Author's Notes will be at the end this time.
For a few breathless seconds, Bigelow could only stare.
Right in front of her stood nothing less than a nightmare.
Every shape swirled, forming a dense mass of fleshy pulp,
Circling inside the great pillar at the center of the room.
The shapes changed, but the column stood still, towering.
Bigelow began to shake, she could feel her heart thundering;
Hammering at the space behind her eyes. She could feel it.
It was alive, and it hungered. Faces pressed against the walls.
Cracked skulls, tendon spurs. Tattered clothes, soaked darkly.
The entire room, the circular chamber, seemed to close in.
Walls leaned over. The tall, broad ceiling began to descend.
The hammer kept hitting her in her brain. Thudding, throbbing.
She tasted water. Salt. Tears were rolling down her face.
Howling. Yelling. Crying. She wanted to run. Run away.
The top of the Column began to rise. The swelling of disease.
A shape, dragging, crawled over the topmost edge, falling.
A great, wide body, and a thick, quivering, orange mass.
It fell, careening over the edge, landing with a wet splatter.
A great, sickly spattering of fluids splattered across the floor.
For a few moments, it made no other moves, no other sounds.
Then, it began to rise. Fatty lips and a jagged maw, clicking.
Veined fat and clusters of bone, knitted together by sickly sinew.
The thing rose, pulling large, darker shapes back into itself.
Then it began to move, slowly crawling, towards Bigelow.
She tried to run, but she felt every muscle clench, burning.
A prickling chill flooded down her spine, the feeling of doom.
Her vision bubbled, with swirls of black spinning before her eyes
The mass oozed up, gurgled, crawled, mumbled, hungering.
Amber eyes wide open. Mouth unbearably dry. Can't swallow.
Teeth chattering. Heart and brain pounding. Bile welling up.
It came closer, with its swollen lips concealing the sharp maw.
BIGELOW SHOOT GODDAMN IT SHOOT IT WHY AREN'T YOU SHOOTING KILL ITfumbling with great limbs and broken-
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The thumping sound of a grenade launcher howled into the dark. For a fraction of a second, three tiny lights spiraled into the creature's great mouth, trailing smoke behind them.
BANG-BA-BANG!
Three short explosions, flashes of bright light and clouds of dust, erupted from the thing. Chunks blew away, with small spurts of red sprouting from thick, solid masses that were torn free from the body. Bigelow's grenade launchers smoked in the dark. Her right hand had a death grip on the launcher's trigger, just to the side of the tube itself.
Zipper let out a howl, and yelled a war cry:
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
The sound of thunderclaps, rattling out at a dozen each second, came from Zipper's great rifle. His outer helmet cover closed, revealing an intricately decorated skull painted on the surface. In front of him, another great mass creeped forward, unyielding. The creature didn't even acknowledge the shots. They shlupped past the creature's skin, passing right through and only leaving small, weeping sores where each bullet entered. It closed in, dragging itself, frothing at its orifice.
Leveling his gun at the creature's center, he kept firing. His eye darted to the LED counter on his gun, which flickered as it counted down:
211
178
135
99
48
Zipper's heart raced. It got closer. He could count its teeth.
For a few seconds, the creature opened its great mouth, until some of the rounds pierced a dark mass near its center.
The sound of a shrieking howl, came from the other creature. Dark pools formed in its body, making a clouded, murky shroud around its organs. It halted, then began to sink into a quivering, sticky puddle. The moment the puddle spread, another creature spilled from the top, gnashing and crawling forward, and then another.
Neil began to fire his rifle into the nearest creature, stepping back quickly as the other closed in.
Bigelow, gasping, keeled over and took deep breaths. Her mind cleared somewhat and she looked up, bleary-eyed, at the newly formed puddles.
Bigelow, narrowing her eyes, and focusing on the bleeding, solid chunks, called out, with a stuttering, halting yell:
"B-BRAIN! HIT IT IN BRAIN! THE BRAIN!"
Mary backtracked, rushing in one direction, then fleeing in another, changing course every time her path was blocked. She started to panic, bawling, open-mouthed.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAH HAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!
Zipper paused, but only for a second. One great metal clip bonged against the ground before he went back to firing at the next creature oozing towards him. The green LED numbers on his cannon ticking down at lightning speed as he laughed.
Bigelow, seeing more clearly, lumbered over to Mary. She closed her outer helmet dome and scooped her up, putting her over her shoulder. Mary barely moved in response. Bigelow, instinctively, looked for Neil.
Sweeping her spotlight to the left, she saw the flashes of Zipper's rifle, with its thunderclap-echoes shivering the surface of the great column in the room.
Sweeping it to the right, she another creature. It opened its mouth, and in a lightning-quick motion, a great appendage flashed out, striking Bigelow's midsection.
