-August 15th, 2035-
The research lab was quiet, the only sound inside was the tapping of a keyboards keys. The man was wearing a white buttoned up shirt, black pants and a lab coat on top. His hair was disheveled and his glasses hung low, around the middle of his nose.
After pressing "enter", he got up and adjusted his glasses and the camera on top of the screen. He moved towards a big test tube behind him. There were multiple test tubes, each with different things. The one he goes to is the nearest on to where he was worked.
"I'm Dr. Silas, today is day 18 of experimentation on Subject-01. Originally a Tier 4 Huskbrute, we managed to cut off it's limbs and only kept the heart and brain inside a special liquid which has kept it alive." He said while looking at the camera and ticking off a few boxes on a piece of paper attached to a clipboard.
"Now, onto important things. Serum #41 had some slight effects on its cells, they regenerated slowly than normal. Giving me enough time to study them and extract them. By combining that with some snake venom I injected it into a lab rat. The rat had all of its limbs cut off and to my surprise it started regeneration. Which was short lived, the rat had mutated and turned into a zombie." He added.
He sighed as he turned around and touched the test tube with one of his hands. Just as he removed his hand from the test tube a man entered the lab. He was average heighted, his hair was fully white and he had a dead expression with black circles under his eyes.
He wore similar clothes to the researcher, but he had a badge on the left side with "Director" written on it. Dr. Erikson smiled at him and turned to the right side of the room, he opened the door leading into an isolation room. Inside there was a man, she lay on a hospital bed, her arms and legs strapped to the bed. Her left arm was missing from the elbow below.
He entered the room and smiled, he then loosened the straps and kissed the woman's forehead. It was Dr. Erikson's wife, who while saving their daughter from a zombie was bitten but before the infection could spread she cut off her arm.
"How have you been, my love?" Erikson asked while smiling.
The woman only looked at him with dead eyes and didn't respond. The silence creeped inside Erikson as his expression changed. Guilt, despair and anger seeped into his mind. He didn't care about ZIA's rules and regulations. He would do anything to save his wife. He left the room after tightening the straps.
"Dr. Silas, what's todays progress? It's been almost three weeks since this Huskbrute came here." He demanded results.
"Sir, I've been cutting on my sleep to work and research. I assure you in a few days I'll be done with this work." Silas affirmed.
"I hope you're right this time Silas, otherwise you'll be replaced. Remember I can replace you anything." Erikson declared before leaving Silas alone in the lab to ponder about things.
*****
Elias and his group made their way towards the outpost building. Elias and Derek had diesel cans in their hands while Jane had other supplies. They entered the building and left their equipment at the entrance. Elias then took them to the second armory, they stocked up on special zombie bullets and some armor.
After their return, they went down to the basement. As soon as Elias set his foot on the basement ground multiple tentacles shot from the dark corridor. He dodged some while he grabbed onto and yanked it off. A loud screech made Jane and Derek cover their ears.
"It knows we are here, we have to be careful now you two." Elias insisted.
They nodded and quietly followed them, with occasional tentacles going haywire. They reached the lab and the flesh had inflated from the last time Elias saw it. Elias and Derek started throwing the diesel on it, they quickly emptied two cans, Jane ignited a lighter and threw it towards the fleshy mass. The heat was intense, the Huskbrute or what was left of it started burning as it screeched continuously.
"N-no....J-jane....N-no...J-jane." The Huskbrute wailed.
A mouth formed while it burned and shot tendrils towards the three. Jane was standing a bit behind Derek with Elias on his left. Time felt slow for Elias as adrenaline surged inside him and he jumped in front of Derek. He grabbed on tendril with his right hand while two impaled him. He groaned through the pain and threw back the one he had grabbed.
It impaled the mouth and black blood oozed out of it. Even though it was burning it started attacking with its tentacles. This time Elias grabbed two of them in both hands and signaled Derek and Jane to shoot.
Both shot the Huskbrute multiple times before the tentacles went limp and bubbles started to form on it. This meant it was time for them to leave. They turned and started running towards the stairs.
"TO THE ROOF, QUICK." Derek shouted.
The creature exploded alongside the equipment inside the lab and the fiery blob of flesh shot outwards from the lab. It slithered like a snake towards Elias but he had made his way to the ground floor.
All three of them ran to the roof, the Huskbrute tried following them but it was too late. It had died before it even made it to the stairs. Derek and Jane were out of breath while Elias was putting pressure on his wounds.
After a few minutes, Jane offered to bandage Elias which he refused since he didn't want them to know what he was.
"I won't bite ya. Let me help." Jane chuckled.
"Thanks but no thanks. I can take care of myself. You should check up on that old man." Elias retorted with a smile.
This was the first time in the last few days he had genuinely smiled. He got up and went to the edge of a wall and looked at the expansive horizon. Suddenly his rot meter started to beep erratically. He pulled it out and his eyes widened. The rot index was over 5, that meant that either a hoard was coming or multiple tier 4 and tier 5 zombies were coming.
He looked down and saw a massive hoard walking towards the outpost building. He instantly remembered what he read in one of the files. The things Dr. Silas injected the Huskbrute's cells in became a hivemind. These were just waiting for a command from the main body and they would take action.
Derek and Jane joined him and saw the hoard as well. Redline Sector-31 was by no means small. The hoard stretched from the entrance of the Sector to around 500 meters away from the outpost building. Elias grabbed his rifle along with both Derek and Jane and aimed at the hoard.
The hoard would reach the outpost building in about five minutes. They had five minutes to block off the entrance and take out the big guns from the armory.
Elias shot a Shambler in the front as another System window popped up.
[Congratulations. You have completed the Special Quest #1]
You have been awarded 2 stat points.
[Side quest #2 - Hoarder vs The hoard]
Survive the night and eliminate as many zombies as you can.