George sighed audibly as he let the pack gently fall to the floor. The others were sitting together on the far side of the room, next to a pile of debris. Alyssa was leaning against the wall; apparently, she hadn't found anything of use except for a few herbs, which she immediately gave to Cindy. Kevin gave George a glance before standing up.
"Find anything?" He asked, walking up to George. George supposed he hoped he hadn't so he could prove how stupid the idea to look for a key was when they could have just shot the lock.
"Yeah, here." George handed him the key and noted the shadow of a frown on his face. "And these."
George opened the pack and revealed the vials of antibiotics. "I really think you all should get one of these shots, it will help with any infections we may get from cuts and scrapes. It may also somehow cure this disease going around."
"What is it?" Yoko asked as she stood up and looked into the bag.
"Just a sort of antibiotic cocktail, it's got a bunch of different antibiotics that can fight off a range of infections. We usually give them to the hospital workers so they can't catch anything."
"Hey man, there's no way your sticking me with one of those." Jim shot up and crossed the room, to stand on the opposite side from George. "I don't know what shit you put in there."
"Relax Jim; it's just to help fight infection." George tried to calm Jim, but he had already worked himself into a state of fear.
"I don't know what's in them. I mean w…what if you just made a mistake or something?" Jim was looking at the others for support, but found none.
"Jim, don't be silly." Cindy chimed in, trying to convince him that his fears were irrational. Jim showed signs of falter in his logic, but didn't back down. George put a hand on Cindy's shoulder and whispered to her.
"Thanks for the help, but we better let him go. We can't force him to take it." George looked to Jim. "Okay, I won't make you take it, but this is your only chance, I'm not carrying it around with me."
George turned away from Jim and began drawing the clear liquid from each of the vials and injecting it into the other survivors, tossing empty vials and needles into the farthest reaches of the room, to avoid unnecessary injury. When everyone but Jim had been inoculated, George put the extra vial and needle on a metal shelf in the back. He gave Jim one last look to say that it was his last chance before turning away and going to the boat.
Kevin already had the padlock unlocked and the chain piled up not far away. He was ushering people into the boat. Being the last one in, Kevin sat at the motor and pulled the cord. With a growl, the motor jumped to a start and revved forward. Waves of sewage splashed into the boat, forming puddles of green water at the bottom of the boat.
As the boat rode on, George starred at Cindy. Her back was to him, but her fall of blond hair bounced with each wave. He couldn't help cracking a smile, he thought back to the time she had almost died in the inn and found himself glad he had been there to help her. He wanted to get out of this place, he wanted to be free, and maybe he would have a chance at a new life. Inwardly, he laughed, laughed at the thought of him, starting fresh. George wasn't so sure that'd he'd last with a new life. For some reason, the ghost of his past mistakes kept popping up whenever he would imagine it. Being a surgeon was all he knew, how could he hope to attain anything worthwhile, other than that. Chasing promotions and kissing up to the heads of his department were the only skills he had. George leaned back, caught in his thoughts.
"Oh, shit!" Mark cursed loudly at the front of the boat. He stood up and turned, climbing through the boat. It was then that George saw the thing. A monstrous shadow engulfed the rest of the tunnel, from wall-to-wall ceiling-to-floor. Instinctually, George copied Mark; he grabbed a hold of Cindy's shirt and pulled her up. She gave no resistance and was jumping out of the boat the same time as George.
Cold water slammed into George like a boulder as he fell face first into the sewage. With all of his effort, he tried to hold in the gasp of shock; drawing in a breath would mean death. In a matter of moments, he found the floor and pushed off, breaking the surface. He flicked his head to the side to get the water from his eyes and wiped the excess with his hand. Kevin and Mark both stood up next, followed closely by Cindy, David, Alyssa, Jim, and then Yoko.
A large explosion erupted down the tunnel as the boat ran into the monster at the end of the tunnel. Screeching, the giant leech stood to its full height. To George's surprise, it looked like a stomach, with the head pulsating every so often as it moved. A puss-like liquid oozed from the giant orifice where George assumed the head was. Suddenly it began shaking. The entire tunnel shook as the leech lunged forward, quickly closing the distance between it and the survivors.
