Ch. 60: A Desperate Measure

A.N.:

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the wait and the short chapter length. Once I get back into the habit of updating frequently, I should be able to write long ones again.

I hope everyone had a pleasant Valentine's Day :)

Read and review if you want.

After an agonizing wait that seemed to last an eternity, finally Alma announced, "All done." Upon standing, the goddess walked over to the check-in desk and then dropped the enormous stack of paperwork in front of Chloé with a satisfying thud. With an unmoved demeanor, the mysterious nurse looked through the stack at an agonizingly slow pace as she meticulously inspecting each individual form to ensure that my wife's claim had indeed been true.

While she did, I said to my wife, "Hey Alma, there is something I've always wanted to ask you when we finally got into a situation that was boring enough."

After giving me a puzzled expression with her deceptively human-looking face, she replied, "What is it?"

I explained, "In the fake, underground hospital in Fairport, I found a set of bloody footprints leading into a bloody stall in one of the bathrooms. What was that all about?"

Again giving me a puzzled expression with her enchanting adult façade, she asked in response, "Where was this?"

I explained, "You know…by the nursing station where the ATC mercs were trying to get the frightening nurse to unlock the door?"

Alma was silent for a moment before her eyes visibly lit up briefly and then she explained, "Oh…that. There was an ATC mercenary relieving himself and he forgot to flush." Her expression become one of frigid brutality before she finished, "So…I helped by flushing him down the toilet."

I smirked slightly in response but, before I could make a remark, the nurse informed us, "Everything is in order. One moment please." She stood and then picked up the stack of forms. Though the mountain of papers was comically over-sized compared to her feminine frame, the mysterious woman lifted it with ease and then walked over to the filing cabinet.

While Chloé calmly placed the paperwork in their respective places in the cabinet, I tried to figure her out. I felt something about her that was odd. I detected an aura around her yet it was warm and self-rejuvenating, thus, indicating that she was a living being of flesh and bone. However, this world was Akira's equivalent of Alice's Wonderland. Yes, the things around us could be touched and could likewise touch us but none of it was what a layman would call "real". I had no idea what this woman was but I certainly knew that we would have to keep an eye on her.

Finally, with the legal loopholes dealt with, the nurse turned to look at us and then instructed, "Follow me." She then momentarily disappeared when she walked out of view behind the wall to the left of the desk. Seconds later, a door just beyond the massive security gate opened and she reappeared as she walked to stand just beyond the gate. To my shock, the gate began to inexplicably open by swinging out while it gave off a low metal screech.

When the path was clear, Chloé motioned for us to follow her with an unenthusiastic gesture with her right hand. After exchanging a quick look at each other, we began to follow the nurse as she calmly walked down the seemingly endless hallway of closed rooms. A thick, suffocating dark energy filled the air as we walked behind her. Emotions such as anger and fear had been so imprinted upon the area that it was nearly maddening.

I had felt Akira's pain before. However, this was beyond anything that I had anticipated. Was this choking cloud of negative emotions truly what she had been suffering through all along? If so, I had yet another reason to try to save her from herself. These burdening emotions would have easily driven grown adults completely mad. Yet Akira had retained a measure of sanity for years. It was a long shot, but, if anyone deserved a storybook ending, it was her.

In addition to the chocking cloud of negative energy, a scream from one of the inhabitants of the rooms periodically filled the air though the source was always far away from us. Occasionally, as we walked past one of the doors, a pair of glowing red eyes would appear in the narrow slit. Soon afterwards, we would hear the sickening sound of flesh and bone being repeatedly smashed against the thick metal hide of the door in an incredibly violent manner.

Whenever this occurred, Chloé would stop and then look at the door of the self-destructing patient. Each time, I witnessed a look in her otherwise dull eyes that unnerved even me due to how cold and merciless it was. The individual inside the room would then audibly retreat as far away from the door as possible and then a faint whimpering would be heard.

However, as soon as she looked away and began to walk forward once again, I felt a wave of sorrow and guilt emanate from the veteran nurse that was so alarmingly intense that it briefly overpowered the cloud of negative energy that had laid claim to the hallway. Every time that it occurred, it was further validation that my earlier assessment of the mysterious woman had been correct. She had a kind and caring nature but she had been nearly destroyed by her job.

Once, I had read a broad summary of the history of Sanitariums. As I recalled, they were more factories of torture and human degradation than they were mental care facilities. If the version of me that had been Akira's father had also read the same summary, perhaps that would explain why the troubled psionic had manifested this place inside her wonderland.

