The Matriarch

Chapter 9 Cleared

Chris was still trembling as he stared blankly in front of him, the beam of light continued to move from one of his eyes to the other as hands kept pressing his lids to keep them open. Though he remained perfectly still and unresponsive due to the shock, he was still able to hear the argument and debate that was happening within the room as their voices boomed inside the tightly sealed tiled room.

“Why did they react that way, they were of the same species,” Dr. Steinz grumbled as he continued to flipping from one page of the paper on his clipboard to another.

“Maybe it's his affinity to the beast.” Dr. Gomez rubbed his chin as he continued to view his tablet, the sounds of beast screaming could be heard from it as the man kept replaying the video of the whole procedure that was done.

“You think it has something to do with his wavelength?” Dr. Steinz then looked upon something on his device, sliding his fingers to check on results after the other.

“Possible, though I’m much more concerned about the fact that those other beasts may either be of a different pack or breed thus the hostility.” Dr. Gomez's lips twitch upon looking at some of the more obvious signs of why the whole experiment failed.

“Does that mean he can only control a certain breed?” Dr. Steinz frowned then began hastily sliding his fingers on the device that he was holding.

“We still have to run some more tests.” Dr. Gomez nodded as they proceeded to walk out of the room.

“I think…” Only sounds of murmur and echoes of their voices could be heard as the two finally got out of the room.

Chris remained quiet all the while, as he was still unable to move from the fear and terror of the things that happened a while ago.

After the two men wearing a hazmat had finished their examination, they give him a tap on the shoulder before proceeding to leave the room.

Chris just looked at the two as they exited the place, it was only then that he began breathing heavily as tears began streaming his face. Shakily raising his hand, he began looking at his hand that was covered in blood, he could also feel the stickiness of the dried liquid all over his body as he was still covered in the red stuff.

Flashes of memory began surfacing inside of him, making Chris grab hold of his head, remembering the fear and panic he felt when the two beasts tried to maul him a while ago. The creatures deliberately tried to take a chunk out of him, snarling and biting without so much as any restraints.

He could still remember the sharp jaws that almost grazed his skin, the stench of their hot breathe, and their terrifying and hungry stare.

Chris would have been dead by now if the first beast that he had touched had not intervened, the creature protected him, using its body to block the attacks and try to push them away, when it seemed futile and meaningless as the other two beasts would not stop, the bluish creature then started attacking which ended up in a blood bath as all the two other monsters began mangling it in retaliation. Though it was unmatched as there were two enemies, the bluish beast came out triumphant as it managed to tear the neck of the other one while completely biting of the head of the other, of course, it did not come out of there unscathed as it ended up severely wounded after the fight.

All the while Chris remained in the middle of all this, frozen in the midst of the battle, gaping as he was unable to move in sheer terror. The beast’s blood ended up raining upon him as he was quite close when the whole massacre had occurred, ending up in him being showered in their blood.

“Queen, protect queen,” those were the last echoes of that deep, metallic voice within his head.

It was the bluish beast's last words before succumbing to its wounds, this haunted him as it kept repeating in his head over and over again.

It was as if Chris could feel the pain, sorrow, and hunger of the beast at that moment and it would not leave his mind anymore.

When all of the three beasts were no longer moving it was only then that several people finally came rushing into the domed room, several men in hazmat suits grabbed hold of Chris and pulled him out of there as he remained trembling in place as he began weeping for the beast.

It took him quite some time to recover after the whole ordeal, he could not understand why he felt so much sadness and pain at that moment just by remembering all of that.

A few more minutes and he was finally able to move, slowly alighting the table, he then began walking towards the shower, wanting to clean himself up.

The metallic nobs felt like needles that pierced his skin as the coldness of the room seemed to have seeped into it. He gasped the moment he turned it and was greeted by the prickling coldness of the water. Slowly rubbing his skin, he took in deep breaths as he patiently waited for all of the blood to flow and be washed away by the water.

Chris closed his eyes while remaining under the shower, it was only then that he was able to notice the salty taste in his mouth, he recognized it as being that of the three beasts' blood. At first, he tried rinsing it out of his mouth until he suddenly felt a rush of energy course through his veins.

When he opened his eyes he looked at his hands and began opening and closing them as he sort of felt a surge of strength run through them.

His analyzing things was only put to a stop when he heard the clicking in the door before the whirring and wheezing sound that it did when opening.

Chris remained perfectly still as he was not finished bathing and though he honestly didn’t want to be seen naked while showering, there wasn’t much of an option as he did not have any type of privacy when it came to being examined.

