Blood Borne: Recombinant Part 26

CHAPTER 33.

LEA.

I jogged down the hallway, then paused when I came to a T. To the left was a stairwell. Peering in and down, it looked like it would take me to the sixth floor at the best. I stepped back and glanced in the other direction. An elevator with "Out of Service" plastered on it all but beckoned.

Perfect. I jogged to it and pulled a knife from a sheath on my leg. Sliding the blade between the two doors, I pried them open enough to slip in a hand. From there, the doors only offered a few minor protests. The twisted cables hung silently in front of me and I reached for one, gripping onto it as I stepped into open s.p.a.ce, the elevator doors sliding closed behind me.

Seemed like me and old elevators were having a serious love affair lately.

Using the cables, I s.h.i.+mmied down, counting the floors as I went. I a.s.sumed we started on the first floor. But that would be easy enough to check. I could always pry another of the doors open and- The click-clack of nails skittering above stopped me in my downward movement. I looked up, and while the light in the shaft nearly pitch black, I could still see.

And what I saw was not good. Three pairs of glowing neon-green eyes stared down at me. "Mierda," I muttered under my breath as an image of the bat creature I'd killed outside Victor's underground hideout flickered through my brain. How many monsters had these idiots created?

The scurrying of feet on metal, the snap of teeth, and a low hiss got me moving again. I could fight them-whatever they were-but not while I hung suspended from cables. I slid down to the next floor and swung hard, gripping my toes on the edge of the elevator doors' lip.

A furry, screaming body slammed into me from above. There wasn't time to escape through the doors, as I'd hoped, but I managed to wrap my legs around the cable. At least my hands were free. It was the best I could do.

The light from under the elevator door gave me a glimpse of dark red fur, a long whip-like tail, and claws that extended farther than they should. But the head was the real freak show. The creature's eyes were human, wide and terrified even as its alligator-like snout snapped at me. I got a protective arm up just in time and the creature bit down right to the bone. I snarled, wrapped my free hand around its neck, and jerked its throat out. The teeth gave way and the body fell down the shaft.

The creature's buddies scampered closer, hanging upside down as they clung to the walls with their claws and tails.

"What in G.o.d's name are you?" I whispered, horror flickering through me. I wasn't afraid. I could kill them with ease. But I was struck by absolute revulsion that anyone could do this to another living creature. It was like Dr. Frankenstein's monster all over again.

And yes, that is a story for another time.

I swung toward the doors again, hooking my toes once more on the ledge, and worked my knife in between the doors. I managed to slip through the doors before the remaining creatures could drop down on me, hissing and snapping their teeth. Pus.h.i.+ng the doors back together, I turned to see just where I'd ended up.

A sign pointed away from me. "Rooms 1075-1045." The tenth floor. Not exactly where I had wanted to end up, but at least it was closer. I lifted my head and scented the air. A heavy overlay of cleaners and detergents, but under that was a darker smell. Formaldehyde. Embalming fluid.

Another deep breath brought traces of decomposing bodies. I was in the morgue.

I took the walkie-talkie from my hip and pressed the call b.u.t.ton.

"Rachel."

There was a pause and I wondered if she'd gotten into trouble. Who was I kidding? She seemed to have a knack for it.

"I'm here," she answered, and I turned the radio's volume down.

"Did you find them?"

Another short pause. "Yeah, but I got detained."

In other words, she had been snooping for evidence. Or maybe someone had seen her, and she'd had no choice but to take care of them. "Trouble?"

"No, the opposite, but there's over fifty people in here, Lea. We're never going to sneak this many out."

"Just get them upstairs," I said. "With whatever is going on here, the security is seriously lacking. This might work."

"Where are you?"

"I'm on the tenth floor," I said, the sound of distant people talking getting my attention. "Let me know if you get into trouble."

"You, too."

I slipped the walkie-talkie back onto the waistband of my jeans. Settling into a stalking crouch, I moved down the hallways, looking for cameras, or anything that might have set off an alarm. Maybe more of the rats from the elevator shaft. But there was nothing except the red flas.h.i.+ng lights above every door. A silent alarm system that someone-or something-had set off.

I turned the corner and the voices went silent. Narrowing my eyes, I stopped moving and listened. Nothing. Ahead of me, a door on the right was open a crack. Moving swiftly, I jogged over to it and slipped inside.

The room would have made Rachel light up with glee. It was full of paperwork on the dead bodies that had come through the morgue. I picked up one of the top sheets.

To whom it may concern, Please be sure to give appropriate reasons on the death certificates that are plausible causes of death except in the case of the Rikers Island patients.

Anything less will be reason for immediate termination.

Dr. Stravinsky Well, that was interesting. So, no one was supposed to know how these people were really dying? Like having their bodies pulled apart and reattached in weird ways to animals? And there was yet another mention of Rikers Island. Inmates being used for experiments...the thought pinged through my mind and I couldn't push it away. It fit all too f.u.c.king well.

"And they call me the monster," I snorted softly to myself, spreading the papers around. I took a few, knowing Rachel would want them for evidence.

The sound of voices again, low and melodic. Almost like someone was singing under their breath. Two someones, to be exact.

Back in the hallway, I followed the singing to a closed door with a single word painted on it.

Morgue.

Frowning at the door as if it would answer my questions, I wrapped my hand around the doork.n.o.b and turned. While it stuck, it wasn't locked, and I pushed the door open, fully expecting to see a human I could interrogate.

