Decay
Chapter #3: Detrimental to my health.
It was blood.
All of it was human, and it was splattered and sprayed about the room as if someone had shook up a soda can and sprayed it's blood-red painty contents about the room before leaving the can upon the ground to let the fluid pool upon the floor.
I could not find the source of all this blood, and I had to watch my step, as cracked and crushed vials, flasks, and graduated cylinders littered the floor. Of all the blood, I couldn't help but notice that the reddest of the red was upon the tables. "I don't doubt that there is a tint of madness in this place." I muttered under my breath as I stepped lightly towards a door hidden in the red. I checked it for any pressure sensitive devices and found none. "There must be much greater security below this point. It wouldn't make sense to leave this facility so unguarded."
I shook my head and opened the door, which was well greased, despite the apparent lack of use. It was a staircase. A very high staircase. Looking down I found that the blueprints I was given were right, I could go straight past all the other levels and go straight down the staircase, all the way down.
"Dandy." I muttered. Giving a sigh I lept over the railing and started to descend quickly. A few floors down I gripped the rail for a breather and looked down. Lots of floors to go. I let go once more and descended a few more floors. But this time when I grabbed for the rail my hand slipped, and I was sent careening downwards. It seemed that I had finally made my terminal mistake. Until I realized there was only one way to survive, but it was going to hurt. A lot. I clenched my teeth together and my eyes shut as forced my spider legs out in four directions. Then the pain came and the legs snapped off like twigs, allowing me to fall the final flight of stairs without any terminal damage.
I lay there feeling the very definition of agonizing pain until I could finally bring myself to my feet. I coughed harshly, spitting out a bit of blood. The normal weak, yet vibrant hum from my paK was no longer audible. It must have been severely damaged when the spider legs had broken off. "Damn." I rasped, "I'm a fool."
But I had a job to do, and I got to it. There was a heavy metal door in front of me that I had to deal with. I examined the situation carefully. The door had to have been very thick, and the only way of opening it was to either enter the code on the keypad on it's left, or destroy the door. That's how it seemed, anyways.
"Fuck this." I said, regaining my strength and slamming my fist into the keypad. The door slid open with a clank, to my surprise. "That worked? Jesus."
I stepped through to see a straight hallway that went on for a short time, then ended with a T intersection. The document provided by Reynolds said that the research and 'Objects of Interest' would be on the right. Throwing caution to the wind I started running to my objective, quickly rounding the corner and into the room. "Yes!" I said. It was a simple operation, despite my foolishness in the stairway. I had been informed that it would be a job worthy of my talents. Apparently not.
Stepping lightly, I reached a computer system with a large information storage device attached. I plugged in a small cord from my paK into the computer, and it sluggishly siphoned the data from the storage device. While it did so I looked around. So far the facility belowgrounds had been simple and clean white-washed walls with little adornment. This room was no exception, but for the two pedestals in the center of it. "Hello there." I said to myself. One pedestal let off a blue light whilst the other a red. My paK dinged and the cord retracted back. I went to examine the small glowing plateaus with interest. One had a stunning ruby inset a gold pendant, the other a sapphire in an identical one. I grabbed them both and made my way out. Then an alarm went off. "Fuck." I rounded the corner to see a group of well-armed security guards standing in my path. "Fuck." I repeated.
"Stop right there, thief!" Shouted what I assumed passed for a leader. "We've got you."
"Fuck it, Danny. Just shoot him. He's armed, nobody on base will doubt it's self defense." said another.
"Yees, Danny." I hissed. "Just shoot me. See where that gets you."
Danny grunted angrily and hefted his rifle straight at me, and before he could get off a shot I had landed a bullet into his forehead. "Anyone else?" I asked, smirking.
The second man shouted as loud as possible. "Kill him! Kill him dead! FIRE!" The other three men opened fire upon me as I ducked into the hallway on the left and pressed myself against the wall. I peeked around the corner once the shooting stopped, only to find a bullet whiz past my head. Obviously this wasn't going to work so I decided to take my chances with the room on the left hand side. I went in to find a room showered in amber light. I didn't have the time to examine the place, but it seemed as if it was filled with shelf after shelf after shelf of vials filled with amber liquid. I rushed down through the room to find a small door. I kicked it open to reveal a ladder. It tired me out but I climbed it to find myself in a cramped vent system. I navigated my way to the central hallway, and I heard my assailants talking.
"Shouldn't we go after 'im, Greg?"
"Naw, man. He's got nowhere to go, now does he? Either he pops his head back out or just tries to wait us out."
"Or," I said through the vent grate. "I go around and kill your asses." At this statement I burst through the grate and struck out, my fist hitting the man Greg in the jaw. I swiveled quickly to another of the men, withdrawing my gun from it's holster and planting three shots in him. One in his leg, one in his chest, and one right between the eyes. I clocked a third man on the head with the butt of my pistol, and then dropped my gun to lunge at the last, gripping his head and twisting roughly. My Irken strength was easily enough to snap his neck, and almost remove his head from his shoulders. I grinned at the loud 'Crack!' his neck made as I broke it. Then I turned one more time to face Greg once more, and grabbed him by his neck, slamming his face into the wall, leaving a smear of blood as he slid down.
"Nobody messes with Zim."
Panting, I made my way up the stairs. It had seemed most of the security had been focused on something else. The feetball game would be the most probable, but I felt uncomfortable, something was very off. At the top of the stairs I rested, my chest heaving and squeedily spooch pumping as much oxygen through my body as it could. I decided it was time to go, and opened the door. I wasn't expecting what I saw.
Before me stood the man I had met almost two weeks ago and his entourage. He was grinning evilly. "Oh boy oh boy. What do we have here?"
"It seems that we have little meatbag Zim, and he's got our loot." Said one of his men.
"Silence. Rhetorical question." Snapped the first man. "Listen, Zim. My name is Panchsky. You don't mess with a Panchsky, ever. If you do, he comes back for you, and he kills you. I'm gonna kill you. But first, I'm taking my prize." At this he lunged forward and gripped the pendants in his fist, I had the chain, he had the gems. He yanked hard upon the gem and the chain snapped. Then he pulled his revolver from his holster, firing the gun point blank where the human kidney would have been. I fell back in pain as Panchsky shoved me back into the stairway, slamming the door.
For a while everything was black, but my eyes slowly cracked open, and I limped to my feet and through the door. Panchsky was gone, the bastard. I was left alone inside, and I climbed up the staircase to the balcony, looking at the crimson lab one last time before pushing out through the double doors, a hand on my gunshot wound. I found out what happened to the guards.
They all had been slaughtered by Panchsky's men, turned into hamburger by their automatic weapons, a great pool of blood from the bodies made my footsteps make a wet squelching noise as I limped my way past the guardhouse. I fell to my knees right outside the gates, passing out.
When I woke up, I saw him.