Bigelow staggered backwards as alarms in her suit blared. Pieces of ceramic and metal flew off, clanging on the ground. She took several steps back, scanning the pair of creatures. Leveling her gun at the nearest one with one arm, a storm of shells punched through the nearest thing. The shells punched through its flesh, and it squealed. Moving backwards, she took her arm off of Mary, who hung limply on her shoulder by her grenade launcher, and started to shoot the thing with both hands on her rifle.
It reacted, shifting its insides. The beating purplish organ would move while the beast came closer and closer, lashing out with its long, spike-like tongue. With a chittering shriek, it finally fell, melting into a pool of sickly yellow fat, bones, and veins.
Bigelow looked up at the top of the pillar as yet another creature fell down to the ground. She looked at her LED counter on her gun and saw the number at 44. With a great clang, she removed her clip, and replaced it with another. She looked at her motion sensor. It showed nothing. Swearing, her eyes darted around as her breathing grew shallower, with her brow furrowed until she noticed one movement. Someone sprinting. Darting between the creatures in the shadows.
Dodging, diving, and ducking, Neil was sprinting towards the red switch on the other side of the wall. An appendage stabbed out to pierce him. He was struck, in his leg, and went down with a yelp. Scrambling back up, he covered the next few feet on all fours before he was running to the switch.
Bigelow's eyes widened, and a wave of realization dawned on her face.
99.
He's got to set it to ninety nine.
"HEY! NEIL! YOU NEED TO-"
SCHLURK-WHOCK!
Another appendage struck out, and Bigelow fell over, with Mary sprawling on the ground in the dark. More metal bits clattered on the ground. Bigelow staggered up, rifle in hand. She swung her spotlight around, frantically searching for Mary's body. Her foot collided with something, and as she moved around to face it, she was face to face with one of the creatures.
SCHLURK-CRASH!
The appendage flew out, lunging like a spear, and punched through Bigelow's helmet cover. Less than five inches from her face, Bigelow saw a writhing, coiling, purplish-red vein, twisting like an eel, sticking out of her helmet wall. Bigelow yelped and sprang backwards, with the vein popping out of her helmet. In the distance, she heard a curse, and then a echoing clacking.
Alarms sounded off in her helmet, and a hot flood of dank air flooded her nostrils. Hitting another button with her chin, another cover locked into place, sliding right beneath the punctured dome. After it slid in, a loud bang resounded through her helmet and her outer cover popped off, smacking another creature. She now had a single transparent dome protecting her face. As her outer cover popped off, she saw a monster peeling off bits of checkered yellow armor from its mouth.
She began to step backwards, shaking, still scanning for someone, anyone. Mary disappeared. The mad howling of Zipper stopped, and she swung her spotlight to where the brown dog once stood.
A single great creature, crawling onto something, stabbed multiple tongues into its victim. Appendages flicking in and out, pulling away metal, wires, limbs.
Seeing this, Bigelow's jaw began to chatter again, with her eyes widening as bits of red armor and scarlet bone got pulled from the heap. Qucikly, she turned back to where Neil sprinted. He was limping, clutching his leg. One of his arms had a broad gash, with tatters of his suit hanging off. He placed both hands on the switch, twisting a knob so that the numbers on the side flickered from 42 to 99. It looked like he was leaning on the thing for support, even though he madly scrabbled his fingers over the panel.
As he grabbed the switch, an appendage lashed out, piercing his gut. He screamed, falling down as the appendage dragged him towards the creature.
"NEIL!" Bigelow yelled, charging towards the wall. She took great strides, lunging past another monster as it began to close in. It was followed by the creature that had only just finished its red meal.
Running up to the beast near Neil, Bigelow fired into it, point-blank. It gave a shrill scream, before dissolving into another puddle. Reaching down she scooped up Neil onto her shoulder and then locked her eyes on the switch.
With one hand, she brought it down with an electric crackle.
SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHSSSSSSSSSSRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
Red flashes sparked in the darkness and a great scream, piercing loudly enough to make the air shiver with an almost electric tinge, ripped through the room. The portal glowed, and the column began to sink.
The shapes in the column began to roil, like guts, squelching and writhing as the column sank into the portal. Cries came from inside it, joining the screeching that tore through the room.
Bigelow, jaw agape, watched only for a second before she saw the two last creatures closing in. Stepping far back, she placed Neil as gently as she could on the ground before placing both hands on her great gun.
At this point, Bigelow's expression changed from frightened shock, to calm, collected fury. With an open-mouthed snarl, but with eyes fixed on the creatures, she began firing at the larger one, with her great gun thundering as the LED ticker went down.
180
146
103
68
25
3
Wet, flashing red sprays peppered the floor as one monsters dissolved, withering away under the hail of shells. The next, a bigger one, grew closer, and lashed out its long whip-tongue.
