The crash

A blue sedan pulled up from the freeway, some distance from the manicured drive lane, and slowly came to a stop in front of a tall, automated gate leading into a research facility. Along the chain-link fence that surrounded the entire perimeter, a faint hum of static electricity crackled off the charged fence line. A security booth and card reader stood to the left, at the driver's side of the car. The digital display on the scanner asked for the appropriate ID card for the new arrival. Pulling down his window, the driver swiped an identity badge over the device, nodding to the uniformed man in the booth as the gates buzzed to life and quickly pulled back to let the car drive into the fenced-off parking lot ahead.

When the gate wheeled back into position and locked into the walled border, there was an electric click as the fence contacted the gate, completing the electric circuit again. Off to the right of the fence, a grey sign stood with LED lights shining down to make it visible in the dark hours of the day. "GENNEX" was written in bold red letters at the head of that sign, followed by the italicized phrase "The future is in the genes."

Despite its friendly, inviting appearance, the high security made it clear this lab was NOT for prying eyes.

Driving down and over to the far corner of the parking lot with the rest of the hundred or so cars lined up in rows, Doctor Timothy Jordons stepped out of his car and locked the doors. With a leather briefcase in hand, the balding scientist made the short walk to the front entrance of the research facility, waving to a few workers outside standing in the smoking area as the sliding glass doors parted for him to enter. The hallways were busy with scientists and their assistants walking with reports in hand as he went by the front lobby and greeted his secretary at the door to his office. The hallways had framed posters of various promotional images and magazines Gennex had been involved with; Children sitting in hospital beds with smiles on their faces after learning their leukemia had been cured, new parents smiling over a newborn they were told they couldn't conceive, even one with a before and after image of several people who suffered early-on baldness. Each one the literal poster child successes of Gennex's breakthrough research with the Phage.

One of their crowning achievements in the last decade of genetic research, the Phage retrovirus utilized available DNA sequences and bonded them to an available host through infection, granting the host the traits and abilities offered by the new DNA sample for a limited time before it automatically broke down and reconnected the gaps, leaving the original genetic strain intact as it was before alteration. The little girl in one poster, Dr. Jordons passed, cured herself when the Phage added fire ant DNA to her coding, allowing her to produce enough formic acid to expunge the blasted white cells in her system. Cross-species genetic research has allowed all their patients to reap the benefits that fauna around the world can offer, without any side effects or mutations, and years of hard work and research have proven this.

The trek to his office was short, as most of the administrative desks were on the first floor. Reaching the glass-paned door to his head office, the man sighed, set his suitcase on the floor, opened the door, and stepped inside. Closing his door and sitting in his chair, he went through the reports left behind by the many projects the facility was currently engaged in. Stopping at one project, the Doctor took off his glasses and leaned back to look at the bundled folder in his hands. The cell regeneration project had been scrapped back in 2052 after the tragic and unforeseen deaths of four of his brightest researchers and a security guard on the scene. Now, in late September of 2054, the higher-ups felt it necessary to try to restart the project, something he was very much against after the accident and the failed attempt to determine what had escaped the lab that night. Rubbing the bridge of his nose between his fingers, he set his glasses back on and opened the folder, going over the late Dr. Strentum's notes. Timothy sighed through his nostrils, his eyes going over the failed attempts and investigative reports on the blast that killed him and his three co-researchers.

“Hmm, I should have left this alone…”

Three stories above him, a new team was working on the reopened experiment, three researchers he had handpicked a month ago after the CEO put pressure on him to get the ball rolling. Personally, he felt it was taboo to finish someone else's work, whether they were dead or not. His superiors, however, didn't share his superstition and put their foot down on the matter. Those he felt were on a par with the works of Doctors Strentum, Chambers, Simmons, and Hilbert were starting where they left off, and their findings were, as he expected, utter failures. Still, lingering questions remained unanswered that day and continue to eat away at Dr. Jordan even now. What WAS that thing that butchered his researchers up there, and the guard on its way out? Where was it now? And should this kind of work even be touched after knowing the fatalities involved? Closing the folder and setting it to the side of his desk, the man shook his head and stepped out of his office. There was a coffee machine nearby, and he needed something stiff to start the day.

"Sometimes you should just leave things buried."

