Greg’s legs wobbled as he stood up and looked forward at the oncoming scientist. Time seemed to slow down as multiple images of his past flooded his head. Him killing countless people, his mother in the hospital bed, and his dads mangled corpse sitting in the street. Then, Kyle popped in his head.
The only person who’s ever reached out and understood his situation instead of throwing him to the side like trash. The one who understood how he felt.
The only reason he helped me was because he believed in me to change. Am I really going to let that opportunity go to waste?
He finally took action and decided he was going to stand his ground. He picked up one of the office chairs that were left lying on the floor and swung it around as the scientist came up to his face. He flew into the wall and then into the pile of chairs.
The chair broke apart into many pieces and Greg’s arms started to shock with pain from the impact. He squealed out in pain as he hobbled himself forward and fell on his knees. His arms were aching from the impact like they were broken.
The scientist had his face smashed in a little and his nose was profusely bleeding. Blood was spilling all over the floor. He quickly got up off of the pile of thrown around chairs and office cubicle walls.
“You motherfucker.” He cursed. “Why did you even do that? Your arms are now shattered probably.”
Greg was on the floor curled up in a ball and breathing sharply through his teeth. “Fuck you. I don’t want to die. Surely not at the hands of you.”
“Too late.” He reached down for the bat just to find it not in his hands. “Where the fuck!?” He started to look around frantically. The bat was laying on the ground in between the two of them.
Greg turned his head and saw it laying there. “Heh.” He was able to crack a smile even though his arms were riving in pain.
He must’ve dropped it when I hit him.
He concluded.
Greg got to his feet and leapt forward off the ground and gripped the bat. He landed on his arms which shot a huge wave of pain, making him grit his teeth.
The scientist ran up and kicked him in the stomach. He tumbled around and rolled over onto his side, facing away from him.
“I’m fucking Einru! I shouldn’t be reduced to this from a troglodyte like you!” He kicked Greg again in the back.
He rolled over again but this time, miraculously was able to get back up on his feet. Even though he struggled to hold the bat up with his severely injured arms.
“Fuck you, you piece of shit.” Greg said as he held the button down on the knob of the bat. He released a huge blast that sent him flying back into a wall.
Einru's body got stapled to the wall as a bunch of chairs got pressed up against him, His body was completely buried in the chairs and cubicle walls.
Greg dropped on the floor face first. He closed his eyes as his body went limp and completely ached in pain.
I’ve always been able to control the recoil of the blasts. But I just couldn't at that time. What happened to me? Must’ve been my arms, I can barely move them. It’s like I’m paralyzed.
He tried to move his legs and to his amazement he could. He then curled his legs up so he was on his knees. His back was still arched down forwards but he lifted his neck up so he could see in front of him. The pile of rubble was still.
Can’t believe I won that. It seemed like-
A long stretchy metallic arm stretched out from the rubble and nearly clocked Greg in the face. It grazed right by his cheek, leaving a little slash mark right there. The arm retracted back into the pile.
What the fuck!?
Greg’s eyes widened as he forced his torso upwards, his arms limping on his sides. The piece of rubble flew up in the air forcibly. Revealed underneath it was Einru, with one huge metallic arm that was pointed upwards in the air and spread out. The stuff all fell to the ground and broke apart.
“I’m done messing around with you!” Einru shouted at the top of lungs. “Enough going easy on you.”
His thin arm transformed into a cannon-like shape, just way smaller than a full scale one. It looked nearly impossible to even construct a contraption like that, the whole scale of it was too much to comprehend. In the dark circular tube a huge red light started to grow rapidly then flash repeatedly, like a huge blast was charging up.
“DIE!” He screamed.
Greg scurried his hands the best he could so he could reach the bat trigger. With all of his might, he wouldn’t be able to do it in time. The realization of that sunk into him like quicksand and all he could do was look at the bright red light that engulfed his vision and endure the despair.
“Stop!” Kyle’s voice could be heard.
