Sorry for the short chapter. As said before, i've been extremely busy, but recently i've gotten a break so i'll try to cram in as many chapters as I can. Plus I had to re-write this one cuz' the first one sucked.
Enjoy.
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Dan was in a sour mood. His hip ached from his stitches and lack of appendix, and Hugo was gnawing on his leg. Dan tried to pull back, but when he did Hugo snarled, as though saying ‘would you rather have me chewing on your leg, or your face?’ So Dan had to stand there, helpless, as the slobbering slog bit away as though Dan were a scrap of meat with no free will.
“Okay,” Durc said, holding the neck of one of the strobe lights, “here’s a quick review. When we get inside the basement, you turn on the lights. Everybody takes a separate hall and shines it on anything that goes bump in the night. If said monster happens to be a twisted intern intent on snapping your neck and drinking your blood, shine the light and run like hell.” Durc pulled a pair of bulky goggles over his head and strapped a belt around his waist. “You’ll each be wearing one of these belts as well as infra-red goggles. They’re really great. The belts have a bunch of equipment on them, I doubt you’ll need any, but its basic regulations that you wear them. And with the goggles, you can see in the dark by heat, so if you see anything that looks like---”
“Why will we need infra-red goggles if we’re going in there with strobe lights? Won’t the lights, like, light up everything?” Somebody asked.
“Shut up and do what I say.” Durc said smugly, crossing his arms.
Hugo barked viciously as Dan tried to walk over and get some goggles from the bin. Dan was fed up. He kicked the slog’s snout with all his might and ran like he’d never run before, barely avoiding the fat slog’s snapping jaws and serrated teeth. He grabbed a pair of goggles and ducked behind whatever was closest- which happened to be Ian.
Sh– Ian cursed as Hugo lumbered over, licking his jaws and pulling back his gums.
“Enough ” Durc snapped, jerking Hugo’s leash. Dan nearly cried out in horror as Durc tied the end of the rope around his wrist so tightly that his hand turned purple. “Keep. Ahold. Of. Hugo ” He said piercingly, prodding Dan in the chest with each word for added emphasis. Dan flinched away from the slog, pulling back his leg to avoid it from being bitten.
“Now,” Durc said, “here’s how the squads will go. Dan will take Hugo and go with squad one, Red will go with squad two...”
The list seemed to be endless. Dan spent the entire time stiff with fear as Hugo crept slowly closer, his lips pulled back in a silent growl. Dan tried scooting away. Hugo only advanced more rapidly.
“So, questions? No? Well good, lets get this over with.” Durc turned on his goggles. Dan did the same. The quiet hallway went from grey to blue and purple, and the people around him turned red and orange. He couldn’t make out any defining features; he could only see their silhouettes.
“Okay, lets hurry this up. Now that we know what we’re dealing with, we shouldn’t have any problems.”
<~{.epidemic.}~>
The basement was just as Dan had remembered it; dark, damp, and dismal. Hugo trudged around at his feet, nearly knocking him over as he ground to a halt and nudged the floor, as though spying something very interesting.
Ian was in charge of the strobe light. He flicked a few switches and stood back, satisfied.
That should do it.
The lamp rattled as light poured out of its glass window, buzzing like a nest of angry hornets. The wheels at its base clattered and jumped violently, and sparks were shooting out of its back like fireworks. The screen of Dan’s goggles turned bright red from the sudden heat. He flinched and pulled them off, blinded.
Why the hell is it doing that? He complained. Ian shrugged and kicked it roughly.
Cuz’ it’s a piece of crap. We got the worst one.
Dan looked around quickly. There were only three other people in their squad, defiantly not enough to take down a rabid intern. They were sligs, fiddling with their weapons in an inexperienced manner- one had his finger caught in the barrel of his snoozi and was struggling to pull it out. Dan suddenly wondered how much of their well-beings were at stake.
Ian cocked his gun.
Lets get going. He said, his feet splashing against the soggy metal floor as he continued down the corridor. Dan followed closely, worriedly eyeing the rafters above; it struck him that if there was any way Nedd could kill them before they even knew he was there, it would be from above.
Hugo tugged furiously at his leash and scrabbled his claws against the ground, plowing the small group aside with the force of an angry bear.
What the hell— Dan cursed, straining against the leash and digging his feet into the ground. Hugo spun around and bit down on his hand, hard. Dan cried out and jerked his hand back, freeing the leash from his wrist, and Hugo took off running.
