A scowl found its habitation mated down my expression as I rubberneck at the long aisle that didn't seem to cease, with my steps rambling behind Agent Alice. The only sound creaking through the air was the noise of our feet tapping against the tiled floor as we swerved through the hallway.
It was just 6 am when Mr Berlin called me to the academy, and I understood someone was there to take me to the agency. Grace had arrived in time, almost as if monitoring me.
I had thought the agency was located in an entirely distinct location, but that didn't explain me walking behind Agent Alice at a part of the academy building that was devoid of human activities. Silence consolidated our midst, however, I didn't feel the need to break it when the female in front of me hadn't darted my way since we stepped out of Mr Berlin's office. I respected her aim for quietness.
We reached the end of the hallway and to an elevator which appeared abandoned. Yet, I watched as she brought out a card and placed it on the scanner of the elevator, and automatically -and incredibly- it opened after card recognition and a thumbprint.
The desire to possess something like that steered through me.
Entering after her, the metal doors closed. The walls enveloped our existence as the elevator plummeted down, to a basement, maybe.
After what seemed like hours due to the silence encompassing me, I heard the ding sound, and abruptly the metal doors unfurled.
The floor we arrived at was dim, but I could make out faint voices, paper ruffling and footsteps coming probably behind doors, office doors. I walked behind Agent Alice with little knowledge of where I was. I was thankful she wasn't on heel today, to prevent the torture of hearing the clicks of the heels all the way down here since only silence seemed to have chaperoned us. Her professional attire, however, held a flicker of polish.
We ambled through an open door at a distance, and I was surprised at the number of people inside the room and stunned at the number of pictures on the wall with markings and strings as my eyes wandered; it was the bat-infected case displayed. The people seemed to be arguing but in low tones amongst themselves. But they all wavered when they saw me -probably my trainee attire- as their gazes contorted.
I saw Agent Miles amongst the people. And Director Donald.
Director Donald broke the silence, steering his head as he motioned to me. "This is Agent Quinn, the newest member of this operation."
Then introductions surfaced.
Everybody here had different fields they specialized in. Then I understood that most of them were under the Counterterrorism Division and the Science and Technology branch, just different units underneath it.
A female walked into the room, which didn't seem to die down the already busy space as she deviated towards the Director. She tilted to him and spoke softly, just for him to hear. But I heard it.
"Agents from the Intelligence Branch are here with news concerning the bat virus." She whispered softly. Then he said back to her.
"Collect the information,"
"They stated it needs your signature and approval first,"
The director's eyes roamed across the room before falling back to the female beside him. "I'll be there." The female nodded, walking off. And he followed not long after, tossing a nod to Alice as he strides away.
I had never been in a room filled with agents before, and working with them to solve a case sounds like a dream come true. Unless it doesn't look like a dream to me at this moment. More like a nightmare fantasy. A nightmare one doesn't wake up from.
My gaze slid off the agents and wavered to the wall with pictures and strings. I didn't need to be up close to it to see it evidently, because from the position I could. I saw pictures of dead victims, and people undergoing mutation who were shot in the head or neck. Killed in sight. As I examined further, I realized how different my transformation was from them. My eyes wandered to a body that looked freshly killed on the wall, her face held strings of dried transparent veins and her opened hollow eyes held emptiness. It wasn't hollow just because of the death, but because of what she was changing to.
It was frankly different. My claws weren't completely raven like the pictures neither were my eyes void with concaveed depths, and my neck wasn't slanted. It almost made me feel like I wasn't truly bitten, but transforming naturally. Which wasn't possible.
My eyes fell on another picture. A figure standing at a distance at the time the picture of a dead infected policeman was taken but was captured by the camera unknowingly. The face wasn't recognizable, nor was the red gleam in the eyes, but I noticed the red gleam and the lengthy female wavy hair.
"[Subject's location identified.]"
"Huh?" I said softly, almost tilting my head to know what spoke to me, but then realized it was the server. I had almost forgotten about the server.
"[Protect subject from harm.]"
"What?" I simply didn't understand.
"Is there a problem?" Agent Alice asked, speaking to me for the first time that morning. She was standing away from me, but her eyes were on me, staring at me as if trying to see my soul. Or the woven venom in the pit of my stomach.
"No." I carefully replied. My eyes shifted from her, trailing back to the unidentified female on the wall that I was to protect. But that's a suspect that needs to be exterminated. And I can't possibly try to protect someone whose first instinct was to kill and sink fangs. Besides, guns don't affect them, so she'll be safe even while standing inside of the agenc-
"-kill them. Its antibacterial properties help tarnish and corrode these bat-infected people." A new guy from a department I couldn't remember said minutes after entering the room.
He'd been speaking and I hadn't been paying attention to him, until currently. "These subjects were tested," He pointed to four pictures on the table, which I hadn't acknowledged until now. One of the pictures was identical to what I was looking at on the wall. "Fine silver with millesimal fineness of 999 toiled more effectively." He pointed to the picture where the unidentified girl was standing from afar but their concentration was on the dying policeman and pointed at the same image which seemed to have been taken hours later, which didn't have the lurking figure.
