The group make it two thirds of the way through the tunnel before seeing a door for the maintenance room.
Henrick slowly opens the door to the room as he spreads out his electric field, fully opening it when he picks nothing up. "I think it's safe, but keep your eyes open." he says, a feeling of unease rippling through his body.
Father David enters the room along with Henrick first to scout it out, then sighs in relief when it's simply a small and safe room. The rest follow in and close the door, bodies tense in preparation for an attack.
As soon as the door shuts, everyone lets out a collective sigh of relief except for Henrick. He notes that the small space has knocked over documents and half-eaten Chinese food, most likely from a rushed escape.
Henrick looks around with a worried expression, still in a combat ready state. The priest notices this and stands next to the tense soldier.
"You alright?" asks Father David. "No. I'm feeling on edge for some reason. I'm sure it's nothing." Henrick says as he places both hands on his waist.
"What's going on? You look...almost disappointed." Henrick sighs at the question and nods. "At myself, mostly. I was sloppy, and would have been dead if I wasn't...what I am now."
Alex overhears the conversation and stands up from where he was sitting. "You kicked ass though?" he says, emulating the electric bolt throw. "We would have been screwed if you weren't there."
That gets a chuckle from everyone in the room. Henrick simply gives himself a self depreciating smile when he remembers the earlier battle.
"I leapt into the air like an idiot, without assessing the situation. These...powers are making me careless." says the soldier, taking out some scavenged protein bars to eat.
Tony shakes his head then gives Henrick a grateful look. "I may not agree with your philosophy, but you give it your all during fights. I appreciate that."
Henrick inclines his head to acknowledge the officer's words, but gives no reply as he eats his protein bars in silence. Everyone else takes out scavenged food and does the same.
A few moments pass as the group gather themselves, fully knowing that this is only a temporary respite.
Veronica, seeing this as a chance to cheer the soldier up, briskly walks over to him and offers an orb of water. "Here. I don't know how else to comfort you, but thank you for keeping the eight of us safe."
The water user smiles and stares into Henrick's electric blue eyes, mesmerised by their faint glow. Henrick on the other hand frowns, the unease intensifying.
Henrick stands and looks down at Veronica intently. "Say that again for me." he commands, muscles flexing in response to his emotions.
Veronica blushes at the intense look. "I-I don't know how else to comfort you. But if you have any ideas I ca-" Henrick shakes his head and cuts her off.
"No, the part after that. Repeat it." urgently says the electricity user as he looks around at all the faces of his companions.
"T-thank you for keeping the eight of us safe?" Veronica stutters out unsurely, confused as to why the soldier is acting this way. Henrick then does a headcount and counts nine people including himself.
He presses himself to the wall and shouts to the others. "Everyone press yourselves against the wall!!" The roar jolts everyone from their individual thoughts as they scramble to follow the order.
"What's going on, Henrick?!" Selene asks in a hurry as she presses herself against the wall while holding Elly.
Henrick stays silent as he counts the number of people, excluding himself, present in the room. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...8. "I count eight of you, but I can't recall the eighth! There should be eight of us total but there are nine!"
The revelation unnerves the group as they turn to each other to see if they recognise who is standing next to them.
"Henrick..." Veronica trails off.
"I count nine total!!" shouts Selene.
"Me too!" says Tony
"What the fuck, me three!" exclaims Alex
"Oh Father in Heaven..." prays David.
"..."
"Fuuuck this is like a horror movie." Mac whispers.
"What's going on?" Elly asks softly.
Henrick thinks of what to do, knowing that every move might result in someone dying before they know it.
"Okay, so I'm not going crazy. Something managed to integrate itself into our group without us knowing." says the soldier, already considering what to do.
The electricity user scowls as he picks nothing up on his electrical field. He clenches his fist in frustration at the limitations, shown during the fight with the parasite and now, of his seemingly infallible ability.
"Alright. Let's do it this way. Everyone line up in the order I say. Me, Veronica, Selene, Elly, David, Alex, Tony, and Mac."
Only the faint rustling of fabric is present in the room as the group shuffle themselves in the order that was given to them. Elly tilts her head as she stares at a spot next to Mac.
Then, slowly but surely, her eyes widen in horror. Henrick notices this and looks to the same spot without looking away and sees a rapidly solidifying image of a creature.
"Mac...how fast can you shoot to your left?"
A beat of silence follows the question, and a severe chill crawls up Mac's spine. The officer reacts swiftly and turns with his shotgun already blasting out.
At the same time, Henrick kicks off the wall and hurtles at the solidifying figure next to Mac. With a resounding roar, he slams into the wall and craters it.
"KRIEEEEEEH!!"
A serpentine monster with two dots for eyes, grey mottled skin, and an "O" shaped mouth slumps down with blood pouring from its orifices and a shotgun wound on its chest.
Without warning, a tendril with a maw shoots out from the creatures mouth and chomps down on Mac's throat, easily tearing through his flesh and ripping out the majority of his neck.
"MAC!!!!" Tony screams, moving to support his friend as he falls down dead from blood loss. The remaining officer places his hands on the gaping wound, taking in rapid breaths in in his panic.
Henrick viciously stomps on the monster's chest but frowns when its chest compresses to absorb the force.
It slithers away towards the door with preternatural speed, leaving no chance for the soldier to finish it off. He curses under his breath as the door swings open violently, getting knocked off its hinges.
"NO!! NOOOO!!" Tony shouts as Mac's body twitches in its death throes, the last bit of life fading from his eyes.
Henrick does another headcount and notes that there are now eight people, including himself, in the room. "David, Alex. Keep an eye on that door." he says, walking to the remaining officer.
Father David and the pyrokinetic carefully make their way to the ruined doorframe, abilities at the ready and their eyes carefully scanning the darkness beyond.
The soldier places a hand on Tony's shoulder, a focused look in his eyes. "He's gone. Let's-" he starts, but is interrupted when a metal fist slams into his cheek.
Henrick staggers back a step, but catches himself and looks at Tony. The police officer slams another haymaker onto Henrick's face, but widens his eyes when the soldier doesn't budge.
Selene moves to intervene but stops when the electricity user raises a hand. "I'll let you have those. I know you're grieving, but we can't afford to fight amongst each other." he says, stepping back and disengaging.
Tony ignores his words and lets loose another punch with tears in his eyes. This time, however, Henrick grabs his fist and slams a headbutt into the police officer's face.
"Gahh!! You dirty-" "ENOUGH!!" Tony's curse is cut off as Henrick shoves him into the wall. "That thing is still out there!! I want to kill it, and I think you do too. If not for Mac then for the rest of the group."
Tony grits his teeth at the reprimand, but keeps his anger in check, and looks towards the broken door then back after Henrick. "Fine. How do we kill something that we can't even remember? Wait..."
Henrick scans the outside as he nods. "That's right. We can remember it now. It seems to be dependent on surprise attacks, or else it loses its ability."
A concussive blast echoes through the tunnel outside, shocking everyone back into the present moment.
"Sorry! Sorry! I saw something moving in the dark, might've been a rat." David says sheepishly as he rubs his head in embarrassment.
Selene crosses her arms, frowning at the priest as she tries to hide how startled she was. Veronica hides behind Henrick as Alex taps his chest in relief.
A bang on the outside of the maintenance room captures everyone's attention, all eyes honing in on Father David. "Wasn't me." the priest says, raising his hands.
"That thing's still out there. Let's go kill it."
.
.
.
.
.
.
END