Forever and a Day

LE: Hi readers :) this is my first time uploading a story of mine and I'm sure there will be needed revisions. Please bear with me and enjoy!! It was quiet now. A little too quiet. Doctor Romanov held her breath as she gently pushed the door open. She’d been hiding in one of the cabinets in her office when the first alarm went off. Almost immediately after, screams and horrifying noises began to float through the hallways of the lab. The sounds still echoed in her ears as she slid her legs out first and lowered herself onto the floor. The glass wall that usually sat across from her, and the only exit in the small room, lay in pieces on the floor. All the lights were out, the only light sources coming from the faint blue glow of the backups. Even so, she didn't need the light to determine what the dark liquid dotted around the room was. Standing on shaking legs, she tiptoed around the glass to peak her head around the doorframe. Nothing made its presence known, so she made her way back towards her desk. After jabbing the code into the keypad on her drawer, she pulled out her simple handgun. If her supervisors knew she had the thing in there, they would have chewed her out about it, but for all she knew, they were dead right now, and she wasn't. She steeled her grip around the metal as she prepared to go out into the maze of hallways she knew was crawling with the mutants. The gun in her hand wouldn't do much in comparison to their hardened skin and heightened speed. She knew that. Her best bet on surviving would be the whole reason this was taking place: P-01. Keeping her back against the wall and eyes up and away from the gory mess, she made her way to the primary lab, where they kept the containment pod. It all started before Dr. Romanov was even born. A virus. Or so they said. No one knew where it came from or how it started. At first, the conversion time was somewhere between seventy-two and twenty-four hours. But as it claimed more lives than the scientists and specialists could keep up with, it began to evolve. The surface became overrun with the mutants and people took to the bunkers and living underground. That's where the Research Foundation came into the picture. Under the guise of trying to create a cure, they experimented on humans and the mutants, eventually bringing P-01 to life. Romanov cursed inwardly. She had told her supervisors time and time again about her worries that something like this would happen, but they continued to brush her off. In a dark way, she was happy to prove them right. Now, she was at a crossroads. Shifting, she tilted her head down the way she needed to go. Nothing, thankfully. Just as she began to move again, something on the opposite side caught her attention. The movement in the dark was so slight she barely noticed it, but it was there, hunched over something. Her heart fell into her stomach. She didn't want to think about what it was doing. Turning, she fumbled along the wall, going as fast as she could. Nothing could have prepared her for a light fixture laying on the ground shrouded in shadow. Metal clanked as it skidded across the ground. Doubling over in pain, she let a yell escape her lips. That was all it took. A roar erupted behind her. She didn't wait. Didn't look back. She broke into a run. Her destination was just up ahead. If she could just make it into the room. She jumped over mangled corpses, nearly slipping in puddles of blood. Thunderous footsteps pounded towards her. She could practically feel its breath on her neck, but there the door was. Reaching into her coat, she pulled her ID out, praying it would grant her access. After a couple of excruciating seconds, the doors slid open with a hiss. They closed as the mutant arrived. It pounded angrily against the reinforced glass and metal. Dumbstruck and shaking, Romanov stared at the thing. It was like a cross between a bear and a human with patches of fur and skin missing and in its place were exposed muscle and bone. It stood at least three feet taller than her with two pitch black eyes. Swallowing, she looked down at the weapon she was gripping so hard her knuckles were turning white, then back at the monster. She didn't have time to stand around. Turning to her right, she walked up to the large glowing vat of water. In it floated P-01. A young girl, the only child who withstood the rounds of testing and experimenting. And thanks to that, she gained strength and abilities no human could have. “Let's see what you can do,” Romanov said aloud to herself as she tried to work the system. She was nearly done when a loud bang came from the entrance. Chancing a look, she was met by a new pair of eyes, ones which she didn't recognize. The thing's eyes locked onto her and let out a screech as it threw its body into the doors. The glass faltered under the pressure and cracked. “s**t, s**t, s**t!” She typed as fast as she could on the keyboard. At the moment she pressed the last key, the door gave out, giving way to the mutant. She could now see that it had eaten a chunk out of the bear-like one who'd chased her through the halls. This one looked more human but not human at all. It had long and thinned limbs. Its large head bobbed back and forth with a broad smile coated in fresh blood. Stepping into the room, it garbled incoherent words. Dr. Romanov clasped her gun and aimed it. She’d never used one before, but there was a first for everything. Finger on the trigger and ready to fire, she noticed the stream of water that spilled past her feet. “Hello doctor,” a child-like voice echoed as the mutant lunged.