Chapter 2 Plunge into Hell
Clark, Joseph, and Raphael stood in front of the elevator, despite waiting for nearly an hour the number on the screen that signified the floor where the Elevator is, still hasn't change. Raphael furiously growled as he kicked the door as hard as he could "I've had it! We've waited here long enough nothing is gonna happen if we wait another hour for this thing to start moving." He then starts pacing around trying to calm himself down.
"He's right Clark I don't know why you wanted to check up on this elevator again. We already know its not gonna start moving anytime soon." said Joriel as he was lying down on the mall floor.
Clark stood there still staring at the elevator, the look in his eyes gave Joseph assurance that they couldn't give up that easy. As if on queue Clark then look at them with a determined smile "I've got it! We surely can't wait up here forever for this elevator. So all we have to do is go down manually towards the elevator ourselves" The idea gained him strange looks coming from his two friends but he just ignored it and continued on "but first, we need something to defend ourselves with." Clark then looks at Raphael's Cleaver "I don't know about you Zen but I don't feel safe with just you holding the only weapon against Them, nor do I want to go fight them in hand to hand combat when the need arises. So I suggest we scavenge whatever we can find up here, who knows maybe will find a gun or something"
"As crazy as the first idea sounds, I don't hate the second one." Replied Raphael "Personally if one of Them appears we can't always count on a good weapon lying on the ground, so I suggest we visit that sporting goods store Beat Up, located on this floor. They only sell low quality stuff but it'll atleast help us survive long enough to get to the good stuff in the lower levels."
Joseph and Raphael then made their way to the store but after a few steps Joseph then looks back after noticing Clark was going a different way "Hey Clark where are you going? Beat Up is this way"
"Don't worry about me, I'll catch up I'll just go and check up on something in that Hardware Store over there" Replied Clark who was pointing at a store located on the opposite direction. "Just go on without me and get me a good bat while you're there."
Staying vigilant of the area Clark slowly walks towards the Hardware store, he could have sworn he heard Joseph yell something but paid no attention to it, he knew the dangers of wandering off by himself but something told him that for his plan to be a success he needed to get everything he needed as soon as possible, he didn't have a weapon of any kind on him nor did he have anyone to back him up. Encountering one of Them could only lead to one thing. "Maybe I should have done this after we went to Beat Up probably had a bigger chance if I did that." He whispered to himself.
-=Beat Up=-
"Who does he think he is, going off on his own?" said Joseph as he watched Raphael look through some baseball bats "Does he think this is some kind of game we could just die and then come back to life by loading a save file?"
Raphael examines the bat he was holding, it was probably the best one he could find in the pile, he then throws it towards Joseph who tries it out with a swing "Personally I'm not that worried about Clark, he's the kind of guy who would always have a plan B in his head when things get rough"
"I guess you're right, but he was almost dead an hour ago if you hadn't arrive" replied Joseph who then throws Raphael the bat and grabs a baseball from the shelf "Good bat by the way" he throws a ball to Raphael who connects it with a swing, hitting the ball as hard as he could and sending it crashing through Beat Up's window
"Good Swing" commented Raphael with a smirk on his face "Well he didn't know anything about Them at that time, just give him time to adjust and you'll see him running a motor through them in no time" he then pointed the bat towards Joseph "You on the other hand, should probably stay behind while we handle the fighting you get scared easily in close combat so until we get that out of your system maybe you can just fight Them from afar, maybe we can customize some darts or even a Frisbee disk with razor blades on the edges for you."
Joseph lazily replied "No thanks I think I'd rather have you two do all the fighting and I'll just stay in the background and actually live" he then grabs a dart from a nearby table and throws it towards a picture posted on the wall and completely misses "See, if I can't even hit that how in the world do you expect me to hit a moving target"
"Guess you're right, will just have to find you another weapon something that's a sure hit" said Raphael, who then turned his attention to the window they broke after hearing someone step on a shard of glass.
"Clark you're back" said Joseph as he was trying to get the dart from the wall "Sorry about the mess we kind of got carried away an-"
-=Delta Class Hardware Store=-
"Darn Their everywhere" thought Clark as he hid inside an aisle, waiting for one of Them to pass. He somehow made it to the Hardware Store without having to fight any of Them but soon found himself trapped inside the store, when a group of Them showed up
Clark then slowly walks to another aisle filled with nothing but cans of paint "I swear I just tip over a box of nails and suddenly, Their all over the place" he spots a sign that read hammers and muttered "Jackpot" he quickly slides through another aisle trying to find a way to get closer to his destination without being spotted.
He stares at the aisle next to him knowing fully well that whatever he needs is just a few feet away, he checks to see if the backpack he pick up on the way to the Hardware was still intact, but then he feels an ominous aura surround the air around, him as he then hears footsteps behind him. The young man wouldn't even dare to move knowing exactly what it was, he could hear it grow closer and closer with each passing second. The fear inside him grew with each step as he recalled the feeling he had earlier when one of Them held him with an Iron grip, mere seconds before he would have become food for the dead. "Just stay calm Clark" he told himself as he surveyed the area for any potential weapons, unfortunately the only thing the whole aisle had was bolts, and different kinds of screws "You can do this. If it attacks you attack back and kill It"
He could already feel It behind him and had already grabbed one of the largest screw within his reach and planned to use it against It. "Now or Never" Clark thought as he was gripping the screw tightly. The wind around him suddenly changes as the ominous aura disappears along with the sound of passing footsteps. He opened his eyes to find It was long gone. He put back the screw, and looked out once more for where It could have gone. "Must've been my imagination" he told himself.
