"YOU GUYS WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TODAY!"
I kept my head low when we returned to the room.
Rush had, of course, rushed ahead to burst down the door and run in excitedly.
It didn't take us too long to finish the Mission with all three of us.
Once we had the fuel cans and Rush's hose, we got to work in the lower car park.
It was risky, but by parking a bit over the lines beside the car we scopped out, we were able to fling open the front and back doors to act as cover while we kept watch for the owners.
Everyone was too busy going broke from shopping. Others who noticed kept walking.
No-one wanted to confront something they didn't know was happening.
The amount of times Rush screamed out that I was taking a piss was hilarious. By letting a bit of fuel trickle out, it sold the unusual setup we had going.
It left me laughing whenever we moved to our next target and setup again. It was too easy.
With three cars chained with the one hose and the cans, we were able to top up what remained at the service station. With the cars already having some fuel in them before we pushed in more, it made things a lot easier.
Now, we had three extra cars parked amongst the trees of the Base. All I had to do was go and report it to Eagle.
But first, I had to try and leave.
"HE FULLY DECKED SOLANINE!" Rush told anyone he could reach "both of them! Punched him right up! Pow! Pow! He was on the ground and everything!"
Rush uppercut the air, grinning when it gained the interest of the others.
"Looks like he got you both good too" Noma smirked to us still by the door.
"You actually beat Soly?" Dashiell questioned, at the table with cards he threw down to make the others groan at his forfeit "I don't believe you. He's got that fucking ability that drains you."
"He's not even all that" Arson scoffed, rolling his eyes "dude is just like everyone else."
"Only, more important" Dashiell leant back in his chair to remind Arson.
"Look, we can catch you up later, but I've got to turn in the Mission" I jerked a thumb over my shoulder "Rush, come on. You helped out."
He returned to us eagerly, helping close the door so we could head for the office.
"Honestly" Talio sighed.
"What?" he grinned "I was excited for you both. They'll think you guys are kings!"
Talio snorted with me.
"Yeah, right."
"Honestly" he insisted "Shie might even reward you."
He nudged Talio's side and was shoved away with an annoyed sigh.
"She's not that type of person."
Rush just rolled his eyes, running off again to meet us outside the door we took our time to reaching.
The guy had so much energy. How on earth wasnt he tired from running everywhere?
Rush grinned to me and knocked, stepping back so I could take the front.
Urgh. Why did I have to come back here? Couldn't I just do the Missions and have someone else bring them in?
"Come in" Eagle's voice rose up.
I cautiously entered, letting the others pass so I could close the door behind me.
OK. Line up. Face the wall. Don't speak unless you are spoken to.
My eyes met his head that was still hung low as he focused on writing for the piles around him.
Oh, yeah. Don't think too much.
"Well, you already failed that one" Eagle mumbled "and yes, that is the beginning of a bald spot."
Rush looked embarrassed of being found out, but plastered on a cheeky smile when I glared to him.
We lined up. I only broke it to place the paper on the only available area at the edge of the desk.
"We got the fuel" I started "One hundred and.... twenty five litres" I thought, nodding proudly.
A little less than three full tanks, but it was over what was required.
Eagle finally looked up, peering over at the paper he slid to himself.
"I'll need to verify it before you get paid" he stated.
"Oh" I let slip, straightening "it's the three cars; two white and one red. EFD-673, H1Y-0PB, and..."
"MN7-EFG" Talio added when he saw me struggling.
I smiled to him, focusing back on Eagle.
"And I completed the Mission to count the dead too, Sir" I held myself with pride.
His eyes scanned my confidence, searching the others too.
"Where is the paper?"
"The....paper?" my gut clenched as I remembered.
"No paper, no pay" he huffed, losing interest and returning to his writing.
Should have been on a sign.
Right. I had the paper when I left Oxalis, I knew that. I carried it all the way to the Wall where......
FUCK!
I saw Eagle smile at the pile he flipped a paper onto.
I left the fucking Mission at the Wall!
I bit down on my groan and just clenched my hands in frustration.
Did I have to go back there to get it?
"I'll make a Mission of it for someone who might be bored" Eagle spoke to the table again "if word gets back that you did the job, then you'll get paid what was required."
