16th July 2013
The quarantine has been in place now for over twelve hours, and it seems the disease, or weapon, or whatever it is, had been stopped in its tracks. With patrols constantly sweeping the base for any sign of the mysterious plague, and the whole medical centre sealed behind three foot of solid steel blast doors, it seemed like the whole affair couldn't get any worse, and ,in a weird way, things seemed to be going better. The sight of Captain Leden's heavily armed platoon marching down to the reactor level seemed to have put everyone's minds at rest. Everybody now thinks things are going well, that the dark times are over.
How wrong they are.
It was late in the evening when I finally discovered the nightmares that are still threatening our fragile existence in this place. It had seemed pretty innocent when I walked down to the main laboratory, a small area of the base that hasn't been used for anything more than storage since we got here. I just assumed that we were having our officer's meeting here because it was a bit more private. I was wrong.
Antonov was already there with Talos, standing in front of a glass walled isolation chamber, currently shrouded in thick steel shutters. As we all filed in, Captain Leden's absence still not strange, ten hours since he went down to the reactor level, Antonov was the first to speak.
"Ah, so glad you could all join us down here." He said with mock politeness "First I have to congratulate you on your efforts in keeping this vile plague out of our bunker. However, your efforts were not entirely successful."
As he said this a collective stab of fear hit every officer assembled, except the Spetnatz commander, who merely grinned.
"Of course it's nothing serious." Antonov added. "But we have managed to isolate a particularly advanced case of this plague, and this is what I would like to present to you now."
As he said this steel shutters slid up, and we saw a soldier lying on a slab in the centre, deathly pale, his coughs muffled by the soundproof glass.
"This is Private Zeitokovsky, and he generously volunteered to be our little test subject. Now, you have come here at a critical point in the virus' evolution, the final product…so to speak."
At that point we all watched, in horror, as the man started to cough even more, vomiting everywhere, the green slime we had all come to hate splashing across the spotless white room. And then, his silent howls putting chills down my spine, it suddenly all stopped.
In the strange clam, Antonov spoke into a radio mounted on the wall.
"Ok, good so far. Now put the sound from the chamber onto the speakers. I want to hear everything" he added coldly.
The crackle of the speakers coming online almost made me shit myself, but I still watched, in horrified curiosity, the, what I can only describe as nightmarish, process.
As we all watched, a horrifying and sickening squelching sound filled the air, and the man's body began to…
I don't know how to describe it. Don't even know why I'm writing this shit down and not vomiting all over this diary like I should be.
He just, expanded and mutated, all sound played over the speakers, the crack of bone the… no I'm not writing that part down.
He just…dissolved…into this mass of flesh, and then the real horror began.
"This is the final stage of the virus, the 'amoeba' or 'biomass' stage." Antonov said slowly, ignoring the sounds of everyone in the room vomiting over the floor in disgust, and he only walked up to the glass and peered at the gently pulsating mass that had once been a man in quiet reflection, like a person studies a piece of art.
That's when it jumped.
It smacked straight into the reinforced glass, and even the mighty Antonov was scared now, as a fleshy mouth on the underside began opening and closing, the whole mass stretched out like a fucking starfish
Then the crack of glass filled the air.
That's when all hell broke loose. All I remember is everybody running from the room in a stampede, Antonov fucking screaming in anger and fear, Makarov pointed straight at that…thing, on the glass. Then two men in hazmat suits ran into the isolation chamber, AK's in hand, and fired at the thing, the bullets smacking into its back like pebbles in water. The Spetnatz commander was just howling, firing his AK 2012 on full auto at it even as the steel shutters rolled down with a clatter.
But it could still be heard on the other side slamming against the shutters, and Antonov staggered to a large red button on the wall. I was at the door when he pressed it, and there was the roar of flame and screaming from the chamber as I ran from the room and passed out in the corridor.
Authors note
I know what you're thinking, pretty dark and unfortunately very graphic, but, if this is anything to go by, things can only get worse... As always, feel free to review and comment and the next instalment will be up tomorrow.