Within minutes I'd reached the medical campus. The area was devoid of life, word of mouth spreading the news of the local disappearances. Little did anyone else know a third victim had been taken, my darling Susan! I reached the spot I'd seen from the security camera feed, and set to work scouring the area for clues. Overhead, the horizontal bar of the streetlamp had several scratches on it's paintwork. The creature behind the attacks had swung between the posts and tree branches, and evidently possessed sharp claws or some form of metal gauntlets to leave such marks. Using the angle of the camera and my surroundings, I pinpointed the last known location of Sue and stood in the same spot, before casting my eyes around to find something. Anything.
In the bushes closest to me, and adjacent to the Rathbone Building, there were a number of broken twigs and small spots of flattened shrubbery, as if a struggle had taken place. Had Susan fought off her attacker? I walked over to have a closer look, and my heart sank. Close up, the pattern of damage indicated several "paths" had been traipsed across the bushes, as if several large somethings had been dragged through it. The mud was soft at the base of the plants, due to a recent rain shower. Imprinted in the surface were several hand prints. Too large for a human yet remarkably similar to a human hand. I knew the attacker didn't have legs, and wore large metal gloves. Was it some vaguely humanoid alien, or some kind of damaged robot?
Digging deeper into the undergrowth, where the shrubs met the wall of the building, I found her phone. The screen was cracked, but still legible. On it I saw the missed call from when I'd tried to get in touch, the little light blinking a taunt at me. Surrounding the phone were a number of glass shards, and disturbingly dark splotches staining the ground. I dabbed at the marks, taking a small amount on the tip of my finger. Working it between my thumb and forefinger, I found it to be sticky, coloured a dark reddish brown. Partially coagulated blood, most definitely Susan's. The bastardy who had done this was definitely going to pay. The source of the broken glass was in fact a low window, about a foot high at the very base of the exterior of the building. I peered into the dark interior, and realised I was looking through the skylight window of a basement lab.
At this point, I should describe the purpose of the Rathbone building, and it's layout. Overground, it was a standard college facility, with lecture halls, offices, administration and several labs for undergrads. The basement level contained a number of labs for post-doctoral research, and it was into one such lab Susan had been dragged. That was only half of the building however. As part of a European Union research grant into infectious diseases that pose a threat on a global level, a highly secure underground bunker was built below the Rathbone building. This EU facility was one of the most secure locations on the continent, due to the live samples of diseases and viruses it was to contain. Completely sealed from the outside world barring a single lift shaft, to prevent any chance of infection, with a series of negative pressure airlocks in between. Scientists in the facility were strictly vetted, and lived and worked in the bunker for months at a time, going through a rigorous quarantine protocol before being released to the world above. Ebola, SARS, MRSA and many more, stored together in a single facility... what could possibly go wrong?
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the blood. It was only a smattering of smeared drops, so at least her wounds weren't deep. Looking through the window again, the drops trailed throughout the lab, showing the path Sue had been dragged along. I knew I didn't have time to deal with the building security, so I chose to enter via the same window as Sue. Crouching down, I kicked at the glass remaining to clear a safe path, then squeezed my fleshy frame through the aperture.
The blood continued out of the lab, and into the corridor. I hurriedly followed it, hoping not to be seen by any of the staff. The place was deserted though, my footsteps echoing through the dense silence that hung in the air. Before long the trail had led me to the steel door of an elevator. Warning labels and biohazard stickers adorned the lift, and instead of a call button, the wall beside it had a keypad and a card slot. Upon closer inspection, the card slot was surrounded by light scorch marks, as if something electrical had discharged nearby it. Probably from some hacking tool used by the creature I was chasing. Two could play at that game though. I slipped a small cylindrical device from my jacket pocket; a small sonic probe developed from reclaimed Torchwood tech with only a fraction of the utility of the Doctor's screwdriver, but very good at opening doors nonetheless.
I paused for a moment, thinking of the consequences. If I entered this lift, I'd be effectively breaking into a secure government facility and committing crimes on an international scale. On the other hand, some legless alien had stolen my girlfriend. The choice was simple really; I stepped into the lift, sonicked the controls, and began thinking of plausible excuses to try in case I was mistaken. "Sorry I single handed defeated your security measures and trespassed. I was looking for the toilet."
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