The pictures left me stunned. The one with the strange girl from afar shows the policeman dying in the scene after recently being shot with a silver bullet and the drastic transformation eight hours later in the second picture. It ate up the dead man and turned him into bones.
The fellow resumed speaking as the others listened. "But fine silver is very soft and malleable; hardness and durability isn't its virtue. So, these additional two pictures show the uses of sterling silver. The silver contains 7.5% copper, which helps with these qualities."
I observed the four images and noted the difference. Fine silver was indeed more effective.
Another fellow, probably from the same department as the speaking guy, spoke up this time. "For effective killing, the fine silver will be utilized. But it will be clotted with a thin layer of another metal to improve the bullet's hardness." He said, his eyes meandering across the team.
"Has it been experimented on already transformed targets?" Alice asked, her arms tucked and her solemn eyes down at the pictures. "If it takes eight hours to eat the transforming one up, then I suppose it takes a day to eat up the already transformed."
"Yes, it takes twenty-five hours to eat them up when the bullet meets the skull, but thirty hours if it's the body. But once shot, it propels them from moving and immobile till they decay." The first guy reacted.
I could see the relief washing down their faces at this realization. I wanted to be glad as well, relieved like the others but I couldn't. This only presented to me how my life was destined to end. A fine bullet buried in my skull.
"[Subject proximity alert!]"
"[Subject is two miles away from the agency.]"
The fuck?
I couldn't eliminate the frown from showcasing between my brows and the annoyance dancing on my expression. I felt a headache coming up.
I couldn't help but wonder who was dying today with a pending silver bullet up the brain. Me or the subject?
"-bait." This captured my attention. "I've positioned a few personnel around the area to take it down."
Eyes scooped out of the ajar entrance as the Director ambled in, keen to heed the remnant of his utterances. His feet slumped on the floor with preeminence as he strolled around to the centre table. The room was currently silent as a graveyard.
Nobody spoke for a duo of seconds, then a male security walked in and steered his footsteps towards Director Donald. He didn't whisper, but his voice remained low.
"The subject is within a mile radius, sir," It almost came out as purr due to how soft he retained his tone, his gazes stayed rectified on a spot; Director Donald's face. "Should we take action?"
"Let it walk ten seconds closer."
The security bobbed his head in affirmation and veered out of the room, not once meeting the faces of other agents.
As stares peeled off the security, it plunged on the Director and his awaited assertions. He delivered a second later, but Agent Alice seconded him to it.
"Are we using baits to lure them into death now?"
A subtle jiggle of his head narrowly declined her assumption. "I'm not annihilating. There's more to these things- these creatures than meets the eye. The subject saw what we did, she's afraid of us now. We need something to interrogate, and she's the perfect fit."
Alice's folded arms loosened, her back spruced up and her pose more sturdy than normal. I observed. "And if she finds your heart more intriguing?"
"Then I blow a silver hole into her damn skull."
The retort squirming up her throat suspended as the male security stepped into the room again. "You might want to see this, sir," Clasp around his fingers was a tab showcasing a scene. CCTV footage. The security prone at the Director to more sight-seeing. "It was captured the moment I walked in to report the proximity signal."
Director Donald peeled the tab from his fingers and connected it to the big screen behind me. And it became available for all the agents in the room.
I tried not to frown at the illustration displayed on the large screen. The bait apparently lured more than expected. I understood they had gone hiding when they suddenly disappeared, but it seemed something- or someone was controlling them. The newly bred virus bearers saunter sluggishly, almost identical to a zombie, passing the proximity of a mile radius.
Their pale red eyes suddenly darkened as their movements stopped, and eyes closed. Hindering the red gleams from view.
Breaths almost seized in anticipation at the sudden immobility of the creatures.
Hearts spiked as their eyes unfurled, a glimmer of fiery cross through their expression as they moved at a sudden unattainable speed-
The Director paused the display and swung to the security. "Take them down, but leave the female alive if possible." The security nodded in understanding and exited the room.
He wavered his head at Alice and she understood what he meant, so she followed him outside and the other agents too.
I walked behind them not knowing what to do. A gun was tossed to me by Agent Miles loaded with silver bullets.
"Try not to get killed, Kid," He said, patting my hair as he walked to a different zone.
I excused myself as nobody paid too much attention other than to the fast incoming and the metal with bullets in their grasp. I roamed to the back with a claim of searching for the restroom while probing for an exit. I came into a male bathroom which happened to have a wide passable window space to accommodate my lean frame.
The other side of the bathroom doesn't lead to the outside of the agency like I would have preferred, but rather to a corridor. I realized this too late since I'd jumped off already.
The passageway was quiet, too quiet to be a region among the agency facility which was almost chaotic inside.
I could hear the echo of my feet and the rapid breathing pulse on my chest. I footed through the corridor, holding my pistol glued to my fingertips. In the long deserted aisle, I spotted a few doors on the corner, seemingly locked doors. Thoughts of going through them steered up my head but were shoved off as something else snagged my vision.
A figure.
A standing figure in the distance.
A standing female studying me with hunger and deadness in her eyes from the length of the aisle.
