As the metal doors flew off their hinges faster then the eye could follow, Alpha dove into the room. Before the humans could react, she was behind one. Grabbing the small grey haired man by the throat she held him between herself and the armed guards brandishing their weapons at her. She smiled slightly at the sight of the fastshooters they held, it appeared they weren't trying to take her alive anymore. The man struggled franticly, much to Alpha's irritation. Digging her sharp nails into the man's throat she…convinced him to stop.
"Let him go. Now!" The man who had spoken was the largest of the three guards in the room. His brown hair was graying at the temples, and his face was fairly wrinkled. Despite that, he held himself with the confidence of a man who wasn't unfamiliar with combat. Unlike the other two, who trembled like scared children, his gun was steady. Alpha smirked at the man, it appeared she'd found a leader.
"Put him down!" Alpha snarled in response, slowly backing towards the entrance to an adjacent room. "I will not warn you again!" Her only response was to dig her nail's deeper into her hostage's throat, drawing a small amount of blood.
Her back impacted the cold metal of the door, using her free hand she unlatched it and pushed it open. "Stop! Take one more step and I will open fire!" With a vindictive smile, Alpha tore her hostage's throat out and shoved him towards the guards. The man's blood sprayed from his severed arteries, sprinkling the guards as the metallic smell of blood filled the room.
The two inexperienced guards recoiled in disgust. As the leader yelled at them to 'get their asses in gear' Alpha leapt into the other room and slammed the door shut. A small burst of telekinesis destroyed the door's lock, buying her more time.
She turned to face the room, smiling in delight at all the mindless gibbering monsters trapped in their cells. The intoxicating scent of Adam permeated everything in this room, including the trapped insane humans. It was so nice of them to keep her food prepackaged.
With a flick of her wrist the door of the first cell was ripped free. The man inside was too deranged to understand what was happening and didn't react. In a flash, Alpha was upon him; sinking her teeth into his throat she tore a large chunk of flesh free. Pulling the thicker Adam laden blood from the man's wound, Alpha smiled as the murky liquid hovered above her palm.
She opened her mouth and with a flick of her wrist sent the Adam rich blood down her throat. Fighting off the sudden rush of euphoria that always accompanied feeding, Alpha turned to the next cell.
()
"What are we going to do?"
Tenenbaum sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I don't know Aaron. Unfortunately I don't see us having much choice…" In Theodore's hideout, Tenenbaum's group sat in something vaguely resembling a circle as they contemplated their next move.
"I should have killed him when I had the chance."
Theta sent Jack a surprised glance as Theodore near perfectly voiced her thoughts. "You could have killed him and you didn't!"
The world weary man sighed and nodded. "It was back when I was first in Rapture. He trapped me in Fort Frolic and made me help him with his latest 'masterpiece'. When it was complete he unlocked the Bathysphere station so I could leave and came to see his art in person. I could have fought and killed him there but I didn't."
Gesticulating wildly, Theta growled in the back of her throat, face incredulous. Again Theodore voiced her thoughts. "Why the hell not?"
Jack's tired brown eyes met the smaller man's watery blue gaze; an unspoken understanding was reached before Jack even spoke. "I was tired. I just wanted to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. It's not like I actually cared much about Rapture or its inhabitants at that point."
Looking like she had a sour taste in her mouth, Theta nodded. She didn't like it, but there was no changing the past…and she could understand becoming sick of killing. Her softly glowing gaze landed on David, who so far had stayed silent throughout their conversation. Humming softly, she bumped his shoulder with her palm. When he failed to react, her gaze grew concerned and she shook him gently.
With a start, David looked at her. Blinking blearily, like he had just woken up, he raised a questioning eyebrow. "Yeah Sam, what is it?" Theta whimpered softly and touched his cheek, asking in her unique way if he was alright. Pushing her hand away dismissively, he rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Sam, leave me alone."
Theta recoiled as if struck, eyes wide with surprise and a hint of fear. After a second her surprise morphed into a scowl. Growling she made a chopping motion with her hand before gesturing between the two of them. "What?" Snarling in frustration, she repeated the gesture and followed it with a questioning shrug.
David raised an eyebrow, scowling unflinching at the upset experiment. "Is that unintelligible growling and erratic gesturing supposed to mean something?"
