The bushland that surrounded them rustled with noises, accompanying the background melody of the howling wind. The night was so dark that Mia's eyes saw nothing but complete blackness. She relied heavily on Quinlan's guidance. They walked along the outside of the tall wire fence that surrounded the facility, until they found a small opening in a part of the fence that had collapsed. Without thinking, Quinlan let go of Mia's hand and slipped through the gap. She quickly followed, her hands reaching out for him in sudden panic at the void of his presence. As she navigated through the tight gap, a protruding wire grazed her neck and made a small cut. She let out a soft cry. Quinlan quickly turned, realising he had neglected her. He wasn't used to being concerned for the well-being of others; such considerations often slipped his mind, and so those around him always wondered if such a creature was capable of caring at all.
He looked her up and down, analysing what injury had occurred.
"You were meant to be my eyes," she scolded somewhat teasingly as she rubbed the tender spot on her neck.
He realized it was just a graze. For a split second, he glanced at the tiny sliver of blood on her skin, but then quickly turned away before any thoughts could take form. "I apologise I'm not as apt at this task as your dog," he retorted facetiously.
"Yeah, well it just takes training," she smirked, reaching for his hand again. He was beginning to get used to this feeling, or perhaps just better at ignoring it.
"There's a parking lot behind the building. That's where the switchboard is," Mia instructed.
"How are you so familiar with this place?"
"I used to work here… before I lost my sight. I guess it was a long time ago."
"Lost your sight?" It occurred to him that she had not always been blind. "How did it happen?"
She took a deep breath before beginning to tell her story. "There was a fire at the lab one day; the building was evacuated. But as I was walking out, I realised a very important research that Doctor Price had been working on was still in there. All the documents and samples would've been lost – it was years of work. So I went back. The whole place was up in flames; not just a regular fire, but all the chemicals and gases… I remember my eyes were stinging like crazy, and I was choking on the smoke. I don't remember much after that."
Quinlan was silent for a moment. She could feel him thinking.
"You should have left, but you chose to stay – I'm starting to see the pattern here."
Mia chuckled at the irony. "You know, when they dragged me out, I was barely conscious, but I was still holding those samples in my hand. They were saved. So if you're going to ask me if I regret my decision, the answer is no. And I don't regret staying in New York."
She was not able to see the slight smile of admiration on Quinlan's face.
It was now beginning to snow, and the air had grown even colder. They found the switchboard right where Mia had said. As Quinlan was figuring out how to operate the switches, Mia stood beside him shivering, bringing both her hands to her mouth and breathing warmth onto her icy fingers. Her long brown hair was becoming wet as the snowflakes melted upon it, and there were snowflakes resting gently upon her long, dark lashes that veiled her beautiful doll-like eyes. Quinlan looked at her – for a brief moment, she looked as fragile as she did that night he first saw her. But he was also beginning to see something else in her – behind the fragility, he saw strength and determination. He forced his eyes away from her.
Within moments, the power was back up, and the lights around the parameter turned on, making the large building look even more empty and surreal. Fet and Ephraim gazed upon the lights from inside the van.
"Finally!" Fet grumbled.
"I was starting to get worried," Ephraim said with relief. "I still can't believe she went out there. You think she'll be alright?"
"I don't know," Fet turned to Ephraim with a big smirk on his face, "depends how hungry Quinlan's feeling."
"What?" Ephraim cackled at the macabre joke. "He wouldn't..."
"Nah, I'm serious. What if one day he just turns on us? I mean, those things... they all got this animal side that they can't control, right?"
Ephraim shuddered at the thought of it. "So why do we keep him around?"
"Because he's useful, that's why."
Ephraim pulled out a small bottle of liquor from his jacket pocket and took a swig before passing it to Fet. The warm liquid provided some comfort and relief from the harsh cold.
Mia tilted her head up towards the lights, being able to see their glow. She smiled at the accomplishment of their first task. Now she just needed to get inside the building.
"Alright, there's a storeroom door on the east side of the building. We can get in through there." Mia started to walk off on her own. Quinlan quickly followed and took her arm.
The east side of the building, unlike the front with its walls of large glass windows, was mostly a solid concrete wall, with no windows on ground level, and only a small door that was hidden within a concave part of the wall.
"This is the door?" Quinlan asked.
"Yeah," Mia replied, as she pressed her hand against the door like it was her way of seeing it. She then moved her hand down until she found the handle, and she tried turning it; it was locked, as she expected. She pulled the gun from her pocket and pressed the end of the barrel to the lock.
"No," Quinlan quickly grabbed her hand. "You'll alert everything out here to our presence."
"Then how do we open it?"
Without replying, Quinlan pushed her back and stood in front of the door. He raised his knee, and with a powerful thrust, he kicked the door wide open.
There was a look of surprise on Mia's face. "Ok, I guess that works too."
He reached behind and took her arm to lead her into the building. But she stopped at the doorway.
"Quinlan..." she said softly.
He turned around to see a look of hesitation on her face. He gave her arm a gentle pull, but she didn't move. She was biting her lip nervously.
"The truth is… I haven't heard from Doctor Price; I've been trying to call him for weeks... I don't know what we're going to find in there..."
