Rescued and Ruined

Chapter 6 - Craize

The cool calm my soul usually settles into during battle ends with such abruptness I stop mid-slice, leaving the unsuspecting guard with his throat halfway slit. His shout rings out, alerting the enemy of our arrival, but it ends in a wet gurgle as I jerk my arm and finish cutting him.

My features tighten as my heart thuds in my chest, adrenaline racing through my system. Chaos rules in both my soul and my surroundings, gunfire and screaming bouncing off the claustrophobic walls as I war with my own instincts.

Years of training tell me to push forward, destroy the rest of what must be a guard post around the corner, then reconnoiter with my team before descending deeper into the facility. My instincts scream for me to forget my training and annihilate everything in my path until I reach the source of my soul's upheaval.

Unable to gain back the advantage of stealth, I barrel down the hall, throwing a blade into every foe who shows their face.

"Complication. Presence known," I relay for my team, even though they've probably heard the noise. We rarely use our communication devices, but since the moment we opened the hatch at the back of the cave and entered this underground hellhole, we realized we wouldn't be able to stay together as a team. The sloping hallway had quickly split into three passages, leaving us with no choice but to separate.

Fek and Lyc follow behind me, while Steil and Gric remain out of sight, the maze of tunnels making their whereabouts unknown. We left the third hall to the team several minutes behind us, their numbers more suited to the larger passageway.

Bright white hallways turn to mayhem, the flashing emergency lights strobing through the narrow space as I sink my blade into countless foes, many of them charging around the corner before I reach it.

A sense of urgency grows behind my sternum, unaccustomed emotions ruining the peace I find in violence.

Something calls me.

I grab the barrel of my next victim's weapon and point it upward as I shove my shoulder spikes into his gut, piercing his flesh and gouging the organs underneath. As he presses the trigger on his handgun, my ears ring from the blast of sound and agony burns my palm. I roar and stand, flipping him into the air. My spines tear his abdomen open, the wet sounds of entrails splattering onto the floor lost to my damaged eardrums.

I don't watch him fall, stalking forward for my next kill.

Blood rains down the walls. Crimson colors the ceiling.

I sink into a rage just as potent as what I felt as I watched my race being caught. A fury as explosive as the anger I felt upon hearing they were experimented on and slaughtered in the most disgusting ways possible.

My shriveled soul expands, seeking the source of whatever beckons me.

The weight of mountains presses down on the ceiling, every step deeper into the facility adding to the oppressive sense of claustrophobia. Not caring whether my teammates follow on my heels or turn to find relief in the sky, I murder any individual in my path.

When a large, circular concrete door blocks my path, a roar bursts from my chest, making the fluorescent lights shake within their moors. I crank the lever and rip the offending material from its hinges and toss it away, snarling as the ground beneath me vibrates with its landing.

The hall beyond lacks the stark lighting of those behind me, even the red emergency lights bright compared to the ones below. Ominous dread wafts up from the tunnel, carrying scents of despair and death.

I cross the threshold, my hope dead long ago, my life ruled by hatred and pain.

My salvation lies within this darkness. It shrieks in misery, begging me to end its suffering.

Ignoring the doors lining the hall, I continue into the bowels of hell, prepared to desecrate any monsters residing within such an abhorrent place. I follow my screaming instincts, the invisible lead yanking me toward the last door on the left.

It bursts inward in shards of metal and wood, my boot cracking it down the middle. The two ends warp the doorway, the right half tilting and falling as the lock snaps under the weight while the left swings on precarious hinges.

Jumping through the wrecked vestibule long before the last of the fragments hit the once-smooth flooring, my hackles rise as the most feral snarl rips through the air. It isn't until the cloud of debris almost settles that I realize the ache in my throat is from creating the animalistic sound, but my logical mind stands no chance against the need to find whatever lured me here.

Ugly brown orbs appear out of the dust, a human male baring his puny teeth at me in challenge. His dark clothing hides most of his form, but a triangle reveals his jutting cock, the tip spurting acrid liquid.

As he swings his fist despite his eyes popping wide in terror, I grab the sides of his head and slam my forehead down on his.

Gore squishes between us as the pattern of short horns on my forehead embed themselves into his skull, their jagged edges sliding through his bone as though it were butter. I avoid the putrid liquid leaking from his manhood but glory in shedding his lifeblood, jerking my head back and watching as crimson paints his face.

His fist thumps against my side even as his legs begin to crumple. I grab his neck and squeeze, adding another hand and wrenching his trachea.

He thumps to the ground, his neck at an odd angle and his eyes clouding over.

Movement and sounds of struggle break my satisfied stare, and the agony in my chest pulls me further into the room.

A tiny form contorts on a filthy mattress, her white flesh blending into its surroundings despite her vicious lurching.

I step closer, my senses zeroing in on the figure, the pull behind my sternum demanding I reach her.

Pert breasts wobble and trim legs create the most luscious form I've ever seen, and even as my conscience screams within my hijacked mind, basal needs demand I take. Claim. Own.

I stalk forward and pin a slim ankle to the mattress.

Bright green irises pierce mine, abject misery shining from a face too delicate for words.

She's the reason I'm here. She called me.

Somehow, she reached into my soul and beckoned me into the pits of hell.

She's mine.