Here it is, I AM BACK!
(crickets...crickets..)
Ahem...Getting Out Alive is back?
(CHEERS!)
*slight cough* Okay, that's (slightly) better. Thank you, so sorry for the wait. I have a lot I would say but you're not here to read about me talking. Thus...
On with the story! :D
(Oh and before I forget, just as a warning, from here on out, the story should be getting pretty dark and slightly more descriptive of the...dark...stuff...Just a warning :)
Later...
Hunter felt pain blossom at the back of his head. Everything in him screeched in pain as he hit the wall and then again when the ruins collapsed on him. Dust choked the air and he coughed haggardly as he tried to dust himself off, tears bleeding down his cheeks as the particles and acrid smoke stung his eyes. Rolling to his feet, but failing to stand, his eyes drifted upward to the figure that had hit him...
No...No...
The figure was deformed, half burned and disintegrating. A familiar lab coat draped off what was left of its body, smattered with dried blood and torn to near shreds. Pulsing globs of the transparent mucus were clumped around the shoulders and soiled with dust and dark strands of hair that had fallen off in handfuls...Everything had changed...but he knew who it was.
The sergeant felt his eyes go wide, staring back at those milky pale orbs that watched him with an insatiable hunger. He backed up, felt the bite on his thigh crack with pain, and muffled a screech, biting his tongue to keep the sound from getting any louder; biting it still even despite that he could taste his blood in his mouth.
No, no, no, nononononono...
Frantically grabbing for the blaster that should have been at his belt, he felt nothing. His heart stopped...then hammered in his chest as he realized just how vulnerable he was. He had handed Crosshair his weapon! His helmet was gone too; it had been left in the room where he had been attacked.
The beady eyes never left him. A swollen blackened tentacle of a tongue snaked out of its mouth and jerkily licked what was left of its lips - then the head cocked to one side, and he saw that the left side of its jaw hung free, dangling precariously on one side. It kept coming. . .
Kriff NO!
All the pleas in the galaxy couldn't stop the figure lumbering towards him. Fire and figures around him, the only way was to go back...and that corner was mighty small...
Time: 0817
Region: Outer Rim, Cademimu sector
Location: Ajan Kloss, Muutmine laboratory, lab room C4321
The room was getting cramped, still and lifeless as it was. Cocking his head, Crosshair glanced down his HUD for an icon, blinking once then winked. But except for the same nerve racking sound of the three men breathing within the confines of their helmets and the faint creaking of metal above them, even with the enhanced hearing range now opened, all stood in an abyss of silence.
Since Joan had 'left' to meet up with Hunter, the three men had been virtually locked in, unable to move much because of the lab rooms lack of security integrity and for fear of the roaming creatures probably just outside.
All of them lost in their own thoughts while they waited, barely daring to breath...It was... getting uncomfortable.
Rubbing his thumb over his blaster - the sound almost loud in the stillness - Wrecker shifted restlessly.
''Why are we waiting here?'' he whispered over his comm.
''Because we're playing Hide-and-Go-Seek with a bunch of lab rats and we don't want to get caught?'' Crosshair whispered back, the sarcasm in his voice thick with mock-cheerfulness, ''That is, unless you want to be 'it' next...''
Wrecker shuddered, giving the sniper a harsh shove in the shoulder.
''Crosshair, stop it. You're getting that creepy voice again.''
''Oh am I?'' he hissed back, taking a tiny step forward, cocking his head in short jerks.
Wrecker shuffled back till he was against the wall, gulping as he nodded. He couldn't see the other man's expression, but he could tell by the tone that Crosshair was imitating an insane clown...that one that had haunted him ever since they'd watched that one horror holo behind Hunter's back after he had specifically told them (him in particular) not to. There was a reason Wrecker - for the most part, at least - obeyed Hunter the first time, now.
''What makes you say that? Huh?''
''Crosshair, stop it!''
''Oooh,'' he cooed, ''Mallowpuff getting scared?''
Over in the corner inspecting a array of vials and hypos, Tech was following the conversation as best as he could through one ear, still reading off the subtitles. But as the 'conversation' degraded, he rolled his eyes.
''I had warned you Crosshair would try something like this eventually.'' he sighed over his shoulder.
''You watched it too!''
