XXXV

Regal Beast

Bright lights blinded them, deprived of their sight they raised their arms in an effort to cover their eyes, with that they were left in a vulnerable position. The first thing that came to mind was an ambush and instinctively Bando brought up the weapon and opened fire but with just one hand he struggled to handle the heavy recoil as the gun kicked in his hands with each shot.

Some of the shots went wide while others found their marks, glass shattered and cracked as the rounds smashed into the lights and their operators, their screams music to his ears. "Sakai open fire dam-!" he shouted but before he could finish the words Sakai already sends down a rapid volley in the direction of where the light had come from.

Between the two of them, they laid down a murderous crossfire, sweeping from left to right, catching anybody that dared to move or leave their cover. Using his last two remaining grenades Sakai fired them each in a separate direction, crates were splintered and men torn to pieces by the explosions. Their dying screams could be heard over the sounds of gunfire.

"Bando! On your left!" Sakai yelled as he dashed forward and slammed into a crate offering him some cover but not before he had yelled to Bando about a few individuals he had spotted moving along the gantry above them.

Crates splintered, drums ruptured, spilling their liquid content across the floor and died men in a torrent of bullets. The crescendo was music to Bando's ears as he killed and killed with every shot, these people were little more than chaff, relying on their sheer numbers to overcome a stronger foe but even here he wondered when he was going to see some real opposition.

"Bring it on you fucks! Come get some!" he roared as he gunned down several people who broke for cover. Next, to him, Sakai advanced as well, gunning down any target of opportunity, this was going to be their last and only chance to make a difference. By inflicting as much damage as they possibly could they hoped that it was going to make those that remained to think twice, by going on the attack they had made sure that the initiative lied with them for the time being. Of course with the hell they were making he expected that thing to come here soon enough, no doubt attracted by all of the noise and commotions.

"Sakai! It's ti-," he lost his footing as a heavy blow to his back took him by surprise, crashing to the ground he could hear the maniacal laughter of a very certain person.

"Glad that you could finally make it mate!" Seventh bellowed as he lashed out at him and delivered a thunderous kick. "You can't believe how excited I am to see your ugly face again, mate. You sure kept me waiting, you magnificent bastard!" He kicked and he kicked, lashing out at every opportunity. "Oh I have simply been waiting for a chance to get back at you, I still owe you for that night!"

His arms in front of him, Bando tried to avoid the worst of the blows but he was taking a beating. Dammit, with his arms being forced to keep blocking there was no chance for him to fight back. That was until Sakai came charging in as he slammed into Seventh, taking the two of them down as both men crashed to the ground.

A loud curse could be heard in a foreign language and Bando smiled knowing that Seventh must have been hit pretty good if he was cursing like that. Guess Sakai was pulling his weight, with a sudden window of opportunity Bando seized the moment as he got back to his feet quickly but it took him a few precious seconds to orientate himself. "Damn you fucking bastard, you got me good there," he spat, a drop of blood falling on the floor.

Just then a barrel was pierced by gunfire, likely it had contained a flammable compound as it burst into flames, flaming pieces were hurled through the air igniting the liquid, possibly fuel or something similar that had been spilled. Men screamed for their lives as they caught fire, the flames consuming their flesh, their cries echoing throughout the room.

To Bando, this was becoming quite the scene alright, yeah this was definitely going to be the big fight of the evening alright. "Now it's my turn, you foreign fuck!" Now he was the one going to exact some payback. "And this time you won't get away!"

Spotting them he could tell that already Sakai was in a lot of trouble, guess it had been too much to hope for. Neither did it came as a surprise that he would struggle against Seventh.

It was rather foolish to think that a member of the police could hold their own against mercenaries or soldiers, such people just knew how to fight and how to fight dirty at it.

"Seventh!" he roared, sounding more like an enraged demon. "I'm coming for you!" Taking a sprint he shoulder charged Seventh just as the man was about to put the finishing blow on Sakai.

From where she was standing Ninth felt the explosion rock the upper areas, even though she was nowhere near it, she did not have a good feeling about this. Explosions within that area posed an enormous risk to the safety of the ship itself. She didn't believe that any idiot would be so stupid as to resort to employing them.

She cursed in her own native language, it was unbelievable, the amount of stupidity she had witnessed from the men onboard this ship. 'These imbeciles will get us all killed. Why did First not see fit to allocate more of our own men instead of these morons?'

Even so, it appeared from the scattered reports that she was receiving that these were the last two of the intruders left and with them, they would have to deal with that issue. She wasn't sure what to make of the last report she had gotten from Seventh but she had become aware that something else besides those two was on board the ship, reports on what it was, however, were scattered and rather crude in their description.

"I will deal with it later, first comes those two. After that, I can see what is left of our remaining forces and deal with this critter. The fools probably just saw an escaped big cat as what she had heard didn't make much sense at all, neither had the ranting and yelling of Seventh done much to convince her otherwise.

She had seen the footage as had everybody else in the room but the picture was hazy as if the camera's had been unable to focus on the object. Even then it had been more than enough to tell that something not quite human was encountered but to its exact details they were ignorant.

'And yet it has not appeared on any of the security systems aboard the ship, none of the cameras have caught it nor did it set of any of the motion sensors we installed.' It was difficult to come up with a proper way of handling the situation, she was more focused on dealing with the threat that was right in front of her at the moment and the one she knew how to handle.

Keeping on moving she heard the sound of gunfire getting louder but it was difficult for her to tell who was gaining the upper hand, it didn't matter, once she was there she would take care of their little intruder problem. With any luck, she might even be able to find some amusement in the process and be able to keep herself entertained for a little while.

"Let's get this over with," she mentioned but it wasn't addressed to the men that had by now gathered near her. Their presence merely annoyed her but she was keen to let them go in first.

"You there! Open this door, now!" she ordered them. She was holding her secondary weapon as her preferred weapon of choice, an FR F2 sniper rifle which was going to be rather useless in such a close quarter brawl, instead, she opted to use an FAMAS G2. In a short range duel it would prove to be far more useful and if it were to come to hand to hand combat then she was confident in her skills with a knife.

