The sky above Lagooncrest Isle had darkened, tinged with the fading blush of twilight. Seagulls no longer circled overhead, and the wind carried an unnatural stillness. The only sounds left were the subtle crunch of dirt beneath Brendon's boots and the steady rise and fall of his breath.
He stood outside the entrance of Duckinghum Caves, the pages with invisible ink safely tucked in the inner pocket of his jacket. His mind still reeled from what he'd found—Amelia's final clue, left in silence and secrecy. But there was no time to rest. His instincts screamed louder now. Something deeper was buried on this island—something Amelia had glimpsed and tried to resist.
Brendon scanned the overgrown terrain surrounding the cave. The thick trees swayed gently, moss dripping from their limbs like aging cobwebs. Between them stood scattered ruins—stone fences, forgotten lamp posts, collapsed signs—but what drew his attention was a silhouette rising above the tree line.
It was blocky. Jagged. Angular.
A building. Half-swallowed by nature. "Can this be the complex Captain Mordell was talking about?"
Brendon narrowed his eyes and began moving.
The trek took only ten minutes. Up close, the building looked even worse—rusted panels hung loosely from the sides, ivy crawling over shattered windows. The front double doors hung open, creaking slightly as if welcoming him to a forgotten nightmare.
He took a step inside.
Immediately, the temperature dropped. The air was stale, tinged with rust and old chemical decay. Tree roots pierced through the tiled floor, snaking their way across the ground like petrified veins. Bird droppings spotted the floor in places, and the distant skittering of rodents echoed through the silence.
"Must've been abandoned for years…" Brendon muttered as he pushed deeper.
The facility was huge. Hallways branched in every direction. Most rooms he passed were gutted—broken furniture, shredded cables, the remains of labs or offices. Nothing worth salvaging. Still, he pressed on.
As he turned down another corridor, something caught his eye: a large, reinforced steel door. Partially open.
His hand slid to the flashlight tucked on his belt. Quietly, he nudged the door open.
The sight that greeted him froze him in place.
A wide, circular chamber stretched before him—dimly lit through the cracked ceiling, shafts of twilight slipping through to reveal pods. Futuristic, cylindrical pods, each about seven feet tall, made of thick glass and reinforced metal bands. A few were shattered. Others stood silent, their interiors fogged over with age. Rust and moss coated them now, but their alien design clashed violently with the rotting wood and vines trying to reclaim them.
Brendon stepped in slowly, boots tapping against the corroded metal floor. His eyes swept over each pod, his skin crawling.
"What… is this place?"
Beside the pods sat a workbench, half-buried under decayed files and scattered tools. His fingers brushed away dust and grime as he began flipping through the documents.
The pages were yellowed, brittle. But the words—typed in French and English—were still legible. Many were scientific logs, diagrams, and data sheets. But one file, larger and stamped with an old insignia, caught his eye.
He opened it.
[> Project Chimère
Post-World Conflict Advanced Bioengineering Project
Location: Classified
Origin: France - In collaboration with global allies post-1945
Objective: To create an adaptive, hybrid lifeform capable of surviving extreme environments, radiation by atomic bombs, and biological warfare. Inspired by the fables of chimèras and Nazi experiments during World War 2.
Methodology: Combining superior traits from various species via genetic fusion. Trials begin with apes and amphibians. Human genes added in later stages.]
Brendon's hands trembled.
He flipped further, his breath catching in his throat. There were photographs—blurry and black-and-white—of creatures in early stages: one with a lizard's tail, another with compound insect-like eyes. And the last photo—more recent—showed a creature caged in darkness, proportions too vague to determine. Just a massive shadow, glaring out of a glass prison.
He stepped back, reeling.
"Th… this is inhuman. How could they?"
A bitter taste filled his mouth.
Was this what Amelia had found? Was this why she helped the children? Had someone resumed the experiments here after all that time, on this forgotten island?
He looked back to the pods.
Were they the final stage? Empty now… or escaped?
Then—
A low, guttural growl.
It came from behind.
Brendon froze, blood draining from his face. Slowly, he turned.
Standing at the doorway was a creature. At least nine feet tall. Its body was a grotesque amalgamation of man and beast. Thick arms like a gorilla's, rippling with muscle and covered in coarse black fur. Its chest was broad, armored in rhino-like hide. One leg dragged slightly, twisted at the knee. But its face—
Its face was human, or once was. Warped. One eye swollen shut. The other burned with primal rage. Its jaw jutted forward like a snout, with tusk-like teeth jutting out.
It bared them now.
Brendon stepped back, heart pounding.
The creature snarled.
"Uh.... shit!" Brendon sighed. "This has to be dream, isn't it?"
The creature charged breaking the doorway entirely.