《Storm of the End》Chapter XXI.V: Glimmer of Hope
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...I had no options.
There was nothing I could do.
If I dove for one of the guns, it would cut or stab me before I could even reach the gun, let alone aim it or pull the trigger. The liquid looked like it was ready to burst of its mouth. If I turned and ran up the stairs, it would spit that shit at me before I could make it.
I had no choice.
Even with no options, I had to...
With a wild yell, I leaped for the closest gun as the thing lifted its leg, its throat gargling as the liquid was bursting through its lips.
A loud blasting noise echoed in the room, and the thing's head suddenly opened up in a burst of blood. It stumbled backwards, blood and the green liquid gargling and bubbling in what little remained of its throat, which was about all that was left of its head. Then, it collapsed as another shot tore right through its chest, splattering the walls around it with gore.
I landed flat on my stomach, my hand grasping the gun I had dove for far too late.
"Oh my God! Markus!" a female voice called from behind me.
I struggled to my feet as the pain in my shoulder and side throbbed, and turned to see Sarah standing at the bottom of the stairs, the rifle in her hands. She had shot the creature.
Her eyes widened and she brought one of her hands to her mouth, gagging a little, as she fully took on the scene in the room, "Wh- What happened here?"
She bent over and vomited, while I turned towards the body of the creature. It wasn't moving. The green liquid was bubbling up and seeping out of its throat and chest, making the nearby corpses get covered in more boils.
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Please... be dead...
"Dad! Are you okay!" I heard Aaron shout and his footsteps echo from down the stairs. I looked frantically at Sarah, who was still in shock, and she understood what my look meant.
"Aaron! Your dad's fine! Don't come down here... it's a mess..." she said as she went up the stairs to prevent him from seeing the gruesome scene, her body still trembling.
"I'm alright Aaron! I'm coming up, so you don't need to worry." I said as I pocketed the gun, took one last look at the creature to make sure it wasn't moving, then walked up the stairs. As we were going up, I noticed that there was some sort of hardened white goop that was in the process of disintegrating on a few of the stairs, and I saw some of it on the ceiling as well. Did that have something to do with what these two creatures did to those people? The one in the basement could spit out that green liquid, had the one upstairs been capable of something similar?
Aaron immediately rushed up to hug me when I made it to the top, "I'm so glad you're alright!"
I was about to pat him on the head, but stopped when I remembered the blood on me, "Yeah, I'm glad you're alright too."
My eyes drifted to Jared, standing next to the body of the thing that had thrown me down the stairs. There was a hole torn through its huge teeth, that went all the way through the back of its head and one of its swollen eyes had burst, the liquid freely flowing out of it. Now that I had a better look at it, I noticed that other than its unnaturally muscular arms and disgusting face, the rest of its body was that of a normal woman's. The weirdest thing is that it was wearing clothes. Although the thing downstairs had the shape of a female torso, its body was featureless. I wondered if this one was the same. Needless to say, I didn't really feel like checking.
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When Aaron let go, Jared put out his hand and we shook hands, "Glad to see you're alright, Markus. I was expecting the worst when I saw you get thrown down the stairs."
"So I take it that... the people..." he said, letting go of my hand and looking dejected.
"Yeah," I said sighing with sadness, "They're all dead. At least, as far as I know. Some of them may have gotten away, who knows. But I don't know how likely that is."
Aaron looked down and Jared closed his eyes sadly.
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