Sang's P.O.V.
I find myself right in the middle of the dark liquid, disoriented, and without my gun. I hear somebody yell my name, but it's hard to tell who it is.
The liquid seems to get thicker around me, making it much more difficult to move. It starts constricting around me like it did with my ankle and it becomes very difficult to breathe.
I take a second to calm myself down. There's no opening, so I'll have to make one. I might not have my gun, but I have my knife.
I pull it out and fight hard to plunge it into the darkness. Although I can't make any big movements, I manage to pierce through the shadowy prison. I'm able to get it wide enough, and Henry helps before hauling me out by the arm.
Raven, North, and Sean are firing at the monstrous mass.
"You okay?," Henry asks.
I take a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm good."
North moves his gun to shoot tight at the form of the doctor. He hisses as the tentacles begin retracting. Adrian's face is once again visible and it looks like he isn't being held as tightly.
It doesn't last long. The doctor regains his strength as quickly as he lost it. And he seems much angrier.
I dive for my gun as the tentacles creep into the cracks around the room, creating new fissures in the load-bearing walls.
North, who's right beside me now, yells, "It's about to collapse!"
He's right, the doctor is clearly trying to bring the building down on our heads. I shoot at the doctor, while dodging the many tentacles trying to attack me. Although I avoid most of them, there's way too many. A tentacle whips out and strikes me hard, shoving me backwards.
Once again, I drop my weapon and collapse, all of my weight going to my left knee, which hits the ground with a sickening crack.
North starts to bend down to help me up, when part of the curling collapses right in front of us. I hold my arms over my head instinctively, and thankfully nothing too big hits North and I.
We find ourselves separated from the rest of the group. Plunged into darkness and covered in rubble, we find ourselves at the foot of the stairs leading up from the basement, except a pile of rocks is barring our way.
North stands up. "You alright?," he asks. He helps me up to my feet. I'm a bit dazed and confused, but it could have been so much worse.
"We have to get up to the ground floor and find the spot where the ceiling collapsed," I say.
"You're not going far with that leg," he says.
"I've had worse," I tell him. "I'll survive. Let's go."
I take a couple steps and realize I can't put any weight on my left leg. I hate that first real emotion I've seen on his face is triumph.
He doesn't say anything, but he slings my arm around his shoulder as we move around the rocks and up the stairs.
We make it to the corridor on the ground floor and North helps me sit on a conveniently placed old stretcher.
"You can't walk on that leg," he says. "Just stay here."
"Are you serious?," I ask.
"My teammates are in there," he says. "You'll only slow me down. Nothing personal."
I'm fuming, even though I understand where he's coming from. But I have somebody down there too. If only the one I had gotten stuck with was Sean.
I watch him walk until he's out sight before getting up. He doesn't know how stubborn I am.
I hobble on one foot and use the wall to help me keep my balance. I can probably find the spot where the ceiling collapsed somewhere else.
My gun is somewhere in the rubble, so I hold tight to my knife in the hand that isn't sticking to the wall.
I find my way to an open cell, where I can clearly hear the gunshots. I hobble into the cell and find a large hole in the ground in the ground and this is also very conveniently placed right above the pool. I can see that the water isn't as dark, meaning if I jump in, I'll be able to get out. And the water is very deep, so I won't die jumping from here.
I set my other foot down, ignoring them extreme pain and jump right down. I touch the bottom of the pool before swimming back up.
My nose burns and I'm coughing up water, but I did it. I look around as I swim to the side of the pool and there is no more trace of the demon that was standing in front of us not long ago. The tentacles are still there, but they're no longer moving. They just look dead.
I pull myself of the pool, careful not to put any pressure on my leg. Henry helps me the rest of the way out and I see that North is soaked as well. He must have dropped from somewhere else.
"Did that debris hit you in the head? I told you to stay put," he says.
"Sorry, I don't do well with being told what to do," I tell him.
"How's your leg?," Sean asks.
"It can wait," I say. "We need to check on Adrian and get out of here first."
