April 13, 2025 12:25 AM

Go to the Bioinformatics Building (75%)

Elliot swerved away from the edge of campus and the broken police checkpoint. It was tempting to speed away from school and not look back. Sam couldn’t know what they did; she still thought she had caught this infection at work.

She didn’t know about Dr. Zalenka, she hadn’t seen the photos in his diary. But Ruby had.

If we ever want to reverse this, we need to know what this disease is and how it works. That meant Dr. Zalenka’s notebook, but it also meant anything else they might be able to dig up about their condition. What was going on at that base?

“Blue? Kinda looks like we’re driving the wrong way here.”

He leaned forward, focused on the wheel. This cart had been close to fully charged, and he used every drop of speed it would give. Elliot accelerated, leaning forward over the wheel. “Bioinformatics is just up ahead. It’s an old concrete building without a lot of windows. I figure we can shelter inside until morning.”

Sam shifted in the seat, moving Ruby’s resting body away from her face. She glowered down at him, face dripping with exasperation. “We already have somewhere to shelter. Somewhere with supplies, somewhere out of the way and out of sight. Somewhere better to hide than downtown Aurora. Where there aren’t monsters.”

As if summoned by her words, a deep howl echoed through the campus, much too close for Elliot’s comfort. A second voice joined it, beginning much farther away. This one was small, apparently quite distant. Though how long it would stay that way…

Elliot was already driving as fast as he could, so fast the cart whined when he turned and threatened to tilt over if he wasn’t careful. One unusually large bump, and he could send them all skidding over the pavement—or worse. I’m not going to get her killed today.

“It would be,” he hissed, slowing into the final turn, “if Ruby hadn’t seen something in Bioinformatics. Probably crossover from someone in her program. We can ask when she’s feeling better.”

He made it around the corner without too much difficulty, though it cost precious seconds. That wolf creature was still out there. If it decided to go after them on open ground, in an open-walled golf cart…

Apparently, they weren’t the first ones to think of visiting this building. The planters around the building had several unmarked vehicles parked directly atop them, with one oversized pickup deliberately parked sideways in front of the entrance.

“Exempt plates. Officer stickers in the windshields,” Sam said, raising her voice. “Lights on inside. You sure that’s a good idea?”

He wasn’t. But they’d already driven this far, with only the student services building anywhere close. Glancing that way showed him broken windows and lots of lumpy shapes obstructing the courtyard. Elliot was grateful he wasn’t close enough to see what those were. “Ruby? Bioinformatics. Looks like we’re not the first ones here.”

His girlfriend shifted with some effort, looking up at Samantha instead of him. “Supercomputer Lab. B3.”

“She’s delirious,” Sam protested, shouting now. “We could be running directly into people with guns and short tempers who aren’t happy to see us breaking curfew.”

Something huge rounded the corner behind them, emerging into the amber glow of a streetlight. Elliot looked away as quickly as he could, but that still wasn’t fast enough to avoid seeing it. A huge lupine shape, almost as tall as a human being, with a body that was somehow hard and sharp. Thorns grew along it, piercing through the strange flesh and binding its broken parts together.

“Not a lot of choices now!” Elliot swerved to a stop next to the dark vans, then hopped out. “Come on!”

Sam swore under her breath, loud and frustrated. “Princess Blue! If those things eat me, I swear I’ll haunt you for eternity! See if I don’t!”

Elliot ducked between the government vans, then down a short stairwell to the sturdy doors. Metal and glass, worked into an overlapping pattern of metal shapes and colored windows underneath. Much too close together to fit through, even if he shattered the window.

He yanked back on one handle, and it barely budged, jostling against its frame.

Shit.

“It’s almost here!” Sam stumbled through the gap, barely holding Ruby’s weight. She was bigger than Sam, though that somehow didn’t stop her. He’d never imagined the mechanic could be so tough!

Elliot hurried from one door to the next, tugging on each one in turn. Locked. Locked. Locked.

Heavy paws scratched at the pavement, breaking into a sprint. Low growling shook through his body, along with the snapping and grinding of little bits of wood as its jaws snapped, preparing for the feast to come.

“Any day now, Blue! You picked this way! Get us in!”

He wrapped both hands around one of the openings, tugging backward with all his strength. It was bad enough that he might be about to get eaten by a monster wolf, but getting Ruby killed too? Not tonight.

No no no no no! Elliot yanked again, so hard the metal bit into his skin. So hard his vision filled with yellow, briefly overpowering the white LEDs overhead.

The lock clicked, and the door jerked backward so hard it sent him tumbling. Elliot’s stupid flat feet weren’t enough to keep his footing on the cement, and he smacked painfully down.

The impact dazed him, turning his surroundings to a blur. There were Sam and Ruby, shuffling through the open doorway into the building. “What—”

Something smashed into a van, setting off several alarms and rocking the vehicle from side to side. Glass shattered, and a huge shape began pawing its way around to the side.

“In here, princess!” Something jerked on his leg, dragging him painfully on the pavement. He jerked backward over a metal lip, then onto carpet. Seconds later, a door slammed in front of him. Samantha twisted the little metal knob on the side, securing the deadbolt into place. “Now maybe we get out of sight, yeah?”

The Bioinformatics building had all its lights on, filling the lobby in warm yellow. That must be what I saw. Some light from inside when the doors opened for us.

