Mega 3: When Giants Collide (Mega Series) Page 27

  "You haven't met Mama. She's above your clearance level, good doctor."

  Dr. Chan couldn't stand how matter-of-factly the director was talking about these matters of life and death. "If ENTECH knows this is going on, then why aren't they helping us? Are they planning to let these things have their way with the staff? Did you let the lampreys out of their tanks, Dr. Sutherland? My God, if that's true, then how long have they been free?"

  Dr. Sutherland couldn't contain that knowing grin.

  "The lampreys have had free rein since the beginning. They were just waiting for the right time to feed. Mama knows when the time is right. They're only getting hungrier, Dr. Chan, and what we're feeding them in the labs isn't enough. Fish guts and pig brains won't cut it anymore. So, the only right thing to do, good doctor, is to give them what they want, and that's meat, pounds and pounds of it. It's the only way to see their true potential. We must all die in the name of science."

  A chunk of the ceiling collapsed right above Dr. Chan's head. She dodged the falling debris after unleashing a scream. Next, she heard banging and drumming above in the duct system. It sounded like a sledgehammer bashing against sheet metal. The noises were coming closer and closer. Then Dr. Chan heard something else. She imagined bone grinding against bone.

  Crick-clack-crick-clack-crick-clack-crick-clack-crick-clack.

  Dr. Chan was paralyzed. She couldn't take her eyes off the large gaping hole in the ceiling. She could only see darkness staring back at her.

  "Come and get it!" Dr. Sutherland invited. "I know you're hungry. We're all so...very...hungry. ENTECH's given you free rein. Show us your full potential."

  Something horrific happened to Dr. Sutherland's face. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. The eyes literally fell back into his skull. The sockets were now empty pink holes. Around the circumference of his eyes, jagged teeth sprouted. The teeth were long enough for light to reflect against the off-white veneers. Then the teeth retracted and Dr. Sutherland's eyes rolled back up into the sockets.

  "They got to you," Dr. Chan gasped, "but how? What did they do to you? They can't think for themselves. They can't infect us. We didn't create them to do anything else, except—no, nooooooooooo!"

  The banging stopped right above Dr. Chan. The dark hole in the ceiling was replaced by a writhing tube of gray meat. The subject's maw was the size of a manhole cover. Jagged teeth sprouted around the circumference of the circle mouth, protracting for the kill. Rubber glue saliva pelted Dr. Chan in thick wads. Those deadly teeth spun in a circular motion at high speeds. A motor's whine echoed down to her; the song of her impending death.

  The walls of the subject's inner body created a suction. That suction forced Dr. Chan's long black hair to stand up on end. She reached to grab onto something to anchor herself in place, but her feet were already up off the ground. Her arms shot up involuntarily over her head. Screaming did no good, but she did so anyway. Her peals were loud enough to rip the paint from the walls. Launching up to the ceiling, Dr. Chan was sucked up into the subject's mouth.

  Dr. Sutherland stood by and watched her body vanish into the ceiling. The rewarding sound of bone teeth shredding through flesh soon followed. Swirling jets of crimson splattered everything in a few yard's radius of the kill zone. Dr. Chan was nothing more than matter to be digested and excreted.

  "I knew you were hungry," Dr. Sutherland said out loud. "So am I. Our appetites are insatiable."

  Dr. Sutherland exited the private conference room. He casually walked down three halls to his private office. There, he watched a wall of TVs playing monitor feeds from every room in the installation. Those who didn't know the situation would soon find out what was happening. That gave the doctor very little time to act. He worked the security system. He locked down every exit out of the research installation.

  Nobody was leaving.

  It was time to feed.

  Lampreys is available from Amazon here