Chapter 3 - THE HUNTED BECOME HUNTERSThe impact of the massive lioness landing shook the entire foundation of the old cabin.
Leo shrieked and threw himself toward the corner, while I instinctively dived behind an overturned wooden table as the beast lashed out with a razor-sharp paw. Her claws missed my face by mere inches, splintering the heavy pine table into kindling.
"Leo! The back door!" I screamed, scrambled through the debris.
"It's chained shut!" he yelled back, dodging another violent strike as the beast pivoted toward him.
The room was a chaos of flying dust, rain, and terrifying roars. The lab-altered lioness was faster, larger, and far more lethal than any wild animal I had ever seen. Her pupils were dilated into terrifying black pools, and black veins bubbled under her skin where the experimental toxin coursed through her blood.
She turned her attention back to Leo, pinning him against the wall with her terrifying presence. She opened her jaws, revealing rows of yellow, razor-sharp fangs dripping with foam.
I couldn't just watch him die.
I grabbed a broken metal pole from the ruined table, lunged forward, and drove it with all my strength into the beast's rear flank.
The lioness let out an ear-splitting howl of rage and pain. She spun around with blinding speed, her heavy tail whipping across my chest and sending me flying into the wall. Pain exploded in my ribs, knocking the wind completely out of my lungs. I slid to the floor, gasping for air, staring up into the face of death.
She towered over me, her chest heaving, ready to deliver the final strike.
BANG!
A deafening shot echoed through the small cabin. Bright light flared in the darkness.
The lioness recoiled, a bloody gash opening on her shoulder. Leo was standing near a fallen wooden cabinet, holding an old, rusted flare gun he had pulled from the emergency kit. Smoke curled from the barrel.
The red flare struck the wooden wall behind the beast, immediately igniting the dry, ancient timber. Flames erupted, spreading at an alarming speed across the walls and up toward the roof.
Animals fear fire—even mutated ones.
The lioness snarled, backing away from the rising wall of flames. Recognizing that the cabin was quickly becoming an inferno, she turned, leaped back up through the hole in the roof, and disappeared into the storm outside.
"We have to go! Now!" Leo screamed, coughing through the thick, black smoke that was rapidly filling the cabin.
He dragged me to my feet. Together, we threw our weight against the rusted chains on the back door. With a violent kick from Leo, the ancient lock snapped, and the door burst open.
We fell out into the freezing rain, tumbling down a muddy embankment as the cabin behind us turned into a roaring bonfire.
We lay in the mud, panting, soaked to the bone, watching the cabin burn. But our relief was short-lived.
Through the dense smoke and rain, I noticed something strange at the edge of the tree line. Two flashlights were cutting through the fog. Voices—human voices—were calling out over a tactical radio frequency.
"Did we find the escapee?" a harsh voice demanded over the radio speaker.
"Not yet," another voice answered nearby. "But the boss gave strict orders. No survivors. Kill the beast, and eliminate anyone who saw the lab."
I turned to Leo, my eyes wide with a new kind of terror. "Who are they?"
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Leo’s face turned pale. "The mercenary clean-up crew... They aren't here to rescue us. They're here to erase us."
🔥 FACEBOOK HOOK: Escaping the lioness was just the beginning. Now, heavily armed mercenaries are hunting them down to cover up the secret! Who will survive?
