Where Light Dies

45. Beyond Salvation

Hurried footsteps rattled the dark tunnel floors. She had to make it in time, and she didn't have much of it left.

Gunshots echoed in the distance.

Sarah slammed the metal door with her shoulder, the sharp clang of it falling to the floor shearing through the silence of the empty walkways. Before her lay a chamber bathed in the entrails of nearly half a dozen soldiers, all mixed into a slurry of blood and gore over the cold cement floor.

-- Heatherhills, Base Camp -- 2017 --

Blake knelt at the centre of the carnage, wheezing as his lungs burned from exhaustion. Rivulets of the viscous red fluid trickled down his arms, covered in spiralling wounds and untethered flesh. His frame was steaming over, the mist denser around his arms and chest where the few rounds that had been fired found their place.

"So, you aren't dead after all," the boy croaked.

A shallow splash rippled across the room as Blake fell into the crimson pool, face first. The taste of iron coated his tongue, a taste which should have been familiar to him. This time however, it wasn't his own blood that nipped at his buds. The thought made him want to puke.

Sarah huffed as she leaned against the door's frame, slowly sliding down to her knees. She watched as the pool of red bubbled, making it seem as though the blood was boiling from the boy's heat. Mark ran up to his side, struggling to pull Blake back up before he choked on ground intestines.

Sarah caught her breath, her head tilted against the metallic frame. "Did they drug you?"

"No. Blake went all out as soon as he saw the syringe," Mark coughed, trying hard to supress the urge to empty his stomach. "What the hell was that thing?"

"A virus. The kind that kills you in thirty days tops."

"What the -where the hell did he get that? Wait, why are they even doing such a thing?"

"No time to explain." Sarah dragged herself up against the frame, shuffling her way back into the tunnel. "We need to get the other's before they get dosed."

A loud squelch made her stop in her tracks. "Wait."

"What is it?" she asked, turning around to face Blake who was now propped on his legs. His hand clamped against the shackles on the wall, standing up straight with its support. Shallow drips rippled through the room as the bullets fell out of the holes in his body, his frame now covered in a mist of fuming steam.

"I'll go on ahead." His back straightened yet again, the chain slowly making its way down his arms. A blade the size of a shovel plate was now resting by the side of his curled fist, its edges eager for blood. Blake stomped out of the room, his steps accelerating as he disappeared into the looming darkness.

Bring me their heads, Dayton.

The men who remained in the room picked up the rifles of the deceased, multiple clicks cutting through the room's scarlet glow as they switched the safeties off.

Sarah's features twisted into a vengeful grin.

"Time for some payback gentlemen."

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"That cunt Raymond."

"The first one was the real deal Mikey. Eighteen and ripe for the taking."

"The asshole's having all the good ones to himself. So what if he's only got a couple of days left? He's just had the fun of a lifetime if you ask me."

"Jake's been nailing that brunette for like the past two minutes. Should come out any second now screamin' for help!"

The two men guffawed, guns hanging loose as they buckled over from laughter. "Ain't that right Mikey boy!"