"Time to butcher these fuckers," she told herself, smiling at the prospect of combat and to savor the fear of her opponent right before she would drive one of her daggers through their heart.

"Yes, ma'am!" They reacted on instinct, orders that were drilled into them. In a fury of movement, they opened the door and stormed inside, guns blazing as they spotted the enemy and opened fire accordingly. She followed them inside making sure to keep her distance.

'Only a fool would rush into battle, let them go and kill each other. Still, their effort will go to waste, I am going to show them how a real killer performs.' Already she was surveying the area, corpses and chewed up crates littered the place, a fire also seemed to rage.

"Not bad for such a poor lot like yourself, I am impressed," she remarked, feeling a thrill coursing through her body, this was going to be an interesting fight. A sounding burst of gunfire and screams caught her attention, twisting her head she spotted Seventh and another man about to charge him. As much as she hated him it seemed only prudent to introduce herself.

Flinging the weapon across her shoulder she broke into a sprint, gaining speed as she quickened her pace. Dashing forward she grabbed a pole that she spotted lying there, it was going to come in handy. Building up speed, her target clear, she rammed it into the ground catapulting herself into the air.

To Bando, it felt like he got hit by a speeding truck or a freight train, the force of the blow being heavy enough to lose his footing and crash to the ground. Throwing curses as he smacked against the steel grating he already knew that whoever had been dumb enough to tackle him like this was going to royally pay for it, he would make damn sure of that.

Pushing himself back on his feed his vision was blurred for a moment, no doubt from his head being slammed into the floor. This person was so going to pay for it.

"Bonjour, mon cheri, fancy meeting you here." A female voice with a weird accent to her English that he couldn't quite place addressed him. As if he needed that right now, if it had been a woman than he was going to make sure that the bitch was going to regret it, he would not hold back at all, not against her.

As his vision returned he took her in, she was smaller than he would have thought but that didn't make her any less dangerous. The features of her face clearly spoke of a European person which made sense given her accent though he remained oblivious to what nation she came from. "Let me guess, you're another fucking dagger right?! He spat, wiping off some of the blood on his forehead. "When I'm through with you'll wish you had stayed in whatever fucking shithole of a country you came from! Marks my words, you wretch!"

Her head tilted a bit. "Oui, I am called Ninth and tonight you are going to be my kill. Now come and show me what you are capable of boy!"

With clenched teeth and balled fists, he stood there ready to tear her apart and more than willing to give her a fight if she was looking for one. "Bring it on you bitch!"

She seemed to be amused by his choice of words, taking up a more relaxed stance as she gave the impression that she was not in the least intimidated by him, her first mistake as far as he was concerned. "Come on them mon gars, let's us play." She mocked him, faking a kiss.

With a bellow he jumped forward lashing out for her, his fists swinging down in a vicious arc.

In one fell move, she side-stepped outside of his arc, avoiding his cumbersome blows with ease. Those blows of his that did manage to land were blocked followed by a counter attack from her which he in turned blocked as well.

"Keep trying boy! I had been expecting something a little better! Especially with the way that

bâtard odieux has been talking about you! So much for being this great soldier! Hah! I find you to be rather overrated!" She smiled, giving him a quick wink before dropping to her feet, spinning on her axis and sweeping Bando's legs out from underneath him before he even could react. He fell flat on his face, honestly, he wasn't in his element here. His leg aching like hell.

Bando wasn't sure what enraged him more, that the Seventh thought that highly of him or the fact that Ninth was now seriously starting to piss him off. Ah fuck it, both were more than enough reason for him to blow off some steam, and she would suffice as a punching bag. "You're really annoying like Hell you know that!? You talk way too much!"

She nearly danced around him. "What's the matter, boy? Having trouble in doing two things at the same time? I guess that can be expected of men!" As soon as she had spoken the words she lunged forward, twin daggers on her hands. Slashing forward she got ever closer to him.

"Fuck, you're fast!" Bando cursed when a quick strike drew blood, a shallow cut running across his cheek. But in doing so she had made a fatal mistake. He hammered his good leg into her exposed side, groaning as she felt the blow. Still stunned he delivered a thunderous headbutt followed by bringing his knee up to her stomach, she reeled back under the impact.

He roared as he stomped her in the face, her nose broke. "Don't fucking underestimate me again! Ever! Bitch! I'm going to beat the living crap of you! You fucking hear me!"

She cursed, wiping the blood from her face. Screaming in fury as she dashed forward towards him again, daggers raised and poised to strike. Bando kindly obliged as he lunged forward as well catching the first dagger with his right arm, parts snapped off but the dagger was stuck.

"Fuck you bâtard!" she shrieked, kicking his injured leg. Bando groaned, the sting of the pain gripping his entire body but he couldn't give into it now.

"Well fuck you to whore!" Grabbing her other arm in a tight lock, trapping her in place and leaving her open to attack. Hammering his fists repeatedly into her chest he felt something crack under the onslaught. Breaking into a run and dragging her along he slammed her head first into the nearest wall.

"Don't fuck with me boy!" She shrieked as she got back up, blood dripping from her face. "This ends now! Our little game is coming to an end! I have to admit you're tougher than I gave you credit for but I am through with playing games any longer!"

"Likewise," Bando spat as the two of them got within range, trading blows and vicious strikes with each other. Ribs cracked, flesh was ripped and bones snapped under the torrent of blows they were trading. Neither willing to give in they kept beating each other to a pulp. To her, it felt she was climaxing, to him it was a thrill that reminded him that he was alive.

Seventh felt annoyed, Ninth had appeared far too soon for his liking but there was little he could do about it now. "Well mate, seems like I will just need to vent my frustration on you then, isn't that just a shame!" He grinned as he flung Sakai through the air. "Oh well, I guess you will just have to suffice for now though I doubt you'll bring me much sport."

Biting his tongue Sakai watched the man draw closer to him, from where he was lying he could tell that Bando was caught in a vicious fight against the woman, he wasn't going to be able to help him which meant that he needed to fight on his own and hope to stay alive long enough. That wasn't so easy for him but he would be damned if he was going to give up at this point, not after what they had done to his men.

