The two went back to their work in the trailer while the rest finished up their drills. When Burt checked his laptop that night, he saw that he had a few messages from the dating site. He was intrigued that there were women interested in him. Tyler did help him create the profile so it could be his doing.
"Well, user desertflower78 you seem interesting," Burt had viewed her profile before replying to her message. He answered a few others but shook his head at some of the profiles. He didn't reply to those who were not compatible with his lifestyle. He even scanned for a gun toting redhead just in case she was on there too.
Ping!
Nancy's computer let her know that she had a new message. She grabbed her glasses and started to read the most recent message. "Ah! I got a reply from nomaddefender63." She typed away while her heart tightened and her stomach fluttered.
Ping!
A new message popped onto Burt's screen. He felt a small rush almost as if he was a young, proud buck at the start of the season. He replied with such swiftness that before he knew it, so did the other user. The two kept the conversation until midnight. Each had a giddy feeling as if they were in their prime again.
That next day, Rose and Wes went back into the lab. They went through the next office areas. There were scattered files left about. They planted cages, took swabs for samples, setup cameras, and photographed the area. They covered most of the rooms as they could before they reach the doors that would lead them to the labs. It was ominous that two swinging doors lead to the branched off labs where the experiments were conducted. Behind those doors and through the hall were a secret staircase that led to the secret room where that clicking frequency came from.
The two finished up with all the office rooms and headed back. Wes put away the equipment while Rose was looking through the blueprints. The first level included the dormitory, which was blown up by the government, the reception area, which separated the labs and dorm, and then the first two labs: microbiology and botany. The second level housed the mammalian lab. The third level was the secret lab.
Burt and Nancy were still sending messages over the internet. The rest of the town noticed the giddiness in both.
Tyler kept a low voice to Jodi. "Is it me or are both are riding cloud nine? If so, can I get on that cloud too, I still haven't gotten any of my parts yet. Thanks to Larry I could afford some of them. I was going to pay him back but he said it was a gift."
Jodi felt the same. "Same here! Nancy has been developing more and more things for me to sell. Larry has bought all the replacements for about everyone in the town who had a skirmish with those rubber eating bugs. You don't think he took out a big loan?"
"Nah," Tyler didn't hesitate. "Maybe he has a birthday or something and all his relatives gave him a monetary donation. Who knows? That was sure nice of him though. Have you seen the young guns lately?" Jodi shook her head. Tyler looked around to make sure no was there. "Casey let it slip that those two are close to inspecting the labs and if things start to happen, we may be quarantined here."
"Quarantined?!" Jodi grew wide eyed. "We better get compensation for that!" She started to raise her voice. Tyler hushed her.
"Keep it down," Tyler looked around once more. "It's just here say for now. Casey was reading a memo out loud from the HQ. She didn't think I eavesdropped on her when I came in. Twitchell was mostly preparing us for when those two get into the labs not for new townsfolk or graboid attacks. Our drills were for their failures."
"Then there will be new Mixmaster monsters, right?" Jodi leaned in while keeping her voice low.
"Possibly," Tyler nodded. "Let's hope those two survive or else we will be getting a new team to head into the lab or worse." Jodi nodded.
The next day, the two were in front of the doors to the lab. The doors into the lab could swing both ways. Each had small rectangle windows. Moss and greenery were growing on the doors. The bottom metal rusted and had a few bolts missing. The rubber gaskets were missing. Rose let out a breath before pushing one door open. Wes had his gun ready.
The door opened to more darkness. They each had their night vision goggles on. There were some creatures scurrying about. Rose decided that they would take the hallway first before heading into the microbiology lab.
The hallway was long and dreadful with a single door at the end leading to the staircase down to the second lab.
"Seen any good horror movies lately?" Wes asked in a low voice. He was watching her back as she performed her duties. He still had his goggles on while she had low beam light emitting from her headset.
Rose was swabbing part of the wall with a cotton tipped applicator. "Are you suggesting this place is scary or that we need to watch something scary when we get done?"
"No, just this place is getting creepier and creepier once we got passed those doors," he glanced around.
"How did you get assigned this job again?" She applied the tip onto a petri dish. She closed the dish and slid the applicator back into is plastic container before writing the name, location, time, and date on it.
"Wanted something interesting," Wes explained. "Wanted to meet my dad, who is standoffish. I bet he will forget about me once something awful happens to the lab, also didn't want to get involved with the politics of war. How did you think I got S.S.? I was personally asked by Her Majesty to join her personal rank of royal military men but I denied with sincerity and top form. I don't care for their laws."
"Hm," Rose left it at that before placing a camera to the wall.
