“Come on Zane, climb!” Bryce called out as he reached down for Zane.

Zane threw his arm up and as Bryce pulled him over the ‘top’, Zane finally was able to see the top. And what he saw was nothing at all. The floor of the ledge was the same as the wall, and it was like he was walking on the air itself. Ahead of them by about twenty feet or more was a large white hole in the air. And there, a foot from the door, Rodolphe was slowly moving forward. And to Zane’s shock, Rodolphe was on all fours, reaching out with his hands. For a few seconds, he wondered what it was that Rodolphe was doing, but he ignored it. Some kind of Federation brainwashing then, always checks the path ahead or something.

Zane took a step forward but Bryce grabbed him.

“Careful, this thing has holes in the floor! And it’s narrow too!” Bryce said as he leaned down and pushed his hand down.

All Zane could do was stare in horror as he saw Bryce’s hand go past where the edge was, but where the ground should be! After a few moments, Bryce stopped and looked back at Zane.

“They don’t go down far, but far enough. Anyone running here will probably break their legs. I think this is for security, the last line of defense against anything making it up here. Makes you wonder what made this place,” Bryce said in a dry tone.

Zane blinked and then looked at Bryce in shock. He had never expected that Bryce would even have a sense of humor like that. Maybe the little fool had a bite after all. “Yeah, but we’ll gonna have to move soon. That thing has to be tracking us!”

“I know, but he’s almost there. We’ve just gotta wait. We’ll be moving soon, right Rodolphe?” Bryce called out, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Rodolphe looked back over his shoulder and nodded, a bitter smirk on his face. “Yeah. I’ve almost got this. just give me another few seconds.”

“I hope we have those seconds,” Zane muttered as he gazed towards up the corridor. Through his mind, Zane thought back to all the strange things he had seen, trying to understand.

This complex had beyond-cutting-edge tech, so it wasn’t Federation. No matter what the Ancients could do, their tech was only just beyond the Federation’s level. This place, he couldn’t even think of what it might have been for. The room of horrors they had left looked like something that he had seen before, a horror of his enemy. They had been kidnapping people to test nanite strains, something about perfect workers. The files they had recovered said…….. Zane went still ass he suddenly realized just what this place was for. And the sheer scope and belief about it made him realize just what this place was for.

“Zane, you okay?” Bryce’s voice caused Zane to look up and stare, seeing Bryce look at him. Looking around, Zane saw Rodolphe at the portal, standing on two feet.

Bryce only nodded his head when they heard an explosion echo off the walls.

“Move you two, now! Bryce lead the way!” Rodolphe called out.

Zane looked over his shoulder before he felt Bryce stiffen, paling. For a second he wondered what was happening when he heard another roar.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

Bryce went still as he felt the ultrasound waves crash over him. That was something the Teachers used to control most of them, but not him. But he knew some of the others could see with them, and that was bad. Whipping around he looked up the corridor, and there at the door was a large mass of heat. As he stared, he saw the a mass had a serpent-like shape that was pointing in their direction. Suddenly one of the crystals on the wall shot a blast of heat at the serpent, and they all heard a screech of pain. “Time to go, time to go right now! Step where I step!”

Grabbing Zane’s arm, Bryce led the way. Unlike Rodolphe, he could see the holes. He had to admit they looked very strange, and something about them bothered him. He tried to think about what they were when he saw them start to grow. All he could do was look in shock as the holes suddenly became deeper and larger. He tried to think about how to explain this when he threw that away. “Nova. Well, that’s that. Zane follow me, and move fast!”

Without waiting for a reply Bryce started to run. He jumped over the first hole and dashing the left as another hole opened up. Zane cursed behind him but he started to move. Rodolphe heard Bryce’s words and turned, looking on in shock.

“Bryce, what are you? Wait, wait!” Rodolphe exclaimed as he saw what Bryce was doing.

Bryce didn’t even react, just kept running. As he looked down, he kept an eye on the holes, dashing onwards. For a moment he thought to look over his shoulder, but he just kept his eyes on the holes. He knew he would have to explain who and what he was, but that thing that screamed was getting closer. And from what he could hear, it was taking shots from the walls. And if it was charging through it, that meant it wanted them bad. But what he couldn’t figure out was why.

This made no sense, why was it after them!? They hadn’t killed anything, and they were far from any territory! He just couldn’t understand what it was after!

When he landed from his last jump, he panted a little as he turned around and saw Zane a few feet behind. As he landed, Bryce paled as he saw the hole between him and Zane start to grow. But as the space went away in front, it moved to the left. “Zane, go left a foot, don’t go where I did!”

Zane stopped and looked at Bryce, a scowl on his face. He was about to say something when he looked down, feeling the hole growing under his foot. “What in the name of the blackhole??”

“Move Zane!” Bryce barked and Zane just moved, jumping to reach them.

