[Author's Note: Apologies for the delay, but finals week at school occupied much of my time along with finding a summer job and the difficulty at writing this story well. This is only Wolf's half of Chapter 4, and I'm going away to Florida until Friday and didn't want to leave you with nothing. Fox's half will be posted this weekend and I'll finally be free to write more now that school's out. Also, thank you to those who reviewed, and please keep doing so...this story is proving difficult to write and I want to make sure I keep it good, so any criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading and enjoy! --Foxmerc]

CHAPTER 4
Last Chance
1324 hours


What the hell was wrong with me? Was I really freeing Fox McCloud from the death I had wanted to deal to him for so long? Not only that, but I was letting the bastard accompany me! I was so close, my finger was on the damn trigger…but then he started making sense. I had seen what those freaks could do, and it was true that two stood a much better chance. McCloud had never seen them…if he had known everything I knew, he might have begged me to shoot right there and end it, and that wouldn't have taken much convincing.
As he stood up and nervously glanced at me, I decided it wasn't such a bad idea after all. He had at least some naïve notion of honor or all that dumb shit, so he might actually not shoot me in the back. I, on the other hand, couldn't care less. Just use his help in killing these things and getting out of here, and boom, blast in the back of the head, he'll never even see it coming. I always wanted to make his death much more drawn out and painful than that, but I'll get what I can take. Maybe I'll put a laser in his groin first, just for kicks.
"So do I get a weapon?" Fox asked, snapping me out of my future plans. "Or should I just kick them in the shins?"
"Why do you think I'm using your gun, smartass?" I replied, glaring at him. "It's the only one here. We'll have to stop at the armory on the other side of the test chambers. Hope you have a strong stomach."
As he started down the corridor, McCloud glanced back at me in a defensive kind of way. I followed him, my finger never leaving the trigger, and grinned slightly…I couldn't wait to see his reaction to the sights I had come across. He walked slowly, eyes darting around, and I had to roughly nudge him a few times, though I couldn't really blame him…I was the one shuffling around like a fucking baby only a half hour before.
Fox's expression when he saw the dead monster in the corridor was just as classic as that unfortunate leopard who got ripped apart in the test chamber. He rounded the corner and saw the bulbous, hellish mass lying there and stopped short. He recoiled back and bumped into me, nearly causing me to fire, and hit the back wall, his eyes wide as plates. I could tell from the way he started to double over, hands over his muzzle, that he was about to heave. Truthfully, the idea hadn't escaped me either…the corpse was beginning to stink up the corridor like an open sewer.
"What…what the…" he choked out between swallows, trying to keep his lunch down, still staring at the monster. "What…is…that thing?"
"Beauty, aint it?" I replied, enjoying the scene. "Like I said, this is a bio-weapons research lab, and a gas that turns people into that is the product. Great show to watch. Unfortunately, the shit-for-brains techies didn't keep their equipment working, and the gas was released, along with a couple of the freaks."
"The…the blast," Fox said, cocking an eyebrow.
"What?"
He slowly stood up again, leaning on the wall for support. "When I was on the roof…a bunch of gas was shot out of the base."
"That was me purging it," I replied, slitting my eyes. "Wait a minute…you mean you came down here voluntarily after seeing that?"
He nodded and I slowly shook my head. "You're a fucking moron, you know that?"
It was a rhetorical question, but he grimaced and muttered, "Believe me, I know."
I was about to make further soul-shattering comments on his intellect, but I was interrupted by another argument…a guttural scream that echoed distantly through the hall. I decided not to argue. Fox also heard it and his frightened expression told me that he had no objections to continuing either. "Come on, go, now!"
We continued back towards the armory, moving a little quicker, but running was out of the question…didn't want to risk being heard or turning a corner and skidding right into the arms of one of the freaks. I kept the gun trained behind us, glancing back every few seconds, but no more screams were heard and no monster made our acquaintance. It's times like those that having one eye can be a real pain in the ass.
