They were x-rays, but each one displayed the same part of the human body, the ribcage. The bones were lit up by a bright, neon blue light that shined behind the pictures. There was something wrong with the x-rays however. In each one, there was what looked like a loop or hollow circle. No, it wasn't a full circle. One end was pointed and thin, but the other end of the loop was much thicker and round. The inmate squinted his eyes as he looked at the anomaly. Then his eyes widened. The anomaly, whatever it was, had a set of sharp teeth. And arms too. There was something living in those people!
Unknown to the inmate, there was someone hiding under one of the computer desks in that very room. Doctor Jessica Len was doing her best to not make any noises. She had been working in this very room when the alarms initially went off. She was visibly frightened. One of her hands was clenched over her mouth and nose to muffle the sounds of her breathing. She saw the convict's feet when he came in and had been staying silent as he observed the x-rays.
Slowly, she peeked her head out from under the desk. The lone man wasn't looking at her, much to her relief. The only thought that ran through her head was to escape. The young doctor slowly inched her way into the open and got up to her feet. Her legs were wobbling violently from fright. She glanced over at the door before she looked at the man. If she was going to do this, she had to do it now.
Linwood on the other hand, was still observing the strange creature in the x-rays. He wanted to know more about these things. Considering the slightly different positions each one was in, he assumed that each x-ray was of a different individual. However, something didn't feel right. In the back of his mind, he had the feeling that he was being watched. Wanting to at least make sure he was safe, he turned around to scan the room.
It was at that moment that the convict and doctor made eye contact. Her eyes resembled that of a deer in the headlights of a moving car. Her chest rapidly rose and fell from her quickened breathing. The woman suddenly turned around and began to run. Linwood barred his teeth however and lurched back before he hurled his ratchet at her with all his might.
The tool spun through the air before hit the back of Doctor Len's head. She cried out in pain and stumbled to the floor with a crash. The tool itself clang to the floor and she painfully clenched her occiput, which was now bleeding. Tears escaped her eyes as she sobbed in pain and fear. The man's footsteps drew near and she looked up to watch him speedily pick up the ratchet. His dark eyes glared down at her as he raised the tool again, which in turn, made her cry out in fear.
"Move and I'll hit you." he warned.
Still crying heavily, Jessica shakily nodded. The man lowered his tool at that point, but only to about waist height. For a while, he silently watched her. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but it was quite clear that he was fully willing to hurt her if she didn't do what he wanted. She knew of his criminal history, which only served to terrify her even more.
"What's going on here?" he asked coldly.
"I… I…" the doctor hiccupped and trembled.
"For fuck's sake, stop crying." Linwood hissed. "How did those things get out?" he clarified.
"One… one of the other prisoners. He escaped and released all the subjects on this floor." she answered with a sniff and she tried to blink away her constantly flowing tears.
"Who escaped?" the convict demanded harshly.
"A-Aaron something… I don't remember his last name." the doctor answered shakily.
Aaron Makov, Linwood figured. This answer made him wonder where Aaron and the other convicts were. Did they go through some kind of surgery like he did? He had so many questions to ask, but there probably wasn't much time to ask with those things wandering around out there.
"Where is he now?" the bald man demanded and he raised his tool a little higher in a threatening manner.
"I… I don't know. Please don't hurt me…" she sobbed.
Jessica watched with fear as the man before her sneered down at her. She couldn't have known that he was sneering because of a headache he was getting. He groaned quietly and he had the urge to rub his temples, but he refrained from it. The last thing he wanted to do was show any weakness.
"What did you people do to me…?" he groaned, but it sounded more like a growl to the doctor.
"We… we connected your hormones with th-their hive mind." Jessica answered shakily.
"I know that!" Linwood snapped, making the young woman cower in fear, still clenching the back of her head. "These headaches, dammit! Why do I have these headaches!?" he yelled at her.
"It's… it's your brain processing the…"
Jessica was sobbing heavily at this point and she had a hard time talking. Right as she was about to continue, a dark blur shot down from the open vent just above her head. Doctor Len's eyes widened with fear and she screamed at the top of her lungs as six fingered hands firmly gripped her by the head. The pitch black creature hissed menacingly and with great strength, pulled her upwards. Her legs uselessly kicked the air as she was pulled into the ventilation system, within the darkness.
As soon as the creature came, it was gone. Linwood stared at the open vent with horror in his eyes. He could still hear Jessica screaming from somewhere in the vents, but her voice was silenced abruptly. The convict let out some shaky breaths and he backed away.
'Oh my god. That thing just killed someone!' he screamed in his head.
It was never his intention to kill her. He wanted to knock her out or something; at least, that was what he kept telling himself. Linwood kept his eyes locked on the ventilation shaft and very slowly moved his way towards the door. He made sure he never stood directly under the entrance to the air ducts. Once the door beeped and opened from his presence, he turned on his heel and sprinted down the hallway. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed to find a way out of this place. Somewhere to hide.
