[Author's Note: Again, apologies for the update delay, but it might be this long for a bit. I'm now working nearly full-time and only get a few hours free per day. However, rest assured that this story will not die. That said, here's the second half of Chapter 5. Thanks for reading and enjoy! --Foxmerc]



CHAPTER 5
Run Like Hell



Of course I knew Wolf was serious in his threat. Actually, I was pretty surprised that he hadn't killed the tiger already. Wolf's reputation for following a "Live and let live" policy wasn't too good, and I thought Tommy's little breakdown in the corridor clinched his fate. But Wolf just strode out the far door, leaving me to deal with the kid.
I really felt for him, seeing him kneel there with a tear-streaked muzzle, stuck in this nightmare. It was obvious he had even less preparation for this kind of thing than anyone could have. With a low sigh, I walked over to him and knelt beside him, keeping my ears pricked for any party-crashers.
"Tommy?" I said in a gentle tone. He didn't seem to hear me; he just kept giving the monster corpses a forlorn look. "Tommy, listen…you have to—"
"I used to work in this fast-food place," he suddenly cut in with a strained voice, his eyes distant. "This normal part-time job…just to get up money to go to college. Nobody in my family had ever gone to college, and we were all determined that I would be the first. I hated the job, dealing with pushy customers, getting burned, minimum wage, all that. So I saw this ad for the Cornerian Army. It looked alright, you know? Traveling, doing all this cool army-type stuff, and I'd get a government loan for college. The war was technically over, so I thought I'd be pretty safe also. But now, I…I…" He brought his hands to his face and muttered through them, his voice choked with tears. "I wish I was back at that job…I'd do anything to be there instead of here."
Poor kid. I put my hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed. "There's no sense in wishing for something in the past. Believe me, I've done it. There's nothing you could have done for them. Hell, it's a miracle that you were where you were when it happened, so don't waste that. We already found a way out on Sub-level 1, and we've been doing alright against these things so far. This isn't hopeless, we can make it. You'll still have that life. All you have to do is suck it up for now and come with us, alright?"
It wasn't suicide hot-line material, but we didn't have time for much else. If he didn't come with us, either Wolf would kill him or a monster would. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Tommy's breathing turned normal again and he slowly lowered his hands. His eyes were red, but dry. He didn't look exactly battle-hungry, but the expression he wore would have to do. It was a determined yet scared-to-hell look that any kid would have in this kind of situation.
"There's a way out?" he asked a bit timidly. "Well…I guess it's worth a shot. This all just seems like a nightmare, and I can't wake up. I don't want to die…not like this."
I think all three of us pretty much had that same thought that this was a nightmare…that same wish I should say. I helped him up to his feet and unslung my assault rifle from my shoulder. "You just stay by me and shoot at anything bald and bubbly, and you won't die, I promise. I'm supposed to be on vacation right now, and I'm damn well gonna get there."
He managed a weak grin as he took the rifle I offered, awkwardly checking it over like…well, like the army private he was. "My nineteenth birthday is this weekend, and I was supposed to go on leave to see my parents. I guess I'll just keep my mind on that…on seeing them again and all, you know?"
"Good." I grinned back as I flipped the safety off for him, then turned to go back through the test chamber room. "Let's go, Wolf—"
I stopped short, nearly having a heart attack as I saw the aforementioned bastard leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded. I still wasn't totally used to just casually seeing him, not to mention I was jumpy as it is. He took the liberty of finishing my sentence.
"—has found the way up and has been waiting on your sorry asses. Is little Tommy over there ready to join the grown-ups?"
Suddenly, my little pep-talk looked like psychological gold compared to him. I shot him a dirty look and glanced back at Tommy. He was blushing slightly and tried to return the glare back at Wolf, but he was still a bit too intimidated and it ended up looking like he had to take a piss. All he managed to say was, "I'm…fine."
"What'd you find?" I asked, taking the topic off Tommy. Wolf scoffed and led us through the room's other door. Yet another cheery, broken-down hallway awaited us. What's not to like? Dim, flickering lights, blood, rust, grease, noises that couldn't be placed…it was becoming like home already.
Our next little surprise held good news and bad news. The good news was that Wolf had discovered an elevator, a normal-size one unlike the cargo elevator. The bad news was that the elevator had decided to retire in a mangled heap on the bottom of the shaft. It seemed elevators didn't have a lot of reliability in this place.
After holding on tight and looking down at the busted elevator, I looked in the direction that mattered: up. It stretched on into darkness, and I could make out only the next couple floors. The door right above us was open, but the one after that was closed, and there was no way we could pry it open in this position.
"So we climb to the next floor, then find another staircase or shaft," I said, ducking back into the corridor. "That'll get us to Sub-17, right?"
"You do that hard math all by yourself?" Wolf muttered from behind me. I ignored him and focused on the bigger problem at hand, which Tommy decided to wonder aloud. He carefully looked up the shaft and swallowed hard.
"So, uh…how do we get up there?"
It was a good question. One of us could reach the ledge of the floor above if boosted up, but then what? Wolf seemed to have already thought it through, because he nodded to himself and stepped forward to the ledge. "Boost me up."