Dan had enough to worry about as it was. His friend was a murderer, his appendix had exploded, his boss had nearly fired him, and they were putting their lives on the line just to try to get things back in order. The last thing he wanted to do was to let Hugo get away.
He pushed the sligs aside and dove, slamming his hands down on the leash. He grabbed it and swung back with a Herculean effort, and Hugo yelped in surprise, strangled by the whiplash. Dan jumped on the slog and slammed it to the floor, his eyes like angry, yellow pools.
You stupid animal He snarled, struggling to keep the slog pinned to the ground.
Ian whipped out his snoozi and looked around wildly.
Keep quiet He urged. Dan shot him an icy glare.
I’m kind of busy here He snarled. Ian backed up against the wall.
I heard something.
Dan clamped Hugo’s mouth shut, looking around uncertanly. The sligs slowly brandished their weapons of choice and looked nervously over their shoulders and into the darkness.
Where? Dan hissed.
Ian motioned towards a door to the side.
In there.
Dan took the leash and wrapped it roughly around Hugo’s snout, forming a makeshift muzzle. He hooked his arm around the slog’s chubby waist and picked him up, clamping on tightly as the beast kicked and struggled. Ian shoved open the door and thrust his snoozi inside, flaring it from side to side.
The room was large and looked as though it were once a storage area. It was roughly circular, about two hundred feet around, and scattered with tall racks that towered over their heads, forming an imposing labyrinth. The racks were stacked with glass jars filled with a yellowish liquid, each with a mangled test subject floating inside. Dan shuttered. The light from the lamp shone through the bottles, casting twisted shadows on the floor.
Ian switched off the light and motioned for the group to follow. They entered timidly, fixing their aim on anything and everything. Ian stepped carefully around a rack and continued down a narrow passage, his team trailing behind. Dan avoided looking at the ghastly creatures and body parts inside the jars, and focused instead on holding Hugo, who had ceased to put up a fight. Dan pulled his goggled back on worriedly, and the room immediately turned a greyish-blue, with the people around him and the still-hot strobe lamp glowing a beet-red.
Something clattered up ahead. Ian tensed and backed up against a rack, motioning for his team to do the same.
Something’s up there. He whispered. Dan tried to look through the glass jars, but recoiled when he realized his view was blocked by a giant tube as thick as his arm tangled inside one of them. It looked like some sort of tapeworm. He shuddered.
What do you see? Dan asked darkly. Ian replied without taking his eyes off his target;
Something too big to be a slog. Its giving off heat, but the jars are blocking it, so I can’t tell what it is. He reached into his belt and emptied his contents- a pocketknife. He frowned.
What did you get? He asked.
Dan rummaged around in his thick combat belt that had come with his infra-red goggles. The belt was thick and bulky, but only contained one thing- some sort of smoke grenade, possibly a flare.
Perfect. Ian said, grabbing it. Without a second thought he pulled off the tab and threw it as hard as he could. It flipped through the air and slammed the ground, popping like a balloon and filling the air with a powdery white gas that stung their eyes and made them gag. Dan snapped his eyes shut, his vision a blur.
A faint hiss filled the air as the gas subsided, leaving a powdery mildew on the floor. Ian stepped forward and peeked around the corner worriedly.
“YOU
IDIOT ” Durc screeched, slugging Ian with his fist so hard that he staggered back. “CHECK WHO YOUR DEALING WITH BEFORE YOU THROW A GRENADE!”
Ian looked hurt.
I thought you were—
“Thats the problem!” Durc snarled. “You
don’t think! You interns are all the same! You can never get the job done! It takes someone with at least half a
brain to do the job
correctly!”
The racialism against interns was unexpected. Dan’s horns flattened against his head defectively and his teeth grinded under his stitches. How dare he say something like that!
Durc sighed and crossed his arms. “Turn the strobe lights back on; or is that to difficult?”
With obvious loathing, Ian shook the lamp, causing light to brighten the large room. Dan frowned and looked the other way. He had reached his limit with Durc.
<~{.epidemic.}~>
“...WHO YOUR DEALING WITH BEFORE YOU THROW A GRENADE!”
Nedd’s head snapped up. Lady looked at him strangely, a faint whine forming in her throat, and nudged his hand with her snout.
Voices! Had they dared to return to this place,
his place? Nedd growled loudly, foam dripping from his jaws, and spat a command to Lady. She whimpered and ducked back.
This was his fight.
He would teach them the true meaning of reverence.