Difference between revisions of "Atlantis: chapter 3"

Revision as of 21:00, 18 December 2007

And congrats again! Part three:

Please note this is a work in progress and the authors reserve the right to edit and/or re-format the book.

Chapter III: A Breakthrough

Tom! Tom! Wake up.”

“Whaa?” Tom got groggily to his feet. “Whas goin on?”

He was standing in the same hospitol room. He had just woken up, and he wasn't in a good mood. Next to him stood the always animated Dr. Stephens. “We have made a huge breakthrough in the Biolabs!” Dr. Stephens was very excited, so Tom payed more attention than usual.

“Breakthrough?”

“Yes, Tom. We managed to take a sample of Raptor DNA from some saliva left over on one of the soldier's uniforms! We now have a 100% complete Raptor DNA strand!” Right down to the point as always.

“Point...?” Tom asked sleepily

"My point is we can now safely mix Raptor and human DNA to create a superhuman! But perhaps even more beneficial, we can now clone Raptors! Now we too can have an army of dinosaurs. With our resources, we can develop a training program, so that not only will we have an army of dinosaurs, we can also make them smarter, faster, stronger, more cooperative with each other, the list goes on and on! The Biolabs have already turned out the first batch.” “But why did you wake me up?” “Because, we would like you to be the first to try out the DNA mix!” “Why me!?” Tom was suddenly alert. “Because, for one, as a field leader, your appearance would decrease the men's fear from at least one type of dinosaur. Two, you have the best immune system here, which will make you the most likely to survive if something goes wrong, and, will give us a chance to try out our new immune guider, which will help your immune system repel unfriendly objects, but not objects of a certain genetic makeup. Simply put, we give you a shot, you become less likely to die of sickness, and then you can still become a superhuman! And Three, your body will undergo changes, changes for the better, like becoming stronger and more muscular, becoming faster, your teeth will be sharper, your reflexes more highly tuned, better hearing and smell, etc.” “Doc, you know about the...power. Will it be effected? It saved my life twice.” “If it does, it will be for the better.” “I still don't know....” “Well, all of the changes are reversible, and there is the question of a bonus cash...” “I'm in, I guess...” “Excellent! Follow me.” What Dr. Stephens hadn't mentioned was that they were only semi-reversible. They could change back your looks, but not your habits and powers. Tom walked to the elevator with Dr. Stephens, the biological expert, whom he had complete trust in. That was the only reason he was doing this. The elevator dinged when they hit the basement, and the doors opened. They stepped out, and walked to the security checkpoint. Tom looked in surprise, finding West, his second-in-command of the battle just... how many hours before? “West! You're alright then.” “Yeah,” West answered elatedly. "I was pretty bummed they took me off the team. Who's your replacement gonna be?"

