Casey had been working on her petri dishes since she had lost her samples due to some Vegas thugs. She had been trying to get back to the point she was at before they came and broke everything.
"Dr. Mathews?" Burt knocked on the door.
"Come on in," Casey was looking through the microscope. "Roger will be in shortly."
"We need your help," Burt spoke in a serious tone.
It drew her attention. "What is it?"
Burt nodded. Larry brought in 7-13 with Tyler behind them.
"Who is that?" Casey sensed there was something dangerous from 7-13.
"He's from the lab," Burt nodded.
"Isn't that the other doctor's expertise?" Casey was about to look back into her scope. "He should be at her facility not mine. Unless he escaped and then he is mine."
7-13 started to snarl. Casey flinched.
"Ah, she didn't mean it like that," Larry waved his hands in front of him. "One pair. Remember?"
"One pair," 7-13 narrowed his eyes at her as he nodded.
Larry got giddy. "It's so cool! My bloggers are going to love this! I can't even right now! I just can't!"
They ignored him. "She's gone," Tyler got back to the point.
"She's not supposed to leave," Casey heart pounded.
"Everything's gone," Burt added. "Whole damn lab is now bare bones. Walls, ceilings, stairs, and whatever lived in there is gone. Even Mixmaster."
Casey blinked several times. "What?! Mixmaster is gone! Th-that's-how? What? When?" She stood up, knocking her stool over.
"Last night!" Burt came over to her. "Didn't even disturb El Blanco or create any large seismic activity."
"Then why do you need my help?" Casey didn't understand.
"Maybe they contacted you," Tyler added. "Or gave you some new mission. It could be a clue or a key to why they hurried their progress."
Casey headed over to her computer. She didn't receive anything new from her boss. "Nothing yet, but maybe when Roger gets back we can ask him. He is getting more equipment. Let's start at the beginning. When was the last time you heard from the scientist?"
"Around the time Wes got hurt," Burt nodded. "She notified me about the accident."
"Then those toasters looking things came and she had to shut them off," Tyler added.
"That was during our quarantine," Casey wrote down some notes.
"That was the last time we saw her, but there was a person who drove to her site," Tyler looked between them.
Casey looked up from her notes. "Did you see the person?"
"No, but it was a new Land Rover," Tyler described. "It stayed for about two days, maybe three."
"And no sign of her since," Casey kept jotting down notes.
"I went to her site, there was nothing, everything was neat and clean, no signs of struggle except for the lab entrance," Burt mentioned. "It looked like there was some struggle. There was a man's footprint with hers. Then Patricia asked us for help. Someone was terrorizing her."
"I found seven-thirteen at night," Larry gave a soft smile.
"Seven-thirteen?" Casey raise an eyebrow.
"That's his name," Larry nodded. "Except he wasn't terrorizing anyone. He was with me the whole time. I was teaching him how to communicate with us."
"Oh-kay," Casey took a breath in. "Seven-thirteen, when did you last see the scientist?" He didn't understand.
"I'll help," Larry interpreted. "One pair. The big sound one pair made."
7-13 slammed his hand on the counted. Casey flinched while Tyler and Burt rolled their eyes. "One pair made big sound. Found one pair."
"And?" Casey tried to get more information. "How was one pair?"
"Sleep," 7-13 mimed.
"She was asleep? Concussion," Casey jolted. "She fell from the entrance?!" Burt nodded. Burt mouthed the word pushed. Casey was now scared. "I need more information."
Larry nodded. "Did you protect one pair?" 7-13 nodded. "At the place she made big sound?" 7-13 shook his head. "Tell me the story of you and one pair." His smile started to get bigger.
7-13 nodded. "One pair made big sound. Found one pair sleeping. One pair was same as me." They could see where this was heading. Tyler and Burt let out a small groan. "Far-time since same as me. Far-time but one pair perfect. Took one pair home. Friends liked one pair. Friends hated one pair. Made all friends like one pair. God liked one pair. God covered home with feel good. Friends made more. All made more. Took one pair back to big sound. One pair not there. One pair gone. Left home to find one pair. One pair has more. Me to protect more and one pair."
There was silence after his story. "I can assume God is Mixmaster and one pair is our doctor and more is what I think it means." Casey jotted down a few words.
"Yep," Tyler nodded.
"Wow," Casey needed a drink or two. "Then when you went back to the lab and everything with her site are gone?" They nodded. "And here we are."
"Casey!" Roger came bursting through the door. He glanced at them before focusing on her. "Headquarters! They say all of this area is ours!"
"We know, anything else?" Casey and the others were hoping for something more.
"Yeah," Roger scrunched his face since he just heard from their boss. "The other scientist won't be coming back."