“Subject two o two, here is your uniform, please get dressed once you're done and proceed to B-24 for the team selections test.” The voice sounded so static as it came out of the breathing apparatus.

“What?” Chris could not help but frown as he turned his head to the person that was talking to him, thinking that he might have heard him wrong.

“Didn’t you know? Dr. Steinz recommended that you be included in the selections test today.” The voice stated as he was pressing the tablet that he was holding.

“But I thought C rank and higher are the only ones allowed to partake on those tests, I’m a rank F.” He hugged himself to cover his privates as he faced the person that was still busy tampering with the device.

“It's an order from the Dr. as part of the tests,” The person quickly answered. Finally stopping to take a look at him.

“Okay,” was all he could say, knowing that when that word is said there was no arguing about it.

Chris ended up hugging himself tighter to try to hide certain parts of his body. He couldn’t distinguish the person inside the hazmat suit as it completely hid the form and changed the voice of the person inside of it, so he wasn’t sure if he was speaking to a man or woman. He felt so exposed as those dark goggles seemed to be looking straight at him.

The person in the hazmat suit raised an odd-looking collar that had some kind of square device on it with a red blinking light.

“Don’t forget to put this on.” The static voice felt so cold and distant making Chris shiver.

“All right,” was the only answer he could make up as he was now trying to avoid the person’s gaze.

Chris remained in the same position and manner until the said scientist finally walked out of the room. He let out a deep breath as he began moving towards the operating bed that had his clothes. Taking his sweet time to put on his clothes, he tried to remove the incidents from before out of his mind, knowing that he’ll be needing a stable mind and body to get out of the test unscathed.

With his current latent abilities, he was sure that he was going to end up badly injured if he would not be careful, being quite familiar with what happens within the selection process.

Chris took a long look at the so-called device, inspecting it for any kind of hidden needle, when he couldn’t find any, he then began feeling it for any metallic part that could release a bolt, fearing that the scientist would be using some kind of shocking device on him again.

When he somehow felt easier with it, he decided to finally put it on. A click along with a sudden whirring sound came off of the device, when Chris took a look at the mirror, he could not help but raise a brow seeing that the light had turned green.

He then started to think that it might be some kind of monitoring device to keep track of his body. Though he wanted to know what exactly it was and what it was for he was unable to do so as the door slid open again, letting in two men, in soldiers' uniforms.

“Special private Cruz, the selection test is almost starting, you are called on the site, so move on the double,” One of the men shouted seeing as Chris was still lounging around the room.

Chris immediately gave a salute. “Yes sir,” he then jogged out of there past the two other officers.

Though it was against his will to participate in the said test, he didn’t have much of a choice as he knew it would cost him his position and his job. He began running when he reached the hallway, not taking much time as he already remembered the pathway of the place.

He took in a deep breath as he pressed the elevator’s button, trying to calm his nerves upon hearing the whirring of the machine's motion. The sound of it felt as if it was sending electricity in his spine, as he knew what it meant once he steps on it.

When the door opened Chris stared at the entry for a moment, the blinking red light on the top kept reminding him of another kind of danger at the top. Swallowing hard he finally took a step and alighted the elevator. His fingers stiffened the moment he pressed the button to the said floor, finally closing the door to his momentary sanctuary.

As the elevator ascended he kept playing on his mind the possible pain, trauma, and beating that he was going to receive on the said test, somewhat trying to prepare himself for the worst. He jolted when the lift finally stopped, his feet then felt stiff and cold as the door slowly opened.

Swallowing hard Chris felt the weight of his foot when he stepped out of the elevator, though the whole place was overwhelmed with the sounds of laughing, chatting, bantering, and all sorts of other noises the sound of his heel clacking still garnered the attention of almost everyone around there.

Chris looked around, as expected the gazes of the other soldiers seemed to pierce right through him, as the men and women gave him weirds looks. From mocking to wary the mixed reactions weren’t bothering as it was normal within a room filled with power users, in that moment, somehow he ended up being quite relaxed finally surrounded by people once more, as the effects of the danger that he had experienced a while ago began kicking in.

In his mind, these were people like him, reasonable, logical, and most of all they were still susceptible to his attacks. Different from the beasts that he had faced a while ago. With that in mind, he managed to quietly and calmly walk to the side of the room even with numerous murderous gazes being thrown at him by several people that were there. Now all he had to do was finish this test and everything will be all right again, was the thing that ran through his mind. It was also the reason that somehow he was now looking forward to the test.