Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 86

“We need to escape deeper under the compound above us. If we try to go back for your friends, Dr. Achak will capture all of us. In fact, if he finds out I am your mom, he will probably do everything in his power to catch you anyway.”

“But why?” he asked, annoyed. The drugs were finally out of his system, and he couldn’t help but worry about his friends.

“Look, I’d love to explain everything to you in great detail, but we need to go before they come looking for you.”

His mother was wearing very old clothes, that were kind of snug in places. Apparently, they had been hers at one point, but she had gained some weight being in the tank for so long.

Nodding finally, in agreement, Xun decided he needed to watch out for Matilda and Tommy. He still wasn’t sure how they had gotten past the vampires, and her explanations just seemed to make him even more confused.

“There’s a door if we follow this tunnel all the way to its end, that will take us to the underground city.” Lola picked up a backpack, and started throwing things into it.

Watching her, Xun missed his own, so he started opening other doors around the lab. The third one yielded bags meant to hold medical and scientific supplies, but they were currently empty, so he decided that would work. Throwing in a few random supplies, that might be useful, he swung it onto his back. He immediately felt better.

“Let’s go.”

Xun wanted to ask more questions, but he knew that what she said about the vampires showing up soon, was true. Looking both ways before leaving the room, his mom led the way, away from the entrance. Xun took up the rear. He wanted to keep an eye on the kids to make sure they didn’t wander off.

The gore on the floor and walls diminished, and the sounds of scratching all but disappeared the further they walked. Just as she had said, the tunnel ended at a large door. It was just like the concrete door they had come through to get inside, huge and heavy.

“Tommy, I need you to pull on this lever right here. I’m afraid we need to break it to get it open. There’s no power running to it anymore.”

Tommy nodded and grabbed the lever. It didn’t budge. Before anyone could say anything, he placed a foot on the wall, and pulled with everything he had. Veins were bulging in this kid’s neck, and Xun was already trying to figure out how he was going to explain to the people back at the compound how he died from a stroke or heart attack. There was a loud crack, and Tommy landed on the floor. The lever had snapped off.

Rubbing her face, Lola touched the door to see if she could figure out another way to open it, when Matilda reached into the hole, where the lever had been and grabbed something. It was a pin. She pulled it out and examined it, as if it was some neat toy. They could all hear some small mechanical movements inside the door, and then it gently swung open.

Not wasting any more time, they rushed through it. His mom turned and pulled it shut, turning the lever on this side, to lock it into place.

Xun looked around the new area they were in, and was surprised to see what looked like a city, built into a giant cave.

“This is just like the compound!” he exclaimed, noticing the same carvings and designs.

“This is known as the undercity,” explained his mom, standing next to him. “There used to be a lot of people living here, but not anymore. Most of them are dead. The scientists who were using the lab, locked the door, trapping them all here.”

“How do you know that?” asked Matilda, taking Xun’s hand. Tommy had pushed the lever through his belt like a sword, and was holding her other hand.

“I’ll tell you more, when we get to a place to sit down and rest. My body hasn’t fully woken up yet.”

They followed her through the empty city. She had mentioned there being people still here, but Xun didn’t see any signs of them. They must be further into the city, where they couldn’t see. Turning into the first building, they found a table with metal chairs around it. There was a vending machine on the floor, further in, but it was busted a long time ago.

“I was captured by the Slavers when Xun was very young,” she began. Matilda and Tommy leaned forward, as if they were hearing a story. Xun sat so he could watch the entrance. He didn’t want anyone, or anything, to sneak up on them.

“They took me to a place, that was full of cages, and each cage had people shoved into it. We couldn’t escape, because they had werewolves chained at the entrance where we had come in, and Slavers patrolled the aisles between the cages.” Her eyes were out of focus, as she remembered the past.

“There was this one vampire, who would walk up and down each cage, picking out the people he wanted, and telling the Slavers where to take them. I was sent to the labs, to be used in experiments by Dr. Achak, because he was always needing women to experiment on. When I got there, he didn’t like the looks of my blood results, and had them run them again.

“When they came back a second time, he really took notice of me. His ȧssistants hid me in a closet, and told the Slavers I had been disposed of. Then Dr. Achak arranged to have me brought here.

“The machine you found me in, was meant to keep me alive for a prolonged period of time, because my blood was unique. He believed that it was part of the answer he was looking for, in his quest to get rid of the virus. He was using my blood to try and make clones that were immune to the virus. But the clones kept aborting.”

“That was why he had those other women there,” exclaimed Xun.

His mother nodded. “When he put me into the machine, I was supposed to go to sleep and stay there, but instead I developed the ability to leave my body. I could travel anywhere and listen in on people, watch what they did, and when I found Matilda, I was finally able to communicate with someone.”

“Wait, does that mean…?” Xun looked at her, in shock.

“Yes, I really was with you all this time. And you have no idea how much I would have loved for you to have been able to hear me, so many times.”