The Sphinx Project (4 page)

"You probably have about ten more minutes until they send this place into complete lockdown." Guy sat down but kept his hands in the air. "You need to be quick."

"We took down five in our room and one in the hall. How many more do you think there will be?" Nicole asked.

"Not entirely sure," he murmured, half to himself. "Maybe another two dozen hired guns in total. No clue how many tech staff, though." He shifted in his seat. "You're not gonna shoot me if I lower my arms, are you? They're going tingly."

"Go ahead." Nicole didn't lower her gun.

Ripping open the metal door of my cupboard, I peered at the contents. Most of it I was familiar with because of our training and I was able to sort through it easily.

I extracted my sword and set it against the wall. It was too big for my bag. A sheath of matte black throwing knives fit though, and couple of aerosol cans containing a concentrated knock-out gas followed. I tossed the guns I'd been using into the pack as I found my customized pair of .45 caliber SIG Sauers. I strapped a set of holsters to my thighs, slipping my guns into them.

I tossed half a dozen ten-round magazines into the pack along with a few boxes of ammo. Lifting a tactical vest from the wall of the locker, I tugged it over my head. There was no reason not to make use of the extra protection.

Guy watched, lazily spinning side to side on the rickety old computer chair, as I dropped a compact crossbow into the bag with a few bundles of bolts, a couple of holsters, sheaths and additional knives.

I moved to the next locker and started the process again with Briana's gear.

"Two minutes forty. Don't forget my axes!" Briana called from her post.

We all had different preferences when it came to our weapons; I liked my sword, but Briana carried a set of small axes for her bladed weapon. Nicole liked tanto knives and Mouse preferred three-pronged sai.

I left the axes at the very top of Briana's pack before moving into the outer room again. I collected rope, a climbing harness, a small L.E.D headlight and a blanket. It only occurred to me once I'd loaded the equipment into the bag that I should have packed them first, giving me better access to my weapons. It was too late now—we needed to go. I had the sword and the guns; that would have to do.

I strapped the sword to my back so the handle protruded over my right shoulder before closing the top of the bag and fastening the clips. I lifted the bag over my shoulders, on top of the sword's sheath.

I was turning to leave when Guy stood up. "So, can I come too?"

I froze, stopping dead in my tracks.

"Why would you want to do that?" Nicole asked.

"I've known you since you were young," he ground out. "You're pretty much my kids. Why do you think I'm still here?" He waved his arm around the room. "Didn't you notice you got a whole new set of guards after they cracked down on you? They didn't want anyone around who might actually give a damn about you."

Guy was the closest thing we had to a father. He'd introduced us to candy after a trip to see his own little girl one day. It was awful when she'd passed away; Guy loved her and his wife more than anything. It took him a long time to even come close to how he'd been before the car accident.

"Hurry up and get what you need," Nicole ordered grudgingly.

A huge smile spread across his face. He reached under his desk and produced a bag. "I always knew I might have to make a break for it." He slung it easily over his shoulders. "So, what's the plan?"

"We're following the tunnel that leads into the woods," Nicole said brusquely, appearing a little annoyed when Guy shook his head.

"Not a good idea. They caged it over and there's a checkpoint before you even get there. Not to mention the time it would take to cover the distance between here and the nearest town. You need a car." He paused momentarily to consider. "Why don't we drive out?" His tone made it seem like most obvious thing in the world.

"We were going to, but we can't open the garage door." Nicole paused. "Well, we
couldn't
."

Guy said nothing, he just nodded at the keys I'd clipped onto my vest with a small climbing carabina.

"Let's go," Nicole ordered.

I fished the guns from my holsters, the weight of the cool metal was oddly comforting in my hands. Guy led the way to the parking lot. We let him set the pace so we wouldn't outrun him.

"Shit!" he yelped, rounding the last corner.

Skidding to a halt, I caught hold of him as he tumbled over the edge of a gaping hole and yanked him back.

