Chapter Four: The Missing
The remains of the man lurched forward, ready to fall off his feet. She kept her gun
trained on him though she doubted he'd be of any threat. The man continued to shuffle
towards her until he was within a few feet. There was blood dripping from his mouth
and his hands were drenched in the stuff. He suddenly threw himself mouth first at
her, dribbling. Tessa gave him a hole in the forehead before his mouth could come in
contact with anyone. The man slumped to the floor in front of her, twitching his arm
slightly.
"Fuck."
John walked over to her from past the wall he'd been hiding behind.
"Hold your fire, it's me."
She lowered her gun to her side from its position of aiming straight at his nose. She did
not look too pleased to see him.
"What the hell are you doing here!"
"You wouldn't listen to me so it looks like I'm coming along for the ride."
She glanced at the scientists who were now pretty much shitting themselves at the state
of the man she'd just shot. She frowned at him. He wasn't supposed to be here, now she
has an extra pair of boots to worry about.
"Trust me. You won't get out alive without me."
Tessa sighed, half growling as she did. She hated to admit it but he was the only one of
his team to get back out alive. John just stared at her and waited to hear what the plan
was.
"Follow me…" she looked back at John, "all of you."
She made her way down the main corridor, checking each side corridor gun first.
"Where are you going?"
"To the Ark."
"What? You need to get you and your team back to the elevator and out of here!"
She stopped dead and turned sharply to look at him.
"Are you in charge here?"
"No but I…"
"Well then. You may have the experience down here but I am still the commanding
officer."
She turned back round and sighed heavily. Some people are just plain difficult. She
continued forward, checking down side corridors when she thought she saw movement
in the darkness.
"John. Look after the herd of scientists, I'm checking this corridor out."
The corridor was pitch black. The emergency red lights had cut out and the only small
source of light was coming from the main corridor. She couldn't hear anything but her
own breath and boot steps.
Why does nobody listen? He looked at the scientists, they were huddled together and
shaking with fear. John shook his head, these guys aren't trained to deal with this kind of
situation.
"Back to the elevator, now."
As he turned to follow the scientists Phillips' corpse fell to the floor in front of him in one
bloody mess. There was chunks missing, big chunks.
"Holy shit!"
He looked up at the scientists who now all looked ready to run in any direction away
from the body.
"To the elevator! Move!"
He put a hole in Phillips' head before running with the scientists to the only way out.
There was something in the air, something rotten and moist. She tried to force her eyes
to focus but to no avail. It was way too damn dark. Then a pair of eyes opened in front
of her and stared straight at her. Somehow they were glowing in this darkness.
"Hello?"
The eyes started to move forward towards her, but there was no footsteps, no sound, just
those eyes.
"I'm with the RRTS that's been sent down here, we're here to help."
The eyes didn't respond in any way, they just kept moving forward. She started stepping
backwards away from them slowly, tightening her grip on her assault rifle. She still
couldn't hear any noise but her own breath and boot steps. Tessa raised her gun and
aimed at the eyes.
"Halt!"
They continued to move forward as she moved back.
"Don't make me shoot you."
The eyes stop moving forward and sharpen on her before three more pairs open around
the first pair and look at her. Her eyes widened and she was able to take one more step
back before the owner of the many eyes lunges at her and threw her into the main
corridor. The air was knocked out of her when it landed on top of her. It was big, ugly
and drooling. Its breath smelt of blood and skin. It lifted its large arm and she noticed
that its nails looked as sharp as razor blades. Razor blades that were about to slice her
face off. Tessa managed to get her feet under it and kicked it off and over her head. She
body rolled to her feet and turned, firing at thin air, only the glimpse of a shadow
disappearing round and into another corridor.
John heard the gun shots and sped up, skidding round the corner to see Tessa bending
over leaning on her knees out of breath.
"Are you okay?"
She turned her head to the side to look at him.
"What… the FUCK was that!"
"A demon."
She stood up straight and turned to face him.
"What?"
"Well, demon is the closest word to it. Are you wounded?"
She gave him a look that said 'you're insane' before turning her back to him.
"No, I'm fine."
The sound of rifle fire and screaming echoed towards them from somewhere in the
facility. Tessa put her hand to her ear piece.
"Who the hell's firing? Speak to me!"
There was no response. She pulled her shotgun out of its holster and loaded it. She
glanced at John before running towards the source of the noise. John ran after her. As
they got closer the sounds got louder and louder until they suddenly stopped dead and
everywhere went silent. They ran round the corner and skidded to a halt to see one of
those things holding Radnor in mid air with its tongue attached to his throat.
"NO!"
She lifted her shotgun and blew half of its head off against a wall in one shot. It flopped
to the floor messily, its brains pouring out onto the floor next to where it had dropped
Radnor. She ran over to him and put her hand over the hole in his neck putting pressure
it, trying to stop as much blood from spilling out as possible.
"Fuck."
Her eyes darted around the room wildly as she tried to think of what to do before
stopping and realizing something.
"Where the hell's Jakes!"