Title: Cryofactory Cryptid

Author: Brenda Murphy

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/23/2025

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 27500

Genre: Horror, Lit/genre, horror, paranormal, urban fantasy, humor, lesbian, urban explorers, cryogenics lab, genetically modified creature

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Description

When urban exploration photographer Cat McIntyre and her wife Lelia stumble upon a gruesome discovery in an abandoned cryofactory, their lives are thrown into chaos. Pursued by relentless security forces, they barely escape only to realize something even more terrifying is stalking them. The creature in the shadows isn’t just any predator. It’s intelligent. It’s deadly. And it may be tied to Cat in ways she never imagined. As the women fight for survival, Cat must confront a buried secret from her past, one that has unleashed a monster. When the cryofactory’s enforcers strike again, the bond between Cat and the beast becomes undeniable, forcing Cat and Lelia to make an impossible choice. A campy horror thriller, Cryofactory Cryptid is a tale of survival, identity, and the unexpected bonds of found family.

Excerpt

Cryofactory Cryptid Brenda Murphy © 2025 All Rights Reserved The cryofactory door lock gave way with little effort. Cat advanced her crowbar and used it to lever the door open wide enough for them to slip inside. She winced as the screech of metal on rusty metal echoed through the chill night. “So much for stealth mode,” Lelia whispered. Cat turned to Lelia. “This entire row of warehouses is abandoned. The nearest house is over a mile away. I’ve watched this place for weeks. Don’t worry.” She used her shoulder to shove the door open wider and shone her flashlight across the concrete floor before sweeping it over the open room. “The cops don’t even patrol over here. Nobody cares about this place. Tweekers don’t even use it.” “Then why did we have to climb a fence to get in here? And park so fucking far away? What is wrong with me that I let you talk me into doing this URBEX stuff?” Cat turned back to Lelia, her face half lit by the flashlight glow. “Cuz you love me.” Lelia nodded. “Yeah, I do. Let’s get moving. I don’t want to get busted. My mom’s still pissed about the last time she had to bail us out for trespassing.” “We paid her back.” Glass shards crunched under Cat’s boots as she walked ahead. “Not the point.” Lelia followed close behind her. Moonlight filtered into the cavernous space through broken skylights and clerestory windows along the south side of the building, lighting the space with a cool white glow. Cat clipped her flashlight to her sweatshirt and picked up her camera. She framed a shot of computer desks haphazardly piled together against a door surrounded by toppled desk chairs. File cabinets lay on their sides, their contents spilling out. Dirty rain-warped paper littered the floor. “They sure left in a hurry.” “As should we. I don’t like how this place feels. Or smells.” Lelia stepped up next to her. “You want me to video like last time?” “Yeah, let me pull my mask up.” Cat pulled her face cover into place and tugged her hat lower. Skittering rodent sounds followed them as they worked their way around the room, snapping shots of the disarray. Lelia followed Cat closely, filming her adventures. Cat arrived at a door. Its glass panes were spider-webbed, the safety glass hanging out of the top frame. A doorplate identified the space as Laboratory Nineteen. Lelia lowered her phone. “What kinda place was this? Did you get the bullet holes on the south wall? Did the cops raid this place? There’s fucking tear gas canisters everywhere.” “Couldn’t find out much online. Cryogenics. Sperm vault. Assisted reproduction research type stuff. Nothing about anything illegal. Are you getting those rat noises? I want to make sure I have them for the video.” Cat stepped over a puddle. “Watch the water.” “It’s never water in these places.” Lelia walked around the edge of the suspicious puddle. “How much more do you want to explore?” “Just a bit more. You okay?” Cat turned back to Lelia. “Not at all. This place is creepy. And it’s rank.” “Creepier than the mental hospital?” “Fuck yeah.” Cat studied Lelia’s face lit by the moonlight. She leaned forward, pulled her face mask down, and kissed her cheek. “Come on, babe, just a little more. I want enough for two episodes and some B-roll.” “Fine.” Lelia lifted her chin. “But we’re adding this to the ‘you owe me’ column.” “Fair.” Cat turned and stepped over the threshold into the lab with Lelia behind her. She crouched down, trusting Lelia to get a pan of the room before she proceeded to photograph it. She stared at rust-red spatters on the black and white tile floor before she snapped a few shots of them. “Holy fuck.” Lelia gripped Cat’s shoulder and dug her fingers in. “Look.” Cat stood. On the lab bench before her lay what remained of a body. “Oh fuck.” She forced herself to look at it. Covered in the shredded remains of a tattered white uniform shirt was a human torso. Neck bones and sinew stuck out of the shirt collar where the head should have been. One arm remained, its fingers curled around a folding knife. “That explains the smell.” Cat moved closer to the remains. Past the juicy stage and sheltered from the elements, the body was desiccated. Its rib cage was exposed. Nothing of its internal organs remained. One leg was canted at an odd angle, the other missing below the knee, the exposed bone cracked and splintered. Cat took another shot of the body. Dried bloodstains filled the top of the workbench. “Get away from it. We need to call the cops.” Lelia’s voice quavered. “To tell them we found a body while trespassing?” Cat moved along the bench and took another few photos. “We can’t just leave it here. That’s someone’s person.” Lelia stepped closer to Cat. Cat bent to study the knife clutched in the body’s hand. Matted hair stuck out along the blood-smeared blade. “We’ll make an anonymous call when we get home.” “They’ll be able to trace it. Come on. We have to get out of here.” Lelia shoved her phone into her coat pocket. “I’m done with this.” “Babe. Calm