Collateral Damage causes cars and the like to blow up in the same turn it's used on them, making for hilarity.
It's a beautiful thing isn't it
Now, for my tl;dr post which I felt inclined to write about the base assault. My bad about the length, couldn't stop writing
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An explosion echoed throughout the hallway. I stopped immediately and turned around to see one of the security personnel form the same confused look I did. His hand shot towards his radio when the lights began to flicker after a second explosion sounded its way throughout the hallway.
It was closer than the first, the vibrations coursing their way past my body.
The base security fellow pulled out his sidearm from the holster on his right leg and yelled at me before running off towards the explosion. A third explosion rang out again causing the lights themselves to simply shut off shortly being replaced by the ominous red of the emergency lights. The base alarm pierced the air disorienting me as it bounced off the walls and into my eardrums.
Unsure of what to do, I started to run down the hall. Wasn't this the same direction that the guard went? No, that was the other way... wasn't it?
I reached the corner and peered around it. Nothing. My mind kept going back to the look on the guard's face, nearly white with fear. With the entire world that I know having been turned upside down, this was the last thing I needed. The base was told to me as being secure and completely secret. No way anyone could ever figure out where we were.
Sounds of gunfire were growing louder as I approached the next corner, still pushing towards it. Why was I pushing towards it? I should be running the complete
opposite way.
Slowly, I walked down the hallway hugging the wall as best as possible. Just a few more feet...
The guard I saw earlier came into view walking backwards, his pistol firing rounds one after the other frantically. His eyes turned to meet my own, a distraction that ended up being fatal. Several green bolts ripped into his right side causing him to spin around. He fell down right in front of me, his torso torn apart. I wanted to yell out in terror, but I was speechless. His limp head was just staring back at me, blood staining most of it.
The sound of footsteps snapped me back to reality. I had to get out of here. Looking down again at the guard, I saw that his pistol was still clenched tightly in his hand.
"Sorry" It seemed like a silly thing to say to someone who was missing a great portion of his body, but it seemed like the right thing to do. His grip on the pistol was eventually freed with some effort. I've never fired one of these before let alone handled one.
I was about to make my way back down the hallway when the sound of footsteps had stopped. Like a curious child, I peered my head slowly around the corner.
There it was. This small, fragile grey creature with bronze eyes. It was inspecting one of the bodies, probably checking to see if it would suddenly jump up and kill it. Curious really, it seemed almost as though it was the first time it was so close to a human before.
Without warning, the little grey creature looked up down the hall. A bullet ripped through its skull, puke coloured blood spraying over the wall and pooling on the floor. One of the wounded soldiers still had a little fight in him yet. Instinctively, I came out from the corner and rushed past the now dead alien coming up to the soldier's side. His head moved to the side and a smirk formed on his face. I guess he wasn't expecting any of the civilians on the base to be going in the direction of the fight. I knelt down beside him only to realize that his abdomen had been mutilated as if by an animal. His head flopped down, blood trailing out from his mouth. No pulse... he was dead.
This can't be happening to me. Not now, not ever. Thoughts bombarded my mind, the emotions slowly becoming uncontrollable. I sat down beside the guard and looked up at the red lit ceiling of the hallway. Tears started to swell up in my eyes blurring my vision. Why was this happening to me?
My concentration was broken by one of the bodies. Did that thing just move? Wiping my eyes, I strained to see not far down the hall. Must've been my imagination.
It moved again. My hand grabbed the pistol I had placed on the ground and pointed it towards the corpse. The arm jerked to the side and his legs twitched a bit. His body shot up, head cocked to the side rolling around as he elevated himself. My mind raced as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. How is this possible? The sudden thought of the dead guard directly beside me awaking from his own death brought me to my feet without hesitation. I started to back away slowly, aiming the pistol towards the dead man walking.
His head rolled towards me, the empty eyes attacking the very fiber of my being. The sudden pull of the trigger startled me, the bullet ripping through his shoulder. He kept approaching me hardly noticing that he had been shot. I pulled the trigger again, missing by a good foot. Concentrate Elise I told myself. My feet stopped and I tried to focus down the sights of the pistol. Again I fired another shot, this time hitting his arm. Another shot rang out from the barrel of the pistol striking him on the cheek causing the guard to stumble back a bit. The head, I need to focus on the head. More confidently, two shots in quick succession. The first missed, but the second struck his torso opening up his chest a little bit.