Before he could move men grabbed him from behind and lifted him to his feet. "Too scared to face me on your own!? What are you a fucking coward?! I should expect nothing less from a low life such as you! You're scum! Trash! You hear me-!" He was cut short when he was clubbed over the head by one of the men behind him, figured they would have gone for such a cowardly way to silence him. "So… you even… let them do the dirty work for you… how pathetic…you-."

He nearly screamed when he felt three of his ribs crack under the blow. "… Ah… fuck… you, fucking son of a bitch… fuck that hurts…!" he cursed, gritting his teeth in order to bite back on some of the pain. Dammit that hurt and it sure knocked the fight out of him, his body going numb. Well given what he had been through it didn't come as a surprise, he was tired. More to the point he was exhausted, he wasn't a field operative and he sure as hell had been through the rigorous training that one could expect from the likes of Bando or that woman.

From the corner of his eye he could see that Bando was still locked in a desperate combat with the woman, even though the woman didn't seem to be in the best of shapes anymore he wondered if Bando could last like this. Even somebody like him had to have a limit to what they could endure, he was impressed by it and the professionalism that Bando radiated. There before him stood a man filled with a purpose, a determination, to survive against all odds.

No, he wasn't like them at all, he was just a man merely doing his duty, that was all there was to it. The next thing he knew Seventh approached him again and punched him in the stomach.

"Not so full of yourself are you now mate, you have a big mouth and I certainly don't like that from little pencil pushers such as you. At least that bastard friend of yours knows how to put up a fight, you're just a piece of shit not even worth stepping on." The face of Seventh was almost next to his and it reminded Sakai why he loathed these people, such arrogance, and boasting coming from a person who felt that the law was something to wipe his boots with.

He had to chuckle thinking about it. "… As if you're so brave…?!" he spat, directly in Seventh's face. "… I saw… you run… when that thing came… you ran… and let others die… I ran too… but I sure as hell… didn't abandon my people… you did… you're the coward…"

The head of the man next to him literally exploded, showering Sakai and those near to him with pieces of bloody cranial matter.

"Hold your fucking fire!" Seventh screamed in anger, firing off a warning shot in the air. "Whoever was the fucking moron to have opened fire?! Fucking answer me?! Who did this?!"

He got his answer when the man closest to him was nailed to the ground, his body pierced by several unknown objects, his body collapsing like a meaty ragdoll. Everybody within the room heard the hissing coming from somewhere above and they all knew instinctively what it meant.

Swallowing down Sakai offered a prayer as he looked at it. "It's here, God help us all."

Experiencing the same kind of the reaction all the others present in the room had, Ninth stared as well in utter disbelief at the creature that moved across the ceiling right before it dropped to the floor. Before it had even touched the metal floor several men died, sliced to pieces by its vicious tail in an instant.

With a loud metal clang, its four claws impacted against the steel grating as it threw its head back and roared, her instincts kicking in she took a cautious step backward.

"I don't believe it, that bâtard was actually telling the truth. How…?" She found it hard to believe that such a creature could simply exist and if it hadn't for it standing there right in front of her own eyes she would have considered it to be a mere fantasy, an excuse made up by Seventh.

Her attention was no longer focused on either the men, their captive, Seventh or the bastard that she had been fighting until moments ago. By instinct, she understood that this represented the greatest threat right now and she was going to need to act accordingly. Its eyeless head turned from left to right as if it was sizing its opponents, for some unexplainable reason she got the impression that this creature in front of her was smarter than it looked, a lot smarter.

Bando was less intimidated by its sudden presence, he kind of had been hoping that with the commotion that he and Sakai had been making that it was going to be attracted to them at some point. It had arrived sooner than he had expected but that meant he just needed to get himself into position before he could enact the plan that he had been working on. It was improvised, poorly thought out, very risky and a low chance of success but it was the only option in his mind; it was going to be their escape.

Sakai had called it outright insane when he had suggested it the first time but right now even he would have to admit that their choice of options was running rather low. All he had to do was to make sure that somebody lost their nerves, he just needed to provoke the right idiot.

"Not so full of yourself anymore now are you bitch!" He taunted her, seeing if she was as vain as he had gotten the impression.

Ninth frowned at hearing the insult but she kept her composure, she was a professionally trained soldier, she had endured countless psychological tests. As a mercenary, she had seen countless ways for lesser trained men to be goaded. Her lips curled back in irritation but that was all she did, it was clever but not clever enough against her. "L'imbecile, you honestly believe that such a foolish taunt would be able to goad me? You are so naïve," she hissed.

"And you're going to be death soon bitch. You've already fallen for it."

It was only then that she noticed the flash bang rolling across the floor towards her, dammit she had been tricked, it had never been his goal to goad her into making a move but to distract her. About to break her stance the flash bang went off, blindly and disorienting those people who were closest to it but that hadn't been its intended goal, no that came when in their confusion the afflicted men opened fire blindly.

With a sadistic sense of satisfaction, Bando grinned as he heard the first bursts of gunfire, naturally they went wide but it had the desired effect he had been after. Letting out a roar it didn't falter in its retaliation, men were scythed down by the two's and three's with each swing of its bladed tail. Seizing the chance he dropped one of the smoke grenades as he broke cover and headed over to pick up Sakai, firing as he ran he took down those men left off.

Ramming his elbow in the nearest man's face he roared in triumph as the man slumped to the ground, clutching his face with his hands. Bando didn't pay any heed to him any longer.

Behind him he could hear the screams of terrified men dying, the sounds of flesh being ripped, bones being crushed, bodies being violently torn apart, and lives being ended in a brutal manner echoed through his mind, he was the one that had started this hell.

Damaged pipes ruptured, their contents spilling into the room, vast clouds of vapor and steam beginning to obscure his vision, well what a stroke of luck that was going to be. The occasional flashes of gunfire burst through the growing cloud as was the monstrous form that rampaged within, no doubt the cloud was as much of a benefit to it as it was to him right now.