down. I’ll get a burner phone.” She framed the body and fired off another series of photos as she moved around it from different angles. “What the fuck are you going to do with those photos?” “I don’t know. It seems wrong to not record this. What the fuck could have done that?” Cat glanced toward Lelia. “A bear?” “Are you high? How the hell would a bear get in here? When was the last time you saw a bear in the city outside of the zoo?” “Fuck, I don’t know. But look at it; it’s ripped wide open. There’s all that black hair on the knife.” “Don’t touch anything.” “I’m not stupid.” Cat backed away from the body. The snap and crackle of a two-way radio echoed through the building. Cat swallowed on a dry throat. She shut her flashlight off and lifted her finger to her lips. Lelia nodded her understanding. Slowly they lowered themselves to the floor and duckwalked to the wall next to a bank of low cabinets. Cat gripped her camera close to her chest and pressed herself against the wall. Garbled radio conversation mixed with the crunch of footsteps grew louder. Cat set her teeth on her lip. Lelia clasped her hand tight. She focused on her breathing, willing herself not to panic. Cat peeped around the corner of the cabinet. Two pairs of tactical boots. She shrank back against the wall. A light flashed in the upper part of the room, the bright beam sweeping from left to right. It paused on the body on the bench before moving around the room again slowly. “Anything?” “Nah. Just Hank. Hanging out.” “Ha ha. You’re so funny, Chuck. I saw them come in here.” “So what, Dawn? They’ll end up like Hank. Or we’ll catch them when they come out. Come on. My lunch’s getting cold.” Their voices faded. Cat lifted Lelia’s hand to her mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of her knuckles. They waited until they no longer heard footsteps before they stood. “Out. Now,” Lelia whispered. She tugged Cat’s hand, pulling her close to her. “If you stop to take one more picture, I swear I’ll divorce you.” Cat switched to a red lens for her flashlight. “They’ll be watching the front door.” Lelia huffed a breath. “So, what do we do?” “The drone photos I took showed a loading dock out back. We can go out that way. Part of the fence is down. We can scoot through it. Or over it. Hop the guardrail and follow the drainage ditch along the interstate back to our car.” Staying low, they exited the lab and turned toward the back of the building. Clouds scuttled across the moon, leaving the space in deep darkness. Cat swept the red beam back and forth as they picked their way through the cluttered warehouse. The scrape of metal on metal echoed through the room. Lelia yipped and bumped into Cat’s back. The short hairs on Cat’s neck stood up. The hum of machinery kicking over and the grinding of gears above their head drew her gaze and she raised her flashlight. Muted by the red lens, it failed to illuminate the far reaches of the ceiling. The floor vibrated under her thick-soled boots, followed by a rhythmic wet thumping sound. Lelia dug her nails into Cat’s hand. “Run.” They barreled toward the loading dock. The concrete stairs leading to the dock were littered with bits of bones. They charged up the steps to the loading door. The large roller door was shut. Cat slung her pack off her back and pulled her pry bar from the front pocket. She wedged the edge of it under the door and forced the upper end down. The metal door bent with the force but did not move. She lifted the blade and pushed the edge farther under the door. With both hands she shoved down harder. The blade slid sideways and popped free. The bar spun toward her; the sharp end jabbed into Cat’s hand. “Fuck me.” Blood welled up from the wound. Bright red, it dripped onto the dusty cement. “Forget it. There’s a window.” Lelia jerked Cat’s jacket. “Come on.” Cat wiped her hand on her jeans. Lelia strode to the window over a desk next to the dock. She swept her hand over the desk, shoving clipboards and papers to the floor. “You first.” Cat held her hand out for Lelia. Lelia clasped Cat’s hand and clambered to the top of the desk. Cat passed her the pry bar. The window lock lever was rusted shut. Lelia bashed the rusty lock with the end of the pry bar, knocking it loose. With two hands she wedged the flat end of the bar under the window and the sill. She pressed down with her body weight, forcing the window open. The moon returned from behind the clouds, lighting up the warehouse. Lelia passed the pry bar back to Cat before she hoisted herself up onto the sill. Silhouetted in the window, she turned to Cat. “You can step on the railing from here then down to the loading dock. There’s glass everywhere. Be careful.” Lelia disappeared from Cat’s view. The sensation of being watched pricked her skin. Cat glanced over her shoulder. In the pale moonlight, the faint outline of a form on all fours stood out against the darkness. She lifted her camera and snapped off a shot. “Come on, Cat. Hurry.” Lelia’s desperate tone drove her, and she climbed through the window. Brown glass littered the loading dock, and the parking lot sparkled beneath the full moon. “There.” Lelia pointed to a bent and twisted section of fence. They bolted across the weedy parking lot and dove through the opening into the wooded highway buffer.

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Meet the Author

Brenda Murphy (she/her) writes erotic romance. Her most recent novel, Double Six, is the 2020 Golden Crown Literary Society winner for Erotic Novels, and Knotted Legacy, the third book in the Rowan House series, made the 2018 The Lesbian Review’s Top 100 Vacation Reads list. You can catch her musings on writing, books, and living with wicked ADHD on her blog Writing While Distracted. She loves sideshows and tattoos and yes, those are her monkeys. When she is not loitering at her local library, she wrangles twins, one dog, and an unrepentant parrot I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. For a free short story, information on book signings, appearances, work in progress snippets, previews and sneak-peeks, sign up for my email list at: Website: http://www.brendalmurphy.com