Edgar took His time guard's hand and got back to his feet. He was going to regret doing that to his ankle. Hopefully he wouldn't have to run.... He was going to have to run. He knew what they housed in this place and the generator was powerful it probably had enough force to compromise the integrity of the compound meaning stuff could get in to. It may even have been attracted by the noise. "Stuff beyond your pay grade is happening soldier. Load up and be ready for anything and i mean anything. If it moves shoot it. Remeber your first priority is to protect me." He walked over to one of the walls where some piping was protruding he hadn't observed the damage to the room when he'd first came to. "Rip that piping off the wall, it'll do as a crutch and something to protect me. You got a spare gun? I'll be needing one." Truth was he had no clue how to handle weaponry. The thinks scared him but he knew what they'd been upto and the thinks they could encounter scared him more. No that didn't even begin to do the situation justice. They mortified him. He'd been responsible for half the security measures in the place. If it wasn't for him something would have happened far earlier. They treated the situation far to lax when you factored in what they were dealing with.
“What the hell is going on here captain?” "Isay you're up...thank goodness, you're alive, the generator was blown up and we got caught in the explosion," Stewart paused, "Sorry I know the question wasn't directed towards me, but..." Stewart dropped Isay's legs that he had been caring with Anna. Stewart realized what he had done. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. He looked back into the corner of the hallway, something was there. Something. "We have to go...now," Stewart said, "Anna let go of Isay...Isay can you run right now?"
It wasn’t the woman that reacted to the question, but the man. The civilian. Isay snorted loudly, but ended up with throat full of blood, which in turn caused him to cough violently. He briefly touched his nose and cursed as a wave of pain jolted trough his skull. Broken. Great. “Why should we run?” He looked around an eventually spotted his assault rifle beneath some rubble. “No offence, professor Hughes, but you should let the military personnel take care of this. That means I am in charge until we reach HQ.” The barrel of his weapon had sustained some damage, which would no doubt affect his aim. “I’ll take head, you take back. We move slow and steady.”
"We don't have time to take it slow, we're being hunted by a group of Switchers I can tell," Stewart said, "It's all to quiet, it means they are here...I saw one we have to go now...trust me, and anyway I am the second in command of this facility that means my words have some meaning here to...we have to run, walking will only get us killed and dragged." Stewart stared at Isay. Isay almost reminded him of another Reese at times. Reese respected no ones word of position of power. What he said goes? And this was the same case, but they couldn't afford slow pacing. Not when the Switchers were watching.
Anna stood there, silently watching the exchange between Stewart and Isay. Isay was her commanding officer, but Stewart was the one who she had to protect, and in a way he was also her friend. While aliens seemed a bit far-fetched she knew that even if that wasn't the truth something was going on to make Stewart this panicked--she knew him. "General..." She watched Isay, her head cocked slightly to one side. "We should trust Stewart. We don't know what's out there--he does."
Stewart looked towards the corner one more time, the figure he saw was no longer there. That meant they were following their movements standing in one place was not good. It just wasn't. The Switchers were intelligent, almost like raptors. They hunted in full packs and they created cunning schemes to take people and separate them.
What the hell was going on here? True, Hughes was the second in command, but was Maris’ SPO. Reese Maris, Chief Scientist. First in command. “What the hell are you talking about captain. What is out where?” Was there something Maris hadn’t told him? True, he had never been inside the Labyrinth, and had no idea what was going in there. He was no fool; he knew what happened to those people who did venture into the white halls. Maris would have a meeting with Edgar, and the man would disappear. Edgar Glaze. The man that was in charge of the generators and such. Ghost man. The man Maris should be cursing right now.
"I'm not sure," Anna admitted, still watching Isay with a blank expression. "You'd have to ask Stewart. All I know is that when the scientists panic like this it's best to trust them--something bad is always going to happen." She turned to Stewart, "I don't know about him, but I'll follow you. Tell us where to go."