The tiles had fallen away, crashing to the floor far below. We could see something moving slightly beneath the rubble. There was body parts scattered among the debris, including someone whose head and torso had been crushed by a huge block of concrete.

What I could see of the body was devoid of clothing, deathly white, covered in wrinkles and oddly shrunken. I could even see the dark purple veins swirling below the surface of its skin.

I examined the mess below in an attempt to find some sort of clue to the identity of the body; I caught sight of an arm. It was lying on top of a heap of trash, but something wasn't right; if someone had been crushed by the falling cement, the amputation wouldn't have looked like that.

It seemed like the arm had been torn from the shoulder.

This didn't add up, and it creeped me out. "Come on. We need to find another way," I said, trying to hurry Guy and the others girls along. We were running out of time.

We turned to go back the way we came but before we'd taken two steps, I heard the screech. The elevator doors directly to our right were forced open from within.

I didn't want to put whoever it was between us and our escape, but with Guy, our options were limited; he wasn't fast enough to pass the elevator before whoever was inside emerged. I didn't want to give them a clear shot at my back, either.

Retreating back to the hole, I raised my gun and waited to take aim at them when they moved into view. The other girls did the same. Mouse fished an extra gun from the holster at her thigh for Guy, while Nicole shielded him. There were a few guards who had been friendly with us. Most of those were removed from the facility before we'd been locked away, we couldn't take any chances.

When I finally saw what was climbing out of the elevator shaft, I couldn't squeeze the trigger.

Chapter Five

For a moment, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I blinked twice, trying to correct my vision. It didn't do anything, because there was nothing wrong with my eyes.

My hands shook slightly and my skin crawled. We'd never dealt with anything like this before.

Dust from the pulverized floor tickled my nose, but I fought back the sneeze.

A humanoid creature struggled out of the elevator shaft, dragging itself onto the tiles. Its fingers were webbed, each tipped with a long, sharp nail. Its feet scrabbled for purchase against the wall below, trying to push itself over the ledge.

When it eventually moved clear of the doorway, it pushed itself up on all fours, moving forward in a strange shuffling motion. It froze momentarily, surveying the wall directly in front of it.

The hair sprouting from its deformed skull was a coarse snow-white, switching abruptly to a mousy brown halfway down.

Its skin was also incredibly pale, almost translucent. It wrapped tightly around the creature's bones, in the manner of plastic food covering. The pale flesh stretched between its body and limbs resembling a base jumping wing suit.

Purple veins wound snake-like paths directly below the surface, pulsing thickly with grotesque life. I could hear strange glugging noises as the blood traced its way through the vessels.

When it turned to face us, I found myself gaping at an almost human face. Gray pupils filled almost the entire eye, but no whites surrounded them. It looked like they'd been flooded with blood. The movement also served to prove it was a male.

He blinked once in, like a cartoon owl. An expression of hunger spread across the ghostly face, eyes locked on us.

Thick green saliva pooled at the corner of his mouth. A grotesque tongue darted out, in an attempt to drink the fluid in again. A rotting stench assailed my nose and my stomach churned. I swallowed, trying to fight back the urge to vomit.

Other noises punctured the silence, more scratching and scrabbling from the elevator shaft.

Beep. Beep. Beep.
The watch on my wrist vibrated, the shrill noise punctured the tenseness around us. The creature looked unsure, but it didn't appear to be frightened by the noise. I reached to silence the alarm, the other girls switching theirs off too.

I remained still, waiting for the creature to make its move. We should have escaped when we had the chance; we needed to get out of this place.

The question of what they were lingered. I always knew we weren't the only ones the scientists experimented on, but at least we'd turned out all right. A strange guilt settled over me; these creatures were stuck like this. Was there ever a possibility we could have ended up like them?

As I assessed our options, another pale hand reached out of the shaft and pulled itself over the last protruding obstacle. This one took its place next to the first creature, followed by a third.

