Chapter 13: The Virus
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Location: New York City, United States of America

Unit: 1st Houston Laboratories Research and Development team

Date: August 6th, 2007 CE

A man in a white full-body Hazmat suit stood above several vials of an unknown elixir. The unidentified substance had recently been extracted from a meteorite that fell onto the doorstep of a Houston Laboratories; it was an absolute gold mine for the scientists who were working with it as everyone was pretty sure they just encountered a new element.

The room he worked in was small, with three white walls, each plated with lead and steel beneath the shell. Picking up some of the green elixirs, he mixed it in with another liquidised element before swirling it around, watching it fizz and bubble with extreme vigour, he stepped back in surprise before he saw a flash of black.

On the fourth wall was a reinforced glass panel observing the hazmat suit. Three figures stood there, the one in the middle paced back and forth, stealing glances at the progress bar on his electronic pad, slowly a checklist started to be ticked off, and then progress slowed on the final test.

He sighed, looking up, "What's taking so long?"

No response.

Then the figure turned around and mouthed something. The man to the right watched the lips carefully, "He says, his microphone isn't working. There's a fault in the suit."

The middle man looked to his right, "You can read lips, Captain?"

The man on the right, whom the middle man had called Captain, had black hair with a few brown strands to match his eye colour, quite a distinct hair colour. His name was none other than Jonathon Mclaw, a British Government representative whose file had been mostly withheld or seemed somewhat fabricated.

Mclaw nodded, "When you're in the job for as long as me, you pick up these things fast, Walters."

The man in the middle was Lian Walters, who would eventually become the leader of the Oceanic Empire. The man's sharp grin had disappeared before being replaced by a look of concern before tapping a few buttons on his microphone, "Diagnostics of the suit look good, try it again."

No reply.

Walters sighed, "I see... get out of there," he paused, "The experiment has ended because of faulty gear."

Mclaw took a step forward, focusing, "Hold it..."The hazmat suit kept on moving.

Mclaw shouted this time, "STOP!" beating on the glass.

Walters looked at the third man in the room, a security guard, confused. He stepped behind Mclaw, "Captain?"

Mclaw turned around, gritting his teeth, "Put the facility on lockdown. Something has happened."

Walters eyed the security guard before turning to his pad, "Lockdown initialising."

Mclaw walked to the door, "Open it."

Walters did it from his pad and the steel door slid to one side. Suddenly a group of heavily armed guards ran down the hallway, assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and pistols. Every one of them was armed to the teeth. Mclaw knew about Walters's private army but always brushed it off as someone with too much money. They stopped outside the door and Mclaw addressed them, "We believe there may have been an infection breach in the newest experiment or the hazmat suit was acting weird."

Walters glared at Mclaw, "Captain..."Before Walters could finish his sentence, a scream came from the end of the corridor. The unit immediately reacted as a figure turned the corner.

Drawing a pistol from his hip, Mclaw lined it up with the figure's head. The figure stumbled left and right before taking a few paces forward and standing straight, but with its neck still limp. Slowly, it passed under a light revealing its glow. Then the lights flashed, and one of them shouted, "FIRE!"

Immediately, the hallway was lit up with muzzle flashes. Mclaw still kept his hand steady, not firing a single shot.

Then the gunfire ceased...As the smoke cleared and the light flickered, the figure stood there side-on to them. He was peppered with bullets, breathing heavily. Mclaw aimed carefully and went to pull the trigger.

Suddenly the figure disappears and the lights flicker, followed by a scream. Mclaw turned to fire twice. Hearing a thud against the wall, he opened fire twice more at the head of the figure. Mclaw loosened his grip, pistol still aimed. Then the figure's fingers twitched, Mclaw fired again, and the head was blown off. Mclaw felt nothing, his face lacking any emotion.

He still looked at the figure with no movement. Lowering his pistol, he blinked. Suddenly, he saw a flash in the corner of his eye. The body was gone. Mclaw brought the pistol up into the firing position looking around, "Number off.""1." He heard Walters say.

Mclaw looked around, still in complete darkness, "That's all..."Suddenly, he breathed in, concentrating. He felt a stream of flame fall down his thigh before implanting itself into the ground. Suddenly the power turned on.

