Their biggest problem - or maybe just their first problem - was that the creatures knew where they were. If they moved, the heat signature in the corridor followed them. It might be sound, vibrations or heat that was the problem, which meant they had to eliminate all the options. Removing their shoes and sliding along the relatively smooth surface of the floor, the two doctors were able to make their way to a hatch on the other side of the tunnel to the botanics lab. There was one main entrance, and five tunnel entrances into the room. All but the main entrance was closed. Although Julien tried to shut it remotely, it stayed open. The hatch they slipped through was as far from that entrance as possible - as were the creatures - as far as they could tell anyway.
As slowly as they worked, they couldn't avoid making sound and vibration trying to open the hatch. Julien who was watching the movements of the creatures on his display stared intently, silent. Dr. Santos took that as a good sign and continued working at the bolts.
Panel free, Dr. Santos swung the door slowly open, ready to pull it back quickly. The lab appeared empty. No movement. No blood. Dr. Santos had been half terrified of finding the lab had been attacked. No blood meant the staff here had probably managed to evacuate. They hoped. Slowly, quietly, Dr. Santos stepped one foot out and then the next. Still no movement. They looked at Julien, still in the dark tunnel, face lit up like a camper telling ghost stories. Julien nodded and followed behind.
Carefully gliding across the room, Dr. Santos started on opening the hatch to the tunnel on the other side of the lab. This one led to the tunnel on the outer wall of the building. Once it was open, they pulled out their device to see where the creatures were. They had not moved far - possibly meaning they didn't have heat sensors - but not certain enough for them to risk believing it so. Julien had started gliding across the floor, keeping well clear of any equipment. The last thing they wanted was to make a lot of noise in here.
Dr. Santos glanced down at the display, "evisceration!" he hissed. Coming down the tunnel was a new problem. It was tagged so he could tap to see what it was… a stenonychosaurus. Small enough to fit in the tunnel, and with saw-like teeth that would cut easily through their flesh. Dr. Santos flapped their hand back and forth like a fan trying to get Dr. Jones to hurry. Noticing the movement, Dr. Jones increased his speed. By the time he reached the hatch and closed it, Dr. Santos had gone. They were in a race. No longer concerned about noise, in fact yelling loudly as they ran, Dr. Santos bolted. Ahead of them, they saw what they were looking for. And not far behind that was the shadow of the stenonychosaurus. The dinosaur was slowing down, uncertain of the noise and pace of the creature coming towards it. It even paused and started backing away. That gave Dr. Santos the time they needed to slam their palm on the button by the wall, causing a gate to drop between them. The crash caused the already wary stenonychosaurus to turn and run.
Dashing back to Dr. Jones, Dr. Santos held their caps spray at the ready, but the hatch was already closed and Julien was locking the last bolts in place. "Just in time," Dr. Jones sighed. "They got into the lab." Dr. Santos noticed that there was no blame in the words, though knowing full well the special projects had been alerted to their position by their yelling.
"Just in time on my end too." Dr. Santos scrubbed at their forehead. "We can't use the tunnel on this level."
Dr. Jones pulled up their map. The level above them seemed clear. There were stairs and elevators leading between the levels. The special projects may be able to use the stairs… in fact when Dr. Santos thought about it, they realised the creatures must be able to move between levels since they must have come up from their enclosure below. They shuddered. They would just have to be quiet up there too.
Both doctors slid quietly down the tunnel, away from the gate Dr. Santos had dropped, towards the exit. When they arrived, Dr. Santos stared Dr. Jones in the eye, then shrugged towards the door. Dr. Jones shook his head in reply, then grabbed the ladder built into the wall beside them. They had had this argument during their planning. Dr. Santos had wanted Julien to get out as soon as they reached the outer tunnel. Dr. Julien however didn't want to be outside without a way to track any creatures that escaped. Nor did he want to leave the people they could help behind. If Dr. Santos was going after Dr. Das, then so was Julien.
Dr. Santos shook their head, but really, understood. They could leave just as easily and chose not to. With one longing look at the exit, Dr. Santos followed Julien up the ladder.
The tunnel on the upper floor looked exactly like the one below. They considered exiting into the outer rooms, just to have some breathing space and light, but realised it was smarter to keep taking the tunnel systems. They continued sliding in their almost silent motion. Keeping an eye on the map for surprises they were able to travel swiftly, stopping only once to engage a switching crossroad - another security measure where the corridor met the tunnel. It was a simple mechanism. Stop at the rounded wall, then palm a button to make it rotate 90 degrees. What was once a corridor leading to a bridge to another building became the tunnel they could now cross. Once on the other side, it was a smooth path to the corridor above the school room.
It was possible there were thermo sheaves in other places in the building, even up on this floor, but neither doctor knew where. Dr. Santos however had used them in many scenarios with the children, so was certain there were several sets waiting there. They just had to get back down to the lower level and into the school room without another attack.
Pausing in the tunnel above the school room, they scanned the map. Dr. Santos was flipping back and forth between the motion sensors, heat sensors and tracking devices. Julien however was clearly flicking to the staff trackers as well. "If I flip this crossroad here," Julien muttered. "Then the monster can't reach Drs. Das or Elliot."
"No! What did you do?" Dr. Santos used a louder voice than they had meant to, but the switching crossroad that he just flipped now opened the corridor to the school room. A corridor with … now two creatures in it. "Oh." Dr. Santos saw why. One of the creatures had finally found the open hatch and had been heading towards the other doctors. "Good work. But now we can't get to the thermo sheaves."