OK. That was doable.
"Do you need anything else from me?" I asked, feeling like an idiot for missing something so important.
The damn thing was probably clipped under the paper Luli had used to write the names on.
"I'm busy. Come back later" he just sighed back, adding to the pile.
"Right" I nodded "thank you, Sir."
I glanced to the others, gesturing for them to do the same.
"Thank you, Sir" they mumbled back before following me.
"Actually, there is one thing" Eagle called when I let the others pass.
My body tensed. I was so close to getting out of there and I was being reeled back in.
I rolled me eyes, still holding onto the door as I put on a smile.
"Yes, Sir?"
"I've been told you had a rather violent run-in with Solonine earlier. I don't appreciate being dragged into things I don't care about, especially pathetic squabbles that pull me from work. If your head is the next thing on my table, by him or another Soul, then so be it."
My throat dried up at his words. Panic twisted through me.
There was a reason why The Second was lingering at the fight. I just discovered it.
"He's my third for a reason. Go near him again and you'll be dealing with me, and I am not someone you want to fuck over."
"Yes, Sir" I tried to keep the shake out of my voice "sorry, Sir."
He huffed and waved me off. I couldn't close the door fast enough, letting out a grateful sigh.
'Fuck me' Rush mouthed, giggling.
I just smirked at him and slumped down towards the stairs.
Now I had to deal with the family. All of thier questions were going to be so much all at once. All I wanted to do was take a shower, grab something to eat, and rest my squeezing head.
That motherfucker. I wish I had gone further than I had. I hated that I wasnt strong enough to do it.
"Maybe when we get back we can all p..."
Rush paused, doubling over and grabbing his stomach.
We stopped to turn to him in concern.
"Fuck. Probably something I ate" he groaned, rubbing his side and grabbing it with a sharp inhale.
"Argh, damn!" Talio hissed as he clutched his side.
I felt the stabbing in mine that burrowed deep. It pounded, hammering up to my chest I curled my fist around to try and pinch off the pain.
"Fuck!" Rush grumbled when he rubbed his chest "it's not just me?"
We shook our heads.
Rush's face dropped immediently and he was sprinting the level without waiting.
Was it the feeling I had been warned about?
"COME ON!" Rush snapped when he threw himself down the stairs "HURRY THE FUCK UP!"
"Chill" Talio muttered "it's probably another false alarm."
"False.... alarm?"
He sighed, keeping his stomach wrapped.
"Stone went a bit haywire and scared the shit out of Shie. There was another big argument about if he should stay or not. They got this close to kicking him out" Talio squeezed his fingers together "but Shie wanted him to stay. He's 'Bonded'."
There was obvious loathing in his voice. Annoyed sighs huffed out with every second word.
I guess his mind was made up. The snap must have shifted his views on trying to play morals.
"Always something" he rolled his eyes at me, groaning in pain.
I felt the stabs tear up my ribs. The pain shot raw coldness up my fingertips.
It felt like i wanted to throw up. My gut gurgled and buzzed as if I had swallowed live insects pinching thier way around my insides.
We got to the door to find it left ajar. Rush had already charged in by the looks of it.
We hadnt even taken a step forward when Rush himself was thrown from the room and clutched desperately for the railing of the level to avoid tumbling over the edge.
We hurried for him to see his wide eyes, heaving chest, and trembling lip.
"What's wrong?" Talio touched his shoulder to make him recoil and whimper "what's going on?"
"Shie!" he blurted "everyone!"
He cried out and panicked, slapping at the back of his neck and clawing at the skin there.
"There's nothing there?" he whimpered to us while keeping a firm grip on his own nape "it didn't get me?"
I bent Rush forward to see nothing there.
"You're fine."
But he wasn't. The poor guy was terrified. If he didn't have this pull to Shie, I wouldn't doubt he'd be running for the hills.
"We need to tell someone" he blurted as he grabbed at Talio's shirt to pull him down towards his face, snatching onto mine "We have to..."
Legs spewed out of the door to shoot towards Rush who shrieked. His hands were torn from us when they dragged him across the ground and back inside.