''Yes. But that was merely for factual bioweapon malfunction possibilities. The actual relevance of the holo, however, would be none at all - if one was being completely generous and not even including the several inaccuracies in the story's plot and characters.''
Had he not been interrupted by the sudden blast of static in their coms, Tech most likely would have gone on describing in fine detail just how horrible the video had been...But the moment it hit, everyone jerked into alert mode.
''Hunter? Hunter, come in.'' Tech tried, tapping his helmet. ''Joan? Someone, please respond.''
Static...then it died.
''Well...'' Wrecker shrugged uncertainly, ''if there's a burst, maybe he and Joan are nearby?''
''Perhaps, but Joan told us to stay here least we - as she put it - 'foolishly get ourselves killed before she can do it herself.' ''
''You'd rather stay here in the dark instead of going out there and finding out for ourselves? You do know that typically that leads to being trapped if it turns out it's not...?''
''What would you suggest?'' he snapped, annoyed.
''Go out there and kick butt.''
''''Oh yeah!'' Wrecker was grinning from ear to ear, ''That sounds like a good plan to me.''
''You mean lack thereof. There is nothing- ''
''Overthinking it, Tech,'' Crosshair almost sounded like he was smirking under his helmet. ''What have I told you about when you do that? Remember not to get too...'Tech'nical.''
Wrecker laughed. ''We really need to use that one more often.''
''If you do, do not be surprised if you wake up one morning with permipen scribbled all over your gear.'' Tech muttered hotly.
''That requires getting out of here first.'' Crosshair snipped, ''and you surviving this long enough to get there.''
Wrecker laughed...then stopped as the realization that that went for him too hit him. He awkwardly cleared his throat.
''Uh..can we just decide now?''
The sniper glanced at Tech, cocking his head. Tech crossed his arms and didn't budge, stance an obvious indicator of what he thought they should do.
''Well, we decided,'' Crosshair answered, stepping towards the door. ''Let's go.''
''I just- ''Tech began, then cut himself off, muttering. ''He always does this.''
''Always does what?'' Wrecker stage whispered, leaning in towards the smaller clone as they both followed after the sniper.
He rolled his eyes, ''Purposely acts after there being a group decision to not act while in hostile territory. He goes and then the rest of us can't let him die, so we all go anyway. It's a horrible tactic.''
''But it works,'' Crosshair's smug voice filled his helmet.
Outside the lab, with Crosshair in lead, the remnants of the squad crept carefully towards where the static burst had come from. But the closer they came, the harder is was to reach. Both physical and subconscious barriers lay between them and the cause, stubbornly holding them back.
Debris cluttered the ground and made silence difficult. The faint feeling of fear - detached to the point they didn't even know they felt it, making their progress slow. And the closer they got, the more anxious their movements became. The signal was gone, but they kept going, instead now following the weird vibrating they could feel resonating in their chests. They turned a corner and down another hallway.
It felt stronger somehow. That way.
''We should turn back,'' Tech whispered into the com.
Crosshair glanced back the way they'd come...and shook his head.
''We've gotten this far. No point in stopping now.''
As if that weren't ominous enough, the air was filled with the scent of rotting meat and even the filters in their helmets did nothing to prevent the ghastly...aroma from reaching them. Whines originating from seemingly no where, both in high and low frequencies/pitches, echoed off the walls. The hallway creaked under their weight. Checking the sensor, Tech made sure to note it, cataloguing the sublevel beneath them. But when he tried to run the scanner again in order to see the extent of the sublevel hallways, nothing came up...and neither did his previous catalogue entry.
Never mind...Must have been a glitch. While he had done his best to eradicate them, every once in a while, one did happen. No technology was perfect after all.
"Cover me," Crosshair whispered.
Tech nodded reluctantly. He thought he should go first - despite the fact that his sensors had literally just glitched, but not before they'd registered something odd in the center of the long hall. He hadn't had time to see what it was, and nothing was there now, but still . . . He pursed his lips and settled into position, tapping Wrecker's shoulder in front of him - who then tapped Cross's shoulder.
"Ready."
Crosshair ran forward, half-crouched but with his rifle held at the ready. Tech's gaze was peering behind him, on the lookout for anything that might try to come up from behind; so when Crosshair let out a short cry, it took Tech a moment or two of surprised looking for him to realize that his older brother had simply - vanished?
No - impossible. It had to be the floor that had caved in.
