Dr. Glass stared at him with a stunned expression.

“Julie!”

She blinked and shook her head. “Security room, cameras, got it.”

Aldous tilted his head in affirmation and headed through the double-doors. The hinges groaned in protest of the door’s weight, sealing shut with a heavy thud. His heart beat against his chest. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and into his eye. He swatted at the stinging impurity. 

He needed to get to Ivan first. He ignored his burning knees and back and pushed forward. The pains of age would be no more than a memory soon. Aldous slid open the slide and inspected the weapon. A tranq dart was mounted, waiting for a target. 

Aldous rounded the corner and stopped in front of Ivan’s cage. The footprints were spread in a chaotic dance before fading off down the hallway. What would he do when he cornered Ivan? An ape’s behavior was odd enough without supernatural intervention. He doubted that a friendly encounter was in store. 

The hallway led to a storage room. The door was cracked enough to see shelves towering to the ceiling. Aldous poked the door open and stood in the archway. After two steps, he stopped.

He held his breath and strained his ears. Besides his heartbeat, the only thing Aldous could hear was the scuffing of his shoes on the ground. He took a step into the room and shut the door behind him. His hand shook against the stock of the gun. He muttered an inaudible curse and adjusted his glasses. 

“Ivan? Are you in here, buddy? I don’t want to hurt you.”

There was no response. Aldous trained the barrel down the first aisle of shelves. The 40-foot corridor was clear except for a box of paperwork on the floor. 

“You hungry, Ivan? You haven’t eaten lunch yet. I could get you something.”

Aldous spun around the metal framework and stared down another empty row. He glanced towards the entrance and took a deep breath. A rustle in the far left of the room echoed through the maze-like layout. Aldous tried to calm the adrenaline that coursed through his veins. He turned towards the sound and picked up his stride. 

Ivan was in the aisle farthest to the right. At the end of the corridor, he stood with his back to Aldous. A beam of sunlight cascaded through a window onto his muscle-clad shoulders. They rose and fell. The hair on his nape stood at attention. 

“Ivan?”

Aldous could see the chimpanzee tense. He turned his head and eyeballed the armed molecular biologist with caution. He raised the barrel and trained it on his back. Tremors seized his hands. Even though Ivan was motionless, he danced in between the iron sights. Aldous exhaled his breath and squeezed the trigger. 

The condensed air pushed the fringed dart out of the gun at 700-feet-per-second. The purple fringes appeared on Ivan’s left shoulder. It was a direct hit. 

Ivan growled and turned to face his attacker. What elation the shot had conjured trickled away into fear’s death-grip. Veins roped underneath Ivan’s skin and popped up against his neck. His lips parted in a snarl as he brought his hands to his neck.

Snap!

Aldous fumbled for a second dart. He popped the metal cylinder from the mount and slid open the chamber. The ammunition slipped from its groove and rolled to the floor. His heart sank as he bent at the waist. Aldous was slow, keeping his eyes trained on Ivan.

Ivan was silhouetted against the window. In half of a second, Ivan grabbed the shelf and tore it from the wall. Files tipped from boxes and glided to the ground in a shower of confetti. The metal frame tilted against the next aisle. Ivan clambered to the top faster than Aldous could blink. 

Aldous grasped the dart and cracked open the tool’s chamber. A glance to his pursuer let him know he had only two seconds to cock the gun and put a second dart in Ivan. 

He cocked the gun and started to lift it to his shoulder. 154-lbs of great ape collided with Aldous’ 67-year-old frame. He slammed into the wall behind him, cracking his head against the painted cinder-block. A white flash blinded him. He laid there, stunned. 

Ivan stood his ground in front of him. Canines poked from a snarl. “Ho-oh!” 

Aldous turned his eyes down toward the beast’s forearms. Ivan rose up on his hind legs and beat his fists into the ground. Aldous clenched his eyes to calm the throbbing ache that had gripped his brain. He looked around but the tranq gun was not in sight. 

The ape stepped up to Aldous. He could feel its breath brush against his cheek. 

“Aldous? It’s Dr. Glass,” the voice rang over the intercom and echoed through the trashed room. “You there, Aldous?”

