Hey guys, again, sorry for the delay, still trying to get adjusted to this job and some other things.
Anyways, on with the show!
"We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out." Tennessee Williams.
Chapter 9, Fleeing From Terror
RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN! Even with all of the insane terror from before, it didn't come close to matching the fear that coursed through Angela's body as she and her friends sprinted through the darkness, away from the twisted monstrosities and towards their goal. The pounding of footsteps upon the steps, both from their own feet and from those demonic puppets that pursued them, combined into a frantic, horrific cacophony. Angered clicks and growls came from the darkness behind them and what little light they had would sometimes reveal mangled limbs, torn faces, glowing eyes, and other atrocities.
Despite them only having to go up two flights of stairs, it felt like twenty.
Leaping onto the third floor, the team frantically searched for where to go next. To buy some time, Max armed and threw a flashbang grenade at the horde of abominations and made sure to tell everyone to look away.
A blinding light blasted and pained shrieks cried out in confusion and sounds of stumbling came from behind them.
"Here!" Nash yelled, his biomech eye used an infrared scanner and he could see a sign that indicated where the core vault was. He pointed his light towards a doorway and everyone scrambled for it.
The hallway was long, and quickly turned into a covered-walkway that led towards a tall spire. Angela looked to the sides, she saw multiple other walkways that led into the spire before looking back and saw the grotesque figures pursuing them in the dark.
Her muscles burned, her lungs struggled to breathe in the musty, irradiated air as they neared the end of the walkway. The pain of running up the stairs and the adrenaline rush made her whole body incredibly sore. The sense of peril and the primal instinct to flee made her heart pound hard and fast.
Nash reached the doorway first. He saw that the thick door was still intact and he grabbed onto the handle with his mechanical arm. "COME ON! COME ON!" He waved his free hand as they drew closer.
A scream rang out as one of the monsters pounced.
The panicked ex-tyrant grabbed a knife from the kitchen and held it at the ready. He wondered where the blasted guards were and headed quickly for the exit door. His hand was a mere inch away from the knob, when loud pounding came from the other side. It was angry and intense and he jumped back. How was the sound not getting any attention?!
He looked to his right and saw the encrypted comm unit he had gotten and his heart soared as he picked it up. He tried to reach Yates but then his heart sank when the device didn't respond. He flipped it over and the power cell had been removed. Frustrated and scared, he tossed it aside and yelled.
He then remembered something and ran for his room. He slammed the door shut as he dove under his bed to retrieve the pistol Reap had given him. He pulled the revolver out and sat with his back against the bed.
Joram was given a quick overview on how to use the weapon, it was enough to use it effectively. He had even proven to be a decent shot, even with his novice use of such a thing. Still, he knew he wouldn't be all that good against anything beyond medium range but that didn't really matter given the size of the place. He checked to see if the cylinder was loaded, which it was and he snapped it back into place. The gun slightly shook in his nervous hands as he approached the door. He held the gun down as he reached for the knob and turned it slowly.
His chest nearly exploded as a loud bang came from the window of the bedroom. He glanced backwards as he yanked the door open, a red liquid was splattered on the window and some of it was smeared to form the word, "Hello".
A shudder ran up his spine as he quickly left the room and shut the door hard.
Gun now firmly held in hand, he made a beeline for the front door. Another chill was triggered when he say that one of the double doors was wide-open. Still, he didn't want to stick around to find out so he bolted for it.
Yelling came from his lungs as a painful, electric shock drove its way through his system, knocking him onto his back. The rag-masked terror was pointing his first two fingers at him and electrical sparks arced over the tips of them. Joram twitched and whimpered for a moment before he regained control of his body and bolted back into his lodging. He slammed the door shut and locked it, he leaned his back against it, his chest pumping air frantically as fear and panic and pain was all through his system.
He looked down and saw the gun and suddenly he felt stupid. In his panic, he had forgotten he could have called for help all along with the gun. He held it high and aimed it at the roof before pulling the trigger three times.
Click! Click! Click!
"The hell?!"
A tapping from a window caught his attention and he looked up. It was the sack-masked devil and he waved before holding up his other hand. In it, was the rounds from his gun and the box of ammo for it.
Joram growled, both in anger and frustration, but also out of fear and panic, the lack of options started to make his mind frantic for any kind of out from this situation.
Forest yelled as one of the monstrosities had landed on his back and pulled him off of Jesse. He screamed as the deformity started to viciously cutting into his back and neck.
Jesse was running so fast, that by the time he had turned to help, he was too far away and multiple other monsters pounced at the wounded and terrified scout.