As Zane panted, he looked at Bryce with a shocked look. “How, how in the name of the stars did you do that?”

Rodolphe looked from the ‘land’ he had traveled and then his eyes went to Bryce. Leaning down, he pushed down with one of his arms and it went through where he had found land before. Slowly he looked at Bryce, a strange look in his eyes. “You can see the holes, can’t you?”

“Yeah. And I can do a lot of things more. We can talk later, the screamer, it’s coming! And those crystals, their weapons! We gotta move now!” Bryce said and Rudolphe looked at him before dashing for the hole.

Zane spared a glance at Bryce before he followed after Rodolphe, leaving Bryce alone. He looked back as he heard the ultrasonic ‘screams’ die down all at once. With a last look at where the edge was, he turned and followed after the others.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

As the creature charged through the burning, it started to think it had made a mistake. When the first of the strange burning had hit it, it had just charged down the corridor. It had been riding on the high from killing the Creator’s Hunters, nothing else could hurt it. But then the cowards had attacked it from hiding. It couldn’t see anything that whatever might be hiding, but there had to be a place. Finally, it charged into some kind of wall, and the attacks had stopped. It tried to figure out how the big small ones had gotten up there, but it could see nothing.

With a scowl, it looked back where it had come, but that meant going through the burning again! As it growled it looked at the wall, this time spitting its tongue out. As it moved around, it caught their scent going up. It moved towards part of the wall and moved one of its new hands, hoping to find something, anything. When it found the little hope in the wall, it went still. Looking up it tried to see anything, but it found nothing. Gazing around the bottom of the wall, it moved its hands along it, finding other holes. After it moved about, it found the holes were in a strange formation.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

It looked from the place its hand was, then at the top. And then it knew what it had to do.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

As Rodolphe led the way into a darkened area, he activated his weapon’s light and looked around. They were in a room about ten feet wide by maybe twenty feet long. There was what looked like a barricade made of metal furniture. It was a mass of tables and chairs, and what looked like benches. Together it had to be over eight feet high and it went from one end of the room to the other.

With a raised eyebrow Rodolphe tried to find any doors that might lead them out of here. Behind him, Zane and Bryce came though, ready for action. As soon as Zane saw the barricade, he went at it. Rodolphe found two doors, one at each end of the wall the portal was in. As Zane started to climb over the barricade. Bryce started to look around, his eyes darting all over.

“Wait, Zane. What are you doing? Why should we go that way?” Rodolphe asked and Zane only laughed a little.

“Find out if we can make a stand here! I mean we can’t keep running! We’ve gotta hold this thing off, keep fighting until it leaves us alone!” Zane said with a savage grin on his face.

Rodolphe looked at him, trying to understand what he just heard. When he did, and he understood what Zane had said he felt part of his brain die. To fight against something they had no idea of against a wall? That was an idea that was pure madness! They needed an escape route first, they needed distance between it and them!

“Bad idea. This is a kill zone, and whoever defend this place lost. The only reason it’s so bad here,” Bryce’s voice caused them to turn and look at him. He had gone to the right and peered down an open door. When he saw it, and for a second Rodolphe felt a little shame for having not seen it before.

“Yeah, but there’s a door on this side! If we have to we can make a fighting retreat!” Zane said with a grin as he looked at Rodolphe. “You Federation types love that, don’t ya?”

“Federation types, are you talking about!?” Rodolphe asked and Zane only grinned at him.

“I figured you out from the way ya led us from the capsule. You’re a Federation soldier, aren’t ya? You must be trying to muster somewhere along the route then? The only reason you signed onto the Spirit,” Zane said with a smirk and Rodolphe’s mouth dropped open in shock.

Did he act like a Federation soldier? With how often he fought against them, he thought he was the last person to be one of them. He could only stare at Zane. “I’m not a Federation Soldier?! I fight those scum!”

“Wait, what?” Zane asked as he and Rodolphe looked at each other in shock. Before they could say anything Bryce spoke up.

“Good! This way we can hide the door after we leave!” Bryce said loudly. As they turned to look, they saw Bryce as he drew a small thing from his pocket. When Bryce revealed it had a hidden blade, all Rodolphe and Zane could do was watch as he cut his palm.

As they stared in shock Bryce had already dashed down through the door, his hand pointing down. A moment later he came back and moved towards the portal, his hand still dripping blood.

“What are you doing!?” Zane demanded and Bryce grinned as he put blood all around the portal before he closed his hand.

As he watched, all Bryce could do was stare in shock as the blood flow died away, far too fast to be natural.

“Making a trial for that thing to follow to whatever runs this place! With luck, it’ll track my scent down that hallway and to more of the things it just fought!” Bryce said with a smirk.

“Wait, what?” Rodolphe asked as Bryce walked towards the barricade.

