Jake Muller was not a subtle being by nature. He'd never been one for stealth missions. And while he was hardly inexperienced when it came to B.O.W.s, Ustanak had so far proven tough enough to actually force Jake to run rather than beat its mutated face in.

And it turned out that it wasn't just obscenely durable, either. He had built in bloodhounds to boot.

Jake was a good shot, even if he preferred to use his fists whenever possible. So it had been the easiest thing in the world to take aim and shoot one of those creepy flapping bats out of the air.

Later on, he'd kick himself for that, but it had made sense at the time. His pistol was modded and silenced, and there had been no sign of Ustanak in front of or behind them. Sherry had even looked relieved as the thing dropped to the ground with a wet little "plop", its sickly green blood oozing out over the ice.

But then the look of relief in Sherry's expression faded into one of terror, the blood draining from her face, and Jake knew why, because he heard the thunder of lumbering but powerful footfalls off in the distance, echoing off the walls, but unmistakably approaching them.

"Shit," said Jake, stepping back. "He found us!" With how narrow the passageway was, he felt confident that Ustanak was coming at them from up ahead. All that meant was that there was only one way to run, making it easy for it to chase them down.

They ran anyway, even though the sounds of their retreat on the ice beneath their feet probably did as much to alert Ustanak as the gunshot had done. They probably would have run right past the bin they'd passed earlier if Sherry hadn't bounced off of it in her haste, stumbling and staring at it as though it were a ferocious B.O.W. Jake ran on for a few feet more just from sheer momentum before he spun round to face her. "Sherry, come on!" he yelled – there was no point in being quiet now.

Or so he thought. Sherry seemed to think otherwise. She looked up at him, eyes wide and frightened, and then pressed a finger to her lips. "Quick!" she hissed, her voice tight with fear. "Hide!" Then she eased up the lid of the bin and slipped inside.

Jake looked left, then right. Ustanak was only coming nearer. However it was sensing them, it had their scent. He had no idea if hiding would do any good.

Running sure as hell wouldn't do any good, however, so he ducked in after Sherry, managing not to slam the lid down after him. Immediately, he thought they were doomed. The damn lid didn't even close all the way – there was a gap of inches left between the rim of the bin and the lid.

But he ducked down with Sherry as much as he could and held his breath. Seconds ticked by as Ustanak ran nearer, and nearer, and nearer, and then stopped, and Jake could just see a sliver of the hulking monster, looking around, sniffing them out. The sound of its drill was a whine that set his teeth on edge.

Part of Jake just wanted to leap out and attack. He didn't want to wait for Ustanak to sniff them out here and rip this bin apart like it was the tin and they were the sardines. It would surely happen any second, how could it not be able to sense them cowering two feet away, or look down and see them…

Miraculously, it didn't. It didn't see them, it didn't smell them, and with Jake and Sherry doing their damndest not to show any signs of life, it sure as hell didn't hear them. After a few tense seconds, it lumbered away, and kept going.

Only when the sound of it had receded to a distant rumble did Jake and Sherry exhale identical sighs of relief.

"When's it our turn to chase him?" Jake grumbled, opening the door and getting out of the bin. Sherry smiled weakly as she followed him.

"So I think it's safe to say those bugs aren't the only way he can hear," she said. "Or else they've spread so far through this cave that one of them heard the other one die."

"Sure," said Jake. He didn't really care how Ustanak was finding them, only that those bugs were at least partially responsible. In fact, he cared more about the fact that he'd nearly brought violent, bloody death down on their heads.

Sherry was talking like she had a plan, at least, and she seemed to be on a roll in that regard. "Shooting them is going to make too much noise. I couldn't even see him before, but he almost had us."

"I noticed." At least she had the decency not to say "I told you so", or some smug shit like that. Maybe she just didn't see the need to kick him for being stupid when Jake was doing that himself. Why waste the effort when they still had so many other problems to face?

"Maybe we can sneak up on them."

"I thought you would have noticed, being a good little government type. Guns tend to make a pretty loud bang, no matter how good you are at sneaking up on someone. Guns are there so you don't have to sneak up on something."

