//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing
// yaoi hints
//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.
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Inside the dark cargo-cabin, Seifer turned on the light attached to his gun. Nida flicked his cigarette lighter, but he was nervous and it wouldn't light. Quistis had a flashlight in her hand, the light added little to the black.
"She should have stayed down," Stephen said softly. "If... she'd only stayed down... she'd be okay. She wouldn't have died."
"Remember the bone yard?" Seifer asked. "These might just be the fuckers that killed every living thing on this planet."
Seifer scanned over the dark lit hallway of the cargo-cabin.
"What are we gonna do now?" Stephen asked.
Nida's cigarette lighter finally lit into flame.
"Are these the only lights we have?" Nida asked in a nervous voice. "Is this everything?"
"Naw, there a cuttin' torch somewhere on the floor here," Zell said. "Jus ain't spotted it."
Seifer took a slow step towards the dark of the cramped space, his light leading the way.
An echo sounded from outside the cabin. The creatures were calling. Searching. Hungry.
"Quiet please everyone," Quistis said.
Nuvy leaned towards the closed door, listening to the outside sounds. Quistis next to the young girl, listening as well.
Stephen joined them, leaning heavily on the closed cargo-cabin door. Zell stood close to the young boy.
More calls echoed from the shadow-creatures, closer.
"Why do they do that? Make that sound?" Stephen asked, his young voice betraying his bravery - exposing his fear.
"Perhaps its the way they see," Quistis suggested. "With sound reflecting back."
Clanking from else where in the small cabin made everyone jump. The two light beams scanned around the hallway, searching for danger.
The clanking continued, down near the other end of the hallway.
Squall stepped forward, in front of Seifer, looking with his jeweled night-vision. He didn't see anything. Seifer's light beam shot forward, he: standing close to Squall.
Zell stood a foot behind Seifer, to the right, trying to see. Quistis next to him, the mika's flashlight beam trying to help look for the clanking. The nose that betrayed the shadow-creature's location. Inside the cargo cabin.
"Could be a breach in the hull, I donno," Zell said, stepping up again, next to Seifer - still behind Squall.
Echoes began to fill the room, the clanking of creatures scurrying continued.
"Come on, Almasy," Squall said with a small smile, his voice taunting. "You've got the big gauge."
Zell looked at Seifer, who's gun was up - ready to fire. Seifer shook his head.
"I'd rather piss glass," Seifer replied. "Why don't you go fuckin' check?"
"I'm not staying here one more second!" Nida said in a panic voice, turning to open the cargo-cabin door.
"Where are you going?!" Seifer snapped, turning his attention from the dark to the artifact dealer. "Hey, hey, hey!"
Nida grabbed the bar handle to the door, and started to turn it.
Quistis ripped Nida's hand from the handle.
"Nida? Nida!" Zell called, turning to help Quistis control the panicked man.
"Sit him down," Seifer said, pulling Nida's arm to easily push the man onto the ground.
Quistis glared down at Nida.
"You donno what's out there!" Zell snapped, taking Nida's shirt, glaring into his eyes.
Quistis turned to force open a door that led further into the cargo-cabin with a crowbar.
"I know what's in here!" Nida replied, plainly afraid.
Nuvy, now holding the flashlight, turned away from Nida - putting a spotlight on Quistis and the crowbar, helping the mika see better to open the door.
Squall still stood in the same place as before, his jeweled night-vision scanned into the dark space. He ignored everything that went on behind him. Who cared about those freaks. As he'd said before - When the dying starts, this psycho-fuck family would tear itself apart. And it had begun.
The door Quistis had been working on open, the priestess nearly falling forward. Regaining her balance, she called in Japanese to her two Trepies to enter into the room. "Hurry!" she said in English to the rest of the surviving group.
Zell entered the room after the two young Trepies, looking around. Seifer followed the tattooed blonde, his light beam scanning the room quickly, gun ready.
Stephen and Nida hurried after, followed by Quistis - then finally Squall slowly walked in.
Quistis closed the door, clicking the lock into place.
Hissing. Close hissing. Hungry. The shadow creatures were very close now.
"Now we're trapped in a much smaller space!" Nida complained. "I hate this!"
Everyone stayed quiet.
Zell took Stephen's arm, protecting the 12 year old boy. Zell's sapphire eyes strained to see in the dark.
Standing next to a wall Seifer sneered, his blue eyes following the light, checking around.
Something banged hard against the door, startling Quistis to fall forward. As she fell forward, she grabbed Zell, the young pilot gasping in surprise.
Everyone quickly turned to look at the door, which now had a nice hole in it.
Nida, still holding his cigarette lighter up, nearly screamed when something burst into flames. It was the cutting torch. And Squall was holding it.
Seifer fired a few rounds at the door. Squall - near the opposite wall - used the cutting torch to make an opening. They needed to get out of this room. It was a death trap. This entire cargo-cabin was a death trap.
Not a moment later, the wall had a hole large enough for a human body to crawl though.
Squall entered the new room first, followed by Zell - who now was holding the cutting torch. Squall moved a couple boxes, his jeweled eyes searching for danger.