***

Somewhere deep in the forests…

His heart was pounding in his chest and ears as he ran for his life through the trees, panting until he was hoarse and out of breath. Yet he wouldn't stop running, COULDN'T stop running, not until he was as far away as possible from that... THING chasing him! Tripping over a branch jutting from the dirt, the man yelped, tumbling forward and rolling down an uneven hill before snapping back up and hobbling into another run. Turning his head back, he didn't see what he was running from, but he could still hear it snarl and roar in the distance. The sounds of heavy footsteps matched his pace as he made a beeline for the road ahead. The strip of concrete was like a thin racing line, an untold promise of safety if he could cross it.

Earlier that morning, he and his friends had decided to go into these woods to enjoy what was left of deer season before it ended. Stocking up on ammunition and supplies, they heard strange stories from the townsfolk and rangers at the gate on their way up here; rumours of people disappearing and strange sightings at night. The trio of hunters were already laughing the whole thing off over a couple of beers, thinking it was just a bunch of yokels scaring off the city boys. Hiding under a camouflage net tent, they had already forgotten about it all, waiting for a buck to come into view in the field ahead. After an hour, a twig cracked, alerting them to a deer finally coming into view, nibbling at the grass by its hooves. Getting serious, the hunters kept quiet and aimed, slowing their breathing as they looked at the 10-point buck, oblivious to the doom awaiting it. Before a shot was made, something huge exploded out of the bushes behind the animal!

With a bellowing roar that paralyzed the buck and the hunters in hiding, a strange, massive creature leapt out of the woods and tore into the deer's neck, snapping it with a crunch as its teeth and huge claws raked into its flanks. Dead in seconds and mangled in its grip, the creature grabbed its prey in its hand-like claw and hoisted itself up on its hind legs, standing almost like a human out in the open.

"What... What the Fuck is THAT?!"

Shivering in fear the men blinked at the sight, drinking in the image of this monster that took down a 300-pound buck like a cat would a mouse. Even from the safety of their hiding spot 50 yards away they could tell that this thing was over 12 feet tall. Totally covered in reddish brown fur from head to tail, it possessed long sweeping horns that curved back like an antelope or goat atop its head. Long jutting spikes poking out of its back like a fin that led from its shoulders to the base of its 15-foot-long saurian tail. If it weren’t for the fur and mane of hair around its head, the men would have thought they were looking at a dinosaur or giant lizard. Every inch of the thing was bulky and solid, giving them no doubt that it possessed more muscle than a grizzly bear or two. Flipping the mangled deer over its shoulder like a school bag, the creature turned to leave but paused, suddenly sniffing the air around it.

"Shit... The wind changed; I think it smells like us." Seeing the creature slowly turn its horned head toward them, the men gasped as it made eye contact, its yellow eyes visible even from a distance. In a panic, one of them raised their rifle and pulled the trigger.

The roar was almost deafening, the motion a total blur as the thing was already right on top of them when they blinked and looked up. Before anyone could react, a massive claw had swiped the head clean off one of the hunter's shoulders, blood spraying like a fountain from the neck as the two men screamed in fear. Abandoning their guns and gear, the two ran for their lives. A second blur of motion snapped the slower of the two like a twig, his body folded like paper and wrapped around a tree as the third man screamed and ran faster. In the background, he could hear his friend being torn apart, his pace doubling as mad panic had set in. Minutes of running and tumbling into a muddy ditch didn't slow his sprint as he KNEW the monster was right behind him; he didn't need to look back to know that.

But the freeway, the road was so close now he could see the passing cars honking at each other in petty road-rage even from his place in the woods, all he had to do was get there and he'd be safe. Laughing as well as panting in exhaustion he was just 10 feet from the gravel curb before a massive claw swept up from behind and pulled him back screaming. The drivers never saw a thing, nor did they hear his cries for help over car horns and stereos, he disappeared into the darkness of the tree line. Slammed into a tree with his breath knocked out of him, the man stared wide eyed at the monstrosity growling into his face, its yellow reptilian eyes glaring into his own as he noticed the coppery taste of blood in his throat, the obvious sign that his ribcage was all but pulverised. looking over to where the creature was shot he could see the wound healing instantly with no evidence that it was ever shot with an 8-gauge buck shot, the tiny pellets of metal popping out of its flesh and sealing up in seconds. Whimpering in agony, his lungs struggled to take in air after the forceful collision, the talons this terror possessed gripping him so tightly he could feel the hot sting of them imbedding into his skin as the monster kept him pinned two feet off the ground against the tree trunk. Too terrified and numb with pain to move, his last thoughts were of astonishment... As the thing spoke to his face.

"I HATE BEING SHOT AT!!!"