Kyle rushed into the room and tackled Einru to the ground. The cannon blast went off and it went directly sideways, completely to the right of Greg.
It blasted through all of the walls that crossed its path, going through several rooms and destroying countless stuff. It even went through multiple test rooms, hitting important and vital systems of the facility. It broke the air filter, water filter, and broke the main generator. All of them were completely eviscerated, only ash being left behind.
The whole facility went pitch black as the lights shut down. Then, the whole place started to blink red. A female robotic voice started to boom throughout the facility.
“Attention all staff, a critical error has happened with the air filter, please evacuate the area immediately and return to the surface. Please, leave in a cordial fashion and head over to the nearest escape tube.”
“You idiot!” Einru cursed at Kyle. “You’ve doomed us all!”
Kyle strangled him, grabbing tightly around his neck and choking him. Einru punched him multiple times in the chest and stomach but he wasn’t powerful enough. He used his long metallic gadget he had implanted in his right forearm to push Kyle off of him and launched him over to Greg. Kyle stopped moving right in front of Greg, before he could crash into him.
“Kyle!” Greg shouted. “You saved me.”
“Uh, yeah that was obvious.”
“I know. Just didn’t think you’d come back.”
“What? Of course I would-”
The stretchy arm came back and wacked Kyle in the face before he could finish what he was saying. He went head first into the wall before sliding down where he plopped on his back.
“I’m tired of getting tossed around by little shits like the both of you!” The arm came back and grabbed Greg’s head. He was dragged with his skull getting drugged through the floor until it was lifted up so he and Einru were face to face. The bat was still drooping down from Greg’s arm.
“You fucking numbskulls, should’ve killed you instead of trying to experiment on you.”
Greg turned his eyes back to see Kyle standing up and ready to charge. Einru moved him out of the way and held him up in the air.
“I’ll put a hole through your brain.”
“Wait! Let’s make a deal!” Kyle screamed.
Einru looked at him skeptically. “No-”
“We’ll give you the bat and in return you’ll let us go!”
The deal shocked him, but he was surprisingly intrigued. “That’s it, you want nothing else?”
“Yes! Take the bat, just don’t kill him.”
He started to laugh maniacally. “Fine, fair trade I suppose. For how much shit I talk about you two, you’re surprisingly bright. As much of a mad man I appear to be, I’m able to give such pity to you two.”
Greg was finally able to shimmy the bat long enough until he could press the button on the bat. It didn’t give off such a huge blast to his stomach, but it was hard enough for Einru to jolt backwards and knock him out of his hands.
Einru held his stomach and stumbled backwards and fell on his rear. He grunted in pain as he fell and bit down on his lip. He was now fuming and boiling with rage.
Greg hit the ground hard and bounced back a little and rolled on the ground. Kyle immediately went to his aid.
“You ok man?” He asked.
“No, my arms are shattered.” Greg responded.
“Don’t worry. I got more of that strange liquid from those guards. You’ll be fixed up in no time.” While comforting him he sneakily inserted the syringe into his right arm. “You’ll have to tell me how that even happened, but first we need to get out of here.” He grabbed the bat from his hands.
“We need to deal with that guy first.” Greg said.
Einru limped his body up from the ground and stumbled around before fully being able to stand up straight. “No! No! No! No!” He screamed out. “This can’t be happening. I’m Einru! The best scientist this world has ever seen! I was able to clone myself and make a whole fucking army filled with mutant freaks. Just a few more years. Just a few more fucking years and you would’ve seen America fall to it’s knees and beg for mercy! What would Big Boss think of this? What if he hears of my defeat? God he would be so pissed to unimaginable levels. All of my other clones will have to deal with that.”
“I’m tired of your ramblings.” Kyle said under his breath. “Look old man, I don’t give a flying fuck what your and your boss’s plans are, but once you fuck with me, there’s no taking that back. Because I will wreck you apart limb by limb until there is nothing left, you hear me!?”
