Searching for Andromeda 28 Laboratory Monsters - Genetically Modified Flowers?

"Bert!" Samuel utters in surprise. Berthold Wagner then helped Samuel stand. Samuel winced in pain as his arm bled continuously. His wound was reopened with the movements he did in order to dodge the creature.

Gunshots were continuously being fired from Hiroaki's rifle. Samuel watched Hiroaki skillfully using his gun; expertly firing here and there as more flower creatures continue to come. The gunshots were ringing to Samuel's ears—they were so loud and the grunts and cries of the monsters were ever-deafening.

When both the cries and the gunshots stopped, bodies of flower creatures scattered like burnt plants with a scorched, rotten stench laid upon the floor. Samuel quickly covered his nose as he catches a whiff of the creatures' stinking acidic smell.

Samuel turned to Esmeralda, who was looking at the burned flower-monster corpses. She then sauntered towards one of the cadavers, holding her journal.

She took a step back, and then turned to Hiroaki, who was looking vacantly at nothing.

"I-is it safe to examine?" She asks. "Are they . . . dead?"

Hiroaki blinked once. With his vacant gaze still in one direction, he answered, "They are dead."

Esmeralda's eyes lit up. She could examine now—

"But," Hiroaki adds. "I wouldn't worry about that."

Esmeralda tilts her head. "Huh . . .?"

Hiroaki then drops his rifle to the ground. Esmeralda blinked several times as she sees him withdraw two pistol guns at the same time as he points them to Esmeralda.

"Hey—!" Samuel says—

Esmeralda stood unmoving as Hiroaki's eyes get fixated on her. Did he just . . . point his gun at her then shoot? When did his bullet go? She was very much alive. Esmeralda then slowly turned to her back.

"Grraaaawwwww . . ."

"Eek!" Esmeralda shrieks as she runs towards Samuel and Berthold. They were all behind Hiroaki, who had pointed two of his guns to the creature. The 'creature' which looked almost the same as the ones Samuel and Esmeralda fought.

Except this one was larger in size, had three arms displaced in odd parts of its body, and several eyes that blinked at different times. Esmeralda grew paler.

"W-what the hell is that?" Samuel exclaims.

Even Berthold was rendered speechless.

BANG!

Hiroaki shot the first bullet to the creature.

"GRAAAAH . . . ARRRR . . ." It grunted bizarre sounds and moaned. Esmeralda, with a degree in biology and had taken zoology at heart, knew the creature was in pain.

And it wasn't pleased.

Hiroaki unleashed several shots from the two pistols while he continued to step away backwards. He stopped until he reached the team.

"Ready yourself," he says. "Another hoard is coming,"

And he was right. Another set of flower monsters appeared out of nowhere, walking slowly as they grunted and groaned. Esmeralda shrieked silently as she stares at the creatures.

"H-hey," says Samuel, "th-these ones look different than before,"

They were very different yet they were certainly akin to the flower-creatures.

Berthold remained vigilant. When the creatures were near enough, he caught their whiff.

The smell of an animal and plant.

Berthold, being a surgeon himself, was used to peculiar sights. He had seen cadavers and live bodies. He knew what was inside the body—how fascia, a band or sheet of connective tissue beneath the skin, attaches and encloses the internal organs of a person. He was used to things that would trigger a gag reflex to those who couldn't bear to see even an ounce of blood.

But this was a different sight to witness.

An animal—a rodent's head, grew large enough as a human skull—was stitched up to the top body of the creature. Acting like a tail on its body was a vine with a sharp end. The creature had petals dropping across the floor—Berthold couldn't quite see where the petals originated, but perhaps they were on etched on its skin (which was part rodent fur, and part plant).

Berthold drew a gun, much to Samuel's surprise. He didn't know Berthold carried one—or even knew how to use one in the first place! But then they had a former sergeant in arms as a team member. Hiroaki could have given the gun to Berthold, who now started to shoot the half rodent-half plant creatures with his pistol.

