Part IV

One of its claws slashed across his forearm, ripping through cloth and skin alike. He stumbled backward unable to stop the motion. The creature followed with its near lipless face grinning madly and bloodshot eyes widened in a terrible stare. Whatever doubts he'd suffered from were all gone now: the creature before him was not human. No matter how many the outside similarities were, it wasn't. Not remotely.

Jet reached for his Airget-lamh, but it was most likely too late. He tripped over the comfortable armchair Gallows had occupied earlier that day. The back of his head hit the floor with a loud thud and the ARM slid out of his loose grip across the floor and out of reach. In a haze he saw the freak creature lunge at him.

Throwing out a punch with his unharmed left arm he connected his fist with the creature's jaw just as it landed on top of him, knocking the air out of him. The creature showed no sign of pain or hesitation even as its jaw fractured in a painful crash and several teeth fell out. Raising its claw it went for the kill.

Several shots were fired in a rapid progression and hit the creature in the side, the impact sending it tumbling off the laying boy. Growling it rolled across the floor until it crashed into a cupboard. The sound died in its throat and the creature remained still on the floor, a red puddle slowly growing from underneath it.

"A-are you ok, Jet?" spoke a worried Virginia her two pistols still smoking. She took a few tentative steps toward him.

"Yeah" he replied before slowly getting up from the floor, eyes fixed on the seemingly dead creature. "I'm fine" he elaborated while casually walking over to retrieve the Airget-lamh.

"You're bleeding" she told him.

"I know" he went on to tear off a piece of sheet covering a nearby table, creating a makeshift bandage for his arm. "Um, Virginia…" he turned to look at her, she noticed the sheet was already turning a dark red, "…Thanks… I owe you one." he spoke with a rare smile tugging at his lips.

"It's ok. I can think of a few ways you could repay me." she returned the smile with a somewhat unsettling, wicked glint to her eyes.

"Uh, really?" Jet didn't quite know what to make of the look she gave him. He probably didn't want to know what she had in mind. Absentmindedly scratching the back of his head he winced as he discovered the result of his earlier meeting with the floor. At least he wasn't bleeding, he noted in relief as he checked the hand.

Again, the sound of gunfire ripped through the night, coming from somewhere inside the mansion. The sound worked as a reminder and shook them back to reality.

"We should get going" he glanced at Virginia before setting off toward the door, picking up a candle on the way over, "If it's really them we'd better help."

"Yeah" Virginia agreed, taking one last look at the creature on the floor before following him.

Again they had been interrupted just as he had come around to confessing his feelings for her. Virginia muttered a silent curse as she walked behind Jet in one of the many indistinguishable corridors. Just how many times could that happen in one night?

He said I was pretty! She smiled happily in remembrance, And he was just about to say something else…Virginia looked over at Jet, her curiosity driving her close to the brink of madness. Will he pick up where we left later? she wondered briefly, Or will he take the opportunity to forget about it? …Argh! Why must I suffer such bad luck!

Still, she reminded herself, it had been her wishing for the arrival of their two other friends not long ago. But then again, that didn't mean she couldn't curse their bad timing. Not at all. She went ahead and cursed some more.

The sound of gunfire had ceased a while ago and it bothered her not knowing if it was a good sign or a bad one. Whilst busy fighting off negative thoughts Virginia nearly fell as her unsuspecting feet came across the stairs leading down to the basement. Grasping a hold of the nearest solid object, which was a certain white haired gunman, she quickly steadied herself.

Jet gave her a cross look.

"Stay focused!" he chided her, "I think I heard something from down there…"

"…It's your fault for giving me so much to think about…" Virginia muttered sourly, glancing down at the uninviting darkness of the cellar. She didn't very much like the idea of going down there.

Jet winced at her words, an utterly foreign feeling of insecurity coming over him.

"…I'm sorry" he replied, his voice flat and emotionless. He had been honest in his apology, something he rarely was. After all, he didn't really know how she felt about him and yet he had been acting strangely this entire evening. He was well aware of that. Uncharacteristic in his openness and speaking more in a couple of hours than he had the whole week before. She was bound to know how he felt by now, or how he believed he felt anyway, lacking better judgement. Perhaps the knowledge burdened her? Jet swallowed hard, for the first time truly regretting having set foot in the mansion.

"No, i-it's not like that." Virginia stammered, taken aback by his apology, "I mean, I'm really happy…" she looked down at her shoes, blushing.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief while at the same time part of him was utterly disgusted with his soft-heartedness. He wasn't supposed to feel this way, nothing good would ever come out of it. His affections for this woman would be nothing but another weight on his shoulders and how could he possibly fly the wasteland with such heavy shoulders? Jet brought his hand to his face to massage the bridge of his nose as he desperately tried to silence the pessimistic voice inside him.

"Jet?" Virginia watched him anxiously, unable to read him.

He turned to face her, opening his mouth to speak. Instead his eyes widened, focusing on something behind her.

Two freaks limped toward them with surprising speed, mouths wide open in a silent scream, dried blood smeared across their faces.

"Get down!" shouted Jet, raising his ARM to fire at the two approaching foes. Fortunately for both of them, Virginia was quick to react, diving behind him while drawing her own ARMs. Before she had time to fire, however, Jet had already finished one creature off, spraying the walls with its brain, and severely injured the other, parting it from its legs. Moaning and snarling fiercely the creature continued crawling toward them completely ignorant of any loss of limbs before Jet put it out of its misery with a well placed shot to its head.

"…Good thing they're not very smart." he commented after a brief silence. "You ok?" he turned to look at Virginia. She nodded absentmindedly.

"It's almost like they're some sort of zombies…" she thought out aloud.

