Chapter 5

The forest was silent. Too silent. There should be birds, animals, something. Why was it so empty? Weren't deserted islands supposed to have some kind of wildlife? Maybe not, he hadn't even seen any animals since... Well, it didn't matter. But something was certainly unnerving about the lack of any living creature.

It also brought up the disturbing thought of what the animals that howled at night ate. Or what the rotten smell that was getting stronger the deeper they went into the forest could be coming from.

"Is something wrong?" Angela asked seeming hesitant and uneasy.

"Why are there no animals?"

"Maybe this island was never inhabited by anything."

"Then what's howling at night? And why does it smell like rotting flesh?"

"This could be some kind of forgotten base or prison."

"It's possible. Doesn't explain the howling though. Something is still alive here."

"Maybe it was some kind of offshore mental institution that got abandoned and the patients escaped. Maybe they come out every night and howl and survive by eating the ones that have died."

Carter stared at her for a minute.

She looked over at him and shrugged, "I'm just theorizing."

"Remind me to never come to you for reassurance," Carter said turning away.

She shrugged again and kept walking.

"Do you know anything about plants?" Carter asked.

"Enough to know nothing here can sustain us."

Carter nodded, "Then let's keep going. Maybe there's a lake or pond of some sort. Maybe there are animals there. I certainly prefer the notion to your insane cannibal theory."

They walked farther into the woods searching around for anything useful. After a few minutes, Carter noticed an odd shape to their right. "What's that?" He said pointing.

"Looks like a building of some kind..." Angela replied.

They turned and started walking to it for a closer look. A large steel entrance was built into the side of a hill, the sides were covered in moss and dirt as though it had existed there for a while. Next to the door, there was a large hole in the wall with shards of metal bent outwards like something had torn it's way out. "Those are some strong mental patients you've got there," Carter said gesturing to the gaping hole in the wall. "Though there was definitely someone here before us. I'll give you that much."

Angela just stared in shock.

Carter walked up to the door.

"What are you doing?" Angela asked in a small voice.

"We're here, whatever ripped through solid steel is here with us, if anything's going to give us answers it's in this building."

"But what if whatever did that is in there?"

"Then we'll run like hell. What is there to lose? If it catches us it'll surely give us a quicker death than starvation."

"Maybe the rest found-"

Carter cut her off, "You saw how barren this shit is, what are the chances there's fish by the shore?"

Angela hesitated, "So we go in?"

"You're a free woman. You can go back to the camp if you want to. But I'm going in. And before I'm weakened by hunger." He walked up to the door and started examining it. Not surprisingly there was an electronic lock with a keycard slot.

People didn't build things on remote islands because they wanted people getting in. He turned to the hole in the wall and carefully climbed through. He was instantly assaulted by the scent of dead bodies. This had been where it was coming from. Carter gagged putting his sleeve over his nose. He dug through the supplies he'd brought and wrapped a scarf around his face, it wasn't much but it filtered out the stench a little bit.

He looked around, seeing a large hallway and the beginning of steps leading down. He turned to see Angela climbing in after him, she'd decided to join him after all. Miraculously there was still power as evidenced by the light on the electronic lock, but there was no overhead lighting. Pulling out the flashlight he'd brought Carter discovered that every lightbulb in the ceiling had been smashed, broken glass littering the floor.

Next to him, Angela pulled out her own flashlight.

"What happened here?" She wondered aloud.

"We won't find out up here," Carter replied. "Stay close."

They began descending to the lower level. "Dear God..." Angela said as they entered the main complex of metal corridors. Shining their lights through the hallways they saw dozens of bodies littering the floor. All looked like they had been crushed or ripped to death. They were in states of decay and partially eaten by bugs, but some of them looked like they'd been eaten by something else.

Angela knelt by one of the bodies and examined it, coming back looking sick.

"Looks about three months old," she said. "The skull has been crushed, it would have taken 520 pounds of force and all of these people look like they were killed in a similar manner, all very close together."

"Anything else?" Carter asked feeling like she was withholding something.

"The bite marks... They look, human..."

"Maybe you weren't so far off..."

"This doesn't look like a mental institution. And whoever did this, they were incredibly strong. Stronger than any human should be capable"

"Let's hope they don't find us. We should keep going."

