Chapter Two: The Hound
Sniffing the air Connor noticed the smell was getting worse, coughing he pulled out a rag and held it up to his nose when he noticed the swear waters were red and the waters floated with bones, "oh god."
"What do you see?" Seth asked hearing Connor cough and gag a bit on the other end.
"It's bad Seth, there blood everywhere," Connor spoke trying to avoid stepping into what looked to be rotting remains seeing flies buzzing around him.
"From the Hobbes?" Seth asked listening closely to Connor.
"I don't think so," Connor spoke almost falling back when a hatch above opened up and dropped something into the bloody water, waiting a few seconds Connor eyes widen in horror when the mutilated of a human floated up, "OH FUCKING HELL!"
Wincing from hearing Connor yell Seth held two fingers to his ear piece, "What?! What happened? Tell me what you're seeing Connor?"
"Hold on, everyone in the base need to see this, but anyone with a weak stomach better brace yourself," Connor spoke pulling out his phone and took several pictures of the horror around him then to the hatch above.
Walking over to a man working on a computer Seth tapped his shoulder then lean down to whisper, "link my phone to the big screen."
Putting his phone in his pocket Seth and others approached a screen he pulled down, setting up a projector they waited till all gasped in horror when Connor's images came through.
"By the blood of my ancestors," Seth spoke in horror hearing a man gag and quickly run to throw up into a bucket with his friend rubbing his back.
"It's bad Seth, these are all human remains," Connor spoke looking around, "I also see a few animals, looks like dogs? Maybe wolves? Some Hobbe remains too."
"What in the bloody hell is Reaver doing in that building?!" Seth growled in disgust seeing the picture of the hatch, "you going in there?"
"I have no choice," Connor spoke in disgust looking around then stopped and reached a hand out to the human remains that dropped pulling a chain from around its neck to notice an odd pendant, "hey Seth sending a picture to you now, see if anyone can identify it."
Waiting for the image to pop up Seth and others saw what looked to be a Balverine shape pendant roaring around from inside a moon, "kind of looks like a Balverine."
"Hey boss it's more than that," a girl on a computer spoke brining up several reports and articles on conspiracy theories on a cult called the Balverine Order onto the big screen.
"The Balaverine Order?" Seth repeated then went into thought then his eyes widen pulling out a pocket book written by his ancestor Ben Finn and scrolled through the pages.
"What is it Seth?" Connor asked as he jumped and grabbed the ladder above the dirty bloody water and began to climb up towards the hatch.
"According to Ben writings Reaver conducted horrible experiments on humans turning them into monsters called Half Breeds super soldiers that didn't give him results he wanted since some showed resistance to the mad alchemist experiments," Seth spoke closing the book.
"What this mean Seth?" a man asked watching Seth approach the screen and point to the remains on the screen.
"Reaver using these animals and Balverines to create something, harvesting what they need then disposing of the bodies, I am willing to bet on it that Reaver here to see the results of his experiments," Seth spoke.
"I think you're right! I saw a van with large cages in the front of the building, they're getting ready to move something big," Connor spoke nearly to the top of the hatch hearing his signal start to break up.
"Con-nor?" Seth spoke before the signal was lost.
"Damn," Connor swore reaching the top of the hatch then slowly pushed the door opened peeking out to see what looked like operating room with some blood still on the floor.
Climbing out Connor looked around turning his head to a very bloody examination table where he saw restraints that had claw marks in in the metal, Connor didn't wanna think about the suffering the Balverine went through that was tied down to this table.
Looking around Connor approached a counter where many tools laid out from sharp bone saws, scalpels, drills, there were even unmarked empty jars, and unused syringes.
Looking around Connor knew he couldn't just walk out and explore he needed to explore and be unseen. Spotting a large vent, he pulled out a screwdriver undoing the screws before crawling in and closing the vent behind him.
Crawling his way through the vents Connor made his way past dead rats peeking through vents into different rooms to see what he could find. One room appeared to be a meeting room, another he found was a medical supply room.
Climbing up to another level Connor heard a loud roar that echoed through the vents, heading towards the source of the roar Connor peeked down into a room full of cages, in the cages were various beasts and animals.
Taking a picture he saw there was Hobbes, wolves, bears, even a single white Balverine but the source of the roar was a large creature in a large cage with think black fur in a large cage that hid in the side of the room with the lights broken.
Roaring again the massive monster slashed its claws against the bars of its prison, this had to be the results of Reaver's experiments. Whatever this creature was Connor knew it was dangerous and wouldn't be the first.
Hearing voices Connor watched some men in lab coats enter the room, "I am so excited to show you the fruits of our labor sir, let us show you the results of Project Night."
"Yes, yes, show me my new lovelies," Reaver spoke entering the room in a clean new white suit approaching a do not cross line on the floor from the mystery monster.
"After many trials and error, we found the exact body type candidates for the Project, as you can see Subject 73 has successfully transformed into the perimeters we desired, stronger, faster, more teeth? The only thing that it has difficulty doing is obedience," the lead scientist explained.
"That what the collar is for you nitwits," Reaver spoke stepping over the do not cross line, smirking as the creature reached through the bars it's long claws nearly touching Reaver nose, "you will obey and SIT!"
On command the collar on the monster neck glowed shocking the creature that roared and tried to break the collar off while Reaver approached the cage, "I won't repeat myself for a third time, I said SIT."
On the second order the creature sat down, Reaver smirking at his creation, "gentlemen, obedience isn't created in a lab, it's built through stern training and a cruel fist, how many more can we make?"
