Several minutes later

Traversing the dimly lit corridors of the UNSC base was something Vadumee did not really want to do, or expected himself to be doing at all but here he was doing exactly that! One thing that had quickly gotten to him was that there was nothing but silence, a still deathly silence that seemed to add some sort of eerie feeling to this task of his as if he were in some kind of horror film and was coming up to the scene where the murder or monster or demon or whatever vulgar, horrific creature there was placed here was about to attack. The only noises he could hear were his own footsteps on the metallic floor echoing down the corridor, his own shallow breathing and the very faint sounds of shouting from the human workers and soldiers within the base.

As Vadumee looked over his shoulder, he began to suddenly feel uncomfortable; well…more so than he had done before. After all, he was virtually alone here in this corridor and with a controlled, hostile entity within the base there was no excuse for him not to be uncomfortable. After seeing what she was capable of back on Sanghelios, and having also stowed away on their ship and made it back to Earth without them even noticing, Eve could be anywhere and that was a very dangerous thing considering her state right now.

Stepping out from the left turning at the end of a three way corridor, weapon raised and eyes scanning every inch of the space around him, Vadumee silently crept on with his task. Entering this new corridor, though, was like going from a familiar world into one of pure uncertainty and bewilderment; something that Vadumee, hell anyone would be anxious about. Sweat began to run down his head underneath his armour and his shoulders tensed a little as if he had had a cold chill pass right through him. Despite this, he pressed on.

As he walked down the corridor, turning his body with his weapon every few steps like some sort of robot, his finger on the trigger, the feeling of being uncomfortable subsided a little. Maybe this corridor was not so bad; maybe it was safe. If anything would have been down here it would have attacked him by now.

All this waiting, though, is not doing anything to ease my pounding nerves! He thought to himself sombrely.

THUD! Vadumee's eyes darted to the end of the corridor ahead of him and he fired a blast in reaction, having heard the noise come from that general direction. There was no one there though but this did nothing to ease his already terrified nerves. What was it that made that noise? And if it was here still, where was it?!

Then he remembered again; his sudden bout of fear having caused him to momentarily forget why he was here in the first place. What if…it was…?

"Oh no!" he muttered under his breath in fear, now urging himself to get to a safer part of this base quickly before she found him and cornered him, though a part of his mind began to doubt whether it was too late already.

He took a step towards the end of the corridor, breathing heavily and keeping his finger on the trigger of his weapon. His heart raced within the confines of his chest as if he was running in a marathon and had puffed himself out. Adrenaline surged through his veins like some life-giving force but seemed to only aggravate him more.

TAP! Another noise echoed down the corridor and, quick as a flash, Vadumee fired another blast; this time back down the way he had come, anxiety sweeping over him like a sea wave. There was something here with him and his mind was going immediately to what, or who it could be.

"Reveal yourself!" he shouted down the corridor, his voice quivering with apprehension, though nothing happened after a few moments of waiting so he began to creep down the corridor towards the end.

When he was a few feet from the end, he took a deep breath and pushed half-down on the trigger of his weapon, ready to fire on whatever was there. More sweat fell from his head. Anxiety began to eat away at him like termites on a pile of wood; every second every fibre of his strength was sapped and replaced with fear and as he approached, it intensified to exploding point.

Stopping at the corner and breathing another deep breath, he stepped forward and turned the corner, ready for what was there.

Nothing! His eyes could not believe it, there was...nothing down the corridor. It was just dimly lit and empty like the last ones he had been down. How could it be so, he heard a noise and could have sworn he'd seen something. If he did, though, then where was it?

"AAAHHH!"

Suddenly, something grabbed him and pulled him up to the ceiling, holding Vadumee by the neck with a long tentacle that wrapped itself around his neck and upper chest and began to crush down with terrifying force like an anaconda crushing its prey before devouring it. With the tentacle rising over his face, Vadumee looked up as he struggled desperately at his attacker and saw at once that his worst fears had been realised.

"N-No!" he gasped. "St-…St-op! P…ple… E-" he gasped with a fading voice. "St-stop! Ev-"

Finally, he took one last breath and, with a sudden tightening of the tentacle around the neck, his head cocked to one side and fell to the floor as the tentacle released him, now a body drained of all life and to be left to either rot or be taken away. Either way, the former would still happen.

Jumping down onto the floor next to him with a loud thud was Eve; her bodysuit now torn slightly as if she had tried to rip it off, her hair was a mess and looked as if she had washed it and then not dried it. What was most striking about her though was that she was…well, emotionless. Her eyes held none and her face showed none as well. It was as if she was a zombie, devoid of all thought, of all emotion, of life itself and left to wander like some trapped soul.

It was obvious that now she was a true living, breathing Flood/human hybrid.

Looking down at the body of the silver armoured Elite, she let out a small noise from within the confines of her throat, though it did not get past her closed mouth. Anyone standing hear her would have recognized it to be a laugh.

Walking on, she left the body alone; her sights and mind set on one target, or I should say one group of targets. Things were going to get hairy from this point on.