Charlie had spontaneously created the means of
‘Yes, as incredible as it sounds he grew rudimentary limbs and simply climbed out. First he fed on all the other marine specimens that he had access to and then, after unsuccessfully trying to break into some of the animal cages, he went off to hunt for other prey. And unfortunately he found it.’
The camera cut from a row of empty fish tanks to the remains of what could have been either a man or a woman. A rib-cage, stripped of most of its flesh, and a partly eaten leg lay in a pool of blood in one of the corridors.
‘Ugh!’ cried Linda, from behind him. She was looking over his shoulder. He’d been so engrossed he hadn’t even heard her come oyer.
‘Sadly, we lost two more people before members of the security department cornered Charlie in a storeroom on level three,’ continued Shelley. ‘It put up a fierce resistance and had to be shot several times before it died.’
The screen now showed a group of armed security men standing around a dark shape on the floor. The camera moved forward unsteadily, as if its operator wasn’t feeling too steady on his feet.
Linda exclaimed again as the carcass came into view on the screen. It was very different from the creature that had appeared in the recreation room but Paul could see similarities. And it was just as horrible in its own way. It was still recognisable as a shark but the body had been radically altered to enable it to hunt, and live, out of the water. It now had two massive hindlegs, capable of supporting it in a vertical position, and two smaller forelegs equipped with long, sharp-looking claws. The tail had virtually disappeared and the head had changed shape too with a pronounced lower jaw now clearly visible and the eyes much further forward…
The bizarre sight was abruptly replaced by Shelley’s face. ‘The remains will undergo dissection later today under my supervision. I predict even greater revelations await us. This is the first step in a truly momentous break- through for science.’
The screen went blank.
Paul looked at Linda. ‘Some break-through. That’s all the world needs right now — man eating sharks that can chase you up the beach if they miss you in the water. Isn’t science wonderful.’
She moved closer to him and he piut his arm around her. She was shivering. It was getting cold now that there wasn’t sufficient power to run the heating system.
The tape didn’t run on for very long before Shelley reappeared. The bouyancy of a few moments ago had vanished. He looked exhausted and his expression was grim.
‘June the 14th. The time is 08.45. It’s been almost forty-eight hours after my last entry on this machine and much has happened in the interim. I still find it difficult to believe but it seems that we have inadvertently created one of the most dangerous lifeforms ever to have existed on earth…’
Rochelle woke from a troubled sleep and found herself alone in the cabin. Where was Alex? He was supposed to be guarding her. Then she remembered — Mark had been here and there had been an argument. He was after more heroin and Alex was refusing to give it to him unless he promised him the world… and something else that neither wanted to discuss in front of her. But she had a good idea what it was — Chris. Alex wanted Chris again. Not that she cared what Alex wanted, or who. She was feeling too ill to care. But Mark, embarrassed, had insisted he and Alex go elsewhere to continue the haggling.
She’d gone to sleep after that but the pain from her injuries had woken her up. Linda and Chris had done a good job in cleaning and dressing her cuts but the codeine tablets she’d been given had worn off now and she hurt like hell. Even breathing was agony.
So she lay there staring at the ceiling and hoping that Alex would hurry up and return so she could send him for some more painkillers. The more she thought about him the more her anger grew. What a bastard he was. Fancy leaving her alone when that… that…she couldn’t bring herself to focus her mind on the thing that had attacked her. She had banished it to the outer edges of her mind where it remained a shadowy, indistinct shape. Soon she would be able to convince herself none of it had happened, that it had all been a crazy dream.
She felt a tremor run through the bunk. According to Alex there was a bad storm raging outside and huge waves were breaking against the legs of the platform. She wondered if they would be safe. The newspapers often had stories about oil rigs being overturned in the North Sea…
She frowned.
Someone was watching her.
She raised her head from the pillow and looked around. She had to be imagining things. There was no one else in the small two-bunk cabin and nowhere for anyone to hide.
She relaxed again. Her mind was playing tricks on her, and no wonder. She wasn’t going to feel safe until they were off this platform. She wished they’d never found it. Better to be adrift still in the North Sea than to be trapped in this creepy place…
Her right foot began to tingle. It was an extremely unpleasant sensation, much worse than pins-and-needles. Vaguely alarmed, she raised herself painfully on her elbows and looked.
Something was
Shocked, she flung the blanket to one side and froze…
Her right foot had disappeared.
Beyond the cuff of her jeans on her right leg there was nothing. Just empty space.
Then, as she watched transfixed with horror, her right leg slowly vanished as well, the jeans leg collapsing like a deflating inner tube.
The awful tingling sensation was in her left leg now as well. She saw it was covered with a black, glistening liquid and that a long tendril of the same substance ran across the floor from the end of the bunk and extended up the wall to disappear into a small ventilation grill. She remembered the woman with the black, slimy worms hanging out of her mouth…
She tried to sit up but the tingling feeling was in her hips and crotch now and she saw that she no longer existed below the waist — her jeans now lay tempty on the bed.
An image of all the piles of empty clothes they had found flashed through her mind.
‘Oh dear God,’ she gasped, ‘this is
She tried to scream but it was too late. Her upper torso was now under attack as well.
Her shirt caved inwards and her head fell back onto the pillow. With wide, terrified eyes she stared helplessly at the ceiling, her mouth working frantically as she tried to suck air into lungs that no longer existed.
Then the substance moved over her eyes and the light faded. She waited for merciful oblivion.
It didn’t come.
And after the dissection had been completed the various organs and specimens were placed in different containers while the bulk of the carcass was stored in a freezer…’ Shelley paused and wiped his face with a wad of tissue. ‘The next morning not a trace of the carcass or any of the specimens could be found. At first I suspected human intervention. Perhaps we had a spy among us who intended sell-ling the results of our research to commercial interests?
‘But then we made the discovery that all the experimental animals had disappeared too. The cages were intact but the animals had gone. We conducted a search for them, as well as the missing remains of Charlie, but found nothing.
‘And then
‘In less than twelve hours we lost over thirty people. They seemed to simply vanish — we kept finding empty piles of clothing but no clue as to what had happened.
‘Then, to our amazement, Charlie reappeared. He was different than before, and larger, but there was no mistaking him. Incredible as it seemed he had somehow come back to life. He attacked and killed several people before the security team again cornered him. Killing him was much more difficult this time but finally he succumbed — after being shot countless times…
‘And then came an even greater shock. Even while the security men were checking the corpse it suddenly
