Ten :::
Them or Us
A/N: Okay... sorry for the massive gap but here I am finally back! Let's get this fic going again!
A single hard push sends the flimsy, metal frame door flying far back on its hinges. The echoing flange of metal belches out into the next area, leading Isaac and the group out from the darkness of the blood soaked corridor behind them.
Isaac and Nick's flashlights stab the darkness, illuminating an image of their newly found area. The room looks to be that of a lounging or waiting area. A line of offline elevator doors occupy space to the far left with a large metallic sliding door situated directly before them.
"Where we at?" Nick asks, "we out the hospital?"
"Don't know," Isaac says, flashing his light over in the space he's walking. He passes the row of chairs positioned in the center of the floor to a directory on the wall. He can't see the blueprint of the floorplans due to a glare on the glass from his flashlight. Flipping his flashlight around, Isaac turns his head and jabs the blunt end of the flashlight into the glass. It doesn't break on his first try. Isaac strikes the glass over and over where it only cracks and nothing more.
"What are you doing?" Isabel asks, sitting herself down at one of the lounging chairs. She sounds out a breath, with all good reason—she did just literally put her life on the line for everyone to be here at this moment.
"Trying to get this map out of this thing," Isaac explains. "Find out where we are."
Nick comes over to Isaac's side, "Watch out."
Isaac shifts to the side where Nick muscles in one well-placed jab from his elbow which smashes the glass display into pieces. The glass pulverizes into a rain of shards to the floor allowing Isaac to grab the directory from its display.
"Okay…" Isaac brings the map over to a small counter nearby that may had an receptionist area. He dusts away a few fragments of glass off the sheet, unfolding the edge and spreading the paper wide. "This is where we are," Isaac thumbs the location on the map. By the look on the floorplans, they had exited the hospital and are now in private residential area that encapsulates the hospital. Examining the blueprints, Isaac sees that he and the group are at a main corridor that connects each of the dormitories in a grid-like fashion. There are four floors that make up the residential halls.
"We're on the ground floor of this complex," Isaac goes on to say, now with Nick hovering over his shoulder, shinning his light on the map.
"This the Public Sectors?" Nick asks. "Where you told Vivian to run off to?"
Isaac shakes his head, "no, the Public Sectors are another section on Titian Station. We're still in the Governmental Sectors. You see this long line here," Isaac traces what he's saying on the map with his finger for Nick to follow. "It's a crossover tube… it's—it's what I used to get your daughter out this sector and away from the guard's that were after her."
Even though that last bit of his statement was a flat out lie, Nick simply bobs his head holding a determined expression in the shadow of the light. "Then she's all alone… out there on the station. She must be scared out of her mind." The man falls quiet for a moment, drifting away from the counter.
"So what's the plan?" Isabel speaks out, still seated at the chair. "We get to the crossover tube and make it to the Public Sectors and hopefully a way off this damn station?"
"I don't know if it'll be that clean of a shot…" Isaac begins to say before Nick pitches in.
"We go to the Public Sectors, find my daughter—grab a shuttle and fly off this rock."
Isaac turns facing the man, standing in the near dark. Nick's flashlight is aimed down to the floor, leaving him in a partial silhouette.
"It's not going to be that easy," Isaac says with the slight shake of his head. "The Public Sectors are vast. Millions of people live there…"
"So what you sayin' Isaac?" The man questions with an icy tone. "You just gon' give up on my baby girl—cut her loose like you did the first time?"
Isaac shakes his head remorsefully, "That's not what I'm saying, Nick. Hear me out…"
"NO!" Nick explodes, earning a shirking yelp from Stross, fiddling with his fingers in the corner of the room. Isaac feels the tension rising like a hot humid day on Earth. He knows Nick's insanity is taking advantage of him… so is he in a way by prolonging this lie. Isaac fears whatever he says to the man now from this point on will do nothing but advance his madness, but he didn't plan on making it this far just for things to start falling apart now.
Nick sighs heavily through his nostrils like an enraged bull before speaking, "this is what we're going to do," he begins to say, his words like intimate threats. "We gon find a way to reach the damn Public Sectors—and when we do we gon for my girl. Or y'all three can just split—I don't giva fuck. But I ain't leaving this station till I find my baby girl!"
Isaac allows a brief pause to come between them before saying, "Nick, we don't know what's happening out there, okay? Titan Station can be going through the same thing the USG O'Bannon and the Ishimura had went through."
"Which is more than enough reasons for us to find her before this station ends up like them damn ships!" Nick counters. "I don't know why we still sittin' here arguing about this… if y'all not gonna help me, then I guess this is where we split ways…"
"You do that, and you'll never see your daughter again," Isabel speaks up. "Don't be stupid, Kuttner, like Isaac said, we have no idea what's going on out there. If this is anything like the what happened on the O'Bannon…none of us will survive on our own."
