Chapter 18 - Horrors
God I hated using guns, way too messy and way too loud for my liking; But in this case I really couldn’t care less, I was already bitten by one of these Horrors and I’m most likely infected with the virus. The black blood that erupted from its head as two slugs tore through it splattered across the hallway behind it, painting it in the most beautiful black I’ve seen in awhile. I hear several more roars echoing off the hallways after one of their brethren collapsed at my feet in a puddle of its own blood.
I step out of the Armory and into the hallway, I walked through the hallway with my iron sights up and my trigger finger ready for anything else that decided it was snack time. I can see the purple haze slowly creeping its way around the corners of my eyes, I focus on the pain that radiates from my bleeding shoulder trying to slow the progression of the experiments effects. I come to a crossroad and slowly turn around the corner only to be greeted by another Horror, I don’t know who was more surprised, me or the Horror.
It drops to the floor and swipes at my left leg, I wasn't fast enough to react as I fall to the ground. I land on my back as it jumps on top of me, it lets loose a deafening scream as it claws at my chest, only able to scratch up my Dragon Scale body armor. It goes for my throat with its teeth, only to have a barrel shoved in its mouth, causing it to choke as I pull the trigger sending two slugs through the back of its neck as giblets fly out across the hallway.
The horror’s body goes limp as it slumps on top of me, blood oozing from its mouth covering my upper chest and part of my neck in the thick black ichor; I push its corpse off of me and quickly get back to my feet. Its claws only broke the skin around my ankle causing very little blood to rush to the surface.
I made my way to the staircase, the lights flicker rapidly as I climbed to the top of the stairs. I made my way to the top and I can see the other flight of stairs at the very far end of this hallway and no horrors in sight. I walked through the hallway with my iron sights still up, ready to blow any of the fuckers to giblets if they try to eat me. I near the crossroads in this section as my vision goes completely purple without any warning.
I start to panic as all I can see is more spirits walking around the hallways, I turn around and only see purple. The spirits all stop and slowly turn their heads towards me, each one just staring blankly at me as their voices cry out in agony, my vision starts to go blurry as their cries become louder. Each one feels like an eggbeater trying to scramble my brain. I put my hands to my ears as I try to silence their anguished screams. My vision starts to become tainted with a shade of crimson red as blood starts to ooze from my eyes. I can feel a warm tingly feeling coming out of my nose and ears as blood starts to flow.
I start to run towards the flight of stairs leading up to the second floor of the bunker, If I stay here any longer my brain would literally be scrambled. As I pass the crossroad I was tackled to the ground, causing my vision to to return to normal and My Striker to clatter to the ground away from me. I see a Horror latched onto my left leg trying to gnaw it off. I ball up my left fist and start to beat the top of its head, landing several good blows before it rips away some of my flesh and a piece of my pants including the left pocket that had the vial with the cure in it.
I start to scoot myself back as the Horror chews on the treat that it got from me, I grab both of my Desert Eagles from their holsters and doubled tapped the Horror with both of them. It falls to the ground as I hear something charging from behind me, I roll over onto my stomach to see another Horror running full speed at me and only ten feet away. Its talon-like foot steps on my Striker, causing it to trip and fall to the floor, its mouth only inches away from me; I took this opportunity and doubled tapped this Horror at point-blank range.
As I stand up the flesh that was torn out of my left leg starts to burn with pain as it starts to bleed. I just ignore it as I pick up my Striker from the the floor. Four down, one to go, I limp towards the staircase without seeing the last horror. I get to the second floor and snuck my way through the floor, I can hear a clicking sound echoing off the walls the further I creep down the hallway.
Each step I take I the clicking sound becomes quieter, I swear this fucker is messing with me. I see a shadow lurking around the corner, I duck into a nearby room and hold my breath as the clicking stops. I peek my head out from the doorway to see it sniffing the air, this one was larger than the last four, could this one be the Alpha of the pack? It stops sniffing at the air and starts to click once more. The Horror turns around and starts to walk up the stairs to the first floor.
I wait a few minutes before I followed, I slowly made my way up the stairs after the Alpha of the pack. I reach the top of the last stairs and the air was freezing, I could hardly see ten feet in front of me; There’s a thick white fog covering this floor. I step into the fog and I can still hear clicking echoing off the walls from deep within the fog, with every step I take the clicking slowly starts to quiet. The further I walk into the white fog it thickens as the air becomes colder.