Ivan reared back. His head swiveled to and fro, looking for the source of the disembodied voice. Aldous felt his phone vibrate in his pocket before the ringtone pierced the air. Ivan slammed through the door and into the hallway. The heavy thud of primate appendages as they slammed into the hallway faded into the distance. 

Aldous sat up and fished his phone from his pocket. 

“Aldous? I tried you on the intercom, you didn’t answer.”

“I know,” Aldous coughed up what tasted like copper. “I couldn't get to it.”

“Are you okay? I don’t have keys to the security room. We are working blind here.”

Aldous winced as he straightened his back. “Ivan just left storage room 3B. I’m a bit shaken, but I’m okay.”

“Come back to the main lab. Sergio is on the phone with animal control. They’re pulling in now.”

“Roger that. I hit him with a tranq but it didn’t take him down. It must have not penetrated his skin all the way.”

“Alright, come back and tell it to the animal control. They’ll know how to handle this.”

Something told Aldous the animal control would be just as useless as he was against this particular primate. He brought himself to his feet and leaned against the wall. “Okay. I’ll see you soon. Make sure you and Sergio have something to defend yourself with in case Ivan comes after you. He’s… aggressive.”

Aldous hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. When he looked up, the color drained from his face. It was there.

The shimmering form was superimposed upon the cinderblock walls. It's tentacles thrashed and moved in violent agitation. Deep reds and purples flashed from its spots. Its eye pierced through the veil of appendages and held him in its gaze. 

“The time is approaching.”

Aldous felt his fear roll up his feet and settle in his stomach. Cortisol spiked his heartbeat. “What would you have me do?”

“Protect Ivan until he passes through the schism.”

“Schism? Protect him from who?”

“It will make sense when the time comes.”

Aldous deflected eye-contact from the saucer-sized retina. “When do I get my youth?”

The being hovered on the wall. For a moment, it didn’t speak. When it did, its voice contained a hint of aggression. “Pass through the schism after Ivan and your youth will be yours. You will only have one chance. Go, your colleagues are expecting you.”

It slithered down the wall and squeezed through a crack in the molding. Aldous took a few breaths and steadied his aching legs. He pushed the door open and peeked down the hallway. Ivan’s formidable stature was nowhere in sight. 

The wall made an adequate crutch for Aldous to limp along. Two bloodstains seeped through the fabric of his cargo pants. Heat radiated from the wound but endorphins clouded the pain. Nothing was broken and that was what mattered.

His heart palpated as he rounded each corner. The sound of Ivan’s fists against the tile floor reverberated in his memory. He limped into the main lab and collapsed onto a swivel chair. Dr. Glass clambered out of a corner. A larger-than-life wrench was held in her vice-grip. 

“Aldous, you’re hurt!”

Aldous rolled up his pant-leg. An abrasion had scraped some skin off of his shin and torn the fabric of his pants. Purple and yellow bruising had already framed the wound. “It’s not serious. Where’s Sergio?”

“He went to go meet animal control. They are out front, he’s bringing them back here.”

Aldous nodded. “Any sign of Ivan?”

Dr. Glass shook her head and walked over to a shelf. She pulled out a first-aid kit and sat in the chair next to Aldous. “It’s been quiet this end of the lab. He’s probably hiding. Poor thing, he’s been through a lot in his life.”

The rubbing alcohol tingled against the damaged tissue. Aldous flashed back to the primate’s dead, soulless gaze. “Yeah, poor thing.”

Sergio barrelled through the double doors with two men shadowing his footsteps. They wore gray coveralls and matching caps. Their company logo was embossed onto the front chest pocket of each outfit. Both carried zip ties and tasers attached to their utility belts. 

“Aldous, this is Rocko and George.” Sergio introduced.

Rocko extended his hand and shook his hand, taking charge. “I hear we have a bit of an unusual situation here. Monkey?”

“Ape,” Dr. Glass corrected. “A chimpanzee, specifically. It’s the subject of one of our projects here. It can’t be harmed, do you understand?”

“Of course, we take the health and care of our subjects at utmost importance. But, if it endangers anyone we will have to use lethal force. How large is the chimpanzee?”

