"Rome light!" Seth shouted happily and sprinted toward the end of the tunnel that could be seen in the distance.
"Be careful pup!" Roman chuckled, watching Seth run off, and Dean shake his head hurrying after the wolf. They had been in the tunnel for what seemed like days but was probably only hours. He was glad that they were finally out but he had no idea what to expect now. All three of them had spent their entire lives in the lab and the only one of them that knew anything about what was at the end of the tunnel was unconscious in his arms.
His head jerked up and he picked up his pace when he heard Seth whine, moving as fast as he could without jarring Jayse, frowning when he found Seth with his head buried in Dean's chest at the mouth of the tunnel.
"Burned his eyes." Dean chuckled patting Seth on the head soothingly while letting his own eyes adjust to the light. "How is she?" He asked quietly almost afraid of the answer.
"She's still alive." Roman told him, opening his wings so that Dean could see her.
"She looks…better." Dean said finally after carefully pulling the sheet away from her body and seeing that she hadn't bled though the makeshift bandage this time despite having been carried by Roman for hours.
"What do we do now?" Dean sighed resting his back against the wall and holding his arms out to take Jayse from Roman.
"Probably should look in the bag she had with her." Seth said pulling the backpack toward him and unzipping it. He pulled out some colorful folded papers with lines all over them and set them beside him, before pulling out some fairly heavy cylinders. He held one up and sniffed at it, turning it end over end in his hand. One end was wider then the other and looked like it had a piece of clear plastic covering it. He looked down at the plastic piece and pushed the button on the side, yelping and dropping the object when he was blinded by a bright light.
"That wasn't funny!" He whimpered, rubbing his eyes as Roman and Dean broke down laughing at him before he went back into the bag. He pulled out some water bottles and some bags of dried jerky and set them beside him before lifting a stack of green rectangular paper bound together.
"What's this stuff? The bag is full of them." Seth asked holding up the stack of paper for Roman and Dean to see.
"Don't know pup, but if it was in here it's probably important." Dean said taking the stack from Seth and inspecting it. There was a picture of a man who was bald on top of his head with long hair on the sides on one side and a building on the other and the number 100 stamped in the corners.
"Put it back, Jayse can tell us when she wakes up." He said tossing the stack back to Seth and snagging a water bottle. He opened the cap and took a drink before propping Jayse's head up and putting the bottle to her lips tipping it up slightly so some of the water dripped into her mouth. "She needs fluids." Dean sighed when most of the water dripped out the corners of her mouth.
"She said something about directions did you see anything in there Seth?" Roman asked watching Dean trying to get Jayse to swallow more water.
"There were these things." Seth said holding up the folded papers full of lines and spread them open. There was a black line drawn on them and Seth looked it before starting to piece it together like a puzzle.
"Figure it out pup?" Roman asked watching the wolf hybrid intently as he studied the papers he had set together.
"I think so." Seth said tracing his finger over the papers and tapping on a circle that was drawn on it. "I think that's where we need to be, and this is where we are." He said pointing at another mark on the map that looked like a stick figure.
"Looks like it's pretty far." Dean said tightening his grip on Jayse when Seth nodded.
"It is but we have Roman. We should wait until it gets dark though." Seth said looking from Roman to Dean to Jayse.
"Yeah that's probably for the best. We need to keep her warm and we should probably try to rest if we're going to be moving all night." Dean said and then eyed the opening of the tunnel. "You think you can fit in here Rome?"
"Barely." Roman said standing up and stripping off his briefs, tossing them to Seth who stuck them into the backpack. He moved out of the mouth of the cave and stretched his muscles, closing his eyes and concentrating. His body fell forward and started enlarging, the sound of his bones snapping echoing in Seth and Dean's ears.
Roman's body grew a little larger then the size of an elephant, his neck and face elongating; his body and face now looking very equine like with large horns coming off his forehead and curving backward. A thick lizard-like tail sprouted along his spine, tapering to a rounded end. His legs and arms thickened, growing to accommodate his larger body, his hands and feet growing larger and sprouting talons, the black and green scales that covered only one arm and part of his chest now filling in on his entire body. He stood up and flared his now much larger wings, snapping them a couple of times before tucking them against his body and turning his head toward the mouth of the cave, letting out a low rumbling growl.
"Well I don't think anyone will mess with us." Dean chuckled nodding toward Seth who put his own briefs into the backpack before shifting into a large grey wolf as Roman moved into the cave carefully so he wouldn't hurt Jayse by mistake and lay down. Seth moved into the space between Roman's legs and lay down; resting his head on one of the large limbs as Dean stood and carried Jayse over to them. He laid her small body down carefully inside Roman's upturned hand so she was off the cold ground, her head resting against Seth's side as Roman curled his talons around her body protectively.
Dean stood up and put his own briefs into the bag and zipped it shut after gathering up everything else and put the bag on the back side of Roman, tucking them between the dragon's body and the cave wall before shifting into a white Bengal tiger and tucking his large body next to Jayse. He rested his head carefully on her chest, as Roman tucked his own head over Dean's body and against her legs carefully before tucking his tail against Dean's side and folding his huge wing down over all of them, blocking them from sight.
"What the fuck do you mean you can't replicate them!" Chris shouted, the back of his hand connecting with Randy's jaw, sending the scientist sprawling on the floor groaning.
"We can't make more of them. The machine used to incubate them was destroyed when you attacked the lab and it will take years to build a new one. Besides that you would have to let them grow to adults. Not only that, there will never be another creature like Roman. He was an accident." Hunter said after spitting some blood out onto the floor at Chris's feet.
Jayse moaned softly, turning her head and blinking rapidly a few times. Why was it so dark? Why the hell did it hurt so much to breath and why did it feel like there was a spike digging into her thigh and what the hell was warm and sticky sliding over the skin of her ankles. Ohh yeah and there was definitely something warm and wet wrapped around her foot for that matter. She blinked again feeling a warm puff of air over her foot and saw a large black and white striped head resting on her chest and she sucked in her breath. She groaned after trying to shift around a little and her hip protested, the spike sliding farther up her leg resting almost uncomfortably against the juncture of her thighs. The head on her chest lifted and clear blue tiger eyes looked into hers.
She sucked in her breath when the tiger nudged her face gently with its huge head before it started purring, the rumble oddly familiar to her, and it rested its head back on her chest and closed its eyes, opening them again a moment later before shutting them again, and she got the distinct feeling it was telling her to go back to sleep, and she closed her own eyes, exhaustion and the rhythmic puffs of warm air on her feet claiming her again.
"FUCK!" Chris shouted and then kicked Randy's ribs as hard as he could. "You'll fucking fix that god damn machine and start replicating them or you're going to wish you had died." He snarled to the two men on the floor before going back down to where the animals had been kept. He went over to where Roman had been chained down and picked up the collar, his jaw tightening at the sight of the key still inside one of the locks. He threw the metal down and stalked back upstairs and grabbed the back of Randy's head pulling him up to his knees.
"You'll either fucking replicate them or tell me where the fuck she took them." Chris snarled pressing a gun under Randy's chin.