Radioactive - Englishness 4 Storyzz

Three Boys stood on the other side of the steel fence.

"Keep Out," Jayden read the ominous words on the wooden sign which was hammered onto an elm tree outside the fence. He Hesitated. Jaxon and Lex were already making their way across the field.

Although Jayden was as curious as the other two, he was concerned about what had happened there over eighteen years ago. It was just like another Chernobyl disaster except the Phoenix Research Centre was more contaminated that Chernobyl. Jaxon and Lex, however, nonchalantly strolled across the wild grass fields towards it, ignoring the brambles that tore at their skin. Jayden wondered it they were an omen telling them to turn back. 

At a distance, the research centre was visible. Jayden caught up with the other two. As they walked into the musty, abandoned building, they heard scurrying and scuttling sounds, hurried footsteps and a strange snarling sound. Jayden was defensive and raised his hands to stop the rest, who did not seem to care less and raced forward into the metallic-walled walkway.

They found themselves in a room full of caged animals. Immediately, the three of them knew that there was something strange about these animals. In a cage of mice, a few of them were carefully molding a paperclip and putting it into the lock on the wall of the cage, attempting to set themselves free while some had already been successful and were wondering around the room. Luckily, the mice were unable to get past the main door, which was locked with a fingerprint scanner. In another area of the room were two rabbits, sitting down on a dirty office chair, taking turns to play Pacman on the computer in front of them.

"This is impossible," whispered Jayden, "but I'm sure this isn't all. Where was the snarling noise coming from?"

A scrabbling sound emerged from the room behind them. That room had metal walls. The dent in the metal next to the locked door told the boys that something massive and strong had tried to escape. Jayden looked through the observation window in the door. He almost fainted. A large grizzly bear stood amongst the many dried up carcasses dotted around the room. In its hand was a bone, sharpened into the shape of an axe. There were many loose screws and nuts on the floor, and the door's hinges had already been removed.  Only the card reader panel by the side of the door prevented its success from accessing the secured magnetic door.

However, the most frightful thing was that there were boxes stacked up in the middle of the room. Above the stack, on the roof, was a hole, almost large enough for the bear to exit through it. Jayden knew that the bear was on the verge of escaping and had already executed its plans. Unless they did something about it, this grizzly could be very dangerous. 

"Why do all these animals act like humans?" Jaxon asked, "We have to warn everyone about this, this place has not been 'dead' but trouble has been brewing."

With a few clicks of their cameras, the boys left.

They did not hear the silent footsteps following behind them.