Last Hope

2: Barely Human

Eric let off another shot of the shotgun in his hands into the skull of the creature towering over him, blowing its head apart and splattering the walls with black blood. He could hear that others weren't far behind and he quickly scanned the lab keycard in his possession against the locked security door, the metal door clicking open.

He rushed inside just as more creatures rounded the corner, their screeching was drowned out by the security door that locked behind him. Eric leaned against it and caught his breath as he dropped the shotgun down near his leg, giving his arm a break from the weight of the heavy weapon.

The lab was dark, only a soft blue light emitted from a monitor lighting up one part of the room. Lab equipment was scattered over multiple tables shoved near the wall and Eric stepped over a dead lab worker as he moved towards the terminal. On the screen were several different tests of blood samples and logs all over the same subject and Eric found himself looking through the photos of the blood that showed the crimson red of the blood with traces of black swirling within it.

"Interesting read?"

Eric snapped his head towards the containment cell in the other half of the room that was partially blocked from view by a wall splitting the two halves. He stepped away from the monitor and moved closer to the glass, his eyes glancing briefly to the heartbeat beeping on the monitor beside the cell.

Inside the padded, white room, a woman stood behind the glass staring back with brown eyes. Her brown hair was in a pixie style cut but had grown out longer and now one side fell a little ways past her right eye. She was clad in a black tanktop that sat tightly against her olive skin and jeans.

Her eyes scanned over Eric's bloodied figure, black blood smudged under his left eye and spattered on his grey shirt that hung over dirtied jeans also spattered with traces of black blood. His short brown hair was in tangles and matched in color to the dark unkempt stubble on his face.

"Who are you?" Eric spoke, his voice was throaty yet soothing as it came through the barrier between them and reached her ears.

"My name is Leyla Collier, I was head of the labs until..."

"Until what?" Eric questioned when her eyes flicked away from his before snapping back at his question.

"The research on the computer was about me or whatever the hell I am now. There was an accident and now I'm a threat."

A sharp scream at the metal, security door caught Eric's attention and he turned away from her briefly.

"You really pissed them off," Leyla said with a smirk that reached her tired eyes.

Eric turned back towards her and moved towards the security door of the containment cell, Leyla moving with him and stopping at the edge of the glass.

"What are you trying to do? Didn't you hear me when I said I was a threat?" Leyla said as Eric crouched down and began to fidget with the passcoded lock.

"I did, but seeing as you're human and those things out there are what is a threat at the moment I'm going to free you," Eric muttered, pulling back and moving towards the tables in search of the code when he couldn't get it open.

"That's not a great idea," Leyla argued and he looked up at her from the other room.

"And why's that?" Eric questioned, looking at Leyla whose hands were planted firmly against the glass.

"Just go, escape, find a safe place, just leave me here. I'm not worth saving." Leyla said softly, her defeated look pulling at Eric's heart.

He turned back to his search, pulling open a drawer and searching through the paperwork before seeing a hidden note with a code penned on it.

"The station is no longer safe and I'm not leaving you here to die." He said firmly and she thumped a fist softly against the glass.

"I warned you." She murmured as he entered the code, the terminal blinking green before the security door slid open.

"You did," Eric said as he stepped into the room, Leyla's back facing him.

She glanced over her shoulder at him before turning to face him completely, a fire in her eyes that he hadn't seen earlier.

"Fine, you want to be the hero, go-ahead but promise me this, please. If you ever feel like you're life is on the line when around me, you shoot to kill, end me on the spot."

"I won't..."

"Promise me, I don't want to hurt anyone, please."

"I promise."

Leyla let out a sigh of relief and stepped forward just as Eric did the same.

"Good to see you alive, Leyla Collier. I'm Eric Segale."

Their hands met between them and instantly a connection sparked to life as a black vine wrapped around the flesh of Leyla's arm and around their joined hands.

"Leyla! Where are you?!"

Leyla quickly moved her research into a safe place and turned to face a raging Sam while the other researchers continued to work on, listening in and ready to stand by their friend.

"I'm working Sam, I can't..."

Leyla's words were cut off as his palm connected with her cheek sending her head to the side.

"That's a pathetic excuse, don't you think? Next time I ask something of you, I suggest you make time for it, alright?"

Leyla gave a curt nod as he gently grasped her chin, raising her eyes to meet his. "You're lucky you've got me, no will ever want you."

Anger spiked in Eric as he processed the memory that sparked to life in his mind about the woman standing before him, his hand tightening around hers.

He crouched down behind cover as a barrage of bullets soared over his head and fixed the gun in his hands before raising it up and firing at his targets, sending them scurrying off.

He moved from his cover and quickly moved to another where George was crouched down.

"How many targets?" Eric asked and George turned his head towards him.

"From what I see it's two," George answered and moved to aim, sending the targets scattering behind their own cover.

"There's more cover over there, could get a better advantage from that side." Eric pointed out and George nodded.

"Alright, I'm right behind you."

Eric moved from cover first and George followed on his tail when gunfire broke out, and a cry of pain caused Eric to duck behind the first thing he could find.

George laid motionless on the ground before him, blood pooling on his uniform from the bullet wound on his chest as Eric stared on, frozen in his spot by the sight of his friend's life draining out before him.

Sadness grew in Leyla as she watched Eric's deep brown eyes fill with dread and hopelessness as he looked on at his friend, her hand tightened around his hoping to bring him some sense of comfort.