Wow, thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts, guys! You have no idea how happy that makes me feel! Thank you so much! I've been having so much fun with this story, so it's really rewarding for me. Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy! :D
DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Visceral Games and EA.
"So, what's this game about?" Temple asked as he and Elizabeth took their seats on the other couch next to Kendra and Hammond, who were still on the floor.
"We're all trying to get off this creepy spaceship, the USG Ishimura," Isaac explained as Chapter Five: Lethal Devotion began.
"There are these enemies called Necromorphs," Hammond added, "And the only way to kill them is by completely dismembering them. The infection started after this planet called Aegis 7 was cracked open and an artifact called the Marker was found."
"We're all in the game in various places," Kendra explained, pointing to everyone in the room, "Some of us have appeared already, while others were in video logs and audio logs."
"We're also making a complaint list," Nicole piped up, pointing to the list sitting in front of Mercer, "To let the game producers know how much they've gotten wrong about us."
"So where are we in the game?" Temple asked.
"We heard your voice in some audio logs back in Chapter Three: Course Correction," Kyne replied, "And that's another thing: the first letter of each chapter is trying to spell something. So far, all we have is NICOL."
"Nicole," Elizabeth whispered under her breath.
"That's right," Isaac said, "And right now, we're going back to the Medical Deck because we have to make a poison that will stop an infection on the Hydroponics Deck that's poisoning the air." Elizabeth paled; everyone knew all too well that she worked in the Hydroponics field of the CEC, so this little fact had an effect on her.
"This should be interesting," Temple muttered under his breath as game-Isaac got off the tram and received a video log from game-Kendra.
"Shit," she cursed, "Isaac! I can smell the contaminated air from here! It's spreading faster than I expected! I'm trying to isolate it, but it's not going to buy us much time! We have to get that thing off this ship! The chemicals you need are in the Chemistry Lab. I'll hack the door when you get there."
"And you're not saying anything about this?" Temple asked, and Isaac shrugged.
"I apparently don't talk or show emotion," the engineer replied as he guided himself through the door up ahead. Along the way, he noticed something strange: the path was lit with a bunch of candles.
"What the hell?" Hammond asked himself, "Who put all those candles there?"
"Beats me," Kendra whispered, scooting closer to Hammond.
Isaac silently guided himself back the way he had gone in chapter two, and when he opened the door, he caught sight of a silhouette of a dummy. "Jesus Christ!" he gasped, "That scared me for a minute." Nicole clutched his shoulder as he tiptoed forward.
All of a sudden, a voice appeared out of nowhere, and the strangest part was that it didn't sound like it was coming from an audio log. "You can't stand in the way of God's plan!" it whispered, "The natural order! Are you…are you blind, like the rest?"
Isaac put the controller down as everyone turned to face Mercer. "That sounded like you, Mercer," Hammond pointed out, "I was wondering when you would show up in person!"
"The game really made you sound like a creep right there," Kyne added, "I never know your voice could be so scary."
"Stop trying to scare me!" Isaac joked, and everyone laughed.
"I wasn't trying to scare you," Mercer said, "I was practicing my cliché villain voice."
"Sure you were," Kendra teased, and everyone laughed again.
"Looks like someone has reprogrammed the door locks on this deck," game-Kendra reported, "And recently, too. I guess we're not alone here, after all. Someone doesn't want you in this part of the ship."
"I think we've figured that out by now," Temple piped up, making Kendra smirk and smack him in the stomach.
"Very funny," she replied, "My game character tends to point out the obvious."
"Where's Hammond?" Elizabeth asked.
"I'm heading to Hydroponics," Hammond explained, and she nodded, closing her eyes for a minute.
According to Bread Crumbs, game-Isaac had to go through Imaging Diagnostics again, and so he did, noticing that the platform above him was now moving back and forth out of control. Explosive canisters were suddenly there as well, even though they weren't in chapter two. "Why are these here all of a sudden?" Kyne asked.
"I guess we'll find out," Isaac replied as he controlled himself to go back the way he had gone a few chapters ago, but something stopped him.
"AHHHHH!" a shrill voice cried, and when he glanced up, he saw a new type of Necromorph that was stuck to the wall and wailing as some of its tentacles appeared out of its stomach. Small pods shot out from its abdomen as well.
"What the hell is that?" Temple gasped.
"That's a Necromorph," Kendra replied, "But it must be a new type. We've never encountered this one before."
Isaac made himself whip out his Plasma Cutter, but as he began to shoot it, a larger, sharper tentacle appeared out of nowhere and decapitated his game character once he got too close. "AHHHHHH!" the Mature Guardian wailed again as the screen faded to black with blood.
"Oh, shit!" Isaac, Hammond, and Temple cursed at the same time as Elizabeth looked away quickly.
"Guess we know not to get too close to that one," Isaac muttered, "I honestly wasn't expecting that to happen."
The game loaded again, and Isaac decided to pick up one of the canisters this time as he hurled it at the Guardian, resulting in an instant kill. "All right!" everyone cheered, and following that, game-Isaac continued on his way, going up the elevator and killing every Necromorph in sight before using Stasis on the moving platform in front of him in order to get to the next save point.