He sat up, rubbing two fingers on his temples. He must’ve hit his head pretty hard in the fall too.

Unhappy growling echoed from the doorway, followed by a faint cracking from the glass. That was enough to startle Elliot back to his feet, however unsteady and mutated they were. “Let’s just… find somewhere to hide,” he said, taking a few unsteady steps on misshapen feet. “Upstairs? Lots of little classrooms up there. Some don’t have windows.”

“Right.”

They hobbled towards the stairwell, with Sam occasionally stopping to steady herself. More scratching echoed from behind them, broken by frustrated barking every few seconds. But the building’s doors seemed to be holding, for the moment. Except how did I get in?

He tried not to think about that all the way to the second floor. There were few other signs of students, other than a few backpacks and belongings left in the hallways. School had apparently emptied in a hurry when the building got cleared out.

He gestured into one lecture hall among the many, without even a little window over the door. It opened for him, though his fingers slipped strangely over the metal handle. With some effort, he got it open, then used his shoulder to hold it. “Here. One of two rooms in the building with the recliner chairs. We can get some rest in here.”

Samantha glowered at him as she passed. “We wouldn’t be stuck sleeping on campus if we’d just left when I said we should. Completely pointless.”

“We’ll see tomorrow. Have to check what Ruby said.” He pulled the door closed, then twisted the little lock into place. Public buildings meant fire doors, each of which felt sturdy enough to resist someone trying to force their way in. It would have to be enough.

Elliot shuffled over to the sink in the corner of the room, then twisted it on. Water flowed, and he stuck his face right in, drinking deep.

He wasn’t exactly sure what happened after that. Maybe he turned off the lights, maybe Samantha did. The room was mercifully dark after that. Eventually, the scratching and barking sounds stopped, and their attacker retreated for easier prey.

He must’ve slept after that, though the lack of windows made it hard to say for how long. A few hours? A few days? His smaller size meant the reclining lecture seats were now plenty big enough to curl up in, though he would’ve rather had a blanket to keep warm. But if he’d found one, he would’ve given it to Ruby first anyway.

He had strange dreams in that darkness, dreams of running on all fours through an expanding forest of gnarled wood and sharp thorns. Wolves gave chase, their bodies shaped from the living branches of that awful place. But right when they got close enough to bite his tail, he woke.

Painfully, jerking out of his seat to avoid the bite. He squealed, then slid along the carpet towards the podium, before thumping up against it.

Something shifted in the dark space, something bigger than he was. “Must’ve been Princess Blue. Ruby wouldn’t be that shrill.”

“Samantha?” She even sounded deeper, if that were possible. There was something shrill beneath, while remaining high in his ears.

Something shifted in his hair, and the sound got clearer. Hard sound on carpet, like heavy boots. “Wasn’t sure how long you would be out. Ruby’s still out like a light. Still looks human, for what it’s worth. Can’t say that for us.”

Something nudged him in the side, unmistakably hard and warm at the same time. A hoof, though obviously, there couldn’t be any farm animals in the building.

“Are we still in…” His voice was worse too. Nothing recognizable remained in that tone. “Bioinformatics?”

“For some reason,” Sam agreed. “Come out with me. Did some scavenging while you got your beauty sleep.”

“Ruby?”

“Fine. Well, not fine. Sick as a dog. But she’s comfortable as we can make her. Let’s at least try not to wake her.”

He nodded, then braced against the podium to stand. Something slipped off his hips as he moved—the sweatpants, maybe more. At least the hoodie kept in place.

His fingers felt wrong, numb and clumsy. He still managed to stand and shuffle towards the thin crack at the door. It opened, and they stepped out into the hall together.

Elliot made it barely out into the light before he saw the thing leading him, and he screamed.

The creature reached over to him, pushing his lips closed with hard, black fingers. “You’re no Vitruvian Man yourself, Elliot.” The thing spoke in Sam’s voice. Though almost nothing of Sam remained in it.

It wore a pair of elastic gym shorts, the same ones used on campus in PE—and nothing else. Its body was covered by splotches of creamy yellow fur, running down a smooth chest. Misshapen lumps emerged from its back, like a horrific tumor had decided to split in half and sprout irregular feathers.

The face was sharp and angular, with bright yellow and black hair emerging in a short crop. Or maybe those were feathers?

“Sam? You’re a…”

“Dude?” She supplied, touching one hand on her chest. “Yeah, thanks. Had no bloody idea, Blue. You’re lucky I’m keeping these shorts on.”

“Should I…” Elliot tugged the hood away from his face. The hoodie was so large on his body now that it tilted sideways, exposing one of his shoulders partway. He peered inside and whimpered at what he found. Bigger than last time. The jacket now extended to his thighs, covering up everything beneath. It didn’t have anything left to cover, or at least nothing familiar. “Shit.”

Sam laughed, as loud and energetic as Elliot had ever heard her. She smacked his shoulder with those unusually hard fingers, hard enough to make Elliot stumble. “We’ve got bigger problems than pronouns right now, Blue. Like how the hell we get out of this building. Getting here was your bright idea. What do we do now?”

Elliot had a decision to make:

1. Investigate the supercomputer lab on B3. Ruby sent you here, might as well see what there is to see.
2. Steal one of the government vans outside. You’re pretty sure you saw at least a key left in the ignition.
3. Escape on foot. Maybe you’ll run into some friendly strangers to help out!