Unfortunately, he needed to go through it in order to find Sakai who had been on the other side of the room and if that bastard had managed to get himself killed then Bando was sure to make him pay for that stupidity. An incandescent beam of energy streaked past him, even though it missed him by a good meter or two, he still felt the skin on his face blister from the heat dissipating from it, the entire cloud lit up like a thundercloud and for a brief moment he thought he heard the screams of men being engulfed, a few seconds later the unmistaken stench of charred human flesh could be smelled throughout the room.

"Ah I'll never get used to that, that is just disgusting." He was used to it but somehow he didn't find the smell of burned human flesh to be all that appealing. Briefly, he wondered how many people had already died in those precious short moments, likely far more than he could care for.

"Sakai! We are leaving!" he yelled at the top of his lungs before he pulled the trigger and downed those men who got a bit too cocky for their own good. "This place is going to fucking Hell! And we are not staying! We're getting the fuck out of here!"

A heavy clang was heard followed by a high pitched scream, Bando recognized the voice as belonging to Sakai, it wasn't good, it definitely wasn't. He feared for what he was going to find but the continuing screaming gave him hope that Sakai was still alive though he didn't dare to imagine what kind of state he would be in. Well, at least he was rid of both Seventh and Ninth for the moment.

"Sakai where the fuck are you?!" he shouted though he knew that getting a reply wasn't going to come, he just had to home in on the screaming and pray that he got there in time. More screams could be heard but he felt certain that they belonged to other people, they weren't important so he dismissed them. Dashing forward he saw a man, still alive but desperately trying to reach for his severed legs, the man was as good as dead as he was going to die because of blood loss. A severed upper torso greeted him, the eyes still frozen in a look of utter horror and fear.

Gunshots, explosions, screeches and the heavy footsteps of something large moving through the haze could be heard all around him, it felt like another world even though it was his kind of world. A world ruled by fear and death.

Amongst the torn and deformed bodies he finally found Sakai but as he approached him he could already tell that what he had feared had happened, the thing had managed to get him and pretty good at that as well. "Fuck," he cursed underneath his breath as he squatted down.

"Hell, you look like shit," Bando uttered as he caught sight of the man's right leg or rather what was left of it. "Oh man, Sakai. This is pretty fucked up." The leg was utterly crushed, little more that pieces of blood-drenched skin, nothing was left of the bones or muscles, there was no way that the man was ever going to be able to walk again.

Sakai rebuked to that. "As if you look any better, you're still the same goddamn ugly bastard. Now shut up and get me out of here! I'm not in the mood for any fucking games right now! do you even have the faintest idea how much this fucking hurts?!"

Grabbing Sakai and lifting him up. "Alright then, let's get your sorry ass out of here!" Bando did his best to move steadily but he did want to keep up a good speed, with that kind of wound it was obvious that Sakai was going to be in need of urgent medical care, time was now running against them though Bando feared that it was already too late.

Unbuckling his own belt he wrapped around the remaining stump of Sakai's leg and pulled it as tight as he could, hopefully, it was going to be enough to give him some more time. "Hold on you asshole, fucking try and die on me and I will drag your sorry ass back from Hell!"

"I'm really not in the mood… for any poor jokes… Bando, you know what to do… oh fuck…" Sakai breathed in return, his voice already sounding weak as he face became pale.

"Don't even dare to talk back to me like that you pencil pushing piece of shit! I'm not going to drag your worthless ass across this ship just so you can die in comfort!" Hopefully, if he kept Sakai angry enough he would be able to pull through, survival was mostly about the person's mentality rather than getting quick help.

Seventh barely was able to pull back, narrowly avoiding a vicious sweep of the tail that would have certainly taken his head off along with the rest of his upper body, well this had certainly turned into a Godawful mess alright, he had to hand it to Bando for being able to make a mess on such a grand scale, it was almost impressive if it wasn't also going to get him killed. The man seemed to have an almost uncanny talent for creating this kind of havoc, it was very admirable but that could wait for another time, right now he had to make sure that he got out of this shithole.

"You made a splendid mess there, mate. Now to make sure that I don't die while being stuck in the middle of it," he told himself, doing his best to maneuver to a more safer location, right now he was at much risk of getting sliced or torn to pieces as he was getting shot by the few remaining survivors, neither did bode well for his survival. "A fuck, I'm leaving this place."

Using as much of the cover as he could he kept and hopefully out of sight, sure there was a thick fog that still engulfed most of the room but he wasn't planning on taking his chances to think that it wasn't going to notice him. Predatory animals always possessed far better senses than humans did and this thing was certainly an apex predator on a totally different scale.

His hand touching down on something wet and sticky he looked down, all the years working as a mercenary had shown his all sorts of injuries that a person could sustain, he was no stranger to horribly mangled bodies or severed limbs. It might have been a leg at some point but now it had been crushed into a red sticky paste, rendering it barely recognizable, he could well imagine that it likely would hurt like shit right now, briefly he even wondered who the unfortunate soul had been that it could have belonged to?

"Ah well, the rotten bastard is likely dead by now." He pushed it aside as he kept going further, horrified screams and other noises that he rather did not want to hear again going off somewhere in the distance. He was used to the sounds of war but somehow this was more different and unsettling to him, this thing brought up the worst in him.

"As if I am going to let myself get fucking killed here! Not in this bloody shithole!" He hadn't heard or seen anything of Ninth ever since the flashbang had gone off, by the time his eyes had recovered the fog had already grown to such an extent that he couldn't see a thing anymore. He could care less about what happened to her, with luck she was already dead; torn apart by that abomination that was running loose.

The entire cloud of fog and the room lit up in a bright blue haze right before the air itself seemed to split apart with a sharp crack, it was a sight that he wasn't going to forget, as the fog briefly parted he could actually see a visage that more resembled that of a slaughterhouse, men screamed right before their cries were drowned out by the noise of something that more resembled an avalanche, their bodies enveloped by a hellish blue flames which burned the flesh of their bones, leaving nothing but corpses that crumbled into dust "Holy shit, what the fuck just happened…?"

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his hand resting on the lock of the door that would lead him to safety when he noticed it. It wasn't good, the sight, the smell and worst of all there was the sudden deadly silence; nothing could be heard. No screams of men dying, the barking of gunfire and the others noises that accompanied a battle.

