Okay, so I thought the last chapter was really short, so I'm giving you another chapter to read on the dame day. Yay!

Anyway, here it is, chapter 3. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doom, only Penny.

Chapter 3

I'm startled awake, and for a moment, I don't know where I am. My mind is still drifting in the endless oblivion of sleep. I carefully look around me and find I'm in some kind of large vent, with wires and conduits running through it. It's dark, the light coming through the grating is minimal, if nonexistent. My thoughts continue to wander about why the fuck I'm in what seems to be the maintenance shaft, let alone sleeping in it, then everything comes crashing down on me. I remember Carmack and the monster. I must have fallen asleep in here as the adrenalin wore off. I blink back a floodgate of tears threatening to burst through the dam. I can't lose myself now, not until I'm totally out of here and safe. And I don't know what woke me up in the first place.

I strain my ears for any sound, any indication of what startled me awake. At first I don't hear anything, but then the sound of running comes from the distance. I can hear heavy footsteps as they run along the corridor. There's more than one, and shouts begin to drift towards me as they near. Is that gunfire? It's help! Help has finally come! Maybe now I can get out of here.

"It's moving fast!"

"Confirm contact moving fast down the south corridor."

I can hear more bullets echoing through the silence and shouts. I breathe heavily as the sounds begin to move away. Oh no. No, please. Come back! Please! I scream in my heard for no one to hear. It's a wonder why they didn't hear me, I think sarcastically.

I quickly and silently push the grating off the shaft, leaving it on the ground, as I move towards the gunfire and help.

Still fearing what may lay ahead, I creep slowly, but determinedly. My heart begins to race, and my breathing becomes more forced. I can do this. It's going to be okay, Penny. Help has arrived. The marines. RRTS. They'll protect me. For a split second I wondered if it was John's team, but pushed that thought out of my head. He wouldn't come back here in a million years. No way.

After the accident killed his parents and mine, any mention of Olduvai would set him off into a quickly depreciating state of unease and melancholy. I learned to avoid the subject completely. Which is why, when I got a job here, I didn't tell him. I couldn't. I knew he'd worry about me incessantly until I was back on earth. Then he'd try everything he could to get me to quit Olduvai. No. It was best not to tell him. And since I made my idiot cousin, and John's best friend, promise to not mention it, he'll never find out. I hope he never finds out!

I take a deep courage gathering breath to clear my tired and wandering thoughts, and move around the corner. At least they've stopped shooting. I won't get hit by any stray bullets. As I get nearer I can hear talking. I get closer and hear what they're saying.

"Sam I told you to stay."

"But he knows me, John." Is that Sam's voice? It seems like weeks since I last heard the sound of her voice. I saw her for dinner only hours ago. "Doctor Carmack, it's me, Samantha. Where are the others? Where are they? Steve? Hillary? Where's Penny?" I get closer, and see Sam kneeling on the floor. She's dressed in her usual white, her blonde hair up and out of her face. "I'm not going to hurt you." She says soothingly.

I stop dead in my tracks when I see Carmack in the corner on the floor, clutching a severed arm. He and Sam are surrounded by men in black RRTS military uniforms and guns in their hands. They watch him carefully as Sam tends to Carmack.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Sam repeats soothingly.

Carmack suddenly drops the severed arm and in one quick, fluid motion, he rips his ear off and discards it on the ground. Sam gasps and swears, and stares at the severed ear and Carmack, unable to understand why he would do such a thing. "Get a med kit." She shouts, holding out her hand.

"Oh my." Someone chuckles.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Sam repeats.

Carmack slumps against the wall, suddenly tired, his energy spent. He keeps licking his lips and his eyes dart all around him, unfocused and confused, until they land on me, and his eyes focus.

"Duke, you and Doctor Grimm will take Doctor Carmack to the infirmary. Portman, Kid, go to the airlock and dig in. Anything trying to to get away from us will get driven straight to you. Now let's see if we can find the body that goes with that arm." A giant soldier, obviously the leader, ordered his men, his voice stern and leaves no room for argument.

Carmack leans forward, towards me. "Penny." My name escapes his lips like a long forgotten secret, turning the air cold. It sounded sad, and relieved, and surprised all at the same time. My heart felt heavy. As the men start to move on their OC's orders, they spot me and stop dead in their tracks.

I shake my head in disbelief. "You're dead." I breathe quietly, my mind struggling to believe what I'm seeing. It can't be true. I saw him killed by the monster. Sam turns to me, having heard me, or Carmack. I don't know which.

"Penny." Sam says my name, relief evident on her face as she stands up and turns to me. "Thank god, you're okay." She breathes.

I barely register one of the men walk slowly towards me. My eyes are on Carmack, our gazes locked. Carmack's neck and the left side of his head is covered in blood. He looks really pale, and his skin is coated in a fine layer of sweat. Carmack shifts forward, and reaches his hand out to me, the sudden movement startling me. I take a few steps back, shaking my head repeatedly, my composure falling apart, before I turn on my heels and run. "No, no, no, no." I say over and over again.

"Penny!" Someone shouts my name but I don't stop. My body is reacting on its own, desperate to get away. Carmack is dead. That isn't Carmack. It's not safe here. I must get back to my vent.

"Penny, stop!" I hear the voice again and it rings the a bell of recognition and familiarity, but I don't know why, and I can't look back now. I'm scared of what I might see.