"I know that." She frowned up at him, which meant she ran right into his arm as he flung it out to stop her. Looking up, she saw why. There was a wavering blue light visible at the corner, and as they watched, it drew nearer, accompanied by the flapping of wings.

Jake stepped back. Maybe, if they got near enough to the bin, they could duck inside it more quickly after he shot it. Sherry, however, stayed squared her shoulders and set her jaw, determined despite her fear.

"I mean like this," she whispered.

She moved back with him enough to keep out of its light, and even five feet away, that proved to be enough. Finally, it seemed to overextend its reach, and turned around to flap away back the way it had come.

That was when Sherry struck. She stepped forward, once, twice, until she was close enough to strike like a snake with a chop to the thing's body. The force drove it against the ice with a damp little "splat", killing it instantly.

They stayed frozen for a few seconds, staring at it warily just to make sure. The bug didn't so much as twitch, however, and then they let themselves breathe again. Sherry looked back at Jake, smiling in relief, and he felt himself smiling as well.

"Nice shot, super girl," he said, and meant it.

She seemed to have a sense for when to move in against these things, so Jake let her take point as they crept along. He kept close behind and beside her, watching their backs and ready to shove her behind him if things went sour from the front. She seemed to have things handled, and there was no point getting in her way. Swatting bugs was a one person job, even mutant glowing bugs.

So it went. They left a path of dead mutant bugs behind them like a demented trail of breadcrumbs. It was almost methodical work, at least up until they reached the door and found it swarming.

Jake and Sherry, without a word exchanged between them, hid in the bin situated in the corner while they tried to decide how to proceed.

"I guess he know we'd come this way eventually," Sherry whispered, peering out through the gap.

"There's the door," said Jake, nodding to where it was just visible from their hiding place. "We could make a break for it. Feeling lucky?"

"Honestly? Not a bit."

"Yeah, me neither." But even from here, he could see the blue lights in the lowered paths, wavering with the flaps of the bug's wings. It looked like one continuous mass down there, even if he couldn't see individual bugs over the railing. Jake couldn't see any way that they were getting across without getting spotted by at least one, and having it turn into a mad dash anyway.

Better to die than be killed.

Even as he thought that thought, Sherry seemed to agree with him. Or, at the least, she lifted the lid and clambered back out of the bin. Jake eased out after her, watching her back as she crept to the short flight of stairs leading down.

"Sherry?" he asked, keeping his voice as low as he could.

"Watch out for the big guy," she hissed back. "I don't want him sneaking up on us. But…I'm going in."

Disbelieving, Jake moved to the edge beside her and looked down. There were about as many bugs as he'd guessed there to be, maybe more, all flapping industriously and scoping out the area. He saw that there were, briefly, little patches of shadow where their circles of searchlights didn't meet. He wasn't sure he believed that those little patches of shadow would be enough even for someone as tiny as Sherry.

She seemed to think otherwise. Without another word, she started slowly and carefully down the steps. Jake could have reached out and stopped her, but it probably would have made her stumble, lose her rhythm, and definitely get her spotted. So he didn't. Instead, he moved to the mouth of the passageway to wait, and keep watch.

Despite himself, he couldn't help glancing worriedly back at her every few seconds. Each and every time, she was still standing, and out of the light, and moving like she knew what she was doing. Every so often, he heard the by now comforting squishy sound of a bug being splatted.

It was like a dance, and then Jake discarded that thought almost as soon as he had it. It was like she was a coyote, and they were the dumbass hens. She knew when to step back, but only to wait for a moment where she could keep up the attack.

"Stay on your toes, super girl," he said, as she retreated briefly to the stairs. And she did.

Ustanak caught them soon after they passed through the door, however, but at least they had a head start.

I actually had Jake on A.I. for this chapter, and I found it interesting that as a result, he usually stayed behind me or waited by the bin. This section was my attempted explanation for what he would have been thinking during this stage, if that were the case. I think one of my favorite moments in the game was Jake saying, "Stay on your toes, super girl" as I was taking out Oko. And not one of those little bastards ever spotted me, either.