Chapter Seven: No One Is Invincible

A/N: :: Bites the finger that poked her. :
I know, I know. I deserve a kick in the ass for taking so long.. I been depressed and sick, now. My mom was kind enough to share the flu with me. --; Don't you just love when your family does that? But anyways, on with our story. I hope to maybe get to 100 reviews... Perhaps you could assist me with that?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The thing slowly slunk towards a gaping Lara, disgustingly long tongue dragging behind it on the ground. A trail of blood marked its path, still dribbling and oozing off of that eely and purplish appendage. Lara whimpered uncontrollably, shaking hard, her eyes darting back and forth between the grinning licker and Subject T, who was busy trying to force himself to his feet.

"Shit..I don't want to die here...!"

Tears formed in her wide eyes, spilling over paled cheeks and falling unnoticed onto the vest. The licked stopped when it was within perhaps two feet of her, nostrils flaring as it took in the fresh scent of fear. Subject T yowled and stumbled forward, his vision tinted red and his body burning with fresh waves of pain. He gnashed his teeth at the licker, who had by now turned to stare blankly at him, drooling and foaming blood and saliva all over himself and making a general mess. Yet still he staggered forward, whimpering and growling and moaning all in the same instance.

- What the fuck are you DOING?! - Lara's mind screamed, awestruck that he could even be walking with an injury of that caliber. Wiping the back of her arm across her face to brush away the tears that blurred her vision, she stared dumbly at the gaping wound in Subject T's stomach, gushing more blood with each heavy step he took. One part of her wanted to run to him, for some UNGODLY reason help him; the other was repulsed beyond belief and merely wished to shrivel up and vanish. The licker hissed dryly, more a taunting and victorious sound than a sound of warning, its beady eyes glittering triumphantly as it took in the damage it had done to Subject T.

Subject T locked his eyes onto the gloating licker's, a faint growl rising in his throat as he tried to force himself further forward. His legs felt like putty beneath him, wobbling and threatening to give way. Lara bit hard into her lower lip, until she noticed the coppery taste of blood. She blinked, having felt no pain, but kept her eyes and mind focused on Subject T. Her mind screamed words of encouragement to him, her hands clasped in front of her like some kind of a mother trying to get her child to walk to her; eyes wide in terror and desperation.

The licker took a couple of wary steps to the side, both away from Lara and out of the path of the angry-looking thing that was steadily coming closer, its eyes narrowing and webbed claw/fingers flexing. Subject T bared his blood-covered teeth at it, and it shrunk back, tongue lifting into the air defensively. Obviously, its nerve had gone somewhere off into La-La Land, and wasn't coming back anytime soon...

Subject T crouched down weakly, making as if to leap for the now very nervous-looking licker, his eyes narrowing and glittering dangerously. Just as he prepared to launch himself through the air, the licker's tongue shot forward and wrapped around one of his ankles, making him cry out in pain and shock. The tongue tightened around Subject T's burning ankle, and with one sharp yank, he was on his back on the floor. Lara cried out in her own shock, which must have surprised the licker, because it glanced towards her, tongue still attatched to the writhing Subject T.

Glaring hard at the licker, Lara leapt at it, finding herself pleased at the cry of shock it uttered as she landed on its back. Wrapping her arms around its neck and her legs around its waist, she braced herself, made a face, and bit hard into the thing's shoulder. It yowled, rearing back, flailing its short arms and trying to claw at her, but she pressed herself close against its back and bit harder, her stomach reeling from the sour taste of its slimy flesh.

His vision clearing from that hard fall, Subject T lifted his head with a very unhappy sounding moan, and stared at the brawling Lara and licker. He blinked, wondering what had gotten into the cowering woman that had been there only a few moments ago, before forcing himself to a sitting position. Then, he finally noticed that that horridly slimy tongue was still wrapped around his charred ankle. He hissed angrily, and the licker stopped struggling against the attacking female to stare stupidly at Subject T as he moved his hand toward its tongue. Lara pulled her mouth back, spitting and moaning softly from the taste that burned her lips, the licker's blood running down her chin. She took a deep breath, gagging repeatedly, and let go of the licker, falling onto her back.

Subject T snarled viciously at this, wrapping his fingers around the tongue that had by now blackened the flesh around his right ankle. He lifted his eyes and stared hard into the face of the licker, then grinned maliciously, giving that writhing tongue a sharp yank and sending the licker face-first onto the floor. It yowled and spat and hissed, trying to yank its tongue from his grasp, while scrabbling its claws against the cement.

