Trials of Survival

Chapter 16: Split Reason

(New chapter, focusing more around the newest addition to the squad, Beatrix! I'm sure she'll get along fine with Fox, Shamrock and Jack!) 

(Now, Jack's a nightcrawler... I'm sure their won't be any lasting consequences! (There will be a lot) Anyways, since he's a gootraxian, a few more whacky and perculiar things will go down!) 

(BUT, rest assured, Jack will NOT turn feral.) 

(Now, Beatrix is a new character! What's her deal? Well, find out in this chapter!) 

11:35 AM 

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I blinked in surprise, a nervous toothy grin crawling up my face. I wanted to reach back and scratch my neck, but my hands were a little full right now... 

"Uh... yeeeaah... it's me!... Eheh... I uh, I know I look different, but it's still me!"

Tane stared up at me in disbelief, slowly reaching to switch his chainsaw off. He flipped up his metal visor, his brown eyes wide in disbelief. I loomed over him, which was... well, it put a smug little smirk on my face~

"Wha-... How...? What did you..." 

I was a good three heads taller than the guy who once stood high above me. He seemed to notice my sly smirk, narrowing his eyes up at me. I shrugged, feigning innocence. 

He looked me up and down, just absolutely stunned. Dave pitched in, clearing his throat as he gazed up at me in what I guessed was shock and awe. 

"Wow... that's just... wow! How did you do that?.... I uh, know I should be a bit more worried right now... but still! You're so tall!"

I chuckled, smiling brightly. 

"I know, right!" 

But, I was drawn away from their faces as I picked up on a low whimper. I turned towards the noise, noticing Fox's trembling figure, pressed up against the wall, her eyes wide in absolute pure and unbridled terror. That stinging mist starting to ooze from her figure. 

I pursed my lips... well, I uh, didn't exactly have lips anymore so... I guess I pursed my maw? Whatever. I looked down at her worriedly, stepping towards Dave and setting Shamrock gently in his arms. But I kept the girl slung over my shoulder, I'm pretty sure she'd just blacked out... I mean, she was limp, not shuddering at all. 

I crouched down, getting down to eye level with her, putting a warm smile on my face, making sure not to show ANY teeth. 

"Heya Fox!... I know I uh, look a little different, but it's me, Jack!" 

She stared into my goggles with wide white eyes, slowly giving a jittery nod. I nodded my head back, reaching out to give her a lil pat... but pulling back last second, noticing how absolutely terrified she was at me just being within a few feet of her.  

"I... know this might be strange, but I hope you'll understand..."

I turned around, scratching at the edges of my vest with an irritated look. I sighed a little, casting a glance over at Fox, Dave trying to comfort her with a smile on his face. He held Shamrock in his arms like a lil' baby as he did so. 

I lowered my head a tad, looking back towards, and making my way over to Tane. He looked a little tense, fists clenching and body stiffening as I grew close. I frowned a tad, but ignored it in the end, even if I did have the body of a great big murder machine, I did NOT want to get on that man's bad side... 

A few flashing shots of many mangled mutant corpses drew through my head for a few brief seconds, and I shuddered, that was exactly why... I shook the uneasy feeling off, bringing my fist to my mouth, clearing my throat.

"Beatrix is starving... So uh, I'll be heading down to the Cafeteria! Wait- hold on a moment-" 

I reached down to my belt, gently tugging out the map before handing it to Tane. He took it cautiously, looking down to it, nodding firmly 

"Alright... We'll be down in the storage sector until you come back around. Just know, if you spend more than an hour away, we're gonna come out looking for you, okay?"

I smiled gingerly, giving him a thumbs up. 

"Got it!" 


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5 DAYS AGO: 6:00 AM

Alarms blared all around me, boots clacking on the cold hard concrete floor, all I could see was the red spinning lights along with the bright beams from our flashlights. Growls, roars, barks and howls echoed all around us, gunfire, shouts and explosions ringing in my ears.

I ran along with my squad, rifle in hand, ignoring the pressing noises that echoed loud. We had a pretty tight electrical budget, and I just KNEW that it was gonna bite us in the ass one day. 

And on that day, it was a full scale blackout, almost every single electrical appliance shutting down, that included the doors to every single containment unit. 

