In My Blood

Episode 12 - A Beheading

"Oh, God," Diana gagged as we stepped into the facility, our first sight being the bodies on the floor. Each one was mauled and mutilated in different ways, the Demogorgons not putting that much interest in finishing them off. My stomach felt queasy, and Steve's nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell. "They didn't even eat them... not- not that I wanted them to, of course, but I thought they were hungry."

"They're killing for sport," Steve thought out loud, and I grimaced at that. I tried to focus on anything else besides the beings on the ground, and that was when I saw the glint of the glass fire safety box down a hallway connecting to the lobby. I lifted my hand up in its direction, and I heard the shatter as the axe was pulled from its resting place with my powers and into my grasp. Steve and Diana jumped at the sound, and I carefully offered my friend the weapon.

"Thanks," she nodded quickly, her voice quiet. I gave a silent nod of affirmation myself. There was a screeching noise not too far, and the three of us lifted our weapons defensively in case of an attack. I took two silent steps forward with my hands raised before lowering them, stepping toward the wall to my left. I pressed my palm against the tiles, spreading my fingers apart into the grooves where the cement held everything in place. I closed my eyes... and then I felt them.

"We got some company," I heard Doctor Owens say, but his voice was duplicated, almost as if he was talking to someone.

"Where?" a different man asked him, one I had never met. His voice was doubled too.

"They're talking through intercoms," I murmured, and I felt Steve's hand on my shoulder. Warm blood was dripping again out of my nose.

"Who?" he asked me. "Rachel, what do you see?"

"The west stairwell."

"I got an idea."

"No, I hear them," I told Steve, pressing harder against the wall. There was pressure as something in the facility went off, and the Demogorgon's screech we had heard from earlier echoed in my head. "Except it's not what's happening now, they're... it's what just happened."

"Okay, that worked!" Owens said excitedly. "Now get out of there. Go, go, go!" I opened my eyes and backed away, my eyes glancing up to the ceiling.

"Someone's up there," I informed Diana and Steve. "And so is a Demogorgon. Dee, we looked over those files on the lab a hundred times last night. On that map of the two floors, where was the command room? The one with security cams?"

"Pretty far back, I think," she told me as she racked her brain. "But I'm pretty sure it's on the first floor!"

"Yeah, which means everyone is going to be running here," Steve realized. "This is the main entrance; I doubt Rachel's dad and whoever is with him would know of any other one." There was a low growl, and all of our heads jerked down the hall. "Rachel, could you feel the Demogorgons too?" The beast chittered in the distance.