But there was only one other sound and it terrified him, a low, deep, growl that slowly drifted towards him. "Ah… fuck… me…" As he slowly turned around, he saw it, standing there as the fog started to lift. Its featureless head staring directly at him, the jaw opening slowly, displaying their fearsome array of jagged fangs. "Oh fuck… oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, just fuck!"

It was a good ten maybe fifteen meters away from him, a distance that he knew any predatory animal could cross in less than a second or two. He was right next to the door but he doubted that he could unlock it, open it and slam it shut the moment he was through before it would reach him and tear him to pieces. His muscles tensed, he knew that he wasn't going to make it, that he was going to die miserably here on his own. It wasn't the kind of fate that he had always envisaged for himself.

A loud shot caught both his attention and that of the great beast, a single brave man that had survived the carnage had fired his gun. The air cracked with the gunshot, the bullet bounced off the armored hide harmlessly and before the man even had the opportunity to react he was cleaved in half, from head to groin, in a single powerful downwards strike of its tail. The door was slammed shut, Seventh offered a quick prayer that the man had been foolish enough to open fire, if it had been him he would have feigned death and let the other person rot.

Well, it had bought him the precious seconds he needed but just as he was to lock it he was flung back when a violent blow impacted against the door, lifting it from its hinges and slamming it into him. A burning pain shot up his arm and shoulder, reaching for it, Seventh knew that it was broken. "Fuck! Damn piece of shit!" he cursed and ranted.

But there was little time left as its monstrous head appeared through the opening, although it was too small for it to move the rest of its body through it nevertheless meant that he needed to get away from it and fast. Yanking a grenade from his chest he pulled out the pin and tossed it towards the opening before legging it as fast as he could, following the trail of blood.

Their walk was going painfully slow, with having to carry Sakai Bando simply couldn't go as fast as he wanted to and right now the quicker they got to one of the exits the better. He still didn't have an idea how much longer those bastards were going to be able to keep that thing entertained, somewhere in the far distance or at least he hoped it was he thought to make out the distinct sound of an explosion. "How are you holding out?"

Sakai coughed, his face starting to become paler by the minute. It wasn't a good sign and Bando feared that the man had already lost too much blood. "… I'm fine… given the circumstances… but damn… what a night… what a Hell of a horrible night… I fear… it is all over… my department… my career… and… even my… life…"

Bando squeezed his shoulder in anger, forcing a painful groan from Sakai. "Don't talk shit like that, now fucking pull yourself together!" Dammit, he was never going to make it in time like this, even if they reached the car in time it was still going to take a while to get Sakai to a hospital. Crucial time that the man likely no longer had available to him and Sakai seemed to know it as well as he gestured for Bando to stop.

"… I'm responsible… for so many… deaths… all… because of me… I won't let you… become another one… Bando… you fucking bastard… leave me here… go on without me… I am... only slowing you down… without me… you will make it… now put me down…" He coughed, his body was already starting to lose its strength, he felt so tired right now.

"My men… Kanzaki… they all had families… loved ones… do you… have anybody… you love… somebody… you care about? Be honest… let me… this for you… to let you go back… to them… least I can do…"

Pausing for a moment Sakai found it hard to even swallow, his throat was feeling so dry right now. "… This way neither of us… will get off this ship… at least… by doing this… I can ensure… that you can… somebody… needs to tell… what happened here… warn people… about… them… about…it…"

Bando wanted to make a retort, anything to make Sakai change his mind but he couldn't, he knew that Sakai was living on borrowed time now and that he himself was aware of it as well. He wasn't going to make it in time. He felt in doubt about letting him stay here. "You know just as well as I do what's going to come through here right? You won't stand a chance against it, not on your own! What are you hoping to achieve by making such a futile last stand?! You can't kill it!"

Sakai could do little but to crack a smile. "… You're right… I can't kill it… but I can… keep it busy… stall for time… now… put… me… the… fuck…down… Bando," he let out a deep sigh and finally, Bando gave in to his request gently letting him down until he could rest his back against the wall.

Sakai spoke with what seemed to be the last of the strength that he could still muster. "I have never taken a liking to you Bando, I hated you then and I still have enough reason to hate your gut right now. But at least I have always felt a certain respect for you…" His face contorted in response to his body being gripped with pain the moment dared he to shift his weight.

"Sakai I do-." Leaning in closer Bando jumped back as a bullet grazed his shoulder, drawing blood, turning around he saw the figure of Seventh appearing from around the corner, a smoking gun held in his hand.

"Sorry to interrupt your little tear-jerking moment mate but I am kind of in a hurry, mate. Got something real nasty on my tail." Barely had the man said the words or they could all hear the roar coming from somewhere in the distance. "See what I mean, now move aside. I don't want to waste any more of my time, I want to keep the lead I have on it."

A second screech could be heard and this one seemed to be closer, it was clear as to why it was. A heavy thud could be heard, growing in intensity, the creature's heavy thread undeniable. One might be left with the impression that it wanted its prey to know that it was coming, the heavy footfalls drawing ever closer to them.

"… Bando… he's right… you don't… have... any time left… to waste on me… go now… and give me your damn rifle… I'll hold it off… buy you time… hurry now go…! Go…!" He gestured for his compatriot to get moving, there was no more time left. Unless Bando ran away now Sakai wasn't even sure if he could buy them enough time.

Reluctantly Bando handed him the rifle and whatever ammo he still had left for the weapon before rested his hand on Sakai's shoulder. "Make em count. For the record, I never gave a shit about you Sakai but at least you've shown to know what's right. I'll let people know what happened here."

Much to his surprise Seventh kneeled down as well next to Sakai and handed him a round shaped object, upon closer look as Sakai held it in his hand Bando noticed that it was a grenade. If it hadn't been for an immediate explanation from Seventh his gun would have already been in his hand, still, it wasn't a gesture of malice but one of mercy.

"Something to make it end quick, a better way to die than to be torn apart, mate," Seventh remarked as he threw a glance over his shoulder. "Still I'd personally take a bullet but hey it's your decision, I couldn't give a shit what you do with it, try not to waste it though."