The facility was crawling with the subjects, towering heaps of mutated flesh taken an animalistic, yet human form. Could I even call it flesh? No... it was something different. 

Every time I went to watch over a scientist doing a particularly risky experiment, I learned of the absolutely gruesome knowledge, of what these things did to you once they got in your body. 

Some 'transfurs' went smoothly, a slow transition from person to mutant, most of the time, the experiments didn't notice until they were fully turned, holding onto their consciousness for at most an hour, before turning feral. 

But most if not all of the subjects went through an excruciating transformation, bones crunching and snapping as their limbs took new shape, elongating and stiffening, their skin tearing as it made space for their hides, fur forcing their way up through flesh. Horrible growths appearing on their bodies, such as crystals, hats, wings or other accessories. 

And I had NO plan on letting that happen to me! 

My squad rounded a corner, catching sight of a huge line of Hebi's down the hallway, looming and feasting on the body of a mutilated scientist, eyes bulging out of his head, flesh torn and bone sticking gruesomely from his skin. 

The worst thing was, he was still alive. He looked to us, mouthing something but choking on his own blood instead, coughing up flehm and blood into the uncaring faces of the subjects, raising an arm weakly. 

We didn't hesitate to fire, a spray of lead ripping the Hebi's to ribbons. Bones spurting out the holes made, blood gushing from their wounds, chunks ripped off by the vicious spray of death, the gore that once stained their mouths, splattered across the walls.

My squad rushed ahead, boots clacking along in sync, though I stopped to look down at the scientist. He reached a hand up, mouthing two words... 

'kill me.' 

I unholstered my magnum, cocking the hammer back before blowing his brains out. His blood sprayed back on the floor, adding to the rancid pool of blood that he lay in, his guts spilling out of his open stomach. 

I grimaced, clasping my hands together in silent prayer, before sprinting to keep up with my squad. 

We were reaching into the deeper parts of Section-B by now... Section-A had already been mostly cleared by other squads. I managed to catch up with my squad, slowing down to keep up with them, quietly panting beneath my mask. 

It wasn't long before we happened upon another group of roaming subjects, a mishmash of different creatures. There was a brolic Mochi, standing infront of the group, maw and horns stained red with blood.

There was a small bat like critter, a Witchbrew, it's claws still had chunks of torn flesh hanging from within, bloodied and splayed with crimson minced viscera. 

And lastly, there were a few Nuclear Rabbits, their fur stained a deep red which had muddled into the sickly green of their fur. 

We opened fire without hesitation, the Mochi tried charging forwards, but it was stopped dead by the hail of gunfire, it's horns shattering, skull cracking, falling back lifeless in a growing pool of it's own blood. The Nuclear Rabbits were caught in the crossfire, letting out horrible screeches as their bodies quite literally melted, great glowing puddles of acid blocking off the rest of the tunnel.

We looked to each other with worried faces, where... would we go? The path ahead was blocked- wait... weren't we missing something?

Suddenly, one of our teammates stumbled forwards, tripping into the acid. He screamed out in utter agony, a horrible sizzle sounding out as his gloves melted away into flesh. Our squad captain quickly dragged him out, throwing him back against the wall with an angry look, glancing around frantically, the stock of her rifle pressed into her shoulder. 

A tiny snickering echoed out in the chaotic noise, a brief flash of brown appearing in the corner of my vision. THAT DAMNED FUCKING WITCHBREW! I turned to face it, the Witchbrew already flying full speed towards us. I raised my rifle, firing at it point blank, I managed to clip it's ear!... But not much else. 

It wrapped around my head, it's claws scratching at my helmet and mask with a menacing cackle. It wasn't long before one of my squad members, a man named Ogden Ortiz tore it off, holding it firm in his hands, before brutally ripping it's wings off, slamming it hard into the ground.

The Witchbrew let out a vicious screech, writhing in agony and clutching the stumps that were once it's wings, before my squad member mercilessly crushed it's skull under his steel-toed boots. 

"Where next Captain?" 