The hallway was covered with blood. Bodies were imprinted on the wall. At the end stood a figure, holding a knife.

Mclaw dropped his long coat revealing a sheathed sword hooked over his shoulder. Its handle faced downwards, with the sheathe being rounded off on the end of the blade, Mclaw grabbed the handle and the sheathe. Immediately darting forward, he drew a black blade, imprinted with a sentence in Latin.

The figure darted back, further down the corridor. Mclaw smiled at it, "You going to just cower there?"

Mclaw leapt forward, immediately going on the offensive, the figure blocked slashes and thrusts from Mclaw's blade. They were on equal footing at first; darting left Mclaw saw the counterattack coming ages away. Putting a foot on the wall he pressed off at full strength, he dodged over the blade landing on the opposite wall, and immediately bouncing off that one he slashed forward before thrusting his blade deep inside the figure's heart. Cutting through the centre, the upper body split from the stomach. Blow spurted out as Mclaw looked away holstering the blade and locking it in place.

The body lay flat as Walters approached, "What the hell just happened?"

Mclaw rubbed his forehead, "We just stumbled upon something bigger than any of us."

Walters sighed, "Looks like it was a natural Biological weapon after all. Should have this to the CDC for testing."

Mclaw smiled leaning down to pick up a rifle, while Mclaw was changing the rifle's magazine, Walters looked at the body closer seeing a black substance leak out of the body, "Hey Mclaw,"

Before he could finish his vision went dark and his hands twitched.

Mclaw turned around rifle over his shoulder, "What?"

Walters turned around bringing his hands to his sides, "There is a bunker just around the corner we should be able to hide in there while the cleaning happens."

Mclaw nodded, "Leave the bodies here, they may be carrying the infection."

Walters nodded walking down the corridor, stopping in front of a large bank vault-looking door, Walters quickly input a code, and the door rolled open Walters pulled up his pad closing it behind them just as gas filled the hallway and the door closed. Still gripping his pistol he changed magazine.

Suddenly, a loud pop went off in the corridor, and he heard heavy waves of water smash from wall to wall before quietening down. Walters sat down, "The systems are working, that's good."

Mclaw looked at him, "So what the hell was that?"

Walters gulped, "A huge mistake."

Sighing, Mclaw spoke, "I know that, but the elixir."

Walters nodded, "That's a good question, we knew it was some type of influencer on life, we'd been testing lower concentrations on plants but this was the first proper test. We had no clue this would happen."

Mclaw looked at the seal of the door, "It's quiet out there, is the cleaning done?"

Walters nodded, "Yes, it's done," before hitting a button on the pad causing the door to roll open once more.

More padding came down the hallway as footsteps approached, Mclaw looked to the side seeing several soldiers wearing camouflage-patterned hazmat gear along with a gas mask and carrying an M4 rifle. He aimed it at the two of them, "Identification now!"

Mclaw showed him an identification card, most of it was made up to hide his past but it was all green-lighted by the British government.

Walters also pulled out his ID showing it to the soldier, who lowered his rifle speaking into his radio, "This is 1-9, I've secured the Brit and Walters," He paused, "Bringing them in now, over."

Mclaw turned around catching a glimpse of something he'd never seen before, a shrivelled body like all the energy had been sucked out of it and its blood had completely evaporated. Approaching it he looked at the walls still imprinted with the guards, they were the same, lacking all colour they lay imprinted in the wall pale as bone.

The soldier came around the corner before falling freezing at the sight of the bodies, shaking he brushed away the pause, "Captain, we need to get out of here."

Mclaw nodded, "Correct, Let's head for the exit."

With Mclaw and Walters tailing behind the soldier, he met up with the rest of his section before continuing to the exit. Exiting the building a Chinook sat outside surrounded by several tents, by the ramp stood a man in a suit, he had short black hair and wore sunglasses hiding his eyes.

Mclaw walked up to him, "Are we getting going then, Agent?"

The man nicknamed Agent nodded, "There is a Globe Master ready for take-off, we need to be on it in half an hour."

Mclaw turned around and looked at Walters as the helicopter took off, and Walters nodded back. Before turning around smiling. The medic looked at him tilting his head, "Are you okay, Mr Walters?"

Walters nodded, "Perfectly fine."

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