"Zombies, huh?" Jet repeated, testing the word, "Why not?" he shrugged before continuing down the long stairs. It was as good a description as anything else was. "Stay sharp" he advised her as they ventured into the thick darkness below, which was really the same darkness as above only further away.

The basement was huge mausoleum-like space very fitting of a haunted mansion. Stone carvings of people, frightful demons and mythical creatures peered down at them from the ceiling high above that six wide columns kept from collapsing under its own weight. Along the walls stood several large statues of men and women striking different poses.

The floor, on the other hand, was an uneven surface of different sized, crude stone slates. As unfinished and makeshift as it looked, it worked as a strange contrast to the otherwise extravagant room.

None of this, however, would have been visible had it not been for the smallish candle Jet carried and more importantly: for the light of unknown origin emitted from behind a corner on the far side of the space.

Virginia took a few hesitant steps forward, her footsteps doubled in loud echoes. She stopped a couple of feet in and turned around to face Jet, wordlessly she beckoned him to follow her. When he came to stand beside her, eyeing the light suspiciously, the sound of voices reached them.

"Hey, do ya think Jet and Virginia are getting it on yet?" A familiar voice spoke giggling in between words.

"How can you even begin to think of such things at a time like this?" Another equally familiar voice wondered in amazement.

Two shadows appeared, dividing the light. Any questions regarding their identities were redundant.

"How can you not? I mean, they're our friends. Wouldn't it be great if they got together?" Gallows asked, "Besides, Jet could seriously need some lovin', that depressed punk."

"Yes, I agree on that. But this is hardly the time or place to 'get it on', do you think?" spoke Clive, the voice of reason.

"Ah, what do you know?" the Baskar muttered.

"I do have a wife, remember?" replied the bespectacled sniper.

"Oh yeah. She's hot, by the way"

"Thank you"

Next to him Virginia began giggling uncontrollably, clamping one hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. Even Jet smiled faintly despite the fact he didn't quite approve of their choice of conversation.

Their two friends rounded the corner and stopped briefly, surprised at the sight of their teammates.

"Well if it isn't our two lovebirds right here!" Gallows exclaimed happily, walking over, "How've you been?"

"Just great." replied Jet, "If you'd arrived a moment earlier, you'd have caught us making out"

"Really?"

"Nope, unfortunately we were kinda busy fighting off these freaks who apparently live here." he unconsciously touched the bloodied bandage around his right arm.

"Ah yes, we've actually had the pleasure of meeting them ourselves." Clive spoke, "Persistent bastards, aren't they?" he finished with language very much unlike his own.

Gallows gave him a shocked look. "'Bastards', Clive? Do you kiss your wife with that mouth?"

"I apologize." he replied, a smile on his face.

Virginia and Gallows burst into laughter, the mood being generally pleasant now that the team was reunited. Jet went as far as to look mildly amused. The pleasant sound of Virginia's laughter mixed with the earsplitting rumbling of Gallows felt strangely nostalgic. Not at all as annoying as he would have thought.

"Man, I didn't know if I was gonna laugh or cry when Clive remembered about the mission." Gallows laughed some more, "I mean, of all the things we could've forgotten…"

"Yeah, but who would've guessed there'd be zombies?" Virginia asked. "They totally ruined our evening." she looked over at Jet, whose eyes practically begged her not to share more of their evening with the others.

"…Zombies, huh?" Clive repeated, just like Jet had a moment earlier, "I suppose that is a acceptable definition." he looked at his younger friends, turning serious.

"Do you know something?" it was Jet asking the question, more than happy to change the subject.

"Yes." confirmed Clive, "You see we had the luck of stumbling upon the library while looking for you." he pushed his glasses further up the bridge off his nose, his trademark move. "I found several interesting scientific texts there."

"Yeah, you should've seen him" Gallows interrupted, "I was like: 'Hey, we got to find Jet and Virginia' and he would just wave me off, nose deep in one of those thick, dusty books."

Clive gave him a bothered look, before continuing.

"Anyway, they were mostly books on human and animal anatomy."

"So?" Virginia urged him to elaborate.

"Well, that alone isn't so strange I suppose. But I also came across a handwritten journal belonging to the previous owner of this house; a doctor with a knack for vivisection." Clive made a dramatic pause that only Gallows could fully appreciate, having already been briefed to the meaning of the word 'vivisection'. "Basically, what we are fighting here are the creations of said doctor. Human/monster hybrids created through extensive blood transfusions and organ transplants."

"A doctor you say?" Jet spoke with contempt in his voice, "Sounds more like the work of a mad scientist to me…"

"Why would someone want to do such a thing?" Virginia sounded deeply disturbed, "And if they're really part human, how come they're so vicious?"

"Well, obviously something didn't go quite right." Clive turned his gaze toward their leader, "To make things easier I advise you do not think of them as human. They really aren't anymore." His eyes drifted as he continued, "The journal entries stopped about five months ago. My guess is that the doctor either escaped or was eaten by his own creations."

"Considering the covered-up furniture we saw earlier, we think he escaped or was just about to." informed Gallows, proud to be a part of 'we'.

"Since then the creatures have been feeding one each other and people unfortunate to wander across this desolate place." continued Clive, "Perhaps even other investigating drifters such as us."

"Great, just great…" muttered Jet, "So what we got here is a house full of starving freaks, and we're considered food?"

"Yup" Gallows confirmed even though it had really been meant as a rhetorical question.

"So… what now?" Virginia was the first to touch the inevitable issue.

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People who've read "The Island of Doctor Moreau" by H.G. Wells ought to recognize the whole vivisection idea… I kind of borrowed that.

Not that much fluff in this chapter, though, but fear not. Instead view it simply as a transport stretch between fluff and additional fluff. A chapter soon surrounded by, but alas in itself forever lacking just fluff.

I sincerely hope the flufflessness did not cause you grief.