Even with the heavily fortified walls of the lab, the large, open room was filled with the sounds of buzzing, rattling, and tinkling equipment and glass containers. The pauses varied from a few seconds to several minutes, but when they thought it was over, the slight vibrations started again. For the most part, the scientists were used to this sort of distraction, but it was lasting a lot longer than it usually did. Something was going on outside, and whoever was supposed to alert them to these things was apparently running very, very late.

They tried to focus, and for a while, it seemed like they were being reasonably productive; the new batch of samples were responding well to the Purge treatments, and Wen expected that they would be able to start them in the nurseries soon enough. It continued like this until one scientist's tray of tools was sent spilling across the floor after a particularly forceful rumble.

"I can't work like this," Troy said, throwing down his clipboard with an obnoxious clatter. [I]Of course.[/I] 

Wen rolled her eyes, but she too pulled away from her work to look blankly at the flat, metal wall, where the vague sounds of explosions seemed to be coming from. "What is going [i]on[/i] out there...?" she mumbled to herself. 

The door opened, and a scientist walked in with a slip of paper in his hands. He wasn't part of Wen's team, and had a different security clearance badge on the pocket of his lab coat. "Doctor Lai, a word with you?"

Wen's team looked at her expectantly as she pulled off her gloves and tossed them into the disposal box. She approached the man with a cautious look in her eyes, wondering why he couldn't say anything in front of the rest of them. It wasn't easy to read the chicken scratch on the torn piece of paper, but thankfully it was short, apparently scrawled quickly to be passed along.

[center][i]"darklings outside wall take caution, group forming to destroy den. probably coming home late"[/i][/center]

"Who wrote this?" Wen asked, closing her fist to turn the slip into a crumpled ball.

"My wife, she was heading up to the wall and wanted to let me know what she was up to. It's not really a secret that there's fighting going on outside, but we scientists would probably be some of the last to know if it wasn't for her."

"Well, thanks. Is that it?" Wen asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Yep, that's it. See you around, Doctor."

The scientist left, and Wen tossed the paper ball into the trash. Troy slid off of his seat hard enough for the chair to roll to the side, and sidled up to her in less than five steps. "So, are you going then?"

"Troy, you're so damn nosy." Wen hissed, resisting the urge to slap at his arm. "Do I look like a damn zoologist?"

"Well..."

"[i]No.[/i] I've got plenty to worry about here."

---

Wen had to psyche herself up for a good five minutes before she felt herself capable of walking outside of the lab. The occasional gunshot or grenade from that distance was no problem, but she imagined there would probably be some casualties today. Darklings were nasty things, from the very little she had seen of one back in the lab. And that one was [i]dead[/i].

It wasn't as bad as she expected; one would think it was a completely normal day. Shaking her head, she headed down the road toward the greenhouses. The heat was especially stifling today, and it was then that she realized that she had forgotten to leave her coat back at the lab. She shrugged it off and folded it over one arm.