The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 16: Roast Beast.

Saint Oracle's Hospital, capital city of Machinae One, August of 8096 AL.

Briarios heard the screams before the door even opened.

A shrill, penetrating screech ringed in his ears as he crashed through the double doors of the emergency room. The source of it came from a woman standing just beyond them, the reason for her scream made apparent a moment later by the spray of red mist that filled the air as she fell backwards. The woman's blood splattered against Briarios' face, and dripped from the Nephilim's sword. The monster looked at Briarios and smiled.

That smile was its last expression before a bolt of white-hot flame engulfed its face. His lips curled back and withered under the heat, his knees buckled and he folded like a lawn chair. He was dead before he hit the ground, just like the woman whose head landed at Briarios' feet.

Briarios stepped past her body, paying it no heed. He couldn't afford distractions, especially not with half a dozen other Nephilim charging at him from every direction. He extended his arms and threw similar bolts of flame at each of them, catching two in the chest, one in the face, and the rest in their limbs or lower torsos. The few that weren't dead instantly died on the floor minutes later of shock.

With the Nephilim dead, Briarios was finally able to examine the room. Bodies littered the floor, mostly young women, a few young men, and several dozen elderly. The bodies were all clustered around the door, some slumped over chairs in the waiting room and others against the wall. He came to the conclusion that the nurses had been trying to evacuate the hospital, only to find themselves cornered. There was a door on either side of the room and an office space directly across from him.

"Empress, hack into the hospital's computer network." Briarios spoke out loud to his AI, his eyes scanning the room for anything of interest besides the blood-soaked floor and the bodies that lay there. "Access the security system and find out if there are any survivors."

"Already done," she spoke to him through thought. "There is a squadron of marines searching various sectors of the hospital, they're in the western wing now. All of the remaining patients and staff are in the mental ward on the second floor. There's a group of Nephilim looking for them, but they're hiding in the cafeteria."

"Understood. Inform the marines that the hospital is clear, I want them to report to the mental ward immediately and secure the patients."

"Yes sir, what about the Nephilim?"

"They're mine." Briarios growled and strode across the room to the door. He had visited this hospital dozens of times for dozens of reasons, he knew where he was going.

After several minutes of walking, three lefts turns and two rights followed by a short ride in the elevator he found himself in front of a set of double doors marked "Mental Ward." Several bloody hand prints could be seen on the walls and door handles. Briarios ignored them, shoving the doors open and stepping through them.

Beyond the doors he found an empty hallway. The mental ward consisted of almost a third of the hospital's complex, his father felt it was a very important resource for the veterans in the city. Salem had ensured the hospital received all the funding it could possibly need for anything that could help; after all, it was partially his fault that they needed it. Briarios had spent a lot of his childhood in this hospital, talking to the patients, hearing their stories. It pained him to see their blood on the walls and the bodies that lay on the floor every ten meters or so. He ignored the familiar faces, and kept walking through the familiar halls.

"In the cafeteria, they're hiding in the walk-in fridge," Empress said.

"And the Nephilim?"