16 Code:Freedom

***

Putting his arm around Varins shoulder, Dagen winced as his right hand trembled while applying pressure. Feeling this, Varin remembered the state of Dagens wrist. Looking around, he saw the bandages and first aid box by the doctor.

"Before we leave, it might be a good idea to wrap that wrist. We shouldn't keep ignoring it. We could also take the first aid box. If I need help walking, I'll grab your shoulder, alright?"

Dagen looked at his wrist and had to agree with him, it didn't look good.

"Alright."

With his hands a little shaky, Varin quickly disinfected the scrapes and wrapped up Dagens wrist, being sure to apply the right amount of pressure. He also took a moment to dab some of his own cuts and scrapes with a disinfectant wipe.

"Alright I'm done. Let's put the first aid into that duffle. By the way, where did you get that?"

Opening the bag and grabbing the first aid, Dagen replied:

"I think it was the guards quarters, I grabbed some blankets and water as well."

Varin was impressed with how far Dagen has come, to be able to think more clearly in dire situations. Enough to think about gathering supplies.

"Nice. Now that we have a moment, we can probably find some other things to take."

Finally having a moment to ask, Dagen put the duffle bag back on and said:

"Why did you decide to come back here anyway? Just to kill the doctor? Was that the only reason?"

"While killing these bastards was definitely one of my goals, it wasn't the only reason I came back here. I also wanted to see if I could gather some supplies. Going down a mountain with nothing isn't the best idea and who knows how far away from civilization we are. My other goal was a bit of a long shot, but I also wanted to find out anything about what is going to happen to me, perhaps some notes or books around here. He had to have kept a log of some kind, so I wanted to take that as well."

"So I'm going to look around the lab for a second to see if I can find anything. You should go back to the guard room, see if you can find anything else that might be useful. Be careful, I'm sure we cleared this place out but be cautious. Meet me by the exit."

Dagen was really concerned about leaving Varin alone in his condition. He looked as though he could drop at any moment, every movement seemed a struggle. He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of jerky to hand to Varn.

"Here, you have to eat something, You look like your about to faint any moment now."

Varin was once again surprised by how kind Dagen was, normally a person would have hidden the food and kept it to themselves, at least in his experience.

"Thank you, I'll try to search quickly. Now go comb through that guard room."

Dagen was already heading for the door as he said:

"Alright, alright I'm going."

Once again, Dagen was in the guard room. Only this time, he made sure to look through every locker and every drawer. Even under the pillows. He found a couple more waters, some slim Jim's, a brick of dry food rations, another lighter, 3 little flashlights, a bundle of rope, and even a tarp.

"Jackpot!"

'Okay. Maybe, just maybe coming back in here wasn't such a bad idea.'

Looking over everything he's collected, Dagen made a mental inventory.

'

6 bottles of water

4 blankets

3 flashlights

2 lighters

2 duffle bags

1 tarp

1 bundle of rope

1 bag of jerky

1 cube dry food rations

5 slim Jim's

'

He thought about splitting all this up into the 2 duffle bags but didn't think Varin should carry anything. He looked unstable already. So he decided to roll up the second duffle bag and put it in his own. Plus Dagen had no plans on leaving him until they were in the clear.

Satisfied with his haul, Dagen headed for the exit.

***

Varin was chewing away on his piece of jerky as he started his search at the doctors desk. He was already feeling better from eating something, he could practically feel himself gaining a bit of energy. Honestly at this point anything with substance was welcomed by his empty stomach.

Shuffling through the papers on the desk, he found a journal. Its cover was all black leather with silver 90° angles stamped in the 4 corners, a silver human skull biting a syringe was placed right in the covers center. It looked to be the doctor's personal journal, unfortunately written in the same code the assistant's clipboard was in. Even if he couldn't read it, he decided to take it to try and decode it later.

"Damn coded notes!"

Looking down, he saw a file cabinet drawer in the desk. Breaking it open, Varin found a bunch of files labeled with different colors. His eyes fell on a file called "Black", then a file called "Blue". Picking them up, he started to look through them.

'Are these about us?'

Luckily, these files weren't coded, however he still couldn't make out what some things meant. Most of it was fairly simple, like the listing of injection times and reaction follow up notes. Naturally, Dagens file didn't have much in it considering he hadn't been here as long. The last injections that he and Dagen received were also not in these files for obvious reasons.