Theta stared at the glaring human, mouth hanging open in shock. After a moment's pause her eyes narrowed and her face took on a look of deep concentration. A low warbling growl was audible as she fought with herself, trying desperately to voice her thoughts. With a frustrated whimper she gave up, giving the human a beseeching look she begged him to stop this and just comfort her. He always made her feel better.
"Use your words! Come on, you can do it!"
Mistaking his tone for one of encouragement, Theta tried again. Eyes screwed shut in concentration; she tried once again to voice her thoughts. A rasping moan echoed about the room before it hitched and she broke into a coughing fit.
"What the hell was that?" Barely containing his amusement, David's voice was the final straw for the frustrated experiment.
Opening her tearing eyes, still gasping for breath and doubled over as she recovered from her coughing fit, Theta stared incredulously at her human friend. For several seconds they maintained eye contact, David barely able to contain a smile as Theta stared at him in shock. As a strangled whimper became audible, Theta broke their brief staring contest. Blinking rapidly, she stood to her full height as the whimpering rose in volume. Not looking at any of the room's other occupants; she turned and ran. She didn't know where she was going; she just knew it was better then here.
"What was that about?"
Rubbing his temples, David glanced at an irritated Jack. "Nothing, drop it."
"She was j-just concerned about you. You sh-shouldn't treat her l-like that."
"I don't need to listen to this shit." With an irritated sigh, David stood and left.
"Who pissed in his lemonade?"
Ignoring Theodore's comment, Harper continued. "I-I know we're all stressed but that d-doesn't excuse him."
Tenenbaum sighed tiredly. "I know Harper. Just give him time to calm down; we have all been through a lot in the past few days."
()
The room was filled with a sudden light as the door was blown off its hinges. Seconds later it was plunged back into pitch black, save for the light emanating from the doorway. The first two human's entered, scatterguns held with practiced ease. Utilizing the flashlights mounted on the end of their guns, they did a quick survey of the room. As several others slowly entered the room, one of the scattergun wielding men spoke into his helmet mounted radio.
"No sign of the primary subject sir, it looks like it just tore the test subjects apart and left."
The reply was only audible due to her enhanced hearing. "There is no other way from the room, check the bodies."
"Acknowledged." Pointing with the arm not holding the scattergun's trigger, the man motioned to his subordinates. "Clean the room, single shot to the head for all of them." The peons advanced slowly into the room, methodically executing the savaged victims. No matter how heinous the damage already done to them, every body received the same treatment. Unseen, Alpha smiled.
With a bang, the last body was shot. "That was all of them sir, still no sign of the primary subject."
"It can't have left; it's still in there with you."
"Sir? There's nothing else here. Are you sure it couldn't have esc-" The leader paused, staring in confusion at the black insect that had landed on his visor. What was a bug doing here? This was a clean facility, where could it have come from? Shrugging mentally, the man slapped his visor, turning the insect into a greenish smear. As if in response a buzzing noise filled the air.
"Corporal, what's happening? Answer me damn it!"
As one the bodies of the experiments began to thrash, black insects burrowing out from beneath the skin and exploding from every orifice. The screams began soon after, followed quickly by desperate gunfire. As the last man collapsed to the ground, Alpha dropped from the ceiling and calmly left, the dieing men's screams like music to her ears.
A scientist stood frozen in fear next to the elevator door. Drenched in blood, Alpha stalked slowly towards the cowering individual. Grabbing him dismissively by the throat, she dragged him to a paper that appeared to show the design of her armor. Releasing him, she pointed to the picture with a growl.
"W-what?" Snarling she grabbed the back of his head and slammed him into the picture. Releasing another pointed growl, she let go of the pathetic human. "Y-you want your armor?" Rolling her eyes she nodded. "I-it's down the hall, third door on the left. It…it's locked but I doubt that would stop you." Alpha nodded glancing in the direction he indicated. "C-can I go?" Without preamble, she snapped the man's neck and headed down the hall. There was something beautiful about the feeling of a man's vertebrae snapping in your grasp.
Kicking the door open, Alpha stalked into the room the man had indicated. Her armor lay atop a table, disassembled but looking none the worse for wear. Letting the blood drenched surgical gown she had been wearing drop to the floor, she pulled on her armor with practiced ease.
As she lifted her helmet, a red light caught her eye. In the far corner of the room a camera was watching her. She couldn't help but feel amused. Sending any humans watching a wink, she fastened her helmet in place. With new confidence, she walked calmly towards the elevators…and the group of armed humans waiting for her.
