After three days of reading rote descriptions of fantastic creatures, boredom sets in. For every monster Edward is familiar with there are four he's never heard of. There are species and sub-species and regional variations. Every part of the world has their own unique creatures and though similarities exist, Alice assures him the details are important.
"The sentient creatures are very proud," she says. "They offend easily."
The words and monsters blur in Edward's mind.
"I'm doing something else," Edward says. He lets the binder open heavily onto the table and sits back. It's afternoon on the third day and the lack of windows turn the passage of time to molasses.
Alice looks up from her tablet, sympathetically. "I know it's tough. This is what Colonel Cullen wants you doing, though."
"Does he expect me to never see my team?" Edward asks, somewhat rhetorically. He trusts Alice, but is uncomfortable complaining about the Colonel to her.
"Yes," Alice says. Her focus returns to the tablet.
Bullshit, Edward thinks. He focuses on the classic photo of Bigfoot hanging on the wall. He always believed the image was a hoax. But it's not. One Lilim team has a sasquatch, Alice says. He feels like he knows more about creatures he may never see than ones he's responsible for. He stands and heads to the door.
"Where are you going?" Alice says, dutifully following him out.
"The Pen. I'm working with my team."
Alice slows her pace. Edward does need to know the team, to see how they work. The fact that Edward seems to care so much about them is refreshing. However, she has her orders from Colonel Cullen. Protocol has already been shattered regarding Edward's time, something she knows displeases the Colonel.
"Sir," she says, making minimal effort to catch up. "The Colonel doesn't want you anywhere other than the library."
"I'm ordering you, Alice," Edward says, jokingly, "Take me to the Pen."
She smiles to herself and activates the radio. "Bella, we're coming for a visit."
"Take him to observation," Bella replies. "We're doing stealth training."
"Copy," Alice says. A trickle of concern runs down her spine. "We need to go this way, Edward."
Yards ahead of her, he opens the double doors to the Pen. Thick darkness surrounds him as enters, just hearing Alice say his name before the doors slam shut. The sound stops immediately. The chamber's echo from before, gone.
"Hello?" He blindly takes a few steps before his foot slams against a wall. The hell, he thinks, remembering the wide open cavern from a few days before. Expecting Alice to enter, he turns and feels for the door. It doesn't open.
"He's locked in," Alice through the radio, watching the doors shake. A sense of helplessness fills her; the soundproof doors make talking to him impossible. The Pen can be opened from the outside during mission training, but not from the inside. "Do you want me-"
"Don't let him out," Bella cuts her off. "Go to Observation and provide updates."
"Yes ma'am," as she heads down a side hall.
Jacob cracks into Alice's ear. "Has he gotten his radio implanted?"
"No," Alice says.
Emmett jumps in. "Can't you keep him under control, Alice?"
Bella's annoyance is clear across the airwaves. "Shut up. Mission."
Alice makes it to Observation, immediately converting the camera system to focus on the Pen. The bank of monitors flash green as the labyrinth filling the chamber appears. She cycles through the individual feeds until she finds Edward.
"Bella? Do you want me to abort the scenario?"
A moment passes. "No," Bella answers. "Not unless we have no other option."
Alice clenches her teeth, watching a pale creature grotesquely crawl across the tops of the walls toward their team leader. "Well, hurry. There's a rabisu stalking him."
With his back against the doors Edward waits in the dark. His gut tightens and the heavy, depressing uncertainty about the situation keeps him from shouting for the rest of the team. He curses the impulse to just enter the Pen.
A creak, somewhere high and close, followed by a long, slow hiss.
Edward's thoughts center on the sound as he attempts to decipher its exact location.
Another hiss, louder. Closer.
Not human. The words flash into his mind, followed by a rapidly rotating list of creature names he's read about thus far.
More sound.
No time, he thinks.
The map on Bella's tablet shines minimal light on her face, the small quadrant of the Pen her team has navigated dim red lines on a black background. She can pin-point Edward's location, knowing where the Pen's entrance is on the map, but the scenario creates a randomly designed maze to traverse and a mass of black they have yet navigate lies between them. She doesn't know how to get to him.
"Let's just wait for his screams," Emmett says, his voice seeming to mix with the dark.
Bella smirks, safe from being seen in the blackness. Knowing Alice is observing and that Edward is ultimately safe lessens her concern. "We'll just call this rescue training, rather than clearance." She radios Alice for an update.
"It's just sitting there staring at him," Alice says. "It looks like... Yep, two more are heading that way."
"Thanks." Bella taps her radio twice, creating two static-filled pops; the auditory signal to rally together. Emmett comes closer followed by Jacob, who appears from his position across the pitch-black chamber. They knee beside her and listen, focusing on their surroundings while glancing at her map as she speaks.
"He's about a hundred and fifty meters, north-northwest from here," Bella begins. She speaks quickly, quietly and with authority. "At least three rabisu are positioning to ambush, so we don't have much time."
Emmett taps his radio, allowing Alice to hear his question. "Has he read up on them yet?"
"No," Alice says. "He hasn't started the middle-eastern creatures yet."
"Perfect."
Good question, Bella thinks though she doesn't like the answer. "We head that direction and split when needed." She tucks the tablet into the holster strapped against her side.
"You don't want me to fly?" Jacob asks.
"No," Bella says. "Alice, abort the scenario if Edward is critically injured."
"Got it," Alice radios back.
"And walk us through the maze." Bella begins moving in Edward's direction through the dark. "I'll take point. Let's go."
