It happened at 3:17 a.m. The hospital was silent.
Then the alarm shattered everything.
A shrieking siren ripped through the halls, pulsing red lights flooding the corridors. Williams sat bolt upright in his bunk, eyes adjusting instantly to the strobing glow seeping through the cracks in the dorm door. Across the room, Eve clutched her pillow, her eyes wide with dread. Edward fell out of bed with a thump, scrambling to his feet.
"What the hell is happening?!" he shouted, his voice almost drowned out by the automated voice now echoing over the intercom.
"CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED. LOCKDOWN IN PROGRESS. ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE!."
Finn was already moving. He threw on his shoes, grabbed his notebook and flashlight, and kicked open the door. The hallway outside was pandemonium. Staff sprinted in both directions. One nurse dropped a metal tray, scattering syringes across the tile floor. Another shoved a cart against a wall, gasping into a radio.
"Specimen Seven is mobile! Repeat, the hybrid is mobile and uncontained!"
Williams turned to the others. "We have to move. Now."
Rika stumbled out of the dorm, still in her nightclothes, clutching a hoodie to her chest. Franklin held Eve's hand tightly, pulling her along.
"Where do we go?" Eve cried.
"To the main lobby," Finn said, eyes darting between doorways. "If the exits are still open, we can—"
"LOCKDOWN PROTOCOL ACTIVATED. ALL EXTERNAL DOORS SEALED."
The heavy thump of magnetic locks sounded throughout the building like gunshots.
They skidded to a halt.
"No way out," Edward breathed.
More staff swarmed past them, some with rifles slung across their backs. That was when they knew it was real. Not just an incident. Not just a drill. They were no longer trainees. They were witnesses.
Finn motioned toward the supply hallway. "We need to get off the main path. If that thing's moving, we are not safe here. We'll be safer in the storage wing."
They ran.
Around them, chaos bloomed. Orders crackled through intercoms. Shouts from frightened personnel filled the air. One of the staff, Dr. Kross, who had warned them days ago, was now leading a security team down into the sublevels.
"The vault's open!" someone shouted. "He's gone! We have no idea where it went!"
Specimen 7. The hybrid. It was loose.
They barricaded themselves in a cold storage room. The hum of refrigeration filled the silence between their racing breaths. Williams pressed his ear to the door.
"It's hunting," he whispered.
"How do you know?" Franklin asked. "Because we'd do the same if we were it."
Rika pulled her knees to her chest. "Why are we still here?
Why didn't they evacuate us?"
"Because we're experiments too," Finn said grimly, flipping through his notes. "Collateral. They expected this. Or at least suspected it."
Eve's voice trembled. "Are we going to die?"
"No," Franklin said, taking her hand. "I won't let that happen."
A sudden crashing sound outside made everyone freeze. A scream cut off in the distance, followed by a low, echoing growl, inhuman and deep.
Finn scribbled something. "That's specimen 7, a hybrid.
It's fast. At least two floors in minutes. It's not random."
Edward huddled near the door. "We need to get out of this Godforsaken hospital."
"The doors are sealed, a lockdown," Williams said. "We need to survive."
Down in the sublevels, the hybrid moved like liquid shadow.
It was no longer bound by sedation. Its skin shimmered under the red emergency lights, a strange translucent flesh revealing hardened muscle and mechanical grafts. Its arms
were unnaturally long, each finger ending in blackened claws. Its mouth, if one could call it that, was filled with rows of jagged teeth and lips peeling back as it breathed heavily through gill-like slits.
It didn't just move. It stalked. It remembered voices.
Faces.
One, in particular, who stared at it through glass. A man in a white coat. The one who said, "Terminate the project."
Back in the cold storage, a small speaker in the ceiling crackled.
"This is Dr. Kellerman. All remaining personnel must report to the isolation wing. Reinforced doors and suppression units are online. This is your best chance at survival. Repeat, head to the isolation wing—"
The message cut out with a screech of static. Then silence.
Finn stood. "We need to reach the isolation wing. That's where the reinforced barriers are. If the staff believes they can hold it there, that's where we need to be."
"What if it's already there?" Edward asked.
"Then we stay one step ahead." Williams checked the hallway. Clear. "Go," he said. "Move."
They crept through the hallways, dodging broken carts and smashed equipment. Fires had begun to spread in some wings, electrical surges and ruptured gas lines. The sprinklers hadn't triggered.
They passed the western surgery wing. Rika pointed. "Blood."
Long red streaks led down the hall into darkness. At the far end, a body lay slumped against a broken cart. The torso was missing.
Franklin pulled Eve away from the sight.
As they turned toward the isolation wing, Finn stopped. "Wait."
He grabbed a nearby access tablet. It had been dropped in haste. The screen flickered, but he managed to bring up a basic schematic.
"This place... there's a lab core. A reactor. Buried below the foundation. It powers containment. And there's an override protocol here—" he tapped the screen, "They were planning to trigger an explosion."
Edward paled. "You mean... blow up the entire hospital?"
"Yes."
Eve looked up, face pale. "They are going to blow us up with the building?"
"Exactly," Finn whispered.
They reached the isolation wing and found it barricaded.
Armed guards let them in after confirming their identities.
Inside, survivors gathered, doctors and other staffs. Most were injured. All looked afraid.
Dr. Kellerman, sweat-soaked and frantic, addressed them.
"The specimen escaped containment by overriding its neural inhibitors. It is no longer docile. It has intelligence and memory… and likely vengeance."
He looked at Finn. "You're the top of your class. If anyone can access the core and disable it before it triggers prematurely, it's you."
Finn nodded slowly. "I'll need a team." Franklin stepped forward. "I'm in." Williams as well. "Count me."
Even Edward raised a shaky hand.
"We're in this together," Eve whispered. "To the end." The sirens continued.
The hybrid stalked.
And somewhere deep beneath the floors, the reactor core began to hum.