The Aurigan Republic

Chapter 8

The driver observed from within the police cruiser. He scanned the entrance while his partner typed away on a laptop. The two of them joined numerous other officers to investigate gruesome deaths. They only received limited details but it was clear that their superiors were panicking and wanted personnel at the site. The location was a pharmaceutical lab belonging to the powerful corporation, MedStars. Given the wealth and power of the corporation, one expected the lab to possess the best security money could purchase. If the security teams were defeated, one could only wonder what ordinary police officers could do. Regardless, the officers were given an order and they arrived on the scene in a larger force than usual.

The officers first on the scene were greeted by a gruesome sight of all the corpses at the entrance. Two of the corpses had tire marks on them which matched what they were told. They were told that one survivor of the security team fled the scene by taking a vehicle. The sight stopped them dead in their tracks and they chose to wait longer outside the entrance until more backup arrived. Given that officers normally dealt with smaller crimes like theft, they were not ready for what awaited them in the facility. None of them felt they were paid enough to deal with a bigger threat than what they usually tackled and this was many times worse than what they could even imagine.

It would be two hours later before the first police squad, equipped with riot police gear and the best weapons the police department could afford, took their first step through the entrance. While these brave souls advanced slowly, a number of police snipers took up position on top of the vans to provide fire support from afar. No one knew what to expect, but the corpses were proof enough that they should be cautious unless they wished to repeat the mistakes of the dead. While the squad marched towards the entrance, everyone else stayed quiet. They didn't want to make any noise, fearing the unknown threat would scale the walls and arrive on the main street.

While the officers in riot gear made their way towards the facility entrance, the two officers in the cruiser stared at their screens. Both of their screens provided them with a list of orders under a timer that ticked down from 30 seconds. After they read it twice each, the message vanished following the timer hitting zero. They put their devices down at the same time.

"Are we certain what's in there is experiment #13? There could be a wild beast and we would be wasting our time. Are we really needed here?"

The officer in the passenger seat sighed.

"The top brass won't stop until they confirm what attacked this facility. They were already shocked to learn the specimen managed to escape. The last thing they want is the media catching wind and footage of the thing being broadcast all over the empire."

"What a pain," said the officer as he looked down at his pistol.

To any observant eye, the pistol would appear no different from the standard pistols given to officers. The pistols were light laser weapons capable of dealing with most threats that officers expected to see at work. Against lightly armed opponents, the pistols were dangerous enough to result in casualties if officers deemed such a level of force was necessary. The two officers in the cruiser had different pistols that were capable of much more. While the number of uses for their pistols paled against the light laser variety, the pistols made up for it by their higher density beams capable of melting through armored vehicles.

One might think such powerful weapons were overkill. However, one wouldn't think that way if one was aware of what the experiments were all about. It certainly didn't help the two officers to learn that experiment #13 was of the S-class when it came to how dangerous it was. As the guards and soldiers sent to dispatch the creature had learned, an S-class creature was not to be underestimated. One doesn't get a second chance against these monsters that were only made possible with the most advanced technology and the top notch labs. While some might claim the experiment was a success, the fact that this S-class creature managed to flee with numerous kills indicated how difficult it was to control one of them. Therefore, the two officers were given the orders to kill even if capture would have been the ideal outcome.

The problem for the two officers was the lack of intel. Neither of them had any idea where the creature was. They knew where it was but that didn't help them if the creature moved on. The high intelligence of the creature could see it already fleeing far from the facility following the c*****e it left behind. Even with its strengths, it and those with knowledge of its existence knew the creature wasn't invincible. Conventional weapons, while not very effective, could still hurt the creature. Like drops of water, they could eventually break down a big boulder. If the guards and soldiers sent to the facility earlier were well trained, it wouldn't be hard to fathom the damage the creature had taken. The two officers were just relieved that the creature lacked any regeneration abilities. Regeneration could possibly push the creature to the level of invincible.

The two officers were deep in thought as to what they could do when screams from the direction of the facility got their attention. Gunshots followed those screams and a quick glance confirmed that even the snipers had opened fire. The radio in the cruiser soon came alive.

"Requesting backup immediately! An unknown creature has already killed multiple officers. We need....ahhhh!"

Following the scream, the two officers heard a low growl they were very familiar with. Without anymore hesitation, they stepped out of the cruiser. While the driver armed his weapon, the other officer spoke into his mic.

"The experiment is still here at the facility. We will shoot to kill. Send personnel for retrieval of the corpse."

They then joined the other officers at the outer gate, but no one seemed too keen on being the first to enter. The police in riot gear made it to the facility entrance where they were ambushed. From where they stood, the officers only saw multiple bodies at the entrance. They couldn't make out if there were survivors from the ambush. However, the smell of the corpses from earlier became more apparent as no one had the luxury of removing them from the site. The smell of death and the sight of new blood made the officers act like there was an invisible wall at the entrance. They were certain that, the moment they stepped past the wall, they would be destined for death.

The two officers spent a few minutes getting through the crowd of panicking officers. Many of them were calling for additional backup. This was, ironically, the last thing the two officers wanted. They wanted fewer witnesses to this, especially those who could get a good look at the creature. Even for the snipers, they would be hard pressed to make out the creature from where they were firing. The chance of backups showing up soon meant the two of them should conclude the matter as quickly as they could.