Whatever is hiding in the dark, Edward knows there's more than one. A sustained hiss, shifting like surround-sound static, fills his ears. Despite the hundreds of creatures rolling through his mind, he's resigned that he doesn't know what to expect. He wants to call out for the team, for Bella, anyone, but instinctively knows he shouldn't. The inhuman noise surrounds him, disorienting and loud, making it impossible to hear anything else.
His back remains against the double-doors. He will not move unless forced. It's safer to guard his back and remain still than wander.
I need a radio, he thinks. The randomness of the thought relaxes him.
He deftly pulls his cell phone from his pocket and it provides a false sense of security. Attempting to stay calm, Edward activates the phone's flashlight. Its clean, white light surrounds his feet.
Alice curses, watching the halo appear around Edward. On screen, six rabisu perched above him flinch back. She pulls up a command prompt and quickly types in a cancelation script. Her finger hovers over the Enter key. On screen, the team has split and the closest help is still fifty meters away.
"Bella," she radios, "He just turned on a flashlight."
Emmett shakes his head at Alice's update as he feels his way through the dark corridors. An annoying sense of duty drives him in what he believes is the correct direction, but there's no hurry. Let Edward get attacked, Emmett thinks. It will teach him a lesson.
"Who's closest?" Bella asks over the radio.
There's a pause before Alice says his name. "Emmett has the straightest shot."
"Fuck you, Irony," he says to himself before radioing back. "Go ahead."
"Take your second right," Alice says immediately.
He does so, intentionally keeping a methodical pace. The muffled click of his rifle bouncing against his body keeps time.
Silence immediately follows the flashlight's bright appearance. The sudden quiet proves more unnerving than the shifting buzz. Edward's body tenses, the surrounding light providing no comfort. He gazes upward and sees a dozen pin-prick reflections shimmering above him, waiting.
One of the creatures makes a clicking sound, replicated by another.
Edward presses closer to the doors, his fingers straining around the phone still shining at his feet. He can't the urge and tilts the phone upward.
The splotchy, pale face of the rabisu stares back with large, green eyes. A minimal nub of a nose sits above a wide, jutting mouth. Two long teeth protrude from its lower jaw like tusks. Ridges run along its bald skull from its face to the back of its head.
An explosion of hissing and the two farthest creatures lunge at Edward. Instinctively, Edward pushes himself off the door, delivering a side kick to one creature, which crumples to the floor at Edward's feet. He turns to the other. The rabisu slashes its spindly, chameleon-like claws as it lands, just missing as Edward's dodge. With a strong hook, Edward connects hard against the creature's soft temple.
A third rabisu jumps onto Edward's back, the long nails digging deep against his chest. The cell phone falls to the floor, the bright light shining upwards causing frantic shadows to surround the skirmish. Edward feels the long tusks of the creature pressing into the back of his neck. Flinging the monster over his shoulder, he grips tight against the rabisu's neck and delivers a savage twist and crack.
The cool, dry skin melts to a viscous substance in Edward's hands. The long limbs and thin body disappear into blue glops forming at his feet.
The fuck? Edward thinks, staring at the mess covering his hands.
He hears the other three creatures landing around him as the first two recover to their feet. Their hiss crescendos as they snarl in the foreboding light, revealing the rows of needles inside their lips.
"Holy shit," Alice says, the second word cracking across the radio as she presses against her neck. "He just killed one of them?"
"With what?" Jacob asks.
"His bare hands." Alice can't believe it. She doesn't take her eyes off the screen as Edward prepares to square off against the remaining rabisu.
"How many are left?" Bella radios.
"Five."
Jacob interjects, a mix of surprise and frustration filling his voice. "How did he do that?"
"Stop it, Jacob," Bella orders. "Where's Emmett?"
Arms crossed and resting atop his dangling rifle, Emmett watches the battle in front of him from the dark recesses of the corridor. He hears the conversation over the radio and Bella's order to assist, but is more interested in observing.
Ugly fighting, Emmett thinks as Edward flails his fist and connects with a crouching rabisu.
Edward hooks a rabisu's swiping claw with his arm, locking the creature to him. A thunderous boot to the creature's spine and it devolves to the same goopy mess. Immediately swings his leg around, Edward's heel connects across the face of another rabisu. It falls and Edward slams his foot down into its snarling maw. The sticky substance covers his boot and only three remain.
The sudden fluidity, so out of place amid the unorthodox brawling, makes Emmett frown.
In the brief moment Edward takes to compose himself, the other three rabisu strike. They cling to his torso, digging their teeth into his skin. Their grips tighten, the combined weight bringing the struggling Edward to his knees.
Emmett grips his rifle.
Alice is frantic in the radio. "All three of them are on him! Do I abort?"
"Yes," Bella screams.
Smirking, Emmett's rifle flies against his cheeks. Three quick shots in half a second.
Light floods the Pen as the scenario is canceled. Mechanical hums and clanks fill the chamber as the entirety of the labyrinth rises several feet off the ground, revealing the team to each other. The maze shifts and dances in the air, separating and folding back into the Pen's walls with an industrial beauty.
Edward pants, covered in sticky goo from the dissipated monsters. Able to get a good look at the substance, he sees its disgusting color and texture, like moldy, blue jelly. He grabs his cell phone and gets to his feet, exhausted and sore.
"You watch too much MMA, sir," Emmett says, drawing Edward's attention.
They stare at each other a moment, Edward wondering how long Emmett did nothing to help. But the adrenaline of the fight, the curiosity of the creatures, and the tinge of disappointment in putting himself into the situation keeps Edward silent.
Emmett walks away. "And you can't borrow my clothes."