Nick, halts on a reply, staggering in his stance. "I see what you sayin'," he agrees in a morose tone. "But I'm tellin' y'all right now… I'm not leaving this station until I find her."
"You won't," this comes from Stross, hugging a darken corner in the room. "She'll find you."
Isaac can't prevent the bone-chilling quiver from penetrating his core from Stross' statement. No one bothered to reply to Stross, granting Isaac to shift focuses on a plan of action taking his attention to the directory.
"Alright, looks like we'll have to go up two sets of stairs… that'll take us to the top floor where we can reach the crossover tube."
"These floors look like living quarters," Isabel remarks, joining Isaac at the map. "We should look for supplies, y'know? Food, water… some fresh clothes for starters."
Nick huffs a laugh, crossing his arms, "fuck that. I'm straight the way I am—we can just head straight for the crossover."
"I think Isabel's right on this one, Nick," Isaac says; right at the moment his stomach begins to have that stabbing feeling to it again. He hasn't ate in… shit, who knows.
Ignoring his hunger pains the best he can, Isaac continues. "A small bit of food and water would go a long way." He brings the ray of his light back to the map. "On the second floor looks to be a cafeteria… that's an obvious place to start looking."
"The dormitories could have something of value as well," Isabel adds. "If most aren't locked, that is."
"Okay," Isaac says. "We'll check the dorms on this floor and then…"
"Naw, that's a waste of time," Nick cuts him off joining Isaac and Isabel around the map. "We split up, two on two—hit the café and another hit the dorms on this floor and then we work our way up to the third and then the top together."
At first, the idea of splitting up doesn't register with Isaac, but the more he ponders on it, the more he begins to feel confident about the idea.
Isaac nods his approval, "okay, we'll do it your way. We split up. I'll search the cafeteria with Stross. You and Isabel hit some of the unlocked rooms down here."
Nick rises an eyebrow at Isaac's elaboration, probably on the part of when he said he was brining Stross with him. Isaac glances to Isabel who also has a worried expression.
"You sure you want him with you?" Isabel questions. "He can just stay right here where we know where he is."
"Don't worry, I can handle Stross," Isaac insures them both. "Now, are we solid with the plan or what?"
A brief pause came between the three, finally broken by Nick, "it's cool," he says with the nod of his head.
"Good. Once we're done making our rounds, this is the rendezvous point," Isaac says gesturing to their immediate surroundings. "If me and Stross don't make it back in thirty minutes—you guys go on."
"We ain't just gonna leave you," Nick says. "Him…" he shrugs indifferently, "maybe. But you…"
"If you aren't back here we'll come looking for you," Isabel says as finale.
Normally, Isaac would smile knowing that he has people that have his back, but the growing pit in his stomach hinders his ability to generate any emotions besides stress and subtle agony.
"Let's get to it," Isaac says departing from the counter. "Come on Stross, you're with me." Isaac doesn't wait on the craze-man's response. Already in motion down a darken corridor leading to the staircase at the end of the hall, Isaac hears Stross' rapid, naked footfalls echoing across the tiled floor as he caught up.
Leading the way, the only thing Isaac can hear is Stross' raspy breath hugging in the back of his head. The second floor is just as abandon as the bottom—equally dark and menacing too.
Shining the ray of his flashlight before him, Isaac makes out more streaks of blood and the burnt stench of weapon's discharge.
"They're near…" Isaac hears Stross say in a scant whisper. "They see us… hear us… are us…"
Isaac doesn't bother making conversation with the man. One thing he picked up about Stross in their limited time together was that the man doesn't have anything against him like he does with Nick and especially Isabel. If Isaac doesn't know any better, he feels this almost connection with Stross… like the two were supposed to meet one another eye-to-eye… like this entire thing was supposed to happen the way it did. Isaac still can't shake that sense that he's in a giant maze cloaked in darkness and full of unknowns at every turn. Is this some kind of test? If so, why would anyone go this far to see what he and the others are doing? How certain is he that this entire thing is just inside his head… being brain-fed illusions by that Asari strapped to that table? The very idea gives Isaac a literal shiver, though the groan of his tightening stomach tells him otherwise that what's taking place is in fact real… or so he believes.
"Isaac," Stross says with enough emphasis that it shakes Isaac out of his own mind and back to this existence. "They know what we seek… they're here to help us."
"Great, then maybe they can show me a door leading out of this place," Isaac replies with a tried roll of his eyes. They are nearing the cafeteria, just an intersection away—located at the heart of the second floor.
"They are showing us the way," Stross says. "It—it… it hasn't been any clearer… she speaks to me—she's talking to me now."