"We have been experimenting on alien creatures that have lived on this planet for centuries," Stewart said as slow, but as fast he could, "Now that the generator has exploded I'm certain they are out there, unharmed by what had happened...Switchers are attracted to blood, we need to leave." Stewart stared at Isay hoping Isay wouldn't take the bombshell of experimenting on aliens badly. Hoping Isay would believe him. Stewart heard Anna say they would follow him, but truth of the matter was that Stewart didn't even know where to go. But they had to get out of here quick, before the Switchers came back. Stewart stared at the only path they had, the hallway down on the east corridor. Or even better yet, he noticed a vent. "We'll go through the vents,"
Anna nodded, unhooking a small pistol from her belt. She held it out to Stewart. "I don't care if you don't know how to shoot. Take it." She paused, glancing into the dark corners and then looking at Isay before her gaze finally returned to Stewart. "What exactly are we looking for...? And exactly how dangerous are these... Switchers?"
“Aliens. Here?” Isay stared at Stewart for a moment, then stared at his SPO. “Fine. The vents.” He would have to knock Maris out of his shoes later. Aliens. Here. Had they learned nothing from Runa? “Captain, take head. I take back. He’s your charge, take care of him.” Attracted by blood eh? Brilliant, freaking brilliant. His nose had stopped bleeding, but blood still covered half his face, part of his uniform and his hands. Brilliant, freaking brilliant. The woman handed Stewart a weapon, and Isay twitched. Handing a researcher a weapon… not the brightest of ideas. “Get in there Captain. We’ll chat once we get out of here.”
"Wait...wait, I have to prepare you for what is t come, Switchers are fast they are hard to see, don't be fooled by the switchers they look like innocent children, it's the flower you have to worry about," Stewart paused, "It's not the children you have to worry about, it's the flowers...the flowers on the children's cheeks...the flowers infect people, once they have fed on the host enough they'll move onto another host, that could be one of us, they are attracted to blood....they die better with fire, but we can't necessarily bring fire in the vents that is to dangerous...because we don't have fire, don't shoot the flowers if you shoot the flowers pollen will flood through the vents and who knows we may be infected by the pollen...shoot the children, in the heart, once the roots are damaged it will be safe." Stewart grabbed the gun and walked over to the vents. He entered the steel air way and sighed. This tunnel of vents was going to be long and dark. "By the way don't let the children bite or scratch you...you won't be infected by the flower, but strange mutations occur to the body I saw it happen to a scientist once," Stewart said begin his crawl through the vents.
Anna made a face and hopped into the vent, pushing her way past Stewart and giving him a swift glare on her way by. "Are you planning to die first?" she snapped. "I'll be the first to die if this gets out of hand, you understand me?" The darkness in the vent was quiet and oppressive--too quiet. In an attempt to ease her discomfort she slipped her favorite handgun from her belt. The grip offered a sense of comfort as she kneaded it between her fingers, moving silently down the vent. Every few steps she would glance back to make sure Stewart was keeping up, but other than that she only peered into the pitch blackness in front of them, wishing every nerve in her body didn't seem to be supercharged with adrenaline.
He should have brought a flashlight. He should have brought more ammunition. Isay snorted. What he should have brought was herbicide. Flowers in children. This was mad. He kept their back to the two other people, crawling backwards; uncomfortable, but it made sure nothing would catch them unaware. He was a brigadier general, like hell he would die here.
Stewart didn't like it in the dark. The silence had dropped to a level that was unnerving and he felt as if he were being watch. When crawling through the vents his finger was pricked by a screw. He could feel it was a screw, or it felt like a screw. "We need a flashlight," Stewart said, "Light would be nice....really nice."
"I hadn't noticed," Anna snapped, her fingers white around the grip of her gun. "If you find the magical flashlight, do let me know." As they trudged on the only sound in the vent was from the faint pattering of their feet, and the occassional sound of breathing. Other than that, all was silent. Silent... So silent. Anna's heart leapt, and she stopped just short of jumping herself. "Did you hear that?" she breathed.
“I don’t have a light on me. And I heard nothing. Keep moving.” Isay sounded irritated, mainly because he was. This wasn’t his idea of a cozy day at the beach either. But most of all, he was worried; Maris was his charge. In this station, Maris was everything. He owed him everything; his position, his life. If Maris died... He was getting distracted. Distracted meant not good. He needed someone to distract him from being distracted. “But since you can talk, talk. What is happening, what can we expect.”