The clicking comes to a stop as I stand there slowly rotating in a circle, my Striker is in the ready position, ready to turn this last fucker into a pile of giblets. A chill runs down my spine as I feel a warm breath breathing against the right side of my face, I slowly turn to see the horror staring at me with its mouth open.
“Clever girl...” It lets out a blood curdling roar, causing my right ear to start to ring.
I hastily pivot and bring my Striker to its chest, She brings down her full force upon my gun, knocking it out of my hands and causing it to disappear into the fog. I try to grab my knife as its other claws comes down onto my chest, ripping off my body armor with ease. It kicks my chest, sending me flying backwards as it disappears into the fog.
I grab my Desert Eagles from there hostlers and sprayed into the mist, the bullets ricocheted off the balls before my weapon’s clips went empty. I drop them on the ground and grab my knife and quickly get to my feet. Holding my knife in my right hand with the blade pointing downwards I start to walk aimlessly in the mist; I hold my breath trying to listen for its clicking.
Something charges past me, causing me to swing aimlessly in the air as I turn around, it charges once more turning me around; Its claws only glancing off my body, just enough to cause minor bleeding. The cold starts to affect my movement as the room gets colder, but somehow the Horror just seems to increase with speed the colder it gets. It starts to click again, was it mocking me? Or trying to pinpoint my position?
Then a idea comes to mind, I took the tip of my knife and tapped it against the wall, copying the horror’s clicking. She slowly starts to appear from the fog, her head slightly cocked to the side, she approached me slowly as I continued my clicking; She was only a few feet away before she tilted her head back and spat some black ichor at me, landing on my chest. I drop to my knees as the black ichor started to burn, she charges at me, going for the kill with her claws out to her side and her mouth wide open.
I lunge at her, slashing at her as my blade cut through her open mouth, her claws penetrated my ride side as we past; The gash was shallow enough that it wasn't fatal. I stumble after we pass, the black ichor was making my chest itchy, so very itchy. I turn around as blood poured out of my new gash on my side to see the horror still standing, black blood poured out from its mouth, splashing against the ground with each thick glob.
I touch the black goo that’s on my chest and looked at it closely, I rub it in between my fingers. The goo itself was thick and sticky and smelled a lot like burnt hair. I look back up to see the Horror as she starts to click again, she slowly approached me with her claws hanging low; I merely just stand there and study her strange behavior. I ready my blade as she stops right in front of me, she leans in and started to sniff me, her breath smells like rotting flesh mixed with death.
She then backs off and tilts her head to the side as if deep in thought. It was during this moment of respite that I took my only decent chance to attack. I manage to open up a deep gash across her chest. She rears back in shock and anger and proceeds to emit the most ear piercing roar I’ve ever heard. I quickly shake off my surprise and dash in trying to take advantage of her reaction to my attack. She recovers much faster than anticipated and swings her deadly talons at me. I’m weak enough now that she manages to knock my blade from my grip during my charge. I continue forward using my remaining momentum to avoid any other strikes.
As I close in, time seems to slow as I reach forward with my right hand. I plunge my hand through the gash in its chest and sink in up to my elbow. I immediately grab whatever I could find inside her chest cavity, luckily I had somehow managed to grab her heart as I could feel a frenzied pulsing within my grip. She immediately goes still in her prone position as if she knew that any slight movement would mean a quick death. I crush her heart in an effort to end the battle once and for all.
She begins to shake trying to hold herself up as more of the thick, black ichor pours from her wound. I jump back in order to avoid her body as it finally collapses to the floor under its own weight.
- - -
I wake up in the darkness, I stand there looking around trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
“Hey Friend, what happened after the impact?” No response, just nothing.
“Fade, you mind telling me what happened?” Still nothing, I was standing in the darkness talking to myself like a madman.
“Okay guys, you can stop now, you fooled me, good prank.” I start to clap, but no sound came from my hands.
“No serious you can stop now...” My voice starts to tremble as I call out for Friend and Fade.
“G-Guys? A-Anyone?” I start panic as I desperately search the darkness to find my friends.
