The massive vault door groaned as it slid open, revealing a long, dimly lit tunnel. Cold air seeped through, sending shivers down Leo, Maya, and Ben’s spines. Zap twitched his whiskers, his glowing blue eyes reflecting the eerie lights ahead.
“This place feels…wrong,” Maya whispered.
Leo took a deep breath. “Well, we didn’t crawl through a stinky tunnel just to chicken out now.”
Ben hesitated. “I vote we chicken out.”
Zap smirked. “Too late.” He scurried ahead, leading the way.
With no other choice, the kids followed. The tunnel stretched deeper than they expected, lined with old cables and flickering emergency lights. At the far end, another door stood slightly ajar, leading into the abandoned lab.
Maya ran her fingers along the wall. “It’s like someone left in a hurry.”
Ben gulped. “Or like something made them leave.”
Zap climbed onto Leo’s shoulder. “Only one way to find out.”
Leo nudged the door open—
Creeeak!
They stepped into a massive, dust-covered laboratory. Broken computers and overturned desks littered the room. Large, empty glass chambers lined the walls, their metal frames rusting. Papers were scattered across the floor, covered in strange symbols and equations.
Maya picked up a crumpled note. “This is Dr. Felix’s handwriting!”
Zap’s ears perked up. “What does it say?”
She squinted at the faded ink. “Something about… ‘Project Omega’… ‘unstable mutations’… and ‘we were wrong.’”
Ben frowned. “Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.”
Zap leaped onto an old console and pressed a few buttons. A holographic screen flickered to life.
A video log began playing.
Dr. Felix appeared on the screen, his face pale and his lab coat stained.
“This is Dr. Felix,” he said, his voice urgent. “If you’re seeing this, then you need to listen carefully. Project Omega was a mistake. The genetic modifications… they weren’t stable. We thought we could control the intelligence enhancement, but—”
A loud crash interrupted the video. Dr. Felix turned, his eyes wide.
“They’re awake,” he whispered. “They’re not supposed to be awake—”
The screen glitched out.
Silence filled the lab.
Leo, Maya, and Ben exchanged nervous looks.
Zap’s tail twitched. “Well, that’s comforting.”
Maya swallowed. “What did he mean by ‘they’?”
Ben backed toward the door. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.”
Then they heard it.
A faint scraping sound.
It came from the dark hallway beyond the lab.
Leo’s heart pounded. “Tell me that’s just the wind.”
The scraping grew louder. Closer.
Zap’s fur bristled. “We’re not alone.”
A shadow shifted in the hallway.
Then, suddenly—
A pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness.
Something moved.
Fast.
SLAM!
The lab door crashed shut behind them.
To be continued…