“Fuck you! I’m getting out of here. I’ll need to accept my loss here and recuperate.” He started to limp over to the door. “Don’t think you’ve won yet, you still have no way of getting out of here.”
“I always find a way.” Kyle was ready to launch himself towards Einru and finish him off.
The exit door was blown off the wall when all of the creatures came barging into the room. They screamed a horrifying squeal, like a war cry. They were all facing Einru, looking at him with all the hatred that they could possibly display.
“Out of the way.” He commanded. “All of you get out of the way or so help me god.”
The leading creature sprung off of the ground and mauled Einru, clasping onto his face like a magnet. Einru screamed as all of the others dogpiled onto him and started ripping him apart. Shredding him into pieces with blood and guts flying everywhere. The mooshing of his flesh and the squishing sounds of him being clawed alive were horrifying to hear.
“Goddamn.” Kyle said. “Not saying he didn’t deserve it, but holy shit.”
“I’m gonna throw up.” Greg gagged.
“Just don’t spray it on me.”
An ear piercing alarm started to blare, making both Kyle and Greg cover their ears. The same female voice came over the intercom.
“Shutdown sequence activated, self destruction is imminent. Please, while you still can, exit the facility in a cordial manner.”
Self destruction?
Kyle had to make sure those were the exact words he heard.
“Now we definitely have to get out of here.” He said.
“What’d you say?” Greg asked, still covering his ears.
“Let’s go!” He picked up Greg and hoisted him over his shoulder, though he struggled to do so. “God you’re heavier than I thought.”
Kyle started walking towards the door, walking by the ongoing mangling of Einru’s corpse. Some blood splattered out and got on the both of them, but they shrugged it off and trudged forward.
“Where could one of those escape tubes be?” Kyle asked himself. “Shit, I don’t even know where to go.”
I can’t even use the bat without running the risk of making Greg’s injury even worse. It’ll probably heal in about five minutes like it did before, but we don’t have that time to spare. Looks like I have to take another guess on this one.
Suddenly, one of the creatures ran up behind Kyle and launched him into the air like a trampoline would.
“Ah! What the hell are you-” Kyle screamed before he landed comfortably in a crowd filled with the rest of the creatures. “Doing?”
“Come on now!” One of the creatures spoke up and led the charge. “Let’s get these heroes out of here! They free’d us, we owe them everything!”
They started hoarding through the confusing hallways, hauling Kyle and Greg like they were crowd surfing. All of the scurrying along made for a bumpy ride, but it was quick and efficient. At this pace they could make it out in time.
“You guys know how to get out of here?” Kyle asked them.
“Yes! We’ve been led to an escape tube sometimes to be escorted somewhere else for testing. This isn’t the only facility around this area, but it’s one of the biggest.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“Save it, you’re our savior. We should be groveling on our knees to you.”
“Come on, don’t give me that much credit.”
“Trust me sir, you’ve done more to help us than anyone has ever done.”
Kyle smiled as he was carried around multiple corners. They run past a glowing neon sign that leads them to the escape tubes, a huge arrow painted on the wall to direct them.
Bursting through the double doors that were blocking their way, they were in front of the escape tubes. Multiple open slots were lined along the wall that had a sign over each one of them. Most of them were dark red with the words ‘UNAVAILABLE’ displayed over them. There was one green one that said ‘AVAILABLE’ was flickering over at the end.
“Over there!” Kyle pointed it out to the crowd.
The hoard drew their attention to the green light and charged over there. Greg gritted his teeth and winced in pain. Kyle looked back at him.
“Don’t worry, that arm will be back to normal in a few minutes.” He reassured him.
“I hope you’re right.” He responded. “Did you think I did good?”
“Obviously. You were able to fend for yourself without using that bat right? Better than just some average Joe Schmo.”
“Thanks. But if it still weren’t for you I would’ve been dead. I just wish I could do more without relying on that bat.”
“It’s ok. You’ll learn over time from your mistakes and mishaps.”
“Guess you’re right. It’s just taking much longer than I like.”