“FRIEND, FADE, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU TWO, ANSWER ME!” I was alone in my own little happy place... Again...
“P-Please, will someone ANSWER ME?!” I really didn’t mind being alone because I knew that Friend would always be there for me....
I turn around to see a little white box sitting behind me, it had some kind of glyphs and enchantments carved into it. I place my hand on the box only to be shocked by it, kicking me out of the darkness and back into reality.
- - -
I wake up laying on my back, my whole body ached in pain as I lay there on a cot in what appears to be some kind of hut. My chest itches something fierce, I start to rise from the cot only to have my body completely give out on me, causing me to fall back down. I try to turn my head but my neck is extremely stiff and sore, I’m only able to turn it slightly to see what appears to be wooden VooDoo masks hanging on the wall. I squint to get a better look at them, a voice calls out to me as I start to stir.
“Ah, you’re finally awake, glad to see you haven't been escorted away to the spirit realm.” I slowly turn my head to my left to see a zebra standing at the side of my cot.
“W-What happened?” I moan in pain as I try to move.
“You fell from the sky like a falling star. My tribe sent two scouts to see what it was, only one came back. He said as they neared the crater that you were laying in, Zikki fell to the ground screaming in agony before dieing. We then sent our shaman to cleanse the area of the evil spirits and we brought you back here and where we sealed your powers.” Her excoitic voice was rather soothing to listen to, each word so thick with her excoitic accent I could cut it with a knife.
“W-Wait, what? W-What do you mean by sealing my powers?” I slowly start to rise from the cot, forcing my body to work even though it’s crying out to me to just stop and lay back down.
“Our High Priestess and Shaman performed an ancient sealing spell that's been passed down throughout our tribes for generations. They sealed away the evil spirit that resides in your soul, Demon” Her eyes narrow after calling me ‘Demon’.
“Oh this can’t be good... And why do you call me Demon?” I wanted to facepalm so badly but I was only able to prop myself up and that’s it.
“Because, our High Priestess and Shaman say you’re cursed with death. You wear a pendant with Nightmare Moon on it around your neck. You fell from the sky and survived; What else but a demon could accomplish a feat such as that?” She turns around and walks over to a small table and grabs a vial filled with a green liquid.
“H-How long have I’ve been out?” I closely watch the zebra as she walks back with the vial in her mouth.
I look down at my medallion and see it still hangs around my neck, and I’m now once again shirtless, the splinters from the trees must’ve cut up my shirt bad enough to have it fall to pieces. I look back up to see the zebra standing at the side of my cot. She puts the vial beside the cot and puts her hoof on me, easily pushing me back down into the cot. I couldn't even fight back as my body thanks her for intervening in the punishment I was putting it through.
“You’ve been out for one night, Demon. Now drink this healing potion that I created for you, it will restore your strength quickly.” She picks the vial back up and pours it down my throat even before I could get a word in.
Surprisingly, even the healing potion was a sickly green color, it tasted rather pleasant, like if I had just eaten a spinach salad with a hint of pesto in it.
“If your people fear me so much, then why are you helping me?” Licking my lips after that tasty potion, I can feel it spreading through my body quickly.
“Because Demon, you’re harmless now since your powers have been sealed away. Life is a precious gift granted by the Holy Spirits of Old, there is no need to waste such a gift.” I can see a smile make its way across her stripped muzzle.
“I-I see, thank you then for helping me recover. Would you care to explain to me about your beliefs and your culture?” My body still aches with pain but I can at least move now without my body begging me to lay back down.
“You’re welcome, Demon. I shall answer your questions later. But first, I need to ask you some questions of my own.”
“Okay, I’ll answer any of your questions the best I can, go ahead.” I’m now sitting in the cot with my feet on the dirt as I lean over to pop my back.
“The spirits say you’re not from Equestria, nor from this world; They say death lies in your wake as you’ve traveled the lands of Equestria, yet you’ve helped those in need whenever you can, is this correct?”
I sit there and give answers to her questions the best I could, leaving out a most of the details about who I was and why I was here. I only told her enough to satisfy her curiosity.
“I see. Now Demon, what will you do since you arrived?” She raises an eyebrow as her smile starts to fade.
“To be honest I don’t know, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?”
“My name is Nyuel, Demon.”
Credits
Editor/Ideas
frieD195