I still hear my name being shouted behind me, and I can hear footsteps. They're fast and loud so they're running behind me. Adrenalin from my fight or flight response courses through my veins and fuels me, and let's me run faster.

"Penny!"

"Doctor Cohen!"

"Stop!"

I can hear the shouts but I can't stop. My body keeps moving regardless of what my brain is telling it. All those years of track in high school has trained me to have a runners body. Even after high school I kept on running. I loved the freedom of running. From the sounds of the footsteps and the shouting, I'm outrunning whoever is chasing me.

As I turn a few corners I near the maintenance shaft I previously occupied and dive for it. For safety. I quickly pull the grating into place and back away from it, sitting in the foetal position. Then I freeze completely when I hear the footsteps draw closer. I try to calm my breathing and stay quiet. I can feel tears flowing freely down my face.

"Where'd she go?" I hear a voice.

"I don't know."

"She disappeared."

"Penny!" There's another voice. Like before this one still sounds familiar. My ears and my mind still buzzes with with terror and adrenalin.

After a few moments of silence I can see someone squat beside me through the grating. "Penny?" He says. For a split second my heart stops at being found out but then my mind starts to work. I know that voice. John?

He easily pries off the grating from the wall and leans it against the wall next to the shaft. I look straight into John's eyes and frown. Is it really him? The last time I saw him was three years ago. He looks a little older now, and his slight beard growth makes him look more rough around the edges. But he still has those hazel green eyes that can always seem to look straight through me.

"Hey, Penny." He says gently, as though talking to a child.

"John?" I somehow find my voice and it's full of disbelief.

"Yeah. It's me." He gives me a small smile to reassure me.

"I didn't think you'd come." I say.

His expression falters ever so slightly. "I had to." He says quietly, as his gaze studies me. "You okay?" He asks. "You hurt?" He's looking at something on my dress and when a glance down I can see the blood even in the darkness.

I look back at him. "It's not mine." I whisper "I-I don't know where-It's not mine." I stutter. Where did the blood come from?

He seems to see the panic in my face and tries to calm. "It's okay, it's okay. You're okay."

I nod, choosing to rather focus on him than on my bloodied clothes. Where did the blood come from? I've been crawling around vents and creeping along walls, so I guess I may have picked it up from anywhere. I try not to think whose it is.

Another man, a soldier I'd guess since he's dressed the same as John, comes down to my level. He crouches next to John and peers into the shaft, straight at me.

"Doctor Cohen, I'm Sergeant Mahonin, but you can call me Sarge. Glad to see you're doing alright." He says, his voice stern and controlled. "Is there anyone else alive?" He asks.

I frown. "I don't think so." I shake my head.

"What happened?" John asks.

"I don't know. It came out of nowhere and killed everyone." I answer, trying to keep my voice calm.

"Wait, it? What the fuck is it?" Comes an irritated voice from behind them, I can't see him.

"Shut it, Portman!" Shouts Sarge over his shoulder. Portman huffs in impatience. Sarge and John turn back to me.

I answer Portman anyway. "I don't know what 'it' is. Doctor Carmack said it was an accident, that they made a mistake."

"Doctor Carmack said that?" Sarge asks.

I nod. "Yes. Right before he was killed."

John and Sarge glance at each other. "Penny, Doctor Carmack is alive, you saw him." John says.

"I know but..well...I never saw him die, but the screams..." My voice cracks as the memory flashes in my mind. "There's no way he could've survived."

"Can you describe it?" Sarge asks.

"Not really, it was dark. It's big and fast. The best way to describe it...it's a monster." I reply.

"A monster? We're not here to fight a fucking monster. It's just some crazy employee with a gun." Portman shouts again with irritation.

"Portman!" Sarge warns with a menacing voice. Portman quietens then.

"Penny, I think you were scared, and your imagination got the best of you." John says in a matter of fact voice. Wrong thing to say. My eyes snap to his.

"I know what I saw, John. I wasn't hallucinating." Surprisingly, I sounded stronger than I've felt in hours, but my rational mind begins to process things. A monster? What the hell, Penny. You may as well have said aliens have come to invade Mars. "Maybe." I end off, now starting to doubt what I've experienced.

John looks at me with concern and pity. "Come on, let's get you out of here and to the infirmary. Sound good?" I nod in agreement and he holds his hand out to me.

I take his hand, so much warmer and more confident than mine, and helps me out of the maintenance shaft. He smiles a small smile of triumph down at me once I'm out.

I glance around me and see that I'm standing in front of a small group of marines all dressed in black and very heavily armed. I'm introduced to them all. Portman, Destroyer, The Kid, Goat, and John was Reaper.

"Goat, escort Doctor Cohen to the infirmary." Goat nods. "In the meantime, we have a body to find to go with that arm." Sarge orders.

"I'll take her." John pipes up, glancing at me.

Sarge glares down at John, who holds the gaze confidently, before glancing at Goat. Goat shrugs.

"Alright. Reaper takes Doctor Cohen to the infirmary. You have five minutes."

"Wait, why does Reaper get to take the pretty lady doctor? Let me take her." Portman leers at me and I shift uncomfortably. I'd rather not spend any time with this creep.

"Move out, Portman." Sarge orders, steering Portman away from us. Goat and Destroyer dip their head in acknowledgment before following their leader. I turn to John.