After stowing the last item he needed in his back pack, Clark immediately puts it on, and grabbed a crowbar he left on the floor, he was already calculating his way out of the store. When out of nowhere he could hear the sound of glass shuttering, echoing throughout the floor, "Those guys…" he whispered with a hint of annoyance, he then hid behind one of the stands and observe one of Them. It reacted immediately to the sound and shambled his way towards it along with most of Them who had entered the Hardware store.
Waiting until all of Them were out he made his move by sprinting towards the exit, avoiding most of them by keeping a great distance between him and Them. Clark reaches Beat Up in no time but not in the state he wished, finding a hand full of Them had already beaten him to the store. He rushes towards one of Them knowing fully well that their cover was already blown and his friends could have already been Dead if he was too late, he drives the shard end of the crow bar directly on the skull and quickly removes it as another one of Them had sets It's sight on him. Clark drops the crowbar and brings out a nail gun from his backpack points it directly at It's skull but It tightlywraps It's arms around Clark nearly preventing him from breathing, with his conscious fading Clark uses his remaining strength to aim the nail gun directly on It's head and fires it point blank. After losing control of It's body It falls to the ground setting Clark free who then tries to catch his breath. Another one of Them grabs a hold of Clark from behind this time forcing him to drop the Nail gun, and with his crowbar out of reach he tries force his way out of It's Iron Grip.
It suddenly let's go of Clark and drops down on the floor followed by a decapitated head falling on the ground "Save you twice in one day, you have got to stop embarrassing yourself Clark" said Raphael who was holding on to his Cleaver dripping with blood.
"You know what they say, the best friends you can have are the one's who will always make fun of you while trying to pull you out of the fire" replied Clark he looked at Raphael and could already see it in his eyes that he was in his Sadistic Mode.
Raphael then decapitates another one while saying "Whoever said that must have been an idiot cause I've never heard it before" he was then caught off guard when Clark point his Nail gun at him, and was too slow to react when he saw Clark pull the trigger. Surprise that he was unharmed he looked behind him finding one It dropping down on the floor with dozens of nails had pierced It's head.
"Now that should make as even" Clark smirked
"Even? not even close" replied Raphael he looks around finding out that they already cleared the area of Them.
Joseph made his way out of the store and heads to Clark and Raphael, Clark hands him a Nail gun while Joseph gives him a bat "We better get out of here, that was just the first wave"
After putting the Bat inside his bag, Clark picks up the crowbar he dropped and responds "You're right we need to get out of here quick, Zen take this" Clark throws Raphael the crowbar and brings out another one from his bag. "Now let's open up that elevator and get the hell out of here"
With the combined efforts of Clark and Raphael, they eventually open the Elevator doors with help from the crowbar Clark got, only to find it empty with nothing but the cable wire mechanism use to pull the Elevator up "Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Raphael as he was covering his hands with torn off sleeves they found on some clothes lying around.
"Positive!" responded Clark "I saw them do this in an Anime once" he stared down the hole that was filled with nothing but darkness and drops his back pack along with their others weapons after a few seconds he hears echoes of its impact on the Elevator's roof. "Just don't forget to grab on tight to the cable and we should make it down alive." Without notice he jumps down and grabs ahold of the cable and slides down at such a high speed, he immediately disappears from Raphael and Joriel's sight in a matter of seconds.
"Now that looks like fun" commented Raphael who was already getting ready to jump "See you at the bottom Joriel" he then does the same as Clark and jumps without another word except the echo of him having fun.
Joseph was still having second thoughts about this, "Oh god the things this two make me do. They didn't even give me time to say No" he whispered to himself "Well atleast this is alot better than dying in Their hands" After taking a deep breath he follows his friends and jumps down the hole making sure he grabs a hold of the cable while screaming for the rest his descent.
Chapter 2.5 The Head
"We never do that again" said Joseph who was moaning in pain after landing on Clark's Backpack, he along with Clark and Raphael we're lying flat on the ground. "What did you even put inside that bag Clark? It felt like it would have been less painful if I just landed on the elevator"
Clark chuckled as he look up trying to see how far did they fall down " You have to admit though that was kind of fun" he commented he stands up and says "By the way I think I found out what Their weakness is"
"The Head" answered Raphael, he stands up as well with a grin on his face "Thats old news Clark"
"Well sorry we just woke up couple of hours ago, its not our fault we didn't hear the news about Them 101" replied Clark who was searching the floor for something. "But it does fit everything we've seen so far, even if you cut of Their arms they will still keep moving, even if you beat them to a pulp They will just stand up again and attack. The only way for a sure kill is to strike their head" Clark then points at his temples "Specifically the brain"
Joseph then finally stands up as well and searches Clark's Backpack bringing out the Nail gun that was given to him earlier, he aims it at a wall and pulls the trigger. "Still a bad shot, even without the recoil" he sighed "isn't that kind of unfair for us? They can just bite our arms off and we die, while even if we cut their arms and legs they'll still try to come after us"
Clark finds the hatch for the elevator planted on the ground with a wheel attached to it, he grabs it with both of his hands and tries to turn it. But to no avail "Shut tight" he whispered. He goes back to his backpack and gets two pairs of gloves and hands a pair over to Raphael "Do you mind giving me a hand here Zen?" he asked.
Raphael takes it and puts them on while he whispered with a grin on his face "Always the muscle" the two then head over to the hatch, both of them grabbing a side of the wheel and then tries to turn it. While Joseph just stands in one side practicing with the Nail gun.