"We don't need to." Julien typed on his device and a new message appeared on Dr. Santos display: "Get to the upper level. Make no sound. No vibrations."
"That's risky," Dr. Santos grumbled, but realised it really was the safest option. It was possible a creature would follow someone up here and find them all. But better than them getting cornered in a tunnel.
It was torturous watching the blips on a screen moving along their tunnels, not being able to do anything for them. "Look, that one's moving."
Julien was right. One of the blips in the back conference room was moving. Dr. Santos hadn't wanted to think about those three marks. The back conference room was open to the corridors. There was no reason the creatures hadn't taken them out yet. Unless they were as good as gone.
"Shut the south door." Julien followed the instruction, shutting the door between the two creatures in that corridor.
"What about the north door?"
"I see it," Dr. Santos muttered. The creature that had been tracking Dr. Das was on that side. And one of the creatures to the south had been drawn towards the room, taking a side corridor. "Shut them all!"
Julien gave the command and all the doors shut around the conference space. The creatures were trapped out, but… he zoomed in on the blip… Dr. Locklear was safe for now. "Message him to say what we did. Ask if he is injured."
Impatient for an answer, Dr. Santos flicked through all the settings. There were a few rooms with immobile people. Some were already locked. They may just be the people waiting for rescue. But there was one person in the outdoor classroom. Now that the school room was open, it wouldn't take much for a creature to get through the door to the outdoor space - it wasn't a security door. With no alternate access there wasn't a need for one. Somehow they had to keep the creatures away.
"He says he thinks his arm is broken and his head really hurts," Julien whispered to Dr. Santos returning their attention back to Dr. Locklear.
"I have a plan, if he's up for it." Dr. Santos rubbed his brow roughly. He didn't love it and it relied on different people coordinating in perfect timing. "Wait, we can call him right? Get his contact."
Dr. Santos tried not to think about the outdoor classroom. They deliberately hadn't checked to see who it was. The fact they were in the school area meant they were a close colleague. Dr. Santos just didn't want to know who. A nameless blip was easier to consider. And helping Dr. Locklear would help them anyway.
"Hello," Dr. Locklear answered the call.
"Great to see you alive!" Dr. Santos hadn't interacted with Dr. Locklear at all. They weren't even sure what department he worked for, but they were still happy to see anyone alive.
"Slash it, an actual person. Blood and guts it's good to talk to you."
"Up for a challenge?" Dr. Santos asked. The answer was filled with expletives but was resoundingly affirmative.
Dr. Julien had shown Dr. Santos the door controls they would need, so that Julien could worry about Das and Elliot who had reached this floor. Through the device, they heard banging, crashing - lots of noise. "Four, three, two, one." Dr. Santos counted aloud so that Locklear could hear. Opening both east and west doors simultaneously, Locklear ran out one, across the corridor and into the next conference room. Dr. Santos slammed the door closed behind him, then turned their attention to the creatures. The first had entered the room. The second was close. The first approached the eastern doorway. They couldn't wait any longer. Dr. Santos slammed that door closed. Both creatures backed away - the second away from the room entirely. Well, one was better than none. They shut the western door. Now there were two creatures they didn't need to worry about.
Turning their attention back to Dr. Locklear. "Okay, we trapped one. How are you doing?" Dr. Santos held the phone away from their ear. The response was exuberant. Possibly adrenalin, or maybe just personality. Santos didn't care. They were too busy checking the locations of the creatures. "Okay. This looks good. You've got three outside the south entrance to the room, but you're going out through the north. If you can get something to keep making noise to the south, that might buy you some time. You've gotta get out the door, to your office, which being at the end of the corridor, they could see you if they're not distracted, then unlock your office door and close it behind you. Do you think you're up for it?"
"Hell yeah!" Dr. Santos watched the display carefully as Dr. Locklear moved around the conference room. Suddenly loud noises filled the speaker. He had turned on a TV or a speaker. Perfect. The creatures bunched together at that door. Dr. Santos could remember the scratching and crashing that they had made coming through their office window earlier that day. Fortunately, Dr. Santos couldn't hear them through the device. The sounds became muffled and Dr. Locklear's blip arrived at the northern door. Dr. Santos opened it. The blip moved quickly across and down the corridor. A new idea occurred to Santos. Since they trapped the other one so easily, maybe they could do it again. They slid the northern door closed and opened the opposite door. Two of the heat signatures appeared in the room. Not the third though. It moved away from the doorway. And towards the corridor Dr. Locklear was still at the end of. "Quickly!" Santos shouted into the phone. There was nothing more they could do for him. They slammed the southern door closed - two more trapped - then watched the blip and the heat signature that approached it on the screen. A flicker appeared that said the door was open, the blip moved and the door was closed again.
"Get through the hatch!" Dr. Santos yelled, startling Julien. They wished the offices had CCTV so they could see what was happening. The creature would get through the window soon. Hopefully Locklear had time to get the hatch open in time. Dr. Santos' memory replayed their own race to get through the hatch, creature getting closer, closer…
And then Dr. Locklear's blip appeared in the tunnel. The creature was still outside the office. Dr. Santos breathed a huge sigh and looked across at Julien. "I think he's safe." Noticing Julien's face, they added, "What?"
"Drs. Elliot and Das are fine. They're in this tunnel and headed our way." More relief. It was almost intoxicating. "But they said they heard something on the floor. They thought it was a special projects kind of something." Dr. Santos groaned. They had got Locklear into the tunnel and now he had to climb a ladder with a broken arm, and do it without making a noise. Then he would have to cross rooms to get to them here in the outer tunnel without one of the creatures knowing it. They inhaled sharply. "We can do this."