They sat there, contemplating us. Not a muscle moved between them.

I heard Guy take a deep, shuddering breath. I could do nothing but watch from the corner of my eyes as a violent sneeze threw his entire body forward.

The noise startled the creatures. They reared onto their hind legs, and started forward. They moved like old men with hunched backs, although much quicker. They weren't quite up to our speed, but they were faster than regular humans and definitely faster than Guy.

"Stop!" Nicole commanded loudly.

They didn't listen. They kept coming.

I wasn't going to take any chances. Raising my guns, I sent three bullets from each into the first creature's chest, exactly where a heart should have been.

It barely slowed the thing down. As they neared, they opened their mouths, a strange yellow substance dripping from their teeth. The yellow didn't mix with the saliva. The fluids simply sat next to each other, like oil and water.

I shot another two bullets into the creature's brain, but still it didn't stop. If I couldn't kill it from a distance, I'd have to get up close and personal—which I preferred not to do. I didn't know exactly what they were or what they could do.

"They aren't dying!" Briana squealed. Annoyance flashed within me. We may not have dealt with this before, but she knew better than to scream.

I took a second to calm myself, allowing my training take over. I took in the scene as if I were watching from above, calculating the creature's speed and course of movement. Assessing the options and possible outcomes, I calculated the probability of success with each course of action.

As if on autopilot, I holstered the guns. My hands went to the straps of the large pack, pulled the webbing that hung from the pack to loosen the shoulders. The bag slid down my arms to thump on the ground.

The moment my left arm was free, I reached over my shoulder, drawing my sword from its sheath in one smooth movement.

Nicole had only one tanto blade at her hip. I saw her moving in the periphery of my vision. I surged forward, paying no heed to the others, who were still gathered in a group with their guns.

I didn't tackle the creature in the center. Instead I took the one slightly behind him to the left. My sword gave me more reach than its empty hands allowed. He stretched, trying to grab me. I brought the sword down across one of its wrists, severing its hand.

It screeched in pain, like someone dragging nails down a chalkboard. The noise seemed to drill into my skull.

Ignoring the discomfort, I used my momentum to spin past the creature, bringing my blade around again.

I pushed forward, driving the tip of my sword through the creature's spine, where its head met its neck. The moment I severed the spinal column, it froze before flopping to the ground.

I was beside Mouse and Briana again before the creature's body even hit the floor. Nicole returned to stand beside me and a second creature collapsed, headless, a few feet away. Blood seeped out of the gaping wound where its head once sat.

There was only one left now, the first that had climbed from the shaft. Guy let off two shots into the creature's face. One hit the bridge of its nose, the other penetrated above its right brow.

He froze, twisting his left pupil inward in an attempt to see what happened to his face. The right eye lolled to the side. Apparently deciding it was nothing too important, the creature once again started toward us.

Briana and Mouse dug into their bags to find their own blades while I sprinted forward. The creature reached out to grab at my throat, but I sliced my blade through his neck before he got anywhere near me.

I'd never cut a human's head off before, I'd expected more resistance. The flesh was soft like bread, the bone brittle as chalk.

The monstrosity seemed oddly confused for a moment before its head slipped from the neck and bounced to the floor. Its body followed soon after, but not soon enough that I wasn't wondering if the damned thing was still alive.

"What the hell are these things?" I asked breathlessly.

"God knows." Guy looked bewildered. "I've never been down there. Only scientists and their special guards have the key cards for those levels."

More scraping and banging came from the elevator shaft, echoing around us.

Mouse glanced nervously at the elevator. "Let's get out of here."

We heaved our bags onto our backs again, each of us now armed with a blade and our guns.

Guy led us back the way we'd come earlier, his gun sweeping the path in front of us. We had to make our way to the opposite side of the building, which meant passing our cell again.

Chapter Six

We sprinted along the narrow maze of passageways, moving as fast as Guy could. I desperately wanted to sprint at full speed, but we'd outrun him in seconds.