We bolted after him, having the door slammed shut by Dashiell who threw his body against it.
His arms were dangling with towels. His fingers stuffed two under the door we were at before he moved to the others.
There was screaming everywhere. Above us and inside the rooms. It all seeped into the one we currently stood dumbfounded inside.
I couldn't see the legs that had dragged Rush away. Actually, no-one but Dashiell was in this room.
"Plug the cracks!" he snapped to us and tossed some towels "even the taps! Anything it can escape through!"
"Did it happen?" Talio gasped when he sprinted for the kitchen to wrap up the tap.
I hurried for the bathroom to see a sobbing Noma already inside, stuffing towels and blankets down the bowls of the toilets.
He had a shirt tied around his neck that was so tight it could have been cutting off his circulation.
Arson was here too with a deep gouge sliced through his arms he had submerged under the sinks he was currently flooding.
What was going on?
"Get out there! Help Shie!" Arson snapped to me as he tore the towels from my arms.
I was shoved out of the room and back to where Talio and Dashiell were still finding cracks to poke fabric into.
"What's going on?" I whimpered to them.
I didn't want to go towards the screaming upstairs. I could hear bodies being thrown around and the scuffling feet digging into the floorboards to try and keep something contained.
Sparrow was hurled into the wall opposite the stairs where he collapsed into a groaning heap on the ground. Despite cracking his head from the force of the blow that sprayed the wall with blood, he dug in his trembling arms and staggered back upwards.
Carefully inching towards the mess, I looked up to see everyone throwing themselves onto Stone to keep him pinned to the wall beside Tor's door.
Arms tore from his body to whip around and try to latch into anything. I dropped down and pressed myself to the corner behind me so that the one smashing into the wall above me didn't haul me away either.
Carrion was at the front of Stone to try and keep him contained. He spotted me huddled in the corner and jerked his head.
"GET UP HERE! HELP US OUT!"
Through Shie's pain and terror, I obeyed the fear he forced through me.
I scrambled up the staircase so I could heave my weight into Sparrow curled around Stone's arm.
"Neck!" Rush panicked and pointed to me from his twisted grip in the arms of Stone "cover the neck!"
Everyone had shirts or towels around thier necks but Rush and me. Rush was too busy trying to shove himself from the arms that raised him off the ground and curled around his legs.
"GET IT OFF ME!" he squealled and writhed.
"So precious" Stone growled with his entire focus only on Rush kicking out as he was hung in the air "all mine."
Nothing else mattered to him. The hands trying to choke him or the fists bashing from all sides didn't even pull his focus off Rush.
"Just deafen the bastard!" Carrion snapped to Sparrow when he backed up to try and find a way to reach Rush kicking above.
"I told you, I can't!" Sparrow shoved back against Stone who easily knocked him aside "and blow out everyone else's eardrums in the process?"
"That's a fucking stupid idea, and you know it" Resolve grunted from the other side.
"DASH!" Rush squealled out as Stone started to pick and fling men into the walls around him "HELP!"
Stone kept Rush suspended in the air. He was so panicked and terrified, he couldn't even force a change. It wouldn't have done him any good anyway with how tightly Stone had him trapped.
I backed up to let Stone take his first few steps from the wall and just stand in the clearing.
Everyone stood around him, unsure of thier next action.
All we knew was that we couldn't let Stone escape. Shie's agony tearing through every one of us only made our minds more scrambled between prioritizing her over one of our own.
She had to be in her room. It'd be the safest place for her here. The others would be guarding her as a last line of defense.
Stone's completely black eyes scanned all of us with a smile. He knew the choice we couldn't make.
Clicking, he lowered the bound Rush to press against his body. His tongue ran down his neck and made him choke out a whine.
Dashiell pounded up the stairs just as Rush whimpered out another call. The arms kept him secured.
"The parasite shouldn't be focusing so much on Rush anyway. Maybe he can smell Shie on him?" Resolve spoke as he backed up to cover Shie's door "as long as we keep her away from him, we will be safe. Rush is fine. There's nothing he can do to a male."
Rush whimpered, glancing to Resolve with a sob. Stone nibbled along his neck, grinning and purring.