“Be patient. It’ll come to you soon enough.”
On the other side of the room a random employee burst through the double doors. He looked over at the humongous herd and hurried over to the only available escape tube in a hurry. Quickly pressing the button and praying it took off before the horde could reach him. Luckily for him he did, the tube zipping up and off to the surface just as everyone approached.
“Dammit!” The creature leading the charge cursed. “Look for another one.”
All of them took a gander and examined the whole place but couldn’t find another available one. However, there was one that was blinking orange with the display saying ‘UNUSABLE.’
Is that really the only one left, it can’t fit all of these people. How are we actually going to get out of here?
Kyle pondered in his head, but they didn’t have much time to think, but only act. Then, the idea popped into his head.
“Go to the broken one!” He commanded the crowd.
They scurried over there to the front of it, all of them being confused.
“These things work like elevators right?” He asked.
“Yeah, they propel you up.” He responded.
“Do you think you guys can get the door open?”
“We can try.”
They gently let Kyle and Greg down and started tugging on the door. With all of their might they were able to pry it open and rip it off the wall.
“Great. Now, hear me out on this. If you guys could possibly lift the shuttle a little bit off the ground we’ll be good.”
“You heard the man!”
They all try to stick their fingernails under the slim opening between the door and the shuttle. All of them struggled to get a good grip on it without breaking their fingers. Soon enough one of them was able to lift it off the ground a tiny bit but that was all that was needed. The bunch of them lifted off the ground and were able to hold it up.
“Great! Greg and I will get inside.” He carried Greg on his back and climbed into it. “Now, this will be a grueling task but I swear all of you will make it out alive. I need you guys to push this shuttle all the way to the surface!”
“It’ll be difficult, but we were created to be strong. Let’s get to it!” All of them cheered and started pushing the shuttle up the thin circular shaft.
Using the walls for them to climb up they all were able to almost replicate the speed of the actual shuttle. All of them were pushing as hard as they could.
“You guys are doing great!” Kyle cheered them on.
“You got this!” Greg cheered with him.
With those words of encouragement they worked even harder and more diligently. All of them chanting positive reassurance that they’ll get out of this alive and well and return to their families they’ve lost contact with ever since they were kidnapped.
A huge rumbling started to shake the whole shaft up, making the huge horde lose their speed and regain control of their grip on the walls. They were all stuffed in the shaft, some of them being squished in the middle of other creatures.
“This place is starting to fall apart.” Greg said.
“We need to keep moving. Is everyone ok down there?” Kyle asked everyone below him.
“Yes! We’ll keep pushing.” The leader said.
They started thrusting the two back up and regained their speed.
The shaking of the shaft continued and hindered their progress severely. It was getting very clear that they maybe wouldn’t make it out alive.
“Come on guys! You can do this! You’re strong!” Greg yelled.
“Think about your families, kids, and everyone else who wondered where you went! Don’t you want to see them again!?” Kyle said.
All of them screamed out yes and pushed even harder than before, pushing Kyle and Greg higher and higher with each thrust.
A thunderous boom went off below them and the shaking intensified, making Kyle and Greg fall a little and some of the creatures slip off the wall and fall down.
“No!” Kyle screamed. “The facility is going to explode, but we’re so close to the surface I can feel it.”
The explosions piled up one after another and there was no way the creatures were able to push any further. The shaft shaking was so unbearable that more of them started to fall down the shaft, few were able to stop themselves and latch their claws on the walls.
“Dammit!” Kyle cursed. “Hey! Let me down to the bottom of you guys!”
“What!? Are you crazy!?” Greg screamed.
“Just let me do this.”
There was a slight opening between the shaft and the shuttle where he could slip through. He crawled through there and he was hoisted down by everyone, parting between them like the red sea.
Kyle’s head popped out of the bottom and he was able to see the fiery tornado that began to build up at the bottom of the shaft. He clenched the bat in his hands as he was dangled off the piled up creatures.