She? Isaac reflects. At first Stross always called this unseen being as they now it's a she?
Swallowing a lump in his throat, Isaac dares a reply, "what is… what is she saying to you?"
A reply doesn't come right away. A moment goes by and still nothing. "Stross?" Isaac beckons. The man goes stone quiet to the point that Isaac stops and shines his light back to where Stross was following…
He's gone.
For a moment, Isaac just stands there, dumbfounded. The darken corridor totally abandon as if no one was with him the entire trip. "Stross?" Isaac calls out in an intense whisper. The only reply he gets is his own echo. "Stross, where the hell did you go?!"
Again, the same results.
"I don't got time for your games, Stross. If you don't come out… I'm leaving your ass."
Even his warning falls on death ears. The crazed-man is a lot crazier than Isaac had first thought. Putting his back to the corridor, Isaac continues his trek until he reaches the cafeteria entrances. The glass doors that lead entry into to the cafeteria are left smashed into pieces littering the floor in large and small shards. Isaac's booted feet crunches across the shattered remains of the door, resonating a sharp echo through the vast emptiness of the café. Like the corridor he left, the cafeteria is a ghost town. A few scattered emergency lights are left on, casting a shallow glow in places around the spacious room. At the far end of the café, Isaac spots a few food vending machines, basking in the florescent shade of an overhead emergency light. Like a beacon in the darkness, Isaac quickens his step passing rows of tables, some still holding trays of half eaten food on them. They're cold no doubt at this point, and probably unsafe to eat. So the food venders are Isaac's best bet for gathering food and water for the group.
Breaking in a lumpy jog, Isaac is about halfway through the cafeteria when a sudden loud noise stuns him like a deer in headlights. His heart jerks hard in his chest and his eyes fly in the direction of the loud sound. He can't see anything besides a wall of shallow darkness, though his ears pick up the echoing, mushy murmur of multiple unknown male voices. And they are nearing.
Rapid decisions rush through Isaac's brain. There's no telling who these approaching people are—they could be the people who locked him up or residences of this dorm hall. Either way, he isn't going to stand out in the open to find out.
Isaac makes out the shine of the approaching men's flashlight on the floor. Weighing his options, Isaac falls down to his knees and scoots himself under a table, sliding a knocked over chair in front of him to conceal his form even more. He clicks his light off and hunkers down. Holding his breath, heart racing in his chest, Isaac peers through a slight opening in chair making out the approaching men from a side corridor less than thirty feet in front of him. The glowing end of their light shines like a white star when they turn the corner heading for the cafeteria. Isaac ducks his head even more, praying they don't see him.
Given their close proximity, Isaac is able to make out what the two men are saying.
"Ah! See, what I tell ya, it's a full fuckin' house," one of the men says, his voice holding a Southern American drawl.
"Okay—Okay… shit you were right," the other says, his tone a mixture of annoyance but mostly nervousness. "Let's just get what we can and bounce already."
Isaac can't make out the men's features, all he can see are their shoes up to their waist and nothing more. From what he knows, there are just the two of them, but there' no doubt that others may be nearby.
The sudden sound of glass being smashed startles Isaac. It seems the two men had their intentions set on the same goal as Isaac. If they're looting for food then things may be worse out there than Isaac had first thought.
"I still can't believe it," the rush tone man says. "First the Director ends up dead and then the entire facility blows up with those… those things."
"It's all good, the guards contained the aliens. No way those ugly fucks escaping an army of sentry drones."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
The flutter of a plastic bag fills between their words. "This'll all be over soon," the same man goes on to say, "we just gotta make it back and wait it out."
"This will never be over…" the nervous voice replies solemnly.
"Aye man… aye. Keep your fucking head straight, we're gonna pull through this shit, you hear?"
An extensive pause came between the two where the only sound resonates from the flutter of the plastic bag.
Isaac doesn't budge a muscle—doesn't exhale a breath, he believes his best course of action will be to stay hidden and possibly trail the two back to wherever they came from. They don't seem like a bad sort, Isaac believes. So maybe they'll be willing to aid Isaac and his group in surviving this thing…
Kla—bolk!
The sound of a chair hitting the floor resonates loudly through the cafeteria, stunning Isaac and certainly the two men out in the open.
"The fuck was that?" One of them asks. Both had stopped in their haste looting and turned their attention down the length of the cafeteria, the same way Isaac had entered in.
Through the intense silence that followed, Isaac hears the distinct electric whine of a handgun being primed. One of the men are armed.
Another intense silence lapses where Isaac is startled when one of the men shouts out, "come out! We know you're out there!"
Fuck—fuck—fuck! Isaac's eyes enlarge and his pulse elevates. The legs of one of the men—most definitely the armed one, nears Isaac's hiding place.