“154-lbs, male.”

The wrangler’s eyes widened. 

“His name is Ivan, but he doesn’t respond to it,” Aldous added. “You only brought two men? This chimp could toss us all on our asses if he wanted to. I’ve already put a tranquilizer round in his chest and he didn’t even so much as yawn.” 

Rocko sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Alright. George, go grab two leader wires from the truck, the big ones. It looks like this is going to be a bit tougher of a job than I thought. You mind giving him a hand, Sergio?”

The second animal handler tilted his hat over his face and then he was gone, out the double doors and into the lobby. Sergio followed at his heels.

“Do you know where the chimp is now?”

Aldous pointed to the labyrinthian tunnels beyond the first cage. “Hiding back there somewhere. He didn’t appear to be hungry, I’m not sure luring him out with food will work.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure we have something that will work.” 

Aldous bit his lower lip. “He’s human adverse. He attacked me and I don’t think that he will hesitate to do so again.” 

“I’m sure we can handle it, sir. We’ve seen everything before,” the man assured with an arrogant smirk.

“Have you ever dealt with a chimpanzee before?”

“Well, no-”

“They’re like people. They’re smart, but survival is their rule of law. If Ivan feels threatened, he won’t hesitate to take your life. We have to be very careful.”

Rocko’s confidence slipped from his face. “We will be careful.”

“Guys?” Dr. Glass’ voice cracked. Fear tainted each syllable. 

“What is it?”

“Don’t make any sudden moves.”

Fear dug an icy claw through Aldous arteries. He turned towards the opposing end of the lab. Ivan’s muscular stature was silhouetted against the backlit hallway. He peered through the double doors at the room’s occupants. The purple dart protruded from his shoulder. 

Aldous took a breath through his nose. He turned and looked at his discarded tranq gun on the countertop. “It’s alright, we just need to get to the other end of the lab. Go very slowly.”

Rocko inched around the island’s corner. His leather soles squeaked against the tile floor. Ivan growled and stood up on hind legs. His nostrils flared and his eyes sparkled with malice. Rocko froze. 

Ivan took a few steps into the lab. He stared out from under salt and pepper brows. A low, rumbling snarl built in his larynx. His footsteps echoed in the open room. He sized everyone up, flicking his gaze from Rocko to Aldous and Dr. Glass. He came to a rest 15-yards in front of the group.

“Hey, Rocko! We have those tools…” Sergio’s voice faded as soon as he set eyes on the free beast. He gripped a leader wire in one hand and a small bag in the other. He stood frozen in the doorway of the lab. 

“Step back the way you came, slowly!” Dr. Glass urged.

Ivan tore himself from the ground and sprinted at Sergio. His teeth were bared and his shackles were raised on his shoulders. He let out a defeating whoop before slamming into his chest. Sergio hit the door jam spine-first. The back of his head whiplashed into the aluminum frame. A small splatter of blood sprayed from the wound and onto the wall. Ivan hopped on the discombobulated man and sank his teeth into Sergio’s ear.

“Get him off me!”

The primate jerked at the cartilage like a dog who was playing tug of war. Its fingers pressed down on Sergio’s head and his jaws pulled the other way. The flesh tore with an elastic snap. Blood flooded out of the open wound and covered the crazed primate. Sergio placed his hands on Ivan’s face and pushed against the back of the door. 

Rocko lunged forward and gripped the beast by its shoulder. Ivan turned and glared. The torn chunk of gristle and cartilage was gripped between his teeth. Rocko was shoved aside as if made from paper. Ivan returned to Sergio. The eyes and fingers were next on his agenda. 

By the time George had wrapped Ivan in a net and dragged him off the injured man, a pool of blood had collected on the tile. Sergio sat crumpled in the fetal position. Tears in his neck and face gushed crimson liquid. Two dark holes were all that was left in his orbital cavity. 

Ivan thrashed in the netting. George and Rocko had each grabbed an end of the restraining device and pulled it taught. The primate screeched and clawed, flailing its arms toward their captors. His hand broke out from the nylon mesh and pulled it over his skull. Fury saturated his deadly gaze. He roared and tore the net from the pair of handlers. 

