Chapter 14 · Reset Protocol - Chapter 14: Vera Dies Again

"Move!" Mark slammed through the stairwell door. Glass crunched under his boots. Blood on the walls, still wet.

"She's three floors down," Lucas said behind him, breathing hard. "The monitor showed—"

"I saw it."

Mark took the stairs two at a time. His right hand ached where the claws had retracted. Loop twelve. Vera had maybe eight minutes before the mutation hit stage four. Stage four meant no coming back.

A howl echoed up the shaft. Not human. Not quite animal either.

"That's not her," Lucas said.

"I know what it is."

Mark hit the landing. Door hanging off its hinges. Claw marks gouged through the metal like it was cardboard. He went through.

The corridor was dark except for the emergency strips. They flickered. Something moved at the far end, low and fast.

"Hound," Mark said. "Two of them."

"Where's Vera?"

"There."

She was on the floor by the window. Her right arm looked wrong. Too long. The skin had split along the forearm and something black and plated showed underneath. She had her left hand pressed against the wall, trying to stand.

One of the hounds circled her.