We had been walking for what felt as if it had been hours before we went through a set of large white metal double doors and found ourselves in a room that was similar to the lobby. However, this room had parallel rows of plastic and metal seats mounted into the left and right wall rather than the humbly ornate furnishing of the lobby. In addition, rather than a check-in desk that two security gates to either side, there was a simple wooden desk in the shape of a wedge in the far right corner.

However, despite the presence of small stacks of medical forms, an upright white plastic cylinder filled with two black pens and a wooden pencil, and even an ashtray that had a lit cigarette in it, there was not a staff member in sight behind the desk or, for that matter, anywhere in the room. As I glanced at Chloé, it dawned on me that, other than the "patients", she was the only individual that we had encountered. Was she the only staff member in the entire building? Given the daunting taste of running such a facility, it seemed impossible that she was the only person here. I had seen Chen being attacked by some kind of apparition so surely the nurse before us was not the only being that was not locked inside of a cell.

To the left of the desk was an identical set of white metal double doors. On the floor just before them, written in green tiles were the words "Trauma Ward". Upon reaching them, Chloé moved to stand just to the left of them and then turned to face us.

With a calm tone, she explained, "I am sorry monsieur. The waivers only let one of you into your friend's room. I am afraid that your entourage will have to have to wait here."

Foxtrot 813 stated with his modified Replica voice, "Fuck this shit! Why are we doing this?! Let's just go get Chen and then get the hell out of this nuthouse!" Moving past us, the veteran soldier swiftly made his way to the set of doors. Ignoring the nurse's statements of advice, he reached out with his gloved left hand and grabbed the C-shaped metal handle of the left door.

The instant that he touched the door handle, he suddenly cried out as large dark red electrical arcs, originating from the handle, surrounded his armored frame. Before any of us could react, the Replica soldier was thrown back towards us by a small explosion. Standing side-by-side, Alpha 1 and I caught him and then, upon hearing him muttering profanity in an embarrassed tone, we slowly lowered him back onto his feet.

Looking at me, Alpha 1 said, "Go on ahead. We will hold position here, brother." I nodded in response before moving past 813, who was still rambling and cursing, to make my way to the doors.

When I reached them, Chloé whispered cryptically without looking at me, "Too much of that which gives life takes it away." Confused and caught off-guard by her statement, I paused and then looked at her. However, acting as if she had not said anything, the now even more mysterious woman informed me as she walked towards the desk, "While you are visiting with your friend, I shall try to locate Akira for you, Mr. Wade. Perhaps by now her paperwork has been filed."

Her comment not only confused me but it also indicated that it was unlikely that this was going to have a happy ending for the F.E.A.R. Operative. I quickly suppressed my irrelevant emotions to prevent them from clouding my judgement before I opened the left metal door and then entered the area beyond. The mission always took priority. My personal feelings were not part of that mission.

I suddenly found myself inexplicably in a dark cemetery that was surrounded by a thick forest. Upon glancing behind me, I found a locked iron gate that was part of the fence that presumably ran along the cemetery's entire perimeter. Letting out an audible sigh, I turned back to face the direction that I had been before. The full moon in the star-filled sky above me illuminated the rows of identical, waist-high, upright rectangular white stone markers that were on either side of a single cobble-stone path that would likely lead to the center of the cemetery.

With my presumption about Chen seemingly confirmed by the change in my surroundings, I began to cautiously advance down the path before me with my assault rifle at the ready. The sound of my booted footsteps on the cobble-stone path beneath me filled the otherwise deathly silent air of the cemetery as I advanced forward towards its center. With my senses on high alert, I prepared to face the attack by a lurking foe that could come from any direction. However, the attack never came and I advanced completely unimpeded.

Eventually, I reached the very heart of the cemetery to find an open area the size of a basketball court. The ground was completely covered by cobble-stones and in the center of the opening was a large white stone block that resembled the base of a large statue that one might find in the center of a town square. It was there with his back to me that I saw Chen.

Other than the obvious signs that something was wrong, I realized that something was not right. The operative was hunched over and appeared to have his forehead resting against the stone block in front of him while his arms were loosely dangling from his shoulders with the digits of his hands pointed towards the ground. Steeling myself so I could do what I had to do, I stopped a short distance from my former ally and then aimed my rifle at him.

My actions must have finally alerted him to my presence because he suddenly addressed me with a strange manic tone as he turned to face me, "Looks like the traitor is here to stab yet another ally in the back." I forced myself to remain focused as I saw his face. The skin had become a purple-grey color and thick black veins were visible beneath it. His eyes had become mere empty holes that had black liquid oozing from their depths.

As he faced my general direction, he taunted, "Tell me Mr. Death, do you even feel anything when you kill someone? Or is it that you are able to kill so many people because you feel it when you kill someone?"

