The Aurigan Republic

Chapter 12

The two officers led the way towards the creature. Their weapons were more powerful but the range was also more limited. They had to get close enough to ensure that their attacks mattered. If their attempts failed, they knew without a doubt they would be dead. The creature should be intelligent enough to recognize their weapons and its hate for them knew no bounds. Adrenaline flowed through their bodies as they closed in on the last known location of the creature. They could hear through their earpieces that the snipers lost sight of the creature. It was last spotted jumping onto the roof of the facility. The high ground could provide the creature good visibility over the surrounding area, giving it initiative in the upcoming engagement.

Once the officers were closer to the facility, they all slowed down their advance. They released the safety of their weapons and pointed their weapons at where the creature might appear. Except for their heavy breathing, there was no other sound in the vicinity. The two officers cursed under their breaths regarding the creature's stealth. To their limited knowledge, some of the experimental creatures possessed hands and feet that evolved pads which were exceptional in shock absorption. The absorption made it so they could move around without humans noticing them until it was too late. While advanced equipment could help detect them, it was not very feasible given how maneuverable this creature was. The fact that they couldn't hear anything suggested that this creature, in addition to its savagery and intelligence, was very stealthy as well.

The group of officers slowed down their progress in unity. Their eyes searched for anything that resembled the creature. Many of them shook slightly while the silence dragged on. Once the group almost reached the facility entrance, one of the officers opened fire. Many of the other officers noticed the movement in their peripheral vision and turned their attention before opening fire as well. The two officers held their breath as they took careful aim. They knew the creature would make contact with one of the other officers and that would be their chance to strike. Their patience paid off when the creature reached the first officer to open fire and proceeded to silence the man. Before it could attack anyone else, two shots threw it backwards. Then, another two shots found their marks. A couple more shots later, the creature fell on its knees with many bleeding wounds.

The creature's eyes focused on the two officers responsible for its demise. It didn't pay any attention to the other officers due to the officers' weapons being mostly harmless. The large pool of its blood and its struggle to even stand indicated the fate of the creature. As the officers started relaxing, the creature's cheeks ballooned before it spat at the officers with an unknown fluid. The officers all screamed in pain when they came in contact. Yet, no amount of struggle could stop the fluid from burning through their bodies until they became a big mess of organs and limbs. Satisfied that it finished off its executor, the creature's cheeks ballooned again as it turned its head upwards. The fluid shot up before gravity brought it down upon the creature. Unlike the officers, the creature didn't make a single sound while it melted away. By the time more backup arrived, there were only numerous pools of the unknown liquid scattered across the ground.

Among the backup team going through the aftermath of the battle, a woman quietly communicated through her hidden mic. To the others, she seemed to be recording her audio as she described the scene. In reality, she was communicating with her superiors as she tried to piece together what had happened. The briefing she got before she left for the scene made no mention of the fluid. The creature was nowhere to be seen and, despite the backup squads scouring the area, there was no sign of it or the officers who went ahead to the facility. Earlier reports mentioned corpses but a lot of those were unaccounted for. Suspicion was placed on the fluid but there would be no confirmation until they could get sampled of the fluid. Even at that moment, the fluid was steadily melting through the asphalt with no sign of stopping. Given the wide area covered, they could conclude that the fluid was the reason why most of the corpses were gone.

The woman read up on the creature and there was no mention of fluid at this level. She wondered if a third party got involved by releasing a substance for tests. She heard rumors mentioning a dangerous group operating with both a dangerous ideology and a questionable agenda. That group also happened to be opposed to her organization, so she wouldn't be surprised if that group did something to sabotage them in some way. If the group was to develop weapons to deal with the creatures, then they would have an advantage in a future conflict between the two parties. The woman shook at the thought of weapons that could melt through the creatures with ease. Human skin and tissues were so fragile compared to what the creature boasted that it was a death sentence for any human to come in contact with the fluid, even if they wore body protection. The fact that the fluid was still actively melting the asphalt suggested that the group made some major strides in their research.

The woman shared her concerns through her mic but she didn't get any answers. She knew her superiors would need to analyze the situation before coming to a logical conclusion. The loss of two veteran agents was a major blow to them. While the two agents were nowhere to be seen and their fates were still unconfirmed, the woman and her superiors saw them as killed in action, which was a most likely outcome. The two agents were ordered to engage the creature and they were never heard of again. The snipers complained about the trees blocking their line of sight, so they couldn't know for sure what had happened. Knowing that the snipers would be useless in the matter, the woman largely avoided them. Her new priority was to get a sample of the fluid. She hoped that the fluid held the key to them figuring out what happened exactly.

It would be several hours later before the fluid became solid. One of the officers, bored from all the waiting, poked a branch at it and the branch tip didn't melt away. Seeing this, the woman took out her kit. She carefully laid out the containers, which she then filled with the solidified fluid. The hours allowed the fluid to harden into something similar to hardened cement. The woman had to grab her stainless steel tools to chip the substance into her containers to be analyzed later. To ensure that they got the best data possible, she filled all the containers with substance. If her hunch was correct, then the substance should have human DNA inside of it. While there's no guarantee that they could identify the victims using the DNA, they could at least fill in a few more of the blanks they faced regarding the puzzle.

With her job done, the woman said farewell to the officers and jogged to her vehicle. Once inside, she told her superiors where she was headed and went on her way.