Trials of Survival

Chapter 4: Bonding Through Hardship

2:18 PM

Thank you... I didn't get to hear that much... Really, it was just orders, screams, shouting or the dull, droning voice of the intercom... hell, even my parents never said anything like that... It was nice.

I scoffed, leaning back on the couch. "Don't mention it, it's only a little thing anyways." I waved my hand dismissively, looking away from Dave and focusing my gaze on the wall. 

Dave tilted his head a little, sheathing the clean blade into his utility belt. Many of the pockets were beyond repair, but there were a few strong loops and satchels he could make use of. He let out a sigh, staring up at the ceiling. 

"Hey guys, do you ever think anyone's gonna come down and save us?" Dave glanced at us, fiddling with a loose strip of fabric on his gloves. The outline of his eyes were just barely visible behind the tinted lenses of his gas mask.

"Obviously! I mean, I can understand why they're taking their time and all, but they've got important stuff down here!... I think?" Jack stared down at the palm of his hand, eyes a little distant. His hand clenched into a fist, the bandages creaking with the pressure "Anyways, they're bound to send a search and rescue squad down here eventually. If anything they'd at least send a maintenance crew."

The room fell silent after that, only the background drawl of the facility accompanying us. Faraway ambience, droning hums from the caverns, the cascade of water pouring from the rusty pipes in the Server Room, the chipper tunes of the radio Jack brought in...

I cleared my throat, coughing into my fist, gathering the attention of my co-workers. "I uh... was a little caught up handing out your weapons earlier, forgot to tell you two some pretty important news." 

Jack perked up, eyes shooting over to stare me in the eyes, straight through the lenses of my mask. "Ehh? What's so important?" He turned to face me, tapping his boot idly. Dave cast me a glance, carefully shifting his body to stare right at me. 

"When I was out scavenging, I came across more mutants." The two visibly perked up at that. Jack would've been oddly excited, if it weren't for his run in with the crocodilian ones, Dave seemed unsettled...

"Firstly, in the garden. Not specifically the Garden Room, or the Storage Bay nearby, the cave. I didn't manage to get a good glimpse at them, but from what I'm guessing, they're most likely insectoid." 

I shuddered slightly, thinking back to that horrid buzzing... Eurgh, it was akin to that of a swarm of wasps or bees... Jack and Dave cast each other a brief look, Jack cringed, I couldn't make out what Dave was feeling, but he was probably nervous. 

"Secondly, I was right about the Server Room. There is something in there, four things precisely. They were skinny, kinda short... they were modelled after sharks... bipedal as usual, grey scaly skin, multiple rows of razor sharp teeth..." I thought for a moment, glancing over at Jack with a stoic grimace.  "The things went right after me the moment they got a good look at what I was." 

Dave froze for a moment, before shaking himself out of his stupor, glancing down at the knife holstered in his belt. "That's not too far... i-is it? To think something like that is so close by..." 

Jack shut his eyes and sighed, casting a glance over his shoulder and looking to the mint-condition fire-axe tucked away taut in his vest. "Well, I say the moment our wounds heal, we take care of em" He cracked his knuckles, then immediately winced, glaring down at his left hand. 

It was a solid plan, but I for one was not looking forward to brawling with those things. In just a span of a day or two, I'd already gotten into multiple life threatening situations. The acid bunnies... the dragon... the crystal monsters... and now those sharks? 

My hands and face were rendered heavily scarred from the bunnies, my ribs ached from my encounter with the dragon, not to mention I was sore all over from my brawl with the monster! We were all out of medical supplies, save a needle and some thread and if any one of us were to take another deep cut, I feared we'd be in pretty big trouble...

"I can... work with that. From what I'm guessing, your laceration should patch up decently enough in at least 2 hours, it'll probably fade in a day. My hands will be good as new in the same time... Dave though..." 

Dave sat up, groaning a tad. He stared down at his bandaged hands for a moment, before averting his gaze to us. "I'll be fine in a day... maybe? It'll hurt like hell, but I could probably get moving in just half an hour, or less!" 

I frowned a tad, looking back at him worriedly "That's not necessary, Dave. If anything, you'll only end up aggravating your wounds. Just sit back and wait it out... if it means anything, I could help you document the things we've seen down here, yeah?" 

"Document? Like as in a diary, or a bestiary?" Dave seemed to perk up a tad, maybe he used to be a writer or something, before he got into security work? 

"A bit of both, I guess? Whatever suits you best, I'll try and funnel as much info as I can about what I've seen so far, sound good?" I stood up, stretching out a little making satisfying pops sound out from my back.