"Dr. Frankenstein, how did you get your name?" Wes flinched when he thought he heard something scuttle. He flexed and regripped his hold on the gun.
She paused before heading to the opposite side of the wall. "You read the book?" He nodded. "I like the biology of life. It is also interesting how life ceases to exist on a molecular level. I spent too many a night with cadavers. I was too enthralled with my studies, my colleagues believed I had an obsession. I only care about knowledge and furthering my research. I don't intend to reanimate corpses but watching the breakdown of matter on a molecular level fascinated me. This place is the same. It was supposed to be all cooked and yet here it is thriving. I may have to reread certain books that dabbled in creation of life, especially that of dinosaurs, when I finish my assignment here."
The two heard a screeching noise. Both stopped to view where it came from. The sound came again. There was a knocking sound coming from the door that led to the second lab. The knock became louder and louder. Wes was ready for anything that could come out of the door at any second. He was thinking about his options and priorities.
"How much longer do you have?" Wes glanced behind them before keeping an eye on the faraway door.
"We have to do this whole hallway all the way down to that door where the noise is coming from," her heart started to race. She wanted to know what was making that sound but the rest of her instincts told her to run.
"Can we put it off for another day?" Wes noticed that they had spent too much time down here. It was getting into the late afternoon. "Even though its perpetual darkness down here, I think these things know when it's getting dark."
"We are only a fourth of the way done, let me get halfway and we can call it a day," Rose moved down another ten feet. Wes made sure to keep in front of her.
The two were working closer to the halfway mark. There were small holes in the wall. A small herd of creatures scuttled past Wes as he was the forefront to protect Rose.
"AHHH!" He felt them brush passed his legs. He jumped back while firing off a few rounds.
"STOP! STOP! STOP!" Rose flung herself on him, stopping him from destroying more of the lab. "What's wrong with you?" She panted as she moved away from him while yanking the gun from his hands.
He rested against the wall. "They just jumped out and got the better of me." He closed his eyes feeling the pain and the warmth of something dripping from his leg.
"Think of them as cats," Rose took the clip out and placed the gun in the back of her pants.
"Cats? You didn't have these things brush up against your legs," he peered down to them. He patted over his legs. "I think I'm bleeding."
"Let's get you checked out," she packed up her stuff. "Who knows what else will come after you once they smell blood." She took off her scarf and wrapped it around his leg. Her fingers felt wet and sticky. Her goggles showed how severe his wound was from the brushing. "Wes, you should head out first." She hurried to get her equipment back in her bag.
"You first," Wes knew his priorities.
She shoved him once she was finished, pushing him back down the hallway. He stumbled while holding onto the wall. "The cats don't have my blood on their bodies, do they? Plus, if they are like cats, your wound needs a good fifteen-minute scrub with chlorhex, antibiotics, and a tetanus shot if you hadn't had one in a while. Before that type of fun, I want to do a skin scrape, swab, and pictures."
"That is the last thing I wanted to hear," Wes started to sweat profusely. He became nauseous and was losing his balance. Rose lent her shoulder and hurried him along. "Th-hanks." He stammered. He was losing stability. The two could hear feet scratching against the floor. Wes tried to look behind him.
"You look back and we're both dead," she picked up the pace but Wes was struggling. Rose clenched her teeth as she set down her sample bag and slung Wes's body over hers. She jogged to the ropes and hooked him on first. She clipped the sample bag to him. The creatures scurried behind her. She clipped herself in and grabbed both ropes pulling them to safety. She pulled them off the ground a good ten feet before resting. She could her the scuttling and screeches of the creatures. "Don't look down, Rose. Just keep pulling the two of you up. Now pull!" She grit her teeth while pulling them up another ten feet. Her arms ached but she didn't stop until she got near the top. She paused to figure out how she was going to maneuver him out.
It took her twenty minutes to get them both out of the lab and back on the desert. She closed the hatch with her feet as she had Wes in her arms. She sensed that he was fading in and out of conscious. She moved her sample bag and clipped it onto his harness. She checked his pulse and forehead before putting him on her back. She paced herself on the way back to the trailer. He groaned every now and then. She paused once thinking she heard the seismo going off. It was silent. Rose started to walk again.
When she got to the trailer, her legs were close to buckling, and her muscles were burning. She fumbled at getting the door open. It took all her might to take the steps up. She panted, while her lungs burned. She set Wes on the bed. Her body rejoiced when the weight was gone. Rose flipped on the lights before examining him. She patted his face.
"Hey, hey, hey!" She was close to slapping him.
"Huh?" Wes rolled his head to side, trying to get his eyes to open. His head hurt, his body fluctuated between hot and cold.