His partner's eyes went wide, Val felt a strong twinge of fear and dread upon hearing him yell out. She looked over her shoulder and saw the horrors nearly on top of him, the one that tackled him was trying to cut him up. She yelled his name in a pained terror and it took everything within her to resist trying to go back and save him. There were too many of the demonic ghouls and they were all over him. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought back about all of the missions she served with him.
Angela also looked back and gasped as she ran into the doorway. Glancing over to Forest, she saw the doomed sniper pull out a grenade.
"Come and get it you mother...!" He yelled as he ignited the explosive.
A blinding light and deafening explosion, due to the closed walkway, rang out. Shrieks came from the monsters as the closest ones to the blast were obliterated, the others seemed to be stunned.
Max and Jesse were the last ones to run in and the blast propelled them into the doorway.
Nash yelled and slammed the heavy, metal door shut.
Everyone was panting, trying to catch their breath. Even with their enhancements, the speed they needed to escape pushed them to their limits. No regular person, even in the best of shape, would have been able to outrun them.
"F-Forest..." Val choked out as she collapsed against a wall. "C-can't believe this..." She sniffled and wiped her eyes and nose.
The head of the team punched the wall, he growled in anger and loss.
"He bought us time," Max said with a reverent tone, "He was brave and bought us some space and we can't waste it."
Nash looked down and sighed, "We won't forget you brother..."
Seth took a deep breath and looked back at the group. "Max is right, catch your breath and then let's move out ASAP. Let's get a damn core and get the hell out of this hellhole!"
Angela offered a hand to Val, who was, understandably, still shook up emotionally. She looked up at Angela before taking her hand stood up.
"Let's take a look around," Seth stated as he lit a lamp. Warm, yellow light pierced the near-pitch-black darkness and revealed a nearby security checkpoint that guarded another door. It was quickly apparent that the door was locked so Seth called Nash over.
The cybernetic lombax grabbed onto the latch with his mechanical arm and pulled hard. He grunted and strained for a few tense moments before a creaking sound rang out, followed by the door sliding open. Nash groaned again as it revealed a short hallway before ending in another, closed door. "Looks like an airlock or quarantine chamber." He sighed and started trying to pull the second door open as well.
Angela and Max looked at each other, hoping that they were right and that the prize they had worked so hard, lost new friends, and endured such a terrorizing experience, would be there.
A loud, old-sounding groan rang out as the door protested being opened but cracked a bit. Like opening a dam, a wave of radiation escaped the chamber and everyone there yelped. They all began to feel nauseous as throbbing headaches beat them hard. Intense dizziness and a sensation of heat also rushed over them, though those two symptoms quickly faded as the others were slightly weakened.
"Must be... close..." Seth groaned and stumbled to his feet, soon followed by the others.
Max pulled out a glow stick, activated it, and tossed it into the unknown chamber. From what little the red light revealed, it looked to be quite a large chamber as nothing was revealed beyond the radius of light. The remaining team, save for Les, turned on their lights and scanned the area.
Lining the walls were rows upon rows of shelves, most were empty. However, a few had the mysterious orbs resting on them. The majority of the spheres weren't on the shelves, but on the ground, unbroken. The misting bands of red and white ebbed and flowed across the black orbs and glowed slightly, providing almost not light. They just danced and swayed like mist coming off a lake or like blood or ink in water. Very faint sounds akin to whispers seemed to rise from them.
Their lights also revealed holes and cracks in the structure, allowing the potent energy to spill into the ruins.
"Let's hurry..." Angela stated urgently as sounds of scuttling and distant howls rang out.
Joram sat down at the main table of his abode and held his head, trying to figure out what to do next. He was unarmed, there were at least two of these intruders lurking around, he had yelled and tried to raise an alarm unsuccessfully. He needed an opening to run for it, get out of the confines of this place, but how could he do that? There has to be another way out...
He got up started scouring the place for an escape route and also looked out each window to try and spot the stalkers.
The scared, ex-tyrant couldn't find the intruders but he did manage to find what he thought would be the best solution. There was a window in the kitchen, big enough for him to climb through and onto a ledge that rested a few feet below it. From there he could make his way to the ground and get some help.
Reaching the window, he grunted as he started to pull up on it. It seemed to be jammed just enough that it would be difficult.
A knock on a door, not the front door but one inside the residence made Joram jump with a rush of horror. He quickly grabbed a knife from the nearby block and leapt into the pantry. He quietly slid the door mostly shut, leaving a small crack just wide enough to peek out of.
From the hall that led to his bedroom, he saw a figure emerge. It was the sack-masked stalker, wearing a dark suit and creep walked silently into the living room and stood still as he looked around. Joram covered his mouth and hoped the creepy intruder would move on.
