King of Stars Volume 1 (An interstellar ATEEZ Hongjoong fanfiction)

Part Nine: In Which 10-24 Knows Loss

                   ****TRIGGER WARNING****

Ahead are some graphic depictions of violence. If you are not comfortable then skip the section marked between the ~. Read at your own discretion.

            We weren't going to make it in time. It was going to slaughter us all before we were even ten feet from the safety of command. I ran the scenario through my head and ninety eight times out of a hundred we all died. Between our gasping breaths and the rapid sound of eight legs pounding across the floor behind us I realized it. I shot one final look back and saw it nearly on our heels, so close I could see our reflection in its blood colored eyes.

                                            ~
     First it swept Yeosang's feet, who was just a half a step behind, and pulled his body under it's weight. I could hear the horrible crunch of every bone in his body breaking. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to blink. The spider scrambled over him leaving him lying there lifeless and mangled.

       Then when it was close enough to attack Seongwha it grabbed him and sunk its twelve inch fangs into his shoulder. One of the fangs perforated the side of his heart while the other punctured his left lung. It was so fast Seongwha's heart stopped mid scream. His body was now flooded with venom that would slowly liquify his insides.

Both deaths happened all in the span of nine seconds.

"No!" Mingi wailed.

Features contorted in grief he stopped and turned delivering a spinning kick to the spider's face. It shrieked as his heel made contact, the force made some of it's eyeballs burst and white slime dripped to the floor.

The spider reared and furiously rammed into Mingi. I cringed as I heard his insides cave in under the immense pressure. Mingi weakly fought back landing some punches on the spider's head. He slumped to the floor leaving a trail of blood down the side of the wall. He rasped a breath and it sounded wet as if he was breathing in water.

He would die ten minutes later drowning in his own blood. It would be excruciatingly slow.

I whirled around and cupped Yunho's face. His eyes were wild with panic. "Listen to me Yunho! You have to order me to kill it! Please tell me to kill it!" I begged.

Yunho looked over my shoulder and pulled his gun free from the holster. He fired off two shots over my head, one hitting its abdomen and the other blowing off one of its fangs. The spider let out a high pitched howl and stumbled.

The gunfire left my ears ringing but before I could react something smashed into my back. It struck me with such force that I saw stars and all the air was knocked out of my lungs.

I heard the sounds of wet tearing as something sharp pierced through me and entered Yunho's chest. I had never experienced anything close to this level of pain. It radiated through my chest and I felt like I was slowly being ripped apart. I threw my head back, a weak scream escaping from between my lips.

Horrified I looked down and saw one of the spider's legs sticking out of my chest. It's appendage was lined with sharp points of bone like a serrated blade. Blood quickly blossomed and stained my clothes around the wound. "T-ten..." Yunho gurgled squeezing my shoulders. I looked at him and he coughed, his blood spraying me in the face.

Then all at once the leg ripped back out and both Yunho and I stumbled to the ground, my strength completely leaving my body. I landed on Yunho's body my chin bouncing off his chest. As the spider continued down the hallway to command I laid there limp and listened to Yunho's faltering heartbeats.