I stepped over to the computer, then rolled the chair over towards the couch, presenting the dingy, old and worn seat to him. Dave sent me a curious look... well, what I translated as curious, up at me. I frowned a tad. "It's easier than making you walk, just get in." 

 
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2:22

Dave was fervently tapping away at the keys, upon the screen was a giant white template, there wasn't much to it, but we had yet to jot down the info yet. Turns out, Dave was into coding, but not just that... the kid was good at drawing too! 

I wasn't paying attention to most of it in the end, but the gist was he kind of just wrote up his own programme, there and then. It wasn't much, just an interactable collection of empty documents. As of now, we'd written down a good bunch of info about a few of the mutants we'd come across, just as a passion project... there wasn't much practical use, anyways. 

The first one was based off the acid bunnies. Dave came up with the name, Nuclear Rabbit. He had a clear good drawing of the thing, though a tad exaggerated to make it look a bit scarier, but still, it was nearly identical to the things I remembered back then. 


Nuclear Rabbit: The Nuclear Rabbit is one of the first mutants we have come across down in the facility. The first few were spotted around an hour after the lights went out, at the same time, all personnel disappeared from the facility. These creatures could be apart of the cause. So far, they've only been spotted in the Support Caves, near the waste barrels.

They are tall, stout, bipedal creatures, sporting the look of a rabbit. They seem to process food much like that of some species of spider, melting their victims before processing them. (That much is just a guess though.) 

They have Dark Green fur, spotted with glowing green bumps and divots, their belly sports thicker whitish fur, with a dark black insignia carved into their torso, much like the danger signal for radioactive substances. Most seem to have glowing green crystals growing out of their shoulders, head and back. They stand at an average of 6'4.

Though they have the two jutting buckteeth of a rabbit or hare, the rest of their mouth if filled with sharp canines. Their blood is heavily corrosive, as well as their flesh, this may be due to their sweat, or some other oily substance produced by it's body. Keep a good distance when trying to fight them, and take note that their bones are rather fragile. (Most likely slightly hollow)

Danger Level: 60%


The second was the weird mix I encountered in the cafeteria. Given just a brief description, within only a few minutes, Dave managed to draw something relatively close to what I remembered. It was genuinely impressive! Jack gave him a pat on the shoulder, smiling at the intimidating frame of the Dragon he so aptly dubbed the... 


Mocha (seriously?): The Mocha is one of the larger variants of mutants found. It was first encountered by Security Member Tane Karlene in the facility's cafeteria. 

It is a tall, burly and temperamental creature, bipedal in build. Their eating habits are unknown, given the nature of their build, but it's most likely omnivorous. 

They have rough brown fur, with streaks of beige, dark brown and caramel spread all across it's body, with bright beige belly fur. They don't seem to have pupils of any sorts, instead sporting wide pure lime eyes, outlined with a thin dark green sclera. They have long tails, with a pair of leathery wings on their backs. Though they are most likely only used to attract mates. They stand at an average of 7'1.

They're incredibly dangerous, sporting a thick build, large intimidating ram like horns, long sharp fangs and a maw full of long, sharp teeth. Almost entirely canines, except for a few molars in the back of the mouth. (Not certain) 

Their blood is scolding hot so focus on using blunt weapons to kill it. Only one has been spotted as of yet. Their bones aren't as tough as a human's, use this to your advantage. 

Danger Level: 80%


   
The third and fourth were a bit more hazy than the others. Firstly, the insectoid one was mostly up to his imagination, and it probably would've been nothing less than horrifying if he hadn't made it a bit more cartoony. Seeing how they were first seen up a fig tree, he named it... 


Fig: Not much is known about the Figs, other than that they primarily reside in the trees of LAMINAX Gardens. 

They could be ambush predators, judging from how they hide up in trees, but that much is only up to guesswork. They have wings, and mandibles, judging from the clicking and buzzing they produce. They're eyes also seem to glow.

Quoted from Security Member Tane: "They sounded wet and goopy too... no clue why." This has been jotted down as a figment of his imagination. (Such has only been noted for further study) 

Figs tend to stick in large groups of up to three or more. Not much else is known. 

Danger Level: 30-80% 


Then, it was onto the sharks. He'd gotten a good layout of the things, but it still looked a little off, I feel like he was going more for the 'natural' shark design, instead of something more humanoid. I didn't have the heart to tell him though, he spent 20 minutes of the thing after all. But still, more or less, it was a good sketch. I know I could've just wheeled him to the Server room to take a look... but you can obviously see why I didn't... 