But there was no one. Or at least, no one alive. Three bodies covered in long white sheets lay splayed out on the tables in front of me. Their chests were still, but I knew from experience that didn't mean s.h.i.+t.

I stopped at the foot of the closest body and grabbed the sheet, yanking it off with a flourish. A woman in her late fifties lay on the slab, her long dark curly hair pulled back from her face in a tight ponytail. I did the same to each of the bodies. Each one was female, and each seemed to be around the same age. They even looked alike. Though they looked very human, the smell in the room told me they were anything but.

A soft humming started and I stared at the first body as her eyes opened. As if on cue, her two companions started to sing a song I recognized all too well.

Ring around the rosie A pocket full of posy Ashes, Ashes, We all fall...down.

They sat up in unison with the word 'down.' Dead eyes stared at me.

Zombies if ever I had seen them.

"Madre de Dios," I whispered, backing right into a large set of arms that wrapped tightly around my upper body.

"You're going to die, Cazador."

"Someday," I kicked out behind me, nailing my would-be captor in the kneecap and snapping his leg backward, "but not today."

CHAPTER 34.

RACHEL.

After I finished my conversation with Lea, I hung the walkie-talkie back on my jeans and continued releasing the captives with my key card.

I was almost done with the first row and about to start on the second.

"You have to save the people back there. Please. My friend Valerie's back there," pleaded one of the women I had released. She was pale and could barely stand.

"What's back there?"

"I don't know. People go in there and they never come out. Sometimes we hear their screams."

I resisted the urge to shudder, but she must have sensed my hesitation.

"Please. She saved my a.s.s when I first got to prison. We got each other's backs."

I nodded. "Okay. I'll try to find her."

When I'd gotten everyone out-many of them weak and ill-the corridor between the cages and the small open area by the door was crammed with people. I searched for the man who'd taken charge. When he met my eyes, I nodded. "Let's do this."

Rowland grinned, then turned to the crowd. "Okay, we're doing this in groups of ten. Amber, you take the first group up to the first floor."

"I'm going to check the back room." I scanned my card and reached down to turn the handle and push the heavy door inward. There was another door at the end of a short four-foot corridor. I looked back at the people gathered in the area behind me, then scanned Sean's card on the door. The lock clicked, and I pushed it open, then closed the door behind me.

The overhead lighting was dim in the large room, but it was plenty bright enough for me to make out the horror within.

There were close to a hundred naked bodies arranged on medical tables, each surrounded by machines with multiple tubes coming from their noses, mouths, and arms.

I walked closer to a table and looked down in horror. This person wasn't human. His facial features looked melted, like a blank slate waiting to be created. The fingers on his hands had fused together and his skin was slightly scaly.

What the h.e.l.l was going on here?

Then the man's eyes opened, revealing red pupils.

I jerked backward.

The man sat up, panic in his eyes. His lips pulled back, allowing me to see the multiple rows of pointed teeth in his mouth.

"Let me help you," I said.

He hissed and ripped the tubes out of his face and his arm.

"Oh, s.h.i.+t," I mumbled, then turned to run back to the door.

He leapt off his medical table. I rushed to the door, desperate to make my escape.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. "Derrick?" I could have sworn it was him-standing behind a machine, an IV pole trailing behind him. But I didn't have time to get a closer look, because the creature I'd awoken was determined to hunt me down.

Was that why he had been created? As a hunting weapon for the U.S. government?

But I could think about that later. Now I needed to get the h.e.l.l out of there, especially since several of the thing's buddies had been roused from their slumber.

I swiped my card and made it through the first door, which closed behind me. I breathed a sigh of relief when the second door opened, but the sound of shattering gla.s.s startled me. I looked back to see the monster's hand punching the window, then it leapt through the opening. I ran through the second threshold but was tackled from behind, the impact shoving me through the door and into a metal cage wall.

People behind me screamed as the creatures rushed into the room and grabbed their prey, ripping out flesh with their teeth. I swung my horrified gaze to the monster who had me pinned to the metal bars. I spun around and tried to dart to the side, but the creature grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me back, pressing me into the bars.

His mouth opened, his teeth looking even scarier than they had from a few feet away. A burst of anger exploded in my chest.

I'd be d.a.m.ned if it ended this way.

CHAPTER 35.

LEA.

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d who'd grabbed me from behind was more than familiar. He was a vampire from my past...one of the few who'd gotten away.

The one who made me into a monster.

"Peter. Long time, no see."

I spun, flinging him off my back toward his three undead lady friends as they rose from the tables. His body knocked down two of them, but the first lady, the one with the curls, managed to dodge the impact.

Curly Sue slunk toward me, her body hunched and twitching as her muscles jerked in an odd rhythm. In a blink, she was right in front of me. Faster than a vampire? This was not good.

Stumbling back, I barely avoided her first swing as she swiped a clawed hand toward my face. Her speed more than matched mine. In truth, she was faster.

"What's the matter, Lea? Finally met a vamp who you couldn't take out?" Peter spoke in my native tongue, the Spanish rolling fluently from his lips.

I dropped to my knees and struck at Curly Sue, dragging her legs out from under her and jerking her to me. She bucked and fought as I climbed up her body. Snagging a stake from the top of my boot, I yanked it out and drove it through her right eye. Her body spasmed once and then went still.