The two men scrambled backward. George’s hat had fallen from his head. Sandy blonde hair cascaded to his shoulders in crazed curls. His sparkling blue eyes met Aldous’. Aldous drew in a breath. It was not George in the animal-control coveralls, but the Great Gregory. He narrowed his eyes at Aldous and crouched low to the ground. 

“You?”

Gregory didn’t get a chance to respond. Ivan squared his stance and raised his right arm to the ceiling. 

Click!

Every piece of glass in the lab burst into a thousand pieces. Lightbulbs flashed and scattered to the ground. Sunlight shone in from windows and illuminated fine pieces of glass held aloft by the air pressure. 

Aldous felt a shockwave hit his chest. He fell backward, gasping for breath. The tile floor slammed into his ankle and he felt the bone crack. Pain coursed through each nerve in his body. He fumbled for his glasses but they were not in his immediate vicinity. 

Electricity crackled through the room, ionizing the atoms in a tantalizing light show. The balls of static condensed into a three-foot orb at the center of the room. It started to spin, expanding until it was ten feet in diameter. White and pink bolts of electricity ran serpentine around the object, framing it with a charged force. 

Wind torrented through the lab. Sheets of paper whipped through the air before smashing into Aldous’ face. His heart raced as he peered through the chaos. 

This has to be the schism. Aldous thought. But, why was Gregory impersonating an animal control agent? He searched through the room for the mentalist. Blonde curls poked from the top of an overturned desk. Wires and cords were strewn about, covering the ground in electrical tripwire. He stared at Ivan.

The primate had not moved. He stood a few feet away from the schism near the epicenter of the commotion. Trash cans and other objects lifted off the ground and rode the wind. His eyes start to glow a bright white. He peered towards the heavens and opened his mouth. A low note bellowed from his throat. Aldous felt the unnerving sound rattle his ribcage. A pillar of white light shot from his mouth and cut through the ceiling. 

The white and orange schism flickered and cleared to a black void. Aldous stared at the darkness. It was the same place that he had been in his dreams. The tentacled being hovered on the other side of the threshold. Its cold, calculated eye stared through the gateway. 

Aldous pushed against the wall with his good foot. His eyes were wide in abject terror. He looked around for Dr. Glass but he couldn’t locate her.

Sergio’s corpse was lifted into the air by the nape of the neck. His feet hung limp and trailed through the pool of blood on the ground. Two streaks ran from each shoe as he spun through the room. 

“Gregory!” Aldous shouted over the din. 

“Ivan is mine!” he shouted across the room. The mentalist turned with a snarl. His fingers were hooked into claws and his eyes sparkled with a calculated frigidness.

Aldous hobbled a step away from the wall. Wincing, he inspected his leg. He quickly looked away. His body had done the job of numbing his broken bone. His foot was stuck out like a duck’s. 

Ivan’s body was wound as tight as a wire cable. Tendons were raised on his neck and veins roped thick cords through his face. His head turned from the ceiling and bore down on Aldous. His snarl rippled with electricity.

“Hoh-oh!”

“It is time, Ivan!” the voice called through the schism. A light show of purples, pinks, and oranges strobed into the lab. 

Ivan turned and faced the portal. He lifted his foot as if it weighed 100-tons. The beast pulled its body forward and roared.

A net soared through the air and cascaded over the chimpanzee. Gregory grunted and gripped fistfuls of the material. Ivan thrashed, screaming as the fibers raked his skin. Ivan pushed against the ground and started to drag the man towards the schism. 

“Gregory, get away from him!” Aldous shouted. 

He screamed and turned. “You don’t even know what this chimp is, what he could be! And you would just hand it over to that… thing?”

Aldous turned and looked around the room. Dr. Glass huddled in the corner. Her hands were held to her face and her shoulders shook in unheard sobs. 

Aldous took another pained step forward. “He’s not yours to take!”

“But he’s yours to give?” Gregory turned and braced himself against the ground. The net strained against Ivan’s head, drawing it back. The light that emanated from his core turned a dark amber. 