She didn't need to say it; Quinlan already knew this. "There's only one way to find out," he said. He waited for a moment, until he could see on her face that she was ready to move forward. And with a deep breath, she stepped through the door.
They entered a small, dark room where the only light was what shined in through the open door. The room had two rows of shelves on either side along the wall, stacked full of cardboard boxes, bottles of chemicals, and various random objects. Mia let go of Quinlan's hand and walked straight up to a door on the other side of the room, as if she knew exactly where it was. Quinlan followed.
"Here, through this door," she whispered, feeling the need to be quiet.
Just as he did before, Quinlan gave a powerful kick to the door, only this time taking it off its hinges completely. The door fell with a loud crash that echoed all the way through the silence of the empty building.
They both stood frozen in surprise for a second.
"And you thought the gun was too loud?" Mia teased. "Come on, this way." This time she took the lead and walked through the door.
They stepped out into a long hallway with a high ceiling, illuminated only by the light that peeped in through the small windows high above. In its silence and emptiness, the inside of the building had a haunting sense of vastness. The atmosphere was cold and uninviting. Even without her sight, Mia could feel the eeriness of the abandoned research facility. Once again, she pulled herself close to Quinlan. He noticed she always did this when she was scared. This small gesture, that she was probably not even aware of, was somehow significant enough to stir an unexplainable feeling within him; for the first time, he felt the need to protect someone. Perhaps it was because she so blindly and innocently trusted him, unable to see what he really was, and so he felt obliged to keep her illusion from being shattered. And perhaps because she couldn't see him, for once, he would forget to see himself.
Suddenly, a loud spine-chilling shriek echoed down the hallway, stopping them dead in their tracks. The sound was not anything that could come from human, and the echoes made it impossible to determine where it came from. Moments later, there were sounds of scuttling footsteps dashing across the hard concrete floor. Quinlan realized it was coming towards them. His eyes widened and his ferocious gaze scanned the environment. Mia froze; her heart pounded as her grip tightened around Quinlan's arm. Soon they were surrounded by echoes of animalistic grunts and running footsteps, getting louder and louder. Then suddenly, out of the darkness at the end of the hallway, three shadowy human-like figures charged wildly towards them with the same high-pitched shrieks.
Quinlan threw Mia back and she fell to the floor, sliding across the ground. Terrified, she crawled to the wall and pressed her back against it, fumbling the gun in her pocket. But all she could see was a blur of silhouettes in front of her. They moved too fast for her senses to follow. Her body trembled as dashes of shadows and the sounds of their echoes surrounded her and overloaded her senses.
The creatures charged full speed at Quinlan. They were fast and savage, like rabid animals. But Quinlan was faster. He drew the sword from behind his back and cut the head off the first creature that lunged at him in a single swift motion. The other two creatures swiped at him with wild, thrashing, claw-like hands. He evaded them effortlessly, ducking under their swipes and then thrusting his sword up from beneath, penetrating one of the creatures under its chin and through its skull, while kicking the other one back to give himself some distance.
Two more creatures ran out from the other end of the hallway, and they were headed towards Mia. Without hesitation, Quinlan charged towards them, at the same time, reaching for his guns – two machine pistols, holstered on either side of him. With a gun in each hand, he unleashed a spray of bullets in both directions, until all the creatures were motionless on the floor. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and his eyes were vicious and intense. His senses scanned the surrounding like an alert predator on the hunt – silence; there was no movement. He holstered his guns. The look in his eyes somewhat softened again as he turned to Mia. She got up onto her knees and looked towards him, helpless and afraid. He walked to her and pulled her to her feet.
"Quinlan… are you ok?" she gasped, grabbing his arm as she stood to her feet. "Are you hurt?" Her eyes quivered with worry as she tried to sense if he had been injured in the rampage.
For a moment, Quinlan didn't know how to respond, as if the question stumped him. He couldn't remember the last time anyone asked him if he was ok. Perhaps no one ever did. If he was ever injured in battle, it never concerned anyone… not even himself. He looked at her worried face... a strange sight for him to see. "I'm fine," he answered almost diffidently.
"Those things… were they…?"
"Infected, yes," he finished her sentence. His voice was more stern than before.
"How did they get in here?" she asked, still catching her breath from the surge of adrenaline. "I mean, you saw this whole place was locked up."
Quinlan didn't reply. He was looking around, analysing the situation.
"We should check the lab. It's on the third floor; there's a stairway just at the end of…"
"Mia," Quinlan softly interrupted, "are you forgetting something?"
Her mind had blanked.
"The gate," Quinlan reminded. "We need to open the gate."
"Oh, yeah, of course," she muttered to herself. "That way," she pointed down the hallway in the direction where the last two creatures came from, "towards the front lobby."
Navigating through the dark and unsettling hallways, especially after what had occurred, Mia's nerves were tense. "Do you think there's any more of them?" she asked, staying closer than ever to Quinlan.
He looked down at her by his side. He could tell she was more afraid than she was trying to let on. She needn't be afraid, he thought. If only she knew what he was capable of. But then… if she did, perhaps it's him that she would be afraid of.
"I don't hear anything," he said.