I don't own anything other than OCs

CH7

Chase and Skye were on their way to the first lab which was a little walk up the hallway. They began to grow uneasy as the stench grew stronger the closer they got to it and it began to smell like something decaying.

The feeling of being watched also grew stronger, though even as Chase focused his light down the hall and up in the windows they couldn't spot anything. His sense of smell was practically useless with the heavy odor in the air. They both eventually stopped and listened, no sound resonated whatsoever.

They soon arrived at the door to the first lab which had the label 'Implementation Lab A'. Chase slowly pushed open the door after he pulled the knob down with his pack claw. His light revealed a large lab with a bunch of smaller operating rooms and decontamination showers off to the right wall. Lab coats and PPE hung on racks lined to the right of the door and the back of the lab was lined with specimen tanks.

"Ooooh, creepy sci-fi-ish." Skye cooed as she observed the lab with unease.

"…Alright, let's not touch anything in here." Chase said with concern as he noticed a warning sign that read they should use the showers after they leave the lab, he doubted they worked.

The two searched around the lab and were able to peer into the operating rooms as they were made mostly of glass but there was nothing of interest to see. They approached the back where the specimen tanks were and found them to be chilling up close even if there wasn't anything in them. They connected to the floor and the ceiling with non–glass parts being made of dark metal. The exterior glass was covered in dust but they could make out two metal appendages coming down from the top, a needle for injecting substances and a claw probably used to grip the subject.

"I'd hate to have been whatever was in those tanks." Skye shuttered at the thought of that and what other type of cruelty the subjects endured.

"Me too, I just hope they're all okay now." Chase added gravely, he now wondered if that animal he saw was part of the experiments that were going on here.

Crash!

The two immediately jolted their heads to the door. The crash sounded like it came from another room down the hall but it was loud enough to cause them to jump.

They stared down the open door and waited for the expected follow up footsteps, but the place retained it's usual dead silence.

Chase pulled out the multi tool and flipped the blade open. Skye immediately shot a look of surprise, "Chase! We're not supposed to use that part without permission!"

Chase decided to ignore her this time and kept his attention on the door as he slowly moved forward. Skye realized her concern was moot since they also didn't have permission to be in this place, and proceeded to follow close behind Chase.

They went out into the hallway and Chase focused his light to the other door farther down and gradually made his way to it. He half expected something to come running out of there as they got closer but the door remained half opened. That was what threw him on edge that moment, it's the first door they came across that's like this.

He paused and listened, still nothing. The stench was powerful now and he felt like covering his nose even if it limited his mobility. He read the door label, 'Implementation Lab B'.

"Great, another lab." Chase muttered.

"Maybe we should head…", Skye started but was cut off.

"NO," Chase said firmly but not shouting.

"Chase…" Skye whined and began to plead. "I think we've seen enough here, there's clearly something fishy about this place but I don't think we can handle it by ourselves." She attempted to reason with him.

Chase took a deep breath before turning to face her. "If you want to turn back, go ahead. I need to search this place for the sake of Adventure Bay."

Skye blinked, she eventually calmed herself, "After you, Chase." She said in a calm yet unenthusiastic voice. Chase had the only light of the two and she didn't want to go back through this place without any light.

Chase nodded and held his breath before slowly pushing the door open. He kept his light trained on the lab and the blade pointing forward in his right paw. The smell was overwhelming at this point.

They saw that the lab was virtually the same setup as the other one down the hall except this lab was in shambles. A metal cart lay toppled over close to the door, the right operating room was shattered open, the specimen tanks were also shattered in the back, and the PPE wasn't present on the racks.

Chase began to carefully step in the lab when he noticed something that chilled him, dark crimson stains on the floor in front of him. He peered closer and his mind registered what it was but he didn't want to believe it. Skye immediately regretted her decision to stay with Chase when she noticed it. "No, please don't let that be what I think it is…"

Chase glanced back at her. "It's probably some chemicals or something." He said to comfort both her and himself since he didn't want to continue searching this place by himself. He knew it was blood though, he just hoped they didn't discover the source or what caused it.

"Woah!" Chase exclaimed as he recoiled from what he was about to step on. "Skye watch out, there's needles and strange fluids spilled on the floor."

Skye followed carefully behind him as he maneuvered around the items that were knocked over from the table, a bunch of needles, used surgical tools, and yellowish fluids. She copied Chase in reading the labels that were on the needles.

Canine Influenza, Canine Parvovirus, Leptospirosis, Canine Distemper, and Rabies they read. The two pups only knew what the last one was and immediately started to create distance from the needles. Ryder always warned them what could happen if they were bit by a strange animal and what Rabies could do to them.

"Yeah… (cough!) seriously don't touch anything in here!" Chase struggled to say as the smell was causing him to gag. He turned around to face the back of the lab, where something caught his eye. It was a light, more like a glow, and he began to stare.

"Hey Skye… look in front of me." Chase said nonchalantly as he turned his light off. Skye peeked around in confusion and fear due to the sudden lack of light, but she saw the tan glow too, and now her eyes could seemingly only focus on that.

Chase took the first step and begin to unconditionally move towards it. They yellow glow was so dim yet to the pups it seemed so bright and alluring. Chase's instincts were screaming at him to watch where he was going but he just didn't want to pull his attention away from the glow, almost like how he doesn't want to get out of his pup bed on a cold morning even though he has to. It was like the glow was calling them over in a way.