Oh come the fuck on!
"Com-on—show your ass right now!"
The guy's so fucking close that Isaac can hear the guy's own rapid breaths. He doesn't believe he's been made just yet—something else is holding the men's attention. All Isaac can do is just hold out until this standoff ends…
"…Isaac—Isaac…!"
Blazing louder than anything, Isaac hears no other than Stross' voice screaming out his name repeatedly. By the sound of his shouts, Isaac guesses that the craze-man is running directly towards these armed men.
"Whoa—whoa—whoa! That's close enough!" The armed man warns; the direction of his stance faces towards Stross. Isaac shifts his eyes to the right where he makes out Stross' boney form in the spotlight of the men's flashlight as if he was caught in a spotlight.
Stross comes to an immediate halt, that usual dumbfounded look on his face, squinting against the light.
"Who the hell are you?" The armed man demanded. "Where'd you come from?"
"He looks like a patient," says the other man shinning the light, hanging back near the food venders.
Stross doesn't say or indicate any form of a reply, his lips are moving, mumbling something Isaac can't decipher.
"What's that?" The armed man calls out to him.
"I… I can show you—show you… the path," Stross dribbles out. "The enlightenment is upon us… I'll—I'll show you…" the craze-man stifles a chilling laughter. "Just—just like I—I showed m-my wife and—and son."
"What?" Flashlight guy says.
"Guy's lost his shit," his counterpart replies. "Come-on, finish up man, I got this guy…"
In that moment, Isaac's heart skips a beat. Stross suddenly shifts into motion rushing at the guy with the gun so fast it was a near blur to Isaac's eyes.
"Holy shit—stay back freak!"
A single ear-splintering shot rings off. A half second later, Isaac sees both the guy and Stross' legs in his view, only that the two are scuffling over the weapon.
"Get off me you piece of shit!" The guy gravels out in his impendent struggle.
All the while, Stross is laughing his lungs out as if he's just heard the funniest joke in the universe. A dark, twisted joke.
"Get this fucker off me man!" The guy pleads to his friend.
Flashlight guy dashes over and with one swift move, separates the two sending Stross staggering for balance… and springing the handgun loose which drops on the floor… directly in front of Isaac.
Ice forms in his veins. Isaac eyeballs the heavy pistol—his mind in judgment, body frozen from acting.
"Damnit!" The armed man swears bending down to retrieve the weapon. That's when his eyes connect with Isaac's and his expression falls into confusion and then a split second later, pale.
Something triggers off inside Isaac and his arm moves in fast to grab the gun. The other man slams a hand on top of Isaac's, grabbing by the wrist and yanking Isaac out from hiding.
Flung out into the open, the other man throws Isaac's weak form to the floor.
"Where the hell did he come from?" Flashlight guy questions, restraining Stross in a chokehold.
"He's dressed like our bat-shit crazy friend here," the armed man says. "Only this one was hiding under that table watching us the whole time."
Isaac, staggering on the floor on all fours stares up at the armed man, now pointing the gun at him.
"Look, we meant no harm," Isaac begins to say, holding a hand up in a non-threating matter. "We're just trying to find a way out of this place."
"Are there more of you?" The armed man asks, casting a glance around the cafeteria while keeping the weapon raised but not aiming it at Isaac.
Isaac shakes his head, "just me… and him," he inclines his head in Stross' direction, struggling in flashlight-guy's hold. "We got separated… I went looking for him and then I heard you guys coming. I didn't know who you were… which is why I hid."
A brief moment passes where Isaac holds the armed man's gaze. He can just make out the guy's features in the cloak of darkness.
"Then why did your friend here just try to attack me?" The armed man interrogates. "It seems to me like you two were workin' up an ambush—knew we were coming here and tried to rob us."
"What? No—we're just trying to find a way out of here," Isaac explains.
"Ain't no way out," the armed man says, stifling a laugh. "This entire wing is under quarantine—crossover tubes are locked off—no way any of us getting outta here anytime soon."
Damnit… there goes our way out… Isaac contemplates, feeling that depleted feeling in his gut.
"Shit… you don't know, do you?" The armed man asks in Isaac's absences of words. "'Bout the Director and them aliens showin' up in administration wing?"
Before Isaac can asks what the guy was talking about, flashlight guy lets out a sudden holler that ends the conversation there.
Stross has apparently bit the guy in the arm and forced himself free. "Run Isaac—run!" Stross exclaims, pinning flashlight guy to a nearby table.
The armed man pivots around, taking aim at Stross.
"No!" A burst of adrenaline spikes into Isaac. He jumps up to his feet and into a full run, knocking the armed man off his feet and careening into the table.