()
Private Franks couldn't help regretting his choice in occupation. Mother had always told him nothing good would ever come of letting dad recruit him into whatever semi-legal dealings the government had him doing. Had he listened? No. And look where it got him! Standing with twenty some odd other poor sods, all scared shitless. All were expected to shoot whatever was rampaging around down here on sight. The worst part was that the whatever-it-was was classified so all they new was if you saw anything that looked the slightest bit odd, you shot it.
"Am I the only one who thinks this is bullshit?"
As discontented rumblings chorused in agreement, Sergeant Fitzpatrick brought his soldiers back into line. "All of you shut the hell up! We have our order and we will follow them to the letter. The next one of you who speaks out of turn is going to go scout the area!"
Silence…
A strange sound echoed down the hallway towards them, it took Franks several seconds to recognize it but when he did a chill went down his spine. Someone was sobbing in the distance. It got steadily louder causing all the soldiers to shift uncomfortably in place. Just when he thought he could stand it no more, a girl shuffled into view.
She was pale, incredibly so, as if she had never seen the sun a day in her life. Her greasy blond hair hung in matted clumps and reached her shoulder blades. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying and were an amazing icy blue color. As she saw the soldiers they widened, revealing more of the bloodshot whites, and she let loose a surprised gasp followed by a whimper.
For what seemed to be a lifetime, the soldiers and the girl stared at each other, unmoving. Trembling, the girl looked away, biting her lip and hugging herself. After a moment she returned to her previous posture and stared at them again. Franks raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior, what was wrong with her? Another miniature lifetime passed before the girl repeated herself. Looking away, she bit her lip and hugged herself. Several seconds later she returned to her previous posture.
"What the hell?" Franks didn't realize he had spoken aloud and frankly didn't care. When the girl repeated herself, she did the exact same thing. Not going through the same motions, she did the exact same thing. Before Franks could tell the others, Fitzpatrick lost his patience. With a low growl he fired a three round burst into the girl's chest.
Needless to say, the soldiers were shocked when the girl didn't react to the bullets. They left no visible mark on her, passing through her as if she were a ghost.
"Sergeant, what the hell!" Franks glanced at Fitzpatrick only to see his superior staring blankly into space. "Sir? Are you okay?" The older man's mouth opened slightly and blood oozed forth. "Sir!" The sergeant collapsed to the ground, blood discoloring his uniform as it gushed from his chest…in the exact place he had shot the girl…
"Don't!" Franks was too late, twelve of his allies opened fire on whatever was standing before them. They didn't move, didn't even jerk like they were shot, they just collapsed with wounds exactly where they had shot the thing. As Franks and the remaining soldiers stared in shock at their dead friends, the not-girl glanced away fearfully, biting her lip and hugging herself.
"What the fuck is going on man! This is crazy!" Franks turned towards the speaker, Private Belial if he remembered correctly, and his eyes widened in fear. Something was standing behind Belial, something that hadn't been there a second ago. There was a wet schlick and something sharp and made of metal poked out of his chest. The man looked downward, seemingly unable to comprehend the weapon he was impaled on.
"Mary mother of God…"
Before they could react, the thing tore its weapon from Belial and leapt into the air. Moving with an inhuman grace, it danced through their ranks. It was beautiful. With a fluid grace no human could hope to achieve, it killed his friends. No movement was wasted. Dodging a burst of gunfire turned into a roundhouse kick that snapped a man's neck. It purposefully spared a man so his retaliatory burst of gunfire could be used to kill one of his comrades.
It wasn't human…it couldn't be.
It rolled towards a man. As it stood, it lashed out with an arm, taking his legs out from under him. It was already moving towards the next as the man hit the ground, eyes going blank as he landed on a fallen comrade's bayonet.
It was divine…nothing so perfect…so pure…could possibly come from this world.
Its palm slammed into a man's nose. There was an audible crack and he collapsed to the ground, the broken shards of his nose having pierced his brain.
It was an angel…an angel of death…
As it stood over its latest sacrifice, it heard Franks' only remaining squad member ready his gun. With inhuman speed, its foot caught the shoulder strap of a fallen man's rifle. Flipping the weapon into the air, it caught it and fired a single bullet. His friend fell to the ground, a hole in between his eyes.
