January Gloom

The snow is beautiful when it lays, but it’s 8pm after working a 10 hour shift and 2 hours overtime, and the sight of an impenetrable blizzard is the last thing I want to see. The Lab is 5 miles from the nearest road, never mind a neighbour. Nothing for it but to stay overnight. At least there’s a couch in the breakroom, down the hall from Dr. Yanek’s office, and the lights are still working-

-and the lights cut out. No need to panic, the back-up generator is underground. It shouldn’t be affected by the snow, and the lights should be back on in just a moment.

But the lights aren’t turning on. Ah. Well, I’ll just have to turn them on manually, won’t I? The specimens in the industrial freezers can survive for… 20 minutes, I think, before they’ll die if the freezers aren’t on. Maybe it’s for the best that I’m here, to stop them from dying. That would be an expensive equipment failure.

The stairwell is past the breakroom, and I should be able to get there from memory. It’s so dark outside I won’t get any light from there, but I know where the door to the hall is. I’m trying not to stumble, but the feeling that I’m going to run into a wall is overwhelming. Feeling the corner of the wall with my hand, I shuffle around it… huh. There’s a light on in Dr Yanek’s office. How? The generator isn’t on, or all the other lights would be on too. And anyway, I should be the only one here.

No one is answering when I knock, so I’ll just open the door a crack and see what’s inside. She wouldn’t be angry if I’m investing a… an attempted burglary, that’s what I’ll say. If she’s here, that is.

She’s here. Well, her head is, anyway. It’s sitting on her desk, looking at me. Like it’s been placed there on purpose. The light’s coming from a torch, angled to cast shadows over her face in the most gruesome way possible. And I can’t forget to mention the blood trail leading from her head to the storage cupboard on the other side of her office.

I think it’s time to face the storm, and call someone. Whoever did this is still in the cupboard, and they know I’m here. I’m not dealing with this today.

With the threat of death on my heels, it’s much easier to find my way back to the exit, to where I’ve left my bag. And the door’s locked. It’s an electronic door, and with the generator out I can’t get out. Scrambling through my bag, I grab my phone and call the first employee I can find in my contacts. Dr. Eugene Andrews. A good man. Dependable.

No signal. Oh, of course! How could I even imagine that there might be signal?

I know there’s a landline in the breakroom. I could try it. I could call the police, government contracts be damned. The Lab isn’t something many people are meant to know about, but I’m willing to sacrifice my job for my life. Which begs the question, who’s in the office? Who knows enough to get in here?

I might be asking the wrong questions. It might be a what.

There’ll be time for that later. Now, I need to find a way to contact someone.

I’m not going back past that office. Specimens be damned, I’m not dying for them.

If there’s a God, He hates me. I’m in the hall leading to the breakroom. I’m figuring that if they wanted to kill me, they would have done it in the office, or would have followed me to the door. Probably flawed logic, but I don’t want to stand at the door for hours and possibly endanger every other employee when they arrive tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I want the head to be there or not. Maybe I shouldn’t look.

I looked. The head’s not there. And the door to the storage cupboard is open. And there’s Dr. Yanek’s body. But there’s no one in there with her.

I’m not sure I want to go into the breakroom.

I’m really not sure I want to go into the breakroom now. There’s her head. The landline’s been put under her chin. Like she’s talking. Who the hell is doing this?

I’ve pulled the phone away. Her head fell over. It bounced. It’s looking at me now. I don’t think I can do this. I worked for her for 3 years and now I’m tripping over her head. Also, the phone line was cut and I have no way to contact the police. Maybe should have mentioned that first.

I’ve been using my phone as a flashlight, so as long as it has battery I won’t be taken by surprise. Maybe. There’s a strong chance I might die here.

I’ve moved into Yanek’s office. There’s only one way in, and at least the blood is drying. It’s almost 9pm. Only another 11 hours. There’s a few folders on her desk. I might read them. I don’t have much else to do.

So, it appears that I don’t know half as much as I thought I did about the Lab. My job is to breed the specimens that we keep. I thought that we were just keeping them alive for research, see how life in the Andromeda galaxy works. Honest to God, I didn’t know what Yanek and her team were doing.

They were… God, how to say this. Uh, they were… well, they were creating mutated strains of the specimens. Mixing those strains with some of the things on this planet. It started with insects. Moved up to dogs, cats, lizards… and her latest experiment became her last. She mixed a strain with a human foetus. It’s been growing for the past few months… And I guess that these creatures grow much faster because now it’s fully grown. It’s not extremely intelligent. It doesn’t respond to stimuli like it should… or something like that. I skimmed over it. Anyway, it’s housed beside the generator.

And I think it killed Yanek.

I’m not jumping to conclusions. I don’t think. But I do need to see if it’s still where it should be.

My phone’s on 24%, so I’m more than a little worried. But, if I can get the generator working, it’s fine. As a bonus I can have a look at whatever’s down there. No Yanek to stop me.

There’s nothing down here. There’s nothing down here. It’s gone. I’m certain it’s what killed Yanek. And… it broke the generator. It’s cage, like the exit doors, are electronically controlled. So it broke the back-up generator. And when the main generator stopped, it got out. There’s nothing stupid about the creature.

And now I’m not sure if I’m going to survive or not.

Even if I don’t survive, this thing will.

And the world needs to know what they’re up against.

I have to get the documents out. I have to. Someone who won’t just hide the documents, bury their head in the sand and convince themselves I was killed by an intruder… Andrews! Of course, he’ll know exactly what to do. I can leave the folders in his desk-

-there’s something down here with me. The stairs are wooden… and they just creaked. I might be paranoid, but I’m not taking any chances. So I start running. I can’t hear anything behind me, but I’ve never even see this thing. It must look partly human, and maybe it looks a bit like one of the specimens. I should be looking for an exit.

This basement is bigger than I thought. This is bigger than the Lab… I think I’m somewhere under the forest. It’s getting colder… much colder. I think there’s a door somewhere. The cold might be from being underground… but I think it’s the snow. There’s a door- there’s a door! I have to get out, I will get out-

-the door’s open, I was right, I’m in the forest, I’m running and the wind is pushing against me but I’m still running, and I can see the car! I can see my car and I’m getting closer and closer and I dig into my pocket-

-and I’ve left the keys inside. I can’t keep running, I’m tired and my muscles are screaming, and I have to stop. I’ve stopped. I’m standing beside my car. It’s there. Looming just behind me in the reflection. It looks… mostly human. It’s slightly green. It has little horns, like they’re just beginning to grow.

It’s smiling. It looks almost friendly. Almost easy to forget that it decapitated Yanek. Oh, no, there’s the eyebrows… that’s a terrifying snarl. Very easy to remember that it’s going to kill me. Damn it, I’ve led it outside. And I never got the folders into Andrews’ desk.

It’s lifting a hand. No, a claw. Looks sharp. At least it’ll be quick and clean-