"You're close to the chemistry station," game-Kendra announced, "Once you get the chemicals, you're also going to need a DNA sample of the alien tissue. I'll search the records for one."
"It's all over the ship!" Hammond cried, grinning wolfishly at Kendra, "Is that necessary?"
"Oh, you…" Kendra started, but didn't finish as Isaac saved and continued down to the chemistry lab. Once he was on the other side, the door locked behind him.
"Not good," Kyne whispered, bringing his hands up to his mouth. Everyone watched as game-Isaac went down the elevator and then picked up the audio log on the floor in front of him.
"You can't hold me here!" a voice in the background snapped as another voice eclipsed it.
"Personal log, Dr. Challus Mercer," game-Mercer began, "I now have a live subject in my study. I'm eager to validate my tissue regeneration theory."
"Oh, shit!" everyone in the room cursed this time. On the couch next to Kyne, Mercer was in shock, his eyes as wide as saucers as the recording continued. He immediately reached for a pen, just in case this would be something he had to add to the complaint list.
"Initial restraint was problematic, but now the patient is resting comfortably. He trusts me, Dr. Kyne. He puts his life in my hands! He knows his part in all of this. He understands what I'm doing!"
"No! Let me out of here, please!"
"The forehead has been swabbed clean and marked."
"What…what are you doing with that?" Suddenly, the group heard a whirring sound in the background.
"Oh my God!" Kyne petitioned.
"And now, I am attempting to create a passage to insert the sample tissue into…"
"No! NO! AHHHHHHHHH!" With that, the recording ended, leaving everyone to stare at Mercer again.
"Mercer," Temple began, "Your game character has gone batshit crazy!"
"Complaint list!" Hammond cried, "Complaint list!"
"That's for sure," Mercer replied as he wrote this down, "Dislikes being portrayed as a psychotic murderer. I know how you feel now, Terrence."
"I'm sure your character thinks he has a good reason for doing so," Kyne piped up, "I mean, my character killed Matthius, for God's sake!"
"He did?" Elizabeth asked in shock.
"Stabbed him in the eye," Nicole explained.
Isaac continued on his way, opening the door to the actually Chemistry Lab and coming across two tanks containing sleeping Necromorphs.
"Aww, hell no!" he quipped, "Those are going to break out of those containers, aren't they?"
"I hope not," Kendra said, shuddering as she watched game-Isaac make his way around the room, collecting various items before going over to the mixer in the corner of the room.
"Processing request. Please stand by." Everyone waited.
"Antigen compound completed. Please remove the capsule." Isaac did so, and that was when the windows next to him opened to reveal none other than game-Mercer himself.
"Hey look, it's Mercer!" Hammond cried, pointing to the screen, "In the flesh!"
"MERCER!" everyone else shouted as the real Mercer became thunderstruck.
"What are you doing?" game-Mercer began, "Your fight for survival is admirable, but pointless. And yet, you keep on going! It almost makes me think that we have hope as a species."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Isaac muttered under his breath.
"Am I the only one who sees that we have died out a long time ago? We just haven't accepted it yet."
"Psycho alert," Temple whispered under his breath.
"Stop running. Stop your struggle. Our future, your future, the future of our race ends here! Allow me to introduce you to humanity's child. The children that will replace us! Our greatest creation."
"No comment," was all Mercer could say.
"Why exactly do you feel that way?" Kyne asked in a soothing voice, "You can talk to us. We won't tell anyone."
"I couldn't tell you," Mercer replied, "I guess Steve and Glen had to pick one of us to be the bad guy."
Suddenly, the Necromorph in the right container began to move around, and then, it broke out of its container. "Holy crap!" Isaac and Nicole gasped.
"Shoot it!" Elizabeth and Temple cried, "Shoot it!" Isaac did so, and one he was finished dismembering this Necromorph, it fell to the ground.
"Hooray!" everyone cheered.
"I can't believe I just tried to kill you!" Mercer gasped, but the joy didn't last for long. With another growl, this Necromorph suddenly began to regenerate its limbs.
"Wait a minute," Kendra quipped, "What's happening?"
"You can't kill it, Isaac!" game-Kendra shouted, "It's just going to keep regenerating! Get out of there! Run!"
"Wait…what?" Isaac gasped as the door next to game-Isaac unlocked.
"Run, Isaac!" everyone shouted, and Isaac quickly opened the door and directed himself through a shortcut back to Imaging Diagnostics as the Hunter continued to roar at the top of its lungs.
"Shit," Isaac cursed, "A Necromorph that I can't dismember? This is crazy!"
"Blame Mercer," Temple said, pointing to the Unitologist.
"No, blame my game self," Mercer replied, "I'm sorry I set an unkillable Necromorph on you, Isaac." Isaac continued to run as game-Hammond finally contacted him.
"Is anyone there? Repeat! Come in Isaac... Kendra, is anyone there?"
"Hammond! Where the hell have you been?"