Aldous took another step and held an overturned lab table for support. The tissue surrounding his ankle had started to swell, locking the compromised joint into place. Gregory and Ivan were only seven yards ahead of him. The mentalist glared at him. His face was beet red and his muscles strained against the primate’s strength. 

A shockwave of pain rippled up his shin and femur on his next step. He bit his bottom lip and tasted blood. He cleared his watering eyes in time to see Ivan progress another step. He was only a few more away from the threshold. His teeth were barred in agonizing determination. Long, thick fingers pressed through the mesh surface and pulled Gregory another step forward.

He glanced from Ivan to Gregory, shaking his head. There would be no way to overpower the man with a broken ankle. Even if he was able to free Ivan for enough time to get through the schism, there would be no way he would win the following altercation. 

He spun his head around the room, searching for the discarded tranq gun. His heart skipped a beat when he spotted the lilac darts mounted on its stock. It laid on the ground a few feet from Dr. Glass.

“Julie! Julie, the gun!” he screamed at her. Her face snapped up from her hands. Tears streamed from her eyes and coated her cheeks in a glisten. She looked like a panicked rabbit, her chest heaved in hyperventilation and her eyelids were drawn as far open as they would go.

“Julie!”

Her gaze met mine and she scrambled forward. Her fingers circled the butt of the gun and she raised it above her shoulder. In a tomahawk throw, she launched the object through the air. It flew over Ivan and Gregory followed it with his eyes. 

Aldous reached out, pushing off with his broken leg. The pain sent bolts of lightning through his nerves. His hands closed around the weapon and Aldous drew it to his shoulder.

As horror overtook the man’s face, Aldous loaded one of the rounds into the air-powered rifle. Gregory dropped the net and lunged at his attacker but stopped when he felt the dart puncture his neck tissue. He took a few steps forward, wobbling on unsteady feet. With a crash, the mentalist collided with the tile floor, unconscious.

Ivan took his last step over the schism and passed through. 

“I gave you Ivan, now give me my youth!” Aldous screamed. 

“Hurry!” it hissed. “Step through, the time is almost up!”

Aldous’ hair flipped in the wind. He squinted his eyes and took a step forward. Did he want to leave this place? He had 67-years of experience on this planet and another quarter-century if he was lucky. His family was gone, his childhood friends were dead or demented by age. If he stayed, he would follow them, soon. Even if not to death, his mind would soon deteriorate. Everyone’s does in the end. Here, there was nothing left for him. 

His fractured bone bit into the swollen tissue. Aldous bit his lip and limped forward. The electricity that bordered the schism crackled and changed to a warm orange hue. It rotated faster and faster, shrinking around the edges. He hobbled forward, crying out in agony. 

The schism shrunk to a few feet. Aldous reached out his hands and dove the last yard. 

With a crack, the office was thrown into darkness. Sergio’s bloodless body crashed to the floor. The skull smacked against the tile floor. Dr. Glass hugged her knees and peered out through traumatized eyes. 

Aldous looked down at his hands, his old, wrinkled hands. Pain still flooded his nervous system. He took a sharp inhale and looked around. The lab was chaos. Panic swarmed his consciousness. He looked over at the corpse and started to shake. “No…this wasn’t supposed to be how it happened.”

“Aldous?” came Dr. Glass’ voice. 

He looked over at his colleague. 

“What did you do?”

He sat up and started to shake. He put his hands over his face. “What did I do? What did I do? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

Sergio was pronounced dead upon arrival. Dr. Glass and Aldous were rushed to the hospital. Aldous told everything to the investigator. He took notes and acted professional but a glint in his eyes told of disbelief. 

Aldous spent the next few weeks in the psychiatric unit. They poked and prodded, shoving pills down his throat like they were candy. They concluded that Ivan’s powers and the tentacled entity were delusions created by normal neuronal degradation. He was younger than the average onset, but it wasn’t unheard of for his age. The formal recommendation suggested that he move into a facility that was prepared to take on a client with his disability.

Dr. Glass resigned from her position the day she was released from the hospital. She quit her field of study and moved out of state.

Dason Pharmaceuticals shut down their testing lab the following year after funding was cut. Test subject T1212, Ivan, was never recovered