"With the serum perfected we can make fifty within the week," the lead spoke.
"Wrong answer, I want triple that, take this one to Site B," Reaver spoke turning away from the cage then stopped to look at a silver fur wolf like creature inside a cage laying on the floor and appeared to be sleeping, "was this the prototype?"
"Yes sir, this is the results of the preliminaries before we moved to human trials, Subject 309-B, a perfect combination of DNA from wolves, a Will user Hobbe, and White Balverine, we think we could make a pack of these hounds to lead your Half Breeds," the Lead spoke.
"Can it use Will?" Reaver asked picking up a clipboard on its cage to read the data.
"No sir, we did a number of test and it appears it's incapable of using Will," the lead spoke watching Reaver throw the clipboard on top of the cage.
"Then it's a failure, destroy it and use whatever parts you can for the next trial," Reaver spoke walking away and out of the lab with the scientists following close behind.
Waiting for the room to be cleared Connor slowly open the lid to the vent dropping down from the roof and approached the clipboard to the mystery monster taking picture of the information then approached the cage to the silver fur wolf.
Kneeling in front of the cage Connor looked sadly at the creature, it was so skinny, he couldn't imagine the abuse it went through, "I'm sorry."
Hearing Connor speak the wolf looked over with grey eyes tilting it head at Connor who spoke again, "I'm sorry they are treating you like this," Connor spoke grabbing the lock in his hand before narrowing his eyes, "fuck it."
Standing up Connor looked around spotting the keys to the cages hanging on a hook on the wall where he grabbed them and began to unlock the cage, "I am not gonna let them kill you, you're coming with me friend."
Almost like he understood Connors words the wolf hybrid stood up when Connor opened the cage slowly stepping out and looking around before turning to his rescuer then headed to the hall where he peeked out then darted down the hall.
"Wait!" Connor whispered chasing after the wolf past several rooms.
After they left a scientist entered the room gasping when he saw the wolf cage was empty and ran to a switch on the wall turning on an alarm that lit the halls with red light and a warning siren began to sound over the intercom.
"Shit!" Connor swore when the alarm was tripped hearing a prerecorded message play.
"Warning! Asset out of containment! Please stand by!" a female voice spoke repeating every five minutes while Connor ran after the wolf who ducked into a room.
Entering the room Connor closed the door behind him and locking before turning to the hybrid that was scratching at a closed disposal hatch.
"Good boy!" Connor grinned running over and opening the hatch, turning to the door when he heard multiple running footsteps approaching.
Picking up the hybrid Connor dropped him down below before jumping in after both falling several feet before they both landed into the blood filled swear water below.
Popping out of the water Connor coughed and gagged trying hard not to throw up while picking up the hybrid and setting him onto the walk way.
Climbing out Connor couldn't hold it in and threw up, bending over he coughed and spat turning to the hound who looked ahead to the light of a fire in the distance from the Hobbe camp.
Hearing the hatch above open Connor ran with the hybrid close behind, he could hear several splashes behind him of heavy armored Patrol guard holding up rifles and began to shoot.
"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" Connor yelled dodging the bullets with the silver fur wolf that ran towards the Hobbe camp barking and getting their attention.
Growling and chattering the Hobbes grab weapons heading towards Connor who dodged a spear stab of one and kicked it back toward the gun fire where it squealed when it got shot several times.
Hearing their command getting slain the other Hobbes roared and charged to the Patrol each pouncing and stabbing their makeshift weapons at the men who yelled and tried to fight off the little threats.
Smirking Connor knew not killing those Hobbes was smart, turning ahead Connor whistled getting the hybrid wolf attention and lead him down a tunnel. Connor knew most of these tunnels like the back of his hand, there were many safehouses hidden within the sewers for the Resistance.
Leading the hybrid to a blocked off tunnel Connor felt around grabbing a crate that he opened after pressing a button creating a secret tunnel through the blockage of garbage.
"You first boy," Connor spoke watching the hound hop up into the crate crawling though to the other side where Connor followed closed the path behind him.
Approaching a closed door Connor pressed a code on a keypad that unlocked the door allowing the two into a makeshift bunker where Connor entered with his new companion and closed the door behind him.
"This way," Connor spoke entering a decontamination shower that was set up where he quickly stripped off his filthy clothes and quickly turned on the showers to scrub away the blood and whatever else he swam in.
Once clean Connor knelt to the hound level where he used the shower hose and soap to wash the hybrid silver fur, "bet it feels good to have a long overdue shower huh boy?"
Connor knew he wouldn't get a reply, it be silly if a dog or in this case a wolf hybrid could talk, while cleaning Connor looked into the fur parting it to see a tattoo of the number the creature had been given, "309-B? Nope. That will not due, if you and I are gonna be sticking together you'll need a proper name."
Turning his head the hound looked at Connor who went into thought trying to think of a good name to call the hybrid, "how about Silver? Nah, unoriginal."
Thinking about it Connor looked to the hound face before smiling, "I know exactly what I will call you, your name from now on will be Roscoe! A fine name for a mighty handsome dog!"
"R-R" Connor heard the hound say but he mistook it for maybe a gag sound.
"Oh no did you get soap in your mouth?" Connor asked seeing the hybrid open its mouth struggling to use a voice it had not used in so long.
"R-Ro-Rosc-Roscoe..." the hound spoke looking to Connor who blinked a few time before his eyes slowly widen.
"WHAT THE FU-"