Rose examined his leg. She cut his pants up with bandage scissors. She took pictures, skin scrape, biopsied of some of the proud flesh, and fine needle aspirate. She cleaned the wound as much as she could before placing a bandage on it. This was beyond the extent of her knowledge. She found her satellite phone and dialed headquarters emergency line.
"This is Doctor Frankenstein calling from base six fifty-two alpha working on failed Project M.M. with a possible fatal encounter of one of the experiments. Bodyguard S.S. has been contaminated. Creature unknown. Seeking immediate medical attention," she relayed the information.
"Doctor Frankenstein, this is base alpha, we are sending a helicopter to your coordinates, please follow through with the proper protocols," the voice spoke before hanging up on her.
She then went back to caring for Wes, who seemed to be getting worse. She hooked him up to fluids after getting him out of his clothes and putting him into something more comfortable. She placed a cold rag on his head and placed a blanket over him. While she waited, Rose typed the incident report, uploaded the photographs, and examined the findings she had accumulated to further her report. She had everything packaged and ready for them to take away. The helicopter came just in time. The EMTs came out with a stretcher. The door was still open, the group came through. Rose directed them while answering their questions. They hauled him away to the chopper, leaving Rose with the burden of worry. The only thing she could do was wait. She put that time to good use and kept going with her research.
At headquarters, Wes was placed on a hospital bed and wheeled to a quarantine area. He opened his eyes to see figures in hazmat suits. They took his vitals and further examined him. He could hear the faint voices from their conversations.
"Wh-where am I?" He tried to speak.
The people in her hazmat suits ignored him while they furthered him exam him. One of them injected him with a pre-med. They took off his bandage to take pictures and measure the lacerations. His leg was turning purple and red with bright blue veins. It was odd. They induced him with an anesthetic and started surgery on him right there.
"Has the report came in yet?" A young man in a white coat asked another doctor. He was watching from a top level looking down on the surgery. He had glasses and his hair was parted to the side.
"It came in a moment ago," the other doctor had a file for him. "I have it here for you to look over. Is he going to survive?"
The young man took it before watching the surgery again. "That's not a priority. What is a priority, is whatever that elusive Dr. Frankenstein finds about Project M.M. These creatures she is sending over are not enough. If she could just find bigger creatures like that giant octopus, that would be better. I don't like getting sent over things that are the size of cats. Now she sends me her mangled body guard. This might light a fire underneath of her to excavate that facility quicker."
The other doctor gulped. "If it doesn't?" He didn't want to know but he knew he had to ask.
"If it doesn't, I'll just have to pay her a visit and make sure she understands that I'm getting restless waiting," he flipped through the file.
"Dr. Hyde, we have the results to the samples that were brought in," another person called. "We can save S.S. He will be able to have all his limbs and be back to normal in a week's time."
"Oh?" The young man turned another page on the file. It didn't seem to worry him or appeal to him either.
"Shall I tell Frankenstein the good news?" Her voice trailing off. She wished she could have taken it back but it would have been worse if she did things without his approval.
"No," Dr. Hyde didn't even hesitate. "This isn't a priority for her either. Don't let any of the government officials, scientists, or anyone in Perfection or around that area know his wellbeing."
Back at Perfection, the townsfolk were stirred up by the recent helicopter sighting. Burt and Tyler watched it leave with binoculars. Burt got a bad feeling while watching that helicopter.
"Didn't you say that the young guns are holed up in that area where that chopper just came from?" Tyler watched for any signs of despair.
"They must have encountered something to get a Life Flight out here," Burt placed his binoculars down. "I wonder which one got hurt." Burt sighed in frustration. He didn't want to claim him as his son but he couldn't help but worry about him. Burt grabbed his radio. "Burt here. How's the situation, over."
Rose was looking through the microscope as the radio went off. She froze as she heard his voice.
Burt tried again. "We saw Life Flight coming from that direction, are you need of backup, over."
Rose gulped as she turned to look at the radio. She may not enjoy working with others but she at least had the decency to be civil. She did know about the father son relationship. "Rose here over." Her voice was quiet and solemn.
"What's your twenty, over." Burt waited.
"Recuperating from a compromised excavation," Rose began. "S.S.-Wes was injured and I sent him to headquarters to be saved, over."
Tyler and Burt stared at radio in horror. "How injured, over!"
"Leg lacerations with toxins spreading, over." Rose got more depressed with each sentence she spoke. The only thing she could do was keep working to keep her mind from remorse and guilt.
Burt let the radio slip through his fingers. He couldn't believe what she just said. Wes was hurt and had to be sent to headquarters to be treated. What type of things were living in that bombed facility. Tyler maneuver the dazed Burt into the passenger seat. Tyler got into the driver's seat and drove back to Burt's place.