Recovering fast, armed man reels his arm around, pistol-whipping Isaac on the side of the head.
A white hot flash sparks across Isaac's vision, the world goes spinning. He trips over his own feet and falls to the floor on the verge of losing conscious. The world sideways in his vision, Isaac inclines his head, looking over his chest where he sees the armed man approaching.
"I was gonna let you go," the armed man says, his words warped in Isaac's ears. "But don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you…" he kicks Isaac's foot, dragging his right leg out, he aims the end of his weapon down at it. "I'm sure your pal will do that for you…"
Anticipating the agony of a bullet tarring through his leg, Isaac forces his eyes shut. Then out of the heat of the moment, an ear ripping scream rips through the cafeteria, drumming against Isaac's eardrums.
Armed man turns his attention to his counterpart, of which the screams are coming from.
"AHHH….! EEEYAAAH! MY EYE—MY EYE! SON OF A BITCH GOT MY FUCKIN' EYE!"
"Fuck…me" the armed man mouths out, holding the top of his head with his hands.
Isaac follows armed man's gaze to flashlight-guy, who is on his knees, screaming his lungs out. Both hands pressed to his face. Standing nearby, Isaac makes out Stross holding a thin, metallic object in his grasps that sparkles in the emergency lighting. At the tip of the object is a bloodied mess…
"What the hell did you do?!" The armed man exclaims, his yelling becomes mangled within his friend's screaming.
Stross' only reply is a jerky shrug and laugh with the wild shake of his head.
Armed man aims the heavy pistol for Stross. Isaac takes the advantage.
Using his kinesis module, concentrates the beam on a nearby chair, flinging it across the space until it smashes into armed man's back, sending him reeling and the weapon clattering out of his grasps. Acting quick, Isaac reactivates the beam snatching up the heavy pistol until it slips into his other hand.
Armed man recovers fast from the blow, pivoting around facing Isaac, holding his arm like it just got cut off. In the matter of moments, armed man rushes at Isaac.
Responding quickly, Isaac firing a shots striking armed man in the leg, ending his run altogether. Armed man collapsed down to one knee with a grunt.
The gun slips out of Isaac's grip and he allows his body to fall limp to the floor. Flashlight man's screams continue to resonate though have now died down to a husk, intense breathing. Canceling his view on the ceiling, Stross' form catches Isaac's eye. The craze-man starring down at him, and though Isaac can't see the man's eyes, shielded behind strands of his wild hair, he can feel his gaze. In his hand, Isaac is able to see that the metallic object in Stross' possession is a fork… flashlight-guy's eye skewered on the barb end of it.
"Stross…" Isaac calls out to him. "Drop the fork, Stross."
The craze-man doesn't comply, holding on to his fork.
"You… you son of a bitch!" Armed man gargles out nearby, grabbing Stross' attention. "Should had… shot you both the moment I saw you!"
Strolling away from Isaac, Stross nears the badly wounded man, swiping the end of the fork clean.
"Fuck away from me, freak!" Armed man shouts at Stross. "You stay the hell back!"
Isaac turns his head looking in their direction. Stross calmly comes behind the injured man rubbing a hand in his hair. Armed man flinches out of his grasps but is otherwise unable to move.
"Shh… don't worry," Stross says to him in a gentle matter. "Your path is set…"
Stross sets a firm hand on top of armed man's head and then, without hesitation or warning, jabs the barb end of the fork into his neck.
Isaac's eyes widen, unable to fathom what he just witnessed. "Stross…?! Stross—stop!"
His pleads go unheard; Stross remains unmoving, only his hand armed with the fork shanks back and forth over and over, ripping armed man's jugular vein wide open.
A hissy gargled mess escapes armed man's mouth along with a waterfall of bloodied saliva. Through the near-darkness, a slew of blood jets out of the man's neck, squirting onto Stross' smock.
"Stross goddamnit—stop!" Isaac's voice cracks, his eyes unable to look away from the bloody massacre unfolding.
Abruptly, the craze-man stops his belligerent stabbing, allowing armed man's body to slip from his hold, falling face first to the floor.
Rolling over on his side, Isaac pushes himself up off the floor, scoping the pistol to hand.
"It is done," Stross breaths out, out reaching his arms at his side and inclining his head to the ceiling. "Now this one will be uplifted… a gift to the Marker."
Isaac's tightens his grip around the handle of the pistol as he marches up on Stross. "The hell's wrong with you?! Why did you do that?!"
