I knew we should have kept a closer eye on that bastard.
He was sketchy right from the start, always trying to put the blame on someone or pick a fight but never contributing meaningfully to the conversation.
What could he want from that poor girl?
"Oh my God, he has Katie."
Bridget realizes — we all do — and in the blink of an eye she's gone, dashing out of the control room at full speed.
"Bridget, no!" I yell.
But she's out of sight.
If she's not quiet enough she'll attract them right to herself, straight to us, right to Katie.
And that's all it takes for me to run out of the control room, Paul and Klahan right behind me.
Paul orders Antonio to safely lead the elderly women and any other survivors to our rendezvous point, which was also a part of our plan.
We were supposed to split into two groups, those to locate and gather as many survivors as they could and wait for us at the rendezvous point, which was the loading docks in the basement level.
While the other group would act as bait, luring the creatures to the opposite side of our meeting point, making it easier and safer for group one.
But I guess this could work too… but the only problem is it's more dangerous since we're all running blindly and separated.
Bridget doesn't seem to care about the plan or her safety anymore — she's only focused on one thing: finding her daughter.
"Bridget, you have to calm down!" Klahan yells, but she ignores him, taking lefts and rights at every turn.
Slowly but surely we start moving out of the safe zones and deeper into their territory — the Chimeras'.
Paul stops running and Klahan and I turn to look at him.
"I can't keep running, you guys go after her. I'll circle round and check tight or hidden spaces."
Klahan hesitates to move.
"No, splitting up is one thing but moving alone is another. We're sticking together."
Paul shakes his head and grabs Klahan's shoulders. "I'll only slow you all down. I'll be safe, don't worry about me."
He uses the hand he placed on Klahan's shoulder to give him a slight push.
"Now go."
I tap him on his arm and pull Klahan, who is still hesitant.
"If you die before telling me what you had to say before all this happened, I'm going to fucking kill you myself."
"Yes sir," Paul responds with a smile and turns around, running in the direction we just came from. He never looks back, not once, and neither did Klahan.
We lost sight of Bridget but not her voice.
I can still hear her voice bouncing off the walls and into my ears, and unfortunately, the ears of the Chimeras.
Click. Click. Click.
Klahan and I stop dead in our tracks, holding our breath as if letting just a little out would signal our location.
Bridget too has gone silent.
Click. Click. Click.
Is that another one or the same?
I can't tell. Not only is it too dark to see, my feet have refused to move, I'm grounded to the floor. Those weights I felt back in the control room have increased by a hundred, and now my legs are stuck, won't move, won't budge.
Klahan takes my six o'clock and I take his. We're watching each other's backs as the clicking gets louder and louder.
Woosh.
"What was that?" Klahan asks, his neck turning to where the shadow just brushed past us.
Woosh.
"Another one or the same?" I ask an equally confused Klahan.
"Is it them?" Klahan asks, raising his fists, his knuckles looked extremely white and I could tell he was clenching his fists tightly.
"There's only one thing that can move that fast, Klahan," I give an obvious answer to his question.
From the corner of my eye I see movement and in an instant I move out of the way, pulling Klahan with me, and we fall to the ground.
Above us, long tentacle-like hands retreat back into the shadows after cutting through the pillar we were just next to.
"What the fuck?" Klahan curses.
But it wasn't finished with us. It's eyes glowed a bright gold in the dark and it screeched, probably due to the fact that we dodged its attack.
Its next target was obviously us, and this time it wasn't planning on missing.
It released its hands again and they came towards us where we were lying on the ground.
I push Klahan yet again to roll forward but I just wasn't quick enough, and its tentacles got a hold of my leg and slashed me. Deep.
"Arrrgghhh!" I scream.
It stepped out like it owned the darkness, like the shadows weren't shadows at all but an extension of its own damn body.
The Chimera. I'd only ever seen flashes before, just quick glimpses through smoke, claws tearing past, teeth snapping shut. But this time? There was no running.
I really saw it.
And God, it was wrong. Everything about it was so wrong in ways my brain tried to comprehend. Its skin looked like it had been dipped in oil and wrapped in barbed wire. Patches of it were slick, almost wet, while other parts were cracked open like an old road after a storm. Every time it moved, those cracks pulsed, like the thing was breathing through its wounds.
Its arms… hell, they didn't look like arms at all. They hung low, so low they nearly dragged on the ground, ending in claws that looked carved out of obsidian. Each finger flexed slow and deliberate, like it knew exactly what they were for, gutting, tearing, feeding.
And its head… that's what really got me. There wasn't anything human about it except for the way it tilted, studying us like a predator might study a trap it already knows it's too smart to get caught in. Its face was a mess of ridges and overlapping plates, no nose, just slits that flared when it breathed. And those eyes, God, those eyes looked so demonic. They were gleaming black alright but its pupils were slits, like that of a cat or vampires in movies. And those slits gleamed the brightest but the most horrifying gold I've ever seen.
But the worst was its legs. They bent backward at the knee, thick cords of muscle twisting underneath that armored hide, shifting like snakes under glass. It moved with this animal grace, like it had never once doubted it was the apex predator in the room.
Then its head tilted again, that inhuman, insect-like click echoing through its jaw, a jaw that looked like it could unhinge itself to swallow me whole.
My throat felt dry as bone. Every instinct screamed run, but my legs wouldn't work — not with the pain, not with Klahan next to me, not with that thing staring me down like it was savoring the moment.
I'd seen death before. Too many times to count. I've held dying men in my arms. But nothing ever looked at me like I was less than nothing, just meat.
And God help me, I don't think I'd ever been this scared.
Not on the field. Not in prison. Not when my ribs got cracked by criminals or murderers.
Nothing had ever looked at me like I was already dead.
This was Chimera. In all its twisted glory.