Chapter 29 - Callahan

Stay close to your DADDY during missions.

W e returned to the room we'd slept in the night before. Eleanor sat down and hugged herself. I'd felt the same way when I'd seen it. The words were freshly written and the smell of copper was so strong, I knew it'd been written in blood. We weren't alone and they knew Eleanor.

I'd stayed up late, pouring through the paperwork we'd been given regarding this mission, but it told us nothing about what to expect down here. Just that it'd been abandoned and they wanted us to know why. I had a suspicion that the reason was on the other side of that door.

"If we want to leave, we have to go through that door," Eleanor said aloud. It felt like she was speaking more to herself than to me, so I let her continue. "And we know they were doing awful things to people and fish. Blending them together into weird mutants." She stood, and began to pace around the room. "They weren't mutated like creepies and crawlies are. It wasn't chemical, it was done by their friends, their family - people they trusted."

She looked at me, her expression deflated. "They were used like lab rats and that's why they left."

"What do you want to do?" I asked. I had a plan but I wanted to discuss it with her. If we weren't completely in tune with each other, something could go horribly wrong.

"I don't think we have a choice. We have to go through."

The silence was thick as we prepared ourselves for the next leg in our journey. I put my PARA suit back on and made sure my weapons were loaded. Eleanor had nothing to protect herself, so I had to make sure I was on full alert.

She took my hand and we went back out. I'd noticed she'd taken to touching me whenever she could. I wasn't sure if it was intentional, or it was purely a comfort thing, but I liked that she found my touch safe. After all the years I'd spent saying cruel things and then the spanking… I wasn't sure she'd ever even look at me again.

We paused at the painted door, reading the words again. They were chilling.

"The only way you're getting out is by going in, Eleanor."

"Are you ready?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, her doe brown eyes large and shiny. She nodded and went to the door herself, pulling the boards away and letting them fall to the floor. We both stood completely still, waiting for something to explode from the room, but nothing moved. No sound came and the hall where we stood was still.

Her chest rose and fell quickly as she closed her eyes and threwthedouble doors open. White lightsflickered on and we both flinched at the harshness. Eleanor leaped back and fell against me. I clutched her tightly as we stared into what appeared to be a large laboratory. The walls were stark white, which made the lights seem so much brighter. My nostrils constricted as the faint smell of fish wafted out of the room.

"Do you think..." Eleanor started, but didn't finish. She didn't have to. I knew exactly where her mind was. She was staring at all the tanks. The room was full of tall, slim fish tanks. Much like the Octosharks, their glass was covered in algae which made it impossible to see what was inside.

"I don't know. Stay close."

I stepped in front of her, holding my gun, cocked and loaded. Slowly, I took a step into the bright room, and another. The room began to stir. The tanks were as tall as me, but only two feet wide.

Like coffins.

Eleanor clung to my suit and together we tentatively walked down the middle aisle.

"Daddy, I'm scared," she whispered.

"It's okay, Eleanor. Don't react to anything you see." I muttered as low as I possibly could. She whimpered but kept moving. Things were still very much alive in the tanks. Water sloshed and spilled out as we made our way through. The test subjects could clearly sense our presence because they didn't move until we drew close.

We were halfway through the room, things were slow, but we were getting there, when suddenly an explosion of water came from behind me; Eleanor screamed.

I spun around and grabbed her, shoving her behind me. I aimed my gun at the beast that had leaped from its tank. I stared in horror, unable to move.

The head was human, maybe. It had long blonde hair, but its eyes were large, bulbous, and gold. The head was almost a triangle shape, and its grey skin was transparent. It raised an arm and it was apparent that webbing had been sewn from its arms to its torso.

"Is that a stingray?" Eleanor whispered. Its legs were fused together, and it hissed at us before starting to drag its body along the floor. My brain finally came to and I pulled the trigger on my gun, shooting it in the forehead. It dropped instantly and blood seeped out of the wound onto the stark white floor.

There was a moment of silence as we watched it die. Eleanor took a step back and another tank in the back spilled over. The sound of something slithering across the floor caused us to jump back. Another tank toppled, which caused another to follow suit, like dominos. I waved my gun at each one, but they were all falling too fast for me to react. My ammo was precious.

"Eleanor, run!" I screamed.

A monster with human hands leaped up from the closest tank and I jumped as it tossed its fishlike tail over and began to crawl out.

"Eleanor, we were told you were coming." Its voice was raspy, as if it hadn't spoken in ages.

The manmade mermaid grabbed my shoulder and I spun around, trying to force it to lose its hold on me, but its grip was tight.

"You're meant to die here...." It hissed near my face.

I turned my head and saw it unhinge its jaw as if to bite me. Reflex took over and I reached for my handgun. I raised it to my shoulder and pulled the trigger right under the mermaid's chin, exploding its head. I ran after Eleanor. She was waiting by the doors, ready to slam them shut. I reached her and turned around just in time to see a dozen cruel science experiments rushing toward us.

We slammed the doors and pressed our bodies against them as the beasts on the other side rammed into it. Eleanor had her eyes closed as she held onto my hand.

"We've got this, Eleanor. We're safe on this side. Look," I nodded to the bright neon sign ahead of us.

Emergency Exit.

"There's a bar. Do you see it?" I pointed to the metal rod about ten feet from us. "Go get it. It'll give us time to run."

She ran for it, retrieved it, and hurried back. We slid the large bar into the door handle, barring the beasts inside. I took her hand and we bounded up the stairs. There were no floors to stop us so we reached the first floor pretty soon. The doors that were locked when we first arrived were now wide open, which only exacerbated the rotting fish stench..

Eleanor was gagging the entire way, but I pushed her forward. We paused at one of the doors and discovered why they'd been locked. Inside was a rotted corpse in a white lab coat. In other units there were corpses in other uniforms. The general population must have locked them inside their rooms to enable a safe escape.

Eleanor and I made it to the surface by the evening of the second day.

"We just have to last until tomorrow." I held her in my arms as the sun went down over the miserable ocean. Even with all the doors locking the heinous experiments away, we couldn't stand to be inside the house, so we lay against a lonely tree. I couldn't sleep, so I stayed awake all night keeping watch.

Morning came and the sound of helicopter wings woke her. She sighed and sat up, my arms instantly feeling her absence. I'd enjoyed holding her all night. I wanted to stay like that forever.

The helicopter came down and turned its propellers off. Eleanor, in her beautiful, arrogant glory, stomped over to the soldier waving us in.

"We lived, bitch," she shouted before climbing in and plopping down in her seat.

I smiled and joined her.

That we did.