18: CAYT -Emma-

I opened several canisters with the OCS label and mixed them together carefully. This mixture of chemicals needed to be handled carefully, as mixing them could cause a hefty explosion if not done right.

All I had to do was get past the hundreds of creatures at the door and then I could find my way out of the lab. I closed the canister and walked to the door. Shaking the canister I opened the door, tossed it out, and then quickly closed it. I had seconds to dive behind something before the door was taken off its hinges.

A smell of burnt flesh hit my nose as I looked around at the door. The floor was littered with hundreds of dead, or half-dead moths. It wasn't surprising that they hadn't all been destroyed, I had designed them to last as long as they could.

I hadn't done much to them. I took ordinary moths, edited their DNA a bit, and then gave them the chemical known as CAYT. From there I just watched them, and recorded what I'd seen.

I picked my way around the moths trying to ignore their cries of pain; their calls for help. There were more in the building so I had to be careful as I traveled through out the compound.

When Patrick had first given me CAYT, I'd done some researching in the old case files. The origin of the chemical was listed as unknown and the chemical make-up had elements I had never seen before. Patrick had been studying this chemical before I'd been born and so many failed experiments were attached. Despite the constant failures, I could see how beneficial the chemical could be if harnessed right. It could cure disease, power weapons, give an energy output that would leave nuclear fusion in the dust.

I crept past the open door of the observation room. Laying on the floor inside were two guards, clearly dead, judging by the lack of head. It was there that I'd first learned of the problems when using CAYT. The first being that it only reacted with organic cells, and the second being the unpredictable mental and physical mutations that it caused. The reaction the subject had to the chemical depended on many factors, but mostly on how it entered their system.

One project was stopped because a mixture of CAYT and various other chemicals caused some of the workers to go insane when entered directly into the bloodstream. It had been a massacre with only one person who had surprisingly survived, only to be given the death sentence for mass murder.

I walked past the origin of the outbreak; a small laboratory holding living moths that had been injected with CAYT, inside small jars. Several scientists and guards were scattered through out the room, missing various body parts. I gently stepped over the broken glass as I made my way across the room to a cell phone I saw laying on the floor.

I punched in the number and smiled when I heard him pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Emma."

"Well, hello. I can say I am certainly surprised and glad to hear that you've survived this unfortunate incident."

"Mr. Bernauw, I need help getting out of here. I'm at the compound."

There was a slight pause on the end of the line, followed by a loud sigh.

"You see Emma, I have a team checking things out and if they can get to you, they will. How ever, I can not promise anything and as soon as my team is extracted, I'm going to level the entire place whether you're still there or not."

"So how long do I have?"

"I'd say . . . three hours. It could be longer or shorter though; we've already lost one of the team and I'm afraid it isn't looking good for the other two."

"I'll get out in time. Bye."

"Bye Emma."

17: Robby's End -Jay-

We each dove in opposite directions as the moth smashed into the place we were standing. I took the left, fixing my gun to its side as I ran. The bullets ate through its burnt flesh, splashing its insides all over the ground. I met John behind it and in unison, we turned toward the back end of the moth and unloaded the rest of our ammo into it.

As I reloaded I glanced around for any sign of Robby. I saw him running toward an alleyway as the moth chased him down.

"Shit! John, the moth is after Robby!"

"DONE!" John finished reloading and ran toward the alleyway.

Robby had his back against the wall, his gun hanging at his side. He was trying to reload when the moth hit him. The gun strap tore away and the gun flew on to the roof of one of the buildings. He dropped the clip and raised his hand in front of him. The moth dived toward him as Robby swung.

The sound that emanated from the alleyway made my stomach drop, and my eyes lose focus. The sounds of bones crunching and Robby's screams soaked through my skin and cut unseen wounds. My friend was dieing.

The guns were useless. Fire was useless. I had even run a car into this thing and it still had enough strength to take one of us down. It took Robby down.

"Noooooooo!", I ran toward it, John following suit.

I could tell that John was thinking the same thing as me. You can beat us till we bleed, you can take away everything we have, but the one thing no one can do is hurt a friend; unless they want to end up dead.

The Moth turned toward us, its gaping maw dripping with blood. It roared loudly as me and John leapt into its mouth.