One of my squad members, Thora West asked, saluting him quickly. My captain turned to her, looking down to the guy who'd been partially melted, he was a smart man, his name was... Hobson Twiligers if I remembered correctly, he was already being treated to by the last of my squad, a man called Viktor Humphries. Bandages being wrapped around his hands firm. 

The Captain, a girl called Mochi Miles grunted, looking back down the long hallway. 

"We go back, take a left turn deeper into this Sector and assist the other squads." 

She turned, gesturing for us to follow. Viktor helped Hobson up, pulling him to his feet before giving him a reassuring pat on the back. We all nodded, running after her. 

After a brief jog, we made it to some of the more populated sections of Sector-B... and needless to say, it was a fucking massacre... 

Both subjects, scientists and guards lay dead along the floor. The subjects were filled with holes, chunks blown out of them as their sticky blood spread across the floor. The corpses varied greatly, from the Kaiju, a Hazzy, to even the more kindly specimen like the Plantix and Sprinklekits...

The scientists looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, coats torn and with flesh ripped asunder, dried blood caking their lifeless bodies. Most of them would likely transfur, given the blood from the Kaiju, having seeped into their torn veins...

The guards though... they ways they died just looked absolutely brutal... Their legs were bent the wrong way, bones jutting out of their unprotected limbs, tearing through their sleeves. Some of them had broken necks, horribly disfigured. 

Mochi stopped, walking over to the guards and crouching down, examining their bodies. Suddenly, a look of horror crossed her face, she turned to us shouting. 

"STAY ALERT, WE HAVE A SECTION-C GOOTRAXIAN NEARB-" 

She was then cut of short by a black blur, a pink flash glaring back at us as our captain was grabbed and dragged away, choked screams sounding out, gunshots ringing before stopping abruptly altogether. 

"SHIT, HUDDLEHUDDLEHUDDLE!" 

Ogden, Viktor, Thora, Hobson and I all huddled together, backs pressed against one another, facing in all directions. Our heads were on a panicked swivel, guns toted and primed to fire. I breathed heavy, the panic growing with every passing second of silence. 

Suddenly, we heard Hobson cry out, his screams cut out by a echoing CRUNCH. I grit my teeth, eyes widening. I tried to ignore Hobson's death, focusing on the looming threat at hand... 

I quickly caught sight of it's pink glare-

"THERE!" 

I shouted, opening fire, illuminating the dim lit halls with the flashes of orange flashing gunfire. The bullets zipped down the halls in flashes of white, pinging off the walls and ricocheting off doors.  A low growl sounded out, but it sounded more annoyed than anything... I doubt I'd hit it. 

It was silent. 

Not a single sound rang in the deep echoing halls... not until the growing sound of many heavy footsteps rang out. I stared down the hall where it followed, eyes widening in horror as I watched the giant mass of Kaiju barrel down the hall, jaws slobbering. 

"HORDE- HOOORDE!!" 

I shouted, opening fire on the giant wave of approaching subjects. My teammates snapped to attention, focusing our efforts on the monsters. Our bullets hailed down on them, snapping bone and piercing through 10s of subjects at once. 

They fell one by one, the very last collapsing in a pool of it's own blood, guts spilling into it's claws as it was riddled in holes, stopping just inches from my feet. 

I let out a relieved sigh, reaching down to my belt to reload my rifle, but finding no spare magazines... I turned to my squad, eyes downcast. 

"Hey, do you guys have any spare bullet-..." 

I froze, slowly staring up at the looming figure which stood before me, shrouded in darkness, a demonic pink glare staring down at me, it's sharp white teeth gleamed in the far flashing red light. It was covered in the blood of both the subjects and men... I stared up in shock, before casting my gaze to the corpses of my squad members. 

They were all swiftly and silently killed, necks snapped, blood seeping through the tears in the skin. I stared in shock, slowly stepping back, ignoring the squelch of a corpse beneath my boots. 

I dropped my empty rifle, slowly looking up to the shrouded figure, as it let out a single, deep, rumbling word, a malicious bloodied grin on it's cruel face, human flesh and bone stuck between it's canines.

"Run."

I let out a loud, terrified scream, turning tail and running as fast as my legs could manage, hysterical and panicking. I'd never felt a fear so strong in my life... what the FUCK WAS THAT THING?! A section-C subject?!