Now that the doctor is gone, it seems like the building will no longer be collapsing on us, but I'm not taking any chances.
Henry helps me to the other side of the basement where Adrian is laying unconscious. I crouch down beside him, ignoring the spreading pain in my leg and try to gently shake him awake. "Adrian?"
He's still for a moment and then he wakes up, gasping for air. "Where am I?"
I'm so relieved. Physically, he's going to be alright.
"You're in the Babcock building," I tell him. "But you'll be home soon."
He's freaked out, but we quickly make our way out of the building. Of course, I can't do it without help, which pisses me off.
It's decided that Henry will take Adrian home while Sean tends to my leg. Before he goes, Adrian says to me, "I'm afraid. What if the demon comes back for me?"
He's much more aware than he was when he woke up. "The demon is gone, but if you're still afraid, I can call somebody who can help protect your house."
"Yes, please do that," he says.
"I will," I tell him. "I'll call him in a few minutes."
"Thank you," he says before getting into the truck.
"Alright," Sean says while opening the car door. "Sit sideways I can look at your knee. And you'll need to take your pants off."
"Excuse me?," I ask after taking a seat.
"I need to touch the injury. And I don't have anything on me or I'd cut you a new pair of shorts."
Before I can respond, Raven says, "Ya by ne proch' eto uvidet'." (I wouldn't mind seeing that.)
"I ya by ne proch' pustit' pulyu tebe v glaza," I fire back without realizing. (And I wouldn't mind putting a bullet between your eyes.)
I try to hide my surprise. Did I just speak Russian? How the hell did that happen?
"Ty govorish' po-russki,?" he asks. (You speak Russian?)
"Evidently," I say before turning back to Sean. "Also, I won't be taking my pants off. I still have my knife."
"Perfect," he says before taking it from me. As he begins cutting through my jeans, he says, "You know, you could've taken me somewhere a bit nicer for our first date."
I roll my eyes but play along. "You're right. I'll try better next time."
Once he's cut the left pant leg above the knee, he gently takes my leg and moves it around, before moving his hands to the injured area. To my surprised the touch of his hands on my knee has an immediate effect on me. And it isn't a painful one.
My knee feels as though waves of heat are washing over it. It's very soothing. He suddenly squeezes my knee tightly and the pain is gone.
"That's incredible," I tell him as I move my leg freely. "Are you going to tell me exactly what you are now?"
"Nice try, sweetheart," he grins.
"What did I tell you about the nicknames?," I ask.
"You only said not to call you Pumpkin," he says. "I have to think of something else. If you don't like Sweetheart, I could call you Pookie."
"Please, go back to Pumpkin," I say.
His grin widens. "Pookie it is."
"For unrelated reasons, can I have my knife back?," I ask.
"I think I'll hold onto it until we drop you off," he says before going around to the driver's side of the car. North and Raven get into the back and I move so I'm completely in the car before shutting it.
As soon as Sean takes off, I dig in my pocket for my phone, but it's gone. "Shit," I say as I realize I lost it in the fight.
"What's wrong?," Sean asks.
"I lost my phone."
"You can borrow mine," he says, before handing it to me.
"Thanks." I take it from him before putting in Michael's number. It's pretty early in the morning, so I hope he's already awake.
He answers after the first ring. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Sang. Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could come and protect the house of this kid who was attacked by a demon last night."
"No problem at all. Give me the address and I will come. We also need to schedule our next training session."
After the night I had, I feel calm and reassured talking to Michael. I don't know what it is about him, I guess that's just how he is.
"I have work the next couple of days, but I'll call you later to talk about it," I tell him before giving him Adrian's address.
We hang up and Sean gives me a look. "Boyfriend?"
"No. Just somebody I needed a favor from," I tell him before handing him his phone.
I suddenly feel the exhaustion hit me. I've been awake for almost twenty four hours and that time has mostly been spent on rigorous training and fighting a demon.
I feel my eyes fluttering close and I'm out before they even get me home.