Still aiming my rifle, I said with a flat tone, "I don't know if you can hear me, Chen, but I'm sorry."

The corrupted soldier laughed for a moment and then said, "You think that you can kill me? I was enlightened by the overseer…the truth blinded me but revealed the path to power."

Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet began to shake violently. Struggling to maintain my footing, I was unable to properly bring my weapon to bear and prevent what soon followed. The ground around us began to split open while, in the distance, at locations that were likely the four corners of the cemetery's perimeter, four enormous jet black spires began to rise out of the ground and ascend to tower several stories above the surrounding landscape. Moments later, as I watched in disgusted horror, what looked like tree roots emerged from the splits in the ground and then snaked through the air to penetrate into Chen's body.

I could see the tentacle-like manifestations snaking around inside his body as the sound of ripping flesh and cracking bones filled the air. The corrupted operative began to laugh while his body was lifted up into the air by the ever-increasing number of tentacles as they began to coil around each other to form an ascending black mass. I quickly lost sight of Chen as the animated mass reached the height of the spires. As thicker root-like manifestations began to erupt out of the ground and then coil around the ever increasing mass, I realized that my position would soon be unsustainable. I turned and began to retreat towards the gate.

As I ran, I could not help but ponder upon the identity of the "overseer". Chen had only been a minor psionic before he was "enlightened". To suddenly possess this level of power, the operative would have had to been exposed to a massive amount of pure psionic energy. Beings such as Alma and Akira were inhumanly powerful but they did not have the kind of psionic energy that could be transferred into a living creature at any measurable amount without being lethal.

Everything considered, there was no doubt in my mind that the culprit was the same being that had been forcing Akira to do its dirty work. The ridiculously cliché title of "overseer" was most likely just something that Chen's broken mind had come up with on its own. However, despite the life-threatening situation that I found myself in, I felt a glimmer of hope. The unknown being was getting desperate and that meant that it would not be long before it would be forced to reveal its identity to us. Turning Chen into some kind of abomination in an effort to kill me was one final desperate measure to try to regain the upper hand in the war that would determine the fate of the last bastion of life across the entire multiverse.

I had ran for approximately three hundred yards before I was knocked off my feet by something violently striking my back. An involuntary cry of shock and agony escaped me as I landed on the hard unforgiving cobble-stone path with enough force and momentum to slide forward a few feet along my armored chest. Meanwhile, I lost my grip on my rifle and, though I lost sight of it, I heard its durable metal frame impact the stones of the path somewhere nearby.

I tried to rally my exhausted body and get to my feet but I was unable to do so before one of the tentacle-like manifestations wrapped itself around my chest. The digits of my gloved hands instinctively reached out for something to grab onto but they were no match for the strength of the offending manifestation and I soon found myself nearly three stories off the ground as it held me in its grasp. My body had been turned to face back towards the mass in the center of the cemetery and what I saw was unlike anything that I ever seen before.

There in the heart of the graveyard was a colossal collection of what seemed like millions of the root-like manifestations that had formed a structure that vaguely resembled an organic skyscraper. Meanwhile, a single large manifestation as big around as a city bus had emerged from the center of each of the four spires in the corners of the cemetery and were now connected to the center structure at a single point at the very top of the bizarre organic tower. In addition, multiple telephone pole-sized and lamppost-sized tentacles were in the air around the tower from where they were connected to it at random locations.

I cried out in agony as the tentacle around me began to squeeze with bone-crushing force. One by one, I felt several of my ribs submit to the pressure. The intense compression soon prevented me from being able to draw a breath and it was not long before my vision was overtaken by an expanding black tunnel. A strange animal-like cackle originating from the tower filled the air as my demise seemed imminent.

However, just before I lost consciousness, something broke free from the darkest reaches of my mind. A dark red aura manifested around my dying body as intoxicating primal rage stormed into my mind as if it was a roaring tempest. My previously exhausted frame suddenly felt rejuvenated as a sensation that felt like molten metal flowing through me consumed every part of my body. Seconds later, a deafening screech filled the air as multiple lengths of molten barbwire erupted out of the ground beneath me and wrapped themselves around the tentacle a few feet away from me before sawing through their captured prey. Free from my tormentor, I fell towards the ground and despite the distance of the fall, I landed on my feet without feeling anything.

I quickly located my rifle and retrieved it from where it had been on its left side about an arm's length away from where I had ended up after being knocked off my feet. The aura around my body and the inhuman rage inside my mind were undiminished as I turned to face the monstrosity that Chen had become and then charged towards it straight into the path of the incoming tentacles while firing my assault rifle.