One of its motoring feet caught Lara in the chest, pressing her back against the wall and crushing her breasts briefly before going back to waving through the air, leaving Lara panting. Subject T decided that he had had quite enough of all this nonsense, and slowly pushed himself to his feet. He squeezed the tongue hard between his fingers, leaving the licker-thing screaming in pain and frustration. As he felt his fingers burn, he gritted his teeth, stepping forward towards the squealing thing on the ground before him. An animalistic anger burned in his deep charcoal eyes, and he lifted his foot, pressing it against the squirming head of the licker and pinning it solidly to the ground, watching as it stared up at him.

Lara took this opportunity to scoot away, quite sure she knew what was coming next, her eyes wide in fear and still evident disgust from her little taste-test. Pondering for a moment, Subject T stooped down over the licker, tongue in hand, and began to wrap it around the thing's neck. Carefully and slowly, sometimes ending up cutting into the slimy thing because of how much it squirmed, he wrapped the tongue around three or four times before stopping, glancing to his mate and grinning wickedly.

Taking told of the very end of the tongue and part of it near the base, Subject T pressed his foot in a tiny bit harder and began to pull on both ends of that slippery appendage, feeling it close in around the thing's airway. It began to squeak and toss and writhe, struggling for air as he pulled tighter, until he decided to stop, watching it squirm helplessly beneath his clawed toes. He growled at it, nonunderstandable words of hatred and anger that had boiled up inside him, his voice fluctuating in an almost human tone. Lara stared, open-mouthed at the scene, leaning back on her hands and blinking stupidly at the impossibility of it all.

After a few more agonizingly high pitched squeaks, the licker gave one last shove of its body against the ground, then went still, eyes rolling back into its head. Subject T released the tongue and stumbled back, staring hard at the foul-smelling thing, his eyes cold. Lara pressed one hand against the wall and got to her feet, taking a couple of wary steps toward him, inwardly hoping he hadn't blown some kind of mental fuse and wouldn't turn and slice her head off.

He slowly turned to look at her, and she sunk her teeth into her lower lip, her eyes lowering to lock onto the wound. It looked worse now, the flesh swollen and black from where the tongue had burned it. The blood flow was tapering off, but still trickled freely down his back and stomach, dripping lightly onto the floor and mingling with the spilled blood of the three lickers he had killed. As her eyes lifted back to his face, Lara's breath caught in her throat. That cold expression had turned to one of utter agony, and when Subject T whimpered, it was all she would do to not go to him and cradle him like some kind of hurt puppy.

- What are you thinking, for Chrissake?! He...RAPED..you..! He's not some lost little puppy in some gutter in an alley! He's a..freak! -

But something in her gut told her otherwise. Something in those hurt and humanesque obsidian eyes called to her, and she just didn't know what to do. She growled to herself under her breath, trying to force all of this nonsense from her head, but she just COULDN'T, and turned, slamming her injured fist against the wall.

"DAMMIT!"

Her curse echoed through the hallways. Lara grimaced, and shook her head, wondering what the hell had gotten into her. She took a couple of deep breaths, and opened her eyes again, letting them come back into focus on the ugly, steel walls of the restricted lab area. She knew that in order to get out of this alive, she'd have to stick with Subject T. As much as she either loved..or hated... the idea, it was her only hope of survival with no weapons and no backup. For all she knew, there might not even be a way out of this hellhole..

Sighing, she slowly turned to face Subject T, deciding she'd try to communicate with him. Except he wasn't there. She looked around, then finally glanced down. Lying on his back was a half-unconscious Subject T, looking somehow pale and worn out. His breathing was shallow and ragged, and his eyes were beginning to glaze. Lara's heart skipped several beats.

"Oh, god... No.. "

She dropped to her knees next to his head and gently pulled it into her lap, trying her best to ignore the blood that began to soak its way into her jeans. Gazing down at Subject T's face, she some reason found herself stroking the side of his face, trying to soothe the whimpers that escaped his throat. She shook her head and moved her eyes again to the wound, biting her lower lip and wincing just from the sight.

Slowly sliding his head from her lap and laying it back on the cement, she got to her feet and boldy jogged to the end of the hallway, to the T junction. She stared straight in front of her, to a door marked "RESTRICTED". Well, durr. She was already in the restricted zone. Not like it mattered if she went in there, right? She knew there HAD to be some form of medical care center around here.. There just HAD to.

Turning back, she ran as fast as she could back to his side, and knelt for some reason forcing a dry and determined smile, speaking more to herself than anyone.

"You are NOT going to die down here. "

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Need.. Caffeine... rgh... 12:38 am... blah. Review. Now. Please. TT;