With a snarl, the monster opened its mouth wide and bit his head clean off his shoulders.

***

The forests were damp with the hot and humid air after a long rainfall the previous night over, a light mist formed on the dew-dropped grass and sprouts while cicadas and birds sang off in the distance, late into the afternoon, several animals were making their way back to their nests and hiding places to avoid the things that came out into the evening and dead of night. The crunch of twigs and leaf litter sent several small animals fleeing to their holes in the trees and earth as the latest ruler of the woods stomped by, the stench of blood and carrion in its wake as it made its way back to its home.

There was no doubt about it, she was mad, the others in the pack could smell it off her as she stomped heavily into the den grounds with a mangled buck over her shoulder. Several that were either eating or rough playing out in the open stopped what they were doing, looking up, and giving the massive creature a wide berth as she stomped past them, her baleful yellow eyes glaring as she snorted out her frustration. Slamming a clenched fist against a tree trunk in her anger, she sent dozens of birds flying into the air, spooked by the impact. Over the last two years, the cave she and the rest of her pack had called home had been overgrown with plant life thanks to the bones she and the others left around the cave entrance. The insides had been carved out again to make more room, creating chambers or rooms for the pack as it expanded. The hewn rock and dirt were littered all around her clawed feet, where grasses and moss had found purchase over last spring, covering the ground with a carpet of green that hid the bones of her kills for none to find.

Michelle was close by, lying on her side like a lounging cat and basking in the afternoon sun, while several younglings played and roughhoused in front of her. Four boys and a girl, her daughter staying close behind her mother's back as she watched her brothers growl and swipe at each other.

"Welcome back, Becca... Bad day out in the field?"

Snarling back at the blonde-furred female, the younglings stopped their horseplay and slunk to their mother in fear, the large female amalgam not the least bit fazed by her packmate's anger, instead simply smiling back and watching as Rebecca moved on. Dropping the carcass onto the ground near the cave entrance, the red-furred monster woman stood back as her children and pack mates dove onto the dead animal, tearing it apart with tooth and claw, and feasting on the meal she had gathered for them. With her hands at her hips, she frowned as the day's events still stoked her temper, her tail flicking angrily behind her as the others ate by her feet.

Though he was silent in his approach and steady with his movements, she smiled as she heard her mate crawl down from the old tree beside the cave walls like a reptile and move up behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her naval and wide hips and pulling her back to press against his chest and stomach. Bringing her hands over to entwine with his fingers, she continued to lean back as the jutting spines of her back pressed up behind him.

"Had a bad hunt, Rebecca?” Rumbled Cal as he whispered into her pointed ear. “I can smell human blood off you…. You got shot at again, huh?"

Nuzzling against her neck with his flattened ursine nose, Cal licked the caked blood from her hair and fur as she leaned back in his ministrations.

"Tell me all about it, love."

Growling at the memory, she rolled her shoulders and leaned her neck back to give him more space as she sighed in relaxation. Pulling him in for a languid kiss, she pulled him in to make out more.

"Three drunken idiots shot me in the shoulder after I caught lunch... They didn't even taste good either, the little bastard is STILL stuck in my teeth!"

Feeling her lover's clawed hands move up to squeeze all six of her round furry breasts, she moaned, turning around to hold him around the waist and pull him close, her tail swishing slowly as they pressed up against one another. Like her, he was enormous, well over twelve feet tall and solidly built. His horns curved forward like a bull's horns, yet they were wide enough not to get in the way of him kissing the troubled female in his arms.

"I'm getting pretty sick of hiding from these little nuisances, Cal, it's THEM that should be hiding from the US, not the other way around!"

Looking over to the rest of their pack, the two smiled in pride at how it had grown. When the phage accident transformed them into massive genetic amalgams due to a lab explosion, their pack had only four members. Much to their surprise, the lot of them were VERY fertile. Every month, Rebecca, Tina and Michelle would go into a frenzy, encouraging the lone male to impregnate them in a frenzy of hormones and feral instincts that would last for days at a time.

In the span of a month afterwards, they bore somewhere between four and six cubs each; the cubs grew thanks to their accelerated metabolisms, gaining years’ worth of development in mere weeks. Two years later, and now they numbered in the dozens! Their firstborn had already reached adulthood and had migrated deeper into the county's forests, forming packs of their own and leaving their parents to tend to their latest broods. Michelle had birthed a litter of five while Rebecca and Tina bore six and four, respectively. Looking down at her children with pride, Rebecca smiled down at her three daughters and three sons, picking their teeth and fighting over the scraps with the others.