Bando wasn't certain what to make of it but it seemed that Sakai accepted it, well as long as the injured man had peace with it Bando would let it slide, there wasn't any point in arguing about it. "Don't worry, I won't… end up… like Kanzaki…"

A low growl could be heard drifting towards them, this one sounded much closer than the previous one, far too close for their comfort, looking towards the corner that Seventh had only moments before emerged from came the massive shape of its armored head. Noticing them it threw its head back, jaws wide and roared.

"Mate, I think that's our fucking cue!" Seventh didn't waste any more time as he brushed Bando aside and ran past them as fast as his legs could carry him. "Take my advice, run like Hell! Forget the fucking bastard! But hey, you can stay and die for all I care."

"Bando!... You heard him! …Go… just go… don't look back… asshole…!" Pushing Bando aside with what remained of his strength he pulled the arming slide on the assault rifle and opened fire, the bullets stitching a path towards the creature as it now worked its way towards him using its bulk and raw power to smash its way through the narrow confines of the corridor, bulkheads were simply crushed as it smashed its way through.

Sakai didn't know where he found the courage to keep firing, if he still had his leg would he have run at this point? Would he still have found the strength to stand his ground and give his life so that somebody else might be able to survive this? 'Good luck Bando, tell your loved ones how you feel about them, you might never get a chance again." Sakai didn't know why but that thought ran through his mind as in a gesture of defiance he slammed in the second magazine and poured more fire into the approaching nightmare, daring for it to come at him, hoping that he could make it focus on him. With steam hissing from between its jaws, it approached him, those rounds that did manage to hit it simply bounced off its thick armored hide.

'Like Hell, I'm going to let you kill one more person you beast! No more people will fall victim to you this night! Go back to the infernal abyss from which you came!' Eventually, the hammer struck on his gun, he was out of bullets. Well, that wasn't really much of a surprise at this point, with a twisted sense of delight he saw that it was coming for him, not paying any more attention to where Bando had run off too. 'Yeah, you just come here. Got one last surprise for you. I'll make you pay for what you did to Kanzaki.'

The floor in front of him cracked as one of its claws slammed down and then it suddenly stopped in its tracks, its head moved away from him, staring in the direction that the others had left and Sakai was left with another dreadful sense that it was intelligent.

It was so close to him that he could take in every detail of its horrifying appearance, nothing about it spoke of having a right to even exist, it did not come from this world and it didn't belong in it either. This close to the great beast it dawned on him at how truly massive it was, it simply towered over him and Sakai guessed that if he could stand upright it would still be able to look down on him. It simply dwarfed the corridor they were in at the moment, in a strange way it was also an imposing, if not terrifying, sight to behold.

"Come on then you beast, come on! Do it! Do it! Kill me! I'm here, kill me!"

A clawed foot came down next to him, looking up he saw much to his horror that it was ignoring him though its head reared back and stared at him as if it was contemplating at granting him his wish, its eyeless visage was even more terrifying that he could have imagined, yet it also betrayed a monstrous intelligence at work. And then it took another step over him, its head turning away from him, fully ignoring him, as if it had decided that the injured human in front of it wasn't worth wasting any more of its time on.

"NO! KILL ME! I'M HERE! YOU MONSTER! KILL ME! DO IT! DO IT NOW!" He screamed to the point of being hoarse, he didn't know where he found the strength to do but what strength remained to him he used to deliver a kick against its rear leg in an attempt to catch its attention. "KILL ME! KILL ME! DO IT!"

Another kick finally seemed to get the desired effect and in response to his frantic attempts, it turned back towards him, its jaws coming awfully close as the monstrous head drew close to him. And then it just halted and just kept staring at him, which was made all the more unnerving as there were no eyes. "THAT'S RIGHT! I'M HERE! KILL ME!"

It was so close now that Sakai merely had to lift his head forward that he could touch it, well it was close enough for what he had been planning on. Seeing the details of its head a person could easily be led to believe that it was blind and yet the way the head moved made it clear that it was all too aware of its immediate surroundings. Gently moving his hand he did his best to prevent it from noticing what he was attempting to do, reaching for the grenade he never took his eyes of the great beast in front of him.

'Calm yourself, Sakai, dammit you're losing it,' he told himself as he began to notice his body starting to tremble, either he was getting scared or the loss of blood was starting to take its effect on him. Well it was not that he could be blamed for either of those, he didn't want to die, he had a family and more than anything he wanted to go home and see them, even if it would just be one more time he would give anything to get to see his family one more time. He could feel the tears welling up, right before ran down his cheek, this was going to be it for him, to die here, never to see them ever again. He just prayed that Bando would keep them safe from harm, it was his last bit of comfort. 'Look after them for me Bando, keep them safe, don't let these people get to them, that's all I'm asking of you, a lost favor of sorts. Just look at me, how pathetic I must look, maybe I'm even too pathetic looking for this thing to kill me.'

That notion was violently torn apart as it threw back its head all of a sudden, the tip of its scythed tail coming into sight, the edges of them still glistering from the blood of its previous victims. It roared as it lashed out at him.

Sakai didn't blink. "… Fuck you…!" he shouted as he pulled the pin. The subsequent explosion engulfing them both in flames as it tore the corridor apart.

Having reached the end of her strength Ninth slumped against the wall, exhausted and out of breath she needed a moment to rest and regain some of her strength. Other than a few scratches she had come out of that at the hold mess relatively unscathed which surprised her to be honest. "Guess it must be my lucky day today, shame that everything else has gone astray. I need to save from the situation what I still can. First won't accept failure, he will be furious if he finds out we messed up, especially after what happened before. Can't believe my bad luck."

In many ways the ship was lost, it's actual purpose had been discovered and it was even possible that their location had already been reported. She couldn't afford to take that risk, pulling out her radio she contacted the bridge and barked her orders towards the captain and the crew on the bridge. "This is Ninth! Get us out of the harbor this instant and prepare the demolition charges! We are going to scuttle the ship when we reach deep water." Her voice was loud, she wanted to get the point through. What mattered the most right now was to evacuate their remaining forces from this ship and scuttle it, destroying the evidence in the process. "Do it now! Or I will come up there and kill you all!"

