The Matriarch

Chapter 8 Experiment

“Sir, exactly why are we here again?” Chris was unable to stop his voice from trembling as they were descending into the lowest floor of the underground base.

“You’ll find out soldier,” the man wearing the white lab coat just said before remaining silent again.

The sound of the whirring mechanism of the elevator and the man’s sudden quietness just made it even more terrifying for him, remembering what it meant to be on those lower floors.

He literally jerked from the shock when the door finally opened, they were greeted by the sounds of hissing, ambers jumping from the metals being welded, the smell of alcohol, and the metallic smell.

Soldiers were passing by one after another in haste, some were carrying weapons, others were pushing huge cages, along with them were scientists in white coats running around with their clipboards or tablets, discussing some things with one another in panic.

“Is this a new floor?” Chris asks seeing the floor number on the ground.

He did not remember being in a much lower area before, even though they had already put him in the lowest part of the underground lab.

“Do keep up,” the man just answered, still keeping his lips shut.

That didn’t bode well for Chris, knowing what it could possibly mean one thing for him. It just made him even more nervous now that they were entering a sterile room with white automatic sliding doors on the side. They entered a long small straight square pathway, filled with white tube lights on each side. It kept going down, passing several more cross-like sliding doors, that were made of thick and hard metal, until they reached a cross pathway with other people.

“Dr. Steinz, I’ve brought him,” the man in a white lab coat states as he approached the two older men.

Chris froze in his place seeing the bearded man again who had whiting hair. He could not remove the memory that was etched in his mind of the man’s wrinkled face as he was smiling behind a mirror, all the while, those things were being done to him.

“Ah, well, if it isn’t our anomaly of a power user,” the man says with his deep hoarse voice as they turned to them.

Chris though his knees were shaking still tried to keep his posture firm as he stood in attention in front of the two, he still wanted to properly act as a soldier in front of them.

“Dr. Steinz, have you forgotten the main reason why we’re here, we are finally going to be able to find out what his ability is,” the other old man with a balding head interrupted as he cackled.

Dr. Steinz quickly let out a suppressed laugh. “Ah, yes, yes, Dr. Gomez. Has everything been prepared already?” the old man states as he turned to his colleague.

“Yes,” Dr. Gomez quickly says nodding as he put on his glasses and pressed something on his tablet.

“Then we should be able to start.” Dr. Steinz smiled as he also began pressing some things on his tablet.

There were several beeping sounds from the said device as the old man kept pressing several more things in his device.

“Arthur, please prepare our subject for the test, we will be conducting the experiment once he’s ready,” Dr. Gomez turns to the young man that had brought Chris.

“Yes Doctor,” Arthur nodded before looking at Chris.

The young man gives Chris a quick tap as he was still staring at the two old men who were discussing some things in hushed tones as they showed one another’s research that was on the device’s screen.

Startled, Chris quickly moves to follow the young man as he was signaling him with his head to follow.

They moved to the right side of the pathway while the scientists took the one on the left. The young man took him to the very end of the hall, he was then led to a small sterile room that had white tiles, it had an operating bed inside with a showerhead on the far end.

“Please take off all your clothes and sterilize yourself,” Arthur said with a cold and straight tone pointing at the shower.

Chris just nodded knowing what was about to come, he waited for the man to go out of the room before he started taking off his clothes, before proceeding to clean himself up.

Though the water was warm he could not help but continue to tremble as he was already expecting what was about to happen to him. He tried to mentally prepare his mind but remembering all those things that they had done before just made him shake even more.

There was a clean white medical robe that was prepared for him on the operating table which he wore. He then sat on the table, waiting for the inevitable as he kept taking deep breaths, trying to mentally prepare himself for the worse.

It didn’t take long before a man finally came for him, wearing a white hazmat suit with some kind of device that kept ticking.

“Please come with me,” Arthurs radio-like voice came out from the nozzle of the suit, his hand gesturing him to follow.

Chris quickly complied without a word, he remained quiet continuing to prepare himself, trying not to show any kind of fear or feeling with his straight face while following the young man.

They return to the cross pathway but this time they immediately made a turn and went to the middle hall which continued to go in a downward slope. He wasn’t sure how far it went but it did take them some time to finally reach the end of it which was also a metal slide cross door, same as the ones before but required security access.

Arthur slid his key card into it before pressing the numerical codes, it wasn’t that hard for him to see what it was after making quick glances at what the man was doing.

Three doors opened individually in a timed manner, Chris noticed that these ones were much thicker than the ones they had passed above, which made him very curious as to what was inside.

“Please go in,” Arthur raises his hands to point him in that direction.

Swallowing hard he complies once more, though he was hesitant he knew he would not be able to oppose those in power.

He got into a bigger room with a huge vault-like door. It was locked with this gear-like mechanism and was obviously very secured and thick.