"I agree with my love, but for now we must be patient, our time will come soon." Answered Cal, his claws holding her possessively as she purred in his grip. Looking around the den, the red furred amalgam looked puzzled before she turned back to lean her head over Cal's shoulder, whispering into his pointed ear. "Where's Tina? Usually, she's here with the kids, isn't she?"

Chuckling to himself, Cal looked over at the setting sun, the bright blue of the sky turning to a dull orange and red, the clouds casting deep shadows over the forest canopy as the two stayed close in the orange glow of dusk.

"You know, Rebecca, she likes to hunt in the odd hours."

Sharing a laugh with Cal, she looked towards the creeping dark with a knowing smile, the setting sun behind them being the perfect backdrop for their friend and lover, for they knew this was the perfect time for her to flaunt her prowess. In the dark!

***

As night fell over the woods, so too did it fall over the Gennex research facility, the parking lot lights flickering on one by one, attracting moths to their soft blue light as they illuminated the paved field of cars and SUVs. The lights outside the main lobby turned on as lab researchers and doctors left for the night, heading to their respective vehicles to go home to a soft bed and a cooked meal. Opening the front door to her red sedan, Dr. Sara Avanti sighed as she took off her lab coat and tossed it in the backseat. Sitting deeply into the driver's leather seating, she let the plush cushion relax her sore back and legs before turning the ignition on with her keys. Checking the front mirror, she blinked at her reflection, her black hair tied back in a simple ponytail that highlighted her mocha-skinned complexion and chocolate brown eyes. In her late thirties, she still appeared quite youthful, but, then again, yoga and meditation helped her maintain a firm physique and avoid crow’s feet or wrinkles.

"Fourteen hours of research on a failed experiment, please tell me I don't have bags under my eyes already." She asked herself with an East Indian accent, pulling a finger over her cheek to see under her eyes and sigh, leaning back into her driver’s seat. “By the time I finally get any progress, I’ll look like some damned spinster.”

With a shake of her tired head, she pulled the clutch back and turned out of her parking spot, driving to join the convoy of cars leading out into the freeway. She yawned in her hand and blinked slowly as she finally made her way out onto the open road. Dr. Jordan had appointed her and two others to finish what another team had started two years ago: a genetics experiment in cellular regeneration using animal samples as a template. From what she had managed to learn, none of the viable tests were successful; either the RNA wouldn't take hold, or the entire genetic strand would fall apart one nuclease at a time before it could be of any use, leaving a Petri dish full of dissolved proteins as a result.

"I'm starting to understand why their lab blew up, total bloody frustration... I wouldn't be surprised if it were a planned suicide just to save face!"

Making a turn down the highway, she was now the only car left on the road on her way home. The full moon was up high, giving the road a deep, haunting appearance, lurking over the area in the fog of last night's rainfall. The path cut through the edge of the forests the facility was nestled in, weaving in some areas before cutting flat into the freeway into town. The occasional yellow road signs of 'deer crossing' flashed past her car every five to ten minutes as she took the long drive back to her house.

Slowly blinking again, she was caught off guard by the shape of a deer darting in front of her car, the deer looking into her high-beam light in stunned paralysis, a look she shared as the vehicle sped towards it at breakneck speed! Slamming her two feet into her brake pedal, her car swerved just as she caught sight of another form, something massive lunging over and body tackling the terrified deer, the vehicle colliding with the two with a crunch of glass and metal. Screaming as her car overturned and started rolling down into the curb, her eyes squeezed shut as vertigo overtook her, until she finally came to a stop. Her car was pinned against a tree as her airbags pinned her against her seat.

***

Stunned and plagued by dizziness from the crash, Sara breathed slowly as her awareness crept back to her. Feeling the nylon texture of her airbag recede, she turned her head to try to look out her smashed windows. With her lights broken, she couldn't see anything outside her car except the faint outline of trees and bushes illuminated by the lunar glow above. But something caught her eye, a form twitching several meters away from where the crash started. Even with all the fog, the mist parted to give her a faint view of the spot where she had hit the animal.

"Poor thing... Must still be alive..."