Centering his gaze, Storss displaces a face of bewilderment. "It's what it wants, Isaac. This…" he gestures to armed man's corpse, now forming a pool of crimson across the cafeteria floor. "Is the beginning of the great change that has come upon us. The Marker will bring order to our disarray—cleanse us of imperfection until we are on the same level as they…"
Having enough of Stross' shit, Isaac charges the craze-man forcing him back against the wall with a thud. "You son of a bitch! I shouldn't have ever trusted you!" Isaac held a firm hand to Stross' boney shoulder, the barrel of the pistol pressed into the man's chest. "You murdered that man for no fucking reason!"
A glint of guilt resonates behind Stross' eyes. In the shine of the emergency light above them, Isaac can see tears shimmering in the craze-man's eyes. "I'm doing my part in it all Isaac—just as I said from the beginning—I have never lied to you."
"I don't give a shit," Isaac says through grit teeth. "Isabel and Nick were right about you, you're too unstable to be traveling with us… stupid me should have left you to rot in that atrium."
"Isabel and Nicholas aren't—they aren't like you and I, Isaac," Stross begins to say, his hands raised at his side—the fork still in his hold. If the crazy fuck tries anything… Isaac isn't going to hesitate to put a bullet in his heart. "You see… they run from the abyss—but you… y-you don't, because you don't fear what happens next. You don't fear what's to come—the change that hovers over the galaxy."
Stross' words become backed with intellect, the craze-man honestly believing every word that passed through his lips.
"In time, Isaac Clarke, you will fulfil your part in the Marker's plan—it's unavoidable."
The Marker… why does that sound familiar? Stross may be a psychopathic, coldblooded killer, but one thing the man still has that Isaac desperately needs is information. Isaac can't kill him now or leave him behind, he's too valuable of an asset, for now that is.
"Unavoidable or not," Isaac begins to say. "One way or another, I plan on getting off this station and find out who the hell did this to me. And you're going to help me with that, understand?"
"Only the Marker can help us Isaac, listen to it… only then will you find what you're looking for."
"Your Marker pal can go to hell," Isaac takes the weapon off Stross and steps away from him. He approaches the black trash bag armed man and flashlight gut were using to gather the vending machine food. Isaac knells down, opens the bag and discovers that there is plenty enough food for him and the group. Looking over his shoulder, Isaac stares back at flashlight guy, rolling on the floor, groaning in pain and holding his eyeless face. Stross did a real number on the poor guy, but there is nothing Isaac can do about it, even though the man's torment is on his hands indirectly.
Tying a knot in the bag, Isaac grabs it up off the floor and slings it over his shoulder. His freehand still holds on to the pistol. Isaac turns to Stross, still standing against the wall.
"From this point on, you try to hurt me or anyone else… I'll put you down, is that clear?"
Stross doesn't reply right away, only starring at Isaac.
"Is that clear?" Isaac repeats.
Stross dips his head, a thin grin forming on his lips, "until the end… nothing's really clear."
Adjusting the load over his shoulder, Isaac peels his gaze off Stross and begins moving towards the exit, leaving this hellish scene behind.
Putting one foot in front of the other, Isaac forces himself to pass flashlight guy. A part of him becomes entrapped by guilt, leaving a fellow human being to suffer in the dark, next to the corpse of his friend. It's a cold decision, one Isaac knows will stick to the back of his mind for as long as he lives.
From behind, an unusual noise, echoing behind the painful moaning of flashlight guy halts Isaac in step for a moment. Looking over his shoulder, the edge of Isaac's eye lands on armed man's body. Isaac turns fully around where he catches the corpse jolting suddenly.
"What the…?" Isaac heaves out.
The corpse begins to seizure as if lit by electricity. All the blood in Isaac's vein's instantly freezes but his eyes remained glued on what's partaking before him.
Armed man's body convulses, suddenly the corpses' arms bend at an unusual angle and so do the legs. A fleshy, festering sound of crushing tissue and bone matter reverberates through the acoustic cafeteria. The corpse takes on a horrific transformation into something else… something that strikes utter fear into Isaac's chest, a familiar sense of despair holding him hostage.
The corpse finishes its transformation, clothing tattered and ripped, sharpen bones extend from where the arms and legs were creating a grotesque humanoid form Isaac has unfortunately seen many, many times before in that dark crux of his mind.
Rising up off the floor, the reanimated corpse lurches in its stance, eventually setting its attention on Isaac and Stross standing less than fifteen feet away. The creature expels an inaudible screeching yell which jolts Isaac's heart with terror.
"Go!" Isaac yells over to Stross as he turns and dashes off for the exit.
Hefting the bag along, Isaac's legs move faster than his mind can process. The sense of urgency nipped at his heels knowing the nightmare that occurred in his splotchy memories of the Ishimura is happening in his present.
Grasping the flashlight in the same hand at the one holding onto the knot of the bag, Isaac struggles to give himself much needed lighting to see where he is going. The steal, almost sour stench of the corridor breezes over his sweat drench face as he kept running through the dark; only a handful of badly placed emergency lights acted as a guide.
