Chapter Eight: Evolved

Tessa opened her eyes to be greeted by flickering lights and a ripped open door. The

only sound was of the lights blinking madly and creaking metal as it contracted from the

cold. She turned her head to look at the ceiling to see streaks of bullet holes indented in

the piping that crossed over her head. Tessa sat up to see the infirmary had been trashed,

desks over turned, tubes of chemicals smashed and spilt on the floor, lab coats torn, what

the hell happened in here? She put her hands on the back of her neck and leaned her

head back, closing her eyes, felt like I've been asleep for the past week. Hopping down

off the table she stopped, remembering something. She looked down at herself to see that

her once ripped open rib cage was completely healed, not even a scar. She ran a hand along

where the fatal wound had been, thinking of an explanation. Suddenly she shot her head up

and looked round with a mix of anger and desperation. John, you didn't… did you?


John continued running, shooting at anything that moved, because hay, let's face it,

none of them are gonna be human anymore. He stops when he hears movement up

ahead the sound of tables being thrown around and walls being hit, hit by something big

and bad tempered. Looking up, he notices an open air vent, save ammo, avoid being

eaten. Letting go of his rifle to let it dangle down on its strap on his hip, he jumped up,

grabbed the edge of the vent and pulled himself in head first. Quietly, he started to crawl

down the vent, feeling his way threw the lightless, cramped pipe. He could hear the

frustrated creature below him, still smashing out its anger on the unmoving walls. John

used his hands to pull himself along, knowing his feet would cause too much noise and

he'd end up being the next thing to be subject of the monster's discontent. Suddenly a

pair of slimy strong hands burst up threw the venting behind him, grabbing his ankles

and pulling him down and out.

Tessa ran round the corner, rifle at the ready, to see one of the creature's on its tip-toes,

attached to a pair of boots in a vent shaft. Gradually the monster was pulling John's legs

out too. John kicked at the thing and tried to turn his gun on it but the vent was too

small.

"John!"

Raising the rifle, taking a few seconds to aim, she shot the creature's arms off, following

by its head.

"John?"

He slid backwards out of the shaft and landed butt first on the corpse. She shook her

head, smiling, and pulled him up.

"Thanks."

"You're the one that's meant to be helping me."

He brushed himself off and looked at her carefully.

"No mutation. Must have worked."

"I dunno, I could just be a late starter."

"Either way I'm glad to see you."

There was a long moment when their eyes locked on each other and refused to move. If

they were attacked right at that very moment they wouldn't have noticed.

"So… maybe we should get moving?"

"Err…yeah, yeah we should defiantly… get moving."

The moment turned awkward. They both looked down and away, trying to find

something else to look at, for once, hoping that something would pop up out of nowhere

and attacked them so they wouldn't have to focus on the uncomfortable instant they'd

just put themselves in. No such luck, the corridor was empty and quiet. Tessa tightened

her grip on the assault rifle, remembering it was there and took a deep breath.

"Let's go."

She walked past him, finally letting her breath out once she'd passed by. That man is too

damn good lookin'. Gotta focus on gettin' outta here, not gettin' in somewhere! John

lifted his own rifle and followed close behind.

They finally reached the Ark after what seemed a lifetime of awkward silence between

them. Neither knew what to say and neither wanted to try and start the conversation first.

The Ark was dark, the lights flickering off and on, Sarge's corpse still in a bloodied heap

on the floor. It looked like it had been hit by a sledgehammer several times. Despite the

emptiness of the Ark, they still moved in warily, expecting another unseen attack. Tessa

walked out from under the catwalk first. She looked left; clear, right; clear, straight

ahead; clear, above… a powerful clawed hand swung down and grabbed her jacket,

yanking her up like a fisherman and his catch. The stitching in her jacket wasn't strong

enough to with stand being thrown about like it was and it ripped open, tossing Tessa

out of it like a gutted fish spilling its organs. Rolling to her feet, she reached to grab a

hold of her rifle to find it gone, it was dangling in the thing's hand with her shredded

jacket. John jumped up, grabbed the railing, and pulled himself over next to her.

Glancing at her before letting rip with his rifle, sending chunks of flesh and bone

splinters flying from it. Tessa pulled her compact shotgun into play and blew one of its

legs off. The creature finally hits the ground dead after having half a clip and three shells

emptied into it. There was a familiar sound of creaking metal from down the corridor

below on the opposite side of the Ark to them.

"What the hell is that?"

Leaning down to try to get a better look, Tessa noticed the elevator door's open, the

elevator to the surface, and a demon stepping inside!

"Oh you gotta be kiddin' me!"

Leaping over the railing, Tessa landed on her feet and started running. John followed,

looking to see the doors closing.

"Shit!"

He started emptying the rest of the clip into the elevator doors, trying to hit the creature.

The doors clapped shut, as if applauding his wasted efforts, and the elevator started

moving up, to the surface, to Earth, and all the juicy human beings it could bite on.

I'd like everyone to know that when I've finished writing this I'll be putting up the re-mastered version, so all the little cock ups and etc. will be sorted. Thanks for reading so far! Enjoy! Don't forget to R&R!