The Aurigan Republic

Chapter 4

"What's taking you so long?" asked Roger.

The young man wore a yellow rain jacket with a flashlight in his hand. He stood by a tree while his friend was relieving his bladder in the darkness. He warned his friend about drinking too much before the shift but, as usual, his friend refused to listen. After what seemed like several minutes, Roger called out to him.

"Do you need some help?" Roger joked. "Maybe my light can guide you back to civilization."

Roger laughed loudly but, when there was no response, his face turned serious. He turned his light in the direction his friend had gone. The light revealed a section of the fence gone, likely cut down during one of the many maintenance shifts. As Roger walked towards the opening, he noticed the ground being sticky. That was very odd given that there hadn't been any rain recently. When he pointed his light downwards, he saw some red substance that formed a trail through the fence opening. He grabbed his walkie talkie as he swallowed his saliva.

"Guys, we need some backup. I don't know what we have here, but it's bad. Dave has already disappeared and I'm not sure if he's still alive."

There was a full minute before there was an answer.

"Wasn't Dave drinking earlier? I bet he's just unconscious somewhere and dreaming about his retirement."

"I'm no doctor but I see blood on the ground. They are not fresh enough to be Dave's."

The mention of blood saw a flurry of activity on the other end.

"We'll be right there!"

Last time blood was seen in the facility yard, a crazed psychopath went on a rampage and many of the guards were brutally killed. To avoid a repeat of what happened, the new guards took these matters quite seriously. While there had been a couple of false alarms, no one complained about them. The guards merely had a good laugh. Therefore, the guards within the facility took Roger very seriously. Even if Roger was wrong about the blood, some unknown substance warranted an investigation. Most merely hoped that this was just some prank pulled by a group of teenagers.

"Just sit tight! We'll be there in no time."

The backup guards had no need to ask about Roger's position. Each guard carried a tracker that would transmit their last known location. The trackers gave the security team a better way of monitoring their resources and deploying where necessary. Due to budget limitations, the trackers didn't provide a very precise location. Both Roger's and Dave's trackers didn't appear that different on the screen due to their relative close proximity. The good news was that Dave wasn't that far from Roger. The bad news was no one had any clue what condition Dave was in. The dozen guards grabbed their weapons and ran to rendezvous with Roger. The long and quiet night had them bored to death. Some action could be exactly what they were looking for.

Wearing their full gear, the backup guards arrived on the scene. They took a moment to look at what Roger believed to be blood. One of the guards brought out a device which he used to scan the substance. Moments later, the device confirmed it was blood. However, the blood was beyond a state for the device to identify the owner. Regardless, the confirmation of blood meant they could be facing something dangerous. As for the fate of Dave, no one was certain. Dave could be drunk and safe or he could be dead if he stumbled onto something he shouldn't have. Rescuing Dave was secondary to eliminating the killer or killers. The backup guards hoped to satisfy the itch of their trigger fingers. Following a nod from each man, they made their way through the fence opening.

Roger shook his head when he saw the backup guards heading into the unknown. He had no intention of going through the gate in the dark. They had no idea what was hiding in there. He was also underequipped compared to the backup guards as he had the bare minimum to be part of the patrol.

"I'll stand guard here in case things go wrong," Roger said to the group.

Roger caught a thumbs up from one of the other guards. Then, the darkness swallowed them up. Roger used the chance to recall the procedure for the emergency beacon on his uniform. There were strict requirements that must be met for a guard to have the permission to activate the beacon. While the situation had not developed to that point yet, his gut was telling him otherwise. After what seemed like forever, Roger heard gunfire on the other side of the fence. There were shouts mentioning monsters whenever the guards had to stop to reload their weapons. Roger noticed that the gunfire was diminishing in intensity until it stopped entirely. Next, a scream came before that too went silent.

Without anymore hesitation, Roger activated the beacon and ran towards the facility. He vaguely recalled that help should arrive within an hour of activating the trigger. If he stayed outside, then he would be dead. Running faster than he thought was possible, Roger arrived at the facility entrance. He scanned his keycard and got inside. As he turned around, he saw a creature that resembled monsters from nightmares. He then dashed to the front desk where he entered a code he was given for emergencies. Once the system accepted the code, a number of turrets appeared above the entrance and opened fire at the creature. Roger didn't stop to find out if the turrets were enough. He went straight to the guard room where he locked and bolted the door. Roger then equipped himself to the teeth before making his way to the surveillance room.

Roger's eyes went straight to the screen showing the facility entrance. To his shock, what was left of the turrets was on the ground and the entrance was broken through. In his haste to get to the guard room, he forgot to set the alarm that would trigger if anyone unauthorized entered the facility. He then scanned the other screens for the creature and stopped at the one showing a hallway. The creature was on all fours and its head was close to the ground. Seeing the creature moving closer to the door he locked earlier, Roger went back to the door where he activated codes to further reinforce the door. He was taking no chances at this point and pointed his weapon at the door.

Unlike the entrance gate, the guard room gate was made of reinforced titanium. The owner of the facility was very wealthy and could afford the best when it came to what was available. The reinforced titanium was believed to be unpenetrable by conventional weapons and, in this case, whatever the monster used as weapons. Only high end weapons on warships could reliably break through reinforced titanium. After imagining the horrible deaths of his fellow guards at the hands of the creature in the hallway, Roger desperately hoped that the gate material lived up to its reputation. Otherwise, there would be just a gate between him and a monster capable of slaughtering trained professionals.

Reinforcements were coming but Roger had doubts if they could arrive on time. The beacon had never been activated before. He was unsure if it worked and, if it worked, whether the other party took it seriously. Gripping his weapon tightly, Roger's breathing sped up as he listened for any sign of the creature.