"Get back!" Kevin screamed, pulling Yoko to her feet and pushing her back towards the way they had come. "Anyone with a gun shoot it, everyone else fall back!"
His screams didn't carry far as the leech let out another screech and lunged. Now no more than a few feet away, the leech stopped shaking and started to move slowly. George pulled the pistol out from his waistband and opened fire. Kevin, Mark, David, and Alyssa followed suit. The bullets hit, but seemed to do little damage. If anything, it only made the leech more visibly agitated.
"It's not working!" Alyssa shouted over the gunshots. "We need to find something else."
As the shots rang out, the leech continued to press forward, stopping every few feet to evaluate the situation. Mark grunted and moved back, as he turned around; he noticed something on the ceiling. A valve, connected to a steam line.
"Move!" He shouted to the others who were still shooting. When they heard him scream, they did as they were told. With the others out of the way, Mark took aim and squeezed off a round. The bullet knocked the valve off enough to build up pressure. In a few seconds, the valve shot off like a bullet and hit the leech. Scolding hot steam seared the skin of the leech. It let out a roar and stopped moving.
As it stood, everyone let off a few more shots before stopping to reload.
"I think that was pretty effective." George said, looking back to George. "Heat worked on the leechman as well, we need to find more of those."
"There's one more here." David said, pointing up above him. Mark nodded and moved back into place. "Shit, George watch out."
George looked back to the leech just in time to see it spit out the puss-like liquid. He moved back and dodged most of the liquid, but a little got on his leg. The sheer pain of it nearly made him lose consciousness. Staggering back, he moved with a sense of urgency as the leech spit out another bout of the acidic puss. Once he was behind Mark with the others, George waited. The leech stopped spitting, it looked as if, it was trying to force more of it from its gastric juices, but doing so took time. Instead, it attempted to close the distance again by lunging forward.
Mark met this attempt with a single shot. The valve again shifted enough to build up pressure in a small area. The force of the pressure sent the valve flying again, crashing down on the leech. Fine mists of steam sprayed onto the leech, again scorching its skin.
"It's working, but it's not enough!" Kevin said as he turned to run down the tunnel, looking for more things to use. He stopped suddenly near a gated part of the tunnel and rested his hand on a wide part of the pipe. "Over here, this thing is vibrating like crazy."
All as one, they ran to where Kevin stood and sure enough when George put his hand on the pipe, he felt the vibrations. At first, it wasn't noticeable, but George soon saw that the leech was hesitating. They were too far it was just staying in one place as if waiting for them to get closer.
"What's going on?" Alyssa asked after noticing the leech too.
"I think we're too far from it to really know where we are." George said, half to himself.
"Then we're going to have to lure it here." Mark said as he ejected his clip and checked his remaining munitions. When no one volunteered, Kevin stepped forward and took out his forty-five.
"Okay, I'll do it." He said and was off before anyone could object. Once Kevin was close enough, he opened fire. He baited the leech, getting only close enough for it to move forward, and changing the distance up so the leech had to lunge to close the distance. Kevin bobbed and weaved out of the puss-like acidic gastric juices from the leech whenever it spit.
Soon enough, Kevin had reached the vibrating pipe and moved to where the others had gone to safety. Mark stood, ready with his pistol aimed directly for the pipe. The leech shook violently once more, it seemed to be vibrating just as much as the pipe. With an ear-shattering screech, it lunged. At the same time, Mark squeezed the trigger. The bullet flew true and hit the pipe. Sparks shot out into the air a heartbeat before a roaring fire burst from the metal pipe. The shock wave forced George back, threatening to topple him over. Using his arms, he shielded his face from the extreme heat emitting from the ball of flames. Fire poured over the leech as it glided through the water.
Drops of skin tumbled off the leech after the flames died down. What once was a huge leech now had skin melting off, peeling and dripping into the sewage below. Yet still it moved.
