Last Hope

1: Don't Move

Eric crouched behind the desk, his hands planted on the cold floor to help his balance. He pressed his left cheek to the wooden desk and he chanced a glance before whipping his head back around.

A slender, black body moved into the open, the claws that adorned each of its four legs scratching at the floor with each slow movement made. It's head the same ink color as its body, moved side to side as it searched, it's long tongue reaching out from its maw as if to taste the air around it. Low clicks echoed from inside its wide maw and sharp, bloodied teeth lined every inch of its mouth that its pink tongue would run over, gathering up the remaining trace of its last victim. Two empty, black eye sockets sat on the creature's face, darkness pooling into the empty crevices.

Eric rested his head back and tried to control his breathing as his heart thumped erratically, his ears focusing on the low clicks that broke through the silence of the large room. Others were also in hiding and he hoped they had enough sense to stay that way as the creature entered in further.

However, the soft movement of someone shifting and low sobs caused him to snap his head towards the source.

Hannah Lanston, a tech operator that he had seen helping out around the station, was positioned behind a column, her low sobs gradually getting loud.

The creature moved, its slender body shooting around the column and sliding into a position that reminded Eric of that of a tiger, it's pink tongue flickering out to slash the air around it. Hannah's sobs grew louder as her eyes set sight on the monstrous creature watching her hungrily. She tilted her head to the side and spotted Eric, her eyes widening. There was an unspoken plea in her eyes as Eric watched the creature creep forwards torturously. Hannah shot out her hand and her voice broke through as the creature lept.

"Help me!" Her scream echoed through the room as the creature's tongue wrapped itself around her throat, it's sharp claws sinking into the flesh of her shoulders as it towered over her on the support of its hind legs. It's wide maw stretched open even wider and Eric snapped his head away as it came down, razor-like teeth devouring her head whole before ripping away.

Eric grimaced as he heard the tearing and ripping of flesh before the creature struck again, crushing bones as it latched onto Hannah's body.

Moving slowly, Eric took the creature's distraction as a time to move. He crept from his hiding space and crouched he moved along the wall, but he froze as another one of the creatures dropped down from the second floor of the room, a hiss sending shivers down Eric's spine as his eyes watched every move the creature made.

"Take this you ugly bitch!" A fragmentation grenade dropped from the upper level catching the creature's attention and sending Eric into a panic as he dove into an unlocked office, kicking the door closed just as the creature's long tongue pulled the grenade into its wide maw.

Eric took cover as the grenade exploded in the belly of the monster, blowing the creature to bits and shaking the door of the room Eric was hiding in, fragments embedding themselves in the door.

Eric moved towards the door and carefully opened it, taking in the sight of the black blood that was splatted over the nearest surfaces. The other creature hadn't seemed to care about the disturbance and continued on with its lastest victim as Eric crept from the room and made his way to the broken access door.

When he tried to open it, the panel flashed red and Eric snapped his head towards the creature as a voice gave him instructions. The creature slowly turned its head towards the noise briefly before carrying on.

The access door lifted slightly off the ground as it tried to fully open and Eric took the opportunity to crawl underneath, the door slamming down behind him with another error message.

Eric looked up from where he sat on his knees in front of the access door at the wide hallway with doors on either side, the bodies of the people who use to occupy them lying on the ground along with their blood. It stained the carpeted floors, leaving dark marks on the already red carpet and forever imprinting that person's death into the floor of the Chronos Station.

Slowly Eric rose to his feet and stood before the hallway, he stepped forward and picked up a discarded pistol. Out of one of the open doors, an inky black creature crawled out and it stood tall.

Small red dots stared straight into Eric as its body shifted, the black of its body curling and twisting around itself to produce two arms on either side of its torso. Row upon row of curved, jagged teeth lined its widened mouth as it let out a terrible shriek that echoed down the hallway.

Eric cocked the pistol in his hands, reveling in the cool metal that itched against his palm. The creature let out another cry, spikes emerging from its inky body to line its back as its claws clenched and unclenched before it moved towards its target.

With each movement, another shot went off, the bullets puncturing the creature's skull as it closed in before with one final shot to the head it fell to the ground with a painful cry. Its black blood seeped into the carpeted floor, mixing with the red of its victims as it met its demise at the hand of a survivor.

Eric stepped past the monster before searching a security guard and finding more ammunition and a keycard. He turned back towards the dead creature briefly, watching as its red eyes faded and slowly disappeared into empty darkness before he headed on his way. He could hear the roaring of the creatures behind the door at the end of the hall and the cries that pierced the air as the other monstrosities plotted revenge for the one that killed one of their brotheren, but that didn't stray him from his warpath. He continued on towards the door with a new sense of determination and a fire in his eyes.