''What happened?''
''He- ''Wrecker began, but before he could finish, Tech was already moving. He ran forward himself, only to stop short at another cry.
''DON'T!''
Skidding to a halt, Tech stepped back, staring down into the gapping hole into the ground. There, at the bottom, lying on his back on a pile of bloodied corpses, was Crosshair. His hand was outstretched as if sheer urgency would magically stop Tech from falling over the edge and joining him in the pit. Assured that he and Wrecker wouldn't fall in, he slowly lifted himself up, giving the area a slow sweep as he reached for his rifle.
If the upstairs had been dark, down there was pitched. All Crosshair's night vision could pick up was an endless curtain of green except for the pile of rot that had cushioned his fall. But that didn't make him feel any better. The whines were higher than ever, an uncomfortable buzzing that rattled
A loose bone shuffled off the pile and toppled to the ground, bouncing down with slow, jarring clacks that filled the void.
Anywhere else, it wouldn't have been enough for anyone to bat an eye at.
Here, it could have woken the dead. And it appeared that it did.
The whines instantly stopped...
Above him, Tech knelt and asked, ''What- ''
Crosshair held up a fist, completely unaware that his hand was shaking a little. The space was too big, too open...
''Don't.'' he murmured into the com, bringing up his scope.
There was nothing...But he had the nagging suspicion he was being watched...and when it came to that, he was rarely wrong.
The whines stopped, but...was it his imagination, or did he just feel a heavy waft of dank air exhale? He shifted his feet, more odds and ends of the pile clattering to the ground, heart pounding in his chest.
No. Something was in there...Just beyond his sight...
Seconds later, a rasping 'scrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk' broke the silence. And another. Another...Okay...more than 'something.'
''Guys?'' Crosshair asked, not daring to look away, ''cover me?''
The cocks of weapons from above was all the answer he needed.
Taking a deep breath, he flicked on his search light, the beam cutting through the inky darkness as two others from above did the same. A scream crackled. Something lunged forward from the suddenly visible adjacent room, but Crosshair didn't have time to see what it was. He was already blasting.
Behind him, over the sounds of blaster fire (raising hell), he could hear the skittering of another dozen creatures behind him, one he knew all too well. But he was too preoccupied with what was in front of him to turn! There was no way- A flash of heat blasted a critter behind him, splashing some sort of green sludge and the weird mucus he'd seen earlier on the back of his armor.
So that was it then. Even the insects had been infected. There they were, just writhing masses of puss, shell, and whatever else bugs were made of, swollen to the size of arm-length monsters and fast as drones. Though luckily, not as smart.
There were just a lot of them. Hordes. All coming after him. And he knew he would be running out of ammo soon. He had to get out of there. There would be no time to reload. Smoke filled the room. The screams, clacks, and whines became frantic. Crosshair's pulse pounded in his ears. Adrenaline made him shake. He was trapped. Mindless enemies were closing in in hordes. He was running out of ammo. Fear suddenly gripped his throat till he barely noticed he was trying to hold his breath.
I am not dying. Not today, not down here!
''Crosshair, shoot the room stabilizers!'' Tech yelled, ''We'll cover you!''
Trusting his life to his brothers hands, he tried to ignore the skittering of hardened feet on tile and the spludge of insect gore as it splattered his armor, sighting down his target, clicking the infiltration/anti-armor attachment to the barrel.
His finger lightly squeezed...and fired. The ceiling of the other tunnel cracked, raining down and killing another wave of insects coming through the entrance. He didn't stop firing until all he could see was dust and rock, pouring the whole clip into it before snapping off the anti-armor caliber to change back to regular bolts, finishing off the bugs.
The acrid smell of blaster fire hung in the air along with the sudden stillness.
Wrecker called down, ''Did we get them all?''
''Is the coast clear?'' Tech added.
Crosshair didn't answer right away, still turning around to double check. Finally, he nodded.
Granted, he didn't expect them to jump down in order to join him. He was about to argue, but Tech was already moving towards the computers on the other side of the room, apparently not caring that he was stepping on bug guts. Wrecker, on the other hand, seemed to notice that right off. That, and just what it was he was landing on when he jumped down.
Seems he had leaped before he'd jumped.
Another cradle of bodies shifted under his weight, forcing them both to skitter down to the floor before they slipped. Even as they walked away, Wrecker shuddered, nodding back over his shoulder, ''Everyone and thing else in this place has gone crazy; what do you think happened to them?''