Even going so far as to threaten the crew, they needed to do this now and get it done right, perhaps it was better if she went up there and showed these men who they really needed to fear more. That said she would also need to get to the radio room and send a message to First and inform him of the situation as well as arrange for the evacuation of all personnel and any equipment that was deemed vital, anything else would be left to sink along with the ship, in a way it was also offered them a way to dispose of those subjects that had been rejected. They would have been disposed of at some point anyway, this was going to save them time and if their bodies were going to end up on the bottom of the ocean then they wouldn't have to worry about anybody ever finding the corpses. A handful of lives meant nothing to her.

But this ship represented a significant financial investment and their contractors weren't going to be pleased with it at all when they would find out what had happened to it but then it seemed better to cut their losses and deal with the loss of a mere ship than have other parties learn of the truth. Besides their contractors could always commission a new ship to be converted, it would only be a mere delay of their operations.

What mattered the most at the moment was to get out of the harbor and set sail for deeper waters and preferably international waters with all due haste, lest they be stopped in their tracks before they could make their escape. That was where her priorities lied at the moment, loss of lives was meaningless, equipment could be replaced and they were anything but short on subjects, vagrant children were anything but rare in certain parts of the world, millions of them in fact, they could always acquire new ones elsewhere.

"But ma'am we still do not have the proper clearance for us to depart, if we are to leave all of a sudden we will be sure to attract attention." She could hear the captain objecting to her orders, obviously not aware of the situation that was deteriorating at an alarming pace down here. It was simply frustrating how these people kept being an annoyance and even though she shouldn't blame them as they were only doing their work her patience had reached the end of its limit

"I said now you l'imbecile! How hard is that to understand for you?! If I need to come on over towards the bridge I will kill you and you entire worthless crew! Now you have you damn orders, carry them out at once!" she snapped at him, turning off the radio, she looked back in which direction she needed to go to, going the bridge was going to be a long walk.

"If I see that fucker Seventh, I am going to butcher him, to think that bâtard odieux allowed for this mess to happen. Still, he is going to have a lot to answer for to First, I doubt that he will be able to walk away from this one. He had better make sure that he can finish off the last two of the intruders, it would be bad for us if any witnesses were to be able to get away."

Pushing such thoughts to the back of her mind she clicked her tongue when somewhere in the distance she heard the muffled sound of an explosion, briefly she wondered if that fool of a Seventh was allowing for more problems to take place. Shaking her head in utter disgust she made a mental note to herself that after this assignment she was never going to work alongside her colleague, next time she would ask for Fourth or possibly Sixth.

Still, along with the irritation, there was also a sense of excitement, briefly, she asked herself where this sudden sensation came from. Her answer came as quickly as she had raised the question to herself, it had to be the man who Seventh had referred to as Bando, he certainly had proven himself to be a competent fighter and one who was not shy of employing a few dirty tricks of his own in order to set a situation to his own hand.

"That was quite impressive, mon cheri, very impressive," she remarked as she licked her lips, a tingling sensation coursing through her body as she enjoyed the possible prospect of getting to face him once more. That was of course if he would survive today, silently she wished that he did because she wanted to savor the pleasure of killing him all for herself, the be able to see the fear in his eyes right before she would plunge her dagger into his heart.

Continuing her pace she eventually found herself admitting that today might not have been such a bad day, after all, she now had something else to be looking forward to, with that knowledge a sadistic smile began to emerge on her face.

In the distance Bando could hear the explosion, he had never liked the man or cared all that much about him but somewhere inside he truly felt sorry for Sakai. The man had given his life so that somebody else could live on, it was a noble gesture and one that he felt was wasted on a selfish bastard like him. There was nothing he could do about it anymore, the man had made up his mind and accepted the outcome with a clear conscious, he hadn't heard any signs from the beast anymore and although he knew that to keep on moving was going to be his only chance he also wanted to go back and see if it was truly dead.

Just in front of him was Seventh still keeping at it with a murderous pace, the mercenary clearly had a good condition and plenty of stamina. Both were excellent qualities in a soldier and Bando admired that, regardless of the man's twisted loyalty and without a doubt the fact that the man was going to try and stab him the moment Bando were to turn his back on him. Still right now the both of them had the same goal in mind, the put as much distance between themselves and the beast that was haunting them, both of them were also painfully aware that working together was going to increase their chances of making it out alive, which had led to a somewhat uneasy but acceptable truce between the two of them.

He figured they weren't going to be that lucky, not with a mere grenade though it had been a surprisingly powerful one he had noticed, guess it was one of those special pieces of equipment that international mercenaries would get their hands on, that or it had been heavily modified. Sakai had bought him so time at the cost of his own life, it would be a grave insult to the man's sacrifice if Bando were to squander it, standing here needlessly wasn't going to help him get off the ship.

Earlier he thought he had felt a tremor run across the ship, he had barely noticed it until a thought surfaced to the front of his mind, the idea being that the ship was about to cast off, a move that in his own words were suicidal, they were going to be trapped with that thing on the open sea. It that were to happen there was going to be no chance for him to ever make it. back alive, with his injuries, he had his doubts on whether or not he would last for long.

"Well, I guess that means Ninth is still alive, fuck that," Seventh cursed as the realization of the sudden order brought him to realize that Ninth was still alive. "Well, that definitely complicates the matter a little don't you think, mate? I guess I'm not left with any choice now."

Strangely Bando found himself agreeing with the man as unless there was going to be another way to get off the ship he wasn't left with much time and the last thing that he was looking forward to right now was to be stuck on the sea with these maniacs and that thing.

As they approached what appeared to be an upper junction Bando noticed signs that told him that he was getting close to the upper deck. All he had to do now was to deal with Seventh quickly, after that he reasoned that nothing would stand between him and almost walk off the ship as what was left of the ship's crew would be too busy with the preparations for the departure or with handling the beast.

"Not so fast there, mate!" The sound of a gun being cocked alerted Bando, turning around he found himself staring into a loaded muzzle aimed for his head, it was a double-cross. Seventh was planning to kill him off here and then escape.