Before long, we rounded the corner to the Playground, third time that day for me. Fox's foot hit the cougar's head, just as mine had, and he looked down at the half-bitten skull. That did it…with hardly a moment's hesitation he leaned to the side and heaved. I watched as he lost it and laughed scornfully out loud.
"Stop being such a wimp…there'll probably be much more, worse than this."
"Shut up!" he shouted, still doubled over and breathing heavily. Out of nowhere, he suddenly bared his teeth in anger and kicked the head like the starting quarterback for a football team, sending it bouncing down the corridor. He turned to me with an angry glare. "This is all your damn fault! You and Venom! One stupid thing after another! Damn you all!"
I waited patiently, grinning at him. It was a common reaction when confronted with imminent death or pain…get pissed off. I'd seen it plenty of times in torture victims, and it only got funnier. "Well, if you're done with your tantrum, should we keep going? Or should I leave you here for whatever's behind us…maybe he'd be more willing to listen."
He glared at me for another few seconds, probably thinking about giving to me what I had wanted to give to him…a slow, painful death. We'll see who wins in the end, though…it was already decided that Fox McCloud was not going to leave the base alive, it was just a matter of when we got topside. And if he was thinking the same thing, then so what? I could beat him in anything, any day.
"Hell, why'd I even give you a chance?" I asked out loud, following my train of thought. "You may act all hot shit in the air, but you're nothing but a soft little weakling on the ground."
I walked over and again slid open the door to the Playground. We would have to pass through it to the opposite door, which continued the corridor to the armory, and eventually the cell block. As I walked in, I could hear the baby trailing behind me.
"I've been in plenty of ground fights," he said defensively. "This whole mess just happened a little abruptly…it's not my fault you're a cold-hearted bastard who enjoys death."
Cold-hearted bastard…ahhh, I love the way that just rings in my ear. I'm probably called that more than I am by my actual name and it only makes me grin every time…it just means that they fear me. Or, in McCloud's case, it just means that they're weaker.
"Thanks for the compliment, but flattery will get you nowhere," I replied in a patronizing tone. "I'd rather be a cold-hearted bastard than a weak little sh—"
"Dear God…" he breathed, apparently not even hearing me. He gazed around the test chambers at the gallons of blood that painted the walls and floor and the layers of shredded flesh and fur that were thrown around like confetti at Hell's own New Year's Eve party. At least this time he didn't puke…after a few seconds, he set his jaw and followed after me to the door. Maybe he was seeing what the monsters could really do and figured it wasn't time for a coffee break just yet.
I opened the far door and was greeted by another corpse, a lizard guard, the ugly slash across his front telling the story of his death. I didn't care so much about the guard as I did for what he was holding…a beautiful Venom standard-issue assault rifle. I checked the mag in it and found that it was just about at full power…he only got a few shots off before whatever it was that killed him finished the job. Loading up, I took the two spare energy mags in his pocket and stuck them in my own, then headed down the new corridor.
"Hey!" Fox shouted after me, still standing by the corpse. "Do I get one, or what? I'm not going to be much good without a gun."
Actually, I could think of plenty of ways to make use of the unarmed McCloud…bait, distraction, all the fun stuff. I looked at him for a few seconds, again not believing the amazing irony of the situation I was in. First I don't shoot him…now I'm actually contemplating giving my worst enemy a weapon. Well, what the hell…no use letting him come along if he couldn't land a laser or two into the freaks. I tossed him his pistol and held onto the rifle. "Not like you're going to be much use anyway."
He mumbled something under his breath while checking the pistol, then followed me as we continued towards the armory. This new corridor didn't have the appeal of the mostly-unmarred one by the elevator. Laser burns pocked the walls, and the lights were flickering in some places, giving the halls a weird strobe effect that hurt my eye. Corpses weren't in abundance there either, which could only mean more freaks.