“Wait, hold on!” Rodolphe said as he grabbed Bryce’s arm. As Bryce turned to look at him, Rodolphe reached for Bryce’s injured hand and pried it open as Zane climbed down. ”We need….. to…. How?”

Rodolphe stared in shock as he saw that Bryce’s hand was normal. The only thing that showed anything had happened was a patch of raw skin on the palm. Zane looked down and then stared in shock, looking from the hand to Bryce’s eyes.

“Holy! You’re a Student!” Zane whispered with shock in his voice.

Bryce rocked back and stared at Zane in equal parts horror and shock, wondering just how

“Student?! What do you mean?!” Rodolphe demanded and Bryce looked at Zane.

Zane looked away and turned back to the barricade. “Later, we’ll all talk later.”

“Yeah, we……” Bryce trailed off as he looked towards the portal, paling as the blood left his face. “Run now.”

“What?” Rodolphe asked only for Bryce to start climbing over the barricade. Swallowing Rodolphe ran, Zane, followed behind him.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

The creature pulled itself up over the invisible ledge. Looking around it caught the scent of its prey and it felt pleasure. It was close, and the smell was getting even stronger. All it had to do was track down the last few feet, and it could eat. It slithered forward but then part of its body fell into a hidden hole. Before it could react, a burning shot through it. It screeched in pain and looked towards the portal, suddenly it stopped.

It looked around, but its eyes couldn’t see anything. It looked where the burning had come from, but there was nothing there. It slithered forward again, but it had only moved for a moment before another bolt of pain went through it. With a screech, it just charged forwards towards the portal. As it charged it used its new limbs to pull itself forward faster. After being hit with the burning five more times, it finally went through the portal.

As it crashed into something it stopped, panting heavily. It took stock of its wounds as it lay there, trying to gather its strength. The wounds had hurt it as much as it thought it would, but it was still hurt. But all that did was make it want that thing more. Once it had that power, that Strength it wouldn’t need to be bothered by this anymore. All it had to do was find it and kill it, then it would be the Strong one.

It pulled away from the thing it had run into, looking at it. It could only stare, looking at the strange thing before it. This was a mass of objects, each one made of the same material back in the food place. It looked at them, wondering what this mass was for when it suddenly caught the scent it had been chasing. It looked towards the scent and saw a red stain on the ground. It had seen that liquid before when it killed. And the scent, that was what it was chasing! So it must be wounded, that was perfect! With a screech it charged after whatever had lost the liquid, soon it would feed!

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

Behind the closed door, the screech echoed from beyond it.

Rodolphe panted as he tried to calm down. Thankfully, the corridor beyond had more lights than the room behind them. But like the corridor they had come from, the lights were few and far between.

“Well, that’s something, now what?” Rodolphe asked as he looked at the closed door. With whatever was hunting them going down that path, the other way was blocked too. If the creature or whatever caught their scent, then they were down the black hole. The only thing to do was go along their current path, and hope it led out. And he needed to talk to the others, clear the air about themselves.

Turning he looked at Zane and Bryce, both of them looking at the other.

“How do you know about my kind?” Bryce asked and Zane shrugged.

“A chap we call Al’s one. You might know him as Alpha Lambert Blue Five. Told us about everything once he trusted us,” Zane said and Rodolphe looked from one to the other.

“Later, okay? For now, let's move. If you see anything, you let the others know before firing. We gotta get far enough away from that thing,” Rodolphe said as he threw the many questions he had away for now.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

Repair and new hunter Constructs moving into the abandoned sector with backup Guard constructs.

Status of Bio Weapon?

Records show defenses were activated as it moved through the damaged sector. Rouge Biological Weapon most likely damaged.

Confirmed, location of Rouge Biological Weapon known?

General Location only, Templates being chased by Rouge Biological Weapon seemed to have escaped and tricked the Bio Weapon down passage to Lower Level Holding. Constructs moving for capture.

…….

Lower Level Holding. Lower Level Holding, location of passage to Bio Reactor Two within location. Reasons for location during construction. . Request reminder; was Bio Reactor Two taken offline or relocated?

Bio Reactor Two was built into structure, movement impossible. Bio Reactor Two was taken offline when power to location was damaged. Bio Reactor Two was among list of facilities to repair but events kept this from happening.

Possible theory, Rogue Bio Weapon has Consumption Evolution, true.

Confirmed.

Bio Reactors have stores of Bio Material for the creation of Biological Weapon Templates, true?

Confirmed.

Bio Reactor Two is likely to have stories of Bio Material that Rogue Biological Weapon will most likely consume all viable stock. Rogue Biological Weapon will then regain strength possible?

……… Confirmed.

All Constructs are to go to Bio Reactor Two, defense plan imitated. Rouge Biological Weapon status changed destruction primary goal.