“It’s this or nothing.” He said.
“We trust you.” The one he was hanging on to him said. “Do whatever you must. Our lives are in your hands.”
Kyle gritted his teeth and pointed at the explosion with the bat. “I’m sorry everyone. You may not survive this, but it’s better than a guarantee of all of you dying. I wish things could have turned out different for all of you. You are all great people.”
With those last departing words he held down the trigger of the bat and felt the pressure of the bat build up until it reached its max. The fire was getting very close to singeing him but he was able to release all of the stored up pressure into one massive flow.
The huge blast sent all of the creatures and shuttle soaring through the shaft. It breached the ground of the earth and went flying into the air and very high off the ground.
The creatures were scattered all over the air in the night sky, the moon shining bright on them and the stars filling the skyline. Below them the ground exploded into a huge fiery blaze. The floor started to cave in and crumble apart and a bunch of dust bellowed up into the air and clouded the surrounding area.
The diner and gas station all crumbled into the ground as it opened up like a sinkhole and swallowed both of them. All of the gas pumps exploded, releasing more carnage onto the place.
Kyle was still flying in the air where he spotted Greg’s limp body being thrown off of the shuttle and towards the ground. He used whatever leftover pressure to zoom over there and catch him in the air.
They both tumbled into the ground and flailed on the floor. They landed on their backs, looking up at the night sky. The rest of the creatures came crashing into the ground, some of them splatting into the floor where their bodies were mushed. Most were able to land on the ground safely, with minuscule injuries.
There was no time to rest as the ground was still cracking beneath them and was caving in. This whole surrounding area, about a mile, was falling apart and they have to run fast.
Kyle and Greg got off the floor, and with little energy left, they fled the scene. Hobbling along they were able to get out of range from the splitting ground and finally able to rest. They fell to the ground exhausted as they both watched the earth crumble in front of them.
Both of them breathed heavily on the ground as the cold air breezed through and truffles of dust were blown their way, making both of them cough. Once the dust dissipated they lied down and looked at the stars.
“Holy shit.” Kyle said. “That was fucking insane.”
“You really saved us back there.” Greg complimented. “Quick thinking.”
“Thanks, but without your bat we wouldn’t have been able to make it out.”
“Yeah. Just wish I could’ve done more to help. Some of those people didn’t make it. If only my arms didn’t hurt I would’ve been able to do more than just get carried around like dead weight.”
“I told you, you did fine.”
“You can stop lying to me, you know?”
“I’m not.”
“I know I could’ve done better-”
“Dude there’s nothing you could have really done. That guy had your bat and you were forced to face him alone and you survived. I wasn’t there to see it, but I’m sure you’ve made smart choices back there. You were able to stand your ground against your own weapon! That’s amazing. Stop focusing on the negative stuff and look at what you excelled at. Some of those people were gonna die, there was no stopping that. It was better than them being tortured to become super weapons.”
Greg said nothing and only looked up at the stars. “That’s true and all, but I just remember what you said. ‘Because no matter what you do you’ll never change that opinion. The people close to you can see the new version of you.’ I want to change for the better. I want people to see the new and reformed me, but I know that’ll never be. People are just scared of what I am, plus all of my family thinks I’m a monster. All I have is you. All I used to do was harm. Being good was something I never considered because of all of that pent up anger. Nobody was there for me when my father beat me, when the school kids used to pick on me. I just blamed my misfortune on everybody else and didn’t give a second thought that I shouldn’t put the burden on everyone else, but on myself. It wasn’t their fault I had a shitty childhood. During that fight with Einru, I remembered my final moments with my mom, about how I ran away from her deathbed instead of confronting my fear of losing her. I feel like that’s been happening my whole life, just running away from my fears.”
Kyle patted him on the shoulder.