We took it nice and slow, no rush. I was just getting ready to celebrate arriving at the armory with no encounter when we stopped short at the sound of a loud snuffling, like a whale with allergies. It turned into a hissing, then back to the snuffling…and it was coming from just around the corner, by the armory. I looked back at Fox, and he nodded and raised the pistol. Psh, yeah right…I'd probably have to hold his hand and promise him a lollipop after the fight.
Taking a deep breath and shouldering the rifle, I slowly rounded the corner, McCloud on my heels. There it stood…six and a half feet of pure freak. The deformed body swayed drunkenly, groaning and snuffling, its back thankfully to us. I heard McCloud's breath catch in his throat, and I wasn't laughing this time…there was nothing remotely funny when there was no glass separating me from the monster. We both stared stupidly at it, neither of us wanting to fire and risk it being ineffective, thus giving the freak free game to tear us apart like rag dolls.
Then, its wet breathing stopped and it stood dead still…
It had heard us or smelled us or something, because it started to turn. That pretty much eliminated our options…I took aim and fired a laser straight to the head. It had pretty much the same reaction that a normal person would have…if bitten by a mosquito. The big bastard merely shook its head, a mix of thick yellow pus and blood leaking from the wound, and let out an ear-shattering roar. That gave a swift kick in the ass to our survival instincts…for the first time in history, McCloud and I both fired the same way, at the same enemy.
While the monster wasted time roaring, we wasted him instead. The same leaking wounds soon covered its lumpy barf-colored torso as we fired, and it took a stumbling step backwards. When McCloud's gun clicked on empty and I had fired ten shots, the monster collapsed to the deck, smoking from the burning laser holes. I put another two in it just to make sure, but it didn't get up.
"That wasn't so bad," Fox said, letting out his breath and frowning at his empty gun.
"As long as they don't come in two or three, which they will," I replied. "And as long as we always get a first shot to the head, which we won't. And as long as they don't do their long jump, which they will. Don't worry, you'll be pissing your pants again before long."
He scowled at me and shoved his useless gun in the holster. The armory door was in sight further down the corridor, and it looked like we were clear. I stepped over the corpse and headed for it, McCloud following. I heard him mutter something like, "Another glorious product for the galaxy, care of Venom" to the corpse as he stepped over it. It sure as hell would have been if the techies hadn't fucked it all up…drop a load of these into a Cornerian base or city, and enjoy the show.
I had worred that the armory might have been torn apart, but surprisingly enough, the door was still intact and locked. I swiped my security card and the bitch of a door gave me a pleasant, happy little ding before sliding open. A full stock spread out before me, racks of guns, ammo, explosives, and anything else used in the fine art of death-dealing. The only thing wrong with the room was the dead body of one of the scientists, an old hare, lying flat on his back. A pool of blood circled his head and he held a pistol limply in one hand…I didn't need to check the clip to tell me that he only fired one shot.
Fox saw this too and squinted. "Suicide?"
"It makes sense. He either heard the monsters out there or worse…he saw the gas coming. It was the better way to go, either way." I passed by the corpse and kicked it out of the way roughly. "Good riddance…I'd kill all these goddamn geeks myself if they weren't all dead already."
McCloud apparently shared that view too because he nodded and shot a glare down at the corpse. Well, maybe that's not true…he hated the scientists for a different reason, because they were creating something that would harm his precious Lylat. Me, I just hated them because they couldn't keep their shit straight and now I had to pay for it.
I made my way through the treasure trove, taking a pistol of my own to replace the one I had left in my room. Next stop was ammo, but I figured I'd need more than I could fit in my pockets. I strapped on a tac-vest, which had more places too keep ammo than I could count, along with hooks for grenades and radios and all that. I didn't put any of it to waste; the vest bulged as if I was turning into one of the freaks myself, but I wasn't going for looks.
"Let's go…through the cell block is the emergency stairwell, which goes up a couple floors to Central Control. We can figure out what to do there."

-Chapter 4b coming soon-