"I've reached Hydroponics. It's bad down here, really bad! ...can barely breathe! That organic matter is growing everywhere! My eyes are stinging... must be seeing things..."
"Hang in there, Hammond!" Kendra cried, "You can't die on us now!"
"I'll try not to," Hammond assured her as Isaac finished off the last of the Swarms that had attacked him and returned to the main room on the Medical Deck. The whole time, the Hunter roared.
"Shut up!" Isaac shouted, "I know you're there!"
"Now, you need to find a DNA sample of the growth," game-Kendra said, "According to lab records, there's an inert sample stored in the ICU. A Dr. Mercer was apparently doing intensive research on it. I've been trying to contact Hammond, but all I'm getting is static! Isaac, you've got to hurry!"
"Once I'm finished running for my life!" Isaac replied, facing Kendra as he saved at the Save Station.
"I can't believe the game creators ruined my character like this," Mercer commented, "What else am I going to do to you?"
Once Isaac was finished saving, he went through the large doors that led him to the Morgue last time, and on the other side, game-Mercer was waiting for him.
"Your persistence surprises me," he commented as Mercer face-palmed himself in his seat, "Holding onto your final breath, you claw your way along. You hold onto what was once your world, but now…it belongs to the children."
"Damn, Mercer," Hammond whispered, "They turned you into one of those zealous preachers!"
"Be glad of the knowledge that your death…will bring their birth."
Suddenly, the Hunter roared again. "Listen," game-Mercer finished in a low voice, "Can you hear it? It's coming. Say your prayers."
"Ohhhhh!" everyone cried as game-Mercer walked away.
"Zing!" Kendra added, pointing at the screen with her finger.
"I've lost my mind," Mercer mused.
The door next to Isaac unlocked, and once he entered the emergency room, the Hunter suddenly burst out of a vent next to him, and game-Isaac immediately took damage.
"Run!" Nicole cried, and Isaac ran to the other side of the room. Unfortunately, before he could heal, a few Lurkers that were also in the room inflicted damage on him, bringing his health down to yellow. The Hunter's roar got louder, and before game-Isaac could react, the Necromorph suddenly picked him up with its blade arms and lifted him into the air, stabbing him in the stomach a few times.
"Oh, no," Elizabeth muttered as the Hunter proceeded to slice off both of game-Isaac's legs and his right arm. In that moment, everyone watched in mute horror as game-Isaac shook his head and lifted his left hand, as if he were pleading with the Hunter, before the Necromorph decapitated him and completely dismembered his body.
"HOLY SHIT!" all eight of them cried, looking away.
"I think this game is trying to tell me how not to die," Isaac decided.
"There's no way this game can get anymore gruesome than that," Kyne said as the game reloaded back to the point just after game-Mercer abandoned game-Isaac. This time, Isaac proceeded to fight the Hunter, using Stasis to slow it down and shoot it before the door opened. He continued to run down the hallway, taking out the Guardian by the door leading to the labs and eventually finding the Save Point outside the Morgue. This time, Challus Mercer's office was unlocked while the Morgue was closed.
As soon as game-Isaac entered game-Mercer's office, some suspenseful music began to play. "What's with the scary music?" Hammond asked.
"So apparently, I like to keep severed heads in my office," Mercer said sarcastically, "Lovely."
"This is the craziest shit I've ever seen," Temple commented.
Isaac made himself collect all the items in the room as another audio log began to play. "Personal log, Dr. Challus Mercer," game-Mercer began, "The specimen continues to respond well to my experiments. Its cellular fortitude, not to mention elasticity, is remarkable. Dr. Kyne, I'm sure, would disapprove. But I do not anticipate that issue, as the good doctor is busying himself with the Marker. As if that matters now! He has also succumbed to the same dementia that afflicted the colony. Only yesterday, he told me he'd spoken to his wife…but Amelia Kyne has been dead for some years."
"What?" Kyne gasped, "Amelia's dead in this game? NO! Don't tell me I killed her, too!"
"No, you didn't," Nicole assured him, and Kyne pouted as well.
Suddenly, something roared in the background. "My subject grows restless. Patience. Your time is soon. Very soon." The audio log ended.
"Damn," was all Temple could say, "You guys weren't kidding about this game!"
"Told you!" Kendra teased, wagging a finger at him as he swatted at her in response.
"Jesus, Mercer," Isaac whispered to himself, "Your game character is crazy!"
"I know, and I hate it," Mercer responded as game-Isaac began mixing the chemical compound.
"Adding sample 9797 to chemical compound. Final mixing required. Please remove the capsule." Isaac did so, watching as "Objective Complete" flashed in front of him.
"That's it, Isaac!" game-Kendra announced, "Now you just need to-"
However, game-Mercer suddenly interrupted her. "This has gone far enough!" he snapped, "Accept your part in God's plan! Embrace your own extinction!"
"Oh, Lord," Mercer groaned, "What am I about to do now?"
"Warning: life support system failure in the Medical Deck. Please evacuate immediately!"
"Ooooohhhhhh!" everyone gasped again as the entire deck turned into a vacuum.