To his surprise, it seemed that the 2 injections before the guard incident were meant to mutate him. But somehow he remained himself, no wonder the doctor was so frustrated. Unfortunately, Varin could feel that the last injection was causing something to stir inside him.

'I guess I used all my luck resisting the first 2 huh?'

Everything else in the lab seemed to be a bunch of books and papers on human anatomy, genetics, and splicing experiments done by other scientists on different plants and animals.

Oddly enough, he also found books about different monsters and a Guinness book of people with unique traits and mutations.

Without finding anything else that may be useful, Varin took the files and journal. He grabbed a couple chemicals, and threw them on a shelf at the end of the room causing a chemical fire.

'Hopefully with all the chemicals in here it'll destroy most of this place.'

Leaving the burning laboratory behind, Varin went to meet Dagen at the exit.

***

Dagen had only been waiting a few minutes but his mind was put at ease when he saw Varin appear around the corner.

"Can we finally go now, and NEVER come back?"

Varin chuckled as he walked past Dagen and opened the exit door.

"Let's go."

Walking out from under the camo cover, they took a moment to scan their surroundings. No signs of any enemies. The sun was almost completely gone, about a half hour of light remained and darkness was consuming the mountain.

Varin turned back and stared at the camo sheet for a moment.

"Hey Dagen, come help me with this."

"Huh, with what?"

"We could use this sheet don't you think? They don't need it anymore. Help me cut it down and roll it up real quick. You're a hunter aren't you? You should be able to come up with some ways to use this."

"Sure, I'll never turn down a free camo cover."

After stuffing the duffle bag, they were ready to go. Without knowing which direction to go in, they simply decided to head down, whatever direction that would lead down was the direction they were going. They didn't want to remain here overnight, so they needed to use what little sunlight that remained to get as far as possible before making camp.

Carefully walking through the woods, they made decent ground, going as far as the sunlight would take them. As the sky turned purple, they found a dent in the ground between 2 trees. They tied the rope between the 2 trees, throwing the tarp over it to make an obtuse A-frame tent. Instead of ground rods, they shoved sticks into the ground to hold it in place. Then, they wrapped the camo sheet over their makeshift shelter, making it blend beautifully to the surroundings.

They laid out 2 blankets on the ground and finally… finally got to sit down and breathe. Taking in a little water and another piece of jerky.

As soon as they did, they felt everything hit them all at once. All of the pain, hunger, and exhaustion that they had accumulated and ignored over the past few days, or in Varins case, weeks. Both couldn't help but let out groans of relief and grunts of pain.

Luckily the sky was clear and the moon was mostly full. They could still see their surroundings, if only roughly.

They decided against building a fire, both to avoid attention and because it was warm enough that they didn't really need one. After all, it was warmer out here than it was in that dungeon. With their eyes adjusted, they didn't need it for light either, it would only make it harder to see beyond it.

Varin put his hand over his right eye and grimaced.

"Are you alright? Is your eye bugging you again?"

*Sigh*

"No man, I'm not alright. If I'm being honest, I'm fucking terrified. I can feel a change and something slowly shifting inside me and all I can think is that I'm going to turn into a brand new fucking monster. How could I be alright!?"

Dagen looked down, a little ashamed at asking such a stupid question. Of course Varin wasn't alright.

Varin didn't quite know where that hint of aggression came from but he realized that it was unfair how he snapped at Dagen. He was just worried about him after all.

"I'm sorry man, I- I didn't mean to snap at you. I just need some sleep."

"One of us should try and stay awake in case a mountain lion tries to sneak up on us. Or worse, a human. *Chuckle* Maybe there's a wendigo running around here."

"Should we do rock-paper-scissors?"

Dagen looked back up and said:

"That's not funny, after what we've seen… and no, you rest first. You did a lot more in our escape than me, while running on a lot less."

Not arguing with that statement, Varin looked around one last time and laid on his blanket while covering himself with the other one. A single thought occurred to him before fading to sleep.

'This'll be the first time I've allowed myself to sleep in the presence of another.'

The moment he closed his eyes, Varin was knocked out cold.