The red emergency klaxon shrieked against the concrete ceiling of Facility Fourteen. He cast rhythmic pulses of crimson light across the polished epoxy floor.
From the northern alcoves of the lab, the heavy air-powered gates of Pens Four through Eight hissed open on high-pressure steam lines. Heavy, iron-shod footfalls echoed across the hall, with the wet, raspy breathing of diseased carnivores.
Four combat abominations lumbered into the sterile buzzing white glare.
Arthur Vance adjusted his Monocle Taxonomy Loupe, his razor-sharp eye conducting a rapid, body check before the beasts had taken ten steps.
They were ugly caricatures of natural hunting beasts—Stage-Two Spliced Chimeras. Each beast stood nearly two meters tall at the shoulder, their bodies an unstable amalgamation of armored trench mastiff, feral cave bear, and acid-scorpion hard shell. Thick, tumorous muscle bundles bulged beneath patchy, hairless skin, held together by coarse razor-sharp wire that weeped yellow serous fluid.
Yet, Arthur right away noticed the body-leverage flaws.
Their weight spreading was severely uneven. The grafted bear forelimbs were far too heavy for the canine hip bones. That forced the animals to walk with an awkward, hobbling gait. Their hocks were hyper-extended, and their pupil reactions showed severe drug-induced nystagmus. The clear mark of acute man-made stimulant toxicity.
