Chapter 139
The lab smelled of sterilized metal and stale air, a far cry from the damp, heavy environment outside.
She followed the soldier through reinforced glass doors that slid open with a soft hiss. Inside, the room buzzed with hushed conversations, the clacking of keyboards, and the occasional beeping of machines. Whiteboards covered in hastily scribbled equations and anatomical sketches of the creatures they’d encountered lined the walls. The tension in the room was almost suffocating.
A woman in a fitted lab coat glanced up from a tablet as Zara stepped in. Short-cropped dark hair, sharp eyes that immediately assessed her, and a no-nonsense posture. Definitely a lead researcher.
"Dr. Zara Ashford," the woman said, setting the tablet down and extending a hand. "I’m Dr. Bianca Martez. Welcome to the research sector—though, I doubt you had much of a choice in coming here."
Zara hesitated only a fraction before shaking her hand. "That makes two of us."
Bianca smirked, a brief flicker of amusement, before turning to the rest of the group. "This is Dr. Hammond, Dr. Ji, and Ramirez. We don’t stand on formality much here, so just call me Bianca."
Zara nodded briefly, taking in the team. Hammond was an older man, grey creeping into his beard, and his fingers were stained with ink or possibly iodine.
Ji looked younger than her, barely out of her twenties, but her sharp, intelligent eyes reminded Zara of herself when she first stepped into a lab.
Ramirez was silent, focused on a microscope, and only acknowledged Zara with a nod before returning to his work.
"We’ve pulled what data we could from the main base," Bianca continued, motioning Zara toward a terminal. "But a lot of it was redacted before we could access it. There are entire sections just... gone."
Zara’s fingers clenched at her sides. Of course, there were. Someone didn’t want them to know the truth.