"Then how do we get up?" I asked.
"You'll see, just do it."
I figured he wouldn't have gone through the trouble of keeping us if he planned on dropping us down an elevator shaft when he wasn't anywhere near the exit. I shrugged and cupped my hands, gesturing for Tommy to do the same.
The kid and I gave a collective grunt as we slowly lifted Wolf, mindful not to fall into the shaft. He kept his balance along the shaft wall and soon grabbed a hold of the Sub-17 ledge, hoisting himself over. Almost immediately, I heard a nerve-grating roar and two shotgun blasts. The roar stopped. I wasn't too disappointed about going first anymore, and it looked like Tommy was about to throw up.
"You ok?" I shouted up into the echoing shaft.
"Fuckin' wonderful," he replied irritably. I could hear clicks coming from his direction and seconds later, a black slithery thing hung down from the ledge. Squinting at it, I could see that it was the sling of Wolf's assault rifle. Not a bad idea. They were built with braided webbing, able to hold much more weight then me or Tommy.
"You first," I nodded to the latter tiger. He swallowed again, apparently torn between the decision of being alone on this floor with the monsters or alone on the next floor with Wolf. Tough decision, I'll admit. It didn't look like he was too eager to play acrobat over the shaft either. Finally, he chose the lesser of two evils and slung the rifle, stepping to the edge of the shaft.
I gave him as much boost as I could and he grabbed the sling. Wolf tugged him up and roughly pulled him over. The sling was lowered down again and I stood tip-toe to reach it, but my heart sank as my hand came short. "It's no good; you have to get it lower."
"It can't go any lower, I'll lose my grip."
With a growl, I tried hopping up, but I could still only brush it, and I was getting dangerously close to losing my balance. "Well, do something, I can't—"
I stopped as I thought I heard one of them say something. After a few seconds of listening, it sounded more like heavy, rasping breathing. And it wasn't coming from the shaft…
Praying that it was just my imagination, I slowly turned around. It wasn't my imagination. Down the corridor stood two of the living nightmares, their black eyes staring at me, almost in confusion. I stared right back. My shotgun was securely slung over my shoulder, not enough time to draw it.
After a few seconds, they got tired of the standoff and did the only thing their shriveled brains could manage: they charged. Muttering every four-letter word I know, I made a few more frantic jumps for the sling, but to no avail. They were closing fast.
In one of those moments of desperation, I did the only plan that had a shred of working. With a deep breath, I jumped across the shaft, shoved hard off the other side with my foot and barely grabbed the end of the sling. I hung on for dear life as the first monster flew into the shaft, slamming his head on the side and falling to the bottom with a roar. The other had a bit better reaction time, and he jumped up and grabbed onto my leg.
I yelped in pain as I felt it tear into me, and the weight felt enough to tear my leg completely off. There were grunts from the other end of the sling as it dropped a few inches and Wolf fought to hold on. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I knew I couldn't hold on forever. I grabbed my pistol from the holster with my left hand and shoved it into the bastard's hole of a mouth. Firing seven lasers through its head seemed to change its mind about holding on. It dropped away to join its brethren at the bottom of the shaft.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I held on as Wolf and Tommy pulled me up. I grimaced as I crawled over the ledge and looked at my leg. It felt like it was on fire and looked like someone had used it as a knife holder. Wolf sighed and shook his head, as if it was my fault. "Well, maybe if you lowered the damn thing some more, I wouldn't be like this."
"Just shut your hole and sit there." He walked off around a corner down the corridor, out of sight. Tommy looked after him, then back at Fox and shrugged. After a few minutes, Wolf came back with a first-aid box and knelt by my leg.
"Where'd you find that?" I asked as he opened it and rummaged around.
"Well, this is the barracks level. There's an infirmary over there." He tore the remainder of my upper left pant leg off, inciting another wave of sharp pain, but it didn't look like he cared much. As he mopped the blood away and applied some kind of antiseptic thing to a bandage, I had an unsettling thought. "Hey, that monster cutting me…it didn't, like…you know…infect me, or anything, did it?"
Wolf shrugged, again not seeming to care either way. "Probably not. If it did, the effect would have happened immediately. Well, it would give me an excuse to kill you."
I couldn't tell if that was his morbid attempt at humor or not, so I just kept my muzzle shut and let him bandage my leg. I gritted my teeth the whole time, but it felt better when he was done. He asked if I could walk on it, and I stood up to test.
"Yeah," I reported after a few practice steps. "Just a dull ache."
Tommy had been keeping an eye down the corridor the whole time, and I wondered if he would actually fire if a monster came towards us. Guess we'd find out soon enough. Wolf grabbed up his shotgun and started reloading it as I unslung mine.
"Alright, listen," he said. "Like I said, this is the barracks level. Just a bunch of bunk rooms, bathrooms, and a dining hall at the far end. And, unless most of them have moved, this was the most populated floor when the shit hit the fan. Everyone except scientists and a few guards are banned from the floor during tests."
"So what should we do?" Tommy asked.
He started down the corridor as I took a deep breath in preparation for another floor of torment. "If we see a bunch of them…run like hell."



-Chapter 6 coming soon-