It struck Bigelow in the side, and as it tried to retract, she grabbed hold of it, pinning it in place. The creature tried to pull the tongue back, but couldn't pull the great metal suit on the other end. Bigelow dropped her rifle, and grabbed a hold of it with both hands. The creature made a series of frantic chitters, and tried to pull away.
One hand crushed down on the tongue, holding a vise-like grip on the slimy appendage, pulling it in. Followed by the other, grabbing a hold a few feet up. Then the other grabbed again, pulling it in closer. Then again. And again.
For a moment, it struggled, but then changed course. Right as it was a few feet away, it lunged.
Bigelow felt a great smothering weight, crushing the whole of her body, and her vision blurred as the thing's great body swallowed her whole.
Oh. Oh no.
She only saw fuzzy shapes. She tried to move her legs, but they felt like they were treading molasses.
Dammit, no!
Looking though her helmet, she saw a long, purplish thing slithering towards her helmet.
GOD DAMN IT!
Her arms waved around, searching for a grip. Nothing but a thick soup.
FUCK!
The tongue probed, swimming though the creature's thick body.
SHIT! NO!
It was making a beeline for her face.
WAIT, what-
Her hand closed on something. Something firm, but tender.
AHA!
The tongue held still, then pulled back, tense, ready to strike.
She closed her grip on the thing, and felt it break. A flood of dark red enveloped her.
She heard a muffled, gurgling shriek, like something yelling underwater, and then the weight dissolved.
She looked straight up, staring at the ceiling as the fluids and fat rolled off of her body, pooling around her in a thick, soupy puddle. She lay there for only a second before getting to her feet, with her teeth bared as she panted. Seeing the column, she stared, wide-eyed at its demise.
The column kept sinking, and the spider-webbed veins on the column began a panicked throbbing as the forms inside writhed and roiled. One last panicked screech: an ear-piercing, tortured scream of pure rage and agony.
SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
Then the top of the column sank into the portal, disappearing from view.
Then silence.
Bigelow stood, gasping.
In front of her, the portal glowed a dull red.
Around her, there were bones, rolls of discarded fat, chunks of meat, and coils of veins, scattered.
Scanning, wide-eyed, Bigelow let out a shuddering exhale, and bent over, staggering as she tried to walk over to Neil. Around her, the lights began to dim. The red light faded, replaced by a bright green.
Though her fingers trembled, she gently tried to cradle his head. His eyes were closed, and when she reached him, he was gasping, taking shallow, shaky breaths with his eyes screwed up in pain. His teeth were colored pink, with small red bubbles forming at the corners of his mouth.
"Neil? Neil! Come on, come on."
Bigelow frantically looked around, and her eyes rested on the dark red patch on his stomach.
"Eyes open. Open. Come on. Please."
With a pair of great metal gloves, she gently, carefully covered up the hole in his midsection and pressed down. Taking off one hand, she reached for a white box strapped to her belt and yanked it off, leaving a bit of plastic stuck to her armor.
"B. Bigs. Big. Bigs. Bigs."
Neil was repeating the name, even though he was gasping.
"It's gonna be fine. Fine. I'm here, hold on." Bigelow's eyes watered, and she fumbled with the kit, struggling to work a metal finger into the latch.
More wracking coughs, and Neil's eyes opened, bloodshot. Seeing her, he cracked a weak smile.
"H-Hey, Bigs."
She stopped, then, while looking at him, she leaned in to look at his stomach wound. Her mouth opened and her eyes stung.
I can't help him.
The realization made her blood freeze. She looked again at his wound.
I can see his spine.
She felt like her heart had just been hollowed out and filled with ice. Her jaw trembled, but she kept going, finally working the latch open. She fumbled for the gauze, and for some small syringes,
"C'mon, c'mon, just hang on Binch, just hang on. Please, please, just hang on."
Neil's head lolled back, and he let out more coughs, joined by gasping. Bigelow grabbed his arm, and pressed a small syringe into his wrist. His breathing slowed, and his eyelids began to blink. They fluttered, drooping closed. His chest still struggled, even as Bigelow pressed a wad of gauze into his stomach.
"No. No. No-no-no." Tears.
"Not everybody, not everyone. Not me, alone. Please."
She pressed down on his stomach. He relaxed, but barely kept breathing. Bigelow kept looking at his face. The green glow grew brighter.
The bobcat's features, once strained, relaxed. His eyelids were shut. His tall ears were shifted out of place in his helmet, cocked to the side and through his visor, his mouth opened only slightly, revealing a few of his front teeth. Dirt and grime had covered his cheeks, with a thin froth of pink gathered at the corner of his mouth. His nostrils softly moved with each breath, moving his dry nose only a little.
He looked almost serene.
"Damn it, damn it! No..." The tears were rolling down her face. A trail of mucous drained from her nose, and her bloodshot eyes kept searching the nearby kit for something, anything, that could help.
