The bus pulled up to the towering hospital with a mechanical hiss, its worn brakes screeching like something out of a horror movie. The students inside exchanged glances, half excitement, half exhaustion. The sky above was smudged gray, blanketing the facility in an eerie calm. Navana Medical Research Institute stood like a monolith, its beige walls faded and cracked, almost as if trying to warn them of what was inside.
Finn was the first to step off the bus, his black-rimmed glasses fogging slightly from the shift in humidity. He adjusted his backpack and gazed up at the building. "This place feels... off," he murmured.
"Off?" Edward scoffed behind him, bounding down the stairs with his usual energy. "Come on, man. It's just a hospital. Probably smells like bleach and disappointment. We'll be fine."
Franklin followed next, his arms folded and a smirk on his lips. "Yeah, unless you get lost in a morgue or something. I bet half the lights flicker. Typical horror cliché."
"Can you not?" Eve grumbled quietly as she stepped down behind him. Her thin fingers gripped her notebook tightly, eyes flicking nervously toward the looming entrance. "Some of us are trying to take this seriously."
Franklin turned, softened by her tone. "Relax, babe. I got you. We'll survive this boring orientation together."
Jonah yawned as he stepped onto the cracked pavement, stretching his arms. "I just want a clean bed and something edible. Is that too much to ask?"
Rika came last, her delicate frame moving quietly behind the group. She didn't speak, just looked up at the old hospital with unreadable eyes. Her fingers brushed against the pendant on her necklace, a tiny silver cross.
The final student, Williams, exit in silence. Towering and broad-shouldered, he carried himself with quiet strength. He took a deep breath and fell into step behind the others, saying nothing but absorbing everything.
They were the top candidates from Dalfort Medical College, handpicked for a special practical training program at the mysterious hospital on the outskirts of town. The official letter promised state-of-the-art labs, shadowing experienced doctors, and the kind of real-world learning that would "change their medical careers forever."
The doors slid open automatically as they stepped inside.
A blast of cold, sterilized air hit their faces.
The interior was colder than expected, with overly white lights and endless rows of hallway that gave off a feeling of being watched. It was sterile, yes, but also... empty.
A woman in a white lab coat approached them, clipboard in hand and a smile stretched across her face like it had been painted on.
"Welcome," she said. "I'm Dr. Marla Hess, the clinical coordinator here at St. Mercy. We're so thrilled to have you all."
Thrilled didn't match her eyes. They were tired, restless, and darting—like someone who hadn't slept in days.
After brief introductions, she led them through the facility.
They passed numerous locked doors with coded panels. Dr. Hess glossed over them with vague mentions of "sensitive research wings." One hallway reeked faintly of ozone and bleach. Another had a dampness in the walls that made Edward whisper jokes about leaky experiments.
"This is the east wing," Dr. Hess explained as they passed under a sign that read RESTRICTED ACCESS – LEVEL 3 CLEARANCE REQUIRED. "Most of you won't be coming here. It's for... advanced bio-testing protocols."
Finn narrowed his eyes at the digital locks. "Why are there retina scanners in every lab?"
"Safety," she answered too quickly.
Williams, walking at the back, said nothing. But his eyes were locked on the heavy steel doors, one of which had scratch marks that looked disturbingly organic.
They were eventually brought to their quarters on the second floor. Bunk beds lined the walls, sheets neatly folded. Medical posters and old anatomy charts filled the room.
"Lights out is at ten," Hess said. "Orientation continues tomorrow. You'll meet the doctors and be assigned shifts."
Then she left, closing the door behind her with a click that sounded too final.
The students sat on their bunks, unpacking, processing.
The silence was broken by Edward, predictably.
"This place gives me the creeps, man," he said, tugging his hoodie over his head. "You guys see that room? The one with the red keypad? I swear I heard something moving behind it."
"You hear things all the time," Franklin snapped. "Like your own voice. All day. Every day."
"Bite me."
"I bet you'd like that."
Jonah laughed, tossing his pillow onto the top bunk. "Alright, alright, we're only here for what, a month? Let's not kill each other before the patients do."
Finn sat down at the corner desk, already scribbling notes. "Something's definitely going on in this place. I recognized a couple of the chemical compounds in the hallway signage. Stuff you'd normally only see in advanced virology labs. Not general medical research."
Eve stood near the window, arms crossed. "It's like we walked into the middle of something we weren't meant to see."
Rika, from her bunk, finally spoke. "Well that's why they called it a Research institute… I heard they conduct experimental fusion of human DNA to make other organisms."
Silence.
"What?" Edward asked.
She looked down. "Just a rumor."
Night fell quickly.
The hospital, though massive, was disturbingly quiet after 9 p.m. No footsteps echoed down the halls. No beeping
monitors. Just humming lights... and the occasional scrape. Distant. Low. Like something dragging across metal.
Finn stayed up longest, reviewing the floor plans he'd glimpsed earlier on Dr. Hess's clipboard. Something wasn't adding up. There were whole levels missing from the official map in their rooms. Whole sections unaccounted for.
Williams lay silently on his bed, watching the ceiling, listening.
Jonah was already snoring, while Edward kept muttering in his sleep.
Rika lay next to Eve.
"Is it true?, the rumor" Eve whispered.
Rika turned and stared at her for some time. "I don't know," She whispered.
But beneath them, five levels down, far beneath where any of the students had been taken. A red warning light blinked silently in a sealed chamber. On the monitors, a form twitched.
The hybrid was waking up.
And the orientation had only just begun.