Saturate✔️

CHAPTER 04: Control

"Shadows might be nearby," he murmured as they pressed on. Although...he frowned as he studied the scene further. The clothing that some of the bones were half-in/half-out of was tattered and torn and stained with blood, and they reeked like that of a Mutant...did that mean they were fighting each other? Oh man, wouldn't that be fucking great.

They pressed on through to the other door, opened it up and stepped out into a passageway beyond. Greg looked left and right, saw nothing but lonely stretches of corridor, and then passed through the doorway directly across from them. They were making good time, Greg thought, but then came up short as he stepped into the recreational area beyond. A pair of Mutants were wandering purposefully around among a maze created by couches, knocked over arcade cabinets, and chairs. They seemed distracted and not at all interested in the three people who had stepped into their territory. Greg raised his shotgun, then hesitated.

From the right, in a corner of the room that was bathed mostly in darkness, one of the shadows detached from that darkness and bounded up over a broken, tipped-over arcade cabinet. One of the Mutants turned to face it and took a swing at it as the Shadow leaped onto it. Watching all of the skin, the muscle, the meat, the organs, the blood...all of it pop out of existence was an utterly surreal thing. In fact, Greg wasn't even sure he'd actually seen it, like his brain was having difficulty admitting that it had just taken place.

The bones and the Mutant's yellow uniform dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

Without hesitation, the Shadow leaped onto the next Mutant and again, the second contact was made, the same thing happened. When those twin, glowing blue eyes turned on him, Greg was jolted into action. He aimed and fired, pounding out a round that went wide as the Shadow began coming for him. Cursing, he adjusted his aim and fired again, this time connecting and blowing the thing to hell. Breathing heavily, he looked around the room, but saw nothing more.

"Holy shit," Eric whispered. "Those things are pure horror."

"Yeah," Greg muttered distractedly. He'd never actually seen one of the things in action before. Now that he had...he shuddered, then made himself move on. The only solace he took was that they were attacking his enemies as well.

They hurried through the rec room, exited it, moved down a short corridor and came at last to the medical section. The trio moved quickly through a waiting room and slipped into the first of two infirmaries. As he stepped inside, Greg spied a Shadow lurking near the edge of the room. He raised his shotgun and pounded out a slug shell immediately, taking the thing in the head and disintegrating it into nothingness.

As they began pressing on, Drake suddenly let out a groan and Eric grunted in surprise. Greg spun around and saw that the man had passed out.

"Fuck," Greg snapped, moving back to help Eric as he eased him to the floor.

"He's out," Eric said, checking him over. He looked up, "I can carry him but-" He froze and they both looked up and around as a low whispering began to build. Greg swallowed and straightened back up, icy fear slithering through him freely. He snapped his shotgun up and looked around as Eric stood up and did the same with his pistol.

"We've got company," Eric murmured.

"Back to back, watch over Drake," Greg replied.

The first Shadow came in through a broken out vent grate overhead. Greg aimed and fired. It was a good shot, but even as it hit and the Shadow died and dissipated into the air, another one was coming out of the grate. As Greg fired again, he heard Eric suddenly shooting up a storm at his back. Both of them kept up a steady stream of fire as more and more Shadows came in through vents and doorways, intending to murder the three of them for their unknown and perhaps unknowable reasons. Greg went through every last shell in his shotgun, then dropped to a crouch and snatched up Drake's abandoned pistol.