☆× Lights in the Dark ×☆ (Carneline×Panther)

• Chapter Four •

April was panicked. No one had ever shown her where the safety bunkers were. Matter of fact, nobody even mentioned it! So now, she was stuck out in the open, free prey for any hungry goo.

Quickly looking around, she remembered the weapons in the storage room. However, once she made her way down to the door for the storage room, it was locked. She tried prying it apart, but it was no use. That thing wasn't going to move.

Aggravated and scared, she looked around for anything that could be useful in defending herself. Luckily, she spotted a metal pole lying on the ground. Picking it up, she ran forward, trying to think of a place that might be counted as safe.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard an angry roar come out from down the hallway. Gripping her pole, she climbed up a rack and looked around for any signs of danger.

Just as she thought she was safe, a Fashui came flying around the corner. April quickly flattened herself against the rack, hoping it wouldn't see her. But as she looked at it a bit more, it seemed to be chasing down a lime colored slime pup. April winced as the Fashui went out of sight with a crunch noise.

After she made sure she was safe to sit up a bit and observe what was going on, she sat up. At first, she noticed the dark red haze in the air. But strangly, it didn't smell like anything. She tried to find where it might be coming from but failed miserably. It looked to have just appeared as soon as that slime pup chewed through the wires. She guessed it was just a mystery that the laboratory would solve someday.

She then noticed how the normally neon blue puddles of goo were now a pinkish-red. From what April was seeing, the red haze in the air had seemed to turn the color of the puddle to be more red.

When she looked at the doors, she saw some were wide open, and some were sealed shut like the one leading to the storage room. April sighed angrily at that. All she would have to defend herself until this whole this was over is a metal pole. Yeah, it might make a gootraxian flinch, but the keyword there is goo. Meaning that no matter where you hit it, it's goo will protect it from any bad damage.

April was thinking about getting down until she heard something. The radios that were all over the place seemed to be playing the same soundtrack now. (Music in the chp cover) The music made the situation a bit more tense as she now couldn't hear as well. Just what I needed.... she thought hazily to herself.

Just then, she hear some rustling coming from above her. Freezing as she looked up, she saw there was a vent there. A vent a human could crawl through. But she knew that no human would be in the vents right now. That had to be a goo.

Now listening more closely, April could hear the noise getting louder. It got to the point where it was louder than the music. Adrenaline rushing through her veins, April got down from the rack and hid under it, hoping it would hide her better.

Just as she got settled in and comfortable where she was, she saw a set of white paws that looked like they were melting. April recognized those as a Sprinklekit's paws. Holding her breath, she waited until the Sprinklekit wandered off. From what she saw, it had gone towards the cafeteria. How April would love to be sitting in the cafeteria having a peaceful snack right now.

April then heard what seemed to be like footsteps. Just when she was about come out of hiding and ask for help, the footsteps begun sounding more like a soft material hitting the ground. Then it clicked. It seemed to be a squad of goos patrolling the place.

Seeing their paws as they walked by proved her idea to be true. Smiling, she was imagining what all those people who said 'Goos don't have feelings or thoughts' would say if they saw that.

As the squad of goo's footsteps faded, she slowly tried to wiggle her way out of her hiding spot. Unfortunately, she had picked a pretty tight spot to hide in.

After alot of fear, struggling, and panicking, she got free and climbed on top of the rack again, this time trying to hide behind a crate that was on top of the rack.

Taking the chance too look around once more, she finally saw the crystal cavern. All of the neon blue crystals had been affected just like the puddles of goo had been. But the crystals... seemed to glimmer almost like rubies... It almost seemed as if it were trying to draw you to it... April just stared at them in awe. They looked so much better without that purple barrier over them. Yeah, she might be far away from the cavern, but she could still see the crystals more clearly from where she was at than if she was looking at them through the barrier. They almost seemed to pulse red light synced to the beat of the music coming from the radios. It was mesmerizing to April. She thought about going down and checking the crystals out, but then realized that would be far too dangerous with the amount of goos lurking around at the moment. But the crystals were so pretty... It was almost acting as a charm to bring April in.

She was doing all she could not to go over there and sit on top of the crystal until the power was fixed. But with her love for the gems, she finally gave in to the urge. Climbing down from her hiding spot, she ran across the hallway to the giant open gap where the barrier normally was.

Running through it felt like she was free to finally see the crystals in all of their glory. Then before she knew it, she was standing infront of one of the giant red crystals.

(April has gotten access to the crystals, guess what happens next) 1043 words