''It is probable that they were already dead before the injection was created. Or perhaps these were the original subjects of the earlier prototypes.'' Tech said, not looking up from the screen.
''Uh, Tech, did we have to know that?''
Tech paused...blinked...and continued typing.
''You did inquire as to the nature of the pile. That is merely my guess.''
''At least that explains the smell,'' Wrecker grumbled, covering his faceplate.
Stepping over to the console, Crosshair ignored him and gave Tech a shove.
''So why did you jump down here? Now how are we going to get back up?'' he demanded.
''I have already thought of that,'' was the only absent reply he was given.
''So why are we still down here?!''
At this, Tech finally paused, turning to his brother.
''It appears you have been more shaken then I first anticipated. Have you not noticed where we are?''
Biting down an angry retort because he knew it was true, he did; and for the first time since he'd dropped into the armory, noticed the familiar racks of storage units. Special storage units because these were the droid recharging stations, now just dust soaked stacks of metal from lack of use.
''Uh...are you thinking what I think you're thinking?'' Wrecker asked, sounding worried.
To be honest, so was Crosshair. But Tech barely noticed.
''Of course. I am powering up the droids.''
''WHAT?''
''Their back up power and memory may come in handy later. I am rewiring their units so I can control them from my datapad.''
''Slight problem,'' Crosshair hissed, ''Power is still off.''
'' 'Still off' for now.'' he retorted, ''However, I have the impression that that shall not last long. Not once Joan comes back.''
''Assume she does: how we could use these droids to our advantage?''
He jerked his head back at Wrecker, ''We don't exactly like the idea of battle droids behind us unless they're dead.''
''Possibly...'' Tech said slowly, calculating the odds in his head. ''It is possible to reprogram them so they attack the undead for us; but there is another way...''
''What is it?'' Wrecker asked when Tech let his sentence drop to a dwindle, tapping something into the computer.
One of the units opened - causing both Wrecker and Crosshair to bring their weapons to bear, and inside lay a row of droid commandos, which Tech peered at carefully.
''I was wondering,'' he said, walking over to the droid commando and tapping it's thigh, glancing back at the others, ''how do you think Joan would react to this model?''
Somewhere within the dark...
Shuffling awkwardly around the confines of the hard barriers, the Hive peered curiously at the tiny moving foods within the long barrier. One, too eager for a meal, smashed it's fist against the figures and they vanished, replaced only with a fizzling whine that hurt the Hive's senses.
They howled and scattered, scampering to the other side of the hard place, broken limbs and shredded cloths clacking and fluttering against the ground as they went. They huddled together like a scared pack of rodents, hissing and snapping at each other if one got too close to another.
Firmly in the middle of the barriers, Leader bared his teeth and growled, scraping at his head in annoyance and pain.
Useless. That's what they were. The others of the Hive had no instinct. The only reason they dared share the same room was because the Drone had forced them here, snapping and growling at them in-person and through the Hive link until they obeyed. Leader wasn't sure how he knew they had to be together - and not just through the mind link - but he did. Something important was going to happen if they where there; if not, they would miss it.
It must have been the barriers. There was a faint...flicker of familiarity that Leader felt as he stalked the area, slapping at the little barriers with the tiny cages that held the food. Those barriers...they did something. He hit a funny light that blinked off and on, felt it press down, and watched as the little cage changed, showing an empty hallway. He struck it again, this time seeing another hallway but one with two prey running away from the Hive within the barrier.
Leader cocked his head.
Behind him, he could feel the whole Hive watching him. He could feel their restlessness. More prey had been discovered underground, farther away, but Leader refused to let them go, instead watching the ones running away.
One was carrying something. A black shiny object he'd seen before...one that shot fire. There was even one in the room. One of the prey had been holding it before he'd been bitten and joined the Hive. Ambling over to it, Leader fumbled with the object, clumsily trying to decipher its workings. His little limb hooked behind the loose trigger and pulled.
And it shot fire, hitting one of the Hive in front of him. It howled, rearing back, its pain shrieking over the link. Screams and howls filled the air. The Hive was beginning to stir, scampering around together, lashing out in the shared pain from when the one had been shot.