As they slowly approached it, it became clear it was a glass vial filled with a rich tan liquid that to their eyes glowed like nothing they'd ever seen. It sat on top of another metal cart.

"Uggh!" Chase fell, his left paw swept forward due to a slippery substance. His attention was now free. "Skye watch out!"

She was still transfixed and walked past him before she stumbled forward and ended up flipping herself on her back. "Whaaa…" She mumbled in confusion. She saw Chase flip his light on but something blocked her view of him. She felt like she was about to vomit now, whatever it was was probably the source of the stench.

Chase got up and aimed his light in her direction. The light cast made it clear, patches of old flesh, small frame, and two hollow holes stared back at her.

"AAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!"

"Skye! Wha–!"

Chase saw her dart back from the thing in front her, never once in his seven years of existence did he hear her scream like that. It stopped him cold and sent biting chills up his spine. Skye was now against the foot of one of the tanks, huddled up in a ball and shaking, sobbing. He now fought the fear and did what his mind told him to do; go over and comfort her.

The two were only there on the floor for a few minutes but to them it felt like forever after what they just witnessed. Chase had peeked up at it for only a few seconds before averting his gaze back down to Skye's back, she still trembled but has stopped sobbing. She had vomited a few seconds ago and Chase felt like he would to if they didn't get out of her soon. The smell now had him nauseous.

It looked like a pup, well what was left of one. It's lower half was missing leaving only a piece of the spine trailing behind it and it's lower jaw was missing too. It's hide was mostly gone from it's body but a chunk of it lay on the floor beside the skeletal corpse, only a few chunks of dried tissue stuck to the bones. He saw the two hollowed eye sockets in his peripheral vision but refused to meet it's gaze, poor Skye already did. The blood trail ended here too, though he couldn't tell if the thing crawled in here or if another dead thing crawled out.

They've seen animal remains and bones before but they never affected them like this. Granted this poor subject had an uncanny looking appearance compared to the remains they found, it resembled one of them, like the pups they see everyday and not just some wild animal.

Chase shuddered when he moved his light around the back of the lab as more bones and skulls appeared in the light. They were various shapes and sizes which most likely indicated they once belonged to different breeds, though they were too distorted to tell which kind.

He looked back up on the cart, he knew the vial was on there and he wanted it. But he resisted the urge to go for it, something just wasn't right about it.

Though something else caught his interest on the cart, a laptop, a very thick and clunky one. Chase noticed something jutting out from the side of it and quickly realized it was a flash drive.

"I wanna go…"

Skye's whine took his attention. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

Chase got up first but reached for the cart with his pup claw. The flash drive slid out easily, he glanced over at the vial… he couldn't pull away from it. He felt a tingling sensation in his head and like if on cue, the yellow liquid seem to bubble slightly.

"Chase!" Skye called in frustration.

Chase lurched back and shook his head, he looked down to the flash drive. Maybe you have some answers on you, he thought before putting it in his pup pack.

He joined Skye as she was already making her way back to the door. The two walked in silence, neither of them looked at each other. They both just wanted out of this place.

Several problems plagued them now, their fur was covered in a vile substance that reeked of rotting meat which was probably spill water from the busted tanks, their sleeping schedule was probably messed up since they assumed it was early in the morning now, and They felt like they're leaving with more questions than answers.

What would cause someone to experiment and kill a bunch of pups like that and just leave them down here? Chase repeated that question in his head.

"CHASE!"

Skye's startled yell followed by a sharp tug on Chase's foreleg snapped him out of his thoughts and saw Skye pointing to the door, petrified and tears running down her cheeks again. Chase went to angle the beam of his light to the door, resisting the urge to freeze when he saw two reflective orbs coming into view. Before the light could fully illuminate the canid creature, it shifted it's body and darted out of the doorway in a fit of loud scratches.

"Hey wait!" Chase called out to it and began to walk in pursuit of the animal.

"Have you lost your mind!?" Skye raised her voice and wanted to scream as she pulled on his pack.

"That's the animal I saw yesterday! I'm sure of it!" Chase stated in confidence as the sound of the scratches were distinctive. "I'm pretty sure it's more scared of us than we are of it."

"But it looked so mangy and mean! What if it's waiting to attack us!? Skye whined.

"I'm sure being trapped down here for long periods of time will do that to you." Was all Chase said before heading towards the doorway. As much as Skye wanted to run up and slam the door shut so she didn't have to see that thing again, she decided to once again give Chase the benefit of the doubt and carefully follow him out. She also didn't want to share the room with the dead.

Chase cautiously peeked out of the lab and looked both ways, there was no sign of the animal but he heard the claw sounds going down the left side of the hall. He had the multi tool blade open again just in case. Though he preferred to run away if he could, he wasn't about to be defenseless if this thing pinned him or Skye down.

He stepped out in the hall and shined his light down the dark hall that led further into the facility. "Hello!" He called out. "We don't mean you any harm, let us help you if you're in trouble!"

His voice echoed down the hall, then there was a light scraping noise that sounded from a door on the left about twenty meters or so down before the dead air resumed.

He gulped and began to walk forward and kept his eyes on the open door knowing there's a good chance that's where it retreated. Skye stayed close behind him not wanting to get left behind. If this thing was aggressive, Chase had a feeling he was about to find out.