"Keep him from Shie" Resolve looked to the others seriously "if he gets to the nest, we are as good as dead."
The decision was made. Prioritize the Queen. Use Rush as a distraction.
"Get off him!" Dashiell growled and charged for Stone to scratch at one of the arms binding him "leave him alone!"
Dashiell was battered with an arm that threw him across the room and almost back down the stairs he hung over.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" he snapped to us just standing there now "HELP HIM!"
"Help me!" Rush whined before being silenced by an arm.
I moved towards the door with the others. We formed a barrier between Stone and our only reason for survival.
"He'll be fine!" Carrion snapped to Dashiell "he'll just mess around with him for a bit and forget all about it! Your priority is here!"
"My priority is with my brother!" Dashiell snarled back. I saw his skin starting to tear around his body.
"Exactly what we were trying to avoid" Sparrow grumbled under his breath, throwing up a hand "now it's only going to be more aggressive!"
"We need to move Shie out of here" Carrion ordered "away from the Toxiorb."
"And past that?" I huffed back to gigantic fangs tearing into Stone whose skin ran as black as ink itself that spread like a disease "we can't risk that."
"If he gets inside...." Resolve added.
"I know" Carrion muttered with a glance to the door and a frown at the lingering pain "see if she's OK in there."
Sparrow and Resolve slipped through the door. The rest of us glared at Stone still dangling Rush while Dashiell tried to kill him.
The aggression made something in Stone change. His whole body was jet black now, with no difference between the arms breaking through his back and the ones shattering the bones in his usual arms and legs to extend them freakishly further.
His black eyes became a part of him, unable to be seen unless light glinted on them. His teeth broke, dropping shards to the floor that hadn't embedded into his bleeding gums.
He wasn't a person anymore. He was something else entirely that we had to destroy.
"We need to save Rush" I glanced to Carrion then where he dangled helplessly "we can't just leave him like that. He's one of us."
Carrion was about to grunt out a reply when Sparrow's head poked out of the door.
His eyes stared blankly, and he was pale.
"He's dead" he mumbled before lifting his gaze to Carrion "Havok is dead."
"We need to get her out!" Resolve barged around Sparrow, gasping and whining "H-Havok! The nest has been overrun!"
"And Shie?" I blurted back.
"She's fine. Blight is keeping the door blocked. It's.... It's hell in there. We need to move her now."
"Stone is gone" Carrion spoke "he's going to go straight for her if we let her out."
"Either that, or we all die" Sparrow grimaced "Blight can't hold it forever. We need to get out."
"We need to destroy the nest" Carrion hardened "we can't let something like that escape."
"Havok clogged the walls, but it's only a matter of time before they dig it out and spread" Resolve shook, letting Sparrow out first so he could close the door behind him and lower his voice "they're everywhere. Plague has already been infected."
"Fuck" I blew out with my breath and looked to Carrion "what do we do?"
He frowned, dropping his eyes to the floor as he thought.
"Blight is blocking the door?" he asked.
Sparrow nodded.
"Swap him with Plague and leave them behind. Sparrow, you guard Shie. Blow out everyone's eardrums if you need to; you have to get her out of the Base until we know it's safe. Resolve, you'll help me destroy the nest."
"On it" he nodded firmly.
"Phillius, you can help Dashiell try to get Rush from Stone. If we fail and those things in the nest escape out of that room, you have to leave everyone and run, ok?"
His voice was so serious, but his eyes pleeded with me for understanding. Carrion was afraid but had to hold it together for everyone else. If they saw thier fearsome leader falter now, it'd be over.
"I can do that" I gulped back.
I wasn't going to leave Rush, but if I could give Carrion some comfort, then so be it.
I wasn't just going to abandon someone in need.
"Talio has gone for help I'm guessing" Sparrow tilted his head to listen "the lower floor is still being flooded."
"Maybe it'll drown a few of them if all else fails" Resolve added with a weak smile "we can't let a single one get into the Base. Everything ends here."
We all agreed silently, too nervous to let our voices betray us now.
"Open the door" Carrion sighed when he turned to face it "let's get this over with."
ns 15.158.61.8da2
