Dawn of Warriors

Chapter 4 A

Holes in the dirt

Months had passed since the last clue that they had managed to uncover. James and Melissa had grown tired rather quickly through their search, it was much tougher to find the origins of a brutal species than they originally planned. Melissa had noticed that most of the attacks had come from the northern gates, all targeted to Earth's plane. She had assumed that the Corrupted were not able to pass through the current transportation gates, the technology was rough even celestials preferred to use their wings over a trip through those portals. They knew by then that the attacks were somehow organized and not random. They had found that there were points around Earth that the corrupted spawned in more numbers than other spots. They knew that the damned creatures loved the cold.

While investigating the northern poles of the Earth, James received an alert. They had found nothing but thick furred animals in the poles until that message. The ping of his ring sounded jollier than it truly was, since the signal they received was meant as a warning. It was a voice alert coming from the main research stations that the humans had, a woman was practically screaming into her mic.

TO WHOEVER IS LISTENING THEY ARE HERE! HIDE IN YOUR HOMES. THE MONSTERS ARE ATTACKING. REPEAT. THE MONSTERS. ARE. ATTACKING!

That was it. Her voice was cut short or the message was intended to be that short. To the surprise of both of them, James was the one to speak first. "We should not go there. What if there are Corrupted still free around the area? Between the two of us we can survive against two of them, barely". Melissa's eyes dropped for a moment. She was entering her intense thinking stage. "That woman sounded more professional than your average radio. Maybe she was a scientist who had survived" she was thinking out-loud so James did not have the guts to cut through that trail. "The humans do not have the same technology as we do but somehow your ring picked the frequency of that broadcast easily. Maybe the research was on technology and not the normal biological assessment as the rest of the stations". She paused there.

Melissa stared right at James, her gaze glowing with the fire of curiosity. She wanted desperately for James to complete her line of thought, to show her that his mind was as quick as hers. It was not. "Are you stupid? Roaming corrupted are the reason we MUST go to the station. They may not have the brains to speak but at least they have clues we can follow" she raised her eyebrows slightly. "Unless. You are not as brave as you appeared in front of the other men. Maybe you are scared to set your sword at use while knowing that you are not going to receive any glory" she was challenging him. It was the tongue of a demon and James knew it, her words playing in his mind as temptation multiplied. "I am not that vain but maybe I should be" he replied. "Calling out my pride has nothing to do with my suggestion of avoiding the station. It is simply what logic says". Melissa's laugh almost shocked the snow under their feet. "So, we're going right? Because the vein on your forehead suggest your pride has a major role in your answer" Melissa teased but the other was quick to interrupt her words, his deep voice speaking over her smooth one, "The station is far. Pick up the pace" James replied spreading out his snow-covered wings.

The research station was indeed further up the iced mountains, a place even less friendly that the flat area of the North Pole. From above, the road leading up to the ugly metallic structures seemed destroyed both from ice and from fallen rocks. The large electrical pillars around the station had fallen apart, one of them right against the main building and the other down the mountain and into the supply road. If there were survivors, they would have either died from the cold or from starvation. James closed in on the station when he whistled to Melissa, the noise resembling the call of a small bird. The demon looked down, following the pointer of her partner until she did not need to do so. Her eyes froze. The remaining road leading up to the entrance of the station was painted in unnatural shades of red. Her experienced gaze could tell that the medium used was human blood, dripping hellishly down the slopes of the mountain. The low temperatures had stopped the drops mid fall which covered the road with mud, made out of the insides of humans. "How many did they..." she was cut off. "Numbers do not matter right now. We need to get inside" he replied sharply. He did not wish to be there, but Melissa did, and it was impossible to leave her alone. Especially after seeing that.

The demon landed on the edge of the fallen pillar, balancing on its broken antenna, while James countered her risky steps. Melissa could see the symbol that used to be on top of the entrance. "This is the place we get the antidote vials" she said, crouching down to admire the broken snake wrapped around the conical cup. "The roof is open, we can slip through there instead of the main gates" James suggested, noting down that there were probably going to be smaller amounts of the antidote around but that was information they did not necessarily need.