Stross, Isaac had no idea what happened to the guy… the adrenaline coursing through his veins prevents him from stopping. The only thing on Isaac's mind is getting as far away from that monstrosity as possible.
Sliding along the tiled flooring, Isaac almost loses his balance, pivoting around a corner in the corridor. Remembering the way, Isaac just keeps running straight until he reaches the staircase leading back to Nick and Isabel.
In the distance, Isaac hears the gargle incoherent screams echoing down the corridor. It's hard for Isaac to judge how far off the thing is. He just has to keep moving and hope that…
Something comes barreling out of the dark—from an entryway to Isaac's right-hand side. Unable to stop his momentum, Isaac crashes into a bony, fleshy mass and falls to the floor, losing his handgun, flashlight and possession of the bag of food.
The flashlight goes rolling in the dark, illuminating a tunnel of white light towards a wall. Isaac scrambles towards the light, swinging around only to spot Stross recovering off the floor nearby. Shifting the ray of light, Isaac tries to find where the pistol had swept off to.
"Isaac…" Stross hisses out.
"Not now!" Isaac shot back, desperately swaying the beam of light around his immediate surroundings searching for the gun.
"Isaac—behind you!"
Spinning around, the beam shines upon a monster emerging from the dark; its boney talons raised— ready for the kill.
Isaac drops his flashlight covering his arms over his face. The creature thrusts him back against the opposite wall, the horrific stench of its breath pluming around Isaac's face. Isaac struggles to keep the dead thing at bay, but his arms have little strength in them… and the creature is winning.
Through the pitch blackness, a hard thwat resonates following the creature's hold loosening around Isaac. Moving quickly Isaac dives to the floor, crawling for the flashlight. In the background, he hears Stross grunting and rapid breathing mixed in with the drowning yelps of their ravaging attacker. Stross is keeping the thing at bay, using some sort of blunt object by the sound of it.
Grabbing the flashlight, Isaac turns on his back finding Stross and the menacing creature in his ray. Stross, armed with a metallic fire extinguisher fends the boney limed undead back, wildly swinging the blunt object with his eyes tightly closed. His aggressive actions are keeping the thing occupied, giving Isaac enough time to find the handgun.
There, sticking out from under a stretcher, Isaac makes out the barrel of the handgun. He hurries, picks it up and takes aim at the creature. Just before he can crack off a shot, another one of those undead things turns from around the corner, Isaac and Stross right in its gaze.
"Shit!" Isaac spits. Things just got a lot more complicated.
Flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other, both Stross and the two undead in his sight, Isaac opens fire at the creature on Stross. The force of the mass effect propelled projectiles rip flesh from the undead's backside, sending it reeling back.
"Move Stross—to me!" Isaac says backing up towards the stairway door ten feet behind him.
Stross tosses the extinguisher at the undead in front of him and bursts into a frantic run towards Isaac.
Both undead—no doubt the reanimated corpses belonging to armed man and flashlight-guy—pursue after Isaac and Stross.
Firing shot after shot, the electric blue shimmer of the rounds flash the darkness like lightening, creating an eerie snapshot stop-motion image of the two walking corpses. Storss continues pass Isaac towards the stairway.
"Go—Go—Go—don't stop Stross!" Isaac encourages the man on, continuing his covering fire.
Isaac kicks the abandon stretcher into motion in his retreat, acting as a temporary barrier between him and his adversaries.
Stross slams open the door behind him, Isaac turns tail and rushes for the stairway. The two undead thrash the stretcher aside as if it were made of tissue paper and charge.
Isaac dashes through the open doorway and with Stross slaming the door shut behind them. It doesn't end there… the undead slam their bodies into the frame of the door nearly shoving Isaac away. The banging… scrapping against and jut wrenching yells is almost too much to bare. Isaac puts his entire weight on the door, struggling to keep the aliens at bay.
"It's what it wants—it's what it wants—IT'S WHAT IT WANTS!"
"Shut up and keep pushing back!" Isaac shouts to Stross, turning on his back to brace the door. He anchors his feet to the floor and pushes back with every weak muscle in his body. It won't be enough, Isaac knows this for certain with dread coiling in his gut.
"Isaac!" Rushing up the steps, Nick appears along with Isabel a step behind. "We heard shooting are—." Nick chocks back on his words, his and Isabel's eyes magnify on Isaac and Stross bracing the door, the horrendous creatures' gargles rumble into the stairway. "What the f—"
"Go back down!" Isaac says, a hard thud to the door sends his body jolting, they're getting through. "Go—now!"
