159 Secret Lab

Their chase through the trees was going seems like forever. At first, Greg even enjoyed the process, feeling the lightness and crazy agility of his body. As soon as he thought some movements that could be seen only in the films, he could perform them with ease. It seemed like a dream. If he were a teen now, he would cry of euphoria.

Well, in fact, he did at first. But, it seems like the costume still had some limits. All his joy had to vanish as soon as he slammed in the tree the first time. As time passed, he already stopped counting how many times he forcefully kissed a log, or his hand slipped past the vine. In these moments, a mad shifter chasing Greg almost got his. So again he was trusted from a joyful dream of every boy to the nightmare. But each time Greg managed to slip away at the last moment.

But with time, even with this wonderful costume, fatigue still began to show. Greg's head began to spin, and his hands trembled. He felt his movements start to become more strained, and in the twilight, it was growing more and more difficult to see where to jump further. Although the shifter behind him apparently too got tired. Greg listened to the heavy breathing from behind his back, praying for this crazy beast to fell or give up the chase. But this bastard was a very bullheaded one.

" I didn't even do all that much damage." - Mumbled Greg, looking back for the last time. But the beady bloody red eyes moved him to make a crazy decision. He must get away from persecution any way possible, so he again abruptly changed direction and aimed in the direction of a small mountain that could be seen above the treetops.

He ran along a thick branch and jumped in hopes of clinging to the next liana. Behind his back there was a crash, prompting that the shifter did not lag behind and also climbed up on the branch that Greg had just left. It howled suddenly. Greg turned around, trying to see the were-bear in the darkness. And it turned out to be his worst mistake.

Tired fingers could not stand the sudden movement and slide off. Greg did not even immediately realize that he was falling. The whole body became stony. In a panic, he began to search with his eyes for something to catch on. But the darkness hid everything around, and only the whitish smirking fanged muzzle of the shifter was visible somewhere far away.

Greg tried to relax, with last bits of straight sending a mental order, or rather a plea to a suit to help. Another second. Here he should felt a hit to the ground.

But for some reason, this did not happen. Turning in the air, Greg saw that he was falling straight into a small crack. And there was no time to react.

"Fuck!" - He just managed to shout out, engulfed by complete darkness.

Splash

But instead of hard lending to the ground or some rocks, Greg fell into the icy water. Every cell seemed to be burned by lightning at this moment. He barely stopped the urge to gasp so as not to swallow water, screaming inside bloody murder.

When he finally managed to come to himself, water around him was so dark that it was not clear where to swim. He turned over several times, spinning around, but made himself even more confused. The lungs began to burn. And the panic slowly crept over him, freezing his body. Greg closed his eyes trying to calm down and just relaxed.

The sound of the heartbeat sounded in the ears like a drum. And then, as if somewhere on the edge of consciousness, he heard another one. It was so strange, but at the same time so pacifying.

"Lana!" - The thought burst into his consciousness as if illuminating everything around with an inner light. Panic immediately went away. It place took the determination. He can do it! He will return to his family. She is waiting for him. They all do!

Giving in to some kind of intuition, Greg swam, raking with his cold hands the icy water. Making his frozen muscles move. He did not know whether the suit helped him or whether it was the power of self-conviction, the desire to survive. Another stroke and his head pierced the surface of the water, and his lungs finally filled with air.

Catching a little breath, Greg tried to look around. The gleams of the moon causing into the crack barely illuminated the outlines of the stone walls from all sides. But on one side, the wall curved deeper and disappeared in the dark.

Without thinking, Greg headed there. Very soon, the hand caught on a small ledge, and the guy scrambled to the rocky shore. Before him gaped passage of some kind of tunnel or cave. There was no choice. Greg was too tired to climb the steep wall now, and if he walks around a bit and explores this tunnel, it will at least make him warm up a bit.

Greg tried to step as silently as possible, remembering that you could stumble on another monster anywhere. Very soon, at the end of the passage, a light appeared. But it was not a good sign. It was night outside. So there is someone there.

Greg tried even to breathe as rear as possible the last steps and literally crawled against the wall. The tunnel was curving, and the light was coming from there. Greg reached the corner and peered cautiously. After dark, it was not immediately possible to see what was happening there. But when his eyes got a little accustomed, Greg began to look in amazement at the vast cave converted to a sort of laboratory. It seems he has found the secret testing ground of Ian, created for his inhuman experiences. It was strange that there was absolute silence. There were no workers or anyone else.

Greg cautiously stepped around the corner and slowly approached. As soon as he took a couple of steps forward, it became clear why it was empty. Part of the equipment was lying broken on the floor, and nearby were blood stains and pieces of torn white clothing. Something happened here, and Greg didn't really want to guess what.

But his attention quickly shifted to the remote control and a few screens, which apparently still worked. Ian's minions had excellent equipment. Those screens showed that there were cameras all over the island. For Greg, it was a piece of cake to understand the system and very soon he could easily determine the presence of almost any shifter in this damned place. Although, a couple of monitors rippled and gave an error.

Apparently, the were themselves did not suspect, but they were all microchipped. Even the one who made this mess in the lab is unlikely to be able to understand the power of this computer and left it as it is, breaking only those devices that were visible. But the main server was securely hidden, and it was easy for Greg to find him in a small locker on top filled with medical junk and some kind of documents. It turned out to be completely intact, it was only necessary to adjust the stray settings a bit.

Probing into the wires, Greg took off his gloves and a mask and did not even notice how red drops began to appear on the boards.

"Damn!" - He murmured, seeing the blood get onto his fingers. It seems he still could not escape without damage one of the collisions with the tree. The eyebrow was broken, and his hands were all bruised.

He reached out to erase the drops from the equipment, but as soon as he touched this place, a discharge passed on his finger. It felt like something exploded in my head. Greg swayed for a moment, going completely numb. But the mind quickly cleared.

Greg blinked and shook his head. Apparently, it was just an electrical shock, he thought in a hurry when finishing work.

Now everything worked as it should. He returned to the console and looked with surprise at the previously inactive screens. They were filled with columns with names, statuses and brief information on each shifter. His eyes immediately became attached to one of them.

"Ralph Benne." - He growled through clenched teeth, and at the same moment, a bomb exploded in his head. Names, dates, whereabouts information poured into his head. Greg collapses on the floor unable to withstand such a blow. For a second he thought he was going crazy.

"What the hell is that ?!"-he wailed, squeezing his temples with his hands. Greg tried to focus only on one thing. On his own anger. And it suddenly became sobering. As if he was able to close the valve, blocking this flow of information, leaving only a small trickle.

He sat on the floor for another half an hour, clutching his head with his hands and trying to figure out what was happening to him. And every minute his eyes grew darker.

"Well then." - He hissed, finally rising. - "It seems the time has come for a predator to learn what it is to be a victim. "

A wolfish smile began to play on his lips, and he confidently headed for the exit no longer paying attention to the blinking screens behind. Why, when all this information was already in his head?