The Mentiarga signaled its return with furious screech echoing through the vents, emerging from whatever depth it had fled from. The sound drove fear into every corner of the freezing building, Everest and Dwayne stopping tense as the call washed over them. The lounge itself was swaying from the damage, the destructive water damage having fractured its integrity beyond what was considered stable. The dogs could hear it as they moved; the drawn-out groaning of bending wood and metal that eerily warned of what was coming.
"This place is coming down." Everest looked around the water-frozen corridor, her sparkling fur tense on end. "Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it fast!"
Dwayne ran ahead, dragging the fire extinguisher in his teeth. His teeth ached from the heavy instrument, but the slippery floor was a blessing in disguise to help him drag it. "Just get to your rig, as fast as you can. What's the best place I can set this off?"
"Any of the far hallways, that's your best shot." Everest said, following him. "Do you have a way to ignite that thing?"
"I'll... think of something." The Dane waved off, trying to mask his unease. The uncertainty of the plan was making him increasingly anxious. She did have a point, how in the world was he going ignite a full metal extinguisher? He'd find something, he had to find something. Everything was riding on the plan.
Crossing over the ice that carved along the floor, they appeared from the north hallway back into the lobby. The room was completely unrecognizable since the water pipes burst, gone was all semblance of Everest's once-home, now shredded and wasted into a winter wasteland. Looming icicles were hanging from the ceiling, threatening to drop on unlucky passersby. The stairs had collapsed entirely, weakened from the water damage until they couldn't take it anymore, crumbling into icy debris and forever barring access to the upstairs. Everest frowned knowing she wouldn't be able to retrieve her things from her room, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
"Through there," she pointed her paw at the front doors across the lobby. Its glass panes were frosted over, some broken entirely for the blizzard to seep in. "My rig should be just a few feet out, so if I can-"
The sound of pounding sheet metal cut her sentence, the lobby's ceiling vent creaking with winter air. The ducts swayed above the room, causing some of the icicles to dislodge and crash to the floor. Face tensing with horror, Everest grabbed Dwayne's arm and pulled him to the only possible thing they could hide behind: The front desk. They huddled with terrified shivers behind it, flattening themselves as much as they could. It was the worst hiding spot in the entire lounge, as anyone could just walk behind it and spot them.
Front-tipped claws gripped the edges of the overhead duct, the Mentiarga hissing with fury as it hung upside-down. Snow had painted its body, providing slight exposure to the creature so often hidden from light. It dropped to the floor steadily, twirling its body in the air upon landing. It announced its arrival with a slow screech, gradually increasing in volume as it rose, saliva flicking through its teeth. Twitching in place, its tails flicked in anticipation as the creature charged down the west hallway, its footsteps fading out as it moved.
"Okay uh," Everest peeked over the desk at it, trying to suppress the quaking in her paws. "No time like the present. I'm going." She crept out of the hiding spot, making toward the doors as quietly as she could. A paw suddenly grabbed her shoulder, making her flinch in surprise as her body was turned around.
"Everest, wait." Dwayne said, looking around nervously.
"What, what is it?"
The biker stuttered for a few seconds, almost feeling trapped from the husky's searching gaze. Shuffling his paws on the icy floor, his words began choking in his throat. Everest stood awaiting his word, but a hollow feeling in his gut was stalling him. "Look, you need to-" he tried to say, only to lose his voice again.
"Need what?"
"Just be careful." He belted out, forcing through his insecurities. "I don't... I don't fully know how I'm going to do this, but I will." He added the last part quickly, not wanting his partner to think of him as incapable. "I can get you out of here, I..." His voice trailed off slightly. "I'll get you out of here."
Everest stood quietly, trying to read her friend with a concerned expression. A faint sound in the distance caused a flick of her eyes, and she knew in her mind how unsafe it was to stand around. "Well, of course." She shrugged. "But you're coming with me, I'll make sure of it." She moved forward, affectionately nuzzling into Dwayne's neck. "You be careful too." Her face gently brightened with a smile, savoring the feeling of them together. "You can do this, I believe in you." Pulling away from him, she began walking off, but not without giving the reddened a Dane a reassuring look. "We'll get through this, both of us, alright? I'll be waiting for your signal outside!"
The husky turned and sped off, pushing through the front doors and escaping into the outside. Dwayne watched her tail vanish into the blizzard, leaving him completely alone in the lounge. His neck tingled where she had nuzzled him, creating an electric feeling that tingled into her skin. Shining light burned inside him, filling him with resolve as he realized everything he was fighting for. He won't fail her, he thought with a hardened expression, Everest had lost enough already. It was about time that someone actually came through for her. Retrieving the fire extinguisher, the Dane ferociously tugged it toward the east hallway. The monster had disappeared down the opposite path and following it certainly wasn't the wisest idea.
