Robbie Dorman - Regrowth

And then the nutrient bath lowered. Fast.

“Pump more in!” yelled Stone, and they pumped in more of the solution, gallons at a time. The regeneration necessary for a gunshot wound was different than a limb, theoretically requiring fewer calories, but they were taking no chances, giving the chimp as much fuel as it could need.

The chimp screamed, even as it absorbed more and more of the liquid. Something was happening, but the wound was mostly internal, impossible to gauge its progress. Was it working? Was it healing?

And then the bullet was pushed back out of the wound, pieces of lead floating in the bath.

“Oh my God,” said Stone, and then the wound closed up, the chimp still struggling against the leather bands.

“It worked,” said Jon.

But the chimp continued to scream.

“It’s healed,” said Stone. “Why is still screaming?”

The chimp thrashed against its restraints even harder, and the nutrient bath continued to lower. Something was wrong, something was wrong.

Jon watched the body of the ape. It bulged, the same distentions, the same mutations as before. From inside, its torso grew, and then its chest, and he could trace it along the veins of the animal, filtering out from the wound site, out into its arms and legs.

The animal screamed even louder, and louder, and Jon couldn’t bear it, and it thrashed against its restraints.

“Stop the pumps! Stop the pumps!” yelled Stone. The nutrient bath lowered then, as there was nothing replenishing it, as the chimp continued to exhaust it. Then it was empty. But the chimp still thrashed.

“What do we do?” asked Stone, looking at Jon. Jon only shook his head, he didn’t know, he didn’t know. Stone grabbed the guard. “Shoot it! Finish it!”

The guard again took a firing stance, pulling the rifle quickly to his shoulder, and flicked off the safety. He fired three shots in quick succession.

BANG BANG BANG

The shots hit the animal in the chest. The rifle was powerful, and they should have taken the creature down, but it only screamed louder, and then the pieces of lead fell out of the chimp, tinking on the ground.

“It’s healing,” said Jon.

“Fire again!” yelled Stone.

The guard raised his rifle one more time.

Then the chimp broke its restraints, fast, faster than Jon could track, and it charged the guard, screaming in pain.

The guard fired his rifle more as the chimp charged.

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

Quick shots all landed, peppering the chimp with powerful rounds. But it didn’t stop, its body still healing, growing, the creature already bigger. It climbed over the shield in a quick movement, fast, and landed on the guard. The guard tried to put the rifle between them but it was gone in an instant, thrown away by the chimp who clawed at him, pulling away the thick layers of kevlar that protected him.

Within moments the man was unprotected, and the chimp dug its teeth into the guard’s neck, and a gout of blood shot out. The chimp didn’t stop, pulling away at his flesh, ripping him apart.

Jon knew he should run, run and do something, but he couldn’t. He could only stare, because the chimp was doing more than just attacking the guard.

He was absorbing him.

As the chimp’s skin contacted the guard, the two surfaces melded together, the creature’s skin digesting the guard, pulling more and more away with every swipe. The chimp continued to grow, and the lead from the third volley of bullets fell out of him, falling onto the ground.

The guard was dead now, but the chimp kept feeding, both with its mouth and with its skin, rapidly pulling away the flesh of the body, as the guard and the chimp became one.

Don’t call it that. It’s not a chimp anymore.

And Jon was right. It was twice its original size, its limbs extending, growing, thicker, bone and muscle pushing through the skin. Jon could still see the chimp somewhere inside it, but it was quickly becoming eclipsed by the horrible thing.

Jon looked at the guard again, and within a minute, half his body was gone, absorbed by the creature.

Jon glanced around, and the lab was in chaos, everyone either looking for a weapon or running for the door. More guards came rushing in, the one remaining from inside, and the two others. They saw the thing absorbing their co-worker, and they all opened fire, firing three-round bursts into the creature. Jon dove for cover.

They filled the room with gunfire, but the thing wouldn’t go down, as round after round hit it with wet meaty thuds. It charged the three, pouncing on one and grabbing its weapon, throwing it away. It knew the source of its pain. It thrust a clawed arm into the neck of the disarmed guard, and then dragged the body with him as he attacked a second, swiping away the gun with its other distended arm and then swinging hard into the man’s body. The creature had doubled mass, and with it, so had its strength, and the man flew into the wall, grunting.

The third guard continued to fire, burst after burst, but the creature didn’t stop healing, now absorbing tissue from the first guard, the meat at the end of its arm a font of nutrients, pumped directly into the engine that had taken it over.

The creature leapt onto him, mounting him, and its free arm ripped him apart, pulling off his armor and flesh alike, sinking the arm deep into his body. It stood there, absorbing the meat, healing the many gunshot wounds, growing ever larger. It now stood seven feet tall. It still shared the gait of the chimp it once was, but there was nothing else recognizable anymore. Its body was a mass of muscle, bone, and flesh, pulsating, searching for more to feed on. The process had taken it over.

The second guard had gotten to his feet, and tried to run, but the creature threw away the body of the first, and plunged its arm into its new victim, melding with him now. Within moments, he was dead.

Jon looked, seeing Stone across the room, hiding, just as Jon had. The thing fed for a few moments more, but soon the bodies of the guards were depleted, and it thrust them down, screaming an incredible guttural noise, a noise that knew no home. The creature smashed through the doors to the experiment area, charging out into the open hallways of the dark lab. Jon’s mind raced. They had to stop it or it would kill them all. It only wanted to feed.

“We have to kill it,” said Jon, scrambling to his feet, helping Stone up.

“How?” asked Stone.

“We need a killshot,” said Jon.

“That won’t work on that thing,” said Stone.

“Not a normal killshot,” said Jon. “A CRISPR scrambler. Destroy it at a cellular level.”

Jon raced after it, hearing calamity ahead. His mind went to his team, to Mel. He heard more gunshots. More guards had arrived. At least they could distract it, but in the end, they were only more food.

Their lab was a mess, with upturned tables. Several members of the team lay nearby. Jon looked for Mel. He spotted her hiding under a lab table near her workstation. He ran to her.

“What is that?” asked Mel. “Is that the chimp?”

“Not anymore,” said Jon. Stone followed behind him. “We need a serum. A scrambler. It needs to cut apart the creature’s DNA. It’s the only thing that can take it down.”

Mel nodded and went to her workstation. “It will take a few minutes.” More gunshots rang out and then stopped. The alarm rang then, and the room was bathed in red.

EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT

EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT

EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT

The familiar voice rang out.

“I don’t think some locked doors are going to stop that thing,” said Stone.