Something was moving inside of him. The thought of what had happened to this man started to creep inside my mind and it terrified me. I unloaded everything I could into the dead man, the clicking sound of an empty magazine creating panic. He just wouldn't die, his walking just never stopped! Fear invaded every synapse of my brain, rational thought was simply non-existent. I wanted to run, to get away, but all I could do is stare at the empty eyes of what was once a living person.
His feet shuffled towards me, driven by some primal urge. They stopped suddenly. I did too, though I can't say I know why. He dropped to his knees and almost looked a little pained as his head looked up at me. I wasn't prepared for the dead soldier to start vomiting all over the blood stained floor. His spine shot upwards as he began twitching violently, blood still flying around his body in all directions.
The soldier let out an inhuman cry unlike anything I've ever heard before two long blades burst out of his rib cage. I was taken aback at the sight of this. Never before have I seen something so... visceral, so vivid in my life. The creature continued to make its way out of the now completely mutilated husk of a man with what seemed only like blind rage.
I didn't stick around any longer. Bolting back past the guard I saw get shot not moments ago I rounded the corner nearly slipping on the floor. Another cry echoed throughout the hallway sending a shiver down my spine as I quickened my pace. I knew if I were to lose even a step, it could mean my life.
I wasn't wrong. The claws from the creature were rapid but growing louder behind me. Don't look back, keep running. That was the only thing I could think of right now. Keep running. My legs weren't used to the strain I was putting them through, but the adrenaline kept them from giving out. It wasn't long before I reached the second corner to the hallway I was in when this whole situation began. Hell, I hardly noticed the fact that the alarms were still blaring, the sound unable to drown out the ever increasing scratch of the claws behind me.
A sharp pain shot across my back sending me sprawling towards the ground. My face met the cold floor where terror completely took over my body. The creature that erupted from that man's chest had closed the distance with frightening speed. I laid there in shock trying to piece together the events. Time felt like it was frozen as death seemed inevitable at this point.
I mustered what strength I had to roll my body over so that I may see the grotesque being that was about to claim my life and use me as yet another husk for its own. It was standing over me, this bluish purple creature with four bladed legs. The spikes on his body ended in glowing orange tips which seemed to pulsate as the creature simply looked at me with its soulless yellow eyes. Two mandibles moved like antenna as it inspected my body from the head down, its two arms ending in hands with long vicious claws hovering above my torso. I noticed blood dripping from the one on the right... I guess that was what hit me in the back. Saliva dripped from its mouth; the warm liquid forming pools on my tattered clothes.
It was the face of death I was staring at. Pure terror in the form of some disgusting creature that seemed to act on instinct rather than any form of thought. My eyes closed as I thought about whether or not I'd still be a form of alive as I became the walking corpse I saw not a minute earlier.
Over the alarm I heard a similar sound being fired. Not that of the pistol I used, but of alien origin. Through my fading vision I could see green bolts flying above me tearing apart the creature. It went down with ease, a burnt pile of flesh twitching here and there. I strained my head to see what had saved me from a gruesome demise.
She was wearing black armour and carrying a large glowing rifle. Beside her was another man in similar dress rushing towards me holding a red device. I couldn't quite make out what he was trying to say to me as my mind began to wander and black took over my vision. There was however, a certain comforting bit to it. I felt as though I was going to be alright and that this mess was over.
I'm unsure of what happened after that. The poison had found its way through my bloodstream and my body couldn't keep itself going.
Images began to come to me, a man smoking a cigar on a bench enjoying the view. He turned to me and smiled as though he knew me and I knew him. My feet shuffled nervously towards the bench, the man still looking at me with his disarming smile. There was a certain amount of comfort that overwhelmed me as I got closer as though my body knew that everything was going to be okay. I was a mere few feet away from him when he spoke to me.
"It's not your time yet Elise". Without another word, he turned his head back towards the view and took another puff of his cigar.
Blackness overtook me again, but I could hear the distant sound of voices calling to me from afar.
My entire body shot upwards as the medic stabbed my heart with an adrenaline needle. I inhaled instinctively, filling my lungs with the stench of the creatures corpse before falling back down to the bloody floor. I could feel myself being lifted into the air and carried with purpose down the hallway. The lady nearby kept firing away with her rifle cursing the existence of anything that were struck by the green bolts it let loose.
Everything in my body told me that it was time to rest. Once again, I closed my eyes and thought about that man on the bench. Even in death, he was still with me, guiding me.
