Black Source #theWattys2016

DEREK VIII

The scientist's lifeless body sat up right against the wall. Derek knelt down and looked over his face, instantly remembering the scientist, the image of his lab coat and horn-rimmed glasses imprinted clearly in his memory.

Derek's eyes widened. He knelt down and placed a hand on Hamilton's shoulder. "I forgive you." he said. Hamilton's face had that familiar absence that Derek had come to recognize. With two fingers he closed Hamilton's eyes then stood up and walked through the door into another rectangular hallway, with rooms on either side.

The low muffled growl was just loud enough for him to hear in time. Derek, carefully quieting his steps, posted up on the doorframe and looked into the room, seeing the spread remains of a Mod Soldier being devoured by a hound. Breathlessly leveling the rifle to his eye, Derek tried to slowly walk past the door without being noticed. Despite his impeccable silence, with its keen sense of smell the hound noticed him and slowly raised its gigantic head, and stared Derek straight in the eyes.

With its powerful legs, the hound lurched toward Derek, freezing at the doorframe feet before him. Devoting the full capacity of his mental focus, Derek strained to keep the hound in place. Strangely the task was far harder than in the hive. Back there it was easy to hold the evolved in place, stiffening their muscles with his mere intention, his thoughts slowing theirs to none. But it was different now that he was faced with a hound outside of the hive. His head was threatening to implode with the strain.

"Derek!" a voice called at the end of the hall. The voice was familiar, bringing the memory of a lost friend to the forefront of his mind. Looking to address the call, Derek's concentration broke momentarily, setting loose the hound like a dog off its chain.

"Jacob," Derek said, revisiting the horror of his nightmares. The hound closed the distance between Derek and Jacob in seconds. Derek fired his light rifle, clipping the hound's legs. The rifle smoked empty as Derek ran to intercept the beast, throwing his rifle at it and latching onto its enormous back. The hound bucked Derek deep into the wall like an enraged bull, and then cratered the ground with his back. Derek wrestling hard with the hound, its strength prevailing over his. He barreled around with it, taking bites and gashes that left his skin dangling.

"Run!" Derek screamed. Passing around the fight, Jacob ran down the hall with a dark skinned boy limp in his arms. The boy was small and his bones protruded from the skin around his shoulders and ribs. His arms were filled with stringy muscles traced with black tubes from the wrist to the shoulder then onto the back of his head and down his spine. In Jacob's arms he looked lifeless, his arms dangling as Jacob ran.

Sinking its teeth deep into Derek shoulder, the hound crushed his collar bone, and drove its claws deep into his sides. Derek cried out. It was going to pull him apart. Summoning the utmost of his might, Derek collapsed the hound's neck with his hands, and as it released his shoulder from its jaws, he grabbed it by the ends of its head and snapped its neck. The beast went limp, dropping to the ground. The sound of flesh slapping concrete echoed through the hall.

Derek caught his breath, and waited for his wounds to heal, then got to his feet and slid along the wall, trailing blood behind him. The scene looked like his dreams—the bodies, the screams, and his mangled arm. His wounds, continuing to leak purple blood, strangely didn't heal, steadily weakening him.

Derek stumbled down the dark hallways, trying to find Jacob and the boy, Raven still nowhere to be found. He would go back for her after he found Jacob. He couldn't leave anyone else behind. Rounding the corner, Derek saw the boy, propped up against the wall, chin to his chest. Quickly Derek knelt down beside him, and touched his hand. Immediately, a voltage ran from the boys head to his arm and then into Derek's shoulder, healing his wounds completely, and jolting him with energy. Derek marveled at his glowing hands.