"I dunno." Tom shrugged truthfully. “West, you've met Tom?” Dr. Stephens was confused. “Yeah, he saved me once before. But we don't have time to chat. I assume he accepted the treatment?” “Yes.” “Right this way then.” They followed West through another door on the opposite side of the room. As soon as he walked in, he heard applause. Someone gave him a shot in the arm of some pale green liquid. He was strapped to some flat slab of metal which was connected to some machine. The slab was retracted into it. A speaker came on. “Tom? Just relax. We're going to give you a sleeping gas so you won't feel any pain. Then the process will start, and by the end of today, we'll be done.” Tom was starting to have second thoughts. His gunshot wound hadn't yet been treated, but he didn't mention it to anybody. The only thing keeping him in this box was his trust in Dr. Stephens. A moment later, he was out cold, no dreams, thankfully, so he couldn't worry about any of it. The next thing he knew, he was awake. The speaker came on again. “Mr. Lane!” Tom hated the mention of his last name. “What is happening? You weren't supposed to have woken up yet!” Panic started to spread its icy wings inside him. In the distance, he could here muffled shouts. “Oh my god! How did it get out?” “We're all going to die!” “Noooooooooooo!” Then silence. Static. He ran the words in his head again. “Oh my god! How did it get out?!! We're all going to die! Noooooooooooo!” What had happened? Then he heard a vicious snarl, and he knew. Dr. Stephens and the rest were dead. Somehow, the Raptors in the containment cells that had just been created, had already broken out. They had killed all of the people in the building. Tom was overwhelmed with loss. Dr. Stephens... West... All of the soldiers, almost all the people he knew, now gone from the world. And he wasn't dead because he was in this box. His mind thought of a coffin, and he got sick and threw up all over the inside of the machine. His mind now selected one task for him: BREAK FREE!!! He felt the power again, and suddenly the top of the box was blown off. The straps that were on him were now torn apart. He instantly jumped up and took stock of the situation. There were 5 Raptors in the room. Another three lay dead on the floor. One was laying over Dr. Stephens. Evidently, the Raptor had tried to tackle Dr. Stephens, and he had the quick thinking to stab a surgical knife in the beast. Next he gave himself a quick scan, looking down at his hands. His jaw dropped. His hands, once ordinary, now sprouted 3 long curved, serrated claws. His feet were the same. The middle finger or toe had the longest and largest claw. He ran his tung over his teeth. They were sharp to a point. The first Raptor noticed him. It snarled, and prepared to pounce on him. Tom was ready. As soon as the Raptor jumped, Tom rolled under it. His reaction was much faster than usual. The Raptor landed, and Tom whirled and sunk his new, extremely sharp claws deep down in its flesh. The Raptor cried out in agony. The other Raptors were all now looking at Tom hungrily. Tom yanked his claws out of the beast, kicking it in the process. He grabbed a knife and hurled it across the room at a Raptor. It landed in the back of its throat, and went down in a spastic jerk. Tom raked his claws down a Raptor's back, but it wasn't dead. He charged into the Security checkpoint, as he still didn't have a real weapon. Tom's back was still aching from the previous battle's punishment, but as he arrived, he saw two more Raptors waiting in this room, for a total of 5. The security checkpoint also housed the armory, which sported an impressive array of firearms and blades. Tom jumped up as a Raptor came charging, and dove off of its head onto the floor, and came to a rolling stop next to a gun rack. He cursed, as it was the handgun rack, and the next rack was 3 yards away. He plucked to P22's off the shelf anyways, and took aim at one of the Raptors. The bullets sent it yelping away, but it was still alive. The other Raptor was standing between Tom and the other guns. One hand rose to shoot at the ceiling, while Tom's other hand fired vaguely in the direction of the Raptor. It fell in a flurry of bullets and concrete. The 3 Raptors from the Biolabs rushed in, making matters worse. Tom dove to the next rack, and sighed with relief as he brought around an XM8. It was more than a match to take down four Raptors, two of them badly injured. However, one of them was already too close, and so Tom stabbed at it with the bayonet attached to the machine gun. It ducked and slashed open Tom's side, and he cried out in agony. The searing pain was almost more than he could take, but he forced himself to remain upright. He kicked it in the snout viciously, and it took a step back in surprise. He brought around the butt of the gun and smacked it silly, then proceeded to pump it full of lead. The other three met the same fate. Tom heard muffled growls from the other door that lead to the hallway, and he jumped over to the security desk and locked it. The other door was still unlocked, and he went back into the Biolabs, where Dr. Stephens was laying. He dragged him into the Security checkpoint, and layed him down gently next to West. He surveyed them both after bringing a first-aid kit. Not the cheap super-market kind, this was one of the kind that Paramedics and the like used, with a few add-ons. Add-ons including a shot of altered Vitamin E, which accelerated a man's healing rate by 300%. Dr. Stephens had a few broken ribs, a fractured ankle, and his left arm was broken. However, West had a broken collar bone, broken ribs, and was cut up everywhere. He was bleeding severely from a nasty gash on his head, and three marks ran all the way from his upper thigh to below his knee. He had various smaller cuts all over his body, and his usually blond hair looked strawberry colored. West needed first attention. Tom cleaned and bound the gashes as best he could, then made a sling for his collarbone. Last, he bound up his ribs, after removing the serrated claw that was lodged between the eighth and ninth ribs. Tom then gave him the shot of Vitamin E, and also a shot of blood, as he had already checked the type. Now for Dr. Stephens. Tom bound up his chest, bandaged and splinted his ankle, and made a sling for his arm. He gently shook Dr. Stephens to wakefulness. “Whaa, Wha?” He came up, and then jumped back abruptly. “Oh, Tom, it's you!” “Yeah, and West's here too. He's not doing so well. Excuse me for a moment, I have to call for help. Watch West, and treat him in any way you can.” Tom left, and walked over to the Satellite phone. He called the nearest base, which was a Support Base. At least that's some luck, Tom thought to himself. The support bases were there as a post for sending support to the Research bases, support including men, guns, vehicles, supplies, and eventually, Dinosaurs. The phone crackled to life. “Hello, this is U.S.A. support base Alpha, state your problem.” “Hello! This is commander Thomas Lane of Research facility No. 1. I need a strike team immediately! Our base has been overwhelmed by Dinosaurs. We need help, we need it professional and we need it fast!” “Please state clearance code Alpha-3-1-1." Tom's brain raced frantically, struggling to remember the access codes. After a pause of a couple seconds with the radioman on the other end waiting impatiently, Tom remembered suddenly and uttered a long, unitelligable string of letters and numbers. "Yes sir, they're on their way. Do you need a medical team as well?” Med team! Tom thought hysterically “Yes! And, additionally, we need an Evac. I have two survivors down here with me, and their might be more as well. Over.” “Roger, your goodies are on the way via Hovercraft. ETA, twenty minutes.” Tom sighed with relief. Scarcely three seconds later, he heard a gunshot, and he whirled to see Dr. Stephens wielding a Webley Mk VI, a revolver of incredible power. He shifted his head a little more, and he saw that a Raptor had just taken a .44 inch bullet directly in the face. It dropped to the ground, a gaping hole in its head. Dr. Stephens was breathing heavily, and he grimaced at the site of the floor being rapidly covered with slick, dark red blood. He turned and laughed at Tom's amazed expression. “Don't think you're the only one around here who knows how to shoot a gun!” He smiled. Tom recovered quickly, glancing at West, who was beginning to stir. Soon enough, he roused completely, and gratefully took Tom's hand. Tom helped him into his chair behind the desk, and he brought out a glass of brandy from his secret stash. He gulped it down and filled it twice more, then he spoke. “My god, they came in here as quiet as the sound of death!” he exclaimed. He sipped his drink again. “Those stupid Atlantians! One of them chucked a pot of some acrid smelling substance in here, and I suddenly was crying. I think it was a home made tear gas. Those... Those... Monsters! They came in here, and stabbed poor Reynold with a spear. Luckily, I was still cleaning my gun, and so had it in my hand. I brought it around and fired as fast as I could, and the man went down. I took out two more, but one of them had a club, and bashed me in the ribs. It hurt so much, god, I don't know what happened next. I passed out, but not before I heard something growl. It chilled the marrow in my bones it was so scary. The next thing I remember, I was waking up on the floor, and you were standing next to me.” He pointed at Tom, then froze and gasped. “What? What is it?” Tom asked helplessly. West wordlessly pointed to a mirror. Tom gasped.