Chapter 3
"Hey bro." Gamzee murmured.
"What." Sollux replied as he tried and failed at wiping away the grime from one of his pistols. "What do you want right now?" He asked, his voice lisping every now and again.
"What are we mother fuckin' doin' here bro?" Gamzee questioned Sollux, looking at him with a very blank stare. "Like...is this where crab apple was last mother fuckin' seen before vanishing?"
"Yeah you stoned clown. Vriska said he was going to go search the hospital down the road for supplies." Sollux explained, sounding rather frustrated. "Vriska told us to come check this place out."
"Oooh bro that's easy." Gamzee smiled sheepishly. Slowly he stood from the spot that he was sitting and took a step towards the rotting door of the psychiatric wing of the ruined hospital. With one of his reinforced juggling pins Gamzee slowly edged the door open and poked his head through. "Hey!" He shouted into the darkness of the hall. "Ooooh Bestfriend!" Gamzee shouted louder. He took in a breath to shout again but Sollux slapped a hand across his mouth.
"Gamzee you fucking idiot who knows what is lurking down that hallway!" Sollux whispered harshly into Gamzee's ear.
"But how is he supposed to mother fuckin' know we're here?" Gamzee looked at Sollux with a confused face. "Brotha could be lost up in that place man."
Sollux took a deep breath and held it for a moment. He exhaled sharply and pinched the bridge of his nose over his red and blue lens glasses. "Gamzee, is there lead in that clown make up?"
Gamzee sat in silence for a moment with a look of awe on his face. "Why would you ask that man?" He questioned sounding rather concerned.
"Whatever," Sollux replied, "Lets just go."
The two slowly crept down the entrance hallway of the psychiatric ward. Bits of tile on the floor were cracked and covered in filth. Vines and other flora hung from holes in the ceiling that let in little rays of moonlight that showed the abandoned wheelchairs and beds that sat eerily silent in the hall. Gamzee and Sollux's steps seemed to echo into oblivion with each step they took until they reached what looked to be the lobby of the ward.
The lobby like room was about the size of a standard apartment. A large L shaped desk sat up against the far wall and had several ruined computers lined up. Chairs, benches, more wheelchairs, and files were scattered on the destroyed floor. A single light flickered suspiciously in the center of the room casting a faint glow over the L desk and revealing two entrances to branching hallways on both the right and the left walls of the room.
"That light shouldn't be on." Sollux observed. Slowly he stood up from his crouched position and scanned the room. "No one is in here though..."
Gamzee slowly stood up as well clearing well over a foot over Sollux's stature of 5'4. "Brotha somethin's up in this place." he murmured slowly.
Sollux nodded in agreement and reached behind his back. In a faint click he pulled two custom colt.45 pistols. One had a red body, and the other blue with ivory like grips. There was a crack in one of the halls and Sollux spun with both pistols aimed. There was a flicker of movement in the doorway and a pair of crimson eyes lit up in the blackness of the hall.
"Gamz." Sollux whispered.
"Yeah man?" Gamzee replied, turning and seeing what Sollux saw. "What is that thing?"
Slowly from the shadows the owner of the crimson eyes slithered forward. It was large, about eight feet tall. The creature had a serpent like head atop a worm like body. About midway down two mutilated arms looking monstrously similar to scythes tensed at the sight of the two young trolls.
"Gamzee." Sollux almost sighed.
"Yeah man?" Gamzee retorted.
"Its a horror-terror." Sollux's arm dropped to his sides. "I told you you should have stayed quiet you clown faced douche." Almost as he finished his sentence Sollux spun, grabbed Gamzee by the collar of his shirt and dashed down the hallway behind them.
The horror-terror shrieked horrifically and gave chase to the two its body slithering nightmarish-ly through the door at a rather amazing pace. The terror swung its scythe like arms around in the cramped space smashing into walls and breaking doors off of their hinges.
Sollux and Gamzee sprinted quickly down the hall leaping over even more abandoned wheelchairs, beds, and the occasional skeleton.
"This is one hell of a motherfuckin' abscond!" Gamzee shouted over the shrieks of the horror-terror. "I don't think we can out run this motherfucker for much longer!"
"No we can't." Sollux thought to himself. He twisted his body halfway as he sprinted and aimed sloppily at the horror-terror. Quickly he pulled the triggers and his pistols thumped loudly with each shot. Each round imbedded into the rather large body of the horror-terror. None of the shots seemed to leave an effect and only angered the monster. "Fuck!" Sollux shouted and faced forward in time to duck under a hanging water pipe.
Sollux panted with each step that pounded into the rotting ground. He was getting tired and his heart began to burn. One of the horror-terror's scythes slashed a few centimeters behind him and crashed into the wall. There was a loud screech of grinding metal and the terror roared. Sollux turned to find its claw was imbedded into the wall, and with each yank the terror howled in pain.
"Its stuck!" Sollux shouted to Gamzee who was already several yards down the hall and about to turn a corner.
The terror shrieked louder in pain and black oozing blood poured from the claw. Now that it was still Sollux could see the monster in full form. It was large and a disgusting shade of white similar to that of a deceased persons. Its head wasn't as serpentine as he first thought, but had several nobs and bones poking up in the skin. The eyes where a sharp crimson with no pupils. It was about twenty feet long and several feet wide.
"That is one mother fuckin' ugly snake." Gamzee huffed as he re-approached Sollux. Gamzee put his hands on his knees and panted.
The horror-terror roared and with a final yank freed its arm. Panic rose in Sollux's throat until a moment later the ceiling caved in on top of the terror. A large water pipe fell and stabbed through the torso of the terror. It slammed into the ground and seemed to cough up more black blood before it stopped breathing.
"We..." Sollux heaved, "We are lucky as hell. Come on Gamzee, Karkat is obviously not here."