The corridor lights flickered to life one by one as they detected her motion. Dark red smears painted the walls and pooled in the cracks where they met with the floor. Pieces of uniformed bodies lay scattered, but the majority of the corpses had been removed. For what reason, Shan could only guess.
She walked at a brisk pace. Forynge had been able to eliminate most of the pain caused by her recent injuries, but a sharpness still pierced her left side with each breath. A broken rib. Injections still weren't able to correct fractures and breaks, however, Syntech had other means of fixing such severe injuries.
The alarm could still be heard in this wing, but it faded the further she distanced herself from the main vestibule. The fleeing birds in the desert valley suddenly came to mind.
A knock sounded from up ahead and she squinted to make out what had caused it, but the area had yet to be illuminated by the motion sensors. Soft scrapes were followed by a heavy clang, which repeated in a mechanical fashion too sequential to be from a living being.
Its endless pattern continued to waft in her direction as she headed down the solitary pathway. She gripped ATLAS tighter, her training unconsciously taking over. When the next phosphorescent bulb blinked on, it revealed an outstretched arm protruding from a semi-closed doorway. The metal door attempted to shut but repeatedly caught on the limb in its path.
A glossy reflection of the ceiling was mirrored on the stagnant pool of blood which had escaped the room and nearly crept to the opposing wall. Shan approached with caution, unsure as to what kind of trap could be waiting for her. Stopping at the bloodied arm, she listened for movement. None came from the other side of the scraping door.
Placing one foot in the crimson liquid, Shan craned her neck to see into the dark chamber. At first, she couldn't make anything out. It was shrouded in dense shadows and blocked by a strange mass. A glass case had been left cracked open at the back of the room, a perpetual flow of cool mist falling from it. The bulb within the case flickered as if on the verge of extinction, but it provided enough glow to brighten the shelves beneath it and give form to the mass at the center of the room.
Shan grabbed the door and forced it open with a strong push. It resisted, but finally clicked back into the wall, allowing the hallway light to scare away the loitering darkness. The mound of bodies caused the room's air to feel thick with petrification. The odor smelled of sickness and excrement, and Shan regretted having entered here. But she scrunched her nose up as best she could, shallowing her breath, and searched for any sign of Rew.
The likelihood of him being tossed in with these executed workers was slim, but she had to be sure. Her ankle rolled as she stepped on the severed arm of one of the dead. She looked down, and to her dismay, she saw what looked to be the hoof of an animal. Looking closer, she concluded that from the wrist onward still resembled a human forearm. She looked at the mound of bodies again, this time making out naked forms – few wearing only as much as a patient's gown – and grotesque abnormalities in a majority of their visible features. Dog heads, lizard tails, spider legs, and bird wings were but a few of the strange mutations present.
Failed experiments? Shan wondered. Had they been selected against their will or had they volunteered for this? It didn't matter. The entire process sickened her. MALMAL would rid themselves of their own humanity in order to gain any advantage over their enemies. She thought of Atropos and what she'd said to her regarding Rew.
A scream of agony travelled down the hall and into the makeshift tomb. Shan Li bolted from the chamber of corpses and barreled down the corridor at great speed, which was made difficult by the layer of blood and viscera covering the bottoms of her boots. Her footsteps reverberated in the empty hallway as she sprinted toward the tortured, hoarse cries.
It didn't take long to locate the voice's origin as it had come from one of the rooms attached to the main corridor. She stopped just short of the door, furrowing her brow at the red smears leading into the room. A small green panel was embedded into the wall at shoulder level next to the closed door. Her hand hovered over the button, a moment of discord passing over her. She almost didn't want to see what those monsters had done to him... if he was even himself anymore.
A distant shock rumbled. The hall shook with pulsing vibrations, cracks ripping through the concrete and splintering into branches along the walls. It was happening again.
