ISLAND

Chapter 6

The mess hall was a complete disaster. Some people had been in the middle of a meal when the breach had happened. There was rotten food and bodies everywhere, tables were flipped and broken, smashed dishes littered the floor. The storage wasn't in much better shape, they didn't even have the stomach to look look in the fridges and large chest freezers. There were rotten fruits and vegetables and moldy bread on the shelves. Searching the room they found some freeze dried nutrient bars, dried fruit, and jerky. Grabbing as much as they could as quickly as possible they stuffed it all into backpacks they had salvaged from a few of the guards.

Moving on from the mess hall Angela followed Carter who had memorized the path to the armory. They had hardly spoken since looking through the archives. Carter knew manufacturing supersoldiers was a very real and achievable concept but he didn't think anyone would actually be working on things like that. Not since...

His thought was interrupted as they arrived at the armory. Using the key card he'd salvaged he opened the door. Inside they found rows of weapons and ammo lining the walls. They started by picking up as many Magnums and SMGs as they could manage to carry as well as extra ammo. Carter then went through the rest of the military grade equipment, a lot of which he'd never seen before. Remembering the sensory sensitivity he had read about he started grabbing teargas and flash bang grenades. He also picked a substantial amount of C4, a half dozen detonators, a few coils of wire, and a couple armfuls of devices he didn't know the purpose of. Thankfully the backpacks were large and designed to carry even more than they looked capable of. Carter was weighed down by all of the lead but he was used to carrying his weight or sometimes more in equipment. Angela didn't look much more strained

Carter hardly even noticed the extra weight he was so full of adrenalin as they made their way towards the boats. They had been there too long, the complex was very large but it was still only a matter of time before they were discovered. But they had to make sure there were still boats here and they may not get another chance until it was time to leave. They had to see if they had a way out.

They continued down the large hallway passing a man that had been smashed into a wall so hard it was dented, as Carter looked around here noticed a side hallway where someone had been dragged out of a closet and torn limb from limb. Another hundred feet later they came upon the hidden docks. A half dozen corpses littered the entrance. They had come so close. Carter's heart skipped a beat when they walked in and found only one boat missing. The rest looked perfectly intact and the rest of the survivors could easily fit on two of them.

Next to him Angela grinned nervously, "Looks like we have a way out."

"Looks like we do." Carter agreed. "But don't celebrate until we get out of here.

As if on que they heard heavy footsteps and deep grunting noises approaching from one of the other hallways. Carter put a finger over his lips and started walking back the way they'd come making as little noise as possible, Angela following close behind. Every time they passed a hallway Carter peaked around the corner before going across. Every step was tense but Carter forced himself to keep his breathing steady.

About half way back to the stairs Carter looked down another side hallway in time to see one of them walk down a main path on the other side. The man, if he could even be called that anymore was nearly 8 feet tall with hunched posture from a misshapen back like he'd grown a foot or two just from the knotted mass of muscle that was his body. Carter only saw him for an instant as he passed but it looked like one of the monsters arms was as big around as Carter's entire torso. Carter waited a moment to make sure it was gone, his heart pounding then slowly continued forward.

They were two thirds of the way there when it finally happened. Carter heard a loud bellow behind them and looked back to see one of the superhumans staring at them with bloodshot eyes that only showed one emotion, distilled, thoughtless, anger.

"Run!" Carter yelled as the monster started sprinting towards them with other howls and bellows closing in from other directions. Him and Angela started sprinting for the stairs at full speed but Carter could still hear footsteps getting closer behind them. They had enough of a headstart to make it out. Barely. As they ran past another side hallway Carter saw a second one running at them from the right, putting on an extra burst of speed they just managed to get out of the way in time. The monsters momentum carried it across the main hall and fill force into the wall. The whole place shook from the impact and they nearly lost their footing. Carter glanced back in time to see the other superhuman run straight into the one that had crashed, buying them a couple of extra seconds.

The other yells sounded further off. It was a straight shot from here. 500 feet way. Then 200. At 100 feet away Carter could hear their ragged, unnatural breathing behind him. 50 feet away. Carter could almost feel the air coming off of the monsters right behind them. Almost close enough to reach.

Carter was grateful they were more maneuverable as normal humans as they turned the corner up the stairs and the monsters slammed into the wall behind them. One of the superhumans made a wild grab for Angela who was slightly behind Carter. Reaching back Carter grabbed her arm and yanked her forward out of reach. The superhuman just barely managed to grab hold of her shirt ripping off a chunk from her collar to her sleeve.

They sped up the stairs two at a time as the monsters behind them recovered and started chasing them again. Making it up the stairs they darted for the opening in the wall and jumped out running to safety. Carter looked back to see the monsters burst through the hole in the wall then stagger back shrieking and shielding their eyes as they came into daylight. They stumbled back into the shade of the base and Carter saw one of them take a long sniff of the strip of Angela's shirt staring hatefully. They had her scent.