Experiment VII

Chapter Thirty-Four: Ashes

     My blood begins to boil at the display of chaos unleashed before me. Angry flames blaze throughout the building, or rather, what remains of it. Half the complex is in pieces, and the other half looks to be on the verge of collapse. How could Umbra wreak this much havoc in the short time we were away? The immense damage done could only be the result of some explosion of a colossal scale.

     My mind continues to race as the rest of the mutants step out of the truck. Each of their shocked expressions mirrors my own.

     Gemma gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. "Wh- how..." her voice drags off as her eyes linger on the wreck of a building, "We have to... we have to help them," she declares weakly.

"And how to propose we do that?" Chester scoffs dryly. His tone turns bitter as he raises his voice, "Most of 'em are probably buried under a pile of rubble by now! So who exactly are you hoping to help?" he yells.

     Gemma spins around to face the rest of us. Her glassy amber eyes land on Chester, yet she wears an expression of rage on her face. "We have to do something. We have to try," she states intently with a newfound determination.

     Rychner breaks his silence, "She's right," he agrees. "We're going in."

     Not standing around to come up with some half-cocked plan, Gemma breaks into a sprint towards the crumbling building. Her feathered wings begin to beat furiously. The increasing momentum soon launches her into the air. She heads for a gaping hole in the side of the building, using it for entrance.

     Ellie bolts towards the building's back doors and, without delay, I break out into a sprint after her. Overtaking her before she reaches the entrance, I come to a sudden halt. I duck under a chunk of debris blocking part of the doorway and step inside.

     The stench of burnt flesh and smoke assaults my senses as soon as I walk in, making me gag. I tread carefully over the massive piles of rubble, keeping an eye on my footing. Ellie rushes in as well, the smoke-tainted air immediately sending her into a coughing fit.

"We'll cover more ground if we split up," Ellie says just as her coughing begins to subside.

     I nod to Ellie as she heads out in the other direction.

     I quicken my pace as a segment of debris collapses somewhere in the distance, sending an echo throughout the structure.

"Try and make this quick, wouldn't want you to die down here, now would we?" Charthrax's voice booms inside my mind.

"Since when do you care?" I ask aloud once I am sure Ellie is out of earshot.

"Since we share a body you clambering fool," the voice snarls. "And watch your footing," it adds.

"I am watch-" Suddenly losing my footing, I stumble forward, hitting the ground with a thud.

     With a few groans, I begin to peel myself up from the floor and onto my knees. I glance up, widening my eyes as they meet the sight of a charred corpse in front of me. Gasping, I scurry backwards on my palms, trying to put some distance between me and the sizzled corpse.

     A wave of nausea hits me as I continue to stare at the burnt carcass. Their very flesh is melted beyond recognition. A shaky breath escapes me as I pry my eyes away from them. I bend over just in time as the need to retch becomes overwhelming. I hurl, my stomach contents splattering over the ground in front of me.

     Panting, I wipe the sides of my mouth and manage to pull myself to my feet.

     An alarmingly large number of more burnt corpses litter my way as I attempt to navigate my way through the rubble. What happened here? Is there anyone left? Hopefully, the others are having a more successful search than me.

     I breathe a sigh of relief, finding the stairs in a semi-climbable state, give or take a few chunks of debris.

     I let out a groan, finally reaching the second floor only to find it caught alight. I rip the sleeve off my shirt as I begin to cough. Pulling the material over my mouth, I secure it in a knot at the back of my head in hopes of it offering some kind of protection from the clouds of smoke billowing throughout the room.

     Despite my common sense telling me to turn around right now, I make my way down the burning corridor. I hug the wall as I travel down the long hallway, trying my best to avoid the roaring flames mere feet away from me.

"Come on, no one in here is worth us dying for," Charthax sighs.

     The longer I walk the more my coughing intensifies with the smoke burning at my lungs.

"Is there anybody here?" I shout out in hopes of finding at least one survivor. I pause for a moment, though not expecting a response.

     A voice suddenly calls back, "H-Hello? Is there somebody there?"

     My eyebrows furrow as I recognize the voice. "Daesung?" I pick up my pace, hastily searching the nearby rooms for the voice's source.

"Axel? Is that you?" he calls back. "Hey, I'm over here!"

     Snapping my head to the left, my eyes soon land on the blurred outline of a person lying on the floor in the room opposite. I rush towards them, almost tripping over myself.

"What happened? You alright?" I question as I approach.

     He lets out a grunt. "Uh, my arm's stuck."

     A metal beam of immense size rests on top of Daesung's arm, effectively pinning him to the ground.

"Think you can lift it?" he asks hopefully.

     I grimace, doubting I will have the strength to even move such a huge piece of metal. Nonetheless, I bend down and grab ahold of the beam from either side, making sure to get a good grip. Taking a sharp inhale, I begin to pull.

     The muscles in my jaw bunch together as I struggle to lift the metal's severely heavy weight. Daesung groans in pain as the beam moves ever so slightly. My muscles tremble under the strain of such tremendous weight. The metal creeks, beginning to bend around my fingers as my grip tightens. With a final pull, I manage to successfully lift the beam clear of my friend's arm.

     He immediately jerks his arm out of the way. Not being able to hold it any longer, I release the grasp on the beam, allowing it to slam to the ground with an ear-splitting bang.

"Thanks..." Daesung sighs in relief, "I thought I was a goner for sure."

"You good?" I offer him a hand, pulling him up from the floor by the other arm.

     Daesung nods, grimacing as he peers down at his mangled arm.

"Is there anyone else on this floor?" I question.

     He looks down. "No...not alive anyway."

     I nod regretfully. "Okay, the back entrance is clear. You get out-" A series of coughs interrupt me before I finish. "You get out of here." I continue as the coughing subsides once more, "I'm gonna see if I can find anyone else."

"What? No! No way I'm leaving you here," Daesung exclaims in complete outrage.

"Daesung," I sigh in annoyance. "I don't have time for this. Just go!"

"No. You're just going to get yourself killed. They'll kill you, and that's if you don't die from smoke inhalation," he states determinedly.

"They?"

"Umbra. They're still here."

A/N: Thank you for reading! This update is way ahead of schedule because my gaming PC broke and writing's one of the few things I can do right now...that and I just wanted to write for some reason. Hope you enjoyed it and I cannot wait to show you the next chapter! (:

-ѕиιρєявαιт