Thinking it was the deer she caught in the collision, her eyes shot wide open when, instead of a pained yelp from a dying herbivore, she heard the heavy growl of something else, something angry! Breathing shallow breaths, she spotted the thing beginning to stand, the sounds of crunching bone filling her ears as the thing snarled, stretching, and snapping its limbs out to right itself up off the ground and turn its head over to look right at her. Feeling a shiver run down her back, she could see its yellow eyes staring right at her, right into her very being as it got up and started rolling its arms and shoulders, the cricking of joints still within earshot of the woman as it never broke eye contact with her. Then, as Dr. Avanti blinked in fear, it was already in front of her side door window, baring its fangs in a sneer, and its massive claws grabbed the door and pried it off like it was made of tinfoil. The mangled thing rolled off into the distance to rattle out of sight. Struggling against her seatbelt and the remains of the airbag keeping her there, the woman screamed in fear as a claw reached out, ripping the belt off its moorings and grabbed her by the arm, hauling her out of her seat to dangle high in front of this monster face-to-face.

"SHUT UP!"

Dropped roughly on the dirt gravel of the road curb, Sara was stunned to silence once again. This creature, this monster, whatever it was, spoke to her. Shifting backwards until her shoulders bumped against her car's front tire, she waved her hands over her head to guard herself, all while looking up to get a better look at the thing standing over her. Whatever it was, it was immense! Twice the height of a man, even crouched down to a knee, it was covered in jet black fur that kept it almost invisible in the darkness, if not for the lunar light high above to make out its shape. It had horns as long as her own arm that swept back like an antelope's gnarled horns, along with a long, heavy tail that swung back and forth behind it. Moving its head forward, Sara pressed back against her car as the thing sniffed her from head to toe, its breath hot like a furnace with the stench of rotten meat.

"Wha... What are you? Please d- don't hurt me."

"You ruined my dinner! AND you hit me with your fucking car! I should eat YOU to make up for that!!!"

Screaming in terror as the thing raised an outstretched claw to take a swipe at her, Sara closed her eyes to the inevitable, only to look up and find the creature hesitating before bringing its claw down to snatch the ID badge off Sara’s breast pocket. Bringing it close to its reptilian eyes, its rage subsided as it looked between the picture on the card and back at Sara. How could it even see the thing in all this darkness?

"Dr. Sara Avanti... From Gennex Labs..."

By now, Sara could make out a change in the creature's voice; now that it wasn't angry, it almost sounded like a woman's, big yet feminine, with a hint of an American accent.

"Tell me, Dr. Sara Avanti, what is it that you’re working on?" The hint of a fanged smile on the creature’s lips.

Blinking in confusion, Sara looked up to see the thing grin down at her, not unlike a cat with a mouse under its paw as it dangled her ID card between its clawed fingers.

"I... We were continuing a research project in genetics, it's when you take the building blocks of a living thing and put them together in a different-"

With a slam of its other black-furred claw against the door frame and a roar straight into the woman's face, Sara cried out as she shielded herself in fright. "I'M NOT SIMPLE-MINDED YOU TINY BITCH! WHAT WERE YOU WORKING ON?!

"The cellular regeneration project!" Dr. Avanti whimpered, raising her hands to guard herself again out of reflex.

Taken aback, Tina was stone-stiff, silent as she stared down at the trembling woman at her mercy, before she began to chuckle, then roll into full-on laughter, so much so that she collapsed onto her muscular thigh and hand as she shook her horned head in disbelief.

"So the imbeciles want to try again, do they?... Congratulations, Dr. Avanti, I've decided NOT to eat you."

"R-really?"

"Oh yes, in fact, I think I'll keep tabs on you from here on, you see… I want you to make up for tonight."

Standing up to her impressive height, the dark-furred monster woman loomed over the poor doctor, her silhouette outlined by the moonlight behind her as she spoke.

"This weekend I want you to meet me HERE... Again, at noon, tell no one and don't be followed."

Dropping her arms at her sides and looking up in total confusion, Sara's lip trembled at the instructions she was given.

"If you do, I will help you in your research, and you can take all the credit. And what I get in this deal is confirmation that our work is finally complete."

"Your work? Who are you... Really?"

Raising her brow in surprise, before rolling her glowing yellow eyes with a chuckle, the monster leaned forward with a wide fanged smile, close enough for the woman to make out her face more clearly.

"That's right... In all of this, I never told you MY name. To my kind and me, we call ourselves Amalgams... But you may refer to me as Doctor Tina Simmons."

Blinking in shock, her mouth ajar, Sara was overwhelmed by the revelation, feeling her breath leave her, and her eyes roll back. The poor woman fainted against the side of her car. With the creature no longer present, she slept, **** and alone, out on the road just as a roar called out in the dark abyss of the forests nearby.