"Won't or can't?" Casey asked.
"Won't, why?" Roger replied.
"Long story," Casey waved her hand. "We'll catch you up."
At headquarters, in the quarantine room, Rose started to wake up. She moved her arm to rub her forehead. She let out a groan. "Caswell, let's not go to the lab, I have a bad feeling about it." The workers around her froze in fear of stopping her story.
"How so?" A worker asked through his suit.
"I had a confrontation with one of the creatures in the lab," Rose's voice was low. "I think I had a nightmare because of it."
"What kind of creature?"
"A feline type of creature," Rose explained. "I was in a lab but it attacked me. I barely escaped."
"And your nightmare?"
"I dreamt that I fell and I had woken up in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory where the kid falls in the chocolate river," Rose laughed. "It was like that but it different. There were lots of animals-no creatures like the ones I've been working on. Then pollen like substance started to float in the air. It was arousing. I must be just as deprived as you are since there was a man in my dream almost like those creatures and we partook in coitus." She gave out another nervous chuckle. "You must think I'm weird but that's what happened."
The worker looked to his boss for help. The one in charge was signaling to keep asking questions. The assistant turned his attention back on Rose.
"Was he as good as me?" The guy made faces as he tried to convey it right. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes at his embarrassing statement he just made.
"I don't compare," Rose corrected. "It was just a dream. No need to be jealous. Anyways, he couldn't speak only made animal type of sounds. I tried to communicate with him. It was almost as if I was Jane and he was Tarzan. He picked up some words."
"What words did you teach him?" The guy kept his posture even though he hated how it was going along.
"'Magical'," Rose smiled as her arm was still over her eyes. "He learned how to use the word 'again' too quickly." She laughed. "I'm going to have to write this dream down. It's too interesting. I can't remember the rest but then the dream stopped after meeting all the creatures. There was a certain aroma before it stopped but I can't remember it. And now here we are, with me telling you that I may have gotten too much sun." There was silence. The guy started to back away from her slowly.
"Was this true?" The female assistant asked the guy in charge.
"Every word of it," he watched the worker get out the zone in time with the door closing them off. "Those videos are under my care. I have let some clips expose only for science. The clips that contain those two are under a tight passcode."
Rose heard the shutting of a door. She moved her arm to open her eyes. It was unfamiliar. She felt different now that she focused on herself. She jerked her head to take in her surroundings. "Caswell?" She pulled herself up. "What's going on?"
The guy in charge came to the glass window. Rose knew he was familiar. "Dr. Frankenstein, welcome back." He watched her realize the truth. The horror and fear made her hit the back of the bed. "Your dream was reality."
"Where's Caswell?" Rose clutched her blankets.
"He brought you back," he informed. "He knows that you are quarantined but nothing else. He is restricted from all information unless I give him access. There is a small list of those who know of your state and of the lab. I can give you access to certain information if you do the same for us. Once you are stabilized enough, you can continue your work from inside there."
"Or else I'm a lab rat," Rose breathed her fear away to rationality.
"Isn't that how all of us end up?" He rebutted.
Rose nodded. "Alright. I just told you my dream that was reality. Repercussions?"
"You're pregnant," he smiled.
Rose gave a small pout as she took the truth in. It took her a few minutes to process that information. "Understandable. Mixmaster was in the mix. Hence why I am here. Any other interesting changes to my body?"
"Lots of samples indicating Mixmaster," he informed. "Nothing that changed your health drastically as becoming a mother."
"You got the whole lab here too," Rose followed her IV line to see what was feeding into her. "Is he here?"
"Yes, we got the whole lab in one night," he nodded. "When you become stabilized we can take a tour of the lab."
"You have us like ants," she crossed her arms. "In a terrarium. You replicated the levels and reformed the lab." She raised up one of fingers to stop him from speaking. "It was one of the plans we had for lab. Best route for observation but in a controlled setting. I would like to see it. Again, I guess. You never answered my question, is the father to my child here?"
"No," he stood his ground. "He wasn't there but," he had a devilish gin. "He did try to make a nest for you in your trailer."
"What?" Rose leaned towards him.
"He marked his territory," he nodded. "He must be searching for you. We may need to use you as bait to bring him in. Dr. Casey Mathews will be taking over that area since your job there is done. We sent a team out to capture and retrieve him."
"And Wes?" Rose was hopeful.
"Here still," he was handed some papers. He shifted through it. "Recovering. Also, just a heads up, we may just wipe the whole valley clean."
"Clean?" Rose didn't understand.
"Clean, make it seem as if Mixmaster never came into that town," he warned. "We can erase memories, delete records, files, videos, etcetera."
"We have the technology," Rose quoted.