“For once I felt what it was like for the people I killed. Complete hopelessness, staring down the other end of the bat. I never want to relive that feeling, and it pains me to think how many times I’ve even inflicted that. God I just want to punch myself in the face, seeing those peoples expression drives into a frenzy. I just want to jump out and stop myself, go back in time and erase it all! From now on, I’m done with that shit. I’m not doing that anymore. I know I can’t live the normal life that I want, that’s just a fantasy at this point. I’m going to make the best out of my situation. I’ll live wanting to help others, not kill. If my mom saw me the way that I am now, she’d be ashamed. I once made a promise to her that I’ll make her proud. I need to keep true to that. Because she was the only one that cared about me. Besides you, there’s nobody else in the world that’ll be there for me. No one else.”
“I’ll always be here Greg. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll ride this crazy adventure till the end.”
“Sir!” One of the creatures came running up to him. “Are both of you ok!?”
“Yes we’re fine.” Kyle said. “Thank you for asking.”
“That’s great to hear.”
“What about everyone else?”
“Unfortunately, not many of us made it out when the ground broke apart. Few of us survived with little cuts and bruises. One of us lost a leg in the explosions.”
“Shit. I knew that some were going to die, but not this many.”
The rest of the other creatures limp over to where they are, an overall count of six total survived. One of them carrying the severely injured one.
“What do we do now?” They asked. “There’s no place for us to go. Plus the police might get here any minute.”
“Hmm.” Kyle thought about it. “I’d say, turn yourselves in.”
“What?”
“If the government finds out what happened to you, the person who set this whole experiment up is definitely going to pay. Their secret will be out and you guys will get the justice you deserve. Do it for the people who lost their lives today.”
“Yeah, that sounds right. People need to know what happened down here.”
“They do. Everyone does, no human should be subjected to this kind of pain.”
“You’re right. My god I don’t know what else we can do to thank you. Just let us know your name.”
“I’m Kyle Kyldrip, and this is my friend Greg Tilton.”
“Thank you guys so much.” All of them kneeled down towards them. “We will never forget you guys, you’ve done so much. When I go to the police and explain everything, I’ll be sure to mention you guys.”
“Oh, no need to do that.”
“Huh? Why!? You guys are heroes!”
“I don’t do this for the recognition, I’m just here to help out.”
“My god, you’re a saint!” The creature ran up and hugged him tightly and started crying into his shoulder. All of the other creatures dogpiled onto the hug and tackled him to the ground.
Kyle laughs as the hug gets tighter and tighter. Greg joins in as he hurls his body into the pile and wraps his arms around them. The hug lasts for a while before they all tap out and let go.
“Goodbye guys. Wish you luck on your future endeavors!” They all waved at them as they both parted ways.
“Hope you all get the justice you deserve.” Kyle shouted as the distance between them grew distant.
They all walk away from each other. Kyle looked back at the carnage he left behind. Huge holes filled with corpses and debris of many kinds.
“Oh!” A thought hit Kyle and it shocked him to express it audibly. “We lost our van!”
“Man. I forgot about that thing.” Greg chuckled.
“Aw, there was so much cash in there. Well, anyway. Are your arms ok?”
“Way better, but they still ache. I think that healing serum doesn’t work that well on bones.”
“Maybe, at least they’re not totally broken right?”
“Not at all. But I can barely lift them up to grab something. Can’t even use my bat.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of it.”
“You have so far.”
“Mhmm.”
“So where are we heading off to next?”
“Don’t know, maybe we’ll stop by somewhere again and eat. I’m still starving.”
“Shit yeah we need to do that. A lot of stuff has happened since then, it all feels like a blur.”
“Should we go to a fancy restaurant? Or maybe some fast food?”
“Don’t care, I’ll take anything at this point.”
“True that.”
A brief silence inflicted both of them.
“You still need to tell me about how your arms got shattered.” Kyle continued the conversation.
“Oh yeah, well since we have nothing better to do. So when you got thrown into the wall-”
They both continue to trot in the distance as Greg continues to recount the fight, the moon beautifully shines over the landscape and the stars captivate them. Closing off another crazy chapter in their lives.
ns 18.68.41.175da2