Angela just nodded staring at the bodies.

"Let's go, Angela." He said gently. "You gonna be alright?"

She nodded again composing herself. "Plenty of people donate their bodies to science, I studied them getting my Masters. It's just different. I'll recover."

Carter nodded and started down one of the hallways listening for anything out of the ordinary. All of the lights were smashed everywhere they went. Most of the doors had electronic locks, Carter found a keycard on one of the bodies but it didn't work on any of the doors. They needed to find someone with higher access.

They entered a part of the complex that looked slightly nicer than the rest and found a well-dressed man surrounded by highly armed guards. "How were all of these people killed by hand?" Angela wondered aloud.

"I have no idea. But there's only one way to find out." Carter said kneeling by the bodies and finding the well dressed one's keycard. He also picked up two pistols from the guards. "You know how to use one of these?" He asked tossing one to Angela.

"Of course." She said catching it and examining it for a second. "But it didn't seem to do them any good."

"Clearly but it can't hurt either." He stood and they continued exploring until they came across an archive room, trying the newly acquired keycard Carter opened the door.

It was the only place they didn't find bodies. Looking around they found a computer that was still running, Carter was amazed by the fact that there was still power after three months. Examining the tower he found a place for the keycard and inserting it he watched a list of folders load onto the screen.

Skimming through, he found blueprints for the building, looking at a maze of hallways his practiced eyes found the notable rooms he was hoping for. Taking note of the armory, mess hall, and equipment storage, he moved onto reading about the thermal plant deep under the ocean.

That explained why it was still running.

He also saw mention of evacuation routes and underwater docks with escape boats. That was their way out. He hoped there was still some left.

Exciting out of the folder he found another one titled "research logs". If anything was going to tell them what was going on, it would be there. Upon opening the folder he found that most of the files had been corrupted but a few were still intact. He began reading through them in order.

Research log

WGUFDC 0049-0103:

Subject has recovered well from the introduction to the serum, initial signs promising. Strength and fitness tests have found 50% improvement in the first three days. Medical examination displayed a 25% increase in weight and a 15% increase in size. An extreme increase in sensory sensitivity was found with 100% improvement in sight, hearing, and smell. Subject has also displayed much more sensitivity to touch though we're doing no tests to measure it at this time. The subject is displaying considerably more aggressive and impulsive behavior. Subject's IQ has also dropped 20 points. Continued monitoring necessary to determine if serum allows for full sentience.

Research log

NBQBYGDB 0130-0145:

Subject displaying much more aggressive behavior and acting consistently agitated. Strength and fitness tests have shown a 250% increase. Subject has increased weight by 100% and size by 50%. Sensory sensitivity has increased by 500%. The subject is becoming strong and violent enough to become difficult to contain, sedatives have proven effective at extremely high doses but wear off quickly and are becoming less effective with time. Physical injury tests were successful, subject regenerates cells at four times the rate of a normal human and is capable of full regeneration with both bone and soft tissue.

Subject, however, has displayed an extremely high sensitivity to pain of all kinds. Subject's IQ has reduced to a point of being unable to understand simple tests. Speech capabilities have been reduced to that of the average four-year-old and seem to continue dropping.

Research log

BLGYP 0021-0102:

Subject has become so strong that containment is becoming a dangerous problem. Sedatives have proven completely ineffective and any kind of testing beyond observation has become impossible. Extreme sensory sensitivity has been demonstrated and the subject seems to be going completely insane. Subject has stopped being capable of any kind of understanding and stopped being capable of any speech beyond grunts and howls. Subject seems to be in constant pain and has achieved a size beyond what any normal human can achieve even through steroids. Subject has demonstrated constant rage and extreme strength having ripped through solid steel and escaped twice.

Termination of the experiment seems a necessity before the subject becomes impossible to control.

Research log

UBJ UBY 0026-0028:

Subject has completely lost sanity and become impossible to control. All attempts to eliminate subject have failed, all research has been directed to finding a way to terminate but at the current rate the subject is becoming dangerous it seems highly unlikely a way will be discovered in time.

Logging off the computer Carter digested everything he'd read piecing together the outlandish reality of what was happening here. Angela looked similarly shocked but they didn't have time to dwell on it. They had more to do and these superhumans were still here.