S.H.A.D.E. [{ Completed }]✔ (#Wattys2018)

Less than Human

Warning: this chapter contains disturbing and gory content. I apologize, but I feel this is necessary. Next one will be back to normal.

21.

I step lightly as I descend to the next floor. This will be number two of six.

Now that I have a gun, I won't have to kill so violently from now on.

I have to hurry though, because Fuisha and Violet will be causing an evacuation any time now. Hopefully, they will take out some of the security on the bottom floor as they do.

"The hall is clear, but on the end to the right is two Demons. They're talking. You should be able to take both down easily."

And I do, coming around the corner and firing shots to their head.

I grab their guns and store them in the stairwell, moving down the floors.

Floor three and four are easy, each only having one Demon stationed. I have to wait a bit for floor four's Demon to come around the corner before I shoot him, the clock ticking away towards evacuation.

I reach floor five, which is watched by three Demons once again. It takes two shots to bring one down, the noise alerting the other two, who run rapidly towards me. I hit one in the head, and he falls back to the ground, but the other is a more adept fighter and dodges my bullet, coming up and grabbing me by the hair, throwing my head into the wall.

Copper is less successful in numbing that pain, but he points out that I am in a beneficial position to trip up the Demon, which I do by lashing out my leg so that the lout trips and lands head first into the wall. I move out of the way, then fire up at him. The bullet goes through his head with a disgusting spray of blood. I look away as he falls to the ground.

Just one more floor to go.

Floor six also has three Demons. I am fueled up by adrenaline. It tingles in my fingers, in my toes. My eye is starting to swell shut where the Demon mashed my face into the wall, but for the time being it is just a painless visual nuisance.

I feel as though I drift to the next floor. I'm aware that I should be careful, but I just want this to be over. I want to end this horrible night. Because of this, I am a bit reckless.

"There is one dead ahead of you. You should--"

I ignore Copper, flying the stairwell door open and taking aim at the Demoness ahead. She looks so normal with her back turned. She could be anyone... a mother, a daughter, a sister. A human being.

"Ebony!"

She turns at the sound of the door crashing into the wall. I shoot to kill.

She drops, but something with the weight of a cinder block comes down onto my skull. I plummet to the floor, smashing my cheek into the carpet.

A kick comes down onto my back, and I swear to god that my spine snaps. I wheeze out, a disgusting and inhuman sound.

I hear the static of a radio. "5, there is an intruder here." A pause. "5! Are you fucking deaf?! She took down Ragna. Get down here!" There is only white noise in reply. I hear the Demon seethe, a low growl vibrating in his chest. "What'd you do, you little bitch?" he sneers, rolling me over. I scream against the pain.

"I'm numbing it! Your back isn't broken! You need to get away!"

I look up into pitiless eyes. They are jet black, all except for the yellow slit that is his pupil. They are the most evil sight I have ever seen, I'm sure.

I can't make my body work. It doesn't feel, it doesn't move. I am a slab of veal on this Demon's plate. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable.

Just then, an alarm starts blaring, and an automated voice calmly states over the monitor, "This is an evacuation. Do not panic. Head to your nearest exit. This is an evacuation. Do not panic. Head to your nearest exit."

The lights in the hall go out, darkening the space around me and the Demon.

"Ebony, this is it. This is the full capacity of what your body can take. Get the fuck out of there."

My heart revs up, my veins protrude in paths all over my body, my skulp prickles, my hair stands on end. I breathe, I move.

The Demon is distracted by the alarm, no longer considering me a threat.

I do something insane. I tackle him down to the ground.

I don't stop there though. I punch him, and I mean punch. My fists are blurs, my hands are clubs. They beat and beat.

His hands come up to stop me, but I bite them, tearing off fingers.

I am not Ebony. I am not human even. I am something else all together in this moment. I am a creature fighting to survive.

I beat and beat and beat until I am panting, until I am sobbing and screaming.

He dies.

The body I sit on ripples and then crumbles like ash, leaving the suit behind.

I throw up all over it and then black out.