The Serum

Doctor Peterson cowered behind the relative safety of the heavy desk, thankful that none of the subjects had tried to get to him, trying to work up the courage to take a quick look at Jace and the unidentified female. He finally worked up the courage and peeked out over the edge of the desk to see Jace and the female struggling to their feet and heading toward the door. He shakily brought his pistol up, trying to line up a shot, when a blast in the direction of the black hallway knocked him to the ground. His eyes were still open and he could see the two subjects and a few tables, benches and chairs flying past him, but he did not see any fire or a reason for the explosion. He struggled to his knees and peeked over the edge again to see a familiar face stumbling out of the dark hallway.

“Ah, I was wondering when you were going to arrive Subject Wave,” he smiled as he watched her stumble toward the stairs, “Bet that blast took a lot out of you.”

Peterson turned to Gold Star 6-17 to ask him to subdue the priority subjects, but the Gold Star had moved away from him and was joining two Sentinels, the last of the Sentinels Peterson had brought, to engage the remaining subjects. He tried calling out to him, he got no response. He tried raising 6-17 on the radio, but he couldn’t even tell if his radio was working. Peterson cursed and turned toward Jace, Wave and the female. Wave had somehow regained her balance and had run ahead to the elevator and activated it. He raised his pistol, now being able to hold it a bit steadier, and aimed in the direction of the elevator doors. Subject Wave slipped inside and disappeared from view. The doors began to close, but Jace had managed to stop them and hold them open. Peterson fired the three remaining bullets.

Jace was shocked that the elevator doors were not opening at the presence of something blocking the way, but he was relieved that the doors were not very heavy. Overcoming his shock at seeing Sasha sprint past him, he had sped up to catch the doors, which had left Bubble down the hallway a good couple yards.

“Come on! You’re almost there!” he called to her as she ran as fast as she could.

The sounds of the battle had faded a little, with the sounds of the Sentinel rifles slowing, He guessed the Sentinels had managed to kill, or injure, the subjects enough to control the lobby. Jace held the doors open a bit wider as Bubble reached the elevator, but jumped back when something struck the elevator doors.

Bubble fell to the elevator floor and the doors closed.

Jace slid to the floor as the elevator hummed to life. “We made it, we actually made it. We are gonna get out of here,” he was smiling as he watched Bubble slowly move to a sitting position; his smile vanished when he saw the look on her face. Her face was blank, like she was staring off into the distance.

“Bubble? Hey, Bubble, it’s going to be ok,” he walked over to her trying to figure out what was wrong.

She did not even look at him.

He sat down next to her and recoiled instantly. There was a large hole in the side of her chest, and where someone would see her insides, he could see nothing but ice.

Bubble whimpered and placed a hand on the wound.

Jace looked to Sasha who seemed to be trying her hardest not to pay attention to what was happening.

Suddenly, Bubble jerked and cried out as she fell to the floor clutching her side. Curled up into a ball, she started coughing violently, and to Jace’s shock, small pieces of ice began to fall from her mouth. Then, as if Jace could not be anymore horrified, the ice covering her wound began to spread. Slowly at first, but it began to pick up speed, covering her legs and moving up her chest.

Bubble was in intense pain, she did not know why, but it was there and she wanted it to stop. She looked up at Jace and saw the horrified look on his face. She tried to move, but found her body would not respond. She stared straight into Jace’s eyes and mouthed the words, “Please, don’t leave me. Ple…”