Isaac's heart was beating hard and fast and his breathing matched it, reverberating through and out of his suit in a fashion he had come to be extremely familiar with of late. He collapsed against a wall causing a metallic echo to resonate throughout the room he was in. Blood and other such horrendous gore was dripping from his suit as he allowed himself to slide down and sit. He needed a moment to get over the horror he had just witnessed, the horror he just had to defeat and slaughter. They were just children, babies in fact, except they weren't... Not anymore... Their fragile forms swollen and the screaming... The screaming was someone he wasn't ever going to forget. In a lot of ways, they were worse than the other fiends that stalked this place. The only way he could bring himself to shoot the yellow, glowing pustules that were dragging themselves towards him was to tell himself over and over that he was doing the right thing, that they needed to be put to rest, put out of this misery. He would rather kill another hundred hideously deformed glassy eyed, snarling adult Necromorphs with their rancid split jaws and razor teeth than face another round of children. At least the adults looked like monsters, the children looked tortured.
His mask began to deconstruct, allowing him to breath the cold air around him freely. He knew that at any moment, another 'thing' could burst in at any moment, they weren't the type to use doors, these creatures would rip the walls apart to get at him and it disturbed him to his core. He sat in silence, his head tilted back fully. The cold metal of the surface behind him ebbed at his skin as he closed his eyes and tried to block the memories out.
He knew the events that had snowballed to the scenes he was witnessing on an increasingly regular basis would haunt him for life. They were already haunting him. Having to come back here, back to this ship, the Ishimura... He stopped himself from thinking about it, he was here for a purpose and he had to get it together.
But it wasn't easy. He hadn't slept since he awoke in the hospital with no memory of the past 3 years of his life. For the briefest of moments he thought maybe things were different. So much time had passed that he'd hoped he could now move on, but it wasn't that simple, things never were. Franco was transformed before his eyes and in a second he knew nothing had changed, that the blood curdling horror from his past was continuing right now. Would it ever be over? Would he ever move on? Would there ever be a time where he wasn't dismembering gruesome abominations, fighting for his life, running from Nicole?
Nicole. Nicole had infected his mind. He couldn't figure out whether it was the dementia or whether he was simply going insane. The room began to fill with lights and he knew what was coming, perhaps he'd get his answer this time.
"Isaac!" Nicole was crouched in front of him, her eyes were blank, hollow entities of orange light beaming into his body, searching his soul and burning in his brain, "What are you doing here, Isaac? Hiding? You can't hide from me, Isaac," her voice was melodically demonic as she inched closer to his bare face. He allowed his eyes to skim over her features. She was grey apart from those orange glaring eyes, but apart from that she looked real, so very real. She gave a shriek and her hands were around his neck. This felt too real to be dementia or insanity. He struggled against her as her hands grew tighter and tighter.
"You killed me, Isaac!" she screamed before disappearing completely. The room was dark and cold once more. He was breathing fast, frozen in the same position, scanning his surroundings. He was alone once more, but for how much longer? What else was he going to have to suffer through? This ship, these creatures, these visions, they were going to be the death of him, but he knew deep down that if he didn't suppress it all right now, his chances of becoming another abominated statistic were greater.
A cold bead of sweat slid slowly down his face as his breathing finally slowed. He rubbed his eyes hard before allowing his armoured suit to once again cloak his features from view. He sat silently for another moment before heaving himself up.
"Isaac?" A familiar voice rang through the silence and around his ears as a hologram of Ellie flashed up in front of him; he was actually incredibly relieved to see her. It gave him purpose; he had to get through this, to get her to safety if nobody else, "You OK?" her voice was laced with concern.
He took one last look around the room he had found himself in, this was the longest amount of time he'd spent in one place without being attacked, which inevitably meant his time here was running out, he needed to get moving.
"Isaac?" she repeated, firmly.
"Fine... I'm fine," he responded, his voice hoarse and his body almost broken, but he wasn't about to quit now. He reloaded his weapon and rolled his neck from side to side, cracking his joints and releasing the pressure before heading out on his mission once more.