Leader clutched the shiny devise, knowing none of the others would dare approach him. It could be used. It could take down the prey, which would please their hunger. Maybe if their hunger was satisfied, so would their Queen. Maybe then, she would join them?
She had been away too long. The Hive was eager to thrive and they needed her guidance; But she hadn't found them yet. It didn't matter. She would soon enough.
The Drone growled at one who stalked too close, warning it back. It took the hint and scampered back to the others, pitying whines escaping it.
The Hive was weak. But again, it didn't matter, not for long.
Not once the Queen returned to the Hive...
The coding was strange inside the Muutmine lab system. Granted, compared to the Regs encryption codes for their personal datapads, it wasn't all that different. But still. The Seppi code was for people who didn't want their stuff looked into.
Clone codes were for the boys who would rather die than admit that they watched music videos via their helmets while on guard duty. (Who knew they could be surprisingly secretive?)
Typical of the Seps to never leave a usage manual for the happen-stance intruder. How rude.
Shaking her head ruefully at the misfortune, Joan took a peek through a security camera to check on Hunter and Ravyn's progress.
Dramatic as ever, Hunter was taking the lead with his blaster at eyelevel, pausing before every tunnel and opening jerking his blaster around as he searched for enemies.
'Sighing', Joan shook her data the way she did when she was trying to impersonate a Human's headshake. Hadn't he listened back in the lab when she'd said that she had been dropping doors? Why was it that Humans were so darned stubborn when it came to forgetting randomly important information; yet for some reason, the randomly idiotic info is what seemed to stick with them the most?
Slipping into the nearby stream of data leaving the system to interact with the online armor systems, Joan inserted herself back into his armor, avatar popping up on his visor.
''Heyya, wussup?'' she chirped loudly, part of her waiting to see if he would jump.
To his credit, Hunter barely blinked.
''What is it?'' he asked, husky voice low and methodical, almost sounding afraid to break the near silence of the hallway as he subconsciously took a step closer to Ravyn, he checking down another hallway entrance. ''Got something?''
''No. And that's the problem,'' she replied, in the same hushed tone, sounding terrified...
She could practically feel the sergeant stiffen.
She waited...then straightened, ''I still haven't received the best AI award yet. Did you boys ever send in my transcript? You know, the galaxy could do with more geniuses like me. You don't send it and you'll be detrimenting the whole world by withholding a valuable asset to the economy.''
Hunter huffed, rolling his eyes, tension broken as he realized she was being sarcastic. Honestly, he should have known.
Joan hadn't bother with trying to keep quiet. In that case, she probably didn't need to.
To be honest, she didn't think she needed to either. After all, Hunter could hear well enough for the both of them (especially because the luggage was too busy either being crazy or jumping at every creak to ever even notice being eaten alive, much less actually being snuck up on).
''But seriously,'' she continued, ''can you keep going on your own for a little bit while I check on the others? I know you love it when I have to babysit you, but right now, you need to be a big kid and do with out having me watching you like a shriek hawk. You should know by now not to touch the stove top.''
Smirking, Hunter paused, cocking his head.
''You mean we're not supposed to?'' he asked, sounding stupidly ignorant on purpose.
Joan groaned. ''Just another thing I need to add to the list...''
''Guess you'll have to.''
''Shut up...Oh, and tell that hag next to you to not get you killed, got it? On my orders.''
Waving a casual two-fingered salute, Hunter joked, ''Ma'am, yes, ma'am.''
Well there was that at least. His heart rate had been spiking with every new tunnel they came across and with every off-in-the-distance screech that echoed down the hallways. Good to know he could still attempt regulating it by joking around. Now she just needed to make sure that the others weren't already too dead to do the same.
She jumped to another data stream and got underway, shooting ahead towards where she'd left the others.
But when she arrived, it was too quiet. The system was completely silent. There was no nearby chatter like she would have expected to see near Tech's datapad, which he never dared to part with...She zipped to the camera, digital eyes dilating as all she was the empty room.
She had told them to stay there!
Kriff. Where were they?!
Of course, they've gotten themselves into trouble. What else is new?
Anyway, thank you for reading :D Thank you for waiting (for those of you who are following the story) I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that it didn't feel forced (part of the reason why it took me so long to write)
Special thanks to my inkling who helped me with making sure that the chapter wasn't too gross :) (Cause trust me, it could have been worse. Just saying)