Stewart was straining to hear anything in the ever so darkness. Then he heard something himself. To the left of him was crying. And he knew those sobs too. It was Samantha Patterson, she was still alive. He didn't people would still be alive. He wondered if Anna recognized it was Samantha. Maybe they could help her out. Before the Switchers came after her. "That's Sam," Stewart said.
Anna felt around in the darkness in front of her; to her left the vent narrowed to an even smaller passageway, but that was where the sobs were coming from. "This way," she said, gesturing towards the passage, though she wondered if they could see her. She slipped into the passageway, dropping onto her stomach as it closed in around her and crawled along; the sobbing was growing louder. Somewhere up ahead she could suddenly see a faint light. "You see that?" she asked, pointing. "I think it's from in there."
Stewart smiled he knew this way and he knew where the light was coming from. It was Samantha's office. "That's Sam office, if she is hurt we need to get to her as quickly as possible," Stewart said. Stewart walked quickly, but was making sure the others wouldn't get upset by his actions so he made it so they could keep up with him. He needed to get to Sam. Sam needed them, these were the tears of her pain. And he understood the difference between somewhere's tears controlled by a Switcher and someone who was normal. These were real tears.
Anna slid all the way down to the light and peered through the vent. The woman was lying on the floor, sobbing. From Anna's position that was really all she could tell. She grabbed the grate and wrestled with it for a moment, then it unhooked with a loud banging noise. Swearing, she slipped the grate out of the way, and grabbed Stewart's arm. "Wait here," she growled. "Just a minute. I promise this will be fast." Without waiting for his answer she leapt lightly into the room below, shielding her eyes from the flickering light; even that much light was painful. She turned, quickly surveying the room and then dashing across it--the door was locked, good. She scanned the corners and the ceiling, then nodded to Stewart and Isay, dashing over to Samantha's side.
“Are we taking her with us?” Isay tried not to sound impatient or indifferent, but he was. Get to Maris. Get to Maris. “If those, what was it, changers, are chasing us, we have to get out of here.” And fast. Get to Maris. He turned to the captain. “You are not her SPO, you’re his. He is your responsibility. Unless she stops crying and can run a marathon, she is an obstruction.”
"Switchers not changers," Stewart said. Stewart bent down and grabbed Samantha's hand. "Are you all right?" he asked. "My leg, it hurts," Samantha said, "I think it's sprained or broken." "I'll take a look," Stewart said. Stewart bent over to Samantha's leg and began feeling around. Nothing broken, no fracture, but it was sprained. But he wasn't going to leave her here. Unlike Isay wanted to. He wouldn't leave her here. "We'll find items to make you a splint," Stewart said, "We'll help you out of here." "Thank you Stewart...........aaaaaaahaaaahaa!" Samantha said. "What's wrong?" Stewart asked. "Just some pain...." Samantha grabbed her stomach in curdling pain. "I'll go get your splint...we'll take you to safety," Stewart said. Stewart walked over to the office door, he knew this was dangerous to do, but they needed something and the medical room wasn't to far from here. He opened the door and stared at Samantha. "The medical room is not to far from here...we can get you some supplies and...." "AAAAAAAAAAAA......OH MY GOD MAKE IT STOP.........." They watched as Samantha's body ripped apart. Stewart knew what this was. He knew. "Get down, it's a Diver," Stewart said. A big black slug thing twice their size ripped through the body of Samantha. Stewart quickly got down because he was in the way of the one of the poisonous barbs. That meant Colonels were out too.
"F***..." Anna stared, dropping to the ground behind Samantha's desk and pulling out her knife, fingers wrapped tightly around the grip on her gun. "What the HELL do we do with this thing, Stewart?" she yelled, taking aim with her gun and watching the strange creature as she waited.
Stewart had went down to fast now his head was swirling a bit. But he had to shake it off because now wasn't the time. "You have to shoot it in it's nerve tendrils...but the tendrils are hidden in it's barbs," Stewart said, "For the most part it won't hurt you, just have to keep out of its 10 inches of danger radius, if you spook it, it will attack."