It was silent and the scared lombax struggled to reign in his breathing. It and his heartbeat sounded like a hurricane and an earthquake to him. The intruder stood like a statue before sitting at the main table and sighed deeply.
Joram resisted the urge to groan before his heart leapt into his throat as he was nearly instantly greeted a porcelain-doll-like face that popped up in front of his door and stared back at him. He yelped out of reflex and jumped back, holding his knife up. "GO AWAY!"
The doll-faced creep threw the door open and kicked his wrist. Joram yelped and yelled as pain shot through his wrist and a light popping noise indicated it was injured in some degree. He didn't have much time to respond as he was grabbed and thrown out of the pantry. He did manage to use the momentum to roll onto his feet and tried to bolt for the door.
A dark-grey cloud appeared in front of his face, making him cough and stumble a bit before intense panic and terror seized his mind. Dark phantoms sprouted from the ground and charged him, the masked three standing around suddenly became twisted demons with darkness and pained screams coming from them. Fire appeared from their eyes and around them, many decayed, lombax corpses came from the ground as well. Dread began to pour into Joram's very being as he looked upon the bodies of those that died under his reign from his merciless tyranny.
He screamed, holding his head as the images were too much... he had to get away! GET OUT! NOW!
Without a second thought, he ran into the kitchen.
The three tormentors didn't stop him or even move as he ran.
Joram yelled as hellish voices pounded through his head, the voices of the dead and demons he saw. He ran and leapt through the window he had originally intended to escape through.
The remaining members of the team quickly took out the special containers for the orbs. They were cylindrical in shape and designed to protect the orbs from shock and stress as they were worn on their backs.
Max was the first to pick up and observe one of the curious and powerful cores. Upon contact with his hands, a white shimmer glinted across its surface but the swirls of red and white on the black orb were undisturbed as they flowed. The unintelligible whispers grew slightly louder as if someone had been awaken from a slumber and the explorer's brows furrowed a bit. "It's like there's something living inside of these things, something alien, something... unknown..."
"Let's examine it more back in Velocity," Angela stated with more than slight apprehension as Max nodded and set the orb into the container on her back.
"These things creep me out, just like the rest of this hellhole..." Jesse remarked as he put an orb into the container on Val's back. "It's like they're alive... I don't like it."
"I know," Seth agreed, "Still, we have to get em to the wizards in the labs." He looked down, "And if these freaky things help us reclaim Fastoon and our place in the Tri-Galaxies... then this'll be worth it. I need to see my brother... clear his name."
Nash gave Seth a pat on the back, "You'll see Alistair again," He then loaded a core into Seth's carrier.
"The Sisters won't just let us go with these..." Les stated with an alarmed tone, "We escape their pets and they'll come for us!"
"Then we blow them up and run," Jesse growled, "They weakened my friend and I..." Hurtful tears started to pour, "I... I dropped him... and I couldn't..."
"There was nothing you could do..." Max responded with a manner of speaking that told Jesse that he had been through something similar before. "Forest was noble... in the short time I knew him, I don't think he'd want you to blame yourself. He died defending his friends and that is the greatest measure of love there is."
Jesse looked at him with an intense look that softened as Max spoke. He sniffled lightly and wiped his eyes. "He and Taylor..."
"Let's honor them when we get out of here..." Val spoke up, "We owe them that."
The large lombax nodded and resumed loading up the cores.
It took the team a few minutes to gently load the delicate cores that they could carry before Angela looked around, her light's beam cut through the dark. "What's our out?"
"There," Val stated and aimed her light at a hole in the wall. It was big enough for two people to walk through and looked like someone had blasted into the chamber. A pile of rubble and rock led from the hole to the ground. "Now let's get the heck out of here..."
A loud bang came from the direction they entered from, chitters and guttural noises came from it and moved into the chamber.
Jesse growled and tossed an energy grenade towards the sounds just as they quickly climbed/slid down the rubble pile and onto the street. They wasted no time upon reaching the bottom of the rubble pile and pushed off of it, using their momentum, and sprinted down the road.
"Which way?!" Angela yelled as they ran.
"We came in from that direction!" Max shouted back and pointed.
"This way!" Les responded, "Move fast before They come!"
Playful, yet dark laughter came on the air as the wind picked up speed and grew even colder.
A pale figure with white hair looked upon the fleeing squad with a curious gaze. Looking up and to the west, he saw the two thorns in his side approaching them. He growled lightly and wished more than before to engage in a fight against them. He contemplated this, knowing that the tense group could turn against him... but the cores... he and his accomplice need them... and the Sisters were getting closer... he leapt down from his ledge and looked at them.
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Hope you all like it and stay tuned for more!