At that moment, footsteps emerged from the dark.
Ears twitching, Bigelow looked up, still cradling Neil's head.
Right in front of her, a few footsteps away and right by the switch, was the suited cat.
He had set the number to a new value, and now had a hand on the switch.
"...Hey, wha- HEY-!" Bigelow, shocked, began to yell.
He yanked it down, full force.
Right as it came down, everything flashed bright green.
Bigelow was temporarily blinded, seeing stars, and her hand reached out, pawing at empty space. Opening her eyes, she was in a very dark room. Looking around while blinking the stars out of her eyes, she looked at the spot where she knelt. Neil's body had disappeared. Staggering up, and looking around frantically, surrounded by almost nothing but darkness, she struggled to speak for a few seconds before she started calling out:
"N-Neil! Where are you?! NEIL! N-!"
Her gaze swept until her spotlight fell on the suited cat, no more than five steps away, on the other side of a faint beam of light.
In a few seconds, her jaw had opened.
"I-I...I'm going to kill you."
A few seconds more, and she was snarling, brow creased in rage.
"I...I'll kill you...I'LL...I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL TEAR YOU TO GODDAMNED SHREDS!"
Her voice was a roar of fury, and she raised her arms to grab him, but the suited cat only looked up with a calm face.
As she was about to lunge, the corner of her eye caught something. Something overhead.
A few feet above her head, floating in the air, was Neil.
He was perfectly still, with the tatters of his suit rippling gently in midair.
"W...What?" Bigelow stared upwards, mouth agape, as the suited cat walked up. He stopped, leaning in and whispering by her ear.
Bigelow froze. The cat kept speaking. When he finished, he stepped back and looked at her expression, studying her face.
"What? But...but...no. No. Never," Bigelow stammered, clearly shaken.
"I...am...not...letting you keep him," She continued, growling.
The cat looked slightly disappointed, tilting his head, and speaking in a low, creeping voice.
"You do. not...have. that option."
"...Why?"
"He will...die. He will...live. if. he stays."
Pauses between words. Bigelow only looked more confused, then angry.
"I am not working for you, and you aren't keeping him-" She stopped, staring at the cat. His gaze was directed to the side, at another beam of light, with another person suspended in the air.
Bigelow tried to form more words, but her voice failed her. She saw the other figure, and another next to that one, beside another, and another.
An endless row of beams of light stretched into the dark, holding a person in each light. Bigelow's eyes widened, and she fell to her knees.
For a long time, she was silent.
The suited cat, after some time, walked over and stood by her.
After a while, Bigelow staggered, standing straight. The tear marks on her face had left small tracks, and the mucous had dried on her face. Her eyes were raw and bloodshot. She spoke, without turning, and asked, very quietly,
"There...isn't...any...-any...other...way?"
"It's, an...exchange," The last word hung in the air.
"But...no other way?"
"No...other way, where. you...both survive."
Another pause. Minutes long.
Bigelow whispered, faintly, quietly,
"...What do I have to do?"
The cat's expression flickered, and a smile played across his features, lasting only for a second before he walked away from the beam of light, into the darkness.
Watching, Bigelow was confused. She stared at the exact spot where the suited cat disappeared until, in that spot, a metal door screeched open, revealing a bright white light beaming from it.
The suited cat stood by it, his silhouette standing out, with his pointed ears curling at the tips and his eyes glowing in the dark. The tail flicked.
Bigelow did not move for a few seconds, then she took a few steps forwards. She stopped, hesitating, and then bit her lip as she kept walking until she was right in front of the bright doorway.
She squinted as she tried to see into the door. The light was not dissipated at all by her helmet dome and she tried, tilting her head and shading her eyes with her arm, to see further into it.
Turning to the cat, she spoke, slowly:
"You will save him."
The cat only looked at her, and for a second, wore a vague expression. A brief half-smile, followed by a blink and a blank stare.
"You promise." She kept looking at him, bloodshot amber eyes stabbing at him through the dark.
No response.
Bigelow, seeing the expression now, unsure, turned back to the door. She tilted her head forward, closed her eyes, and mumbled something.
Taking a shuddering, deep breath, she snapped her eyes open, looked forwards, and stepped into the light.
As her great frame disappeared into the bright light, the door closed with a grinding, metallic slam.
The cat, looking at the door one more time, adjusted his tie, then walked away.
The beams of light with their suspended figures were the only things left behind.
One thing had changed, though.
One figure was gone.
End
Alright, that was my first fic!
Liked it? Hated it? Let me know in the review sections or shoot me a PM.
Don't worry, we'll see these guys again, but you'll need to be patient-this is not the end for them. Not for good.
Also, I think I'll leave the chapter structure as it is: I looked at the way I set up all the hooks and cliffhangers, and I think it looks better this way.