Chapter 66: Why All this?
Are you sure this is the right place?” Jack whispered as they stood at the edge of the hill. The night air was cold, and the trees moved slowly with the wind.
Damien nodded. “This is it. The Alphas said the lab is built under the old mining site.”
Lyra stepped beside him, her eyes scanning the dark slope. “Then let’s move. The longer we wait, the more time they have to run.”
They began walking down the hill. Their boots made soft sounds on the dry ground. The two new Alphas led the way, one carrying a small light. The beam cut through the fog, showing a path that looked like it hadn’t been used in years.
When they reached a metal door built into the rocks, Maya crouched down and touched the surface. “It’s warm,” she said quietly. “Something’s working inside.”
Damien’s chest tightened. He could almost feel the heartbeat of the place, like it was alive. “Then we’re close,” he said. “Let’s open it.”
The first Alpha, Marcus, tried the handle but it was locked. He stepped back and looked at Damien. “Your turn.”
Damien placed his hand on the door and closed his eyes. The strength in him was weaker than before, but something still sparked inside. He pushed, and the lock gave way with a loud snap. The door creaked open, the air from inside smelling like rust and medicine.
“Stay quiet,” Maya whispered.
They entered one by one. The hallway was narrow and long. Lights flickered above them. There were doors on both sides, most of them closed. The sound of machines hummed softly in the distance.
Jack walked behind Damien, whispering, “Do you think the doctors are still here?”
“They have to be,” Damien replied. “We came too far for them to just vanish.”
When they reached the end of the hall, Lyra stopped. “Do you hear that?” she asked.
They all listened. Faint voices echoed from behind a door ahead. Someone was talking fast, almost like chanting.
Maya stepped closer and placed her ear on the metal. “They’re not just doctors,” she said. “It sounds like a ritual.”
Damien’s jaw tightened. “Let’s find out.”
Marcus pushed the door open. Inside was a large room filled with glass tanks and glowing blue liquid. Inside some tanks were half-human creatures. Some had wolf eyes, others had gills like fish. The sight made Jack gag and turn away.
“Oh my god,” Lyra whispered. “They were turning them into hybrids.”
On the far side of the room stood two people in white coats. One was an older man with gray hair, the other a young woman holding a syringe filled with the same blue liquid.
When they saw the group enter, the woman gasped. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Marcus raised his voice. “You are the doctors?”
The man smiled calmly. “We are more than that. We are creators.”
Damien stepped forward. “You turned people into monsters.”
The man shrugged. “Monsters? Or evolution? You wouldn’t understand, Alpha.”
The word made Damien freeze. “How do you know who I am?”
The doctor laughed softly. “You think we don’t know every bloodline we’ve worked with? You were our first success, Damien. Half wolf, half human, perfectly made.”
Lyra’s eyes widened. “You created him?”
“No,” Damien said quickly, his voice shaking. “That’s not true.”
The woman smirked. “You were bitten by one of ours, weren’t you? That bite came from our experiment.”
The room grew silent. The truth hit Damien like a punch. His hands trembled as he took a step back. “No,” he whispered. “That can’t be.”
Maya looked at the doctors sharply. “Why are you doing this?”
The older man looked at her with cold eyes. “Because humans are weak. Wolves are unstable. But together, they are gods.”
He pressed a button on the table. The tanks began to bubble. The creatures inside started to move.
Jack shouted, “We need to go now!”
But the door behind them locked automatically. The sound of gears turning filled the air. The Alphas ran toward it and tried to break it down.
The woman threw the syringe on the ground. Smoke rose from it, making the air thick. “Let’s see how strong your Alpha really is,” she said, smiling.
From one of the tanks, a large creature broke free. It had dark fur, sharp claws, and glowing red eyes. It roared and lunged toward them.
“Get down!” Damien shouted.
The creature swung its claws, hitting Marcus and sending him into the wall. Maya pulled out a knife and ran toward it, stabbing its side, but the creature didn’t stop. Damien jumped forward, grabbed a metal pipe from the floor, and swung it at the monster’s head. It stumbled back but didn’t fall.
“Lyra, help me!” he yelled.
Lyra shifted slightly, her eyes glowing silver. She jumped, kicking the creature’s back, and it roared again. Jack threw a heavy crate at it, hitting its shoulder.
The woman laughed from the corner. “You can’t kill what’s already reborn!”
Damien growled. “Watch me.”
He slammed the pipe into the creature’s chest, then used all his strength to push it into one of the tanks. The glass shattered, and blue liquid spilled everywhere. Sparks flew from broken wires, and the room filled with smoke.
The older doctor shouted, “No! Stop!”
But it was too late. The creature twitched, then went still. The lights flickered again, then went dark.
Everyone coughed, trying to breathe through the smoke. When the air cleared, the two doctors were gone.
“They escaped,” Maya said, her voice low.
Damien dropped the pipe and leaned against the wall, breathing hard. His hands shook, and his heart pounded fast. “They called me an experiment,” he said quietly. “What if they’re right?”
Lyra walked up to him and put her hand on his arm. “You’re not what they made. You’re who you choose to be.”
He looked at her, eyes filled with confusion and pain, and nodded slowly.
Marcus stood up, holding his side. “We can’t stay here. This place is about to collapse.”
They all hurried out, their steps echoing through the hallway. When they reached outside, the air felt colder. Behind them, smoke started rising from the mine.
Jack looked back. “We didn’t stop them.”
“No,” Maya said softly. “But we know who they are now.”
Damien looked up at the stars. His body hurt, but his mind was clear. “We’ll find them,” he said. “And this time, we finish it.”
Before anyone could answer, two shadows appeared from the trees. The Alphas stepped forward, one of them holding a burned file.
“We found this inside,” he said. “It lists every name they experimented on.”
Lyra took it and opened the page. Her eyes widened. “There’s more than one lab.”
The Alpha nodded. “Yes. And we need your help to stop them.”
Damien looked at the file, then at his friends. His jaw tightened. “Then we start tomorrow.”
The wind blew softly through the trees, carrying the smell of smoke and danger. Somewhere in the distance, a howl echoed — long and low. It wasn’t just the end of one fight, but the beginning of another.