She slammed a closed fist on the square panel and the door whisked open. Due to the intermittent quakes, Shan stumbled in, attempting to stand up straight. Looking up, her fears had become a reality. The room was a spiderweb of cables and tubes running from vats of green and purple liquid on the far wall. They converged at a slanted table in the center of the room, plugging into a large contraption fixed to the back of Rew's chair.
He squirmed, his shirtless body tensing up and spasming. The needles from the contraption had pierced every exposed muscle of his upper body; the swarm of tentacles forming an alien-like cocoon around him. He threw his head back with a silent scream, his eyes squeezing shut as if the torture was actually occurring within him like some hellish nightmare.
Shan rushed to him, securing ATLAS on her back before using both hands to rip the strange tubes out of him one by one. Blood seeped from each of the small holes left by the needles, but it was insignificant compared to the amount of iridescent goo pumping from the discarded tentacles.
Another earthquake shook the facility. Closer this time. The wings were imploding one at a time. She had to get him out of here before they were both buried alive.
When the last tube was removed, he fell limp on the inclined table and let out a long sigh. His breathing eventually stabilized but remained dangerously faint. She tried to wake him but he was unresponsive. She'd have to carry him. She gritted her teeth, taking a moment to consider her other options. If she left him, she might find a way out and survive, but the guilt would weigh heavy on her mind. She'd come this far already for the young man, she might as well save his ass.
With a grunt, she began to wedge her arms underneath him. His eyes shot open with a frightened look as if he'd seen death and somehow escaped.
"S-Shan... is that... you?" he croaked, his voice barely resembling its former self. "I'm... s-sorry. I h-had to do it."
Shan Li realized what he was saying. But she didn't care. All the questions that had infected her mind from before had vanished upon seeing him like this.
"It doesn't matter, rookie," she said, trying to comfort him. "We have to get out of here. I need you to help me. Can you do that?"
He didn't respond. His eyes looked tired, as if all hope was already lost. "My... family was killed because of me. I tried... to make it right, b-but–"
"Hey, Rew, enough of that. We're getting out of here," Shan said. She grabbed both of his arms in an attempt to throw him over her shoulder. He flexed and ripped free from her grasp. She hadn't expected him to have enough energy to resist her.
"I feel it inside me, Shan. I don't want... to live like this. Please... you have to kill me," Rew begged.
Tears leaked from each eye, falling down his dirt-covered face and leaving clean streaks in their path. Another explosion rocked the room. Small chunks of the ceiling fell all around her, but she didn't pay them any mind. She stared into the young man's eyes, seeing the desperation and hopelessness sucking away at his desire to live.
Shan knew that she'd want the same thing if those monsters had tampered with her insides like they'd done to him. Removing the last Injection in her possession, she examined Oke in her palm. To a non-DEITY, any Injection would overwhelm their nervous system, killing them from the inside. She imagined some would be agonizingly painful, but Oke would be the least aggressive Injection to accomplish what Rew was requesting. His pain receiver's would basically explode before he would even feel it, his body becoming completely numb as he faded away into a deep and final sleep.
"Please..." he said, his breathing weak.
"Close your eyes," Shan said. She put one hand on his shoulder. Rew looked in her eyes one last time before nodding. After he closed his eyes, Shan slid the needle into the meaty section of his upper arm. He winced, his face scrunching up with momentary anguish, before relaxing completely. A long breath escaped his nostrils as the air in his lungs escaped with none returning to fill them. He was gone.
A blast knocked Shan from her feet. The ceiling collapsed at the back of the room, crushing the vats of liquid and electrical equipment. Sparks snapped and crackled. Tendrils of condensed energy shot out from between sections of debris. Shan sat up and noticed the colored, experimental fluid spreading across the floor. The electrical current and the leaking fluids would quickly become a deadly combination. It was time to move.
Leaping to her feet, she reached the door just as the concoction had realized its true potential. The purplish flames resulting from the explosive mixture bubbled out and filled the room in seconds. Her shoulder slammed into the outer wall of the corridor, but she ignored the pain, running back toward the vestibule from which she'd originally come. If she could make it through the locked door, she'd be able to burst out of the glass roof to the surface.