It was the same figure standing when the infected policeman was killed. Her long wavy hair lost its flow as there was no breeze in the corridor to do that.
Her claws entreated off her tips and her red eyes darkened, holding a promise of fulfilled hunger after she was done with me. Christ.
"[Protect subject at all cost.]"
Protect what?!
She lunges towards me with a speed understandable and almost comparable to Lazaros's. Her movement was brisk as she reached for me with her claws, aiming for my face, correlating the need to feel my blood on her tips or tongue.
I swiftly dodged her advances, a few scratches met my arms but that would be nothing compared to if the claws made contact with my heart or stomach. I squelched the robust urge to file a silver bullet down her skull as I struggled to ponder on ways to protect a deranged female who wanted to suck me dry.
And then- "What the-" -someone walked into the corridor and saw this happening. "Red!" I caught from the corner of my eyes as the intruder spoke through his tactical earpiece about the situation as he filed his gun at us.
It was Agent Miles. Agent Miles saw my face and acknowledged my speed. I watched despite dodging the almost lewd advances as the deranged female suddenly sought for my pants while observing Agent Miles' expression and arms. He was injured and probably got scratched from jumping off the window. But there was blood. The scent penetrated my nostrils and the hunger I'd been feeling and avoiding for days suddenly pushed forward.
I didn't know the colour of my eyes, but I knew it wasn't hazel anymore. My fangs crept through my almost closed lips and my claws surged at the scent of freedom.
"Roman-" Agent Miles whispered with disbelief, eyes struck on me, forgetting his safety. Standing close to two infected people with his jaw ajar. "Fuck… you're one of them?"
The fragrance of his blood finally registered to the raging female and she curtailed her action. Her head wobbled behind her and caught the view of the agent.
I wanted to call for him to leave. The urge to satisfy my hunger overshadowed my passion to protect, but I longed to protect nevertheless. But would the agent protect me? He'd seen my face.
Agent Miles caught hold of himself as the female slanted her head at him. He filed his gun at her and pulled the trigger. She ducked them effortlessly.
"Standby!" A voice crackled through Agent Miles's earpiece, but it was too late.
Another pull of the trigger and she evaded it. Soon, she was behind him, holding his neck in place with a tight grip. His body forfeited its will and the gun buffed off his grasp. His eyes remained trailed on me with unspoken accusations as fangs sank into his neckline.
A blissful sparkle tolled across her expression, and a purr of satisfaction exited her bloodied lips. Her eyes stayed half closed as ecstasy and orgasm blasted through her. I realized from her low moan.
Soon enough Agent Miles was ripped apart, deserted of blood.
I stood, watching. Waiting to be swum by remorse as my eyes refused to leave the gory scene.
The darkness around her eyes vanished and her insane aura slowly evaporated. It almost seemed like she was delivered from being possessed. Her eyes trailed off the blood in her palms and raised to my face. Her feet tugged her away from the dead Agent and closer to me.
I was battling with myself. The revivified scent of ecstasy seemed like heaven as each waft penetrated my senses-
"[Proximity alert! Ten armed incomings.]"
And I heard it. Footsteps.
I didn't linger to witness the result and grabbed the female by her wrist and ran into the closed room which surprisingly wasn't locked.
"Find the girl!" I heard from outside the door. "We'll be targeting a different subject, so kill her."
I heard several affirming phases to the sentence.
The room was likely to be searched, so I walked with her wrist in my palm towards the bathroom as it seemed to be the only exit I knew. Her obedient mode came off weird, but I'll deal with it later.
I hopped out after her and we were surrounded by silence and bushes. I released her wrist, not knowing if I could trust her. We needed to leave this premises, and I ought to be inside the agency before my disappearance was noticed.
"Follow me," I whispered, watching the girl, still trying to read her thoughts.
"I don't know you," Her voice peeled roughly like she hadn't spoken in days. Scratchy.
I quashed my response as my thoughts dwindled to my injured left thigh. Her hands had been there, and it even left a mark. A painful imprint.
"Just follow me," I knew she realized I wasn't completely like other humans, I noticed when she walked over to me after sucking dry Agent Miles.
She nodded. Just what I needed. Obedience.
"Where's the safest place to keep her at the moment?" I asked no one, but a response came through.
"Who are you talking to?"
"[There's a cabin 60° North-East. Belongs to an old couple who are presently away.]"
That's where we went. An old cabin. Dusts crammed across it conveyed the unspoken words.
"Who owns this?" She explored, her claws and fangs still on display.
"An old couple, but there's nothing to worry about," I assured, my eyes working its essence across the interior. "You'll only be staying a day or two."
"Why would I stay?" Her voice remains laced with defiance and indifference.
"Do you want to die?" I retorted.
She snorted, but I knew she understood what I meant. "I can take them." She was stubborn.
I went back to the agency and slipped my way back in before my absence was noticed. The firing of guns plummeted as victims became immobile to their pending death.
A twinge echoed inside my chest as my eyes remained unmoving on the almost-dead bodies.
A screen flickered into my eyes, almost like an imagination.
Ruin.
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