A part of him wanted to keep talking, to communicate with Everest using their collared radios just to hear her voice more. The sound of it alone seemed to have an energized effect on him, and he never wanted to stop hearing it if he could. With irritation he batted at the pup tag hanging from his collar, remembering that their radio line was still dead. He couldn't place how in the world their connection was severed, and with every passing minute he silently pleaded for it to work again.
"Would Hubcap or Gasket have done this?" He wondered aloud, tugging the giant piece of metal along. "They were always the... braver ones. Gasket probably would've escaped this hell by now." The image of Hubcap's death still skewered his mind, an image he'd never flee from for the rest of his life. Gasket's whereabouts were still a mystery, and he could only hope she was able to flee the massacre while she still could. His body sagged from the cold, muscles crying louder and louder as they froze over but still he ignored it. He couldn't let Everest down, not now.
He entered the east hallway, moving along the icy floor. Passing under the bristling ceiling, dripping with water droplets and failing structure, he hummed a song to himself. "Wasn't there a cafeteria down here?" He muttered to himself, travelling through the corridor of ruptured water pipes and shredded walls. "I could probably set this off under a table, or... get something to fall on it." How did one make an extinguisher explode anyway? It seemed so easy in movies and video games; the objects were often presented as having shells with the integrity of paper. In real life it was a stark contrast, as they were fully reinforced with solid metal that Dwayne couldn't fathom how to puncture. Crumbled drywall and ice flakes rained above him, sprinkled by the now sagging ceiling.
A piece the lounge suddenly dislodged from above, falling to the floor with a crushing impact that made Dwayne jump. He stared at the fallen ceiling piece with fearful eyes, trying to quell his anxieties, with another one suddenly fell at his left. Then another, and another. Looking around frantically as the roof crumbled around him, Dwayne took one look above him and realized he had mere seconds to react.
Jumping backward as quickly as he could, high-pitched snapping noises popped in the air as the entire ceiling dropped. Unable to hold up the immense weight of ice and debris and weakened foundations, another piece of the second floor broke through, crashing to the ground level below. The roof smashed inward, opening for a storm of snowy debris and crumbled roof segments to empty inside. Glass shattered as it collided with the floor, plaster clumped into slushy glue, metal pipes and framing crashing down at lethal speeds that could take someone's head off. The contents of the room above emptied into the hallway, shelves and various furniture smashing into the floor while papers gracefully fell after them. A massive cloud of frost and dust followed it all, taking to the air until coming to a rest as it subsided.
Dwayne was tossed onto his side where he jumped for safety, holding his paws over his head. Upon feeling that he was still alive, he moved his quivering arms away from his head, looking up at the crash. The second floor was collapsing, starting with this hallway in a sadistic sense of irony. The area filled quickly with ice and debris, blocking the way and preventing any further travel. The feeble dog stood up with a whine, scanning the crash for any possible way through, but it was hopeless. A pit formed in his stomach as he realized his alternative: He had to go the other way.
Turning around and ignoring all instinct and hesitation, he trudged back through the lobby with increasing worry. The blizzard's relentless fury raged outside, but inside, the oppressive chill seemed to seep into his bones, gnawing at his resolve with each step. He clutched the fire extinguisher tightly, its metal casing still cold and unforgiving against his teeth. Dragging the heavy item in tow, Dwayne felt the weight of exhaustion settle upon his shoulders. The bitter cold seemed to seep through his entire coat of fur, leaving him shivering and numb. His breath hitched in his throat as he fought to maintain his focus, his mind racing with thoughts of Everest's safety and the looming threat of the creature that pursued them.
As he reached the opposite hallway, Dwayne's heart pounded in his chest, a knot of dread tightening in his stomach. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking straight into the creature's last stand, but he knew they had no other choice. With a steely resolve, he steeled himself for whatever lay ahead, his grip tightening on the fire extinguisher as he ventured into the freezing unknown. With each passing moment, the hallway seemed to shrink around him, its walls closing in like the jaws of some unseen predator.
Despite its terrifying form, the hallway was eerily quiet. He kept his ears and nose open for any sign, any possible trace of the Mentiarga looming about, but nothing reached him. This was, after all, the last seen location of the vicious animal, although it could've easily just gone back into the vents. Perhaps that was why he wasn't detecting anything.
Eventually emerging into a dimly lit room, a chill ran down his spine, sending shivers cascading through his weary frame. The air was thick with tension, every corner shrouded in shadow and uncertainty. He glanced around cautiously at what was once a storage rental area, flickering lights casting eerie shadows against the crumbling walls. Setting down the extinguisher in the middle of the room, he knew this was the perfect place to set it off.