Shorks (probably a typo...):  Shorks are smaller, swarm and kill mutants, seen only in the now Flooded Server Room, and along with it, the storage room that was connected. Security Member Jack stated that they could also reside in the cavern, given the dampness and abundance of water. 

They are short, skinny creatures which much like the rest, are bipedal, resembling humans more than it's animal counterpart. They are carnivores, with two layers of razor sharp teeth. They don't tend to wander far from the water, so it is likely that they are highly territorial.

They have grey scaley skin, with white underbellies. Thin, yet slightly toned arms and legs, with gills on their chests, rather than their necks. With wide, striking yellow eyes, it's likely they hunt in the dark. They have short claws (but that hasn't been cemented yet), fins on their back arms, and a large shark like tail. The interior of their maws is yellow and they stand at an average of 5'7. 

Given their ravenous natures, they mostly charge in wildly, teeth and claws bared. They tend to stick in groups, at most having four shorks (as of now). Given the size, number and sharpness of their teeth, it is likely that they can easily bite through fabric and flesh. Not much else is known about them. 

Danger Level: 40-67%


Lastly, we had the crystal monsters. Dave had gotten a glimpse of the things before he'd retreated to the lockers, and so resulted in a picture perfect frame of the beasts. I could tell, from all the corpses laying about back in the main room... speaking of which, I got Jack to go drag them over the fence into the chasm. 


Kaiju: The Kaiju are incredibly territorial mutants, seen primarily in the Crystal Caverns patrolling the vast expanses of the caves, and tending to the glowing crystals littered about. 

They are giant, lumbering creatures that stand on two legs. Though their appearance doesn't look as such, they are related to crocodiles, more than anything. They are carnivorous, and likely only hunt big game creatures... though, due to the emptiness of the caves, that much is unlikely. 

They are heavily furred, with dark blue fur adjacent to the colouration of the stone in the Crystal Cavern. Their underbelly is a slightly lighter shade of said blue, and has a bit more fluff to it. They're heavily muscled, with long jagged claws. They have two distinct teeth, short, thick canines, and four large fangs, akin to tusks.

They normally have thick heads of fur/hair. They have three distinct glowing crystals that grow along their spines, they are slightly corrosive, so keep away. They have long, powerful tails that are shaped like a crocodile's. The inside of their maws glowing a bright cyan, and so does their eyes. It is unlikely that it's built for ambush or stealth. They stand at an average of 7'4.

As stated by Security Member Tane: "Their blood gives you a little shock when you touch it." It could possibly harness electricity as a form of defense, or somehow, uses this as it's main source of nutrients. 

Given their strength and size, it is inadvisable to fight them up close, but they are large, easy to hit targets, so guns could be effective (testing still required). With their long claws, giant fangs and sharp teeth, along with the corrosive spikes and versatile tail, these giants are difficult to face alone. 

Difficulty level: 80%

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4:13 PM

All in all, this whole passion project soaked up a good 2 hours or less. Luckily, nothing more had tried to kill us in the time we were working on it, and we hadn't caught a single glimpse of any of the creatures as of yet.

Though, Jack wasn't all too interested in the affair. He spent most his time smoking, leaning against the wall while keeping a watchful eye over us.

I looked up at Jack, getting to my feet. I'd spent most of my time on the couch, sometimes getting up to check on his Dave's work, but still, I got a little woozy from standing up too fast. Walking over to Jack, I leaned against the wall beside him. |

"Y'know, if you smoke too many of those, you'll run out before the end of the day." I said, giving him a nudge on the side. 

Jack sighed, taking the cig out from his lips to puff out a thin cloud of smoke. By then it was almost out anyways, so he just flicked it over to the floor, letting it die out on it's own. "I probably got some more down in the break room. Plus, I could survive without em' for a while."

I studied his expression for a while, then frowned. His eyes were droopy, face neutral, whenever he wasn't in the thrill of a fight, he seemed to keep this look. "You worried that they won't come looking for us?" 

"Nah, that's certain. Whenever there's a power outage or blackout, within a couple of hours they always send a guy down to come fix the issue. Thing is, I never saw anyone come down, the elevators are fucked, and from what we know, the blackout fixed itself." 

"I'm... kinda doubting that we'll be getting any company any time soon. But hey, that's all just plain guesswork on my half. I'm just pissed about this fuckin wound!" He grumbled, looking over to his bandaged bicep. 

"Can't do jack with it except hold a lighter, it's just such a pain!"