The place was smaller than the basement they had previously been in. But it was still massive and filled with equipment they couldn't decipher. They looked terrifying, yet fascinating at the same time.
Surprisingly, this was the only place without any blood or signs of massacre. It was spotless as if someone had taken care of the place meticulously.
Lucas approached one of the equipment that looked like a pod. He had seen a similar one in Patrick's lab. Although he wanted to check what the device was used for, he didn't have the guts.
What if the device turned him into a monster as well?
The mere thought of it made him break into a cold sweat.
Moving forward, he went to the next set of equipment that caught his eye. They were all rifles, but in weird shapes, nothing like he had seen before.
Intrigued, he picked one and held it in his hands. Although he wanted to test it, he suppressed his desire and just studied it.
"What are you looking at Lucas?" Vance approached Lucas, seeing him in a trance.
"This.... I wonder how this works," Lucas mumbled, placing the rifle back on the table.
"I remember seeing something similar in the warehouse," Vance replied, recalling the variety of rifles he had seen along with many other interesting weapons in the warehouse. But he didn't know what they were capable of.
"Wow!" Lucas nodded, finding everything around him novel.
The men continued to explore the lab, not realizing how much time they had spent there. They had no idea that Ryker was losing his mind completely as he waited for them outside.
'What are these guys doing? It's been more than three hours since they went inside. Why are they still inside?' he mused, staring down at the lab through the binoculars.
It was still dark, making it impossible for him to see anything through the naked eye.
"Did something happen to them?" he wondered, his eyes widening in fright. 'I should check upon them. What if they are in danger?'
Without delay, he called Vance.
At that moment, Vance was studying a cylindrical enclosure made of transparent material, which didn't seem to be glass. There were beams of light above and below, making it seem all the more interesting. There were switches and buttons inside the cylinder and for a moment, his heart itched to test the device.
However, right at that moment, his EchoTag vibrated, scaring the crap out of him. His heart almost leaped out of his chest in fright.
'What the fuck!'
Vance took deep breaths and answered Ryker's call. He was about to shoot off some curses for scaring him but stopped short when he saw how worried Ryker was.
"Vance, where the hell are you guys? Are you alright?" Ryker fired off his questions, glancing down at the laboratory again.
"We're fine. We got held up with something. We'll be out soon."
Vance glanced at Dave who nodded back at him. It was time for them to leave.
"Okay. I'm right outside the laboratory."
"Okay."
The call ended and Vance patted Lucas's back who was still exploring the place.
"Let's go."
Lucas didn't object. They had already spent a lot of time inside the laboratory. They couldn't waste more time.
Nodding at him, he dropped one of the devices that looked a lot like an Apple Vision headset, but smaller and lighter.
However, barely had they reached halfway when the cylindrical enclosure started beeping, making them freeze in their spots.
They watched in horror as the cylindrical container which previously was empty now had a robot as tall as a human.
"Fucking hell! What is that?" Dave exclaimed, too stunned to control his voice, and the robot that had left the cylindrical container instantly heard him. It's eyes moved to him immediately.
Lucas started to have a premonition. Without thinking, he dived toward Dave, tackling him, and shouted, "Dave, duck."
Dave was caught off-guard and fell sideways, feeling Lucas's weight on him.
The next instant, they saw a red laser light shoot right above them.
'Freaking hell!' Vance too ducked before the robot saw him.
Thankfully, the cylindrical container was at the farthest end of the room and they were almost in the center. So, they still had a chance to escape.
"Run," Lucas mouthed in panic and the three men started crawling quickly. They didn't dare stand up for fear that the robot would see them.
They heard a rhythmic padding from behind and Lucas now understood what the noise they previously heard was.
Again, there was a beep from the container and Lucas's heart skipped a beat.
'Don't tell me...' He was even horrified to think about it and was proven right when he heard another rhythmic padding from behind.
'Fuck my life!' Lucas was close to having a mind break. 'What in the sci-fi movie is this?'
None of the men stopped crawling and they were especially thankful that the robots couldn't run or that was what it looked like. Otherwise, they would have captured by now for sure.
Moreover, the various equipment in the room blocked the robots' vision, helping Lucas and the two men hide and escape.
The few minutes passed like hours and they finally reached the table with the rifles.
Lucas had no idea what came over him. He stopped suddenly and gave Vance a look. Gritting his teeth, he half squatted and passed a rifle to Vance who too had stopped for him.
Lucas almost dropped one of the rifles when he heard another beep.
'Damn it!' Gritting his teeth, he passed the rifle to Vance who then passed it to Dave.
Lucas subconsciously raised on his feet and peeked behind the table. He almost lost his mind when he saw how close the robots were.
A few feet was all the first robot required to reach them.
Suppressing his fright, he picked a rifle for himself and the three men started walking while they continued to squat.
It was already difficult for them to move with their machine guns. Now, with the rifles, it became all the more tedious.
But they held on.
A few feet more and they'd be out soon.
Another beep went off and Lucas's shoulder jolted.
Vance was the first one to reach the door and he sprang to his feet and ran out in the blink of an eye.
Dave was close behind and within a few seconds, he too was out.
Lucas was the farthest of them, the two weapons he was carrying weighing him down. He was completely exhausted, his stamina close to being drained out at the critical moment.
On seeing that he was close to the door, he rose to his feet and dashed out of the room.
However, he wasn't as lucky as the other two men.
The robot that was the nearest to him saw him the moment he got up and shot a laser beam at him.