The long hallway seemed to extend before her eyes, the double doors too far off for comfort. She glanced back at the raging flames now spreading through the hall behind her. They appeared to be growing stronger, possible reacting to the chemicals in the enclosed air of the facility. What else could go wrong?
Ahead, the twin doors burst from their hinges in a fiery detonation. The corridor was beginning its collapse just as they others had. She skidded to a stop as the multitude of blasts annihilated her only exit. She turned and watched the purplish wave of chemical fire also rocket toward her from behind. Trapped between two forces of destruction, Shan knew this was the end.
In just a few seconds, she would no longer exist. And she accepted it. One hand reached up and felt at the scar on her cheek. It had been her first. The one that had initiated the transition into the warrior she'd become. It was fitting that fire would end what it had created. Clenching her fists with outstretched arms, she welcomed her fate.
Suddenly, a yell thundered overtop all the destruction and Shan saw a shadow appear in the purple flames. It clearly wasn't human. It barrelled through the fire unscathed. The monstrous form overcame the crest of the inferno just as it was about to consume her. She was enveloped in its rocky embrace, the being's skin hairless and firm, as they fell to the floor.
The world transformed into a void of darkness and violent jolts. She couldn't tell if she was dead or alive. Had she been killed and this was some sort of hallucination plaguing her spirit before it traveled to the afterlife? Did she even believe in that sort of thing? Shan never really considered what death would be like. Life had been too much of a worry to begin with.
She felt hands gripping her. Dirt and mud suddenly filled her mouth and nose. She couldn't open her eyes for the amount of earth covering her. Cuts were etched into her exposed skin as she traversed from one unknown location to another. Her lungs started to heave. Air. She needed to breathe.
Her arms were pulled tight in their sockets as she was jerked along by a mysterious force. Finally, the release of pressure around her skull signaled her to open her eyes. She batted her eyelids with shaky fingers until the soil clogging them fell away, and choked out the excess earth filling her mouth. She sucked in a large breath, astonished that she was actually alive.
She had survived. Something had saved her by pulling her to the surface of the mangrove forest. The trees' glow radiated into the sky all around her like Sanctuary on a moonless night. She lay there for a long moment, wiping the filth from her face and coming to grips with what had happened. After she regained her full awareness, she sat up and spat, looking around for her savior. But no one was there.
Had she imagined it all? That wasn't possible. Something had to have pulled her through the collapsed dirt and concrete. Right? But why would it save her and flee? She realized her questions were futile. Nothing about this mission made any sense to her. She was alive and she was surprisingly thankful for it.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here," a voice said from behind.
Shan twisted in the mud in the direction of the familiar voice. Atropos stood about twenty feet away, one clawed hand resting on her hip while the other held a device. The Knight's eyes glowed through the mask like two beacons on a far off coastline. Or more like a predator's peering out from under the veil of darkness.
"I knew you'd survive somehow, DEITY. It's in your nature to persist. To cheat death like you're playing a simple, child's game. But this isn't a game any longer. I want you to know why MALMAL will rule this world once and for all. I want to show you our true strength. Here, take your pathetic Injections. I'm going to need you at your finest," Atropos said. She tossed the device and it landed with a splat in the watery mush beside Shan.
Her dispenser.
Shan grabbed it and looked it over, examining the contents. The remaining Injections Shan hadn't used were still inside. Atropos was a fool for providing her with these. Unless the DEITY wasn't aware of something. A trick that might ruin her chances at defeating the beastly foe. Regardless, she would need them if she desired to keep on living.
She scanned the surrounding trees one last time for any signs of the one who'd rescued her, but failed to locate anything out of the ordinary. Turning to Atropos once more, she attached the dispenser to her wrist and pulled ATLAS from her back. She loosened up a bit as she'd become stiff since her last fight with the Templars.
"Let's get this over with, Knight," Shan said with a slight crack of her neck.