"Nothing personal of course but this is about survival, plain and simple. You and I both know that little blast won't have killed off the beast and I can imagine that it's pretty pissed by now! Ah, but don't worry, I won't kill you if you worry about that. No, I'm just going to put a bullet through both of your legs and let it take care of you."

As if, Bando wasn't impressed in the least, nor was he surprised about it as he had been planning on doing something similar. To be honest he was actually rather annoyed that Seventh even thought that such a shit for brains plan was even going to work, did that idiot really think that Bando was that naïve to fall into such an obvious trap.

"You're pretty fucking daft if you really think that that is going to work. Fuck, punk you're pretty damn stupid," Bando said in his disappointment as he clicked his tongue. "I should just wring your worthless neck just for that bullshit and be done with it! Fucking moron."

Then on cue somewhere behind them, they could hear it screech, sure enough, that it was not killed by the blast did not come as a surprise to either of them, and much as Seventh had said before it was going to be really pissed by now.

"Punk, I'm going to smash that fucking dumb look of your stupid face!" Bando spat as he hammered his fist right into the face of Seventh when the man wasn't looking, the distraction of the screech had made him lose focus for just a fraction of a second but it was all that Bando needed to make him shut up. "You deserve worse but I'm kinda in a hurry. Next time I see your sorry ass, I'll fuck you up good, punk!"

He set off, spurred on by the promise of getting off this shit, besides he wasn't in any shape to continue getting into a brawl with Seventh, that would be just suicide. He heard another scream but he didn't know if it came from behind or from somewhere else, the damn thing wasn't cutting him any slack for that matter. It was still following him with a certain dogged determination, yeah it wasn't going to give up that easy on him.

It scared him to a degree, honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he had been this scared. Had it been during his first clash with the horned bitch that had mutilated his body? That was a long time ago, still, this felt different and yet so hauntingly familiar, a chilling experience.

"Fucking beast, just where the fuck are you lurking. I know you're not hiding, no you're too fucking smart for that. You're waiting for me to make the mistake…"

Pushing on he headed in the direction given by the sign, it was not far now but just as he placed his left foot on the stairs leading upwards the ship was rocked violently, thrown off his feet he landed hard on his back. "Fuck was that?!" He spat as he rolled over. "The fuck is going on here?!" Shouting as another tug threw him from left to right, he didn't know what the hell was going on but he did know that it wasn't normal for a ship and as he heard everything starting to groan under the strain he became aware that something was wrong.

Had Sakai's men actually managed to damage certain sections of the ship or had the beast been responsible for this as well? The thought of that scared him, if so it was even smarter than he had initially given it credit for, it also meant that he needed to be more cautious.

"So, this is how it is going to end," he remarked as he struggled to get up, damn he was starting to feel bad but as he gazed down and had a good look at himself he wasn't surprised, with the adrenaline still raging through his body he hadn't even been aware of all of the injuries he had sustained thus far. "Fuck, this shit is just messed up. I can't die here, not now. I still have something left to do, I need to tell people what happened here, let them know."

Climbing back up the stairs every step he took seemed to send a surge of pain through his legs, his body protested against every move he made, guess the rush of adrenaline was finally starting to wear off, that wasn't good he told himself. Finally reaching the hatch he found it hard to open it, that was until a he felt a sharp pain smash into his back as he was flung through the air, barely noticeable over the sound of breaking glass and mangled steel he heard it emit a low growl. "Oh fuck, clever thing."

It had been waiting for him, it had set an ambush, and he had stepped right into it. With a smack, he landed on the upper deck, the sudden feeling of cold steel and rain pressing against his broken body. As he coughed he recognized the foul taste of iron in his mouth, it was blood, his own blood.

Struggling to get on his knees he felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest as every rib cracked when he was smashed violently against the deck by the tail, his lungs stung, they felt like they were on fire, a burning pain that flared up every time he tried to draw breath. It got him good.

Rolling over he saw it looming over him, even in this kind of weather he clearly saw it's horrifying visage made all the worse by the storm that was starting to rage outside. He didn't know why he did it, he didn't even remember doing it but the next thing he knew was the sound of his right arm being crushed underneath one of its massive claws. The last thing he caught a glimpse of where its jaws that came rushing towards him, surprisingly he felt rather calm about the whole situation, this was going to be it for him. Right before his world turned black he clearly heard the unmistakable sound of bones being crushed.

Author's note: there it is folks, latest chapter for you all to enjoy. Spring has also come and if like me you also suffer from hayfever you can likely understand just why I don't really like the start of spring when the air is filled with so many pollen, yeah, there's nothing more enjoyable than to spend the early spring than having to spend it with puffy eyes and sneezing all freaking day long. I'll be stocking up on extra tissues, pills, and such.

Ah well, it'll be over soon enough, then we can at least get to enjoy spring normally. Provided of course that the weather isn't going to screw us over otherwise I can start pinning a date for the first BBQ of the year and that is very important, ah the smell of charcoal in the evening while enjoying a good talk with friends, some fancy music on the background, and best of all lots and lots of meat.

But I also have a little less good news, I don't know exactly when the next chapter will be posted, there's a bit too much happening in my personal life. Chief one being the fact that my father, who's well into his sixties, has been diagnosed with a tumor at the back of his mouth, now while this type of tumor, called an ameloblastoma, is rather benign in that it doesn't spread to other parts of the body and progresses slowly it also doesn't react to either chemo or radiation so the only way to remove this is through surgery, it's either that or it's left as it is and it will continue to grow until my father basically suffocates which is not an option, one that we were will take up to 10 hours due to the size of the tumor.

What my father has is one the size of an orange, filling up the cavities behind the nose which also means that for the surgery half his face needs to be opened in order for the surgeons to get anywhere near the damn thing, another issue is that the tumor is situated dangerously close to several arteries and the surgeon in charge has informed us that there is a potential risk that he might die during the procedure though fortunately, the risk of that happening is rather small. The surgery is planned to happen at the end of April or possibly early May, suffice to say that my mind isn't that occupied with editing and writing so progress will be a bit slower than usual though I still want to try and get the next chapter out before the end of the month.

Okay, enough of my ramblings, have a good week, enjoy spring, and I'll be seeing you all again soon.