Heart racing in his step, Dwayne approached a cabinet that stood nearby. "Okay, how does one set off one of these things?" He asked himself, pulling open its doors for anything useful. Nothing but unsharpened pencils, rubber bands, and a plastic bag of clothing pins. "No chance of making fire in here... maybe I could hit it with something?" He looked back at the explosive. "Or maybe... something could fall on it?" He had to act quickly, for the sake of distracting the creature, and as to not fail the husky he had promised so dearly.
An idea hit him. "Actually, I could probably-"
His sentence was torn from his throat as a spearheaded tail was shoved through his chest, impaling through his body in one instantaneous motion. Dwayne screamed as he was ambushed, howling in agony as blood spurted out in all directions, spraying the floor with a sickening red. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!" He yelled for his life, gripping the tip of the spear with his paws as his organs and muscles were severed in an instant, the weapon shredding through him as if he were nothing more than meat.
The tail quivered for a second, a deep laughing filling the air. It pulled upward, lifting Dwayne's body off the ground with immeasurable strength. He was turned around in midair, rotating his vision to the ceiling. In his paralyzed state, he saw nothing but bloodied vision while he flailed in air helplessly.
The Mentiarga uncloaked before his very eyes, dropping its invisibility with a triumphant grin. It had been perched on the ceiling the whole time, watching the plan unfold below with curiosity. It had stayed still as concrete, hanging upside down like a bat as the doomed Dane worked underneath it. It put great care into slowing its breathing, keeping its body calm to not make a sound, and the abundance of water in the area masked its smell almost perfectly. Pulling its speared prey close, Dwayne's eyes widened as he saw the full glory of the monster.
"Gasket...?" He squeaked, rearing in horror at the creature's form.
The Mentiarga flashed him a crooked smile, peeling across its stolen face. Gasket, as Dwayne hopelessly realized, had been dead for a very long time, likely even one of the first. Her body was being worn, equipped like a sagging disguise for the creature puppeteering it. If its two spearing tails were tucked in somewhere, it would almost perfectly imitate the deceased biker with not a single eyebrow raised. The only staggering detail was that her limbs were forcefully stretched, her neck craning outward as the creature struggled to wear a victim smaller in size than it.
"No..." Dwayne twitched in its lethal grasp, whimpering as he was pulled in, only mere inches between their faces. "Gas- ... Gasket..."
The Mentiarga silenced him in an instant, shooting its second tail through his skull. It cleaved through his head with a delightfully sickening snap. What remained of the walls were splashed with a beautiful red, and it lowered its tail so Dwayne could slide off and hit the floor. Dropping off the ceiling, the Mentiarga flicked the blood off its tails and placed a paw on the victim's head, grabbing it and turning it around to admire its damage.
Lovely.
Leaning its head back, the creature roared into the air the loudest it ever had, victoriously standing above its prey while its call radiated around the lounge.
-.-.-.-.-
Everest was pacing outside in the blizzard, although kept warm by her fur and Dwayne's coat. She had just finished excavating her blue kennel from the snow, digging with all her might until it was completely freed. Stepping back to look over it for damage, she found there was none, and smiled thinking everything was going to plan. Looking back at the lounge a small distance away, all she needed know was the signal. Hearing the explosion would be a breeze, dogs were perfectly capable of hearing long distance, and she sat patiently in the snow.
Seconds turned to minutes. Snow caked around the dog as she waited, kneading her paws into the ground. Any minute now, she thought to herself. He's probably just taking it slow, he has to be. Her patience slipped ever so slightly, the husky frowning at the ski lounge with a concerned expression. "Come on, Dwayne." She uttered to herself. "I believe in you." Standing up, she paced in a few circles, looking back at the crumbling building every few seconds. Any minute now.
Any minute now.
"Come on..." she whined, looking at her dormant vehicle. "Come on." The explosion never came, with only the eerie silence of the blizzard continuing on and on. "Dwayne," tension flared inside her, alarm pounding in her mind. Her fur flattened down with fear, a piece of her still holding on. "Come on!" She barked into the winter, tears welling in her eyes. "Dwayne!"
Abandoning her position, the husky was clouded with fear as she sprinted back to the lounge. Their devised plan now lost in the back of her mind as she charged back to the doors. Not like this, she pleaded, she couldn't lose someone else. Everything she ever had was either ripped to pieces or buried in ice, why couldn't there be even one dog left to love? All rational thinking was flung away as she threw herself back into the Mentiarga's hunting grounds. Charging through the doors, Everest sprinted into the lobby, looking around fearfully. The first thing she saw was the east hallway, clogged with collapsed debris. Ignoring the damage, she turned to the opposite direction, running for the west passage. Emotion drove her on the brink of insanity, disregarding the danger with only Dwayne's loving face pasted in her mind.
