Trials of Survival

Chapter 18: Violent Tendencies

(Hi hello, it's me again. New chapter up and cooking! I think I might be losing a few people, sooooo uh, yeah that's kinda bad, but I hope you one day may return! That'd be nice thank you.) 

(Everyone, thanks for reading this story! I'm pretty sure it's got a few flaws... but still, thank you so much for coming along for a read :])

(These further chapters will have a lot more gore to them, since the previous two chapters were a tiny bit lacking in violence. You'll be seeing a lot more creatures come out of hiding, given the fact that Tane and the gang actually have to split up to find hints of a code. [ha, good luck losers].)  

(This chapter is gonna be long as fuuuuuck btw. There's a lot more Dave content than the others in this one too. I had fun with that one.) 

(Aaaaand without further ado, here's the chapter!!!) 

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12:32 AM 


I groaned inwardly, switching the motor off, letting it rumble to a stop, before clipping it to my belt. Of course there'd be a code! There was a lockdown, and I mean... it wasn't like this was just any old office, this was the Site Director's office. 

I took in a deep breath, turning back to the dim figures of my group, barely visible in the flashing red lights... well, aside from Jack, who was quite literally covered in glowing purple markings. I let my hands fall to my side, a growing sense of annoyance growing on my features. 

"Ok... there's another problem. In retrospect, I should've probably seen this coming..." 

I hung my head, an awkward silence permeating through the cold damp hall. I turned back to the door, rasping my knuckles on it's hard steel frame, a muted knock sounding out. This door was thick, that was for sure. 

"... We need a four-digit code. Four-digits. Granted, it'll be hell to actually try and figure this shit out, but... well, what can ya' do?" 

Jack scratched his head, rugged claws scraping through his unruly grey fur. He cleared his throat, turning to look down at me. 

"Can't we just... try to open it by force?" 

I looked back to the door, studying it for a moment, before turning to look back up at him, frowning slightly. 

"Nope. This is a fall down door, or, whatever you call it... it comes down, that's all I've gotta say. There'll be no leverage for us to use the crowbar, and unless you wanna try smashing through that with your bare hands, we're out of options." 

Beatrix stepped forwards, a faint look of concern plastered over her face, barely recognisable in this dim light, 

"So... you're saying we just have to... go out there and find it? What the hell! It could be any combination of any 4 numbers! Who knows, maybe he just put in some random code!" 

Beatrix set her hands on her hips, glaring up at me. 

"You do know how vast this facility is, right? We'd be searching for hours!" 

I nodded, crossing my arms.

"Granted, that is a possibility, and if it is, we might as well just be dead. But also, that's why we're splitting up." 

Beatrix looked back at the others, stuttering over her words, while the rest of the group muttered to each other. 

"What? What's the problem with travelling as one big group? I for one, don't want to die." 

I sighed, trying to pinch the bridge of my nose, only for my fingers to connect with my smooth faceplate. I shook my head momentarily, before meeting her eyes. 

"We'll be going in groups of 2. You don't have to worry all too much." 

She let out a small sigh of relief, breaking eye contact with me, staring down at the fireaxe Jack had gifted to her, hands clenching tighter around the grip of the handle. Dave looked a tad relieved, glancing over at Fox, while Jack looked a bit confused, glancing around at the others. 

"Firstly, we'll be scoping out Sector-B. If the Site-Director was outside his office, he'd probably flee down that way. And if we're lucky, we may come across his remains relatively intact. He might have something on his person, if not, it's the next best place to search." 

I tapped my boot on the ground, glancing at the looming gates all around us pensively. 

"Beatrix, you're coming with me. Dave, you'll go with Fox." 

Jack furrowed his brow, stepping forwards with a look of mixed confusion. 

"So uh... do I go with one of you guys, or just..." 

"You're going alone." 

"Oh..." 

I looked him up and down, gesturing briefly at his bulky, furred frame. 

"You don't need a partner, you're already well off on your own. Plus, if you want, you can imagine that Shamrock's your partner." 

Jack hummed in thought, looking to his right arm, and flexing his bicep. His eyes widened a tad, prodding his impressive muscles, before a smug toothy grin came over his face. 

"You know me too well, boss man! Y'here that Shamrock? Jack called me buff!"