The door blasts open, sending Stross and Isaac scrambling back. The form of the creatures fill the doorway, sharpen arms raised, gargling yelps flooding into the stairway.
"Run!" Isaac shouts. Nick, Isabel and Stross rush back down the stairs followed behind Isaac who opens fire on the leading undead while descending the steps. The intense discharge of the weapon in such an enclosed space slams against his eardrums leaving a dull ring in his head. The weapon's thermal clip chips off and a jet of heat rinses over Isaac's hand. All rounds spent and still the things continue barging tooth and nail to get them.
At the last step, Isaac loses his footing and falls back to the hard floor. The disfigured face of the first undead stares down upon him like a demon emerging from the abyss. Isaac scoots away on his back using his legs and elbows. The undead outsteps his efforts raising a boney appendage ready to chop down on him.
Isaac feels a strong hand pulling him along the floor from the collar, eventually yanking him up to his feet. It's Nick, dragging him along with one arm with his other hand grasping a long tool with a blunt flat end. "Get back!" Nick shouts pulling Isaac behind him.
Stumbling up to his feet, Isaac backs away watching Nick holding his ground against the approaching undead. When the creatures come dangerously close to Nick, the man swings the tool in his hand for them. The tool being a fire-axe. The hatchet blade at the end of the staff buries itself deep into the shoulder of the leading undead. The creature expels a wrenching yelp retracting in its step.
Nick struggles to free the end of the blade from the undead. Giving it a hard thrashing yank, the blade comes out, leaving the undead's sharpen arm dangling by a thread of spider-webbing flesh.
Retreating down the corridor, Nick rejoins Isaac, Isabel and Stross. The group maintaining relative distance from their relentless enemy.
"What… the hell are these things?" Isabel questions incredulously. "Where'd they come from?"
Isaac shakes his head, "long story…"
"How we stop em'?" Nick asks, grasping the axe with both hands.
"Don't think we can," Isaac replies.
One of the undead begins a rush down the corridor. Isaac and the group disperse into the small lounging area, Stross slipping over his own fast moving feet falls flat on his stomach. Nick swings his axe blade wildly in front of him, keeping the creature at bay.
Isaac grabs the craze-man by the fabric of his smock pulling him back up to his feet. Isabel retreats into the room, a switchblade of some-kind grasped in one shaken hand. Isaac, on the other hand is armed with nothing more than a glorified item picker-upper.
"Shit!" Nick swears having backing into the loafing area with the rest of the group, the two unkillable monstrosities following close by. "Slashed these fuckin' guys like a hundred damn times already!"
"Can't be stopped…" Stross hisses out, cowering in a corner.
In these split seconds, Isaac weights the groups' options. Staying and fighting these things is a sure death sentence. Seeing their best bet, Isaac shoots a glance over his shoulder to the darken corridor leading to the adjacent wing of the dorm hall.
"We gotta run!" Isaac tells the group. "This way!" He doesn't wait for anyone to follow; not knowing if it's fear or just the urge to survive driving him on. Either way he hears the frantic footfalls of the group running alongside him in the dark, the horrendous screeches of their undead pursuers just feet behind them.
Dashing around a dark corner, Isaac just makes out the shallow glow of the emergency lights in the stairway down the hall. He forces himself to a halt at the doorway, urging the others to keep going. "Come on—go up the stairs!"
He doesn't have to tell them twice, Stross' rushes pass like a wild animal fleeing capture. Right behind him comes Isabel and finally Nick. Isaac shoots a quick glance at their relentless pursers, the shadow of the corridor brightens the two red orbs in their badly disfigured faces.
Isaac kicks away the rubber door stopper keeping the stairway door open and slams it shut. In those following seconds, the creatures slam onto the frame of the door resonating a hollow ping through the stairway.
The muscles in Isaac's arms struggle to keep the aliens at bay. Nick's scrawny arm presses onto the doorframe from above Isaac's head along with Isabel and finally Stross bracing the bottom of the door with his body balled in a fetal position.
"The axe!" Isabel grunts out. "Use the fuckin' axe!"
Isaac sees where she's coming from—they can brace the door using the axe but at the same time lose their only tool of defense against these things. But there is no time to negotiating, there is no way in Hell the four of them can keep these guys back… each hard hit against the door jolts through Isaac's scrawny body.
"Do it Nick!" Isaac urges.
The taller man moves quick, sliding the shaft of the axe through the looped door handle. The axe slides and secures into place like a loose pad lock.
Isaac his weight off the door watching with terror filled apprehension as the door jolted hard against the axe handle. It's working, for now.
"Come on, that isn't gonna hold for long," Isaac says to the group, speaking between the sharp clashing of metal and the muffled gargling screams from their attackers.
"Let's get the fuck outta here," Nick gravels charging up the stairs first.