"Damnit! That should have worked." David screamed in frustration. He raised his pistol started firing. George and Alyssa followed suit, each unloading their entire clips into the leech. When they heard the sounds of the clips clicking empty, they stopped firing and only stared at the leech. If their attack did any damage, it wasn't visible beyond the terrible mess that was already in a heap before them. From the looks of it, it began secreting a filmy liquid because of the burns.
George slid rounds into the empty magazine in his hands. The leech was at least momentarily stunned, giving them an opportunity to reload and plan out others means of killing the leech.
"Any other ideas?" George asked, pushing the last round into the clip and shoving it back into the butt of his pistol.
"There are some more pipes over here." Somewhere between the time George was shooting and he reloaded, Kevin had moved back to look further into the tunnel.
"That may hurt it, but not kill it." Alyssa stated as she too pushed her clip back into her pistol and cocked the gun.
"Hurting it is better than nothing." Mark said as he moved into position behind the valve.
George turned back to look at the leech. "Why don't you use this?"
It was Cindy's voice. George turned back around to see Cindy holding the gas canister that was lying next to the boat when they first came into the room.
"That may just work." Kevin had his hand on his chin as if he was contemplating how effective it might be. He gestured to the leech. "We'd need some way to get it over it though."
"I can do that." George said. It was simple really; all he would have to do it get close enough to throw it at the leech. Having the leech already injured helped too. Smiling, George took the can and thanked Cindy before looking at Mark. "Don't miss."
With a nod, George turned around and started back down the tunnel towards the leech. His heart hammered inside of his chest so loud that it reminded him of the vibrating pipe. Each step felt like it might be his last, as the leech grew larger in his view. He could better see the disfiguration caused by the explosion. Chunks of flesh were missing and purple-black goo formed over those areas like a disgusting shell. An amber colored liquid cascaded out of the porous epidermis, making the leech look like it was covered in an off-colored watery substance.
As soon as George was only a few feet away from the leech, it suddenly jerked up, the head-like top, staring right at him. With all of his might, George tossed the gas can and dove backwards into the water. Everything became muffled. He wasn't sure if he would feel the leech crashing down on him, he hoped Mark would shoot the gas can in time.
All of a sudden, the air was knocked out of him and he was thrust forward, scraping along the ground as he was pushed faster forward. His lungs burned with the sudden need to breath, but he fought the sensation. The world whirled around him, spinning out of control. Short bursts of pain shot up his limbs as each one banged into the walls on either side of him.
Then, just as soon as it had happened, it stopped. George floated somewhere in limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness. He wasn't sure which way was up and which was down, but he needed to get out of the water soon. Panic gripped him on the brink of insanity. The need for oxygen burned deep within him. For a split second, he considered giving in to the instinctual response and gulping in the water. He knew better though, water was no substitute for air. Pushing and pulling, George was drowning in less than three feet of water.
He splashed around, hoping that he would pick the right direction. Painfully, his head smacked against the bottom of the tunnel. The world started to go black; he wasn't going to make it. Something pulled at him, he was certain the leech just wanted to get at his dead body, he tried to fight it, but his strength wasn't up to the fight. His only two choices were drowning or being eaten, either way he was to die. More impatiently, the leech gnawed at him. Half-heartedly, he swiped at the attempt. It grabbed a hold of his jacket and yanked him abruptly to the surface.
George coughed sporadically, sucking in bouts of air greedily. Somewhere off in the distance, he heard his ears pop. Lights danced before him, only to be blocked by the shadows. Slowly, his vision began to come into focus. George squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to get them to focus faster. When he opened his eyes, Mark was still holding him upright and saying something George couldn't hear.
"-right?" Mark's mouth worked out the words; he repeated them over and over. "Are you alright?"
Finally, George was able to make out the words, but he couldn't find his voice to respond, so he just nodded. He saw the others who had run away in the beginning standing around. All seven people stood over him, staring, concern etched on each of their faces. They all had really come far.
Jim was looking sheepish and was holding something George couldn't make out. When he noticed George looking, he held up what he was holding. "If you don't mind, maybe that shot wouldn't be so bad."
George tried to chuckle, but only coughed up some more water.