The angel turned its attention to him; he barely noticed his rifle fall from nerveless fingers. He blinked and it was before him. A sharp pain in his stomach caused him to groan in agony. With its right hand occupied wielding the weapon that was impaling him, its left moved to caress his face. He could hear it shushing him, the comforting noise reminding him of home and of his mother. He stared into the blood red visor that hid its angelic continence from the eyes of mere mortals. Some form of understanding passed between the two as they stared into each other's eyes.
With speed only an avenging angel could possibly have, it snapped Franks' neck and let his body fall to the floor…
()
Alpha growled softly in frustration, it appeared the humans had shut down the elevator. Maybe they weren't as idiotic as they seemed. With a dismissive flick of her wrist, the elevator doors were wrenched open. She walked to the shaft and looked down, despite the near absolute darkness she was able to see clearly. The shaft continued a few more stories beneath her and leads upwards an indeterminate amount. The elevator was stuck between floors maybe fifty feet above her, she could hear the muffled and panicked voices of its occupants.
With a pop, Alpha disappeared. She reappeared just below the elevator, grabbing a metal strut with her left hand. The sudden weight caused the metal to groan softly. She could hear the humans hushing each other, clearly hoping they would go unnoticed. Smiling to herself, she effortlessly swung into the gap between the elevator and the wall. She purposefully made as much noise as possible as she climbed up the side, relishing the terrified whimpers the humans were releasing.
The emergency escape hatch was ripped free and tossed aside effortlessly. The faces of seven terrified humans stared up at her. Grabbing the cable that held up the human's metal coffin, she prepared to cut it. She stopped when she recognized one of the humans. The Stone human, the one that fed her, he was staring at her. His watery eyes wide behind thick glasses, he stared at the monster that was about to kill him.
Snarling at the unwanted emotion she was feeling, Alpha telekinetically grabbed the frail human. Flicking her wrist she destroyed the nearest entrance to a floor. Tossing the terrified human to safety, she cut the cable. As the other humans screamed for the last time, she teleported to the top of the shaft. Simultaneously the door to the top floor and the metal coffin were crushed, silencing the human's screams and starting hers.
Wailing like a banshee, she threw herself at the defending humans. Killing them in new and creative ways made her feel a bit better about herself. It wasn't that she had been merciful to the Stone human; she had just…acknowledged his moment of kindness.
()
Can you hear them? Screaming in the cellar. It wasn't real. They burn, their flesh bubbles and falls from the bone. They burn, all the little ones.
Shut up! A ring around the rosie. A pocket full of posie. Why wouldn't it stop? Ashes, ashes they all fall down!
Can you hear them? Pounding on the cellar door. Please, please make it stop. The screams, such sweet music. The screams, like little angels.
The condition is degenerative. It destroys the mind and the body, leaving nothing of the host behind. Why wouldn't they be quiet? It's almost alive. It remembers its victims, and it makes us remember them too.
Can you hear them? Crying to laugh, laughing to cry. Please…just be quiet. They're so happy, crying as they feed. They're so sad, laughing as they burn.
It was so hard…Daddy took a fire axe and hit me in the head…to remember.
It was so hard…Pounding on the cellar door…to blot them out.
It was so hard…Daddy hit me with a fire axe and now I'm dead…to focus.
It was too hard…Their flesh bubbles and falls from the bone…to remember.
It was too hard…"David?"…to blot them out.
It was too hard…How could we have known?...to focus.
It was impossible…Screaming in the cellar…to remember.
It was impos-"David!"
He opened his eyes. Tenenbaum stood above him, concern evident in her pinched features. "Are you alright? You appeared to be having a nightmare."
I wasn't sleeping. "I'm fine Doc, just tired…"
Her eyes softened slightly and she rested a hand on his shoulder. "We're all tired David. Get some rest, you need it."
Smiling slightly, he nodded to the older woman. The last thing they needed was to worry about him. "Yeah, will do Doc."
With a tight lipped smile, Tenenbaum gave him a nod and closed the door.
Loosing an exhausted sigh, David lay back on his bed and closed his eyes. He was David Kristoff. He had a younger brother and an older sister. His father died when he was young and his mother worked herself to the bone to support her children. He was David Kristoff, and he would never forget it…cellar door…
Remember that time David got a metric crap ton of Adam jammed into him? I bet you all thought I forgot about it. A rather Alpha heavy chapter, I know. But her escape had to happen sooner or later and I figured I'd do it in two parts instead of having it take several chapters.
Anyways as always please read and review.