The Mentiarga jumped from the ceiling, landing in front of Everest with a joyful screech. The husky was knocked backward with a panicked scream, tripping over herself as she scrambled backward. Laughing at her terror, the Mentiarga uncloaked itself again, revealing its macabre form to its final target. Flashing its twisted grin, the exact smile that traumatized Everest in the outpost mere nights ago, it paced forward, approaching its prey.
Everest gave in to her panic, screaming for her life as she was backed into a wall. She had no weapon, no way out, and no one left to help her. There was nothing to save her now. She watched helplessly as the Mentiarga stalked to her, almost strutting like it basked in its own victory. Brandishing its teeth, the Mentiarga flicked its claws and lunged for the husky.
It staggered.
Everest braced herself for a killing blow that never came. She flinched sharply, shutting her eyes expecting the worst, but nothing happened. Opening her eyes, she saw the Mentiarga before her. It was shaking.
The creature was almost in pain, swaying on the floor with disoriented movements. It raised a claw to attack her, only for the arm to suddenly get yanked away as if some supernatural force pulled it backward. Everest was lost in her confusion, only trying to stay as far as possible as the Mentiarga fought itself. With every move the creature made forward, it would inexplicably get pulled backward, creating an awkward display that resembled forced hesitation. It shot its tails forward to spear its prey, only for them to suddenly veer off and hit the wall, its own limbs disobeying it.
A distorted, gurgled voice emitted from its body, forming a single sound. "Ev..."
The husky flattened herself against the wall, cowering for her life although her ears piqued at the sound. It was a voice, although filtered through a nightmarish maw, was all too familiar to her. "Who... what's going on!?" She cried out.
"Ever... est," the Mentiarga groaned, trying to force itself to jump forward. The creature stood up on its hind legs, then threw itself backward onto the floor, toppling its body with a powerful thud. "Everest-"
The terrified dog watched the scene unfold before her, recognizing the voice with a jolt of surprise. "Gasket!? Is that you!?"
Drunkenly trying to stand up, the Mentiarga attempted to shake the splintering headache it had come under. Baring its teeth with a snarl, it reached for Everest. The claw failed immediately, throwing itself in another direction and making the creature stumble. "I've been trying to..." Gasket's strained voice could be heard. "I don't know how-" the monster scrambled backward, writhing and putting its claws to its face. "I don't know how long I can control this thing!" Embedding its claws into the floor, it lashed out with a furious scream. "Nng- go! Run!"
"Gasket-" Everest said, hyperventilating in place. "What's happening!?"
"Run away!" Gasket cried out from the creature's body, forcing all her willpower into staggering the shared shell. The two minds had engaged in a violent battle over control, fighting tooth and nail to dominate their form. "I can't do this much longer! Just run!"
Everest jumped into action, fleeing for the doors but calling over her shoulder. "I'll... I'll get help!" She yelled. "I'll get someone, anyone! I won't leave you here!" She raced outside, entering the blizzard. "I promise!" Escaping just in time as the building's foundation began to fall, the creature spotted her and attempted to pursue her, only for its mind to violently jerk it back.
Fractured wood and metal bits rained down into the lobby as the ski lounge began to crumble. The Mentiarga staggered in a circle, its body refusing to stand itself up. "You... killed my friends!" Gasket barked within it. "I won't let you take her too!" Balconies snapped from above and smashed to the floor, exploding into splintered pieces. "You..." she ripped its legs out from under it, toppling the creature again. "Depraved..." She struck the nerves in its spine, making it launch itself into a solid wall. "Psychopath!" Taking a firm hold on the floor, the Mentiarga screeched with fury, mentally gripping Gasket's conscious and shoving her down into the darkest depths of its mind. The deceased husky tried to call out, but her control of the body was finally severed, silencing her for good.
Powerful resolve surged through the monster, sparking an epigenetic inspiration with its body. Like leeching vine, its limbs stretched longer, along with its spine and neck pulling out at increasing length. Its smile pulled up its face, nearly tearing through Gasket's skin as the monster underneath mutated with hatred. Its chest tore open, flowering out four smaller arms each tipped with clawed fingers. Icicle-like spines ripped out of its back, growing directly from its spine and jutting upward. Rising up with doubled height and furious malice, the evolved monster screeched loudly into the winter air, charging at the doors with such velocity it smashed through the wall itself.
While the ski lounge collapsed behind it, it aggressively raced out into the blizzard. Everest was not escaping; its eyes were centered directly on the final piece of prey as it sprinted at full speed.