I sighed, rolling my eyes at the oversized man child before me, just ignoring him as he inspected the rest of his body, poking and prodding his hidden bulk, while chatting up a storm to the tired sheep on his shoulder.

I tugged the map out my belt, unrolling it before inspecting it once more... It was much too dark to make out anything. So, I cast a glance over at Dave, holding out my hand. 

"Could I borrow your flashlight for a minute?" 

Dave perked up, looking to me curiously, before nodding slightly, reaching down to his belt and pulling out the old heavy torch. 

"Here!" 

"Thanks." 

I flicked it on then held it loosely on my shoulder, leaning my head to the side, pressing the thick padded neck brace against it to hold it firm against my body. I held up the map, looking over it's rigid details once more. 

There were plenty paths we could take if we continued down, but I didn't really care about those minor ones, I was looking for the major paths. If we continued out of Sector-A and turned right, we'd go down a hallway into a small corridor. There were about 2 major rooms and one smaller room. The first major was the Computer Room, and the second was just a Cafeteria. While the minor room was the Bathrooms.  

Just a little further down the hall and to the left was a similar set up, with two major rooms, but with no smaller rooms. The two main ones were the Workshop, and LAMINAX Garden-B. 

That was all the main halls in Sector-B, and unless we wanted to go scrounging through tons of different abandoned and wrecked testing chambers, there wasn't much to go by. The rest lay in Sector-C, but we'd already scrounged through the main chambers. 

Hmm... I could probably send someone to go look through one minor offshoot hall... It was just near the gate to Sector-C, taking form of a tiny corridor, with four minor closets. It was just named Janitorial Supplies.

I huffed, nodding to myself while rolling up the map, my neck was getting sore anyways. I stuffed the map back into my belt, before handing Dave back his flashlight, switching it off in the process. He took it back quick, setting it gently back into it's slot in his belt. 

"Alright people, attention please! I've looked over our options and we've got two major hallways, one minor corridor, and as an extension, a bunch of probably empty testing rooms." 

Everyone stopped talking, turning to face me, listening carefully... well, aside from Jack, that is.

"If you walk a bit and take a turn to the left, you'll make it down a short corridor that leads into a workshop and a garden... and if you take a turn down to the right, there'll be a computer room and a cafeteria. And just by the gate, there's a hall dedicated to Janitor stuff... Any volunteers?"

Dave and Fox looked at each other, leaning in, whispering amongst themselves, before turning back to me, speaking up. 

"We'll take the right!" 

"...Right..."

I nodded, gesturing down the hall. 

"Alright, get going then." 

They didn't make a fuss, just turning around walking away before disappearing down into the flickering darkness. Shortly thereafter, a dim light appeared, growing fainter the further they went. That was probably Dave's flashlight.

"Beatrix?" 

She perked up, breaking out of that cold stupor of hers, looking up at me with a hint of confusion. Before I could repeat myself, she managed to get her brain working again, quickly blurting out her answer 

"Workshop! The workshop. Yeah, that's sound good! I've been there a couple times... that's where they make their weapons and stuff... I watched them cybernetically augment a subject before, it didn't really work out-" 

I nudged her on the shoulder, furrowing my brow down at her. 

"You're rambling." 

She shook her self out of it, chuckling nervously, bringing the axe up to her chest. 

"Haha! Just.. nervous is all..." 

... 

"Alright Jack, where do you want to search...?" 

I said, my voice exasperated, I knew he was going to find some way to be a pain in the arse about this. He looked to me curiously, letting his arms fall to his side, a slight silly smile crossing his face. 

"What's up boss man?" 

"Where. Do. You. Want. To. Search." 

He perked up, fur bristling slightly, his bioluminescent markings flaring up a tad in surprise, if I had to guess. 

"Oh right!... uh, what're the options again...?" 

I facepalmed, groaning inwardly. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, I held my finger up, stopping him from saying... well, whatever nonsense he was about to spew. 

"I'll decide for you." 

I spat, venom coursing through my tone. I just couldn't with this man! And I use the term 'man' loosely, for a varying amount of reasons. 

"You're going to the first hallway on the left. That's final. And before you ask, it's Janitor's Supplies. Hell, you might find the Site Director's corpse locked away in a closet if you're lucky."