"Samuel, Esmeralda," says Berthold, "hide behind me,"

"What are we, children?" Samuel says—but then he realized they actually were. He was eighteen, and Esmeralda was seventeen. Both of them were just smart enough to get to an accelerated degree program.

But they were still children.

"Stop being sarcastic for once, Sam!" Esmeralda scolds, as she tugs Samuel, pulling him closer to her. They were behind Berthold, who was loading ammunition now.

"What the hell are these?" Samuel says. "Where the hell are we?"

"This is ANDROMEDA's former laboratory," he says. "The secret laboratory hidden underneath the House."

"You know about this?" Samuel asks Hiroaki, who was shooting the creatures without batting an eye.

"This is classified information," he says. "But ANDROMEDA's research is still unknown. They explored every branch of science,"

Hiroaki reloads his other gun and then continued to shoot the creatures with the pistol on the other.

"Every branch of science." Berthold silently mutters. "Genetic engineering, huh," he mumbles as he narrows his eyes at the rodent-plant creatures.

"GREAAAAWWWW!!!"

"I-it's getting angrier!" Esmeralda yelps. "I—it'll charge itself on us now!"

"Doctor," Hiroaki silently says amidst the constant firing. "Take the children and run. I'll cover."

"WHA—?! Who are you calling a child—"

Before Samuel could continue the banter, Esmeralda pulled him as Berthold ran with the two of them, leaving Hiroaki dealing with the monsters. Berthold ran to the jungle with Samuel and Esmeralda—all anxious whether another creature would appear.

And then they stopped.

Another glass separating the jungle and a certain room.

Samuel immediately recognized the setup. He was a researcher, and this setup was for research akin to documentaries that tackled psychologically inhumane studies.

"What the hell . . ." Samuel mumbles. "What the hell is all of these. . ."

"GRRAAAWWWW!"

Berthold sighs. "I'm supposed to heal people, but here I am shooting!" He says as he shots the approaching creature dead. He then proceeded to hold on to the glass.

u003cu003c ACCESS DENIED u003eu003e u003cu003c ACCESS DENIED u003eu003e

A slab of red, hologram text appeared before all of them on the glass pane.

Berthold held his gun firmly. The glass was sturdy—shooting them would be a waste of bullet.

The creatures kept on coming, and Berthold realized this was his last set of bullets. He couldn't reload anymore—Hiroaki has the ammo! He wanted to curse himself for his carelessness.

And he did.

He completely lost all his bullets as he fired the last shot to one of the monsters approaching them. However, there were still several others that were unscathed. They were slow in speed, but they dominated them in numbers.

The creatures now started to run towards them, with one lunging itself forward to Berthold, who kicked the creature Taekwondo style. He was rustic in martial arts, but at least he knows how to kick. But then this left him open with other monsters.

"Berthold!"

"Doctor Wagner!"

"GRAAA—"

All of them stopped with a loud gunshot.

Again they eyed the one who had fired—and had now unleashed several other more, without missing a hit, until all creatures are down and unmoving. The person who shot the creatures was now walking towards them.

Hiroaki Mochizuki, once again, saved them at the last minute—

But he wasn't alone this time.

A girl with a curly, blond hair wearing an angelic white dress, was walking barefoot with him. The team knew in an instant this wasn't any normal girl—because she was glowing. Literally glowing.

When Hiroaki and the girl finally stood in front of the three dumbfounded members, the glass started to disappear—slowly vanishing to thin air with the transition of glitches.

u003cu003c ACCESS GRANTED u003eu003e — Esmeralda stares at the green text which was had appeared the moment the girl set foot to the premise. The text then vanished along with the glass.

"Wh-who's this?" Samuel scowls. "Is it just me or she's glowing?"

"No, it's not just you . . ." says Berthold, and then he turns to Hiroaki, who paid no attention to them. He was reloading his gun now.

"Hello~ so I granted you all access to the laboratory," she smiles at all of them. "My name's Anna and I'm a Hologram. Now that the pleasantries are done, we must save a person from dying inside the laboratory. His name is Ephraim, and I don't know anything else. So let's go!"

Chapter end