A Nightmare Awakes

They say most of your brain shuts down in cryostasis. All but the primitive side. All but the animal side.

In the darkness of the medical bay the protective cylinder surrounding the cryostasis chamber rose into the ceiling. The protocols that would have prevented this had failed due to the explosions that had rocked the bay just a few short hours earlier. Failure in the power grid as the mains was diverted to backup, which was then diverted to emergency backup was not strong enough to power the necessary systems. As a result the automatic reanimation cycle was started.

With a hiss of pressurised gas the cryostasis opened like a petal and the Little Snake stood and stretched. She looked out into the darkness, memories flowing back into her as she became more coherant and screamed, long gutteral, animal scream. Looking around in the darkness, looking with eyes that had been enhanced to see the horrors that the night beheld, she paced the medical bay. The main entrance blocked, the doors leading to the first adn second chambers, blocked. The third however, and the stairs leading down to the operating theatre and the experimentation vats were open.

As she walked into the third clone bay, the sounds of moaning and breathing was loud in her ears. Twenty cloning chambers had opened, like heres, through automatic reanimation. A hunger filled her, a hunger that had to be fulfilled. Returning to the medical bay she selected a knife, a large autopsy blade. It would suffice.

The screams started soon after.

Lying on one of the medical tables she heard a sound in the distance, and sat up. The sound was of someone, or something moving through the ducts in the third chamber. Lights began to shine from the room and voices could be heard. Gripping the blade she crouched on the bed, then leapt up, grabbing the ceiling beams and wedging herself, looking down, blade in her teeth.

Two heavily armed and armoured men walked softly into the medical bay, covering all the corners, their torch beams scanning everywhere.... except upwards. She dropped cat like between then and slashed twice with the blade. Voices, behind her in the third chamber, familiar. Kim! She leant against the wall and waited, heard her come in calling after the guards, watched as she shone the torch over their bodies. Slowly she started walking towards her, contemplating how to make her die, what form of death and torture was sufficient. Kim ran. She followed slowly, watching her crawl into the duct and followed her after picking up the long bayonets on the guards and eventually looked upwards at a hole in the ceiling. For a few moments she basked in the cold breeze, the fresh air and rain that fell on her. Above her she could hear the sound of people moving. Time to get free from this prison. Let the snake free.

As she climbed out of the hole, looking into the eyes of the guards above her, as he raised his weapon the lights in the geisha house flicked out. Then she smiled, and the guards started to die.

The Little Snake was free, and people were going to suffer.