Chris almost jumped when the door behind him closed, he then quickly returned his gaze to the large one in front of him that started making loud clanking sounds as its gears started turning.

His insides felt like they were full of spiders running around as they would not stop vibrating because of terror. He was welcomed by this ominous darkness which just fueled his fear even more.

“Subject two o two, please step inside,” echoed a vibrating and radio-like voice that seemed to come from Dr. Gomez.

Hearing that, Chris immediately obeyed walking into the void, it was only then that he felt the whole floor was of cold freezing metal. It took him some time to finally get inside as he was unable to properly move from the trembling of his knees.

A loud boom was heard as the spotlights started turning on one by one, illuminating the whole place. He looked around to see that the was inside a large dome-like arena with only a dark glass window for observation in the middle of it.

There were three other doors inside, it looked the same as the one behind him, one was in front of him the other two were on his left and right.

Chris hugged himself as he heard the large door behind him start to close, its sound resonated throughout the whole place as it slowly locked.

“All right, we will now proceed with the test,” Dr. Gomez's voice echoed.

With that the door in front of him began clanking as its gears started to turn, a loud whirring sound then started to come out of it as it slowly opened.

Chris's heart started racing as he suddenly felt his skin crawl, sensing a familiar feeling coming from behind the door.

“Feed us, oh queen, feed us,” the voice echoed in his mind along with a loud growling sound.

A few more seconds and the full form of the beast walks right into the arena, moving in what seemed to be a crouching-like manner, like a predatory cat preparing to pounce on its prey.

Though terrified, Chris could not help from frowning as he saw how different this wolf-like beast was. His scale-like skin was almost deteriorating from burned marks, the horns that protruded from its body were full of cracks and it was chained to what seemed to be a thick metallic collar.

“Dr. what is this!” He tried calling out to the people that were looking into the mirror a few feet above the arena, seeing as the creature continued to move towards him.

“Do not worry officer Cruz, we can assure you this is a completely safe and controlled experiment,” Dr. Gomze’s static-like voice echoed thought out the dome.

Chris unable to believe that just remained where he is until finally, the chains reached their limit. The beast was halfway to the arena and was still trying to pull the restraint to get to him.

All that time he could hear the beast stone, metallic voice in his head. “Hungry must find food, I don’t want to die, queen.” It kept repeating over and over again that it was starting to make his head throb.

“Officer Cruz, please move closer to the specimen,” Dr. Steinz's voice now echoed through the speakers.

“Dr.?” He almost howled in disbelief at what the man wanted him to do.

“Move closer to the specimen, officer Cruz,” Dr. Steinz repeated this time with more firmness and authority.

Chris clenched his fist, gritting his teeth as he followed the orders, he hated what the man was making him do, not caring for his safety nor his consent. Deep down in his mind, he kept thinking that there will be a time that these people will get what was coming to them.

Being careful, Chris made sure that he was close enough to the beast but far enough for its claws to reach him just to be safe.

“Closer officer Cruz,” Dr. Steinz's voice grew louder on the speakers.

Chris's face crumpled as he tried to contain himself, yet in the end, he took in a deep breath and took it all in. He thought that if he was going to meet his end there he will curse the doctor until his death.

“Queen,” the sound was much more solid, clear with a deep tone of a growly voice, but this time it was as if the sound came directly from the beast and was much calmer.

The creature then suddenly knelt down and laid in front of him like a submissive and behave little pup.

“Officer, how are you doing this?” It was Dr. Gomez again, the tone of his voice was a mix of surprise, happiness, and amazement.

“I don’t know,” He shouts back, even he did not understand why the beast was acting this way.

“Officer, we want you to touch it,” Dr. Steinz took over once more his voice was icy cold.

“What!” He could not help but shriek for what they wanted him to do.

Looking at the creature who was almost double his size, it could basically snap him in two, once it decides to bite him.

“Touch the specimen’s head,” Dr. Steinz ordered once more with a sharper tone.

Enraged by the unbelievable and dangerous request he non-hesitantly moved, stomping his feet and glaring at the glass window when he pressed his hand on the creature's head.

His face quickly changed as surprise suddenly was etched on his face upon feeling the fur-like texture of the beast. It also remained calm and began breathing in a relaxed manner as it slowly dozed off.

Several images came back within Chris’s mind as he was able to look at the creature much cleared, it was the same one that he saw within the ashen mist incident, the only difference was its body was burned out and wounded.

“Proceeding with experiment,” Dr. Steinz's voice echoed through the dome together with the sounds of clanking as the two other doors on his left and right side began opening too.

Two more creatures came out, but this time they had a different form and color than the ones that he was holding unto.

His eyes literally grew wide when the two beasts did not even move cautiously but instead immediately dashed towards him, mouth open, showing their fangs that were ready for an attack.