Hybrid

“They’re all loose! We need to get out of here. Now!”

I flinched at the volume of fear in Shirley’s voice. Curtis took one look at Shirley’s face and jumped out of his chair so fast his chair flew across the room and crashed into the wall. Dennis and Amy were the only ones not ready to flee for the door, but calmly checking their computer screens.

“They can’t all be out, Shirley. In fact,” Dennis sniffed as if annoyed. He swung his monitor to show us all. “See? All the cages are locked down.”

“Look closer, Dennis.” Shirley hissed. “The cages are locked down but there’s nothing in them!”

I stood to take a closer look at the screen. “She’s right.” I pointed with a shaky finger. “They’re emp—” An explosion of glass cut me off. I instinctively shielded my eyes with my forearm, feeling small shards tear into my arm. From the corner of my eye I could see a large, black form jump onto the carpet of glass.

“Run!” Shirley shrieked. Amy shoved Dennis, who was so shocked he had frozen to his seat, and Curtis grabbed his elbow and threw him toward the door. I lurched after them, slipping through the door and slamming it shut behind us just as the dark shadow growled and lunged. I stood, panting, staring at the steel door as the beast behind it pounded on the barrier in rage. The door stood firm, but I could tell it wouldn’t be long before it would crumble under the sheer strength of the brute.

The five of us stood in a dark parking garage, filled with expensive vehicles and one lone motorcycle.

“Was that the freaking Bear-Gorilla?” Dennis yelled. His face had gone white.

“I didn’t stop to take a good, long look,” Curtis said, his voice full of sarcasm. “But I’m pretty sure that was him. And I suspect he’s the one that let the other hybrids loose. Smart bugger.”

“Anybody have their car parked in here?” Amy gasped. “I’d really like to get out of here before that door buckles.”

“Here? This is the elite parking. I swear, I saw the Batmobile in here once,” I said, laughing nervously. “My car is parked on the curb, outside the research building. I assume yours are, as well?” Four solemn nods and we stood in silence, listening as the Bear-Gorilla beat on the door. I didn’t want to get too close but, squinting my eyes, it looked like the door was beginning to cave in the middle.

“I can probably get the motorcycle going,” Curtis suggested. We followed as he ran to the bike and started fiddling with different parts.

“How does that help all of us? At the most, only two can safely escape!” Dennis snapped.

Curtis rolled his eyes. “If we move fast enough I can take each of you, one by one, to a safe area.”

“Ladies first, I’m sure,” Dennis scoffed. “Which leaves me behind and the most likely one to be killed by that beast!”

“I’m not sure we have time for all that anyway,” I said, pointing at the door. A hairy fist had pushed through. It wouldn’t take long before the Bear-Gorilla was able to bust right through.

Curtis frowned. “Fine then. I can probably get two of you girls on the back if you squeeze and hold on tight.”

“I knew it!” Dennis crowed. “You’re leaving me behind to die!”

Curtis jumped on the bike and revved the engine. “You don’t have to die, Dennis. You can run.”

Amy jumped up behind Curtis when a blur of black whizzed past. Before any of us could react, the Bear-Gorilla swiped at Curtis. Its sharp claws sliced Curtis’s head clean off, sending it bouncing across the floor and leaving a bloody streak to show its path. Curtis’s body slumped and the bike tipped and crashed to the floor, trapping Amy and the headless corpse underneath. Dennis started to scream like a little girl, drawing the Bear-Gorilla’s attention. Shirley grabbed my hand and pulled. We ran behind a pillar and then ducked and dodged until we found a bright exit.

“What about Amy?” I hissed, as Shirley crawled under the parking garage’s gated arm.

“There was no way we could have saved her,” Shirley panted. I followed under the barrier and we stood, brushed off our knees, and raced into the light as a howl echoed behind us. We were going to have to warn the world before the hybrids took over.




Nightmare ▼

755 words
Based off a dream from 3/25/24
Written for:

FORUM

Out of The Fog Contest - Open March 1st  (E) A contest that comes out of the fog now & then, as if in a dream. #2002225 by 👼intuey