Stephen and Nida entered the room after Zell.
Squall stepped forward, not really looking worried at all. Simply strolling through the Pitch Dark.
Zell stayed next to the hole, cutting torch up to light the room.
Quistis crawled through next, followed by her two Trepies. And finally Seifer.
Squall continued down the dark of the room, still looking like a man strolling in a park on a summer day. His eyes were sharp, noting everything around him. All the shapes of the boxes sitting around the room - and anything that might be out of place.
Seifer let go of his gun, it falling to his side - still attached to him by a strap.
Quistis and Seifer moved a few heavy boxes in front of the hole, Zell still holding the cutting torch up to light the area.
Squall now stood in near pitch black. Zell's light flicking on the other side of the pile of boxes.
Squall stopped, his ears picking up the sound of gnawing. He turned slowly, looking up.
Sitting at the top of a stack of boxes was one of the shadow-creatures. It was eating another, smaller one. Squall took a slow step back, moving to stand in-between two stacks of boxes, hiding himself, careful to keep his eyes on the shadow-creature.
The others, finished barricading the hole in the wall, now began to explore the room as Squall had done. Zamzi being the one who'd followed Squall's path.
Zamzi carelessly walked down between the rows of box stacks, ignorant of the close danger.
A piece of something fell next to Zamzi, startling the boy back. He looked up to the top of the box stack, seeing one of the shadow-creatures.
It hissed.
"Extremely bad timing," Squall said to the young boy, stepping a single step out of the darkness, getting closer to Zamzi.
Zamzi turned and looked at Squall, panic controlling the young boy's movements.
On the other side of the room, in as much light as they group had, Zell stood next to Seifer.
They heard the hissing sound and the room felt of fear. Horror. It felt as though something bad was about to happen.
Seifer held his gun against his shoulder, ready to fire.
"Squall?" Zell called, moving the cutting torch a little to try to see better.
"Just don't run," Squall said to Zamzi.
Zamzi stared at the shadow-creature, his breath very loud, very scared.
"Don't start running," Squall instructed the boy.
"Take this!" Zell said to Seifer, handing the large blonde the cutting torch.
"Here," Seifer replied, pulling the flashlight off his gun for Zell.
Seifer turned away from Zell, moving quickly to cut another hole in a different wall. They still needed to move. Still needed to get away. Danger was still close. And they were still trapped in a very bad place.
Zell held the flashlight up, scanned the beam through the darkness.
Clanking of another shadow-creature approaching sounded behind Squall and Zamzi's location. The box behind Zamzi shook. He looked up to see another shadow-creature standing there, looking down.
It hissed. Then the shadow-creature across from the two hissed back.
Squall slowly, carefully, stepped back into the back between the box-stacks. Zamzi would have to take-care of himself.
"Zamzi?" Quistis called. "Where is Zamzi?" she asked Nuvy.
Then they heard hissing. Stephen looked at Quistis, eyes wide in fear.
Zamzi's panic had taken over completely. He ran.
The shadow-creatures shreaked, leaping forward - after Zamzi.
Squall watched the two shadow-creatures and Zamzi. Not half a second later Zamzi stopped dead. Literally. A third shadow-creature standing on the floor in front of Zamzi dove forward and ripped through the boy.
Zamzi's body was ripped in half, his upper body flinging forward, his legs falling dead where he'd been standing. Blood splattered the area.
A shadow-creature jumped off the box stacks, straight at the third one, tumbling the two into a wrestle. Then the other jumped forward, joining in the wrestling.
Squall stepped out of the darkness and into the path, watching the three creatures fighting for food.
Hissing purred from behind Squall.
Everyone (minus Squall and the now dead Zamzi) was gathered around Seifer - who'd nearly finished cutting the new hole in the wall.
Echoes of the creatures very close, too close sounded through the air.
Zell and Quistis turned with their flashlights, the beams scanning the area.
Then they saw Squall running, immediately shinning their light into his face. Squall cried a deep growl, holding his hand up to his sensative eyes, falling forward.
The shadow-creature jumped down into the light, screamed its own pain, then jumped up and away.
Seifer - having stood and quickly moving his gun ready at the sound of the creatures echoes so close - fired fast shots at the shadow-creature.
It fell back into the light making a loud thud sound. Everyone screamed, stepping back.
Squall slowly pushed himself off the ground.
Seifer sneered, still holding his gun, looking angrily down at the monster.
"Is it alive?" Zell asked.
Seifer looked around the upper parts of the box piles, reloading his gun.
Zell moved the light beam of the flashlight over the creature. The dead shadow-monster's skin began to smoke, burning.
"Its like the light is scalding it," Nida said softly, standing behind Zell.
"It hurts them," Zell mumbled. "The light actually hurts them."
Echoes of the other shadow-creatures still in the room moved the group's attention from the dead one.
"Is that Zamzi?" Quistis called.
"We'll burn a candle for him later," Seifer said, moving back to wall-hole. "Come on, lets get out of here." With that, he kicked the hole, the metal popping out of place.
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